Fun times on knobby tires with motors!

Friday afternoon, we set off up the mountain to meet Melissa Thomas out at Switzerland trail for a little moto action. Dan, Tom and Natalie and myself took off in style and rode up Sunshine Canyon to Four Mile then up the trail. When we met up with superstar mountain biker and motocross extraordinaire (MT), she took us on some super fun/technical single track I had never been on. The bike only went down once and it was actually quite comical. But hey - isn't that what Tom and Banjo are there for...to pick up my bike when it's on dumped in the bushes?!? Haha. Bryce promises my lower seat will be here soon so I can finally stand over my moto instead of hopping off and balancing it on one leg every time we stop. Damn, I wish I was just a little bit taller...

At any rate, it was an absolute blast and I'm so glad I finally made the splurge. Don't Tom and I look so cute?!

Who wants to analyze my dreadful swim stroke?!?!

Meet Doug...

...Doug Berner to be exact! He's the mechanic for the Team Type 1 pro cycling team and the Timex Multisport Team. He travels around the country all season in big trucks with all our gear and equipment. He's one of the coolest guys I know but only get to see him a few times a year since I don't race on the road anymore.

Out of nowhere, look what showed up in my driveway yesterday!!! That's right, Doug Berner and the monster TT1 truck :) He was traveling from the Tour of Utah and heading to Greensville, SC and decided to take a pitstop for the evening in Boulder. Sooo exciting!

Doug's an avid mountain biker and I've been trying to get butt out to Boulder to play for years. Luckily he had a few hours to spare this morning before hitting the road again.

We went out to Hall Ranch for a little mountain biking...or something like that. My foot is still killing me and today turned flaming blue so the riding wasn't so spectacular on my part but super fun.

Now I just need to get him back here when I'm fit and healthy so we can go shred some serious trail together! Thanks for stopping by Doug, I miss you already :)

I fully DO NOT support what I am doing...

I would normally be absolutely against any kind of accelerated weight loss programs but if it involves winning or losing a contest, you better believe my competitive spirit is gonna kick in.

The game - who can lose the most weight in 2 weeks starting Monday, Aug 24.

The players - myself and my mother

The prize - when I win, my mom has to get a tattoo with me (if she cheats and wins, she gets some ipod thing of her choice)

Why I am going to win - I AM A FAT ASS RIGHT NOW! You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Just ask Dan and Tom :) I have eaten 3 half gallons of Reeses Ice Cream, 2 pints of Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, about 20 Mike's Hard Lemonades, a whole bag of Reeses Peanut butter Cups and more pizza than you can possibly imagine over the past week. Except for my freshman year of college, I have never weighed over 120lbs and today I was 124.2!!!

I'm sooooooo winning this contest...watch out mom!

And no Marky V, I didn't leave the PT in there on purpose. It just happens to be on the counter every time I take a picture on my phone.

A Great 25th Birthday

Welcome to the lake at 65th and Nelson

This is where we spent the majority of the day - boating, water skiing, wake boarding, BBQ-ing, making fun of Erin and Tom, you name it!

As you can see, Shep was without a doubt enjoying the nice breeze!

He even showed off some of his wake boarding skills too. I wish I had a picture of him trying to jump the wake and totally eating it face first...it was awesome!

I didn't get tugged around behind the boat, but definitely enjoyed the sunshine and great company. I'm pretty sure my entire chest is going to peel of in a few days too...damn sunscreen didn't work.

We all know Dan Banjo is a rockstar skier, but Melanie was a close second. She was killing it doing lap after lap and looking like a pro :)

Forest even came out to drink some beers and eat some brats...good times had by all.

Bye Bye Lake at 65th and Nelson, we will be back soon!

Erin gets the Gold Star Award...

...of Stupidity that is!

After screwing around and dropping my motorcycle on myself Monday evening, I was in such denial because of silly it was that I just downed a half dozen Ibuprofen put an ice pack on my ankle and got in bed. Because my foot was throbbing and hurting so badly, I never actually fell asleep and honestly tried as hard as I could not to cry all night.

When the morning finally came, I was pretty convinced my ankle was busted because of the intense pain and swelling so Pamela took me to the ER. Luckily it wasn't but the tendons and ligaments are totally fried. I have been going to PT to get ultrasound, inter ferential therapy, massage, etc., multiple times a day ever since. My ankle is still the size of a grapefruit and as of today, I still can't move anything in my foot other than my toes. It's a good thing I'm not racing anytime soon as my training has been absolutely non-existent since the crash from Saturday and this ridiculous incident!

Is this damn year over yet?!?!

If ya can't ride, might as well go play :)

So my bike crash on Saturday wrecked me a little more than I had anticipated. Not only did I sleep like absolute crap that night, there was no way in hell I was racing again at 8am the next morning. I could barely get out of bed much less hop on a bike and ride hard for 45min...so the Niwot Crit was out of the picture.

Instead, I wiped down the entire kitchen, vacuumed the whole house, took out the trash and rearranged my room. Around noon, I got a phone call from Banjo asking if I was up for a little golf. We headed out to Longmont to hit a few balls around. It was really ugly...and not just because I was wasted off Mike's Lemonade either... On our way back into town, we stopped at the private lake on Nelson and 63rd where Banjo has his boat docked.

Forest and Banjo did a few rounds on the slalom course and hit the wakeboard while I sat in the boat and enjoyed the nice breeze :) I forgot how much fun it is playing on boats. We ended the day with a little BBQ at my place!

Oh the love of bike racing...

Yes, that is me on the ground, and no, it didn't feel good at all! As a matter of fact, it hurt like hell! Guess that's what I get for racing road crits, huh?!? It all happened in the final sprint...I had a killer position, stood up to take the win and wabam, got tagged on the left, hit a wheel on the right and on the ground I went. I assume the girl who didn't hold her line did it completely unintentionally, however, she did lose her first place and wasn't too happy with me.

A little post crash photo...hey Tristan, could you please send me another pair of XS bibs?!?

Life doesn't get much better than this...

Enough said...

Conquering Hall Ranch

Yesterday morning I met up with my good friend Brett Lindstrom, whom I haven't seen in months, to do a little mountain biking at Hall Ranch in Lyons. Although I was stoked to get out on my mountain bike and ride with Brett, I was a little apprehensive about riding at that particular trail. I honestly haven't ridden there since March of 2008 when I crashed really hard, broke my wrist and had to ride 2hrs back home with Shep. I should never even have thought twice about it as I completely forgot how unbelievably fun that section of single track is! What a great morning.

Thank You Boulder County Parks and Open Space, it's amazing to have programs like yours that are constantly developing and maintaing giant playgrounds for us crazy athletes to bike, hike, run, etc!

Supplemental Oxygen Training

After an hour spin in the heat, I got to the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine Center to meet up with the usual crew and coach Neal for our Wednesday hammerfest. I knew we were doing VO2 work but until Neal came out of the CompuTrainer studio, I had no idea it was going to be inside. Luckily, we got a little assistance - a full tank of oxygen - to use throughout the session. Although I felt like a total lab rat and looked very similar to the dude in the picture above, it was so cool to see how much harder you can push yourself and how much stronger you are with extra air! My legs were totally shattered a few hours afterward but after a good PT session later that evening with Bob Cranny at Altitude PT, I was good to go.

Toys, toys, toys...gotta have lots of toys!

Start getting REALLY jealous right now...you there yet?!? Okay, good! That 2008 KTM 250 XC-F above is officially my new toy of the week! It's so sexy, orange chain and all. I know Tom, Tony and Banjo are so bummin' right now knowing my ride is so much hotter than theirs...bwhaha!

My friend Bryce rides for KTM so he sold me his race bike from last year that was only ridden a few months. He hooked up a killer deal and promises to be my mechanic and teach me how to ride like a pro! Ohhhhh, I'm sooooo excited :) Single track with knobbies and a motor, here I come!

More riding with the ladies!

This morning was a great Team Timex Ladies ride. Tingle, Sharpie and I cruised around town for a bit then up to Jamestown. We shared endless stupid stories and laughed the entire time. It was absolutely fantastic!

I even went to FAC for the first time since the beginning of May for Wolfgang's masters swim. I can't believe how awkward it is swimming in a 25 meter pool versus the 50m one I've been at all summer. At any rate, it was really good to catch up with the 50 or so people I hadn't seen in a few months that thought I had fallen off the face of the planet so that was good too.

Another win for Allen :)

The absolute best part of it all was what came out of my mouth as they were lined up at the start. I was totally joking around by told Sean (the guy in the green jersey and the one still taller than Allen on a shorter block) that because it was his birthday he was going to get second but only because Allen was there and he of course was going to get first. Apparently I'm psychic because the two of them did just that...a pretty good call for a field of almost 75 dudes! Sean is not only a cool guy from Tasmania with a killer hairdo, but also our massage therapist. He told me his rates for massage are now going up...riiiiiight!

Since I took these photos on my phone, the quality really stinks but you get the point. Allen had WAY too much fun spraying everyone with champagne after his victory :) He might have even had a little too much fun out on the town later that night! It's okay though, a good celebration can't hurt anyone. So proud of you Sweetie!

Fun with Aqua Sphere

Are you kidding me?!?

So I turn on the garbage disposal this past weekend and it sounds like there's a fork stuck in it. I stick my hand down it (yes Dad, I turned it off first), and found nothing. After a few hours, the sink starts clogging up. I try resetting the disposal and nothing. Grrrrr.

After waiting 2hrs for a plumber to come, he is there for 10min, finds the above crushed pennies in the disposal, resets it and is on his way...92 freaking dollars later!!!

Seriously!

Sometimes girls just wanna have fun!

After an early morning swim, I met up with Melanie Long, Jen Tilley, Megan Monroe and Jen Gersbach for some killer mountain biking up in Nederland.

Unfortunately, powerhouse Jen Gersbach broke the belt on her 29er singlespeed and had to bail early. The rest of us, however, ripped it up like rockstars for the rest of the afternoon.

I don't think I ever posted this picture from my trip to Moab earlier this spring, but figured it was appropriate for this post. Riding with the girls is always such a blast and I wish we did it more often. So on that note, let's make it happen ladies :)

A Snotty Mess

Since my introduction to triathlon and the pool in 2005, I have had major issues with getting 'stuffed up' while swimming. It's rather disgusting how much phloem and mucus I produce and it's really hard to swim through it. Not to mention, I am always coughing like an 80 year old smoker at the wall and people think I'm insane. At first I just thought I was allergic to chlorine and that I would just have to deal with it, but then realized it happens in open water as well so it couldn't be the chemicals. I have also been told that my seasonal allergies might be causing it as I swim outside year round, but it happens all year and even when I do swim inside, so that theory is out too.
After a great meeting with Lisa Brone of All Sports Medicine of Boulder, we decided that I should try using Afrin nasal spray before getting in the water.
Neal Henderson thinks I should the Afrin for the sinus congestion and Mucinex for the coughing. Did I mention I hate taking meds? It's a good thing because Tingle is convinced I'm going to become addicted to Afrin...haha

A weekend of Tom Torrance and road racing!

The weekend started out with attending the Rockies baseball game with the crew from one of my clients (Franklin Resource Group) Friday evening.

Not that either one of us understand or enjoy the sport of baseball, it was lots of fun and I even got to wear my cool Rockies shirt :)

Yes, they did lose!!!

Saturday began with a great morning swim. I then headed down to Denver for the Federal Center circuit race at noon. Thought for sure I would be able to pull away from the group with 3min to go but got caught about 150 meters from the line and finished 5th...oops. I had lots of fun though :) Later that afternoon, I met up with Tom, again, for another road ride. He was on verge of bonking so we stopped at a gas station where he came out with a six pack of powdered sugar donettes and a coke. He then proceeded to get more sugar on him than in his mouth...absolutely hilarious. However, it cured the bonk and we had a very pleasant ride...minus the insane 2o minute downpour :)

Sunday's wake up call was at 4:30am so I could be in Denver by 7am and ready to race another road crit. After working well with another girl, we formed a break of 5 from the main pack. I took 3 of the 4 primes and finished 3rd in the sprint. Had another great time and even made a little money :) Afterward, I drove straight to the pool to hammer out a 75min masters. I'm not going to lie, but I honestly wanted to eat someone's hand off after that swim. Since I had nothing to eat at home, I figured going to the grocery store was a good idea. I defintely bought way more than I should as my stomach was dictating what to buy!!! Let's just say lunch was mmmm good.

Even though we had planned on riding again together, I really didn't want to join Tom in the high country after my swim because it looked like a massive storm was coming and the last thing I wanted was to get soaked far away from home. However, as he was coming back down the Canyon, I just so happened to run into him as I was going up so of course I made him rally and finish the last 2 hours with me! When we started riding, he said that he was just thinking that he might run into me and I would try to convince him to go ride Betasso again...funny how things work :)

After a delicious dinner and some great chatting on the porch with Jon, Jen and Pamela, we decided to head to Glacier for some dessert where I ate an entire pint of peanut butter fudge gelato in one sitting. Let's just say I had the WORST stomach ache for about 5 hours afterward and falling asleep was not so fun...such a dumbass, but so worth it :)