| Life may suck...But not entirely |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|01:01 pm] |
Yesterday all I could appreciate was my steady-minded boyfriend, and my puddle-jumping horse. I have a great boyfriend, I have a great horse, I have a great boyfriend, I have a great horse....
Today, I found a few more things.
Our garden is starting to flourish, I'm getting ridiculously good grades and teacher comments in school, and I have a new bike to carry me on adventures far and wide.
We are growing blue potatoes, and I was surprised by the beauty of their flowers
Sometimes I eat salad for breakfast
Foreground Left: thriving potatoes Foreground Right: Endless Lettuce Mix
Background: The Peas will be high as an elephant's eye
I sold my sleek and avian Litespeed racing bicycle to buy this brown steel Surly bike frame
The headbadge "S" works well for "Sarah", too
What can brown do for you? All is revealed
This bike collapses to fit in an airline-appropriate suitcase. You can bet I will be traveling far and wide, cycling on my little brown bike for years to come. |
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| After the Kentucky Derby |
[Jun. 2nd, 2009|09:28 pm] |
We missed Derby day, but we made it to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, in late May.
This was our first impression:
Hours later, I got my first taste of small batch Kentucky Bourbon in a fun, up and coming culinary-focused neighborhood.
I didn't een finish half of the bourbon. I am just not a good drinker.
The absolute highlight of our 24 hours of eating in the dirty south was Wagner's Pharmacy on the backside of Churchill Downs. This drugstore/diner opened nearly 100 years ago, and is truly THE place where trainers eat and jockeys don't.
There are two overwhelming aspects of this diner. The first is that it hasn't played up its fame or notoriety. In fact it is dirty, simplistic, and out of date. Secondly, there are beautiful photographs of race hroses covering every inch of wall space. Most of the photos are black and white, all are framed, and the collection has gotten so huge that it spills into a room adjacent to the diner's seating area.
The most famous race horse, Man O' War
Mine That Bird does not a his photograph up yet, but all of the other Derby winners do.
The food....
Eating the food was akin to swimming in a grease pit. And the portions fully explained the girth of the diner's employees. Even I, a tremendous eater, didn't finish my portion.
Pam & Jack's famous Omelet might crush the hen that layed the eggs, but it was delicious like licking gravy off your fingers
(eggs, green pepper, onion, tomato ham, bacon, sausage, and cheese)
The soundtrack to the the diner counter was a stream of griping and moaning from the cook. "I don't wanna make one more breakfast. Get those eggs away from me. Mary, don't you take any more breakfast orders. It's nearly 11am, and I am done with breakfast. Cooking breakfast drives me nuts. No more omelet orders." And then to me, "So YOU got the omelet." Apparently I snuck in just under the omelet wire.
The clock struck eleven, and the agony of lunch began. "Have you prepped those green beans? I gotta have 'em. Let's get those burgers out, I need everything right here if we're gonna get anything cooked. Is that soup on?" She was a monologue and reality entertainment show all her own. The food did not make the experience, but the history, the setting, and the characters within will certainly have me back there for an early breakfast on our next trip to Louisville. |
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| Take a Hike |
[Jun. 2nd, 2009|09:11 pm] |
We are stuck in this gorgeous place, so I took a hike. I drove past a coal power plant in Cameo, CO, to the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse wilderness area, and walked through the canyons for 90 minutes, spurred on by the hope of seeing wild horses.
I heard deer mooing. Really. Finally I saw the herd of deer way up high on a cliffside trail walking along and making muted cow-like sounds.
Then I almost stepped on a snake.
It was not a rattler, because I'm a lucky city slicker.
Flowers of every sort were blooming.
Then, on the last hill before reaching the parking lot I SAW WILD HORSES! I've never seen them in the wild before. About six in total, with a black and white paint stallion, a bay mare, a buckskin mare, a couple of chestnuts, and a paint yearling. This was my wildest childhood dreams come true. I watched them from a few hundred feet above the floor of the riverbed, and a quarter mile away. I could not get a good picture with my camera phone. Afterward, at the local Palisade Brewery, I learned that this herd stays fairly local, and is quite tolerant of humans. |
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| Winning Combos |
[Jun. 2nd, 2009|08:27 am] |
No matter what the cause or the implications of my trip to Grand Junction I LOVE waking up to a sunrise warming the corrugated red cliffs of the Colorado National Monument. Its expanse of unfamiliar beauty and soaring cliffs that dwarf the little town make me feel like Nature still has a hand in the equation of the world. I respect my mother(s). Today there are thin stratus clouds hanging near 10,000 feet. They kept the valley warm at night (I left the window open and vainly wished for clear, cool skies) but now they will shade us from that same sun, bound to boost the temperatures to respectable values for a desert in the summer.
I have a "rest week" of light training ahead of me. It is welcomed and dreaded simultaneously in two yin-yang thoughts that barrel around my brain. The desire for an easy week of focusing beyond the bike chases the tail of the disgusted fat self-image I cling to, which is madly chasing the tail of the need for rest, and round-about they go like the monkey and the weasel. Sometimes my brain just feels like a mulberry bush.
Today I have a mid-term exam to take online, and a broken airplane to check on. Our oil pump/regulator system is not keeping up with the Jones' when we bring the throttle back to the idle position, and so oil pressure falls perilously low, threatening the need to shut down the engine entirely. Luckily we were able to restore normal pressure by simply keeping the power high, but that is not a great way to operate. So here we are being repaired by the most capable in the nation.
First, coffee and a hike are in order. |
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| Summer in swing hooray |
[May. 20th, 2009|11:41 pm] |
Just today: I worked my horse and cursed her uncooperativeness, tackled the ongoing homework mound, rode my bike up a short, steep hill 8 times and got so tired I could only gasp for air when I wanted to laugh, and in the cool of the evening we planted our pepper and tomato starts.
Last weekend: we took a fabulous road trip and I cannot wait to write more about it...tomorrow!
And right now: I'm due for my 4 hours of pre-flight sleep. (the NY Times says that's how Real pilots roll these days. So I am settling in for my nap at the 3:30am alarm. At least we are flying somewhere!! |
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| Uncooked Dead Animal |
[May. 6th, 2009|11:58 pm] |
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New sushi experiences: I like Japanese fried eggplant, and rolls topped in monkfish liver. I dislike sea urchin. I'm glad that I tried all of it. |
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| A Good Race Experience |
[May. 3rd, 2009|12:46 pm] |
I raced the weekend's final time trial in a cold and steady rain. It was 18 miles of solo suffering and coming to terms with the fact that I'm really tired, not recovered, not mentally tough enough to compensate for the fatigue, but doing everything I could to finish the race instead of quit.
But let me not overlook the fact that I had a phenomenal uphill prologue performance on Friday- phenomenal not because I beat anybody, as I indeed came in last place- but because I made such huge improvements on my race time compared to last year, and took nice chunks of time out of my competition compared to last year. Saturday was not as stellar, but solid and reaffirming of my increasing strengths on the bike. Improvements all around, and nicely evaluated in objective, numerical ways.
Anyway, back to today. When I crossed the finish line the sun came out, and I cooled down, shivering but drying out.
It's an hour and a half later, and I'm still shivering. However, I'm eating incredible Mexican food in the little rural town I used to live in, and enjoying every fabulous bite. The tortillas and donuts for the brunch buffet are made fresh at the end of the buffet table. Amazing flavors!!! I feel that I've earned every bite. |
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| Photo Review of April |
[May. 1st, 2009|05:16 pm] |
I am so far behind on posting things here, it's not even worth trying to catch up. So here are some of my grainy iPhone photos from the last few weeks.
The Bike wall at my favorite coffee/grocery/social pit stop in Baker City, Oregon, at the BEST store in town, Bella's Main Street Market.
I did a LOT of bicycle racing in April. Too much. I'm racing again tonight, and 3 more times this weekend. Not much to say about any of it, but I'm plugging away.
We flew around to a number of places, too, mostly routine trips, with one notable exception- Burbank, CA. Our hotel was the Universal City Hilton, at the gaping mouth of an entrance to Universal Studios, complete with tourists up the Wazoo and souvenir stands. The hotel was great, mostly because their workout room was loaded with clean, modern, functioning equipment for cardio, weight, and holistic types of exercises. I used everything. Better yet, was returning to my hotel room to find this bounty left on my entry table:
2 bananas, 2 apples, 2 oranges, a bunch of grapes, a packet of dried fruit, 2 water bottles, and oreos. PERFECT recovery and breakfast food. I was happy as a clam, and forgave them the $10 internet fee.
Also on the agenda was a long overdue face-to-face meeting with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) chuckvideo, with whose blog i have followed for a while, and who is a childhood friend of my good buddy and fellow pilot, Mr Dean "Burrito" Baker.
His fiancee opted out of the evening on the town, so he took me on an abbreviated tour and pointed out fascinating buildings, lakes, and neighborhoods, and peppered it all with fun historical facts. I learned much more in one evening traveling with Chuck than I normally would in a year of visiting a place.
Chuck was shy for a talkative fellow
We ate GREAT pizza in Silver Lake. It was layered in fine cuts of prosciutto, topped with mozzarella, pineapples, and jalapenos. Oh Boy!!
Intelligenstia was closed for the night, so we settled for dessert coffe at Casbah, where my sister, Robin, and I had dined a month before.
Since Intelligenstia coffee CANNOT be passed up except for matters of life or death, I returned in the morning to wait in line (a 20' line from the door out to the street)
Everyone in line was killing time by playing on their iPhones. Me included. Baa Baa Baa.
I photographed and texted messaged like everyone else, then admired the pretty Bougainvillea we don't see in Boise
Getting closer to big decision time at the counter
Aha! A $6 cup of drop coffee to go (worth every one of those 600 pennies, plus tax, no joke; and a $3 Rwandan Black Cat Espresso, a Cup of Excellence winner.
Now I am back in Boise, where the coffee at home is better than anywhere nearby,
I get to see my boyfriend ( ) and I get to see my horse ( ) but I have to put up with Rednecks (-):
(The screen on the window says "God's Country Camouflage"
Alright it is time to chamois up and get out there on my bike for Individual Time Trial race #1 of 4. I am aiming to beat my times from last year! |
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| Spinning in Circles and Coming in Last |
[Apr. 20th, 2009|06:26 pm] |
Ok, I haven't truly earned the title of Lantern Rouge for coming in D.F.L. But I have regularly been placing in the bottom ten...bottom five...bottom few places of the race results pages. This SUCKS like a shop vac.
Training, training, training...they are ALL training races, and I did not intend to be at the top of my game right now, in April. I just was not prepared and did not expect to be at the bottom of the pack. This logic is easier to reckon with mid week while calm, but much harder to understand or believe on a leg-killing, butt numbing Saturday race night.
I upgraded to "Elite" racer and find myself swirling like sludge at the bottom of their prestigious barrel. I wonder if I should downgrade to my previous category, but I genuinely earned my upgrade...and the accompanying challenge of rising to the occasion.
Tour of the Depot in Tooele, UT:
I am smiling because wasting energy in the front of the race is good press
Genuine professional cyclist and nice person, Nicole Evans, is smiling too, because riding behind the person at the front is even easier. She won every stage of the race in a commanding fashion.
Wiser people than I, like my coach and boyfriend, say it can take years to succeed in these fields. They give me solid examples of people doing just that- slogging it out for years before getting to throw their hands up in a victory salute, first across a finish line.
The only solid performances I can put out are Individual Time Trials. Alone, without 75 people jostling my elbow or invading my front wheel's personal space bubble, I can go hard and push the pain limit enough to respect myself for it, and place in the top 25th percentile of the group. Once I even got 5th place.
I've learned that Meadowlarks sing beautiful songs on the open range to solo cyclists, even if you've fallen behind the pack and wish nothing more than to quit pedaling and hide in a cave.
Both chocolaty foods and salty food are important to have between stages of a multi-event race, and especially during the drive home.
Who you race with, who you travel with, who you spend your downtime with, and who you surround yourself with at any particular event is more important to enjoy than where your name gets listed on a results paper.
There IS such a thing as too much chamois butter, and that is defined as when it oozes out the other side of your chamois pad, and coats the saddle in an opaque Udder Butter/Bag Balm oil slick. If you get it all over your hand by accident, don't wipe it off on the front of your white skinsuit. Yeah.
Your power data files and heart rates zones may interest you, but don't subject other people to them or make them wait around while you upload your numbers after a stressful day. In general, don't geek out over your own numbers in front of other people. It's worse than the cyclists who look at themselves in every glass-fronted shop window while riding through downtown.
Waking up to the feeling of starvation at 3am is a stage race phenomenon, so go with it and eat that banana.
I need to get better at moving in a pack of many riders, I need to stay to the front of the race, I need to find my limit in a TT and go too hard rather than finishing knowing I held back, I need to find a reasonable way to set goals, and I need to find what it is that I really love and enjoy about this level of racing and keep it in mind like a mantra.
Visualizing the technicalities of a race really helped out. Stretching and leg massage have been terrific aides, too.
That's all I've got.
My reward for finishing 10 races in 3 weekends and for not quitting, was a decadent lunch in Dallas this afternoon. I buttered my bread. I ordered fettuccine with sun-dried tomato cream sauce and chicken. I had a succulent salad, and I finished it off with a "Brownie Sundae Cheesecake" slice.
Stuffed with 100% of the sinful foods I avoid 99% of the time, I am quite content and sleepy in my Texas hotel room. Such a treat, it was. Tomorrow I'll be back to cutting the calories and focusing on my training plan, but I wouldn't have it any other way. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 11th, 2009|10:32 pm] |
I'm lying on the softest, most comforting bed in salt lake city with a huge, sock-shaped gadget like a blood pressure cuff on my leg. It fills with air and squeezes sequentially from the toe to the hip, encouraging circulation and flushing out gunk in the legs.
I'm half way through three weekends of HARD bike racing, and struggling with how hard the racing is, how much I suffer, and how mediocre my results are. Suffice it to say mediocrity isn't my thing, and I'm dealing with it poorly. "Making it" to the top amature level means I am back at the bottom of the totem poll, or results list, and I've sworn I'm going to quit racing at least 4 times in the last 8 days. Sometimes twice a day. But here I am at a beautiful house with great people who took me to gourmet Indian food and loaned me their leg circulation machine. Is life really so bad that I have to ride my bike to exhaustion a few times a day in trade for this treatment?
Photos and real details might come later. Wish me all the luck you can spare!! |
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| Add-On |
[Apr. 1st, 2009|09:28 am] |
My favorite picture from the afternoon with Robin. She is the best!!
So I'm heading off to Ory-gone, criss-crossing the path of pioneers and wagon trains in a motorized Cherokee with 1 teammate, 4 bikes, 4 helmets, 10 wheels, 2 trainers, 2 coolers of food, sleeping gear, and new clothing! I have my new team bike to ride, our snazzy red, white, and black team "kits" to wear, and the BEST coffee, freshly roasted in Coeur d'Alene, ID, and sold to benefit our team- Doma's Bicylette blend. Yum Yum Yum. You know you want some. I cannot get enough of it's flavor and smoothness; as close to Intelligentsia as I could come at home. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|10:48 pm] |
Today my allergies really kicked in while I was on the St George Tuesday night bicycle ride. Only five other people showed up.
I should specify that my allergies are to "When the road goes up" and not any sort of flora pollens in the air. Sometimes my allergies are managable, today they were not.
It's really a digger that my coach just told me to stop cutting calories, and focus on becoming a strong as possible, not whittling away the endless fat stores. At some point there is a tip in that strength/weight equilibrium, but I just wanted to be lighter and leaner, and more upwardly mobile on those paved inclines before changing gears. When is enough, enough? That is why I have a coach.
I probably shouldn't follow this up by waxing poetic over dinner; bad timing!
I miss Brandon already. |
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| Equinox Yum Yum |
[Mar. 22nd, 2009|12:24 pm] |
Hotel coffee swill
Not Intelligentsia's
Shangri-La of drip
My cappuccino, with a beautiful heart-shaped rosetta in the froth
Their logo of wings makes me smile
Mi Hermana's espresso made of Panamanian "origin" beans and pulled from the mighty Clover machine
A penguin dog toy
Early birthday to Robin
And new L.A. style?
And! I got to watch a few laps of the San Dimas circuit race, lapping through a park and around an airport no less, oh happy days.
Disgusting Californian car crimes:
Painted in camouflage with a long-dead Christmas tree on top. For real. |
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| Aspen Adorable |
[Mar. 22nd, 2009|11:53 am] |
We spent a night in downtown Aspen, Colorado, at the sweetly decorated and ideally located Annabelle Inn. Rooms were concise and cozy, the courtyard modern and visually striking, and the staff overzealous in their use of the word "cruise" as an adjective in place of the normal "to go" verbs.
"Just cruise on through this door and your room is to the left."
"We're closed at ten, but you can cruise through the side gate and get in no prob."
"Breakfast is served at seven, if you want to cruise on down."
Alright, already, we'll cruise then!
We ambled downtown for fine dinner at our favourite Italian fusion restaurant, Mezzaluna. Both of us indulged in the pepper-seared tenderloin served on a tower of a "truffled potato croquette" and wilted gorgonzola greens. Oh my lord it was titillating. We were good not to go for dessert, even though their slab of Tiramisu looked divine. The steak and croquette had been rich enough, afterall.
Rooms, avec warmth, sans roominess
I had a drink at the Hotel Jerome with my good friend of a four or so years, Jason. He and I have shared cycling adventures together, including Moab on Mountain Bikes and Mountain Lion escapes in Grand Junction. I count him as one of my true male friends that remains close and reliable without romantic involvement. Sometimes those seem to be few and far between, but he is a standout.
The next day we were off to Texas, where a poolside nap under sunny skies and nearly 80 degrees toasted my pasty skin in goofball patterns.
We were back home by Wednesday. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 21st, 2009|10:18 am] |
Seasoned traveler and Learjet pilot forgets to pack her underwear on a 7 day trip....Genius!
At least I crack myself up. |
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| I Will Not Be Shy |
[Mar. 15th, 2009|05:41 pm] |
I won the first bike race of the season, and I'm awfully pleased with it. Not just the win, but the massive efforts- nearly an hour alone in the wind, and then after being caught by the group, still having a sprint in the bag with enough power to pop 3 seconds into ladies behind me.
This is my 3rd week of training at higher intensity, and a much yearned for rest week commences tomorrow. Hopefully 2009's racing year is off to a good start. If not, one win is better than none, and I'm quite happy!
Pictures in a few days, I promise. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 3rd, 2009|01:04 pm] |
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I did suffer through my wretched workout last night (indoors on the trainer), and the reward was a morning ride outdoors today. My two hours in the saddle culminated in a no-hands spin through the neighborhood with black clouds chasing me home, hail tenderizing my thighs and arms, thunder rolling, and a wash of sunlight tenaciously propping open one tiny window in the cumulous wall. No one can rag on my dorky, water resistant and hail proof helmet cover now! |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|07:50 pm] |
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When my coach starts the day's workout description with "This Will Be Fun!" I know he is full of crap and I will be suffering. |
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| More Red Rocks |
[Mar. 1st, 2009|06:52 pm] |
At the Canyon Overlook on the east side of Zion National Park.
One morning workout at the gym, delicious coffee and a bagel sandwich with good conversation for breakfast, only 3 miles of hiking today, and lots of stretching the leg muscles this afternoon. That sums it up. Hope y'all had a good weekend! |
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