So many exciting things!

Got my new all mountain Orbea Rallon - will post more pics soon.

Had a killer run on the snow covered track Tuesday morning!

My new Orca 3.8 wetsuit showed up in the mail :)

More motorized items in the garage

Paddy bought a sick new scooter to get himself around town! It's no dirt bike, but I guess it can live in the garage for a few months :)

My love for the Willowbrook HOA...NOT

Very rarely do I rant about people or things that make me angry on here but this time, I cannot resist.

Last month we received another notice from our HOA. This time it was stating that they reported us to the city that we had a secondary dwelling unit in our house and it needed to be cleared it up. For real? A secondary living unit? WTF! I immediately called our property manager to find out what was going on and found out that the president of the HOA had been reading my blog and saw our ''kitchenette'' that was built downstairs and reported us! Again, for real? We have had nothing but horrible experiences with this place since we've moved in and hasn't gone in any sort of positive direction ever since. The group of idiots who run this association are out of control and have absolutely no respect for anyone. Whatever entitlement they feel they have being in charge of something is not an excuse for childish and ridiculous behavior.

That being said, we invited the city officials over to check out our hard work. They left saying that everything was just fine - there wasn't a secondary living unit in our basement - and that we just needed to be mailed a declaration stating what we had added. A few days later we received a call from the city stating that we actually needed to pull a building permit for the plumbing. Even though the work was done, we still needed to pull one anyway and have it inspected again. Little did I know, pulling a permit meant A) paying the city $200 (educating people on how to run good marijuana businesses isn't cheap), B) hard-wiring every single smoke detector in the house, and C) installing a hard-wired CO2 detector on every floor of the house. Yes - we had to do all of this (and spend an unexpected $700) all because our wonderful HOA doesn't have anything else to do except snoop around and piss off the people who actually own and live in the complex.

We have our inspection next Wednesday so stay tuned on how things go. I never imagined owning a home would be such a pain in my ass!

BEST STICKERS EVER!

I love my mechanic Doug Berner!!!!

Timex Sweepstakes!!!

Timex is currently running a sweepstakes on Facebook, called the Time to Train Sweepstakes. Enter for a chance to win a $1,000 race training package, which includes the following:

· Timex will reimburse your 2011 race fees up to $620

· Timex Ironman Global Trainer GPS Training Device (value $360)

· Headsweats® Race Hat (value $20)

They’ve also got 35 prizes for runner up’s, including five BRAND NEW Timex Ironman Race Trainer Pro heart rate monitor and 30 Headsweats® Race hats! Please enter the contest and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to do the same! Enter here: http://bit.ly/gpRZD4

Spring is in the air!

Temps are starting to rise, the days are getting longer and the usual events of Spring are finally underway!

We fired up the grill for the first time in 2011 and let our Kiwi roommate go to town on making one of the best burgers I've ever had!

It was mmmmmm good!

When it's sunny and 70* in March, every cyclist goes up hill on their weekend ride so we decided to as well. I hadn't been up to Sunshine Canyon to Gold Hill since the 7200 acre fire last summer so we gave it a whirl. It was really sad seeing all the houses that were burned to the ground but also exciting to see several new ones already rebuilt. I can't say that climbing 4000ft is very easy at the moment but we did it as easy as we could and made it home alive :)

After our ride, we slammed a quick lunch then headed to the CU Research park to watch the first bike race of the year. It felt great to be back outside watching bike racing while cheering and getting our cowbell on! I even had some killer sponsor correct cowbells going on - thank you Timex and Maxxis! Our new roommate, Paddy had a great race while helping his teammate take the win and the rest of the crew finished strong and safe!

New and EXCITING!

This past week has marked a HUGE milestone for me and I'm so excited to be writing about it! For the first time since June of 2010, I was able to get out on the track and run a pair of 7 minute miles and also get out in the hills and produce my highest 20 minute power output on the bicycle. Although I'm still having 1 or 2 really bad days a week, the 5-6 really amazing days completely outweigh the rough ones and keep reassuring me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I honestly cannot thank everyone enough for their continued support and encouragement during the past year. I have learned so much about myself and how much positive reinforcement impacts one's inner feelings. After a great dinner last night with the Colorado Team Timex Crew and several Timex Corporate guys, I came home feeling like the luckiest girl in the world. The endless support and camaraderie that everyone associated with Timex continually offers is by far one of the greatest assets in my life. I have officially come to the conclusion that we should rename the team to the Timex Multisport Family. Anyone else in?!?!

Another Texas weekend in the books!

After a long ride down to Texas on Friday night, we made it out to the course just in time for the Women's GP race!

I had a terrible start and got held up in the trees but managed to work my way up throughout the race. The 3 mile course was a super fun with some tight tree sections and a fast grass track. We rode for just under and hour and I finished with a solid 3rd. It was a great warm up for Sunday's big race.

After prepping bikes and getting everything ready for the big race on Sunday, we got some food then checked into our hotel. We booked a room at a Bed and Breakfast in a town of what seemed had a population less than 25 and had quite the experience.

There were only 16 rooms available in the entire place and we stayed in ''Miss Daisy's Room''. There was one public shower for all guests but each room had it's own bathroom. The building was built in the early 1900s so whenever anyone made a move, it creaked through the entire place! We had a personal wake up call in the morning and a home cooked breakfast ready at 6am. Although it was like nothing we had ever experienced, it was really fun and the service was unbeatable.

Race morning was typical and very relaxed. I started on row 75 so I had plenty of time to make sure everything was in working order. I rode with Jud Barlow and his son Kolten who was on an 85 and little Bryce Smith who was on a 65. It was a brutal day of trail, ruts, hills, etc, but we all made it to the end. Bryce had some issues getting back into town after the final special test but everyone got back safe and sound. I learned some good lessons about taking my time at the gas stops instead of hurrying to the next check by losing several trail points for being late to 3 special tests. You never know how long the transfer section is between the gas stop and the next check so the rule of thumb is gas and go! I definitely won't screw that up again!

All in all, it was a great day of racing! Bryce finished inside the top 20 which is a great result for him at this race and I finished 3rd in the women's division behind 2 speedy girls. Ron rocked a top 10 and the rest of the RMEC crew came home with numerous trophies. The most exciting aspect of the race for me was being able to stay focused and alert for almost 6hrs on the bike...HUGE milestone :) Apologies for the lack of pictures from Sunday's race, I'll post some soon if they are available.

4 Sessions down, 2 to go!

Attempting to cook...again

We all know how much Bryce and I love to cook and how we usually last about one or two weeks with a ''new'' cooking regime. However, with a better attitude, I think that this time we're in for the long haul. We met with our nutritionist on Friday and purchased this great book on Saturday (click on the pic to check out the site and some featured recipes). After choosing a few recipes, we made our normal grocery trip and found that it wasn't as hard as we thought. Of course we had to pick up a few extra spices that we didn't have but since each recipe only calls for 5 ingredients, it was actually quite simple. We made our first 15min meal of Asiago Crusted Pork Chops and Broccoli with Sour Cream Sauce and it couldn't have gone better. It was simple, quick and we even have leftovers for lunch or dinner. We're going to try 3 new things a week for now, keep your fingers crossed that we stick to it :)

Thank You Blue Cross Blue Shield!

Last night I received my new medical knee braces (with a motocross package) that I didn't have to pay a dime for due to my 2 previous knee surgeries! It's about darn time I get something out of the thousands of dollars I pay in insurance each year :) Of course I've already met my deductible, but in my mind that's just part of the insurance deal! I'm really excited because these Ossur CTI braces are supposed to be top of the line and quite obviously my body needs the best protection it can get. Now I'm really amped to go ride my dirt bike.

Justin's is back on board

Big thanks to Justin's Nut Butter for sponsoring the Timex Multisport Team again in 2011. I'm pretty sure there is no better sponsor in the world for the girl who eats a jar of peanut butter every 2 days :)