Memorial Day Weekend

Bruno the Berner has already grown since we saw him 2 weeks ago and he's becoming quite the little terror. He's adorable as all can be but I know everyone will be excited once he's over his teething stage!

After a short hike and MTB on Friday, Ben and Flora drove up from Boulder to join in on some fun festivities. We planned to road bike what most people call the 'Copper Triangle' on Saturday. It consisted of 80+ miles and just under 7000ft of climbing.

Brent (Bryce's dad) turns 60 this summer and did the entire ride as well. Such a trooper!

 All smiles riding my new Litespeed L1R. This thing is a climbing machine.

Everyone had a great time and came back really excited. Ben even whipped out the AWESOME hat.

As always, Barbara fed us like kings all weekend. Nothing but homemade, fresh, and delicious food! She's the best :)

Sunday morning we went for a fun hike just above the Bingham's house in Edwards.

This was Bruno's first 'off-road' adventure. It was very short lived so Barb had to bring him home early. The little guy gets tuckered out very quickly these days.

Later that morning, we met up with Tony and Bobby for some dirt biking at Bocco Mountain. It was Bobby's first time on real singletrack and he absolutely killed it. Super fun day with those guys.

Sunday morning we met up with good friends, Bob and Melissa, for some mountain biking in Eagle. Other than a few small crashes, everyone came back in one piece.

Bryce took the day off work today so we took advantage of sleeping in then went for another fun hike above Singletree. Afterwards, we rode dirt bikes at Wolcott and got a few fun pics.

Overall, the long weekend couldn't have been a more perfect blend of activities, relaxing and enjoying great company.

Thinking outside the box

I've been seeing Maia at Massage Boulder for weekly body work lately and she's noticed several muscular imbalances. I've been battling a really tight right quad for some random reason and the root cause may be from other muscles not actually functioning - i.e. my butt :) I do a bit of strength work but apparently not the right stuff to get my glutes firing properly. Maia also teaches Foundation classes and suggested I give it a go since I was someone who could really benefit from it.

Foundation training is a series of exercises based on integrating the muscular chains of the body. The exercises begin with the Posterior Chain of Muscles to quickly stabilize your spine and core because our modern lifestyles leave most of these muscles weak and imbalanced. I gathered a few others and we jumped into Maia's Tues evening class. Although it's only 45min with nothing other than a mat, it was extremely challenging. It took a bit to find the correct postures but eventually I was able to trigger and activate all the muscles that hadn't been working. I plan on continuing this class weekly and have confidence it will be a great asset to my overall fitness this year! Click on the logo above to learn more on Foundation Training and to see if there are classes offered in your area :)

Who says accountants can't be creative!?!

Now that all athletes are tied to their electronic tracking devices of choice, several smaller companies are thriving off the various accessories needed to make these addictive computers visible and functional. There's no secret that Garmin is still the leader in cycling GPS units so most of the aftermarket accessories are only suited that brand. I haven't had any issues putting my computer on my stem but this year I'm running a +6degree rise which tilts the screen, making it difficult to read.

My friend James, tech editor for Cycling News, tested the above mount made specifically for Garmins a few weeks ago. Other than being way too expensive for what it was, there was nothing wrong with it. He already had another mount that he preferred so he said I should see what I could muster up. Since I was looking for something just like this for my Timex Cycle Trainer, I decided to pull out my creative card.

It's definitely not the fanciest alteration out there, but it's fully functional. Unless you bend over and look underneath the mount on my bike, it's completely camouflaged and works like a charm! Even Bryce, Mr. Engineer, was slightly impressed!

Welcome Bruno!

What more could an empty nested momma want for Mother's Day than a brand new Bernese Mountain Dog?!? This might have been Barbara Bingham's best mother's day present to date!

It took a few days to name the little guy because they wanted to match the personality appropriately but Bruno was the winner. He's only eight weeks old and growing faster than anything I've ever seen before. He's also probably the cutest puppy I've ever seen too. Looks like the Binghams will have their hands full for the next couple months :)

New Road Bike Love!

 

Hooray, I finally got my new Litespeed L1R road bike built up! Complete with the new Shimano 11-speed components and wheels, this thing is a climbing rocket! It's been a while since I've used mechanical shifting but the Dura Ace 9000 shifting is like butter so I can hardly tell the difference. I'm still making minor tweaks to get it totally dialed in but you better believe I'll have a full review shortly!

Definitely one happy girl :)

Hooray! Flora D is a college grad :)

After several long years of balancing academics, a full time training schedule and two Olympic Games, Flora finally had the honor of walking across the stage at CU this past weekend! Her adorable parents flew out from Bermuda to help celebrate as well.

We threw her a fun party on Friday night with all of our friends and it was a total blast. She even got a gluten free chocolate cake that said 'Go Me'!

To top off an awesome weekend, she got a chance to take her new Scott Scale out for it's first ride. If Flora tries to tell you she can't mountain bike, she's full of it. That girl can ride!!! Congrats Flora, we're all so proud and happy for your great accomplishment. You have so many great endeavors ahead of you :) XOXO.

Finito!

Yes, the fireplace project has come to a close. We are very happy with how it turned out and really look forward to using the new EcoFuel fireplace this fall/winter.

It's hard to imagine that this is what it looked like just a few months ago but I think we can all agree that the remodel was a big upgrade :) Now we put the house projects on hold to play on bikes and motos for the summer!

Massage Boulder

I received my first massage since last summer this past week and holy moly did I need it. My body, and legs in particular, have had a serious shock since I've started doing harder than normal bike sessions recently. I've always gone to a good friend/cyclist for massage but now that he's a new daddy, his world is a bit more consumed. I didn't think twice when I needed another go to person. Maia Ignatz is not only a good friend but a phenomenal massage therapist. Her attention to detail is beyond visible in her work and the fact that she's an elite athlete makes communication and understanding of body issues seamless. If you're in the market for a good massage, definitely check out Maia at Massage Boulder!

Fun in the kitchen

I've been doing my best to embrace this whole 'cooking every meal at home' thing and I have to admit it's really not all that bad. Definitely time consuming but I'm trying all sorts of various GF/DF recipes and trying to replicate some of our previous favorite dishes. Pizza was the one thing we ate all the time and even though you can find gluten free dough options at many local Boulder restaurants, dairy free cheese hasn't quite made it that far. Luckily Whole Foods is a 10min walk from our house so we've got plenty of DF alternatives right at our finger tips. The two pizzas above were made with Bob's Red Mills GF pizza crust but there are several other recipes that are delicious as well. I promise they taste as good as they look :)

Allen Lim and Biju Thomas recently came out with their second cookbook! The Feed Zone was a huge hit and we still make several items out of it on a weekly basis. This new book is comprised of recipes designed to bring along as ride/training food and is my new go to for snacks on the bike.

Powerbar has been one of the best sponsors over the past 7 years but unfortunately, all of their bars have gluten and dairy in them. Their gels, fruit smoothies and gel blasts are fantastic but sometimes I just need something with more substance. The Feed Zone Portables has numerous recipes that fit our dietary needs and are fun to make. This week we made the Blueberry/Chocolate/Coconut Rice Cakes. It's as simple as making Calrose rice, mixing in coconut milk/raw sugar/salt/lemon juice then putting blueberries and DF chocolate chips in between two layers of rice in a 9x12in pan. Cut them up, wrap 'em in foil and you have ride food for several days...it's AMAZING! Bryce made French Toast muffins over the weekend and they might be his new favorite. Check it out if you are in the market for good and wholesome goodies while working out.