Stay Thirsty, My Friend

"Did you buy a bike or a piece of art?" Someone asked me today.
"Well with what I spent on that bike, I could have bought some really nice art." She had good reason to ask though. I haven't ridden the Superfly yet. I'm definitely nervous to take it out because I'm afraid I'll dent or crack the frame on the first ride (highly unlikely). I told the guys at the shop I feel like I should ride it first on a group ride so I'm in a safe environment if something does happen. But until then, it's just going to keep sleeping in my laundry room.

That's me, being a Diva.

I have been on my old mountain bike, the Mamba, which weighs in at an obese 33 pounds. Which is amazingly still less than Nessie (Mary's beagle). The first ride of the season I did a 10 mile loop at a really rocky terrain (one of the guys warned me of this but the other place I was thinking of going required me getting gas, which I loathe). I was not impressed and at one point shouted, "If Leadville is like this, I'm selling my spot." Luckily no one was around to hear me because I was really just being a Diva and needed to eat a snickers. Not really a snickers but I felt better after I realized I was crabby because I needed to eat something. Wanting to get my confidence back up after that ride I went back to my house and picked Wayne up to do a loop at the area by our house. We did about 15 miles and at one point on the descent I lost my focus and caught a rock off the front tire and rammed my right leg into the back of the stem which launched me over the bike. Each time I fall I hear the words of one of my guy friends when he tries to pick up a girl "just let it happen" it seems to work pretty well for me, not him. I gracefully rolled over and got up and got back to it. Only later when the bruises appeared did I realize that in mind it was a lot smoother than my body thought. Luckily it seems that all the bruises are above my short line so I don't get weird looks at work unless I show them, which I do.

10,000 feet up, not a bad way to spend Easter

The shop mechanic that I ride with keeps kicking my ass. And he keeps reminding me of it. But it's making me a better rider so I can't complain. We did a 14 mile hill climb on Easter, we were going to keep going because the total ride is 28 miles, but the road was closed due to snow. We gained about 4,000 feet elevation and had we kept going it would have been a total of 7,000 (so yah, I used my inhaler). I look forward to the last half of that ride when the snow melts. We've also done Lookout mountain a few times now. I thought that maybe the last time I was going to get closer or even beat him, mainly because he lifted legs heavily in the morning and was exhausted and he had forgotten headphones for music. Unfortunately I got a little excited at this thought and took off too fast and he dropped me within a mile of the climb. Whomp, whomp, but it made me realize I still need a lot more discipline when climbing so I don't blow my load so early in the ride.

Got reconnected with this guy pretty fast!

I went back to Boston this month too. It was really nice to see a lot of friends and teammates that I hadn't seen since I graduated. As I was walking around I realize that it's actually a miracle I only got hit once while living there. No one seems to know what a lane line is or a cross walk for that matter. I also heard more cars honk (not exactly at me) during the 3 days I was there then I have the past 9 months living in Colorado. I wasn't able to get any bike rides in while I was there but I did go for a run. It was weird because it was in a park that I used to ride through and I realized that my last road ride that I did out there was actually the day I got hit. So it was a little surreal because I rode through that park the day of the crash.

I'm thinking of doing some road races or a couple of road centuries before Leadville just to get some more experience. I'm imagining my experience at Leadville to be much like Frank's when he comes here to go mountain biking and I take him to a mountain that's 9,000 feet up. He starts off pretty good but about 10 minutes in he starts wanting to stop and "take a few pictures" and oh "let me get some water"and then by 30 minutes in he's offering money for my inhaler and by an hour he is asking where to get an oxygen tank and that the extra weight of it would be totally worth it. So in the words of Frank with my training I must stay thirsty.