Life on and off the bike.

Sack of Potatoes

2011-07-23T13:48:00.002-05:00

Hello Everybody.

I'm kind of embarrassed in a way from my previous posts. I've seriously grown up a bit since then and still have a love for cycling. I want to continue this blog again because it is good to look back on and learn from mistakes and see how ridiculous I was. There has been a lot of changes and some things still changing. I took two years off from racing. The reasons were stupid. I lost myself. I gave up. I wanted to please everybody else and tuned myself out.

I can't explain why things are happening the way they are now, but I am a lot happier and have more friends than ever and making more as time goes by. I just turn to my bike when I have hard times as probably a lot of other people do. I still have a faint dream...This time I don't care what anybody thinks of me and nobody is going to stop me. The only direction is forward.

So I plan to start back racing next season. I'm getting my bike tuned/upgraded a bit to get it ready. I also decided to finally get a professional bike fit from Cycles Unlimited in Springfield, MO. I wish I would of done this about four years ago because I was a sack of potatoes. It was like night and day. I am very excited to start training and feeling right on my bike. I am looking for possibly a development team to learn on for next year. Anyway I just know I have to ride lots and do what makes me happy. So thanks for reading my blog and happy cycling to you :) Also I have a favorite restaurant called Tropical Cafe Smoothie .. I got a smoothie called health nut.. AMAZING.. super healthy stuff. :)

Hello ALL

2010-07-29T01:09:00.002-05:00

Hello.

I have decided to come back to blogging about my cycling adventures. Its been a long time since my last post and I kind of fell off the face of the earth for a while. Right now I am still working at the same job I had last time, and I am riding my bike often. I have not raced one race this year and plan not to this year. I just felt like when I started riding I just jumped into racing being very impatient on improving. I had injured myself multiple times and got majorly burned out. Lately I have been just simply riding with no computer..no crazy wild insane group rides.. just me my bike and the road. I just want everything to come and feel natural. I have even gone to the extreme to go back to my natural hair color and have long hair again.

I am only a cat 3 still and might get back to racing next year. I still have faint dreams of racing pro someday, but really I am focusing on small goals. Our one and only bike mechanic in town got hit by a car last week and was in critical condition. It was kind of a shock to the little cycling community here and now he is getting better and may come back to his work.. even after he almost lost his arm. I have stayed off the bike for a bit after that happened.

I am still engaged to Nate and just recently went on a bike ride with him. We hadn't rode bikes in a while together due to work schedules. I got sick and had to end the ride early, but impressed him with my sprint! I duno he could of been just making me feel better. I feel stronger than ever this year that's for sure. Just going to save it all for next year.

I have really learned this year to appreciate everything. I have been reading Boy Racer by Mark Cavendish and its an awesome book. I can really relate to him because I seem to have the same kind of attitude as him. He also had to deal with a divorce and grow up quickly.

Anyway I'm back and plan to stay blogging. Hope everyone is well and riding lots :)

-B

Ice Storm 2010? hope not!

2010-01-28T00:25:00.002-06:00

Ice is predicted for tomorrow where I live. We had a horrible ice storm last year about the same time. People actually died and was without any power for weeks/months. Kind of enjoy winter weather, but not too dangerous of weather..

I am officially an official. I'm glad I did it and I have a lot more respect now knowing how much effort and work goes into putting on a race/ride. Really enjoyed the man that ran the seminar, Jack. He went in his speech introducing himself and why he is involved with cycling. How people in cycling is just so great and how cyclists are unique. It is true everything he had said.

We may all be competitive, but when it comes down to it we all ride bikes.. WHY? Cuz we can ANd we feel like we are flying ANDDDDd we love it. Everybody is different, but we are all brought together by two wheels. Something just never really left us when we grew up haha! I hear trash here and there, but we all are in this together and we care. That's why our sport is so beautiful. This is kind of dramatic sounding, but its the truth.

I'm kind of sleepy too felt like I needed to post that I guess. Like I think I grew up tonight a little bit. The hours I spend alone at my job gives me way too much time to think about things. How RIDICULOUS I was.. from age 17-21.. seems like now I am realizing how little kiddish I acted over things. I am still young and act stupid.. I just think a little more. I'm pretty sure when I turn 30 I will think wow.. I was really pathetic in my 20's. My ultimate goal is to prove myself wrong. ha..

ok.. so I don't think anybody reads my blog cuz its stupid. There are probably some good points I hope and I come so close to deleting it all the time, but its kind of my own entertainment to look back and be like wow.. I should of gone to bed.. etc.

I go to work tomorrow early cuz of this ice storm coming.. I hope I don't have to work Friday.. I just want to be frozen into my home with my very ridiculous DOG Sophy.

Anyway hope everybody's training is going well and that you have worked off all your holiday cheer! Cya when I am thawed out from all this ridiculous weather..

Not a weatherman

2010-01-20T09:30:00.002-06:00

Wow feel so bad.. told my friend that we weren't going to ride cuz it was going to rain.. and its warm and sunny in January.. what the heck.. LIKE usually its in the 30s.. VERY FRIGID!! Anyway.. NATE is working right now, and I just feel plain guilty to get outside when everybody I know is working. I put Sophy outside to enjoy some sun.. so there is somebody enjoying it. WELL Tour de hills is coming up..(my hometown race/ride) I am not going to race or ride it. They have to have eight officials for it be run this year. Last year we had like two... or something like that. Its a big course with dangerous roads so I sort of understand. Everybody wants to ride/race it so I have decided to volunteer myself to be an official for the race. I kind of have an idea what they do sort of. CROSS THE YELLOW LINE OUTTA THERE.. j/k but they do that haha! Also have to hit Tulsa this Saturday to go through a seminar to become one I guess. Not really what I wanted to do, but its something different.. maybe I can be an official for the women. As long as I am involved I'm good.. SERIOUSLY I just got engaged its nice knowing you're not going down the isle with some road rash on your face.. even though that would be hardcore. Still planning to race this year though. I am just going to be with my local club this year Buffalo River Cyclists. WHY? Because its my local team first off. Secondly, I have no opportunity with any other team, I do not have any awesome results yet.. I'm ridiculous I guess.... and I'm slow haha! I do know one thing is that I have fun and to me that is all that matters and what is meant to be will happen. I loved Vanderkitten, but something told me to do something else. I'm looking forward to moving forward with my life and settling down with Nate and his two ridiculous dogs. Went to Dairy Queen yesterday cuz it opened back up after the fire.. with Kabuki, Nate's pit bull mix we rescued, and she was so excited she got stuck between the back seat and the ceiling of my car trying to smell the food. Love her...

One thing .. its so easy to talk about somebody or judge. SO easy to be mean or not nice to somebody you don't care for. So easy to talk about somebody if somebody else is doing it that you know. Its really a waste of time and energy. I noticed myself lately being very defensive more than usual and decided to just let it all go. Sounds like a therapy sesh right now, but I have been doing this for the past two weeks and like I duno what made me change or what, but I'm a better person now and I just think differently. Getting older and realizing the world isn't rooting for you, but wants you there..

Watching the earthquake in Haiti really made me realize how bad some people have it. Like I just started balling when I realized how pathetic I was to be worried or upset over stupid stuff and that I needed to change even more. I'm very lucky to have what I have and to be alive with loving caring people around me. God is always there...even for the people in Haiti. Just always good to go with what you feel inside, and live life happy :) Anyway I'm going back to sleep stayed up too late last night haha!

OMG I'm ENGAGED!

2010-01-03T20:41:00.006-06:00

So big thing happened obviously! I'm engaged! Nate proposed to me on the 1st on Peter Point Mountain by the buffalo river. We were going on a hike, and it was like the hardest hike I have ever done! I bushwhacked through bushes and lots of thorns that were big and small. Nobody hikes to peter point mtn obviously.... CUZ it was very hard to find somewhat of a trail. Once we were at the point it opened up to awesome views of the buffalo river and the surrounding hills. Really was a special place even though it was overgrown with thorns. It has a lot of history that goes back to the civil war. A man named Jackson that was a confederate stood guard on Peter Point watching union soldiers approach while he set out attacks and made them retreat about 1865. Anyway he finally was overtaken by the union soldiers, his name was wild man Jack. I tried to imagine what it was like to have been up there that long ago watching from so high up.

ANYWAY it was cool and I have a pretty ring and VERY excited to plan my wedding. It has been snowing more lately than usual and so Nate, his brother Clay, and I went out in my X3 to test it on ice/snow/slushy STUFF! We were going to go on some dirt roads and look at the snow by the buffalo. WELL we got on this one dirt road and it was okay at first and then it ended up being the roughest road I have EVER been on in my LIFE! huge ditches of mud and snow with like almost boulders in the road caused my car to rock like their was a huge earthquake!!!!! Well surprisingly my car made it fine with X3 drive and AWD. A++ BUT! We had to stop on a steeeeep slope and Clay & Nate had to scope out how to drive over these really weird rocks in the road. The car was in park and I was halfway out of the car and the CAR started ROLLING BACKWARDS! DOWN THE HILL! I thought SHEeEEET and BAILED! I did like a stunt jump rolling and coming back on my feet trying to scramble out of the way of the car. Nate ran behind the car.. (which was bad) trying to plan to jump in to get it to stop before plowing into the trees with the dogs in the car still!! It slid toward me as I was pinned against a rock cliff thing.... and the car stopped. I busted into tears freaked out and shaking so happy my car stopped. I thought I was going to die. "What happened" so we think.. is that some belt got hot and since we were on a steep slope it came out of gear and rolled backwards cuz the wheels rolled backwards. ANYWAY super scary and the rest of the trip wasn't as exciting but was beautiful. After what it did today through deep troughs of mud/snow on steep slopes it did prove it was the ultimate driving machine. Like I said BMW for life yo!

It is supposed to snow more this week and temperatures will be below freezing so looking forward to white stuff for a while. Not good for the bike training, but just comforting. I feel kind of at peace now that I'm engaged and planning my future with Nate. I still have a love for cycling, but life off the bike has kind of took center stage right now. I didn't think this would happen this soon, but life is short and he is my best friend that I will love forever. Love that Unattached Rider website AND LOVE THEIR KITS! I will consider that as an option if nothing plays out this year. Like I said it really is just about results haha!

Stay Warm!

no direction.. but forward

2009-12-31T00:05:00.002-06:00

So change of plans for me. I am not going to be racing for the Vanderkitten club next year. I think its cool, but it doesn't really fit my needs. I'm just a cat 3 wanting to go pro maybe someday and have a lot in front of me. Wouldn't mind racing on a cool team someday, just focused on results really. It really doesn't matter what team I am on right now. I have to save all the money I have to pay for cycling stuff.. like gas to races hotels ETC you know... all those extra things. It all comes down to just loving to ride a bike. I feel old now and I'm only going to get older .. I can feel myself becoming wiser everyday laughing at the most pathetic situations I thought was just the end of the world. 2009 seriously went by fast, but I grew up the most in that year I think. Sometimes I think how I was when I first just fell in love with cycling how crazy insane I was about it.. No patience .. just want to be fast...

I really am surprised that I still love this sport. If it wasn't for my boyfriend I wouldn't be anywhere. He really has taught me most of what I know.. Its a really unique relationship. I think for 2010 I am just going to ride watch and learn. Whatever happens happens..

Fresh Start

2009-12-27T20:14:00.002-06:00

Its time to reflect back on 2009 because I don't know if I will have any other time to do it haha! 2010 will be a year of being busy 24/7.2009 was a year of confusion to me. I am proud of 2009 sort of.. I put off things that needed to be attended to which made other matters much worse.. and I didn't jump to certain opportunities that I REGRET ! I grew up a lot in 09..realized who my real friends were and things don't just happen. I got a few new things like a job, bike, and a BMW.. which is awesome, but really a lot things are just up in the air for me to figure out in 2010. I'm 22 now and still have goals I would like to achieve big and small.. just don't know whats going to happen really. SO like I said things don't just happen you have to make it happen, but I also think the opposite sometimes that things do happen that are meant to happen. SOOOOO anyway I have decided to spend more time with the main man upstairs and see what he has got planned for me. I feel like that is the only way to live life. Live and Learn and of course ride your Bicycle! I welcome 2010 with a glass of wine and hope for a better year for not only myself, but for anybody! Happy New Year everybody :)

Cheers

AWesome Christmas!

2009-12-11T10:53:00.005-06:00

So I bought a BMW X3 3.0i in blue :) ! ITs really fun driving thats for sure! BMW FOR LIFE !

SO gonna be some serious style showing up to the races next season. NO MORE bikes crammed on the back of an itty bitty sunfire full of stinky racing cyclists. NO MORE huge dogs crammed in my 2 door sufire coupe S. NOT COOL! NOW COOL! Like never in the world would think I could drive a vehicle at this caliber. Its ridiculously tricked out to the max.. I'm in love.... My bike will be happier too!

I have been having a lot of crap thrown at me lately, not literally.. BUT I am learning a lot! This BMW is really helping me not even notice a lot of stuff thats been going on in front of me that really doesn't matter that I really can't even discuss to the public.. ANYWAY everything is good I have a hair appointment in like less than an hour to refresh my blonde hair.

Christmas shopping is in full swing! YAY ! thanks for reading! AG!

Life NOW @ 22

2009-12-06T20:07:00.005-06:00

Honestly I still feel like I'm twenty one years old haha! I had a wonderful birthday! My boyfriend, Nate, took me shopping for two days! I bought ridiculous shoes.. that made me 4 inches taller them him HA! 5 1/4" = broken NECK! ANyway love the risk.. and had a blast wearing them the last night of being 21 !

I might be getting a new friend soon for my new over the hill lifestyle for Christmas from my very special speedy gonzalas BF, Natello. Its a he cuz he is BLUE and the ultimate driving machine! Anyway its a BMW X3 3.0i SAV ! Tricked out butt warmers and lots of buttons with AWD.

Its very cold now.. too cold.. I'm trying to think warm thoughts... thats why I need a bmw with heated seats.. after a cold ride ... YEEESSSS!

I have driven my sunfire for a while, and its my first car ever. I will miss it for sure, but its time to upgrade my car so at least its more than my bike. BHAHA! Ridiculous!

Holidays are wonderful.. lots of money being SPENT$$$$$$$ And lots of lbs to gain!!!!!!! but love my fam and Nate's family ! gonna be some good food and good memories this year for sure!

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

In Training

2009-11-23T14:40:00.002-06:00

I have big plans for the 2010 season and I am starting early. Your thinking.. BURN OUT FOR SURE! No. After not being able to race like I wanted to due to an injury I had two years I have a lot of pent up racing excitement haha! Went to the doctor again.. and found out from X-RAYS $$$$ that I have a shoulder injury. I either have impinged nerves pretty sure I said that wrong anyway.. or a tear(s) in my left shoulder rotator cuff. This all might have to come to a MRI and most likely surgery sometime.. BUT FOR NOW .. that I know I am ok and its not my back/neck.. I am ready to continue forward into my cycling journey without that haning on my shoulders..even though its in my shoulder.. ANYWAY!! In a good mood now that I am not really in bad shape. And that my birthday is very soon and I GET STUFF! WOOT!

I have lots of personal goals for the season... which I think are realistic. SO I am now officially saying that 2010 season has started TODAY. :)

Bare Everything

2009-11-20T12:38:00.007-06:00

I'm turning 22 in 10 days! November 30 th is my BDAY and I'm more excited than my 21st birthday.. DUNO WHY! I just feel more mature I guess.. FEeling the 20s I guess! I can't believe I started cycling when I was 19 ! Doesn't seem that long ago really..

I took time off the bike.. pretty much the whole month of November.. Did some other things like Canoeing/hiking/Camping. And yesterday it hit me that it was time to get ready for 2010 season. I have to go to the doctor though because having some more pain in my ribs.. Will let you know what goes down with that. I just hope its a simple fix and I go on with my life.

I have learned a lot of life lessons these past couple of months. Everything seems to go the right direction when you are true to yourself. Its really easy to get caught up in what you could have or what you want. Spending some time away from civilization and out in the outdoors changes me and brings me back down to reality.

I haven't canoed in like years so when the first set of rapids came I screamed and cried like a baby.. and soon realized how fun it is haha! Life is like a river really.. you have to go with the current or you will go nowhere or worse tip. Even though you might go with the current you must angle yourself in the right direction before rapids or you will fly out of the current into a tree/rock.. etc or flip again. Life is very similar to this.. always throwing obstacles at you even if you are on the right track. To enjoy it you must overcome. As I floated down the river with the ice cold water rushing beside me, I watched birds glide above me. Bald eagles come to arkansas this time of the year and they were just arriving and settling into their new home for the winter. I never looked at a bald eagle so closely before in my life. I understand why now they are our bird of the united states. So noble and proud and just HUGE with a straight wingspand that is amazing. They look extremely smart too! Anyway saw lots of bald eagles and hawks. They all have their own style and grace. We headed on the left side of this island in the Buffalo River and there was a young deer that raised her head up and just stared at us watching us float down the river. Even Gemma, Nate's dog, was quiet as we floated slowly past each other staring into each others eyes amazed by how different we were. The deer never ran away or snorted at us, she just watched curiously as if she had never seen a canoe before and went on eating on green grass that was unusual this time of the year. The Buffalo River as you can tell is my favorite spot to go and have fun. Its like another world with its massive limestone bluffs and secrets behind every bend. I learn a lot from nature and put that to everyday life.

The trees are bare right now and very dull, but I look at it as a fresh start. This all inspired to start trainging yesterday as my arms and legs were bare from arm warmers and other layers.. I could obviously could tell I was off the bike, but getting back into the swing of things for sure.

Thanksgiving is next week! Holidays are always nice with plenty of food.. Family! LOVE! Dogs! Its a very peaceful time of year for me right now. I'm excited about 2010 in my White and Pink VK kit, but really enjoying this down time with family and being in the outdoors.

I just can't believe what I have seen this year and the eyes I stared into.. How wild our world is... I think humans have our set ways but we crave a bit of wild too. This world is beautiful. Anyway I gotta go to work SO I can have money FOR GAS etc. HAHA! Hope everybody has a WONDERFUL fullfilling thanksgiving ! Gobble Gobble :)

solo

2009-10-29T13:02:00.002-05:00

Took a little spin yesterday solo. I noticed now since I have a lot of time to myself I have of course a lot more time to think about things. At my job I have 6 hours to myself really.. I'm having a lottttt of ALONE TIME...

Which is probably a good thing..

I think the most while riding my bike by myself though.. I don't even really think of riding.. it just comes natural. Had an awesome tailwind on one of my fav roads to ride hit the corners 30 mph.. :) really was beautiful yesterday.. it has been beautiful lately just rainy or sunny for me.. I have noticed I am laughing more too..

I would like to announce also that I am off of my anxiety medicine. ALL THE WAY OFF! It took over a year to get off it after being on it for 6 years. I feel like I am over a lot of shit.. and moved on in my life.. enjyoing it.. kind of free.

The leaves are falling now.. winter is around the corner. I will be 22 next month.. crazy to me.. I was 19 when I started cycling.. just insane to me. Just a reminder to live laugh and love while you can..

Its not your typical day to take a stroll but I just might with Sophy.. Nothing feels more real than being in the outdoors. I have been hiking a lot lately.. MY SECOND fav thing to do after cycling. After a hard ride I like to take a hike by the buffalo river the next day. It was the first National River to be designated in the United States. It changes color in the winter to a light green blue... my favorite spot in arkansas by far.. I think sometimes wouldn't be cool to live in colorado.. or idaho..wyoming or somewhere so beautiful.. but nothing is like the boston mountains.. more like rolling hills.. with bluffs rivers and interesting rock formations.. its just my home.. can't leave it.

Anyway I'm heading out before it storms.. felt kind of bloggy so there ya go :)

2010 is gonna be hotttttT

2009-10-20T01:05:00.005-05:00

Just got info on Vanderkitten Club 2010... ANd.............. ITS GONNA BE HOTT! Like new sexy clothing.. can't wait to race in it! I hate that Liz is not a Vanderkitten anymore.. she inpsired me and still a big fan, but I realized that it was me that got across the finish line first.. the vk kit/liz/vanderkitten didn't get me across it first.. it was me and my legs haha.. All the other stuff just makes it better. Decided that racing with Vanderkitten Racing is just my style.

Went for a ride today after a long rainy couple of weeks... just beautiful......... Also would like to mention that Nate and I have been dating officially for 2 years now. Love him... He took me out last weekend on leathwood lake and I was literally a couple feet away from wild geese and watched huge bass swim through the clear lake water.. paddled through lily pads and walked across a 90 year old hand carved limestone dam. Really was beautiful with the fall colors...good place..

FOR ALL THE WOMEN out there I'm a beauty junkie... I have a new obsession.. other than victoria secret.. I love sephora................... and I love skin products from OLE HENRIKSON . My fav products is invigorating night gel, body sleek lotion, muscles comfort, sheer transformation face moisturizer. Its all natural and organic.... speaking of organic.. I also like the new bare minerals matte foundation.. ITS BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL Foundation.. really good for oily skin... like mine.. Anyway just thought I would through that out there... cuz I have really been impressed..

Its getting cold.. seasons are changing.. blah blah blahhh but I'm getting out there and staying in shape... I want to represent vanderkitten the best I can.. plus of course get results for myself.. and prove that I was meant to be on bike.

Anyway .. going to kick ass right now... haha in my dreams that is .. goodnight :)

Follow your heart and hold your line

2009-10-10T21:47:00.003-05:00

Lot of things have come upon me lately. I wanted to get rid of Sophy to do whats right for Sophy.. I have realized that I have a bond with Sophy and she has one with me. EVEN though she is SOoo ridiculous sometimes.. After Sarg died and Sophy came into my life.. she has a purpose just like Sarg did. I think that everything happens for a reason.. and Sophy is meant to be in my life as my dog. I have decided to not give up on her and work on her issues.. cuz she doesn't ever give up on me.

This has taught me an important lesson in life, which is obvious.. but really is often ignored.. but TO FOLLOW YOUR HEART! So easy to give up on something.. such an easy way to just run away something that is hard to handle. Easy just seems weak to me.. you just gotta stand your ground.. and not back down on whatever you believe or feel in your heart.

I feel that I was the first person who gave Sophy a chance and she loves me and I owe it to her to be responsible and give her all the love I have the rest of her life. Also what inspired me was a book.. that is called Merle's Door. A book about a man finding a lab mix dog in the wild that he took into his life. Its not just about Sophy, me, or the book. It is about following what you know whats right.

I recently read Liz Hatch's blog post on cyclingnews, and she annouced that she is no longer with Vanderkitten. I don't know what exactly happened and even if I did I don't think would even matter.. Liz and Vanderkitten means a lot to me cuz Liz and others on Vanderkitten are super strong women obviously physically, but mainly mentally strong. I am inspired by a lot with my cycling.. but something about them draws me to them. I feel like Vanderkitten represents so much more than an average team. They follow what feels right.. but something has happened and I am only a fan and have been for a while, but I feel like this is a crucial period for Vanderkitten not having Liz on the team.. and Liz not a Vanderkitten. Really seems not right to me.. but maybe it is meant to be. I don't know.. but it is really heart breaking to me. I hope both of their futures are great though! Whatever might happen! Hope everybody kicks A$$ no matter what :)

Sometimes.. its not about two wheels at all..Its about living and loving life to the fullest possible.. don't waste it.

Hope everybody has a wonderful day.. night... morning.. wherever you might be.. take care

as for me I am going to snuggle with Sophy in my bed and look forward to a wonderful tomorrow

good night :)

Everything is changing

2009-10-08T13:51:00.002-05:00

My season is over. The season is changing... I'm getting rid of Sophy.. cuz she is going to get hurt living here with my horses and mules.. she deserves a better home..so I put her up on my work bulliten board to give away for free. I don't want money... I saved her from the pound and from being put down and put some meat on her bones. She will just fit well more into a family with kids. Now that this is going on I will be able to get a german shepherd again. Not just any german shepherd.. A sister of Sarg, my old german shepherd. Even though it will not be Sarg .. my life feels complete with a shepherd by my side. I have grown up with german shepherds. I don't have any brothers and sisters so I would play with german shepherds instead. They just have a special place in my heart. They are the closest dog that is related to the grey wolf. Anyway that is what is going to happen.. I feel bad about getting sophy and having to do this.. but then again I don't cuz I saved her from being put down.. so I saved a life in the end.

Vanderkitten kit is so hot for 2010. Made by Capoforma, it has more white on it and stands out more than EVER. Can't wait to sport the kit as a cat 3 next year!

I applied for mercy health insurance and was declined... hopefully I can get full time at my job so I can be covered.... and not have to deal with insurance companies ... God has got my back so I am not letting it bring me down. I can only do what I can do.

I read this thing in an office I was cleaning.. I think about it every now and then.. especially right now since there are so many things on my mind I almost forget to enjoy that I am on this earth.. thought you would enjoy it too.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
And today?
Today is a gift.
Thats why we call it the present.

Big Dam Bridge 100 2009

2009-09-28T11:04:00.003-05:00

So I did it. Jordan and me finished! It was a beautiful day! A little windy ... but we pushed through!! There was some hills thats for sure wasn't all flat. I was doing just fine until mile 60.. I started feeling a little bad.. And then of course Nate explained to me about bad patches and that you need to ride through them.. so I started singing... haha! I started singing Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats which is the first song on this playlist now. After I sang that over and over to mile 75 I FELT GREAT.. in fact.. about mile 80 when there was some hills.. I got a little crazy and attacked everybody up the hills. The people were seriously suffering while I was like WOOOHOOO !! ! I kind of felt bad for doing that but very suprised I felt so good at that point. When I read about century rides they would say like mile 80 was going to be bad bla blah blah .. Well for some reason I had energy all the way to the finish and felt like I could of done a sprint finish.. I prented I was mark cavendish trying to hold his position being really stupid.. and then I got a pin and a water and a good job. WOO! Fun century! Going over the bridge that morning was beauitful too. I felt like I could of rode over a 100 miles that day. My body suprises me sometimes. The longer I go the more ridiculous I get.. I'm sore.. but not as bad as I thought I would be. Going to keep up these long ride though.. getting stronger for sure. Thanks to everybody that encouraged me along the way. Telling me I could do it. I did it on 2 hours of sleep too. Maybe hit up some more next year for fun! haha :) For now I guess I will keep up my riding.. buy a mountain bike and hit the trails this fall/winter.

I GOT CAT CLASS
AND I GOT CAT STYLEEE

MEOWWWWWWWWWWWWW LA LA ALALAL

One Hundred Miles

2009-09-23T12:33:00.002-05:00

Funny how we think the number 100 is amazing... its a lot of miles sure.. but lets think of a car here.. my car has 74,000 miles.. and ITS kicking my ass.. so 100 miles shouldn't be a big deal...

I'm looking forward it. BIG DAM BRIDGE 100 ! I'm COMING!

Monsoon Rainfall

2009-09-16T00:07:00.005-05:00

After my vacation to yellowstone it has been raining.. nonstop. SO I haven't been able to get out like I have wanted to. The century I have been training for is next Saturday. I think I can do it, however, I will be exhausted and probably in pain. I will be doing it with my good friend, Jordan. We will be each others support when we get all like.. ok I duno.. if I can finish this..

Been putting in some long rides though and can seriously tell its helping .. It is raining like nonstop .. a green swirly thing is sitting in the center of Arkansas~ CRAAzzZZzzzZy! Anyway cycling is good.. HONESTLY ready for winter and all the offseason stuff. Really had a good cycling season. Crazy that fall is 5 days away. SO READY FOR IT.. for REAL! BUt soon.. I will be like omgee.. its been cold like forever.. but anyway love the weather staying dry.. my bike too. :)

Training & a Trip to the Tetons/Yellowstone

2009-09-11T00:10:00.021-05:00

It has been a bit of a gap since I last posted.. I finally feel like I can sit down and post even though its midnight. This week was a very fast week due to labor day this monday.. Took a little vacation to the Tetons/Yellowstone. Let me tell you.. I thought at first.. I was going to get bored or something.. that I wasn't going to be as impressed. Well .. I was blown away. When I arrived in Jackson, wyoming.. and turned a corner to face the massive jagged Teton Mountains.. All I said was WOW!! I looked at them in pics and just being there was another experience! Well Nate and I stopped to take some pics and this lady came up with her dog.. she had a huge backpack and smelled like woods.. she said something to me and then asked if we could give her a ride to Jenny Lake, which was about 2 miles away.. ANYWAY.. I looked at Nate like.. is she crazy? ( I never give anybody a ride I don't know ) BUT she explained herself and Nate asked her questions to test her and stuff and she said her camp was destroyed by a grizzly bear that it came over her head and didn't do anything but destroy her camp. So she needed a ride to report it....before it got dark.. SO we gave her a ride with her dog. I kept my eyes on her the whole time.. as she talked here and there... We got there and Nate shoved some waters in her back and some food and she went off on her merry way. Glad she wasn't crazy and VERY glad we helped her and her little dog too.

I got a ride planned in less than 5 hours.. I haven't been on my bike for a week so I am riding no matter what tomorrow haha! I am waiting for my comforter to dry so I can sleep with some covers too.. so ANYWAY....

Stayed in the tetons watched the sun fall behind the tetons.. BEAUTIFUL.. also when we arrived at the park we saw two moose in a creek.. people flocked to that area and we kept driving on cuz we knew we only had a short time to really enjoy that mountains. When we were done with the tetons we continued our drive through the park AT NIGHT! NOT THE GREATEST TIME TO DRIVE.. well I was nervous to see an animal walk in front of our BIG TANK SUV NISSAN ARMADA.. I kind of liked it though.. ANYWAY of course..... of COURSE... there was A BIG FRIGGIN BULL MOOSE AS BIG AS OUR VEHICLE OR BIGGER take its sweet time to cross the road! OMG that was the biggest animal EVER! Nate didn't see it due to the other oncoming car blinding us with its lights! OMG HUGE well it got out of the way and we went on without anymore animals. WE finally found our hotel and had to walk in the dark to the nearest resturaunt to get some lame pizza.. WELL I was pissy and fell asleep.

DAY 2 of vacation. Woke up very happy knowing I was not in my regular routine of work work work.. Went down to the same resturaunt that we ate at for dinner the night before. OMG the view from it was AWESOME sitting right one yellowstone lake.... we had a breakfast buffet and watched ducks and seagulls with awesome mountains behind the lake as a backdrop.. Almost didn't want to leave.
BUT WE DID right before we got into the car to hit the geysers... we heard elk bugling and stuff.. pretty sweet.. WELL we got at west thumb geyser basin and I checked out all the pools of hot stuff. REALLy cool cuz they were all colorful and bubbly and STINKY.. that wasn't so cool.. amazing how they don't have them protected a little better.. I duno how they even got the boardwalk built around them.. I mean you can just fall into one .. anyway pretty sweet.

Then I went to the bigger badder geysers like BADASS OLD FAITHFUL! AS I approached the real geyser area.. there was this HUGE BISON just walking beside the road.. and it blew my mind for some reason....... 2000 lb animal just roaming FREE FREAKING SWEET! well.. Faithful went off right when I showed up then this even BIGGER one Beehive went off and sprayed a bunch of people. I went across the continental divide like two times.. I kind of enjoy being at a higher elevation.. I DUNO WHY!

So we head into Hayden valley.. lots of bison and a couple of wolves and lots of people amazed by seeing the wolves as specs.. it was pretty cool. THANK goodness we had a high powered scope.. we wanted to get up super early to go to hayden valley but slep in due to the exhausting trip there. WELL THEN WE headed on to Lamar Valley later in the evening and we saw some pronghorn!!! SOME more bison. NO wolves though ... it got later and we headed to Gardiner to the Travel Lodge. They messed up something and upgraded us to a suite. We were good with that. We walked to the nearest food place ordered a pizza and had some beers.. root beers that is. We ate a pizza and we were OUT.

DAY 3 we got up at 4 and got packed and headed to Lamar Valley for some wolf watching. Well it was cold and we searched for animals.. saw some bison and then I spotted a black thing and found out it was a wolf.. so we freaked out and got our crap out to look at it. When we got the scope on it we noticed it was just looking at us as we were looking at it.. then it got up and started heading towards the road to cross to look for the rest of the pack. well we hiked up a side of this steep hill to get a better view of the valley with all these other people with their high powered scopes.. well we got next to these people who had a wolf detecter thingy to recieve a signal from their collars. Well me and Nate were talking and this older lady was like can you stop talking cuz we can't hear the wolves howling over your talking.. WELL I was like ok and just stood there quiet thinking well dang... well these people that told us to stop talking was talking like real loud well Nate was looking into the valley with his high powered scope as I was looking up the ridget behind us where nobody was looking with these regular binoculars.. ha.... WELL I was just being stupid looking that way and then this BIG BLACK WOLF comes into my view looking down on all the people with their backs turned. Well I was like OMG WOLF ! Nate and I got a great view of it while the other people who thought they were so great spotting wolves were talking away and never saw it. We we were pleased with the morning view and got ready to go on a good hike. Well we decided to hike up Mt. Washburn.. 3 miles up and down. GRIZZLY COUNTRY.. kind of freaked me out knowing I could be some bear's lunch.
Well I had this little voice in the back of my head saying DO IT! and So I was off up up up up and up.. it was very steep the whole way up to the top.. no level sections.. and we even saw 5 bighorn sheep!!! Some chipmunks and marmots.. got to the top.. the wind was blowing so hard.. like 60 to 70 mph gusts ... there was a cold front coming through right when we were heading up to the top. I almost fell mutiple times freezing.. I was kind of scared. There was a firetower you could go in and we ate a snack there and of course there was a chipmunk there to eat everybody crumbs!! It got in my backpack and tried to run up my leg! CRAZY THING! Well at the top 10,243 ft. We had 360 Degrees of the park and it pointed out the caldera of the super volcano we were on top of.. It BLEW MY MIND! Kind of scary as well.. but that is what makes the park so beautiful.. really.
We found out that a grizzly crossed the trail not too far before us.. and that a park ranger had to get the bear spray to get it to go away.. well after hearing that I wanted to get down the mountain as fast as I could.. so we headed down.
We saw three marmots and some birds, and just awesome views!! NO BEARS! YAY! I was pretty excited I made it.. kind of inspired me to hike up more mountains. I never really got why people want to climb up a mountain. Its an awesome feeling.. pushing your body to the limit .. kind of like cycling.. Well this is my new hobbie
and I am going to the Smoky Mountains this October to get some more hiking in during the rich fall colors of the south. SO ANYWAY we headed to hayden valley again for an evening view of the animals.. we saw two wolves again and some bison. Well a lot of people who come to yellowstone bring regular binoculars.. which ins't bad, but you really need a high power scoped to see animals like wolves well.. people with the high powered scopes were like COOL WOLVES why the people with regular binoculars were like WHERE?! So Nate and I let all the people look through our scope to see the wolves.. most were foreign and I think it was more entertaining to see the peoples faces when they saw their first wolves of yellowstone. Well we let that go on for about two hours and had some lunch at old faithful.. we waited in the night for faithful to erupt one last time. Had a coyote pass in front of me on faithful as the sun went down and we decided to head out of the park to idaho falls so we can get some sleep before our flight out.....

AS we headed out of the park we were kind of sad. We wanted more! MORE! We said by to the park as we exited.... and 50 ft from the park.. there was west yellowstone buildings and everything!! Seemed a little weird being around buidlings and in a town after being in the park.. Just nice to be in another world with the wild animals doing their thing. We headed back and I went to work that night sore as hell and slept the next day pretty much till work the next day! I am finally ok now after the trip.. haha .. the trip was great.. anybody who has NOT gone to yellowstone really should.. awesome can't wait to go BACK!

Well my training is going ok... been getting in some long rides with Jordan. The last long ride we did I got stung by a bee on my tongue while riding. I KNOW DOn't ride with your MOUTH Open.. heard that a million times.. well it hurt and I am ok.

I have a shorter ride planned tomorrow.. and I don't think I will feel that out of shape after a short trip to yellowstone. HOWEVER I will be tired from staying up.. my comforter is dry now and warm so I am hitting the hay!

Learn from the BEST

2009-08-26T08:12:00.003-05:00

Just read an interview that was with Robbie McEwen www.mcewenrobbie.com and I learned a little from it.. I didn't know he started racing at age 18 and turned pro at 23! Such an inspiration to me.. even when I first started getting into cycling he has been my favorite pro cyclist ever. I think he is one of the best too! Even if he is getting older.. he is only getting better though with all the knowledge he has aquired over the racing years. Not always the strongest man wins.. even though I think he is one of the strongest considering what he has gone through and overcome. He is famous, but he still takes the time to comment a message to me on facebook. ANd me I am just a cyclist in arkansas. I am not a pro yet or anything I just live on dreams and hope.. and of course my bike. Really appreciate people like Robbie in the world.

No Mountain lions in Arkansas?

2009-08-21T10:44:00.002-05:00

Rolled out of bed this morning to go for a ride with my buddy Jordan... talked about this and that.. got on hwy 206 and was still talking right away.. being very loud probably... and something caught my eye................ THought it was a dog coming at us so I was about to tell Jordan... but realized it wasn't a dog... it took me a second to figure it out but it was cat.. that was HUGE and tan... Then I realized I saw a mountain lion. It about 50 yards away maybe not even that super close..... and it ran out in a mowed yard.. there was woods behind this house's yard, but it didn't run into the woods.. no it ran behind their house and wasn't scared.. I was so shocked all I could think of is to turn around and go downhill.. fast......so we did... I had goosebumps and chills pretty much 10 min after that.. Regardless if it was wild or released or whatever it WAS a mountain lion and it was too close for comfort... lots of cyclist ride that road all the time.. and it needs to be reported. IT was attracted to our movement.. and thank goodness it didn't get us. It was as big as Jordan's bike... It was pretty, but I was just scared ....... I'm still kind of freaked out from it... Lots of people here if I was to tell them this they wouldn't believe me.. I don't know why the game and fish or anybody would just absolutly say there are no wild mountain lions in arkansas.. Arkansas is very wooded and wild animals will travel long distances.. They can see lines of state borders... they say that they died out by poeple hunting them, but what I saw today it doesn't matter I think it is a threat to the area cuz it wasn't a wooded area it was in area where people live kind of close together with animals. Anyway... always believed that they were here from seeing tracks at a spring that is on our property, but now I have seen one.. and doesn't matter what anybody tells me.. that was a wild animal I encoutered and it was pretty to see, but again dangerous to be that close to people and out in the open like that.

Friday. Thank YOU!

2009-08-14T10:16:00.002-05:00

Work work work... and play play PLAY! Training is going well. I think I'm getting more fit though.. cuz my job requires a lot of walking and sometimes with a 30 lb vaccum on my back. haha. Was working yesterday and had a guy ask for my number .. didn't know his name.. kind of shocked me at first I was like yea.. and then I was like oh wait I have a boyfriend...... I felt horrible..poor guy hopefully he gets a hottie someday. WAS a LONG week this week to me.. my parents left for vacation for a week 1/2 so I must hold the fort down. No partys and stuff.. well maybe a few. haha j/k... getting a haircut today.. THANK GOODNESS!! Its like a jungle up there. The season is coming to a close .. really just felt like spring not too long ago.. summer is really too short.. STILL HOT THOUGH! I am going to yellowstone coming up labor day weekend.. I'm going freeze my booty off.

I don't want to overtrain next season but I'm going to train hard. I'm saving my money gonna race race race... Like to also state that to anybody who doesn't like my lifestyle of working and racing all the time.. can suck it cuz I don't care if they like it or not... haha going to school is great. And I can still go and do whatever just happy and I think thats what it is about. I don't have a baby right now and a ring on my finger with tons of bills I got a bike and I love to ride. I do not fit in and thats a good thing. I've been different and always will be. People here in my "SMALL" town look at me as a failure when I gave up music as a career.. which yea had my mind set that that is what I was going to do.. and never realized I was meant to do something else. I still got it though and thats all that matters to me.. and great memories. I feel like everything I learned through music and school was more a life lesson than to stablize my life with a career. I love to inspire people and show them they can do something they never thought possible. As you can tell I learned that from very very good people that I was around in my life.

Riding a bike. Sounds so simple... so much more than it is.. I have been riding a little over two years now and I finally feel like I'm getting some legs underneath me.. really have to be patient.. LIKE hard to do thats for sure. I am excited to ride with the big girls next year as a cat 3.. I'm young I can do it. sometimes I feel like my age is slipping away fast.. going to be 22 in 3 months.. so going to enjoy this age with some good training hopefully some good wins as well. Won't hurt me to train in hills this year.. well maybe a little. Getting out on that cold day that might seem a little cold, but push through... I still plan on riding with Vanderkitten in 2010 and representing the brand.

Bought three goldfish ... still duno what to name them haha!

Anyway gotta get a trim.. my hair is ridiculous

Watch and Learn

2009-08-05T10:05:00.004-05:00

The past week I have been pretty quiet. It really amazes me how much I have to learn in life and in cycling. And lately have been just watching things and trying to absorb everything I can. You know my favorite animal is the timber wolf or what they call a "gray" wolf. I went to the zoo the weekend before last and Nate couldn't pull me away from the wolf section. Something about them is so majestic. They never looked at me even though they knew I was three feet away from them. They just talked to each other with little wimpers. Watching the people who came by with the zoo uniforms. I think they are so smart its ridiculous. ANYWAY I was looking at the little section on my blog where it shows everybody elses blogs I follow, and one lady that rides had a picture of a couple of wolves in her latest blog. SO I clicked it and it was a cool post!!! She blogged about how wolves are organized in their packs and put that idea towards cycling.

http://propamsknittingcircle.blogspot.com/2009/07/leader-of-pack.html

Great Post. And speaking of animals.. I have decided to take a mini vacation. I have free plane tickets from last year and I have decided to use them while I can. SO I have decided to go to yellowstone national park. I want to see the teton mountains, and also some animals in the wild. I think it will blow my mind when I see what it is like there. I plan on going on labor day weekend.. so pretty pumped about that! Maybe I will see some wolves!... at a "safe" distance!

I started my training for that century in September and its going well, however, the heat suprised me. Jordan and I decided on a ride at 10 and we got so hot.. we almost felt like puking bLAH! Then yesterday I got a flat and didn't have a tube on me or a patch so she had to go get a car to come pick me up. I just stood there next to this pony. It was scared of me and only would come closer if I turned my back. Still never came up to me all the way haha! Its a hot day today as well... ugh.. but its going to storm today I think.

I have been working hard lately and hoping that it shows to my other fellow workers. :) Everyone is so nice.. really lucky to be able to work with nice people...

I have learned lately that even though it may get really hard for a moment... it will let up sometime. That goes with work.. or cycling.... It all pays off too.

Anyway have lots of little things to do today to make the rest of my week go smoothly... hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

oh and I guess I am the... lone wolf :)

Warning Miles AHEAD

2009-07-29T09:51:00.002-05:00

I have been taking days off the bike now waiting for my friend Jordan to get back from Colorado. Heard she got clipless pedals now :) Will be fun haha! We planned out a 10 week workout thingy for our first century this September. I am excited about that! No competitive stuff ... just trying reach mile 100 and seeing others do the same is cool. Really excited about next season too! Long ways til racing next year... but neat to think about all the new stuff that will happen. I see young women like coryn rivera on proman thats 16 and emilia falin on team columbia that is a year younger than me .. kicking the pro womens butts! I want to be on that level someday. Or who knows race with them.. or whatever.. A friend told me that cat 3 to pro is the biggest jump. I have a lot of work ahead of me.. gotta get better experience in just riding with packs and tactics. Plus work on my attitude in the heat of things.. cuz in the end we are all there to race cuz we love it. Hopefully I will make some friends from the womens field and prove I am strong. Going to train in the hills next year. It will kill me .. but that makes me so much stronger.. maybe I will drop some pounds too and keep my power. SPEAKING OF THAT BRADLEY WIGGINS crazy man.... CRAZY what he did this year in the tour.. so impressive... GEEZ .. anyway he could possibly win the tour someday.

My mother's birthday is this sunday.. so I am going shopping today.. DUNO WHAT TO GET HER! hahah.. whats new..

Life suprises me.. which I'm glad it does cuz then I would be VERY BORED.. but anyway I think I'm mature sometimes then I realize that I can act like 10 sometimes haha ridiculous.. I am pretty young still .. no hurry to grow up really.. just change some things..

WORK. Its going good. Been vacumming with a 25 lb pack on my back for four hours with a 10 min break between. IT IS A WORKOUT geez.. I can tell my back is getting sooooo much stronger which is good. Still better than my last job thats for sure!

Wow..ok .. I'm hungry VERY HUNGRY .. I'm off to start this day! I will be riding a good long ride next monday with J so will let you know how that feels starting up the training for the century Big Dam BRIDGE 100 "BDB". Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week. :) Enjoy this warm weather.. OH and my boyfriend, Nate, crashed yesterday with his bike. A guy pulled out in front of him as he was going downhill 30 mph and he had to swerve crash to miss hitting the car and he slid on his back into a curb...... his legs thank goodness didn't get the impact or he would of had broke ankles, but his BUTT got the impact.. pretty sure he has a broken tailbone and he has road rash ALL ON HIM.. PLUS a good chunk out of his right butt cheek.

WHATS SAD is that the guy that pulled out in front him saw it all and drove off from it. Thank goodness he is ok. We have had our up and downs, but Nate has been there for me since day 1. He is my best friend/boyfriend. When I started the local group ride and was getting dropped he stayed behind.. he was there through all the suffering on the long climbs in the ozarks.. I can't even begin to touch the surface of bragging on him... His character is amazing... Really don't know what I would do without him. HE inspires me... probably the most to become a pro. I like to make him proud with my cycling. He really is a team player when it comes to cycling. He is like the Jens Voigt of cycling. Anyway going to spend the day with him today.

Enjoy these warm days.. cuz we all know they are coming to a close... Summer slips by so fast.. its ridiculous.. but its HOT TODaY! YEE!!

Have to Understand

2009-07-28T14:10:00.002-05:00

I have a short temper... not like anger management type temper haha.. but I don't like getting any disrespect... My intentions are good. I was raised with people stabbing me in the back most of my life so I have a wall up and usually take offense if somebody comes onto me the wrong way. I'm getting better, due to very nice people I have met through cycling, but I take no crap from nobody. :)

Also I requested an upgrade to a cat 3 and I am officially a CAT 3 :) I have next years races planned out and I am focused.. this year I was held back due to horrible back problems. One of my comments on my last post mentioned to remove all negative stuff out of my life and stuff.. that is a good idea.. and thats what I have been trying to do by switching jobs which it is a GREAT job.. very nice people. LIKE super nice people! They all ask me how I do in my races... so sweet really.. COULdn't ask for a better job. Its like we are a little family cleaning and stuff haha :)

You know what ... I did beat that randi girl.. but I have to give her this.. she was strong.. who knows we might race on the same team someday you never know or whatever... at least we are both competitive.. I do respect her for that.. really cool to battle it out. I should of raced more classy.. it really is more my style... it was a pleasure to race around the capitol. Good Race. Hope we race again sometime :)

Anyway gotta get ready for work and make some dough for next year :) Cuz I'm Coming!

Can't win them all

2009-07-27T10:43:00.002-05:00

Well I didn't win this time... I felt pretty tired during my races just from having a stressful first week on the job. I raced with two other ladies and got last but third.. I didn't get lapped though! We all rotated and took our turns pulling and I ended up just dropping back the final two laps. Then I entered the womens race to get a feel on what its like to race with experienced women that know how to race a bit better and that are stronger. I hung with them for three laps and I realized that was it haha! Then my boyfriend raced and he did well in the 3/4 and the 1/2/3 race ! Then it got late.. we ordered some sushi and then we crashed woke up and realized we were too tired to race sundays race.. which it didn't break my heart considering thats where I got smacked by the cat 3 field last year... So we went to the zoo.. I am backing off racing a bit for the rest of the season to do a century with my friend Jordan.

I got a comment on my "I'm a winner" post ..It is kind of hilarious being a cat 4 womens race.. I probably should ignore people like that.. check it out.

Anyway ... I achieved all my goals this year and going to upgrade and become stronger and faster for next season.. So many great ladies I want to race with.. just got to get good enough to keep up! I have learned a lot being a cat 4 woman cyclist.. but I want to race in bigger fields instead of like one or two other people all the time. It will be hard.. but thats how you get better :)

Get PAid! LETS GO RACE!

2009-07-24T14:40:00.002-05:00

I am getting focused thinking about getting another two wins this weekend. I have been feeling strong and doing very well compared to last year. And with this new job and getting my other life in order.. that makes me mentally stronger. Hopefully my legs can do all the talking this weekend. Oh.. and my favorite sushi place is springfield.. can't wait to dig into that! Anyway will let you know how it goes! I'm off!

Off to the QUEEN

2009-07-21T14:28:00.002-05:00

Well work is going well. Everyone is super nice and its laid back. I have never worked monday through friday .. so that will be different.. but it will keep me busy. Now that I won the biggest thing I wanted this season.. I guess I will do some more local races here and there. I got hit by that bike last year at Queen City Crits...... SO.. I'm not scared of it.. well sort of.. I just won't stand in the same spot next time :) haha! Well the Queen City Crits are in Springfield, MO on this coming saturday and sunday. My favorite of course is the Saturday one .. being more technical... of course.. AND More of a downtown feel. Plus I didn't get smacked on that one. I am going to try to get a win or two there and then do my upgrade or something. I want to upgrade to a 3 at the end of this season and just race that category to make me stronger.

You know .. I have to brag more about Vanderkitten and Liz Hatch. Showing up to races in the Vanderkitten kit..... is an awesome feeling.. When I'm racing... I know I look damn good... its great :) This wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for Liz seeing something in me. I love winning in a VK kit and making her proud. Winning is like me giving back.

I dream big. I have learned to talk with my legs.. its about results... yea I have a firecracker attitude.. but thats what gives me edge. I look at cyclists like Mark Cavendish.. and Robbie McEwen.. and look at there results.. I want to be like that... and I feel like I have that in me. I am not for sure yet really what I am better at.. but from my winnings so far.. I'm a sprinter. I want to beat the best .. but first I must beat my local competition and move up...

But anyway before I dream too big.. and ground myself here.. like I said I'm preparing myself for this weekend for another win or two and then an upgrade is in order...

Watch out.. I'm coming for YOU! yea you...

I'm a WINNER

2009-07-19T11:45:00.003-05:00

SO I worked my butt off the night before on my first job and it was great. I was tired went straight to Little rock got there at 2 a.m.. It took me a little bit to go to sleep with a stomach, but soon fell asleep. Woke up 2 hours later.. shoved some food into me.. even though I wasn't hungry at all. I was disgusting.. put my hair in a ponytail put on my kit and headed down to the car. Was pretty quiet to the Capitol and got my bike out .... put my helmet on..... snapped up my shoes... got my vanderkitten water bottle and rolled out onto the course.................. I had some stares.. I just stayed focused on the course.. I LOVED IT. THANKS RHONDA SYLER FOR PUTTING THIS ON!HUGE HIT! anyway.. like I said I loved it.. sharp corners... a little power climb.. some people might think its a climb though :) AND SUper rough at the top... like really rough! There was a lot of those sewer things and just rough road surfaces as well. SO they delayed our race just a bit cuz they needed to block off the course some more. SOOOoo I sat down in my foldy chair alone watching people walk around me.. gathering my thoughts. And all of sudden I started thinking about when I started riding my mountain bike getting into riding again with my dog that passed away, Sarg, running beside me. Then in front of me ... I swear I saw him just sitting in front of me.. wagging his tail with his tongue out like he used to and I blinked and of course he wasn't there... Then I knew.. he was here... with me..

I got my bike took one more lap and lined up. Listened to the rules... READY SET GO.. I clipped in relaxed.. looked at my competition to see who the strongest was. WHO wanted it the most and got behind. turned into the first left corner with a little dip and it had water in it and we all were splashed with water... took another left into the wind as we accelerated downhill...potholes..bumps..you name it.. this was crit racing downtown! Then we hit the first hill I stayed in the big ring the whole time.. got out of the saddle and danced on my bike like I was light as a feather dropping the other girls like flies. Then it was just me and another girl on the first lap... we climbed another short hill and took a right then a left then another left... and then a right to a downhill straight away with a brutal headwind... and then a hard left corner ..that she braked so hard in I almost went down...... I handled it well took a final right turn then a slight uphill to the finish line.. and the race seemed on after the first lap! I stayed on her wheel as she killed herself.... Anytime I tried to come around her she would accelerate so I wouldn't.. so I let her pull. Everytime at the finish she had some fans there telling her for me to pull... then calling out my number and calling me names... no kidding.. was kind of ridiculous being a cat 4 womens race. I just blocked it out and focused on getting the win.... the third lap I could sense she was weak..... She tried to drop me several times.. but failed... I thought in my head with two laps to go.. what was I going to do now.......... where was I going to attack? WHAT was her weakness.. IT was cornering that second to last corner where she about wrecked. SOOOOOOOOO I was on the final lap.. the pace was up considerably with like I said a brutal headwind... tunneling through the buildings and alley ways....... I then went to thinking about my dog Sarg how we would race each other on a straight away in my field how fast we would go. AND thats when we came to the downhill straight away before the corner she was weak at. I shifted up got out of the saddle and went around the corner full blast.. accelerated out of that and turned right sprinting for the finish. I didn't have time to look back to see if she was gaining on me.. I gave it my all and could see the line. I WON. Raised up one of my arms pointing towards the sky........ I won. I couldn't believe and I loved the feeling. I felt like a beast.... I had gapped my competition and she couldn't touch me. Am I bragging... maybe a little, but I felt like I deserved it. I had people notice me and ask me about Vanderkitten. It was an awesome win. I now have the state jersey a gold medal and cool little goodies :) I EVEN GOT free pave tifosi sunglasses! I had people boo me at the finish because there person they were cheering for of course lost. Its a race and I crossed the finish line first. I want to be able to be more of a classy rider someday, but I want to win... always..

I got to the car with my new state jersey on.. and told nate about sarg and everything.. and just started crying.... just knew he was there with me. I won that in memory of him.

This win makes me want to achieve great things. I want it now.. more than ever.. I am going to work harder and continue with my winnings and become something great. This only the start.. I have so much to learn and a long ways to go.. but its about the journey. It still blows my mind I won my first really big win. For other rider out there that just started out.. don't give up keep trying cuz if you want it bad enough you will win or achieve your goals... like I always have said cycling is about overcoming.

My boyfriend Nate is a cat 3 and he was combined with the cat 12 field... and he beat good sprinters in the higher categories with good tactics. HE also won the state crit champ jersey for his field. So we are twinkies ;)

My cousin almost won if it wasn't for a guy hopping the last corner.. he ended up finishing 3rd and won the bronze. Good job guys... but I'm the winner here.. HAHAHAA

Anyway with all this stuff being said.. I'm only a cat 4 and now need to work harder to upgrade and accomplish smaller goals to get to bigger ones... little steps.. thats how I have gotten this far.. GOTTA STAY ON TRACK!

Hope you enjoyed the post "Britt Style" See you on the road.

Good Stuff

2009-07-17T11:07:00.003-05:00

So tomorrow is my race at 7:25 in the morning in front of the Arkansas State Capitol. Good news is that I got a call yesterday that I got my job!!! Woot! The catch is ... that I go in today at 3 p.m. and work for 8 hours. Then I leave for little rock cuz I already booked a hotel that night.. so sleep for me will be limited. I went ahead and decided to work cuz you don't tell your boss that just hired you.. that you can't work right off the bat. I want a good impression so I am going to suffer a bit at tomorrows race. It will kind of suck.. but I have a big drive to win.. so we will see how far that will take me. Getting this job is very good for me though. Fedex is the best company to work for in this town. It will support my cycling.. even my boss really likes that I ride. I think I really deserve this position cuz I busted my butt at my other job dealing with stuff you usually deal with jobs, but also with stuff that was very uncalled for as we all know this. hehe :) Yesterday I dropped off Nate at the group ride and everyone was asking why I wasn't in my lycra gear! AND I was like well resting up cuz I got a race... AND I got to work tomorrow at my new job at FEDEX. Yea I was totally bragging :) And of course I love to see a certain someones mouth drop. Tomorrow I am going to try to rock it. I don't know how I really will perform with this dang swollen knee and then standing on it for 8 hours.. but I think everything will be cool. It could be a lot worse! Seriously ... really worse. Everything is going as planned though....

I have heard from lots of people lately that you can't have a full time job and become a pro cyclist.. well I totally disagree... I think it actually keeps you more on a schedule and you make more money for it... obviously you have to pick a job that works well cuz even a part time job and screw up your cycling as it did mine a little bit. ANYWAY plus with a full time job.. most of the races are on weekends.. take a vacation day .. personal.. or a sick day if you need a day to add on to the weekend for the races.. anyway... my point here is very proven. no excuses :)

Heinrich Haussler's finish today in Stage 13 Tour de France was so great. He cried out of joy of winning... and I must admit it was very emotional and I cried as well. I usually don't cry even in movies.. I did cry while watching Marley & Me though..

Well I have lots to do today before I leave for work to prepare for the race. I hope everyone is enjoying their weather.. and getting out! Hope everyone has a nice weekend! I will post about the race and of course first day of the job :) haha! TIME TO KICK SOME ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VK~~~~

Too bad we can't hear time

2009-07-15T14:39:00.003-05:00

Today is a quiet day. I am just sitting here watching the trees outside sway back and forth with no cloud in the sky. I have a couple of days until my race. These kind of days really let me think and relax before the storm. I have a ride later today with Jordan. We have decided to make a goal and finish our first century ride. It is the Big Dam Bridge 100 in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 26th. So last night I stayed up and planned out a 10 week plan for her and I to follow to be prepared for the mileage. Yea.. its not a race, but I believe that I need to become a rider first before I become a racer. So I think doing this will not only build my base as a cyclist, but it will make me understand how I function. It will be pushing me to my limits... and I think I am ready for that. Seems like time has come to a stand still right now, but as soon as I type this .. I will be standing at the start line with the Capitol at my back wondering how I will perform.

HEART OF CYCLING

2009-07-10T17:19:00.002-05:00

Seems like when the Tour starts its the middle of the season :) I am also following Liz Hatch in the GIRO DONNE! Womens giro.. SHE IS SO KICK ASS! LOVE HER! She even made a blog post on cyclingnews.com go check that out. I hope to one day be able do the womens giro and tour de france one day :) ANYWAY Todays stage in the tour was very interesting with the yellow not being on contador or lance's back. First real mountain stage today. I duno if I am a climber yet.. but I sure do love watching haha! I haven't heard anything about the job I have interviewed for... but I heard good news that the lady is out for a couple of days so... she might contact me next week. I hope so.. it will be nice to work for a well known company and get paid to get really cool euro bike stuff! SO I haven't lost hope yet. I rode 50 miles this past monday with my friend Jordan. I felt very good that day and even met up with an old school friend that started riding. I rode the next day on the group ride.. and didn't have ANYTHING IN MY LEGS.. no suprise.. that was a real big mistake. I rode kind of angry during that ride cuz somebody.. not naming her name was flirting with my boyfriend.... big time.. asking where he LIVED.. ugh.. I am supportive of women cycling, but not of women who just go out and ride for social SLUTTY purposes EW! ANYWAY enough about that crap gross. SO I rode up to where I used to live before my parents got divorced and it bothered me really bad and had to quit the ride. Just was really emotional that day. Went camping the next day on the buffalo river and end up having my left leg get really really SORE! SO I took a couple of days off and its almost healed now.

You know sometimes stupid things get to me.. it really sucks sometimes.. my mom let me know something which was cool while we were sitting at the chinese resturaunt drive thru.. hehe.. that when people try to bring you down.. you have to reflect right back how you handle the situation with your character.. like not bother you and stuff. CAn't really remember how she said it.. but it was cool! ANYWAY it hit me even though I already knew that inside.. and I am not letting stupid things get to me like that anymore! Cuz seriously I could possibly go pro someday and ride in a big womens tour or something who knows.. No need to have some woman bring me down with stupidity. JUST RIDE YOUR DANG BIKE :)

And if I get this job I will not be able to go on the local group rides anymore.. which is probably a good thing cuz I can focus on what I need to do more and stuff. I know how hard I need to go to race.. and get faster.. just takes time :)

SO I might go for a light spin if it doesn't rain tomorrow.. just to see how my leg is doing.. I am going for the State Jersey not this weekend but next weekend. I'm foaming at the mouth to win another win :) hehe no rabies :D or wait that could be my strategy.. don't get close to her.. she has rabies haha and I WILL WIN!

SOOOOOO My friend ZACH mentioned me in his blog to follow me cuz I'm a winner.. well.. he is a winner too!!!! follow his blog !! http://zach-cyclist.blogspot.com/2009/07/jbn-criterium-race.html cool kid :)

I am taking it easy.. realizing I have a lot going for me and that everything is gonna be ok... its only going to get better from here.

If I get this job there are so many things I want.. its ridiculous........................................ but don't we all want.. EVERYTHING :)

My car still works so I think I should just keep driving the wheels off of it. I need a new bike rack.. might get that.. but I have one.. kind of sucks though might get a new one. BUT I kind of want to move out as well.... just cuz it will be indepent freedom. BUT HAVE TO WAIT to see if I get the job cuz.. yea.. got to wait !

I'm starving.

I guess I will throw some short hard workouts here and there to keep that suffer feeling in me but back off so I have some BRITTNEY POWER FOR THE RACE! .. haa... anyway I'm ready to rip everyones legs off.. Life is good. You know lance and contador are going for yellow and stuff but what about LEVI he totally crashed and finished with the front group! WHAT A GUY! anyway.. would be even cooler to see him win :) LEVISTRONG!

Anyway I feel like something is going to change... we will see.. I really hope I win.. cuz if so it will just top off the season for me and boost my confidence. IF NOT I will only try harder .. keep my head up ... I might go race the gateway cup this year.. AND MIGHT go watch womens crit in missouri.. BUT duno if Tour of Missouri is a go.. THEY froze their funds... we will see how that will unfold. I feel like I have a future in cycling. I really am impressed with my drive sometimes cuz I have never been so driven to do something really in my LIFE.. Maybe if I get this job I can get a coach :) anyway have to wait to see how that happens.................................... like I said I'm starving.. time to feed my quadrisurous rex hehe !

haha.. yea wish I was eating this ....

ANOTHER WIN! I wonder if its the VK kit? :)

2009-07-01T09:15:00.008-05:00

Well.... what can I say... I won again. :D:D:D:D:D Had a girl beat me that I didn't know did at the second crit series... so this time since she showed up for the last crit .. I got on her wheel and stayed on it and jumped on whoever attacked. I never pulled.. not the greatest tactics, but I wanted to win ... and so I did. :) With a sprint finish.
Around the last corner I just thought ohh I am going to get out sprinted by the girl who beat me before, but it was so strange.. I just was like I'm going to win no matter what. SO of course she got out of the saddle.. and started her jump.. I was in the big ring ready to rock... uphill. I got out of the saddle and just surged towards the finish. Only took a second and I gapped them by a lot.. They were not even in the picture when I was finishing. It was a long uphill.. I just sprinted up the whole thing since they sprinted at the bottom. I have never sprinted that fast either.. I didn't even think. I could of even gone faster! I even looked back at the finish. :) So that gave me a lot of confidence. Winning is great! IT MUST BE THIS VANDERKITTEN KIT that is making win all the time :) You can get yours at vanderkitten.com :)

After the race I felt very dizzy.. had to sit down and it went away haha! I usually don't hold my breathe when I do a hard effort. And I don't remember actually holding my breath but I am guessing I did cuz I never get dizzy like that and I probably needed to pedal a little bit more instead of celebrating right after! I blame all the blood in my legs.. you know not thinking straight. I talked with RickieRainwater at the race, good guy! Nice to see locals! I told all the ladies good job and was supportive of the people I came over with. I had a good pasta meal afterwards. I think I will call that a success. AND WITH that said.. there will be many more to come. All my focus now is on the State Crit Championship. I really want one of those state jerseys :)

See you at the races. ... Y'ALL!

Going for Gold this week

2009-06-29T10:09:00.002-05:00

ANOTHER NEW WEEK! Going to be a great week I have a good feeling.. Hopefully I can rack up my first gold medal.. and another first place in my category. It may be small, but it is going to boost my confidence as it already has to make me stronger for bigger wins in the future. :) LIKE the arkansas state crit championship in Little Rock, Arkansas around the the capitol building! Going to be great! My race is 7:30 a.m. sooooo that means I have to go down and get a hotel the night before. And that is July 18th. I think I might go down and swim at the buffalo River.. for fun.. seems like the only thing to do lately other than ride my bike. Then I will ride my bike... I'm very excited about tomorrows crit. CUZ its the last :( and my cousin is going .. like everyone is going this time! A lot funner when people show up!!! :D Plus I have learned to like the hill in the course haha! I look forward to suffering on it now ! Plus it will NOT be 100 degrees ... maybe 90 but thats a big difference haha! This time I plan on doing two races this tuesday cuz I really love to race! Its funny how I remember people in the beginning telling me that I will not like it... BOY did I prove them wrong.. I love to see their faces when I show up to racing events and on top of that in a Vanderkitten kit. I'm not here for show.. I told everyone I loved it from the first and that I will be a pro with hard work.

Unexpected news

2009-06-25T22:12:00.003-05:00

So got up this morning fixed a big breakfast... stuffed blueberry french toast with scrambled eggs..yummy! Then got around and took off with Nate to the Buffalo River to go swimming! Get down there swim about 30 min and we here some rumbling .. it was thunder.. then the clouds came in.. so we had to leave! We still got about an hour of swimming! Then we drove back into town into a downpour! I sat at home.. eating and stuff and got a phone call from Fedex! A lady said I have an interview at 9 tomorrow morning! Very excited about that because those jobs don't come often. A little nervous about it thats for sure......................fingers crossed. Be very good with my cycling. ANYWAY..we will see what happens..

SO I got my kit on for tonights local group ride. This time it was going to be a little different. We decided to ride the new highway they have paid that was not opened up yet! So smooooooth and rollyyyy.. well we took off .. of course like semi hard.. then of course there was a front group that was going a little bit harder than I wanted so I fell off to the second group. Well we saw them in our sites for a while and the plan was (so we thought) was to go on the newly paved road,springfield rd.. off of the old 65 or something anyway.. so I guess the group just turned around at the missouri arkansas border and went back which was a good 30 miles.. well me nate and two other guys go on this other road.. which was nice.. but they were killing it, and suprisingly I HAD THE LEGS! My average was 18mph.. and let me tell ya it wasn't that flat.. What killed me the most was win the guys would just surge up hills.. alllll the time................... ugh... That will make me stronger though..

MISSED riding with all the other people.. wish the communication was a little bit better in the beginning. So I did 40 miles just under 2 1/2 hours.. I don't think I have ever sweated that much in my life either. I rode very well.. and didn't feel like I was going to bonk either from riding so hard with nothing to eat. Would of planned that one a little bit better if I knew it was going to be that hard of a ride. Its just really suprising how much better my fitness has become since april of this year. Plus another reason why I think I might be doing better is because I have changed my diet as well. I have started logging everything thing I eat on livestrong.com its called "my plate". ITS very good just to keep a food diary and to lose weight a healthy way. It gives me kind of a daily recommended amount of calories I should eat. Obviously add more if I workout and stuff, but its great cuz it helps me stay on track. I even got my mother doing it .. she has already lost 3 lbs. PLUS her friends at work has gotten into it .. and even her sister has thought about it! I started a chain reaction! The only reason why it looked good to me is cuz it has charts along with everything you eat in front of you. I am just too busy to sit and write down every single thing I eat and percentages and stuff.. it already has everything to go ! If anybody wants to lose weight I highly recommend My Plate found on livestrong.com :)

So today was a good day other than hearing that two celebritys passed away today. Rest in peace...

But on a good note everything is looking ok for now... trying to just keep focused and not let my nerves get to me too bad. Anyway got an interview tomorrow.. and I rode like a crazy woman tonight.... time to rest.... goodnight

Also just noticed I totally put in words that sounded kind of like what I meant to put throughout this post.. too tired to go back and change it.. haha night again..

First Win Ever

2009-06-24T12:51:00.005-05:00

well found out that I actually got second last tuesday... cuz I'm not scored with the junior girls so that was cool to find out even though I raced with them. So I recieved 14 points for that crit. I have raced all three so far. The first one I pulled out ... got dropped big time on that one in the womens open. Then I raced the cat 4 women last tuesday and go second like I said recieved 14 points for that then did the womens open race right after that and got 4th which I think I got 12 points for that and of course yesterday...... I WON MY RACE! So therefore I got 15 points. AND I am in the overall lead in my category and it looks like I am going to get a gold medal this next tuesday. GOLD.

So about my race yesterday.. It was the hottest race ever. Heat index had to be 100 or above.. no wind... humid... just dang hot. I hydrated myself all day .. and the day before.. cuz I knew this was coming. I warmed up before my race and when I came to line up at the finish I just felt so hot.. and kind of dizzy.. was a little worried with the heat. The official was like.. we may cuz this race a little short cuz of the heat.. if you feel sick .. do not race anymore. SO I was just like ok.. I really don't want to pull out. So the race is off my water is really hot.. I was hanging with the junior girls. One girl which is bigger than me is 17 .. pretty strong got on her wheel then after about four laps she pulled out so I chased on to the other junior girls. I then I had to back off a bit or I was going to either one .. puke..or pass out.. well I knew my competition was back behind me. One lap to go there was nobody behind me that I saw turned in the final corner and of course one girl I was racing with was on my wheel. I gave her one look.. like are you crazy enough sprint in the heat to finish... (it was an uphill finish too).. Well didn't wait long to see if she was going to sprint me so.. clickclickclickclickclick...and I took off not looking back.. had some people screaming and stuff and I finished first! I was excited.. but about 5 seconds after finishing I felt really really bad......................................................... went to my car poored water on me .. drank lots of water... sat in a little chair forever.. then I was ok! really wanted to race the womens open after that.. but I was just too hot.

Next tuesday which is the last crit of the series.... the weather is looking good for now.. you never know though .. it could change.. BUT I'm going for gold in my category. And as of right now I have it :) Even though this is a crit series it has boosted my confidence big time! I want to win everything! YAY! The biggest thing I am going for after that is the Arkansas STate Crit Championship! found out the location has changed from conway to downtown Little Rock! We are racing around the capital.. also heard its not flat! I am pretty excited about it really. I heard Rhonda Syler from Carve is putting it on! Glad she is doing that!

Hey Summer whats up!?!

2009-06-22T10:22:00.005-05:00

Well its summer and the days are now getting shorter. Its been in the 90's everyday this past week and only going to get hotter this week. SO of course I have been going down to the Buffalo River and getting in some swimming and relaxationnnnn timeeeeee... good recovery thats for sure!

This week seems to be starting off really well. I got good sleep and I am motivated. I think finally I have caught up with my sleeping and I am thinking more clearly. I rested all last week after my two races last tuesday. WHY? Cuz I needed a rest week.. I started seeing the signs of overtraining and backed off a bit. So I thought of other things to do like ... start a food diary. Its called my plate on the internet.. it is now located on livestrong.com. IT seems pretty cool, and since I am on the computer a bit I thought why not make it even more useful. I have tried to keep up with my food by logging it into notebooks etc. BUT this is just the way to go for me.. I want to get a little bit thinner to get up those hills a little faster. Plus keep myself as healthy as I can by monitering my fuel. hehe

Had a ride called the Summer Solstice Ride. It is a 3 mile ride for everyone to the airport. Pretty fun ride this year! We rode real easy and casually.. chatting about this and that..enjoying the nice evening. When we arrived at the airport we entered a code and rode our bikes onto the airport to the hanger where we had our party. We flew little airplanes by remote and ate hotdogs and beans and of course a watermelon. It was nice watching the sun go down.. just enjoying life. Good ride.

I read meriders blog today and I saw that she had a motorist almost hit her and she was upset. WELL I must mention about a couple weeks ago I was travelling through the park on the way out for a ride with my friend with Jordan. well these teenagers were lined in the way on the purpose.. Jordan asked if they would move.. they didn't and laughed almost caused Jordan to wreck and myself.. well of course after I pass I get pretty upset yell words and sprint back to them to ask them camly why did you do that? You could of hurt somebody. And I asked them to apologize to Jordan which they did.. and they were scared.. they knew better than that crap. I usually don't even give people like that the time of the day.. just recently happened after I knew two cyclists passed away from annoying accident plus I was pms"ing" .. bad combo.. so I just left after that and two of the guys later came up and apologized to me after my ride, however, I found that my car was keyed after all that happened not sure if it was them or not.. but still not cool. I can't change everybody on what they think of cyclists. And some people will never change. I just have a fire in me that thinks that I can sometimes.. its kind of annoying sometimes cuz its hard to shut it off. It was just simply young adults thinking it was cool to get in the way of the cyclists and see if they will wreck... but still.. no excuses for picking on cyclists. So stupid they did it in a park like that.. punk kids haha ! Glad I finally vented about that one.

I have also been looking at women pro teams... I have noticed a lot of italian women are pros! And that there are a few italian teams tooo.. And I have also noticed that Liz Hatch is in Italy racing there! Italy has got it going on obviously haha :)

I have an italian language thingy that I guess I will start learning sometime.. I guess with this heat outside in the middle of the day.. I guess I can start learning or something.. just to know. Maybe it will come in handy someday!I want to learn languages on the side.. like I said may come in good use.. if not cool to know.

So this week.... I am going to see what that rest week will do to my legs. I plan on doing the crit #3 ... both races... D & C .. cat 4 women then womens open.

Just plan on going on a regular ride today to wake myself after the week of rest..I have been kind of serious lately.. just trying to stay focused on whats good for me.. and not let random people or things get to me over silly crap. Going back to the basic things that started my love of riding. Really amazing what has all happened I tear up everytime I think back.. to my simple mountain bike ride with my dog.. Wore Sarg's dog tag during the state rr.. that second hill I was so hot had to unzip my jersey and it clanged against my zipper made me get up that hill..

anyway hope everyone has a great week as there is a lot on my mind and lots to do.

Resting plus some shopping

2009-06-20T11:56:00.006-05:00

Tried to go on a hard ride thursday and my body said no. So I have put my focus on resting and shopping. Bought a new swimsuit yesterday.. decided to go with a bright yellow bikini. I tried it on and I thought great.. I'm going to look so crappy in this.. but I actually looked good in it! I forgot duhhh I lost 50 lbs.. ! I was just overweight for so long.. I just kind of stay in that mindset sometimes.. I'm not super skinny right now, but I'm healthy and proud of that. You see the models for Victoria Secret.. they have amazing bodies, but those women also have their confidence set sooo high! Thats what gives them that special look to them.. Every woman is so different.. and you just gotta love what you got! Work with what you GOT! Seriously.. I just thought.. omg don't want someone looking at my butt.. or be that revealing or whatever.. but in that changing room.. I JUST THOUGHT.. I'm 21 freaking years old. I'm not going to be young forever.. and my outlook totally changed.. and just decided to do it with cycling tans and all! As you know Adriana Lima is my favorite victoria secret angel! WELL I decided to take her advice and be confident and do whatever I feel cuz its not about anybody else its about being happy and loving your own body!

I get these kicks..

2009-06-18T16:02:00.002-05:00

Preparing myself today for a hard ride. I don't like to do the route very often because it has a lot of short steep climbs... hhaha.. but I know it makes me a lot stronger riding on that stuff so thats what I am going to do in about an hour. This morning I woke up early.. to go to the Fenton Berry Farm to pick berries! First time I actually went. SO we got our buckets and I just stood in a field of blueberry bushes. I was staving at the time.. so I ate a few going down the rows, filling up my bucket. It was really peaceful out there with the sun on my face with a nice cool breeze. Blueberries are my favorite fruit. In fact I made myself a tad sick on them today.. not unusual. I ate them on the way home.. while Nate was getting some pancake ingredients.. and while I was fixing breakfast.. THEN I ATE THEM for breakfast.. with blueberry syrup :) I'm still full from it all too.. haha.. well wait now that I have typed that I'm hungry now. ANYWAY picking berries in the morning was awesome first thing in the morning.. I felt very healthy bahhaaa!

I also like to share something I think is super cool! I know its facebook, but I saw Robbie McEwen's fb (yes his is real) status say that he is back on the road after his crash! and I was like.. glad your back on the road! and he responded back :Thanks Brittney! Sounds like you're doing well, keep it up. R

That made my day yesterday :) cuz he was one of the first cyclists I looked up to just cuz he is a sprinter and the fact his attitude is sort of like mine. ANYWAY SO COOL! He randomly started chatting to me on facebook one day.. didn't believe it was him.. and it was bahhaa !

Plus I have now been named FIRECRACKER KOLB .. I like it.. it suits me lol

I also love the new oakley jawbones.. they are for men, but I am going to make them for me.. duno what they will look like on me but I need some new shades.. good way to stand out I think :) duno which color to get they have them available in Retina again like my other oakley radars... BUT I might do something different this time.. duno yet ... still thinking.. getting later in the season though.. oh well..

well I am going to change and go for the local group ride.. maybe I can put a hurt on the men tonight :)

Tyson Crit Series #2

2009-06-17T09:52:00.007-05:00

WOW OWWO OWWOWOWOWOWOWOWWOOW

SO I finally rode like so awesome! I ACTUALLY did my first yesterday without getting DROPPED! IN FACT I SPRINTED TO THIRD!!! THEN AFTER THAT RODE WITH CAT 123'S AND GOT 4TH !!!!!! I had people cheering for me and telling me good job and stuff! I duno what happened I just felt so FAST all of a sudden.. finally.. !!!!!!! I LOVE RACING OMGee! I want to win everything now with no MERCY .. hehe :) KICK ASS!!! WOOT! Check out these pics of yesterdays races! I rode down with PAul and Nate in a huge VAN and we listened to loud music and laughed the whole time lol.. loved iT! Can't wait til next weeks crit! 5348317336449506834" />

New week!

2009-06-15T08:53:00.004-05:00

Well its a new week~

I am proud of my placing at last weeks race! I am going to do the practice crit this tuesday again for sure! I can tell I have gotten a lot better this year than last year.. The next biggest thing I want to win badly is the Arkansas State Crit in Conway,AR.. maybe I can get my jersey there.. haha! It is not technical..at all really....... its for a powerhouse! Not that I am.. but it has two slight rises. One of those I guess I could call a hill.. sort of.. You feel it about half way through thats for sure haha .......................

I took a rest day yesterday .. since I was pretty beat after being beat down by the suns RAYS! It was super hot saturday.

Its a new week this week like I said.. I am focusing on my fitness more and my sleep .. I think I will have great results to come this year and so on! I met a lot of nice tyson women at last tuesday's crit and at the state rr! I will see them tuesday! They will soon know I am a big cycling dork hahaha..

anyway duno what I will do today except go ride the beginner group ride.. wake up my legs a little.. chit chatttttttt the normal.. maybe some more laundry.. hang with sophy.. kind of laid back day for me yet again! I'm good with this though haha!

OH want to know a secret?????? Well duno if it works yet really.. but.. I read that brazillian women like to eat carrots and beets to make their tans a deeper bronze.. I think that might just make the perfect cycling tan! Latin Women drink carrot juice to darken their tan as well.. so.. I am going to try it.. not like over do it just eat some carrots and beets here and there bahahaha ANYWAY I am going to take a shower.. waiting for Nate to get off work.. so hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather.. I will take 100 degree heat with humidity than a cold day! HAVE A GREAT DAY!

3rd place Arkansas State RR 2009!

2009-06-13T19:19:00.004-05:00

I GOT 3rd omg! AND I GOT A MEDAL! Hardest race I ever have done in my life.. climbs were ridiculous.. I mean ridiculous.. but I did a good job! I met RickieRainwater himself.. he handed me a book thought it was nate that was handing me the book .. I WAS LIKE why are you giving me this.. looked up and saw it was somebody I have never met! THANKS SO MUCH for the Andy Pruitt complete medical guide for cyclists BOOK! LOVE IT! My friend Jordan did awesome as well! SHE FINISHED HER FIRST RACE EVER! WAY TO GO! There was a big climb towards the end of the race and on it in chalk it said Christa Voss and Matt Edmond RIDE ON! When I rode over it I pointed to the sky, and rode like hell up a very steep climb. I also wore my dog, Sarg's Tag.. in memory of him as well. I have ridiculous tanlines and a happy feeling inside.. I felt like I accomplished a big thing.. CYCLING IS ABOUT OVERCOMING! I felt like a winner today even if I didn't finish first! I wore my bronze medal very proudly around and told everyone good job!! I LOVE CYCLING! WOOT! OH YEA And thank you to everyone who wished me good luck !!!!!!!! Loved seeing all the support before my race! YAY! I think I actually "kicked ASS"! YEEE!

Sleeeeep and more sleeeeepp

2009-06-12T18:34:00.003-05:00

Loving all this sleep I have been getting. Tomorrow is the Arkansas State Road Race Championship.. Of course I am wanting to win it very badly cuz I want to show off a championship jersey, but we will see! I didn't do very well at the practice crit of course cuz I tried the womens open and totally got dropped very fast hah.ahaa.. It was fun though easy course for me .. I will be doing it the next three tuesdays. My friend Jordan that has started riding is racing her first race tomorrow with me! So proud of her having the courage to get out there with all the other women! I hope its a good one for her! I am also racing in memory of Christa Voss tomorrow.. just cuz she was a great person and I feel like that is something I can think of while pushing it hard or when it gets tuff. I am going to go to bed early tonight and try to get some good sleep then get up and eat a big breakfast with my friends and cousin chad! Yea thats right! Its going to be like the old times all traveling together in my little sunfire with three bikes on the bike~ OH YEAA! I missed that actually haven't done that this year! pumped! I didn't ride today cuz I have felt kind of sluggy.. haha I want to win so bad tomorrow its ridiculous.. I have been dropped from everything I have done.. but I know I am fast cyclist maybe my will to win will drive me to the finish line first :) WISH ME LUCK! I am off to pack and snuggle with Sophy!

and here is the state rr course
Arkansas State Road Race Route
Find more Bike Rides in Lincoln, Arkansas

Drunk Driving

2009-06-11T08:17:00.007-05:00

Woke up this morning to horrible news. Got a text from Nate telling me that two cyclists were killed by a drunk driver. It was Matt Edmonds and Christa Voss on Bicycles of Tulsa.. I didn't know them personally, but I raced with Christa in every race I did.. In fact, she was the only girl that would talk to me at my first race.. She even won Tour de Hills this year and I talked with her there.. and raced with her at tulsa tough. She is also in my main photo up above. The tall one on the far right turning her head in front. I didn't have the chance to really get to know her, but I could tell she was an amazing rider with awesome power.. with good character. I really respected her as a person and as a cyclist. My boyfriend, Nate, raced and knew Matt.. he is torn up about it all also. I really don't know how to handle that.. That could really happen to anyone.. It really just makes me sick to my stomach. They were on the shoulder as a drunk driver struck them.. This is really a sad day.. all the cyclists in this region will mourn over this.. Cycling is so widespread.. They will be missed forever.

muscles be pop'n!

2009-06-06T18:11:00.003-05:00

I'm starting to feel like a real cyclist now.I can't stand riding in shorts.. I LOVE BIBS.. kind of sucks when you have to go pee though.. BUT I rode 50 miles today.. climbed the local little mountain and everything! My friend, Jordan, never has gone 50 miles and it was awesome seeing how excited she was going that far!!! And last thursday at the group ride I rode the Jasper & Back route which is a hilly 40 miles! I did that 2:30 and pretty dang proud of that! This is a lot for me right now so I am going to back off a little so I won't burn myself out, but I am starting to get some LEGS thats for sure! I made a new goal! WHICH IS.... to do the century ride thats called the big dam bridge in Little Rock, Arkansas. I have never done a 100 mile ride so I thought that would be fun to do with my friend Jordan and stuff! So pumped about that! :D I have crit practice tuesday in Fayetteville so I am excited about that one too! They have a beginner one for women and then a womens open thinking about doing both!! lol why not! well.. unless I feel like poo!!! Going for it though! I even talked Jordan into doing the state road race with me! She hasn't raced and its only 23 miles.. it can be done.. hehe I'm pumped about that too! CUz I'm gonna bring it!!!

So I found a job that pays so much more than my last job and I would only have to work a couple of hours :) I applied haven't got it yet, but super pumped about it cuz I would get sleep and its super easy! I applied for a housekeeping job at fedex. My mother works there and they pay well! So I thought well a job thats not hard works with cycling that pays my bills ! I still plan on looking into that massage school in Fayetteville so I can eventually do that with cycling. Seriously though lol.. housekeeping.. bahahahaha hey it pays! We will see what happens there with that :)

I have a lot free time lately so I thought I would blog a little bit more than I have been since I have been getting more sleep ......................................... and I am more with it now hehe! Plus I had a request on Twitter to blog more so here ya go :D

June is my favorite month of the year.. for sure.. I used to love winter... BUT ITS NOW SUMMER.

Lance has a baby now MAX! Pretty sweet name I think his middle name should be Power..... Max Power Armstrong.. anyway that was lame haha

ok.. Sophy is telling me she wants to go to the park lol.. she has taken over my life and rules ! Love her though..

SO here is my game plan.. taking off tomorrow off the bike.. then riding the easy group ride monday .. then going full out crit racing tuesday ..

Well gotta spend time with my "child" Sophy .. (my boxer/lab mix thing)

2009-06-05T15:39:00.002-05:00

check out this video of Tulsa Tough one of my favorite races ever and my first race of the season this year!

http://vimeo.com/4980568

New chapter

2009-06-03T11:18:00.003-05:00

I officially quit my job today by not giving the company a notice and just not showing up. Not the best way to quit a job, but I felt as if they hated me. :) So now I feel like I have started a new chapter in my life.

Went for a group ride last night to get in a hard effort. So all the guys were talking about a crit series starting up next week in Fayettville, which is about an hour away. So I have decided to go on that next week to get good practice in racing. Then I found out this one chic that gets on my nerves has decided she is going to race.. like I want women to get involved, but she is mean to me in a "nice way", and super nice to the guys if you know what I mean .. and likes a lot of attention. When the attention was off her cuz I raced at tulsa tough she has gotten into racing and crap. SO when I found this out on the group ride I came up beside her and asked her about it... she acted dumb of course and I was like yea I will be racing against you. Then she was like don't be hard on me in her immature little voice (shes 24..and married) and of course being my competitive self I was like I will be. :) She asked for it.. Finally I get to battle and take out all the times she has flirted with my boyfriend and stuff. Anyway enough of her..

I rode the group ride and suffered but rode very strong. I had all the guys tell me I'm getting faster and stronger and it made me feel really good cuz I look up to those riders. I rode 30 miles as hard as I could ride.. great training for racing, but today I'm resting!! Thursday I will be doing the group ride again. The route will be Jasper & Back.. Kills me everytime but it will make me stronger as well.. of course Kristen (that girl) asked me if I was riding.. lol.. whatever.. sucks she can't be cool and just ride.

I'm really loving being 21 right now! AFter the group ride last night we all went to the new bar in town.. we are a dry county so its like the only bar haha! very classy though I'm not a bar type of girl! everyone had a beer and I ordered a huge BURGER the John Paul burger.. my favorite EVERRRrr. Anyway Had a great time came home slep for a LONG TIME! First time in forever since I have slep in..FELT GREAAATTT!Glad I have that part of my life out of it.. I am so much better than that.

Since I have decided I am better than those crappy jobs.. I have decided I am going to try to go to a massage school in Fayetteville. I am looking into it right now and I thought it would be nice thing to do on the side as pursuing my career in cycling. Plus it has interested me ever since I have had weird pains and stuff in my neck and back. It would take a couple of years I think, but it seems more like me to be a massage therapist than working like a dog around a hot oven sweating to death hardly making anything. SO I'm pretty excited about it all.. It really helps my stress level thats for sure.. and my overall health. I'm just glad I am moving forward even after quitting my job :)

TULSA TOUGH 09

2009-06-02T12:53:00.009-05:00

Worked like a dog last wed as it was my last day to work before Tulsa Tough and I felt free............ So I packed thursday ..shopped etc then fell asleep! FRIDAY woke up got ready went straight to tulsa checked in my hotel with Nate.. got ready for Nate's race.. I was so nervous being there and knowing I was going to see Liz and Vanderkitten Team. I went around looking for them and found all them. I just stood there very shy not knowing what to say really. Then I saw Liz and she gave me a big hug!! And I was introduced to the team! They were all very friendly to me and talked here and there. Dave was hilarious as usual! Nate was racing while this was all happening and he crashed so I had to go off and see how he was then the pros started racing and their were sooooo many crashes ... in fact Vanderkitten had like 5 girls crash ................ like everyone crashed except Liz pretty much!!! SO I watched a little bit and was soooo tired went to the hotel and crashed.

I woke up a zillion times in the night not being able to sleep. When I finally woke up I was so nervous since it was my first race of the season .. I was racing with the cat 3s.. and the fact that Vanderkitten was going to be there cheering me on..

WELL of course on the way there was road work being done on the exit WE had to get off on to get to my race.. I WAS LATE didn't get much of any warm up .. didn't even get to on the course one time.. so I lined up and was just thinking CRAP! Even though this was all happening to me and I was totally stressed out.. I just thought well... I am here I am in a nice kit right now lol VANDERKITTEn I have a pimped out bike.. I'm ready to rock! SO They counted us down I tried to clip in.. of course my foot came back out and I was automatically in the back of the field a BIG NO NO! I was trying to get on a wheel and my lungs were just on fire.. I fell off the back one lap into the race.. I was just thinking SHIT! so .. I just pushed really hard and did the race pretty much by myself.. I never pulled out and Vanderkitten showed up kind of towards the end of my race. IT was awesome to here them cheering for me, but I felt like a failure sort of.. not being able to keep up and having goals of becoming a pro.. I aim so high.. and not focus on little things.. just a lot of pressure on myself. I gave it my all and just kind of set to the side not very happy.. I duno what my deal was but I wasn't very pumped about being there and doubting myself really just SUCKED..

PLUS my shoulder kicked in killing me after that race.. watched Nate race again and he crashed.. again on the same leg.. he was hurting pretty bad but stayed in the race they pulled him one lap to go. Vanderkitten showed up and I went to go say hi and one of them told me I needed to draft that it would made my race better.. I just thought.. if you only knew.. but I just took what she had to tell me cuz I respect them all. They told me I did a good job for my first race back in.. and I was so happy when they just even talked to me ! haha It was so damn hot saturday one of the women pros had a heat stroke and I just had to leave cuz I was tired after my race and Nate was bleeding everywhere.. I was invited to go eat some BBQ with Vanderkitten but just couldn't go I regretted that.. but a lot was going on... I ended up only getting three hours of sleep
saturday night.

Sunday Morning I was like no way in hell can I race this course feeling like this.. well I wasn't planning on it.. cuz of my shoulder and crap BUT I thought no I am here I am not giving up so I lined up with no warm up fixing to go on a very hard crit course with a very steep climb and a wicked descent. So I stood there ready to go this time not very nervous cuz the worse already has happened and I can't be even more embarrased so they counted me down again and we were off. OF course I get to the hill just thinking great.. this is going to be horrible, but I actually climbed better than half the field and stayed with them until the descent.. one girl slid out and crashed going down and corning it a little fast.. its so easy to do that so I just kept pushing on and went about 6 laps of total pain by myself again.. god.. and had to pull out.. I just sat there pissed and upset. I did way better than I thought really.. I was just upset cuz the trip isn't what I wanted. Nate ended up not racing cuz he just felt soo bad. He wanted to leave... so I did and I never got to watch Vanderkitten and it was a long drive home.

After I got a nap when I got home I thought about the positives of it all. I met liz and the team.. I raced and gave it my all.. its a start. I want to just try harder and get better.

I went back to sleep got up super early to go to my stupid job.. I had a feeling my boss was going to be the biggest ass.. about something of course he was the first thing he says to me and Nate is that he had a few issues with us.. first it was that we argued one day and an employee called and bitched about it to the main owner.. called his house to complain about me and him.. when all those bitches yell at each other in front of the customers.. we even kept it on the down low when we had a problem one day.. like someone had to really be paying attention to of noticed it anyway.. it went from that to Nate couldn't help me lift things anymore and that my shoulder hurting like it has doesn't matter that he couldn't help me that I have to lift things like a man pretty much. BUT he can help all the other ladies lift their heavy stuff!!!!!!! And then my boss said that its just weird cuz we are not even engaged or married he made that kind of comment which pissed me off!! my mouth dropped open .. really did. I said I work over nine hours standing on concrete doing my job without a break and this is what I get? and then I was like sounds like I am a problem.. he never said anything..

Well I almost walked out right there.. suprised me I didn't I tried to hold back my tears and I spilled a bucket of cheese by running into it. ..and started crying then my boss felt bad and asked how was your race. I gave him the go to hell look and told him it sucked.

So I worked the rest of the day thinking I can't believe I work like this and lowered myself to this cuz I'm better than this. SO I have decided to screw it and move on.. god had better plans for me they don't deserve me. I am going to keep my head up and stand up tall. Life isn't perfect, but you have to make the best of it. It is about making yourself happy.

Really sucked a lot of crap got in the way but life goes on and it wasn't that bad really haha! I think I learned a lot to know how to deal with future situations.. Time to better myself even more.

MY NEXT RACE is The Champion State Road race next week.

oh yea and...

2009-05-28T13:31:00.003-05:00

Just hit me.. ..

DAMN I HAVE COME A LONG WAYS! .. seriously I have been packing today.. and I know this is my second post.. woke up with liz texting me.. and it literally just hit me this all happening to me.. I NEVER THOUGHT I would be able to race.. I had no support.. and now look at this.. I have LIZ HATCH one of the most famous cyclist in the usa.. rooting for me along with vanderkitten team .. wow.. I'm only a beginner.. I am so happy its ridiculous right now.. wow.. I duno what to say really but thanks to anybody that takes to time to read my blog.. life is good no matter what is thrown in your path. I just can't believe it really.. wow

Off for tulsa!

2009-05-28T11:23:00.002-05:00

Well I have survived and it looks like I will be able to go to Tulsa Tough. As you know I am very excited cuz its my first race of the season. I looked at the weather.. and its supposed to be very hot no suprise there... the only bad thing is that it has turned off very cold here I'm only next door to TULSA seriously.. and its like below 70 degrees.. so strange.. so I will not be used to it. I don't really care though.. cuz I haven't been able to anything and I am happy with anything :) I will get lots of pictures .. I'm so ready to kick some ass..

I'm back! kind of :)

2009-05-18T15:45:00.007-05:00

I feel like I'm kind of making a comeback from a lot of crap finally! Even though I don't have my pinched nerve or ruptured disc fixed yet due to the long process of health insurance to be approved I have done things on my own to help it from people who has had the same problem before. Anyway its been working along with taking some pain killers to reduce inflamation.. so its kind of on hold and not bothering me as bad as usual so THEREFORe I have been able to get on my bicycle.. a bit :) IN FACT I must say I did 60 miles yesterday.. and not just any 60 miles .. a hard hilly 60 miles! Farthest I have ever gone in my life so far haha! I did the local Jasper Disaster route.. its a killer it has three long climbs in it and not counting all the little short steep hills in between.. I finished it under 5 hours.. a lot better than last year I tried to attempt the ride.. which I didn't finish last year.. I had 20 miles left of it and I bonked BIG TIME! but.. yea ATE when I was supposed stay hydrated and I died but I ended being ok. I even finished with a sprint at the end like I was doing the actual race that is held every year on that course :) so maybe I can start practicing to race next year :) :) :)

So I have been getting out to the local group rides lately and they have been kicking my butt for sure, but I am getting so much stronger its ridiculous actually! I am very happy I am finally showing some improvement. OH and I got my new bicycle built up with my new kit.. all I need is to go to tulsa and show what I got. I am a little nervous about it being my first race of the season.. A CRIT.. not the greatest idea haha, but Vanderkitten is going to be there and I am going for it. I am very confident in my bike handling skills Cuz thats one of the best things I am good at :) But this new bike is a dream.. I bought it not even knowing how it felt or anything which I do not recommend doing EVER.. but I got lucky and it fits better than my previous bicycle. I can accelerate so much better and kill it on the hills. I even have all the local awesome riders tell me I ride so much better now :) SO I have been pretty happy about it.

I have been thinking about Tulsa Tough a lot lately and I am just going to give it my all and hope for the best. I have only done what I can do.. and we will see what I will do there. I am so excited to see the Vanderkitten team and Crew. It has been a year since then. Unfortunately I found out like a week before that they were going to tulsa tough and I was sick with the flu and still went lol.. wasn't really myself. Liz Hatch is like a big sister to me helping me out when I need something or whatever and I just want to tell her thank you when I see her for everything. Such an amazing person and cyclist. Plus hopefully I see Mary on the team that sold me the bike :D she was cool about it all. And the others on the team seem AWESOME can't wait to meet them and make new friends who kick Ass!

Anyway the biggest thing I have noticed that I have gained as a cyclist is this new ability to suffer through things a little better.. if that makes sense.. like yesterday I felt like I couldn't pedal anymore and that I just wanted to shut my eyes.. but something in me made me push on.. in a headwind.. ugh! haha! It is amazing how mental cycling is really.. wow. I am progressing slowly but very strong.. I know have a very positive outlook on my cycling future. I'm only a cat 4 right now, but I'm showing signs to be something great someday !

Today I might take a recovery ride on the local begginer ride here.. maybe there are a few new people that started I can get to know :) who knows !

lol check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybLck728YuE

Tour de Hills 2009

2009-04-28T09:46:00.003-05:00

Did my first cycling event of the season. I didn't race it, but did what I said I was going to do which was the 26 mile tour loop. Suprisingly I rode most of the tour by myself.. kind of glad it was that way really.. I thought a lot while riding how I need to just ride more and quit putting pressures on being so great someday. Like just focus on whats going on right now.

I had a brutal headwind with rain at one point and mist the rest .......... It was the local orange loop here and it is kind of difficult but not bad.. I need to do that route more though.. I don't like it but I do... hard to explain haha! The finish of tour de hills is awesome because you climb a hill that overlooks the ozark mountains and you can see the finish. Its a downhills finish.. kind of like roller coaster... of course even though I was doing the tour I pretended like I was finishing a race with a breakaway haha except I didn't even begin to sprint.. my speed crossing the finish line in the saddle was 35 mph. I heard some clapping lol.. and I smiled at one of the officials which was Hector Mendoza from Mercy cycling while crossing the finish. I got in my car and watched my boyfriend, Nate, finish which was only 30 min after I did and he did the 58 mile course! INSANE! anyway.. he did well!

I got to see people I haven't seen in forever and it was great to see cyclists!!! And suprisingly a lot them remember when I got squashed by a bike last year.. cuz I had to explain why I wasn't racing it and they were like WOW now I understand when I told them I was the girl who got squashed!!! Anyway it made me feel better to see people and meet new people!!! I had a great time.

The next event I plan to do is Tulsa Tough at the end of this month. I will not be in great shape for it, but Vanderkitten will be there and I want to be there.. DUH.. SO I am going no matter what. I had awesome goals set for this time of the year, but due to my STUPID INJURY I have been held back A LOT! SO I am dealing with what I can and doing what is possible. STILL SO EXCITED! I am going to get my sexy little work horse of a bike probably THIS WEEK! OMGEEE!!!!!!!!

I HAVE ALSO made a new goal to lose about 15 lbs.. well I have been wanting to do it.. but now I am for sure. my goal is to get down to 130 lbs by june something.. forgot the date I set it but I am going to try to lose 2 lbs a week and see how thin I can get.. while staying healthy.. I just feel a little heavy going up some hills so maybe losing some more weight plus a lighter bike might feel a little different haha! Plus I want to look real good in my new vanderkitten KIT! Everyone thought it was super cute at Tour de Hills which was funny! And someone was like HOLY CRAP there is a vanderkitten! pretty cool to hear that !!!!

I am only 21 and have cycling future in front of me.. I seriously need to not stress myself out with this injury cuz I'm going to get BETTEr and so much faster!

I felt like Tour de hills was the beginning of my 2009 season and that now I am on my way to a great season!!!!!!!

And thank you so much for all the responses I got on twitter about doing the 26 mile loop at tour de hills! That made me feel awesome knowing that you don't really know me in like person, but you can say such nice things ! THANKS!!!!!!!!!

For now I am going start riding a little bit more and get myself fixed as soon as my health insurance is aproved which should be pretty quick now! And then I will continue pictures of my tanline.. OH and I planted a garden cuz I think it was something to do since I am injured and its SO MUCH cheaper and healthier to grow your own plants. Its raining so hopefully they will grow and I can eat them and I will be stronger lol!

Well I have tons of laundry to do today.... and have to work tomorrow so I must continue to do the basics .. haha hope everyone elses season is going well WITHOUT injuries ! GEEEZZzzzZzzzzZzzzZZZzzz

Bad Luck maybe? nah.

2009-04-17T15:47:00.008-05:00

Well I had plans to start racing in march, but that was not going to happen.. I am finally getting myself fixed the fist of may........... why may cuz thats when my health insurance goes into play. I have been struggling a lot lately..... due to getting off very addictive anxiety medicine I should of never been put on in junior high.. and this pain I have in my neck/shoulder and now back. Pain everyday plus withdrawl bad combo. So This is teaching me a lesson for sure though.. This is all negative crap that has come upon me, but I am learning to be a positive good person through other things than just riding my bike. I feel like I am growing up a little.. I believe that God only gives you what you can handle too. This will not last for long thats for sure. The people I really look to is people who fight with diseases and cancers that has a hold of their life, but they don't let it take it from them. With their amazing willpower... For example everyone knows Lance Armstrong.. I mean thats enough right there.. It literally makes me tear up thinking about those people.. Those people are the real heros.

Read today that one of my fav cyclists Tyler Hamilton retired. Why is he one of my favorite cyclists? Even though he struggles with depression and other personal things.. you can still tell he is an awesome person. Everyone had issues.. I think he is a great cyclist and always will be. Nobody is freaking perfect and I am glad he puts himself first. Sometimes its not about the bike and that is what makes cycling so great.

The local race/ride tour de hills is next saturday I can't ride the full ride so I have decided to do the 26 miles cuz I don't want to get out in the middle of no where on a hill and my pain kick in.. cuz that would be an aweful experience. The first real race I will race will be Tulsa Tough because Vanderkitten will be there! Hopefull there I will be fixed ready to race with my new bike I will get soon and be wearing the new vanderkitten jersey. That is what I see right now that keeps me going. Wouldn't that be awesome.. If that happens there is so going to be pictures!!! I don't care what I get at tulsa tough even though it would be nice to win something but not planning on it coming back from all this. My cousin might go and Nate plans on racing as well with me so I am hoping I will be ok to do it.

Next week is when my bike might be shipped or the next so I am pretty excited about that :) I have lessons with Sophy at Petco tonight she is doing ok.. haha crazy dog LOVE HER THOUGH! but she is crazy hyper ! I'm kind of like that sometimes too though.

Well I better get going. Got to drive to Branson for her lessons.. just so glad I don't have work tomorrow.. EASTER was insane! I made so many egg shaped icing cookies.. but everyone loved them cuz they were pretty unique haha! That was cuz I was sleeping while doing them pretty much anyway hope everyone is having good weather and if your not hopefully you will get some soon.. bhahahaha anyway.. blog ya later

testing

2009-03-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

Trying out a post from the blackberry in bed lol..... Well pain has been going on in my shoulder/back/neck area still and going to get that fixed as son as possible. The knee pain is going away almost completely. It took about 2 months for it to which is a long time for me! Well today since this pinched nerve or slipped disc is limiting what I do I wanted to go on a hike but everytime I go I miss sargy .. So I have decided to get another dog.... From the same people I got sarg from... I love sophy but I always will have a German Shepherd by my side great dogs.... I had no idea though that sargs dad was a champion ! That explains where he got the looks from. Anyway this is a test post from my phone and I hope it goes through if not I guess I wasted my time updating myself lol thanks rickierainwater for listening to my music ! :)

check this out!

2009-03-20T23:46:00.004-05:00

turn off my music if you don't already do and watch this! I worked so hard.. lol

I feel it

2009-03-17T10:10:00.010-05:00

I am in the process of getting off of anxiety medicine I had to take in high school. The problem is that it is addictive.. and its really hard to get off cuz it messes with you.. I am doing pretty good, but its probably the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with. It could be a perfect day and some days I just wonder why I am not happy and don't feel like doing anything. The positive thing is that I am getting off of it and should be completely off of it this year. I noticed I am nicer to people.. and just don't take things as hard. Plus I used to get so nervous when I travelled anywhere.. like I almost would puke. Now after travelling to races and focusing on riding my bike I channel my nerves through riding and I don't really worry about it anymore. I am just so glad I have got to this point to my life..

So I have been working through that and the two new pains that have come up this year in my training. Which is the pain in my neck and the one in my knee. The one in my knee is due to a tight IT band. I have been stretching everyday with some self massage/heat. I have also been getting advice from the Vanderkitten pros about what I should do about it and they really helped. My neck "I think" I have Kyphosis. Anyway I plan on getting on a good insurance that covers specialist visits and the chiro and stuff with a little copay to help with some of this if it has not gone away but I still plan on getting on it regardless with racing and all.

I have also decided to buy a new bicycle. Found a good deal and hopefully it will go through its a vk bh connect full carbon frame and fork.

I am a little upset that I am not racing the end of this month.. cuz I am not in shape for it due to my injuries I have been dealing with. So my first race will be April 25th at Tour de Hills. I duno if I will race or ride it but I am going to do that for sure.
Group rides have started. I didn't ride any last week on them cuz it was like we had an artic hurricane.. seriously blast of very cold air came down but now it will be 80degrees today and it will be the official first group ride for me. Yesterday I took my little cousin that just recently started riding to the beginner group ride and I had to encourage him a lot to make it up the hills, but he made it. I think it is the coolest thing to see someone accomplish a goal wether it is big or small. To see a face of no limits is really amazing.
I plan to ride tonight and I am looking forward to just getting out and getting my legs moving.. geez.. I should get my jersey this week.. and bibs next week .. but will see I know it will be soon. I am very excited about that because I duno what I will look like IN IT! I can only imagine that kit with a matching new bike... MEOW! I think joining the VAnderkitten Cycling Club is the best thing I have ever done in cycling! Love the variety of people who are in it! I feel like I am not so isolated out here in ARkansas.. seriously .. I can only imagine what kind of ridiculous style I will bring to the races this year with all this euroness.. omg I am in a good mood no matter what today. I love you all.
Sophy is doing well! She is Crazy insane excited all the time and happy :)My cousin did his first race of the season. Hell's Kitchen and he did pretty good of for the first of the season. He didn't win... but he is pure sprinter .. he can climb but it just wasn't suited for him. Wouldn't of been a suprise to me though if he did win it though he is really getting into shape!

Get your cycling tans on seriously I will have pics of my tan throughout the season. :)

Breaky & A ride

2009-03-05T11:07:00.003-06:00

Today is offically the start of spring for me. I don't care when it actually is. Today it will be 70 degrees and plus my hibiscuis plant popped out a bright red bloom. It is Spring. I was going to ride yesterday, but I worked like a dog because some breads messed up and we had to make them again so I stayed a good hour 1/2 longer than usual. BUT TODAY MY FRIENDS is the day I will be getting out and enjoying myself back in the saddle.. kind of a lame break of not riding, but I feel no pressure just have to stay consistent and have fun with it. Group rides start up next week and yea.. it is a group ride and people say to stay away from them.. bad for training but I feel like it helps me a lot with just pack skills and stuff.. Kind of gets me ready for racing and I make myself learn not to blow up because I used to have a HUGE problem with that by getting too excited and just go really hard at first..... So I am excited for those to start up to see everyone. Another positive thing is just knowing I will be racing in THE Vanderkitten Kit this year. The Team presented it at the Tour of California womens criterium! Even though it rained that kit stood out and was so cool. I can't wait to get mine in the mail thats for sure!Pictures are by Kurt Harvey, AWESOME photographer! He is my friend on Facebook! Maybe someday he will be snapping some pics of me :)

Waiting for some warm weather..

2009-03-03T15:18:00.002-06:00

I feel like time has stopped and I am stuck in a cold WORLD! Good thing it is supposed to warm up tomorrow.. I didn't think I could wait any longer.. I haven't been riding that much lately which is bad. I want to go to this race by the end of this month. I am still going to go.. I just been having some problems with my knee still.. which it is getting better due to some advice. The other problem is that I have pinched nerve in my left shoulder.. and I am going to have to go to the doctor about it .. and that means lots of money.. really annoying I thought the pain would just go away. SO ANYWAY nothing really new has happened other than lots of sleep. It snowed this past weekend....................................... I live in the south shouldn't be getting snow this late, but sometimes it happens.. I REALLY can't wait till its so hot you can barely breathe because of the humidity CUZ I REALLY CAN'T STAND COLD WEATHER!!!! Anyway positive thing.. the sun is out and I KNOW it is going to warm up in the future... THE FUTURE!!!!!!!!! Its coming.. I hope

The season has officially started

2009-02-15T13:34:00.004-06:00

When the Tour of Cali starts up it officially feels as if the season has started. Wasn't a big suprise Fabian won to me just cuz it was windy there and he is world champion strong etc etc. I was rooting for Levi! He is so cute being a little guy with so much power :) I love how he is shakes before he takes off he looks like he is about to explode cuz of all the power in those legs! haha! DZ had some power under the hood as well.. looks like he will have a wonderful season! Hopefully his climbing has improved and stay more with the leaders. AND OF COURSE Lance Armstrong was amazing! I really admire his determination and drive in life. He is a hero of cycling and to me. His time was very awesome even after three years of no pro racing. It will be a very cool 2009 season! Vanderkitten will be racing the womens thingy today to open the stages. I hope that goes well :) Also Vanderkitten has their new site up www.vanderkitten.com check that out pretty sweet!

My knee has finally gotten better... which is GREAT! It took three weeks to get back to somewhat normal shape. I moved my saddle too far forward because my stem is too long.. so I have to get a shorter stem. Problem Solved.

The first race I will be doing is the NWA Spring Classic in Prairie Grove, Arkansas close to Fayetteville. I did it last year and I loved it even though I was dropped haha! It hailed on me their last time and it was a little cool.. BUT I think this year it will pretty sweet. It is March 29th. There are other races I could do at the end of this month and hell's kitchen etc, but after my knee crapped out I know I'm not ready for those races so early .. so not going to waste my money and do my first race the end of March. I have six weeks til then so I feel confident with my season starting then and doing very well in the middle to end of the season cuz.. Vanderkitten will not be attending Tulsa Tough this year from what I can tell from their calender so I am planning on upgrading to at least a three by the end of the season and racing in the opening womens race before the tour of missouri in kansas and race with the team. Going to be a great season in the HOT SEXY Vanderkitten kit!

Sophy, my new adopted doggie, :) is doing VERY well she is ripped and very healthy!! She has so many toys.. it looks like a toddler is living in my room. Since I cannot run the only way I can really give her a workout is by attaching her to my mountain bike and doing the little loop I started out doing when first started riding. We do that for about an hour where she is jogging and stuff. She loves it ! Since I am getting her used to bikes in general she might be able to come to a few races with me where we have to spend the night. So she is doing VERY WELL and she is the happiest ever! :D

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Days as I DID! Nate Braswell and I are dating and he came to pick me up to take me work at 2 am something so then we could go bake sweets for all the turkeys who get their women something at the last minute. WELL I get in and I am like half awake and see something swinging on my rear view mirror and it was a necklace. I freak out and its a diamond heart necklace! WOOT! well I was very happy and I put it on he also got me some cute diamond earings too!That match this necklace he bought me for our first month of dating. I was in shock! Just so pretty! I am not a jewelry type person, but this was very gorgeous. I even got flowers at work :) I felt very special!!

Today I am just hanging out doing some basic cleaning/laundry and waiting for Nate to come over so we can put up pics on www.tourdehills.com website and watch the first stage of the Tour of California on Versus for about two hours. Then to bed for me cuz I gotta work to save for like a new bike rack to put on my little blue sunfire haha! :)

I duno who will win the first stage.. and I have no idea who I am going for.. but I think it might be rainy there.. :0 that would suck. I remember the stage last year where riders had to pull out cuz of the rain and cold aweful but of course THE HORSE won that stage! Mr. Rollin is a very nice gentleman :)

Now that my knee is better I will be training a bit more. I am losing weight too and eating more fruis and veggies and whole grain stuff.. and working my core like no other.. I have a two pack yay!

My mom is using her vacum right now.. it sounds like it is going to explode... I think I will get her a new one for mothers day haha.. anyway I'm out of here

I seriously can't wait til spring/summer to get my tanline on.. seriously

Adriana Lima one of my Role Models

2009-02-09T17:14:00.008-06:00

Adriana Lima is one of my role models. She is a strong beatiful woman that can model like no other.. I might not be 5'10" like her, but I always thought it would be cool to model as well as be a pro cyclist someday. I think it is a good combo being young, thin, and athletic, and might I add beautiful. I am 21 which is a little late getting into any type of modeling but still in the major modeling agencies they take girls under 22 and 23 so.. maybe ifs But I have a goal to drop about 15 lbs in a healthy way. I always wished secretly to be a victoria secret model :)

Well I am unfrozen now!

2009-02-06T09:54:00.015-06:00

Lots to tell and show! !!

First off its my Cousin Chad's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD DIFFEY'cult' he has the meanest sprint around!

It has been very very cold lately.. like feels like zero temps and stuff which means TRAINER TRAINER TRAINER.. whatever..

After this insane coldness an ICE STORM came and wiped out my power along with everybody elses in my hometown. It broke 100 year old oak trees on my land.. blewalmost every transformer in the city of harrison.. it looked like a war .. with the explosions reflecting off the low clouds.. I was pretty nervous even though I knew I wasn't going to get hurt. A lot of people actually died from this storm. Pretty sad but it was very beautiful when the sun came out and shined on everything.

Anyway.. was on my trainer a LOT and now my knee is injured I think from just being on it a bit and staying in one position. So I haven't touched my bike in a week... BUT TODAY MY FRIENDS is the day I will go out and test my knee. The temps have warmed up and they are calling me. When its so cold I feel like I can't do anything like a sloth or something and I cannot think clearly.. I really dislike the cold. I always liked winter until I became a cyclist.

I really can't wait til SPRING! And speaking of spring Tour de Hills RACE/RIDE is APRIL 25th! IN MY HOMETOWN!!! HARRISON, ARKANSAS www.tourdehills.com The best views the hardest course in arkansas. Yesterday Chad Nate and I went and took pics of the course for the website. Since I am "injured" I drove and took pics of them riding up the steepest climbs and just took some pics of the scenery and stuff. BEAUTIFUL day~~ Here are a few.

This what I see where I live and ride! I hope everyone around can do this race it is really worth it even the pain :) And thank you for everyone commenting on my last post! I really hope I win! YAY!

Women Who Ride Contest

2009-01-23T20:06:00.002-06:00

Well I got an email from a friend,Zachary Ellwood, telling me to check out the Women who Ride Contest. http://www.trekbikes.com/women/women_who_ride/contest/ I feel like I would be a good person to represent road since I already have a pretty sweet blog hehe :) Anyway.. This is the essay I have sent in.

My name is Brittney Kolb and I am 21 years old living in Harrison, Arkansas. I started riding a Trek mountain bike about two years ago when I wanted to lose weight. Now I am 50 pounds lighter and racing in road and pursuing a pro cycling career. The bike has changed my life in so many ways . It has made me realize life is beautiful, but short and to live every second of it.

I ride because it gives me freedom in my life. It is an escape from all the stress and negativity in the world. I have made so many friends that I will have for life from just riding a bicycle. Riding has given me more confidence and has taught me that with hard work and dedication I can achieve my ultimate goals big or small.

I started riding for 10 minutes working up to an hour everyday with my mountain bike on a little path in my field in all kinds of weather with my german shepherd, Sarg, running beside me. My german shepherd was sort of my coach, barking at me if I was not going fast enough. Six months later I decided to buy a road bike after watching and being inspired by the 2007 Tour de France. Even though I knew I could never race the men's tour de france I just thought I want to do that same thing, but in womens pro cycling. I started looking into womens cycling discovering it wasn't as popular as mens and ended up being inspired by team Vanderkitten because of their strong women on their team that promote womens cycling. Now Vanderkitten has made a club racing team which I will be a part of for the 2009 season.

As everything was coming together and I found out what I wanted to do with my life, my german shepherd passed away last month. Its really hard knowing that he was there in the very beginning, but I have realized that he would still want me to keep riding my bike no matter what. So I have decided even though cycling is great doing it myself I want others to notice that a bicycle can change their life as it has mine.

I love riding because it brings so many different types of people together. It brings out a positive side to people that is kind of rare these days. I have a blog already where I type about anything that inspires me in my life on and off the bike. There is a few people who read it, but it would be great for more people to read it because I have a unique view on life with a bicycle. I ride to encourage other women in my area that they can do what I did while having fun doing it. It would be an honor to represent Trek while expressing to others the beauty of cycling.

finally figured out my problem

2009-01-15T09:31:00.002-06:00

Well if anybody happened to read those last two posts.. forget about it (in an italian accent) seriously I have figured out why I was in a rut.. and realized there is no reason for it really. I have been surrounded by negative stuff so much I let it eat me all up.. it can really happen to anybody. Doesn't matter if you have lots of money or whatever.. being down can get to anybody if you let it. My boyfriend told me about this guy who wrote this book about when he was in the woods so many things go wrong, and that if you dwell on that you would be ate up by fear and never enjoy it. And see I have anxiety and I get really nervous to do new things really.. even though I am capable.. I just kind of freak out over stupid stuff like for example I felt a sting and I thought oh something bit me.. its a black widow! haha anyway I ask a zillion times am I ok over and over while someon usually nate says yes a zillion times.. anyway I just need to stay positive and enjoy my life because being being sad and down is not healthy. Life is short.. and I know that so I need to live it and be more myself.. which is a goofy hyper excited cyclist dog lover. :)

HAppy NEW YEAR! that was quick.. haha

2009-01-03T10:24:00.006-06:00

I cannot believe it is 2009... but oh well have to cuz it is! I played board games with my family which ended up being a very competitive dogopoly. And then I was getting very tired and grumpy and passed out after midnight. I did not drink anything.. cuz I just didn't really want to instead I had a tall glass of milk :) I have been training.. but when I had to work everyday for the holidays from 3 a.m. to whenver.. I ended up just sleeping so today I have to get back with it. WHICH it is actually going to be 70 degrees today!!!!!! WOW! it has been like 30 degrees.. with a nasty windchill.. gross.. MY blackberry broke on christmas and I thought maybe I would get a new phone but I didn't so I had to do without til yesterday and now I am very happy !!!

so.. I was trying to think of new year resolutions.. and one of them I guess.. is drop another 10 lbs to go up the hills a little faster bahahaha! .. and save my money because its smart. AND OF COURSE like cycling stuff.. like be more consistentant stuff. Just cool stuff. I got my hair done and dyed my natural color and I am sticking with it for a while and growing out for sure. I had an asian girl tell me randomly that I was very pretty while I was stuffing my face with sushi. I turned red.. because it was unexpected. :) And I could barely understand what she was saying at first.. I thought she asked me if I was finished haha!

Sophy is doing well. She is getting fatter and healthier. Took her to the vet and she is very healthy except she is still trying to adjust to the food. I got some pretty pictures. SHE IS SO FAST TOO! GeeZ! Faster than my german shepherd ever was in fact she outruns all my dogs and also my boyfriends dogs. ITS CRAZY! BUT I love it though cuz she has to be fast like me. :) I am going to give her some lessons on how to run beside the mountain bike. I did it with my german shepherd and so I am confident with her learning fast.

I have a ride today at noon with my friend Jordan her back is hurt so I am riding a normal ride, but who knows maybe I will ride a little more after she gets done who know who knows.

I have been entering for the hgtv dream home everyday. WHY? cuz its cool. And I want to live in California ride my bike and have some wine :D Plus Bobby Flay is hott. Pretty cool he cooked in the house!!!!! Plus I just think I am a perfect fit for the house. CUZ I have a dog and I am a cyclist.. seriously.. I can't imagine anybody else but me living in it. I have entered for my mom like for four of the dream homes before because I was not of age yet.. but now I AM 21 !! woot!

I had a huge breakfast "breakfy" and I feel a little sleepy, but I am pumped because today is the first day in like two months I willl have been able to get outside.............................................. yea.. the weather has been that crappy.. or I have been working.. lame.. Anyway I must get ready to go ride in style with my new SLR saddle. I have gone black tape and saddle now.. so pimp! Anyway!! Hope everyone is pumped about the new year and the soon new cycling season!!!

Change of Plans

2008-12-29T20:48:00.003-06:00

I was going to adopt a dog then decided to go ahead and buy a puppy out of the parents of Sarg.. well I went to springfield, mo to go buy some makeup at sephora.. go to my favorite store victoria secret... and then I decided to go take a quick look at their dogs at their shelter at the South West Humane Society. They didn't have that many dogs really, but I looked and looked and noticed this boxer mix female about 9 months old.. well I talked sweet to it because she was being calm submissive, and she wagged her docked tail in cute little circles. I of course debated with myself and Nate and took her out for a walk. They said she had a pulling problem.. she didn't. Just whoever walked her just couldn't walk a dog correctly.. thats harsh.. but its a skill you have to learn especially with a big powerful breed of dog. She walked gracefully beside me then we stopped she rested her head in my hand and licked me.. of course I knew then she had me. I went in and adopted her. Unexpected .. yes....... SO I got excited went to petsmart spent over 300 dollars on dog stuff.. Crate, toys, leash & collar, treats, oversized dog bed.. etc etc.. anyway walked out with two carts of stuff. She rode very well all the way home and was very happy she had a home. Also she probably wasn't going to be adopted due to being adopted twice and returned...... that would be really hard on any dog. I can't believe that happened being as sweet as she is.. Anyway she is in a wonderful home now and I am happy because I saved her life and the fact that we are bonding like no other!

She is kind of afraid of some things and she starts growling and barking.. like for example my horses.. I had to take her right up to them several times till she stopped. She also was afraid that everytime I would leave that I wouldn't come back, but now she is better in fact a lot better because she gets in my bed and will just lay there when I am like in the kitchen or something. They said she was a boxer/ lab mix.. but when she barks she sounds like a hound.. and her head looks like a hound.. SOOO I did some research and I think she is part Pointer and Boxer. For fun though I am going to do a doggy dna test they have now it is about 60 bucks or something but I am curious what she really is.. and it might make more sense why she acts the way she does sometimes if I knew her breed better.. I know for sure she is some sort of hound and maybe a boxer. I have an appointment with my local vet tomorrow for a check up. She also doesn't like people playing basketball and tennis.. but is ok with people riding bikes at the park. I have been taking her on walks every day now except one day because we were in a tornado watch with sever storms all around... that kind of sucked.. but anyway she is a great dog! I am so glad I have adopted her and gave her a forever home. She snuggles and sleeps with her head on my feet. :)

Oh and her name is Sophy :D

GEEZZ

2008-12-23T17:34:00.003-06:00

I am working like a mad woman at work. This only day two of the week of christmas of working and I have cracked. Yesterday I worked from 3 a.m. to 2 p.m. ... that zapped me and of course for some reason I couldn't fall asleep til 10 last night.. and so I only worked today with four hours of sleep.. HORRIBLE FOR My TRAINING. In fact I am not riding today because I am just too exhausted. I really like my boss as a person and I work with my boyfriend, Nate.. but it really gets to me sometimes because they treat me as a man. I can take it most of the time....... but sometimes it is just too hard and I try to give my 100% all the time.. and its not enough but I over look it. I am a pretty strong person, but when I don't get enough sleep and I am doing a good job and they act like I am not or tell I am not.. it gets to me. I have to realize I am not going to work at this job forever. It is teaching me a lot though to keep my cool under very stupid situations...................................................... which is good practice really. I had a girl tell me to move my big fat butt today at work .. she later apologized about it and it was all good. I just didn't say anything when this was expressed to me.. following lots of laughs from fellow co workers.. when I am skinnier than all of them.. but thats why they said it.. I did used to be bigger so it was kind of annoying but its work.. thank goodness I get paid.

I have been thinking of the Vanderkitten nation wide team thingy and it is such a great thing to get into. I am in a local club here with a total of 40 something members not that big.. but great little club with people I pretty good, but the Vanderkitten club team would be a better option for me. I live in a great place to ride but in a small town that really doesn't understand cycling.. so I am going to go for it. Plus if you don't already know.. Vanderkitten is like my favorite team everrr..

The HGTV dream home for 2009 is in Sonoma, California. I am going to enter everyday for it because well now I am legal to qualify as a winner haha! I entered for my mother years before here and there. THIS time though I am entering everyday.. why? Cuz its a cool place .. and its close to Vanderkitten.. and its a house for free.. not counting the taxes that have to paid on it.. haha I duno it is hard to win cuz so many people enter but I have just as good as a chance so I am going for it and trying my best! haha starting jan 1st.

Anyway I have to work tomorrow.. and its going to be hell. I am going to get more sleep tonight so then I can function better ... plus so I can be awake for my christmas eve party we have. After work though it will be good.. I am going to enjoy my whole two days off and stuff..

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas !

three minutes til work! AH

2008-12-17T02:37:00.002-06:00

ok so I have three minutes.. I am feeling excited right now! And inspired why???????? cuz VAnderkitten is so opening up a club for women and are recruiting as of NOW! I so want to be a part of that SWEET STUFF! anyway... must go to work right now.. over and out!

Thanks Tyler

2008-12-14T09:30:00.006-06:00

Well my mother got me a magazine one night to make me feel better from what has happened. It happened to be a road bike magazine and it had a picture of Tyler Hamilton winning the national road race. Then I noticed he was wearing a dog tag. Nate told me the story and.. I just started getting really down.. but it made me feel better because I see someone else who had love for there dog like I did mine. I planned on wearing my dog tag of Sargy's in all my races next year before I found out he did that, but finding out that Tyler did that is pretty awesome.

I was going to adopt a dog, but I have changed my mind. I went to the local humane society and wanted to adopt them all, but I found sarg's papers and called the breeder seeing if they still bred the same parents. I was nervous because it has been two years... and I didn't really want to hear a no, but I tried anyway. So she said they still do sell puppies from the same parents and told me when the next litter would be. I know they would never be Sarg, but knowing that they would have the same bloodlines and be a brother or a sister of Sarg makes it worth the wait. So I decided to save and wait for the litter. My favorite type of dog is the German Shepherd.. I will always have one. And I might adopt a dog later or something.

Right now I am bonding with my stepdad's puppy he has got... which is a german shepherd named Kota.. I never really did before... just because it was my stepdad's but now that Sarg has died I am. I took him for a walk that wore him out. We bonded and now he follows me everywhere haha. I caught myself calling him Sarg one time because he looks and acts like he did. Anyway I plan on realling spending time with him teaching him how to be so he will be a great example for my upcoming dog. Kota is only 4 months old so he has a long ways to go, but he is extremely smart.

All this has interrupted my cycling, but I am getting back in gear .. in fact I am the lightest I have ever been right now and getting lighter. I'm very curious how next year will turn out now.. after what has happened.. Everything happens for a reason.. I have learned a lot from what has happened. And now I am going to eat some pancakes that my mom made!

I hope everyone gets good deals on gifts!!!! Rock RAcing is having free shipping right now! So check it out!

So what now? well..

2008-12-11T08:59:00.003-06:00

Well woke up this morning thinking man.. this is so hard.. he was a dog.. seriously .. but yea was more than a pet to me. He was happy and goofy... he wouldn't want me sad. I have had very nice emails sent to me and I appreciate every one of them. I have decided to wear sargy's tag in every race because he loved me riding my bike. He would literally run beside me (when I rode my mountain bike) everytime! And like I said in my last post he would bark when I would slow down or when I wanted to quit. He was there in the very beggining of my cycling journey. So the tag will be the little piece that reminds me that he always with me now even in races. I already had enough motivation to race on my own but now I am racing with my best friend. Training is more serious now knowing that sargy would of wanted it.

That being said one of thoughts that kept me from crying when I first woke up was that the fact sarg wouldn't want me crying and that there is another dog out there that really needs me. I love rescuing dogs and putting them in good homes. So far I have saved two. One being a chihuahua and the other a pit bull. So I will adopt probably an adult dog that needs a new life. And whatever dog ends up being mine.. it will have the best life ever because I have lots of land for it to run and a pond to swim in.. and of course I travel a lot and hike like no other so whatever dog I end up will be happy :) I not only see myself as a cyclist, but I feel like I was meant to save dogs and show them what being a dog is all about. I watch cesar millan a lot and I have learned some things from there, but I have always been raised around dogs since I was little bitty. I have had a good way with dogs.. big or small.. I duno I think its a gift. Anyway I am happy now but still a little sad.. but more happy knowing Sargy is with God and the fact I get to save a dog's life and make it what every dog ever wanted.

Sarg

2008-12-10T19:46:00.002-06:00

My german shepherd died yesterday. He got hit by a car sometime.. after work today I went out with Nate in my car for a search oddly enough we meet up with the dog catcher... it was cloudy and cold. Nate asked if he had seen a german shepherd.. he paused and said I have bad news and held out sarg's collar... it was like it was on a movie or something.. I immediatly started crying.. as he told us what happened. He was the best dog I have ever had. He is in a better place now.. He was the one that would run beside me when I first started riding my bike barking at me if I went to slow.. It is really sad.. but the memories are awesome. Love you Sarg my loyal dog, my best friend.

I AM OFFICIALLY 21 YEARS OLD!

2008-11-30T00:05:00.000-06:00

Watch out. I'm legal.

ITS MY BIRTHDAY YAY!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T06:16:00.002-06:00

Yea.. so its thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving! Anyway.. I'm thankful for my bike and all the people who have helped me on the way! I worked super hard yesterday to the point I broke down ran to the bathroom and cried.. I was up super early and worked nonstop and my boss of course pointed out one stupid thing like a little bit of batter of a muffin was left in a bowl I didn't scrape up which you couldn't do anything with anyway.. Well it didn't piss me off it just made me sad because when you get up that early and you are giving your 100% and you fail it hurts.. this will happen to me again in different situations and so I learned from this simple yet lame one.. that to keep your head up and do better.. even if you get no sleep and on the edge of collapse by a hot freaking oven.. I worked everyday this week for over 10 hours starting from 3 a.m. What am I thankful for? Well getting sleep the night before thanksgiving and not working today.. haha thats sounds kind of blunt.. but I am thankful for a lot of other things as well like I said previously.

The shoes came in that I got my boyfriend.. and with a pretty big custom charge.. like 55 dollars.. LAME so I got them yesterday and gave them to him early. I have to say those shoes are slammin seriously.. They are like so freaking cool.. They actually remind me of these shiny shoes I wore in band that were called dinkles that I loved so much! I really would love a pair.. but yea I love my steel lux pair :) Since I gave him his shoes he didn't feel right but to give me my birthday present early so he got me the Cateye V3 cycle computer. VERY COOL.. I highly recommend this computer ! It has a few functions I haven't seen on any computer ! Even though it is black which is in by the way.. it is very attractive with its sleek square body! anyway.. I stayed up last night reading that manual and fell asleep pretty quickly like at 7 p.m. that night and now I am up early READY for THANKSGIVY is how I say it! I like to put a y at the end of my words .. I also like the word turkey. I was actually due on thanksgiving for my birthdate.. but I was born the 3oth of this month! So pumped for that because I will be LEGAL! YAY!

Well happy thanksgiving to all!

Thoughts after 3 a.m. work

2008-11-24T13:06:00.004-06:00

My birthday is getting closer. I am somewhat excited.. j/k I am VERY excited just cuz I will be 21 and I can sample wine. haha! I want to do that 100 mile wine tour where ever it is at in Arkansas. Plus I think I might get a new cycling computer for my bike since my other one has been VERY LAME.. all I have been reading when I ride is the time on my cell phone.. from when I start to when I finish and try to read myself the best I can. I like the fact I am learning how my body responds, but I need some numbers. I do know I have gotten considerably faster and consistent. I think my boyfriend might get me the new cateye V3 computer that records what you do on the trainer which I will be on this winter a little bit. I plan on starting my base right after my birthday. So the first of December its on.

I already have planned my season out.. and I am excited about the 09 season. Last season was strictly for experience and just throwing myself out there to see what it was all about. I had people tell me you might not even like cycling.. its hard.. and that I shouldn't get too excited about it. I understand where they are coming from in a way... because they didn't want to see me get dissapointed.. Cycling inspired me more than any other thing.. I love the fact it is hard. I have learned in cycling that what makes an athlete a pro is either physical or mental talent.. in some rare occasions both. I feel that I am more talented mentally, I am no lance armstrong when it comes to physically talented.. but when I did other sports when my knees were great.. I was the best no matter what I was in. Now that I can ride without my knees getting in my way and I am on my way to becoming insanely fit I think I will be great in both aspects. I have skill and that will ultimately carry me to my goals. In music I was good at playing my saxophone.. I had a natural ability to play.. but it all got old because I just didn't have the drive. I saw a tip for beginner cyclists on cycleto.com from michael rogers saying that think of cycling as a game. Even though it was a short tip it meant a lot because I really don't want to take it too seriously right now but just enough to keep myself focused. I also learned to not compare myself to other people.. no matter how much better they are in my field. That all really doesn't matter to me anymore because that doesn't make me better thinking about what they are doing or what they can do.

Its a little cool with this stiff north wind today.. and I have to nap because I got off work a while ago.. and it will be too dark then so I will have to bond with my trainer. I have been listening to the craziest songs on Rhapsody.. I try to think of things bicycle related or stuff I want to listen to on my trainer .. And I am listening to this one song that just says oxygen over and over with some trance music.. I like it though .. its going on the SAnsa.. but for now I must get a nap.. It is supposed to warm up.. sometime this week! I really can't wait.. I am missing the road!!!!!

Oh and if anybody else wants to read another awesome blog like mine.. check out my cousin's blog http://approx01.blogspot.com/ He is pursuing a career in cycling as well. We both entered the sport at the same time and rode bikes when we were little. It was really funny because we both didn't know we were riding everyday before we bought our road bikes, and now we both race for the same team! CRAZY INSANE STUFF check it out.

Chilly Sunrise is RIGHT!

2008-11-20T11:37:00.005-06:00

Well I set my alarm for six a.m. and as soon as I do that it goes off haha I was warm and cozy with mini schnauzer trying to wake me up by snuggling as close as she could beside me. SO I thought its too early I'm tired I am going back to bed.. well I just thought where is the fun in that and so I got up and layered up like a wedding cake and was going to go out the door when my mother all of sudden goes where are you going and are you wearing orange? CUZ it is hunting season and a lot people get gun happy and shoot what moves.. anyway so I put on this lame orange vest.. but I guess it isn't SOOoo lame considering people may see me and not shoot at me .. anyway so I go out and take pics down where the horses were by the pond before it drops off into the valley. It was very cold.............. there was a slight breeze at first then it blew a little harder and it made my feet,ears, and nose go numb and I was bundled up! Anyway my german shepherds had a good time with their warm fur.. running around like idiots.. while I tried to take some pictures. The sun came up right in front of me and it was awesome. I saw a few wild ducks flying around and a bunch of little birds I didn't know of haha! It was beautiful, but I had to head back... into the wind.. as soon as I got back I changed and curled in a ball under all my covers and slep in.. and pretty much been a bum all day long...... I'm actually bored right now because I can't go outside because it is too cold.. which is lame.. so I think I will take over Nate's room and hang out with his dog haha!

here some pics I took this morning :)

Spurts of Inspiration

2008-11-19T20:25:00.007-06:00

Little things I mean to type in my posts I remember later.. usually at night when I think of a zillion things randomly. So I will first start out with last saturday night when I went to see one of Tim Ernst's slideshows of his photography. His theme for his slideshow was landscapes which was of Arkansas. For some reason I teared up a little bit because I was proud of where I was from seeing such beautiful photos. I already love taking pictures as you all know, and seeing his pictures made me want to get out there with a camera! I just have a canon powershot I got with my graduation money in 2006. It has been a wonderful camera over the years, but I really want a camera that can take clearer pictures that I can blow up and frame. Not only does he take some of the best pictures in the US of A, he keeps a journal on his website http://cloudland.net/currentjournal.html check it out. I have been reading his journal lately and he seriously is hilarious! Well after reading his journal and me being off tomorrow. I am thinking about getting up early before sunrise with my camera and taking some pictures and just hanging outside watching the birds and listening to the sounds and maybe see a few deer who knows.

I love the outdoors. It is a place to explore and learn new things in life. During the slideshow Tim happened to mention that he decided to move to newton county, arkansas because he loved to photgraph it the best. He reasoning for this is because Arkansas is actually more accesible. Yea colorado has big vast landscapes with towering mountains and other awesome stuff in the west, but if you think about it.. it really takes a lot of work to get up in the mountains like that. Well what he said really made sense and the fact Arkansas is so different than any other state. We have so many waterfalls here it is ridiculous and alot you can see just by driving. In fact, a lot of his pictures you can just see off the side of the road.

After this has all been cooking in my head.. I have been inspired to go out and just sit down and enjoy life really and being outside. And speaking of outside.. I was riding my bike on a regular road with Jordan a couple of weeks ago and a squirrel ran out in front of me. They are being really crazy right now because they are going to hibernate. So it zips in front of Jordan and then goes in front of me. I am just thinking ok this thing is going to go across the road and just get out of the way.. but of course when I think this it stops and runs the opposite direction. Right now I am going downhill about 24 mph I just think oh crap this is not good.. and I hang on for dear life.. hoping this doesn't cause to big of a mess.. or spill or both.. and I close one of my eyes while seeing where it was going. That silly squirrel literally ran between my two tires underneath my bike without getting hit........................................... I duno how it did it, but I am pretty sure my heart rate was insane at that point! Crazy squirrels.

There was a lot of grasshoppers this year because of how the weather has played out. Well I am going to proudly say that I only ran over a total of 2 out of a zillion because I feel really bad when I am riding along and I squish one.. anyway thought I would point that out. I also like to play this time of the year the leaf crunch game! I get pretty competitive in it and it is a way of learning bike skills.. Nate and I last year did it soo much we would end up going for the same leaf and would run into each other pretty hard but suprisingly not fall.. it was scary but great! It benifited me because I had quite a few people run into me while racing.. especially in crits.

I have been christmas shopping lately and I got my boyfriend the coolest gift ever!!!!!!!! I couldn't keep it a secret.. not even 24 hours because I was so excited to tell him about the awesome deal I got on it. I got him the new 2009 Vernice Black Sidi road shoes. Regular price is like 560 $ but I got it for like 265$ at a UK site called probikekit.com which was recommended by an awesome guy named Rod. Thank you Rod. Free shipping overseas no sales tax it was an amazing deal there were only two left and I got one of them and they are now sold out! So I made Nate guess what I got him by hinting all day at work which was hectic and he ended up guessing and was VERY excited! I love seeing other people happy!!! Best part of Christmas is giving !!

ANyway it is getting late now and I am going to go charge up my camera so maybe I can go outside and enjoy the chilly morning and maybe get a few shots to post on here tomorrow. Everyone has been getting sick lately.. I just hope I don't get sick.. everybody is hacking and stuff I am just eating oranges and stuff.. trying to keep a crazy insane healthy immune system.. Ok sleep helps too for this so goodnight :)

I will leave you with some pictures I recently took

Man it is cold.

2008-11-17T21:43:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving is coming and that means more sweets for people to get fat. :) So.. I am working harder and that means less sleep less bike time and more money for bike stuff and christmas gifts to buy etc etc. I have been hiking here and there getting in a ride here and there.. so I have been staying in shape and getting ready to start my base the first of december. I have also been getting pretty skinny because I have limited myself to one sweet per week.. I have lost about a good 5 lbs doing so. So I look pretty damn hot right now.

Last Saturday I went to watch Tim Ernst at the local Lyric theater. He takes the best pictures ever and he has a slideshow of them. They make me very proud where I am from and it is better to me to watch his slideshow which is for free than to go watch some movie in the other theater paying almost 16 bucks. Well I decided to try to be prettier than usual and impress my boyfriend. I decided to curl my hair monroe style and wear my nice black and white ralph lauren sweater with my peacoat and my cute little black shoes and keep it casual with a pair of jeans. I was very cute and stunned my boyfriend. I love to see other people happy! By far one of my favorite things to see!

I have so much to do before christmas its ridiculous.. I am christmas shopping for everyone right now and have a general idea what to get people and stuff. I mean I gotta get something for nate,mom,and other people, plus dogs. LOTS OF DOGS!Which is.....................................................Kabuki and Gemma, Nate's dogs. Then Sargy, Bridgy Widgy, Kota, and of course Sissy, And little dog.. which is my stepdads dad's dog. haha! Lots of dogs lots of bones lots of love! I will spend so much money on dogs its ridiculous.. like half my paycheck sometimes.. crazy insane stuff.

My birthday is coming up very soon on the 30th and I will be 21!!!! I am not the drinking type even though I like a glass of wine here and there. I have never tried beer in my life seriously! I am waiting to try an awesome belgium beer or something for my first instead of trying regular stuff everyone else drinks..

I have been reading stuff here and there about Lance and stuff and team Astana... and here is my opinion on what I see and hear. Yes, they have a lot of big riders like Kloeden, Contador, Armstrong, and Levi, but how big names win a lot of times is because they have a strong team overall to help them get there. I watched an interview with Levi on cycleto.com, and He was like... if I am climbing with lance and we are attacking each other the best man wins. Astana has ultimately the strongest team from just past results from the riders and the consistency of their wins.. but its more important to be a team. I am excited to see what plays out really because I love them all!!!!!! It is a good team and I hope Armstrong goes to the tour! Even though he has his eye on the giro.. TDF is where he should be if he is going to come back. Thats what I think about that.

I'm tired.. so I am going to go to bed.. Anyway I will leave you with a picture of my new hairdo that I am proud of :) Hope you like it :)

2008-11-11T11:17:00.002-06:00

I have been in a good mood lately. I duno why I guess cuz my training has started for next season. my stupid pain hasn't gone away and I haven't gone to the doctor cuz the doctor sucks cuz it costs bicycle money which I need hehe. I hope everyone loves my new tunes.. all bicycle related and rated PG. I have been on my trainer and I enjoyed a little bit then it gets boring pretty fast unless I am listening to ridiculous music. I miss hiking .. I haven't been able to go this past week cuz of the crazy hunters that shoot at everything that moves! I love the deer.. poor deer.. really they are so cute how can you shoot it.. anyway I mean if it had rabies maybe but no.. couldn't do it. It turned off super cold for a bit .. still kind of cold but I have adjusted to it sort of.. I had a dream that I won a race.. it felt so real and the feeling was awesome! then I woke up and I was like and that is how it feels! YES! I am very excited for next year. I will see Vanderkitten next year at tulsa tough again, and of course I will be better and be more prepared. I have been also eating great! WAy better than last year even though I didn't eat bad just not as healthy as now! not counting the dutch apple pie I just recently had yesterday and the day before.. everything has been great. I have limited my sweets one per week and then after that .. I will be eating less and less than just once per week..
I have a sweet tooth... sometimes.. Its hard being a baker and icing all these awesome little sweets.. and saying no.. Thats a lot of self control right there! ITs a beautiful cloudy day. It really seems like winter right now.. but of course living in arkansas that will go away in a few days and it will be way warmer! Which I am good with that.

I miss the color of the trees all the leaves are pretty much off the trees from the wind.. it took like a week and everything was dull and gone. Hello winter! So I will be bonding with my trainer more now.. and I plan on getting the new Cateye V3 computer for my bike so it records what I do on my trainer too. My birthday is coming up and I will be 21 and I want a glass of wine or something! I have also been getting lots of sleep and got plenty the other due to the big oven that stopped working and that made it where I didn't have to go in for work monday!! YAY! but that means less money for my check boo.. anyway I'm going to take a shower cuz I'm cold and I need one because I'm lazy and need one to wake up.. I did spin ups yesterday I felt like eddy merckx on rollers on youtube.. anyway parents looking over my should again I need a new laptop

2008-11-07T17:25:00.003-06:00

Well haven't been riding as much lately liked I planned due to some muscle in my left side of my neck in the shoulder area. Last saturday I planned to go watch Obama speak in Springfield.. well on the way there that muscle started to spasm and it hurt so bad I was literally in tears.. it builds builds builds then its like a knife stabbing me in the left side of my upper shoulder area. Then it gets really warm where it did it and then its kind of a numbing feeling. I am considering going to the doctor.. but I don't want them to just tell me its a mucsle spasm cuz I think I know that if it persists I will go for sure cuz it scares me. Plus my mother doesn't help with any of my doctor stuff cuz I don't go to school anymore so.. yea I will have to pay it since I don't have insurance at the moment which is bad. I am going to purchase some soon because riding a bike and the chance of broken bones etc etc is not good and I don't make enough to pay that even though I got a 25 cent raise haha..!

Hiking is my crosstraining since I miss out on cyclocross cuz my lame knees.. But I have been hiking 5 to 6 mile hikes and it has been really fun! I feel as if my legs are stronger in other areas. My parents are so annoying right now. I duno why they gang up on me anyway they like tolook over my shoulder..

so thats the quick update..

Boo!

2008-11-01T09:49:00.013-05:00

I have discovered I am addicted to hiking.. I have gone three times in the past week. The first hike was the pedestal rock hike. Then I went and did hawksbill crag. Which is a hike all the way to this bluff that sticks out over a valley. I am sort of afraid of heights..

So this warmed me up to the third hike I went on which was a six mile hike called the Goat Trail and the Big Bluff. That was by far one of the hardest hikes I have ever been on.. cuz I have bad knees its really hard to actually go downhill than up and all of it was downhill til we got to the bluff which was gorgeous... but scary considering you had a few feet from the edge... Anyway Nate got some pictures of me on the edge.. I was trying to hide my anxiety attack but the view helped me stay relaxed.

While me and Nate were pigging out on little sandwiches we could hear everything.. I mean everything! We were hundreds of feet up but still that bluff caught all the sounds. You could here people on there horses so far away and actually hear what they were saying. I have a picture to see how far away they were. Pretty sure when native americans lived in that area they used the bluffs to their advantage.

I do not like buzzards really cuz they look nasty to me .. but they are pretty smart actually. I love how they fly and entertain themselves. There was a few that would fly over the bluff and do a flip in the air right above our heads and do it again and again. If I was a bird.. I would so do that!

After hanging out on the big bluff we headed back which was all uphill.. But suprisingly I went up very steep climbs very easily barely winded and recovered fast to go on the next one and the next one. Nate is used to backpacking out west and stuff and he was like sometimes you can kind of tell what you will be good at on the bike by how you hike. He was like you might end up being a climber. I was like no way.. but once I think about it .. I do actually climb pretty good.. this is my first year and when there was races that had long drawn out climbs.. I would drop people. I duno what I will be good at cuz this is only my first year of really riding, but I might be a climber.

On the way out of the 6 mile goat trail... we had lots of deer run up on us. Almost all of them were bucks. The first one that walked in front of us was a seven point.. the second one was really young .. just a spike and then the third one was the biggest buck I have ever seen in my life.. The rack on that sucker was so big and I couldn't even begin to count the points it had...................... it was a monster buck.. thats for sure.

So I finally made it back to the car.. not feeling tooooo bad and then we headed down into the Ponca Valley and watched the wild elk graze in the pastures by the buffalo river. Some of the bull elk played with their antlers while the cows were bedded down or grazing. The best time is to wait when everyone leaves from watching them and sit a little past dark and they start to bugle.. the crystal clear skies with sparkling stars with the crisp air make the sounds of the elk so majestic. Sometimes you will even hear coyotes in the background. Ponca, AR is a very small community.. but it is just the pure beauty of northwest arkansas. It also has GREAT riding areas as well. I wouldn't mind living there someday.

After a days work/rest I dressed up my doggies for Halloween! My mini shznauzer, Bridgy Widgy, was a pumpkin and my german shepherd, Sarg, was police dog. I took Sarg to the square downtown and people loved him! They took pictures and everything! Then I went back to Nate's Place and we handed out candy with Sarg dressed up! He
did good with all the little kids til these teenagers came up .. and a stray dog came up as well.. Sarg associated the stray dog with the teenagers and started growling and I had to tell the people like three times to quit trying to pet him because he was very angry .. he usually isn't like that at all .. but didn't like that weird dog coming up and was protecting me. I was good with it kind of cuz those kids were too old to be tick or treating..Other than that it was a fun halloween and me and my mother made boo brownies! I gained a few lbs from all the sweets but oh well it makes great motivation on the bike haha!

Today I am going to get ready after this post and head off to Springfield, MO. Obama will be speaking at Parkview highschool at 9 p.m. I am very curious how is like in person so I am going to check him out. A lot of people from arkansas is voting for mccain.... I just don't think I can swing that way honestly... I understand why some do, but Obama just seems more real to me.. I am excited to go to that tonight for sure! I hope he becomes our next president.

I haven't rode but one time this week because I feel like I am going to take it easy for a while and do good hikes and just keep it low.. I plan on getting back with a routine next monday for prep before base miles. I have a training diary where I write down almost everything and plan my rides etc etc.. I'm feeling pretty good right now even while working because I am getting enough sleep suprisingly! Hope everyone is staying bundled up for the cold weather!!!!

HIkINg and BIKING woot!

2008-10-27T09:48:00.005-05:00

Planned on riding yesterday.. but didn't really feel like it.. but I felt like a little hike with my dog.. so I went to Kings bluff in the middle of nowhere and hiked... and Sargy did very well.. he is officially the best hiking dog EVER. He would pull me up the steep parts.. and it was great and he LOVes it.

I also found the best road EVER well I didn't find it actually NAte showed me it.. and it is like a mini tour de france stage. I mean Contador climbing.. like steep drop offs with no railing well some railing.. but still the views are amazing.. it was really pretty. I will be planning a group ride out there sometime soon and take many pictures of this road.. the descents are insane. I would be typing this post twice as fast if my fingers were not so cold.. my parents don't turn on the heat til we freeze to death.. so I am going to try to type with huge winter gloves.. bahaaha. lok Io can't tu[e aitj tjese g;pves .. well crap that doesn't work.. ok well anyway..

There was a 100 mile ride starting and ending in Ponca. Me and jordan got food table and other stuff.. we put it all together and sat in really ridiculous lawn chairs while lots of people drove by wondering what we were doing. To make it more ridiculous Jordan went to the bathroom in the elk education center across the street. She came out with Elk antlers... I was like dang.. I want some..so I thought about it and went in to get some.. I felt bad just getting some because they were kids. SO I brought a dollar.. and donated it to the elk foundation.. BAHAH and an old lady let me have some. SO Jordan and I sat outside in the cold with our cute little table for three hours waiting for the boys. We were expecting about 20 people.. SIX people showed up and ate almost all the food. haha! When they saw us.. they were like what?? with our antlers and stuff.. the guys pretty much consisted of the group except one guy named sean clancy he had a nice specialized bike in red.. and he started commenting on my jacket which was the vanderkitten jacket and he is like vanderkitten is a cool team. And I was shocked he knew the team! And then he was like I read Liz Hatch's blog here and there and I am like actually this is her Jacket and he was like wow! How do you know her and how did you meet? I was like.. well facebook.. and then I was like we met at tulsa tough! Anyway.. then about ten minutes later he walks by and randomly asks were you on pezcycling? I was like YEAaa and he kind of just laughed and laughed and thought that was pretty cool. I was very suprised he knew me from that.. when was I on there? like march? Anyway he was pretty cool guy and it got really cold and I came home and passed out in sleep.

I want to do some more hiking since it has really cooled off and it isn't too hard but it still gets my blood flowing. Plus my dog loves it! I don't like it when it gets really cold.. I move like a sloth.. I mean I look like an eskimo right now its ridiculous..

Fall is fun!

2008-10-23T19:16:00.005-05:00

Well that whole big annoyingness.. is gone.. my mother just one day started acting normal. Thats good cuz I can't afford bike stuff and live out on my own.. I would starve to death haha! It was annoying, but I'm just ignoring it all and focusing on my training plans save the drama for the llama.. my mother got chinese and my fortune cookie says "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world" I just thought.. who the heck could that be? I duno anyway had a good ride today even though it was a little too hard for my taste this time of the year.. cuz my cousin and Nate came along to ride and of course they like to go harder but wasn't winded while me and jordan were like.. ugh up the hills.. I wore my huge sunglasses along with Jordan.. Nate called us bugs, but we didn't care! My cheap sunglasses are so cheap though that the blue came off onto my nose.. LOL Keeps the bugs out though! I do love my radars a lot better.. REally cool today never got out of the 50's.. so the later in the day.. the way cooler it got and we had a stiff wind along with it. Just in prep right now getting ready for the base training pretty soon starting in november. ANyway had an awesome ride in ARkansas fall crip AIR! Loved the leaves falling and the looks I got.. So much fun being yourself.

great..

2008-10-20T15:09:00.003-05:00

its been an awesome week but ever since I got this jacket my mother gets upset when other people support me.. she hates me cycling and we argued about that.. she thinks I don't care about anything they do.. and crap when I tell her that she isn't supportive of my cycling.. which is wrong I do think she cares about me and I am proud of everything I get.. but she thinks that I think supportive means money I told her I do things myself and she is like well Nate helps you and crap.. I am just like so upset cuz she is telling me to move out and get my own life now.. I want to.. and I am going to try.. I love my mother and I know she does deep down I am tired of being treated badly when they feel like it. I duno when my next post will be cuz it will be hard to due to trying to figure out what to do with myself.. and how to make it. Cycling is my dream and I will make this happen.. not even my own mother will bring me down. She happened to mention she wanted to be a pro barrel horse racer but noone gave a shit.. so I guess thats how it should be for me.. but I'm going to deal with it and let it ruin it. I will keep dreaming. And if I stop how could I ever get there. I am not giving up.

CHeck out my new JACKET boys & girls!

2008-10-18T21:12:00.010-05:00

After a very hard stressful day at work I get text from Liz Hatch on team VANDERKITTEN asking me for my address so she can send me something. WELL today I got in the mail a package from CALI from LIZ and it is her team ja
cket!!!!! She signed it and put keep dreaming, you will get there on it! She also wrote a note saying to never give up! And I WON'T! Especially now since I have the coolest cycling jacket on earth! haha! I wore it everywhere today like I was like a superstar! I LOVE THIS JACKET it even smells cool! yea I said smell. This is really amazing. I can't wait to see her next year! And show all my friends my jacket! My mother ended up loving it! I worked long and hard today and to find that in my mailbox was the coolest thing ever.. EVER.. EVERRRR! I mean check out my pictures seriously I am rocking that jacket! Thanks Liz your the sweetest/coolest! KICK ASS!

I also found the perfect sunglasses for next year's racing season.. I duno what races I will wear them in.. but they are pretty ridiculous and cool. I got them in some shop downtown that had a bunch of huge sunglasses. These stood out cuz they matched my kit. Check it out.

I'm just grossed out..

2008-10-16T16:52:00.004-05:00

I ignore the nasty men who obviously can't get laid who hang out their vehicles yelling something gross at me ususally when I am on my bike or off.. just whatever.. But today I am not really in a great mood.. One man in a black truck today yelled at me and my friend spread those legs ladies and whistled at us... it was so sick.. the guy was about my age.. then that group on facebook the official rules of the euro cyclist have been posting pictures of Emilia Falin, pro cyclist on team columbia. Well they have been doing this for days now and guys have been pretty nasty on her pictures. She is a beautiful woman who rides very well, but it is just disrespectful. Well I of course make one comment and say the guys are pathetic. One guy that I personally know ends up you know making comments back and forth that is like comments to get back at me.. and thats cool I'm good with that.. but he stole one of my pics and posted it on that group and said lets see if you want attention and crap.. PISSED me off cuz I have met the guy personally and he knows what kind of person I am. He ended up apologizing in an email which I did not reply to.. and deleted the photo. I just thought posting the picture was crossing the line. YEA maybe I took it too far but I have been disgusted today.. its like almost everytime I ride now I get something nasty.. or guys just leaning out there windows yelling here and there.. and definitaley not going to get any attention from me.

Lance Armstrong

2008-10-13T13:00:00.005-05:00

I have never seen him race. I have only watched him like in videos and stuff.. not like live or anything... watching videos of him on youtube really was inspiring. Especially when he time trials and is going full out! I never got to do a time trial last year........ I wanted to really bad.. never did. I think that is something I would be good at. There is this group on facebook called the official rules of the euro cyclist.. its funny but they don't like armstrong. I have to say just like millions of other cyclists he is one my favorite cyclists ever. I am glad he is back. Very Glad. And it gives me a great excuse to get M Frame Oakleys for next years cycling season. I have a ride in less than an hour. Sometimes I like to watch videos of armstrong riding before I go out for a ride.. and when I climb.. I like to watch alberto contador as well and think of them climbing when I climb. Lance Armstrong is the greatest and always will be.

I am not dealing with this anymore!

2008-10-12T22:05:00.002-05:00

I am young pretty down to earth girl and can get a good man if I really wanted to, but I get so pissed off when I date a guy and they end up disrespecting me. Like.. say they love me and be serious, but not do what is expected when being serious.. I am not going to date a guy anymore unless they are serious.. I mean I am not out to be in a relationship. I believe that if it is meant to be then it will be. I don't search for love.. it just happens.. and if it is right then it will work. I have goals of my own and a relationship is not at the top of my list of things to do right now.. I don't mind it.. but I do when it stresses me out and makes me sad. There are benifits of being single and stuff, but it is nice to be loved. It sucks having your heart broken... being told by a person that they don't love you anymore hurts so much more than climbing a really steep mountain with 18% grade climbs.. seriously.. I don't deserve to be treated bad. The boyfriend in high school was really sweet to me at first and is a hardcore christian.. but one day he hit me, and that wasn't the only time.. we dated for two years.. and that came to an end pretty quick when that started. I was fat then too and so I wasn't pretty enough.. So I don't think I have to deal with weak men.. and I will never again.

What really goes round and round in my head

2008-10-11T21:57:00.005-05:00

I feel the need to post tonight.. because I'm feeling different. I spent most of the day by myself.. and when that happens.. I think about a lot of things. I try to think of positive things because it is too easy to be negative and just think how much it sucks to not live in a house..or just what I don't have that I wish I had. I have anxiety and it plays a role in my daily life..and thinking negative just reinforces it really. So many things that can just bring me down.. that has... but what keeps me from that happening is thinking like I said positive.. Today I just sat outside doing nothing in my field thinking about how hard it was going off to college trying to fit in with friends that sucked.. and having a boyfriend that didn't think I was good enough and realizing that the passion I thought I had for music had left me... that was the only the little spark that lit the fire for my passion for cycling. I realized I needed to do what made me happy.. not what made other people happy.

I wasn't happy with the way I looked and I decided I should change myself before I even think about what I wanted to do. My mother bought me a bicycle for some holiday I think it was just like valentines day or something haha! Just a cheap but really not that cheap for the average person 300 dollar trek mountain bike. I had just got my german shepherd and he was almost a year old and I rode with him running beside me everywhere I went. He would bark at me anytime I slowed down.. and I got addicted to riding and rode everyday and would rest like maybe one, and would ride everyday for one hour.

Then of course there was nothing on tv one day and I turned it to the 2007 tour de france. I was instantly hooked to cycling. I bugged the hell out of my parents watching it everyday live. When it was over I kind of teared up .. because it was something I really enjoyed and it was over.. and I decided I wanted to get into road cycling. I sold my selmer series III model 62 alto saxophone in gold laquer to get a low end racing bike. Which is a Cannondale CAAD 8 Optimo 1 in red. :) This bike has made me way happier than that saxophone ever did.

Anyway I thought about that and how I realized I could really do anything. Especially after showing up to a local group here which is better than any average group in arkansas I guarantee it. Why? How? I actually didn't want to ride with the local group thinking it wasn't like good enough. BUT was dead wrong. All these people who ride are just average everyday people who have a little time to ride. They all have about five years or more of riding experience and there really fast... and live in the perfect place to make them awesome. Like all the hills in Jasper area with 18% grades.. here and there with no place that is flat. Flat is not an option.. anyway I decided to do a group ride knowing that I was nothing compared to them. All I did was a quarter mile loop on my place for an hour over and over that was mostly flat... and I went on 30 mile rides with all men two times a week.. that was literally the hardest workouts ever I still have a hard time riding like that .. I just can't believe I tried to do it then and did it. I didn't know my limits then and pushed myself straight to the ER. They told me I just pushed myself too hard and that I was dehydrated which was hard to believe that I was but I knew I did push myself really hard where I would drop everyone in the group up hills and I just got so excited I did it again and again til I just slowed down and got off my bike and fell to the ground feeling an electric type current going from my head all the way to my toes.. this was at night by the way... and a couple cars went by me while Nate was trying to get them to stop he literally just stepped in front of the third car and she took me to the hospital which ended it up being a nice councelor I had in junior I didn't know much but I sent her flowers for doing that for me and nice note. When I see her in town I just wave to her on my bike.. thankful she was there.

It took a lot of time to get out of that rut of my body not wanting to do anything that pushed my limits do to fear and anxiety. I still get a little worried sometimes, but I learned that if I listen to my body more I won't have problems .. like that. And since then I think about how much I have accomplished to racing.. and finishing to meeting pros that are awesome! And just having great role models and getting the best advice ever.

My whole life has been a bumpy road for me until now.. I feel that I actually have direction now.. I know nothing is perfect and that my life is not easy from now cuz I found something I love. I'm just glad I am at the point where I don't have to deal with other people running my life.. I still have some limits because I live with my mother and stepdad still.. but its nothing compared to when I was like 9 years old to like 19. Having to be a an only child being in the middle of your parents hating each other. Packing your bags to go here and there every week to weekend. That made me grow up fast and realize the reality of life. NEGATIVE stuff..
I am very happy to be past that and moving forward .. on a bike ! I am not letting anything stop me to pursue what I want. That I can control that is.. But there is a reason why everything has happened the way it has.

I am very proud how I have lost weight.. that I have changed my outlook on a lot of things of just being a positive nice person and how I was just a couch potato and now I am racing with some pretty tough women. I mean I have so much to type in this post.. that I wish I could put all on here to explain how I feel sometimes to anybody who just takes the time to read this to somewhat understand where I come from.

The women of Vanderkitten.. I read there blogs and look at what they do I have seen them race.. They are seriously kick ass. They really do stand out from all the other teams.. I just thought today how awesome they are and how far I have to go to even scratch the surface of those women.. really .. You can tell they have a strong bond and they work so hard together in races.. After tulsa tough I could of gone up to the vanderkitten team and like said hi to the women the at the second crit but I just watched them talk about the race on what they did.. You could just see it in there eyes how dedicated they were to the sport.. how much time and effort they have put into riding... That is what I see and hope to be some day.

Some people just really don't understand that.. riding a bike? what? racing? a bike? they think man thats hard just to ride a bike down there neighborhood and so the average person just thinks that is what makes racing/riding a bicycle hard.. it really isn't the hardest part. It is so mental its ridiculous. I thought playing music had so much depth which it does.. especially if you have a passion for it but that goes for anything, but to me it is cycling. And for a lot of people too!

This post doesn't really have a main topic and yea its long.. but for a good reason. I don't know whats going to happen.. nobody does.. I am at another stage right now where I just listen and have patience. I am learning a lot right now and only twenty years old, and turning 21 November 30th. I have many years to go right now.. I just need to keep my head up no matter what get stronger mentally and physically.

This weeks fortune cookie

2008-10-02T19:14:00.010-05:00

"They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world. Someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for."

I have heard this before, but I think it is worth putting in my blog.

Fall has the best sunsets ever... I love the glow of orange at the end of the day. I got in a pretty easy 20 mile ride today with my buddy Jordan. I am pretty tired now, but I feel soo much better. I rode in boxley valley last saturday and it was truly beautiful.. as always. It is just a short ride but the views of wildlife and the rolling ozark hills is just breathtaking. Lately everything has been going ok.. its kind of the relaxing part of the year for me. I got 1st place on a photo I put in the fair and won a total of three dollars. It was a picture of some wheat with a background of a fall sunset. I have been reading Friels blog about deydration.. and I love it all four parts! Anyway I also hiked in the buffalo river national park that is about 20 min away from where I live. And here are some pictures from boxley valley which is in ponca, ar and my hike in pruitt on the way to jasper, ar.

THE POWER of food

2008-09-27T09:55:00.005-05:00

MAN I LOVE BLUEBERRIES! I never really cared for them until this year.. and now I can't stop eating them.. really.. I am eating them with my oatmeal for breakfast RIGHT NOW! And I am probably eating some while your reading this..My point about all this is that I have been eating them for the past two weeks and noticed I feel better on the bike.. seriously.. and I think the blueberries helped this. I need to change my diet to more fruits and veggies.. clean fuel you know? I must figure out what I will eat.. I like kiwi.. bananas.. I pretty much will eat berries all the time though.. I think I will get berries after what I have been reading about them.

Raspberries

strawberries

blueberries

blackberries

cranberries!

oh my! That sounds good to me.. hehe.. My mom love to get whatever works and I ask her to get like better food during the week and she is stuck to crap like hamburger helper. GROSSSSS!! OR PIZZA.. unhealthy pizza.. If I could afford to live by myself I would right now but I don't YET. I still end up buying some of my food because I refuse some of the stuff she fixes because it is just bland and bad. Some of her meals are ok I am not going to totally diss her because she is my mom.. she just doesn't think healthy when it comes to a quick fix meal. . . BUT I have been making her eat my blueberry smoothies hehe

Yea I am just going to donate some of my check for fruits and veggies so then when I am hungry I can munch on something healthy. I can feel a difference on the bike.. it makes me feel like extra fresh or something.. I can't explain it really haha! I just felt like I could outsprint anybody at the time!

I had a cool dream. I raced in a pack of women and it started out flat and it went down into a valley then we had to climb these VERY steep short hills like hell's kitchen steep, but I guess I was in good shape because I stayed at the front of the pack climbing them. Cindy Reese was one of the women racing me and we pretty much stayed neck in neck. There was drafting going on here and there and it was on roads pretty much in the middle of nowhere with people on them here and there. Seemed like I was in a different country. The weather was semi cool and there was a bunch of rolling hills the rest of the race, but mainly flat after the first of the race. Then ther was a hill close to the finish and then it got semi flat and I cranked up the heat and started sprinting like hell! I got 4th... how lame haha! But there was pros there at that race.. so I must of been a cat 3 or above. I was a little upset because I didn't win.. but random people told me hey you did AWESOME! So it was cool.. Then after my race was over I went to go watch the next people and george hincapie took off leading the group. haha and then I woke up. Cool dream though! It felt like I was really racing.. probably one of the first races where I felt like I was racing for real.

WELL I must go get ready for the day.. and kind of plan what I am doing for next week's riding. I am riding today at 4:30 starting at the youth center. I am pumped because I have rested the past two days. SO with the blueberries AND REST I am extra FRESH! ANyway hope everyone gets a little daylight in there riding :)

haha wait.. right when I got done typing this Jordan called and said she couldn't ride.. well that means I am going to go RIDE NoW! WOOT! BYES!

Offseason STUFF

2008-09-25T14:13:00.007-05:00

I have been on a blueberry kick lately and have been eating blueberries nonstop.. good thing they are good for me.. I have also noticed since I haven't been working at the mill that much and getting more sleep I am losing weight... which is GREAT cuz I could lose about 10 lbs and maybe I will get up the hills a little faster haha! And I have been eating better and about the same amounta of calories just better food. Since it is the offseason now I decided to think about what I can do other than ride my bike for like strength training and stuff.. well in our one spare room my mom has a bowflex treadclimber and my stepdad has in there a bowflex home gym ... I cannot run due to my knees.. so I thought maybe if I do some time on the treadclimber and get a strength training program on the bowflex gym it might strengthen me in areas the bike doesn't nessarily do. So today I walked 30 min on that treadclimber and geez like it didn't kill me but I could feel it because it is just like walking up a 10% grade hill haha! And that is the beginner recommended amount to do that three times the first week which I am good with that. And increase as I get more and more used to that thing. I love it though because it is perfect for my knees and not a hard to do. I know one of my goals is to strenghten my upper body and my core.. well just all over but mainly that area that is not worked that much.. The bowflex home gym has a lot of different moves and stuff where I could work out pretty much any muscle I want... My parents don't even use them and they are practically new.. and I thought well heck I will put them to good use! I already planned out my training for next racing season. I have a long base and build and of course a prep! Since now I have been on my road bike for a little over a year I am going to try to get myself in a training schedule that is not going to over stress my body. I just know I am going to be ripped and ready for next season! haha

You know what is ridiculous.. movie 300 it was pretty much ABS ABS ABS... the actors pretty much did like insane core workouts all the time to get the abs they had on there.. I want some 300 movie abs... haaha That would almost be scary.. but it would be cool I would just wear a sports bra all the time during the summer and just show them off!

Speaking of Spartans.... I really love to read about Spartan women. I like the way they thought and how they had the same education as men.. and demanded respect. They also had the same physical education and gymnastics training. I would never go out nude like they did but if I had a ripped body like they did then I might train without a jersey haha but coming up the winter months.. I will layer like a wedding cake and bundle up like an eskimo. ANyway back to spartan women.. Gorgo, the queen of Sparta was active in wars and also said that spartan women were the only women in the world that could rule men because only spartan women gave birth to real men. I thought that was kind of funny and I like the way they are cocky and confident. I don't agree with everything they did .. or how they went about things, but it is cool to see women so strong WAY back in the day. Men are stronger than women in general, and there is limits to women.. but I think women can do way more than what people think.. I think there should be more studies and stuff. I duno if I will ever have a ripped body like the spartans did then but I know it will be ripped someday.. I mean it already is pretty good I am proud of it, but I'm working on it. haha!

tired and tired of it

2008-09-24T20:11:00.003-05:00

I am a zombie right now at this computer.. because I worked 10 hours nonstop baking....... and it is pissing me off. A job is a job.. but this job is getting pretty hard now.. Humans are meant to sleep at night.. and I thought I will kind of get used to it and I kind of did sort of.. but since I have recently been layed off due to lack of business..(which it has been busy) just penny pinching.. you know.. I have gotten more sleep and realized how out of it I am after working for 6 months... it makes me not as strong on the bike because I am so wiped out from slaving by a hot oven.. working from 3 a.m. to noon... I have gotten one raise and make 7 dollars an hour which is better than nothing.. BUT there are simpler easier jobs where I can make more and not do such physical work. I mean I love what I do, but I don't think it is really worth getting up that early and just not being able to function as well and sleeping all day.. like TODAY .. I got off around 12 ish and came home had a baby spinach salad and crashed til 1o til 4 which 4 p.m. was my ride and I could barely make it up the hills because of dang work.. I have been looking to see what else is out there.. its just really hard right now.... not making that much money and it all going to gas money.. and trying to save for next season.. I was only supposed to come in at 5 lately and then now I come in at 3 a.m. all the time and I have been working and doing just as hard stuff as the other two bakers who get paid more than I do.. and I feel like I don't really matter to the main guy who owns the place.. so I am having second thoughts.. I like my boss he is cool until he is put under pressure and he is there forever but who is? I just need more dough.. not literally .. to get more stuff to save to do stuff.. and I need less stress .. I think it would be cool to work at a coffe shop or something who knows.. I duno.. Just thought I would VEnt how my job is SUCKING...one of the main reasons I stick with it is because they work with my schedule.. but I am pretty sure someone else would to somewhere.. Being a Baker is cool to say thats your job... but they work me to death and don't pay me enough to do such a physical job.. I'm out eventually when i see something

beauty, payback, pain and God?

2008-09-23T15:04:00.007-05:00

Yea I said yesterday was the last time I ride in thick fog. Well I did again.. and it was gorgeous of course..but it was worse.. This is the last time I will do this just because it is not safe.. and I can get seriously injured or others. BUT this morning the ride was cool but beautiful.. with the sun glowing through the fog.. But of course we had to deal with school traffic and one guy saw us but decided to pass us by gassing it and of course another car was coming the opposite direction..and he swerves almost hitting the back of Jordan. Jordan hops of her bike and just start yelling at him.. which she did have the right. He slowed down and I got out of the saddle fixing to sprint up there just in case he would got out..but he realized she was a woman and drove on.. thank goodness. Some people are just crazy or good people and just turn into bad people when they get behind the wheel .. then we got attacked by a new dog.. ugh.. This old lady was like it won't bite but the damn thing was crazy and wanted my leg.. so I sprayed it a few times haha! Anyway we made it back safe in excitement cuz we were alive..

anyway then I went to Nate's house cuz he had my check cuz I missed work cuz I was sick last week.. even though I had a nice ride that day cough cough.. So I got my check which will pretty much go all towards gas........ and I came home did some stuff I needed to do and napped half the day.. Then went and got frozen blueberries nonfat yougurt and made a blueberry blast.. a healthy one at that! 1/2 cup low fat milk 1 cup blueberries 1/2 cup nonfat plain yougurt and 1 teaspoon of honey and you have a blueberry blast.. so cyclie! haha

Saw a girl I went to school with which was a major B...utthole to me and she was fat working at a crap grocery store. She made fun of me because I quit school and talked crap and turned teachers and my best friend at the time against me, but what was funny she left school too a year later. It took her a second to realize who I was and then said Oh wow I didn't recognize you over and over .. and snarled her nose looking me up and down.. and asked what I was up to... I said nothing.. even though I was looking pretty damn good and had lost a lot of weight.. I didn't ask her thats for sure because I could see all she had been doing is eating like a pig working at a grocery store... ANYWAY when I grabbed my bag of bluberries and walked out like a superstar with my RIPPED cycling legs and my bronze TAn and my lean body and of course very euro style.. funny how things are thrown back at your face.

AS I WAS drinking my blueberry blast.. I got a call from cousin chad.. I just though oh wow.. why is he calling me maybe he wants to ride anyway he was in trouble. He told me he had wreck and he asked if I could come pick him up. I asked if it was bad he was like pretty sure I broke my collar bone. So I left hopped in the car with my mom freaking out about it calling his mom. And I called Nate to see if he could get there before me because I was across town. I drove like a maniac doing 50 in a 30.. and sometimes faster and still being safe.. but still.. I was really scared he was hurt so bad.. Nate got there before I did and called me and let me know he had him.. and was going to the hospital.. So I get on blackshire and thought I saw a cyclist but it dissapeared... now that I come to think about it.. I was so freaked out at the time I didn't even really notice what was going on at the time... I turned around and headed to the hospital. Nate told me that there was a lone cyclist sitting with him when he came to get him. We usually know every cyclist around .. in or not with the local group but he didn't say who he was and nobody regonized him... I believe it was GOD. Or someone god sent... Went to the hospital and went inside to see him.. Chad was torn up pretty good with bad cuts bleeding everywhere.. he tasted blood and had his shoulder up. It really made me weak looking at him cuz it looked like so much pain... My whole family on my moms side came and waited in the waiting room and he came out with a shoulder brace thing since he broken his collar bone but other than that everything else was ok.. He got a new crank and it was used and the teeth were worn down.. and his new chain did not match up and it thrown off his chain and caused his balance to go sidewards and he went over the handlebars going downhill going over 30 mph.. I'm just glad he is ok and can get better.. big scare.. and I am glad he ended up calling me asking for help cuz that let me know he knows I really do care about him. He is like a brother to me.

God is always watching.

LOTS OF FOG and DOGS!

2008-09-22T09:00:00.007-05:00

Riding in fog is dangerous. I love it. The only thing I don't love about it is the visibility of other drivers.. but suprisingly they slow down more than they do when they can see.. I have lights and everything so I'm pretty visible. Anyway .. went with Jordan for a spin.. and it was really quiet and very wet .. we had like droplets of rain on our eyelashes and eyebrows. It was a fun ride thats for sure.. and just border line cold. I had been off the bike all weekend because I went on a group ride for the first time in a long time last thursday.. and I rode way too hard and after the ride my lungs hurt so bad... I'm not a smoker and do not have asthma.. I climbed quite a few really hard short steep climbs.. I felt like my lungs were going to turn inside out.. ANyway the air was semi cool and I think I was tense and I strained my muscles and my lungs were sore from cool air. HEAT was about the only thing that helped, but about three days later the pain finally went away and today was my first back on the bike.. and I have no pain afterwards.. I guess I just pushed it too hard.

Saturday I went to go look at local artists that had there studios they open up every year.. beautiful photos and paintings and one woman made very cool jewelry. I ended up getting a ring from her. Just a sterling silver band that was hand carved like a cave.. she said she was inspired by caves so its a cool ring. It was an all day event, but very well worth it. One man, Forrest Waltmann, carved aztec warriors and had his house in the side of cliff. I learned more about the aztecs there than I ever did in school thats for sure. To see people with such great talent was very inspiring. Sunday I played with my dogs and did the dishes for my mother who was just on the go yesterday. Nate brought his dog over to play with mine and it was just a huge German Shepherd party! haha

Things I love to think about

2008-09-19T23:03:00.010-05:00

I love to think about style. On the bike and off the bike.. but mainly anything that has to do with the bike. I like to change a lot.. and I am thinking I will soon put my retina burns to rest.. and start planning my look for next racing season. I think I already know what sunglasses I want.. of course I will have custom oakleys. I want the new womens sport performance "enduring" sunglasses. I am thinking the frame all white with the socks white and the O white .. with just H.I. yellow edge lenses... OR the same sunglasses with the same lenses but Black frame/socks/O with Ice Iridium Blue or tinted lenses. What is euro is white. White is euro. I am in the mood for black.. Black is in for me I am sticking to black frames I think. I am also craving black bar tape and a black accented saddle... Thats it I'm going black. But of course my hair color is staying blonde! Geez.. I might even get a black helmet... I duno which kind. I have the sweep right now.. but I like the black and blue giro ionos.. or black and yellow or just black.. I also would love the new solid yellow cycling shoes everyone was wearing the tour de france.. those were hot and would go perfectly with my yellow kit. I am craving black and blue.. or black and yellow ..

Loving September <3

2008-09-18T09:45:00.012-05:00

My amazing friend, Jordan, asked me what is my fav part of the year.. it was winter until I started cycling.. And so now I duno what it is really.. I like it when its warmer.. so springish into summer to fallish. I just can not choose really just cycling season I guess haha! ANywAY I have decided one of my favorite months is September because of the temperatures... yea yea the sun is going down faster.. :( BUT the angle the sun is at and the moon at that time of the year is awesome and it being like the perfect temperature all day til about 6 ish is amazing! It is kind of warm standing still yea.. but when you get moving on your bicycle you are like WOW THIS IS AMAZING!!!! And plus the season is winding down which I am not the biggest fan of, but its like joy ride time!

Went on a ride yesterday with Jordan and we had a blast in the sun! Even thou

gh we got ran off the road twice one by a cemi and three motorcycles with BIG FAT MEN on them and what was the sickest part of them all one wasn't wearing a shirt and the other had his shirt on but the back of his shirt was up.. and his BUTT CRACK was like showing far away!!! That thing had to be like five inches long of CRACK! GROSS !!! Even though we got ran off the road and I couldn't unclip and

almost went over my handlebars in the ditch.. I died laughing at that man!

The mountains where gleaming yesterday.. and will today it looks like.. so sunny clear beautiful... We have had so many cloudy rainy days that now the sun is out I am in such a great mood and just hyper! Not a cloud in the sky.. AMAZING! I have been layed off work lately so I have had more time for sleeping and just more one on one with my little cannondale hehe! This is my riding buddy Jordan! She is hilarious! And one of the nicest cyclists I KNOW!

I am so pumped today because it is the same as it was yesterday... plus I am looking really good right now.. I lost some weight in a good way! my calves look pretty sweet.. When I walk at the park.. I know when the thin runners run by they look at me and just think damn.. Which is funny cuz last year I would go to the park there might be like five people running and stuff.. but now there are tons and tons of people who show up! They run and stretch and walk.. and bring there dogs and kids.. its a small park but like its fun to go there and hang out haha! The people who play basketball though.. they might have there strange music turned up loud and there pants about to fall off because its too baggy and may cuss and crap but they are having a good time.. and thats all that matters as long as they don't hit on me.. haha! MAN I HAVE TO GET READy AND GO RIDE OR SOMEthing time to get outside!!!

hehe it says zero talent right there

This was gross.. but it was fun..

hehe

Summer Rain

2008-09-13T22:09:00.003-05:00

I'm really not the biggest fan of rain. Harrison has never got this much rain in a long time.. crazy crazy stuff.. cuz everything like the grass and tree leaves should be dying now and it looks like the start of summer right now.. ANYWAY rode two times yesterday because I had a craving for being on the bike before hurricane ike, currently a tropical storm, came threw. Yesterday was one of the best rides of my life.. Perfect temp with like the sun still out, but with cool clouds and rain off in the distance. I felt better than ever too on that ride. which was strange because my knee was hurt.. but it got better quick. It happen to rain on me on the way back, just a quick soaker. Today's ride was a little different because I had to work hard this morning since 3 in the morning, then I came home slept woke up went for a ride.. pretty cloudy with a light mist. Then about a quarter way through my ride it started pouring and I had to empty out one of my water bottles and put my cell phone and sansa clip in there and just ride through it. Hurricane Ike rain was above me and it was pretty cool.. it made feel hardcore haha! It was nice just taking time from everything and listening to the rain and my bike. Wasn't really any traffic out at all and one part of this road 206 was just so beautiful cuz it has like these flat green pastures with a couple lone trees then rolling mountains right by it... also these really pretty yellow daisys were growing all on the side of the road naturally .. made me think of the tour de france.. I rode about 20 miles pretty much in the rain the whole time.. which made it fun... I can't sleep right now because I am in a tornado watch... and I'm watching.. haha I think I'm going to drink some chocolate milk and hit the sack if you know what I mean... I don't like rain.. but today was just different and I was all for it.. it was really beautiful.

good little saying

2008-09-11T09:21:00.001-05:00

The greatest riders thrive in the worst weather.
Taking stormy training rides whilst others stay in bed,
or attacking when wind, rain and snow make their rivals think twice.
Bernard Hinault in the 1980 Liege-Bastonge-Liege, King Kelly at Paris-Roubaix in 1996, Armstrong World Champion in Oslo 1993.
All heroic performances in appalling conditions.
Is the weather looking bad today?
GET OUT AND RIDE.

Got this off this one guys blog who regularly reads mine. He found it inside one of his pieces of cycling clothes... I also really love the saying.. thought I would share it with anybody else who reads my blog.

MARK CAVENDISH. <3

2008-09-10T17:31:00.005-05:00

So I went to watch the Tour of Missouri to watch stage 3 the time trial in Branson. I also watched stage two too. It was amazing to see a sprint finish and see Mark Cavendish in like real life.. I just see him on tv and it was hard to believe he stood feet from me... I never could get a an autograph in Springfield.. but in Branson I got it all. He signed my brc cap and then later took a picture with me............ He is a little bit taller than me and is so cute.. and sweet.. I was so nervous and shaking and shy .. and he was so tired and just rolling his little luggage bag and holding his flowers.... I didn't know what to say at the moment and when I did speak I mumbled and put my head down.. I bet there are so many women who think the same.. but he was perfect..and I love his style.. his sunglasses are always so cool.. his accent is very hott... his eyes are cool too anyway I could go on.. I have like a huge crush thats for sure... I think we look sweet together haha and if you see this Mark, here is my number 870-391-9616 You can call or text me anytime. He is by far my favorite sprinter in the world !!! ok now that I had to vent there.... jeez

.....for women it goes hands down to Liz Hatch! I am showing that I am more a sprinter than anything else lately.. its only my first year in the cycling world.. but It would be cool to be a great sprinter.. I am the right build for a sprinter thats for sure.. but I duno I what I am best at yet.. but I have been so inspired and thankful for how life has been for me.. there have been down times, but cycling has seriously changed my life.. It will always be a part of my life no matter what happens.. It's only the beginning.. and it is only going to get better from here. :)

2008-09-06T21:11:00.003-05:00

I have been very moody.. and then very happy then I'm upset again.. I have been eating my mom's pies brownies and whatever else she has made.. and its making me fat.. I haven't been able to get on the bike because of stupid gustov today and I'm going to ride tomorrow morning and get some extra baggage off seriously.. I went to little rock with Nate and his brother to get his bro a road bike. He ended up getting it at chainwheel and got a cannondale caad 9 7 which is a good bike I have the caad 8 optimo 1 anyway... that store is good for lower end road bikes I do like that, but thats about it really.. the service was kind of sketchy.. and they charged his brother like for a cheap metal water bottle holder and a chainwheel clear water bottle.. I duno I'm glad he got a bike.. but that place kind of bugs me.. its kind of the trend of bike stores that get enough business they don't really pay attention to their customers really.. we stood there forever before someone helped us.. and when they did they walked off after they said they were going to help us and got side track.. one hispanic dude ended up getting him a bike and getting him out of there.. but it took long enough......but since I was there forever I had to use the bathroom and I had problems so I unleashed the fury on chainwheel haha..

I guess I am going to just go read or something .. like one of my women cycling books or something... I think it would be cool to open up a real good bike shop here that favors more road bikes than mtn bikes like the other little store downtown.. I duno why they sell more mountain bikes only that they are cheaper and people are more familier with them.. but we don't have mountain bike trails for at least an hour from here unless its on somebodys private property... plus BRC needs a cool spot to meet and hang out and be supported more.. anyway............ like carve has chainwheel and thats so cool cuz they did have there jerseys and stuff and its just a cool little spot.. maybe we just had bad service that day or something I really don't want to be to harsh I am just a little pissy right now.. cycles unlimited in springfield, mo is by far my favorite store EVERRRRrr it is green and the service is AWESOme! good place to go and buy just whatever! Anyway I am starting my ride at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow.. and start losing weight again so I don't get fat! haha j/k but seriously no sweets..night