Meet Shep...

...or Andrew P. Shepherd if you want to be super formal. Shep is one of the most amazing people in the world and one of my best friends. There isn't anything Shep wouldn't do for me (or most people for that matter) and there's no better feeling knowing you have a friend like that. We have both been very busy lately and there has been a lack of 'Erin and Shep Time' so we decided to change that. We took a nice spin the mountain bikes and got all caught up on life. During that ride, I realized that there is no way I would be doing what I am right now if it hadn't been for Shep and his insane amounts of patience.

You see, the first time I got on a mtb, I threw the biggest temper tantrum you could imagine and wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, I hated it. However, since Shep is so great at teaching, I started to come around and learn a thing or two. If it wasn't for his stupendous guidance and did I mention patience?!?!....I'd still be kicking my bike on the side of the trail saying "F*** this, I quit. This is the stupidest thing ever. I don't get how I can be so fit on the road and suck so bad at this. I want to go home". Yes, you're laughing, and it's funny...but it's for real.

I have matured so much over the last 2 years and have learned that you can't always be good at something right away and that perfecting MTB skills takes lots of time, years in fact. I am only a few years in and have come to grips that I am nowhere near my peak and that the future is my friend. I can say that after I clear a super technical section or ride something super smoothly, there is no one I would rather hear 'Hell yeah Erin, you're riding so well, I'm so impressed', from than my best bud Shep. It makes me feel so proud because he's the master behind it all and deserves every ounce of credit :) Shep, you're the BEST!

The New Madone!

Here she is...the new road ride. She is absolutely amazing and rides sooooo smoothly! I'm still getting used to the double click Sram shifting, but I can tell you that I will NEVER ride another bike without a compact crank...FABULOUS! Trek did a good job on this one :)

It's playoff season!!!

...and my Red Wings are rockin' out strong sweeping Columbus in the first round! I'm not going to get too cocky yet, but I see another giant cup coming back to Detroit this year :)

The Pistons on the other hand...not much to talk about there. They have pretty much sucked it up since the trade of Billups and Iverson. You definitely don't want my two cents on that situation as I would go on forever. Let's just say it was a TERRIBLE move. If the Stones don't get their booties into action today, their golfing season starts much earlier than expected. If you care to watch, it's on ABC at 3:30pm EST.

Just one of those days...

Yesterday was supposed to be my 'January 1st' of the 2009 (i.e. the start of my training/racing season). I got the go ahead to ride and swim easy so Neal and I decided to just start from the beginning so that I can have a fresh mental attitude about everything. It was sooooo exciting to finally see workout sessions on my schedule and I had a super fun day planned out.
It all went out the door when I drove up to the club to swim and do yoga and found out with was closed a day earlier than I had expected. Ugh. I drove my butt over to the North Boulder Rec Center where I paid a hefty price just to flop around in an indoor pool. I also paid another dollar because they don't have towels like FAC...that peeved me off even more so I just took the towel...bad Erin, bad Erin! Aside that, the swim was decent and it felt great to be back in the water. My arms felt like jello but it will come around soon!
I put my old Specialized (my very first road bike EVER) up on Craigslist Sunday evening and surprisingly got a few responses right away. I met a couple over at Vic's after the swim and wabam...sold. It was definitely a sad moment to see it go, but that's one less bike to have kickin' in the garage :)
After that, I was super excited to go spin around on my new bike since it was in the high 60s and gorgeous out. I got all geared up and took off for an easy spin. I was having the time of my life out there and I LOVE my new bike. Everything was going smoothly until I made a sharp left turn into a subdivision and boom...I slide right out on some sand in the road that was leftover from the snow storm. Luckily I was fine and my BRAND NEW bike only suffered minor scratches and blood stains, but DANG! I have some nice road rash, a few big bruises and some torn up clothing, but it's just the fact that it was my first ride on my new machine!!! At any rate, I didn't freak out and just let it go. I am, however, really sore today.

To top the day off, Allen had not been feeling well at all. He chilled out at home most the day and did some gardening and cooked me a delicious steak dinner, but went to bed feeling pretty crappy :( Guess who woke up with a super sore throat and runny nose this morning?!?! Yes, it's my own fault, but it was inevitable.

Oh life...always so unpredictable :) Hehe.

More fun...whoooaaaa

Sunday was a great day in Boulder! Not only did it stop raining and snowing, but it was almost 70 degrees, sunny and aboslutely perfect!

Zeal Optics put on a 5K run for Jamie Whitmore starting at their headquarters and it was a huge success! Tons of people showed up to run and I was having a blast just hanging out and mingling with everyone. Yes, I would have loved to be running, but it's okay...soon enough. Check out this site to see the race flyer.

Later that day, Jenny and I went for a nice walk through the CU campus. I hadn't been there since I graduated 3 years ago this May...holy crap I'm getting old! Anyway, the year after I left, they completely remodeled the Leeds School of Business and I finally got to take a self guided tour through it. Pretty nifty!

A Really Good Day!

Not only did the above 2 things show up at my door yesterday but Tingle was 2nd at the Rage Tri in Las Vegas and the little monster and I cooked another delightful dinner :)

The Trader Joe's goodies came from my momma who is the absolute best. You ask her to send a care package from TJ and this is what you get!!! WOW! The bike I'm on is my new Trek Madone. We built it up (90%) then transferred my bike fit measurements over to make it just right. When it's 100% done, I'll take more pics so you can see how beautiful it really is.

Updates from 'The Bubble'

I've been somewhat of a scatter brain lately since I haven't been forced to be super regimented with training, working and life in general. It's kinda fun and I've been doing lots of random things like house shopping, gardening and cooking.

A couple of days ago, we planted every vegetable seed under the sun in the above Aero Garden then went to Home Depot and bought several wooden barrels. So once germinated inside, we can transport all the 'to be' veggies outside. It's been quite the adventure with lots of research and planning involved but we're having a good time and if we get one of the 15 things we planted to grow, we'll be stoked! And no, we did not hit up Bed Bath and Beyond on the way home.

We have also been doing our fair share of cooking but the salmon, wild rice and green beans with garlic, onions and toasted almonds the other night was definitely the winner of the week.

On another note, I got my stitches out and I'm on the path to a much quicker recovery than I thought. No, this is not coming from me, but my doctor and coach! Light spinning and swimming early next week have already gotten the OK.

Not that it matters too much since I can't go out and ride/run all day anyway, but come on...why in the world are we getting pounded with snow again in late April? Boulder, by far, has the weirdest weather patterns, or lack there of, EVER! It never seizes to surprise me :) I bet it will be 80 and sunny all next week :)

HAPPY TAX DAY :)

For most accountants, today is probably the most anticipated day of the year in both a good and bad way. For most, it marks the end of tax prep season which is a huge relief but at the same time, it's the most important and stressful deadline of the year.

Luckily, I had everything done and filed a few weeks ago so today really isn't that big of deal...pheww

On a separate note, I found this article below pretty comical! It shows how Tax Day has become a Protest Day and that American taxpayers in more than 300 locations in all 50 states will hold rallies -- dubbed "tea parties" -- to protest higher taxes and out-of-control government spending.

Check out this link below for the full story.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY :)

Today was my Mom's birthday and I just thought everyone should know :)

The big 5-0 was last year and she came out to get her shiny new Trek bike but this year she stayed back in MI since I'll be there in just one month. Hope you're day was splendid and you had a wonderful dinner with Dad last night. I love you.

Happy Easter!

Not only do I love the cool cards and gifts associated with all the different holidays, I love the fact that each celebration completely justifies my ridiculous consumption of candy and chocolate!

After heading to the 'Children's' mass at First Pres, Tingle and I raided several grocery and drug stores looking for random items to make Easter baskets with. Although we didn't find the egg dying kit we were looking for, a set of glitter glue pens, singing candies and giant chocolate bunny ears were quite satisfactory. While devouring pancakes and chocolate, we decorated Easter buckets and hard boiled eggs for Denny and Allen. Very entertaining.

Along with the cards pictured above, I also received this 'Ginormous' egg from Jon, a chocolate bunny and beautiful orchid from Allen's parents, and a delicious dinner with Allen and his dad at the Cork restaurant in town. Although it was cold and rainy, it was a fun-filled day with lots of good times. Hope yours was the same :)

Timex Camp and 'The Surgery'

As always, most of the things that happened at team camp last week in Cali cannot be discussed publicly. However, I can assure you that they were all in good fun and no one was injured! Haha. Check out Rachel Ross's blog to see the wonderful impression Will Kelsay made after I got him on the team...what a moron!!! Also, visit the Team Timex Blog for other great athlete postings. I'll post more photos when Tingle gets her crap together and sends them to me :)

Yes, yes, yes, I know everyone is curious as to how the surgery went and good news...it went great. I made a really dumb decision and attempted to do a hard bike trainer session at 4am the day of surgery because I couldn't eat anything after 7am. Not only did the workout go horribly, I didn't feel very well afterward and my plan to eat a huge breakfast before 7am went straight out the door. I was able to get in a little food, but not much, and by the time I had surgery at 3pm, I was about ready to bite someone's arm off I was so hungry. I normally can't go more than 2hrs without food or drink and making me go more than 8hrs is worse than the pain of the surgery itself! So of course I was out cold for the procedure and when I woke up, I was nicely welcomed by Catherine, Allen and a delicious treat from Jamba Juice. According to Allen (he's the one who spoke with the doc), they found something that starts with an 's' that was irritating the jointline and they were able to remove it, smooth it out and hopefully illeviate all the pain I was getting while running. They also drained the fluid from the under the kneecap and bursa along the side of the knee as well as clean up all the torn tissues in the surrounding areas. When I actually talk to the doctor next week, I'll post a much more accurate report of what 'actually' happened during the surgery.

As for now, I've been sitting on my booty with my giant compression sock doing nothing and not enjoying any of it. Okay, that's kind of a lie. Yesterday, Allen and I took a 2+hr adventure to the grocery store and Target that killed my armpits from crutching around everywhere and made a fun dinner with Merci, Ryan and Collin. Today, I went into FRG just to hang out for a bit.

I'm trying really hard to be patient about letting it heal, but damn, it's no fun when all your friends are out training all day and you can't go play with them :( I'm going to start doing lots of upper body and core stuff today so I plan on coming back with some killer strong arms and beautiful 12-pack...haha...we'll see how far that goes!

The week in a nutshell

I got a little side tracked on posting pics from Moab so here are a few...






As excited as I was to race Koppenberg last Sunday, it was a good thing it was canceled! The infamous 200m 17% grade dirt hill was so sloppy that it looked as if it were covered with a foot of peanut butter...no joke. Instead, Tingle and I had a very enjoyable long ride with some great chatting and lots of catching up.
Although I haven't received either of my new bikes yet, I wanted to get both fits done on my older frames and translate the measurements before the knee surgery on Wednesday. Larry at BCSM did the MTB fit on Monday and the road fit on Wednesday. The positions are much less aggressive than my previous 'TT' style of riding and I'm having a bit of trouble finding my power, but I'm not worried, it will all come together soon enough.

We're supposed to have another big storm move through tonight and tomorrow so the 1pm flight to San Diego for the annual Team Timex Camp might be quite interesting. We attempted to fly out today in order to miss the weather, but apparently everyone and their mother wanted to do the same thing and everything was full. If all goes to plan, Tingle, Denny and I will be in Carlsbad from Saturday to Tuesday doing what pro athletes do best - party like rockstars! I'll do my best to provide updates here but the Timex Blog will have full coverage so check out the link on the right!