Total Neglect.....

So I have completely managed to neglect the blog for the past month! Guess I have been to busy facebooking to notice.  Of course, part of it has to do with the lack of racing this past month/month and a half.  A few weeks ago marked my return to racing for the summer at the Kirkwood 9 to 5 endurance mtn. bike race.  8 hours on a completely brutal course! My hope for this race was to win (but when is that not our hope?????), but I REALLY wanted to win this one because all solo winners won a season pass to Kirkwood for the winter.  My husband has deprived me of a season pass to Kirkwood for a few years now, with the claim that Heavenly is closer.....blah, blah, blah.  This was my way to, well, get my way.

A few days before the event, I pre-rode to find out HOW brutal the course would be.  The entire week leading up to the event, I felt like I was getting sick......maybe it was just stress........or COMPLETE lack of sleep, I wasn't sure.......probably a little of all 3.  I came into the race feeling confident that I could pull this off. It was my home turf.  First lap went okay.  Came in from lap 1 in 3rd place.  Second lap, didn't go so well.........I really felt like I was moving in reverse. It all kinda went downhill from there, I just didn't have it, it wasn't meant to be.  At least the season pass went to my friend, and former Backbone racer, Chrissy Bono (now Earnhardt).  Ultimately, I ended up in 7th (OUCH, what a way to ruin the record I had going this season!).  Next up that is definitely on the calendar is 24 Hours of Idyllwild, which I can hardly wait for.....I LOVE this course!  So let's hope for the best!

My Hood is on Fire!

So I finished up my swim workout this afternoon, changed into the bike clothes to go meet up with the junior team, checked my voice mail from the husband........only to get a message that "Honey, there is a brush fire by our house, cross streets are Sandstone and Flint (ummmmm....we live on Flint.....), if you are near the house, you HAVE to go home and get the dogs.....we might get evacuated. I am headed to the fire station to get on one of the trucks to go fight the fire". Yeah, just what I want to hear as I am 30 minutes away from home! Called my mom and dad....no answer. Called the husband.....no answer. I was hoping that mom and dad had gone to rescue the dogs, and that all was okay. I had to sweat it out my entire drive home, and of course, EVERYONE was driving THE speed limit, not a MPH faster! Seriously people.....my house could be on fire! Called the other junior coach, and he had to deal with my emotional breakdown (thanks Mel!). I finally made it out home to see that my house was safe. But the fire is only a block away, but the wind pushed it in the opposite directions. I have yet to get home. Things are in the mop up stage, and I am kickin' it at mom and dads....using their internet, and eating there food. They probably can't wait for me to leave.........................

Coolest 24 Hrs at Boggs Mtn.

Gotta LOVE being on the top of the podium!!!!

This last weekend marked my first attempt at a 24 hour solo race for the season! I have been so busy racing 8 hour races (and having fun with the shorter distances for once!), that I just haven't "fit" one of them in yet this season, and what a race to do it at! This is a first year event, put on by the same people who put on the legendary Coolest 24 Hr Race in Cool, California. Jim Northey and his crew at Global Biorhythms events did not disappoint!

Mom and I packed up and headed out EARLY Saturday morning (figured we would avoid camping or hotel fees this way) towards Cobb, Ca. We arrived, picked up registration, and set up camp. We quickly made friends with 2 guys who were racing the 8 hour event, and next thing you know, mom is making them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! They were cool, and it was the least we could do since we managed to enlist in their help with putting up the EZ-UP. For some reason, I was WAY nervous about this race, even though it was not my first race of the season. I think it was the fact that it was my first 24 of the season, and I had no idea how I was going to feel. I have been doing great in the 8 hr events lately, but wasn't sure about my endurance! Upon starting the race, any worries I had were quickly put to rest.........my legs felt SO amazing, especially climbing. Today was gonna be a good day! I jumped right out into 1st place right away, and managed to hold it for the entire race. The climbs that had previously kicked my butt earlier this year at the Boggs 8 Hr Race, felt like nothing. Things were close between 2nd place and myself for about 3 laps, which is when I started putting a dent in my gap between myself and 2nd. At that point I was about 20 minutes up. I kept pressin on with the hopes of lapping her, so I had a "cushion". On our first night lap, I got my wish. My nearest competitor had lighting issues which set her back significantly. It must have taken the wind out of her sails, because at some point I was 2 laps up on her. Things had gone REALLY smoothly up to this point.......but I felt it coming on.......what had zapped me and caused me to lose 1st place back at Idyllwild in September.....was rearing it's ugly head again........OVERhydration. NOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I took mini breaks as needed, and just hoped for the best in keeping 1st place. There were times where myself and 2nd place were in a complete "standoff" on who was going back out on the course. My advantage of course was that I had 2 laps up on her. I was able to stay in a while to try and get my stomach to settle, and finally went out for lap 12 at about 9am, and it was safe to say that it would be my last lap! Victory was mine, and it felt SOOOOOO good to be on top of that podium again in a 24 hour race!

A few added race notes..........once again, the pink Pivot Mach 4 was a hit on the race course! So many people commented on it, and it has gotten way more attention that any of my traditional colored Mach4's (make a note of it Chris!). I was known on the race course, not by name, but as "pink Pivot girl". One guy even came up to my mom after the race and said "that pink Pivot was hands down THE BEST LOOKING BIKE on the race course all weekend".

Thanks again to all of my sponsors who make it all possible!

Yup, ANOTHER new bike!

BH Cristal Womens Road Bike




Yup, here it is! Another work of art that I have been waiting to get my hands on for months! Pictured above ladies and gentlemen, is my new BH Cristal road bike. It is even more beautiful in person. I got to ride it for the first time yesterday, and can't even begin to describe how amazing this bike is. Very stable on the descents, and so far, climbs like a dream. Too bad my body didn't want to "play" yesterday in the road crit I did on it! (probably because I did the local Tuesday night mtn. bike race 2 days prior, in which I kicked butt----took 1 minute off my time from 2 weeks prior!) On the schedule tomorrow, a little mountain pass climbing! Thanks to Chris at Pivot/BH for an awesome bike, and thanks to Rob (Pivot/BH) for making it all happen!

8 Hrs of Laguna Seca

Podium shot----too bad my mom doesn't know
how to turn on the flash!

My ever so attractive picture--taken moments

after my sprint finish between myself and 3rd place.

Last trip down the stairs for the day!

"Outta my way man, I am riding these stairs!"

Needless to say, there were lots of people NOT

riding the stairs.

Suffering midway through the race.

The new pink Mach 4, right before I was about

to get it all dirty!

Leading up to this race, I was actually quite unsure if I was even going to make it there. My back had been giving me problems in a big way, as well as my shoulder. In addition, my dog ran away on Thursday, and came back having been shot by a BB gun.......gotta LOVE the rednecks I live amonst! After a late night trip to the vet, and an overnight stay, I figured he was well enough to be able to hang out at my parents house while I raced, and while the hubby was in his EMT class.

Mom and I embarked on our journey to Monterey at 4:30am Saturday morning, this would put us at Laguna Seca Raceway at around 9:30am, with enough time to pick up my race packet, and get things ready. The drive started out a little rough, we saw a truck tag a deer within half hour of leaving home. Once over the hill in Sacramento, we were nearly sideswiped by some cracked out lady (she looked the part.....) in a pink Honda Civic del Sol. Okay, a pink bike is one thing......a pink Honda is a WHOLE other ball game!!!!! Within minutes of that near miss, another car in front of us proceeded to lose not only it's tire, but it's rim AND it rotor! No joke. So we had to swerve to miss that. I was really beginning to think the cards were NOT in my favor on this one......maybe we should just turn around and go home now??????

We finally made it to Monterey safely. Picked up the race packet, got my bike ready, and got dressed in my new pink and baby blue Pivot team clothing (thanks again Chris for taking us girls into consideration!). My original plan was to do the 24 hour race at this venue, but after the week I was having, and considering the fact that I have another 24 hour race on June 20-21st, I figured the 8 hour version was in my best interest. I did really well in the 8 hour race at Idyllwild in April, so it left me kinda excited to try another "shorter" race. As it neared 12pm, we all lined up, and were quickly making our way onto the course. I held 1st place most of the first lap, until the point that the 2nd place girl (who weighed MAYBE 105 lbs.....) went climbing past me like a goat on speed on the "long climb out" that any of us who have raced Sea Otter know so well. Her bike sounded like it was going to break, and I figured that my work to my advantage later on (but no such luck.....). I steadily held on to 2nd place the entire race, just enjoying the fact that I was finally riding the bike frame I have lusted over since Interbike! It was amazing how many complements I got on the color of the frame while out on the course. I have always gotten comments on my Mach 4's before, but most of the comments came from the guys! Everything from "what a sexy looking bike" to "that looks bad ass in pink". I thouroughly enjoyed my first ride on the new bike. I am really digging my new Magura fork they sent me this season as well!

Things were pretty uneventful for most of the race. Like I said, I managed to hang in 2nd place, and my lap times were consistent. Lap 3 was a bit of a challenge, but that one usually gets me anyways. At the end of lap 6, I felt the cramping about to come on (not taking in enough potassium.....my bad!), and did not want to go out for lap 7. Unfortunately, my mom informed me that 3rd place was only 6 minutes back on the prior lap. Off I went on lap 7, praying for no leg cramps.......but oh could I feel them lingering! Shortly into the lap, my whole inner thigh cramped, luckily I fought through it......I just wanted to be done. I finally made it to the bottom for the last "long climb out". I was cruising, I was feeling good. I was nearing the top, had maybe 1 mile left to go in the race........and I got passed by 3rd place!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

My worst nightmare had happened. I tried to dig deep, I felt like it wasn't happening for me. I tried to keep her within my sight, but then I lost sight of her. I fought to regain sight of her, and fought up the last little kicker to try and latch onto her wheel. I caught back on, we were then side by side. Then, she tried to bump me over into the cones marking the course! You have to be kidding me!!!!!! It obviously made me mad enough to try and beat her to the bridge. A good majority of people that day, for some reason, were not even attempting to ride down the stairs, including many of the men. I think enough of them had seen the carnage that occurred at the bottom of them earlier in the day! Ok, so I beat her to the bridge, jumped off my bike, carried it up the stairs, hopped back on the bike towards the downside of the stairs. As I was riding across the bridge, I heard her behind me......running. There was no way she was gonna ride the stairs.....as long as I could safely manuever them (like I had all day), I was set, and I would still finish 2nd, where I had fought so hard to stay all day long! I made it down the stairs, riding as fast as I could (and I was already DYING from trying to catch her!), and sprinted across the finish line. WHEW!!!!!! I did it, after 8 hours of riding, it came down to a sprint finish, and I pulled it off!!!!!!! With the way it all went down, I was almost as satisfied as I would have been if I had finished 1st.....just because of the hard work that had gone into it! Next up, Coolest 24 Hour Race at Boggs Mtn. in 2 weeks!

Pink, Pink, Everywhere There's Pink! (Kinda matches the theme of the blog....)

Yes, even the pivots are hot pink.......

My new Mach 4 in all of it's pink glory!

They even gave us girls clothes to match the bikes

Ladies and gentlemen, it was Christmas time in May at my house this afternoon!!!!! Yes, the moment I have been waiting for since I first laid my eyes on it wayyyyyyyyy back in September at Interbike.......my PINK Pivot Mach 4 has finally arrived! Better yet, it also came with our new pink and baby blue team clothing. For the first time in my 15 (holy cow has it really been that long???????) years of racing, I have my hot little hands on a girly bike AND clothing. You have no idea how excited I am.

So, the bike is being built up this weekend, hopefully the fork will arrive either this weekend or Monday, and it will be ready to race next weekend. We are hoping it's trial run will be our local cycling club's Tuesday night mtn. bike race. More to come as it progresses!

12 Hours of Mesa Verde

A little bit behind on this one. A week ago, I drug my poor mom to Cortez, Colorado so I could partake in the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde on a 2-person team with my good friend, and fellow Kenda sponsored rider, Tom Wehe. After 15-ish hours in the car, we finally arrived at Tom's house in Durango. An exhuasting drive to say the least (and did I mention this weekend was the weekend before finals for me???? Yeah......dumb move on my part.......). We woke up bright and early for this one for the 7am start. I of course got "roped" into doing the run (ha, ha, little did Wehe know I would get him back later.......), but it was kinda nice, cuz it was the coolest temperatures we would see all day on the bike. The race was pretty much sold out, so it allowed for ALOT of people on the course at one time. I of course managed to get myself stuck behind some guy who refused to let anyone get by......there were about 10 of us in a line behind him, and the course was 16.5 miles of singletrack, this was gonna be a long lap. Finally he faultered, and we all got by. I rolled in from my first lap, passed off the batton, and it was time to "rest". This is the part of the race I was unsure of.....I am used to just continuing on to the next lap, and the next one, and the next one. Wasn't sure how my legs were going to react to this one. My second lap came along, and needless to say, it was a little rough getting the legs going again. Both Tom and I proved to be pretty consistent with our lap times. We shuffled positions in the race a bit (we were 12th for a while, then 7th, then 9th). After my 3rd lap, my back was killing me, and so was my shoulder. I think it was all the stress I have been going through with school, but nonetheless is killed me. Upon returning from my 3rd lap (our 5th as a team), I had to fill Tom in on the fact that he not only was going to be doing his 3rd lap, but consecutively a 4th for him (payback time for the run thing....). Don't think he was too happy with me at this point! I did however prepare myself to go back out, just in case. While waiting in the transition area, he managed to somehow come right in and go back out, I had no idea.......but I was SO relieved!

Anyways, Tom returned from his 4th lap exhausted, and I felt really bad cuz I hadn't seen him come through the transition area before that lap. Ultimately, we came in 10th. Not quite what we had hoped for, but there were alot of 2 person co-ed teams, and this was our first shot at the 2 person team thing. On the positive side of things, we were super consistent in our lap times, and even better yet, my fastest lap time was 20 minutes faster than my fastest lap time here last year! Even my slowest lap this year was faster than my fastest lap last year. Next up, back to the solo thing on June 6th for the 24 Hours of Adrenalin race at Laguna Seca.

Livin' in the Land of the Rednecks.....

I am thinking of making this a regular feature on my blog.......find the MOST redneck or white trash thing I can find weekly, and post it.......trust me, there is PLENTY of stuff like this going on where I live! This picture is of something that repeatedly cracks me up. I drive by this everyday during my commute to work (and by the way, this is literally RIGHT next to the cattle guard where I had my lovely crash almost 4 years ago---for those of you who remember it!). Seriously, what did these people do? Ask their brother, sister, friend, family member "Hey, I got a great idea, let's buy ourselves one of them there double wides, and split 'er in half. You can have yourself one half, and I got's myself the other half". Rocket science at it's finest. I think what baffles me even more is this: who got the bedroom?.......who got the kitchen?.......and I am thinking, with the LACK of size this thing would be as a WHOLE, who got the bathroom?????? Trust me, there is NO WAY this thing as a whole would have 2. Maybe the guy who didn't get the bathroom just cut away a hole in the floor, and dug a hole in the ground underneath that hole, and made his own makeshift toilet? If you look at it, it's not like either side is on any sort of foundation.

Who knows what I will come up with next. I am really bummed that I didn't get a pic of the truck with the confederate flag sticker the other day. I was half afraid he woulda shot me for taking the pic! I leave for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, which in in Cortez, Colorado tomorrow morning. It is going to be a long drive, and I am sure I will come up with something good! I will make sure to post next week how me and my partner in crime (Tom VEEEEHEEEEE Wehe) fare in this little duo person escapade! Should be fun!

You Might Be a Redneck If.......

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Sick, Sick, Sick....

So the Kleenex box pictured above is my best friend right about now. I woke up yesterday feeling a little under the weather, and debated calling in sick. Like always, I figured I would go in and tough it out.......what was I thinking? After taking care of some obligations at work, I decided to leave early so I could get some sleep before I had to go to school (which was the last thing I wanted to do at that point was sit thru class.......and I was just hoping today was not "cat dissection day" in anatomy class.....I lucked out, that isn't till next week!). My hope was to try and rest up and beat this cold before this weekend (essentially in a day and a half.....fat chance!), in which I was SUPPOSED to race the Coolest 24 Hour race up over the hill from Lake Tahoe. I have wanted to do this race for years, but it has always conflicted with another race that I had sponsorship obligations to participate in, and this was going to be my year. Now, it will have to wait till next year...............
Fortunately the race promoter was cool enough to let me transfer my entry fee to the Coolest 24 Hr Race at Boggs Mtn later on in the season. As for now, I am going to go cuddle up with my Kleenex box!

Rockin' the 8 Hour Race at the 24 Hours of Idyllwild!

Well, I think the picture above pretty much sums it all up! Yes, the race that has "haunted" me for some time now, whether I do the 24 hour solo or the 8 hour solo, is now officially a "ghost" that has been put to rest! Back in September, some of you may remember that I held the lead from the 4th hour into the race, all the way untill the last lap in which I managed to become OVERhydrated. Not this time......I kept things under control (which was easier since the weather was almost ideal.....not too hot, not too cold!), and ROCKED the race.

After a really late night of driving to SoCal, mom and I woke up early to head to Idyllwild. I was a little freaked at the wind that was whipping things up down the hill in Banning, and was just praying that it wouldn't be that way up on the hill. It was a little chilly when we got there, but it ended up being ideal (especially since it made for a NICE tailwind across the infamous "meadow" on the course). I came across my friends Roger, Nate (in the pic above), and Steve Hasper before the race, all of whom I need to give a big "shout out" to for being completely responsible for sparking my interest in 24 hour racing. My very first 24 hour race ever, was on a 5 person team with them.......so everyone can blame them for my 24 our insanity! I was really excited to see them since it has been YEARS since we all last saw each other.

The race began with the traditional LeMans running start (not so bad when you have actually been running!), and we headed into the singletrack that always results in a "freight train" up the hill. I was positioned about 3 people behind Nate, and my goal was to stay with him no matter what. His goal was to ride the entire 8 hours, and not blow up. We went into the first singletrack, and hung together (yes, I even hung on the downhills!). My secret weapon for the race was my Pivot Mach 5, yes, the 5....not the 4. I decided to give it a go, especially since Jason (Pivot Demo Guy extraoridinaire..) had helped me set up the suspension on the Mach 5 the week before. I know the downhills on this course can really beat a person up, so that was the method to my madness. Did I mention I hung with the boys on the downhills??????? That was probably the highlight of my race, I LOVE that bike.


First lap went smoothly, and I managed to best my fastest lap time on this course from the race in September. Actually, most all of my laps were faster than my lap times in September, and they were definitely faster than my lap times from last April. Things were off to a good start.......I know they say "It's not about the bike", but really, it is. I came out of lap 1 with about 5 minutes up on 2nd place, and maintained the gap, and eventually extended it to 10 minutes going into my last lap. All in all, the race went REALLY smoothly....I felt great, I had no mechanicals, what more could you ask for? I also had a great partner along for the ride, my friend Nate and I pretty much cruised together the whole day. He had done this race several years ago, and went out too hard, so his strategy this day was to stay with me (what can I say, I can be the queen of consistency!), and heck, it gave me someone to occasionally chat with! In the end, all went well, Nate rode the entire 8 hours (which was his goal), and I ultimately put even more time on 2nd (22 minutes in the end!). However, even with the time gap on 2nd, all of us top 3 did end up with the same lap count, so things were still technically "close". It was so great to finally finish on top again, and it definitely gives me a boost of confidence going into my first 24 hour solo race of the season this coming weekend! Stay tuned for more!

Lots of Riding for the Weekend!

So after a rough week filled with studying (I am SO over the immune, respiratory, and digestive systems.......), and doing taxes, and attempting to get some sleep, I FINALLY got some good riding in this weekend. All that was accomplished earlier in the week was 2 days of running (yeah, not my idea of a good time, but it works.....). The plan all week was to get in a good ride on Saturday. I had to figure out a game plan since my husband asked me earlier in the week if I would ride with him. Let's rewind to a week ago for a moment.......to the moment that Mike decided he wanted to do an 8 hour solo race. This exact moment came last weekend during the award ceremony at the Boggs Mtn 8 Hour race when he saw the 50+ year old men getting up on the podium. I believe his exact words were "If those old guys can ride their bikes for 8 hours, I can ride my bike for 8 hours". I will be the first to admit that my hubby has all the heart in the world when it comes to setting his mind to something....but I am still a little unsure that he knows exactly what he is getting himself into. Hopefully, he proves me wrong. So, the blessed event that will be Mike's first (and he claims only) race will be at the Coolest 24 hour race, in which they have an 8 hour event, on May 3rd.


I agreed to ride with him, and it also gave us quality time together (I know some of you are thinking "yeah, quality time for her to kill him on a bike"). My game plan was formulated.......I decided I would ride into town (17 miles), and meet him at the trailhead down in the Pine Nuts, and then I would proceed to ride home. This "plan" also enabled me to get some good climbing in. All in all, it was a good day on the bike......5 hours, and a little brutal, but it was so nice to be riding for that long outdoors again!


After Saturdays ride, Mike quickly realized that he is going to need to have a few more miles under his belt before the big race. So in the midst of making dinner, then watching Marley and Me (or in my case, crying my eyes out from watching Marley and Me), we planned todays adventure. With not much choice in mtn. bike trails right now (until the snow melts in Tahoe), we decided to ride the Pine Nuts once again, although today my friends Todd and Tammy decided to join in the fun. We did a killer 2.5 hour loop with them (mostly all singletrack....the greatest thing about the Pine Nuts), and for extra measure, I decided to ride home....again. Today's total, about 4 hours. Gotta love pedaling the 5" travel Pivot Mach 5 on the road, with about 5-6 miles of climbing.....thank goodness for lockout! Although I did still have 2.1 knobby's on it! It was a great weekend of riding, and Mike survived! Although I have a feeling he will be sore tomorrow. More good riding is to be had this week, as the weather forecast is looking pretty good.

First Race of the Season---Boggs Mtn. 8 Hr

Is this the look of suffering or what?

Saturday marked the official beginning of my racing season. The hubby and I headed over the hill towards Clearlake, California for the Boggs Mtn. 8 Hour event. It seems to be a popular event with the Nor Cal crew, and I actually had to practically beg my way in! The event sold out early in January, and I got lucky enough that they had a few last minute cancellations. Being that is was sorta last minute, I was a little unsure of where my fitness would be, especially in terms of climbing. One of my co-worked, who used to race, and live in Nor Cal, assured me that there was not that much climbing.....LIAR!!!!! I assure you he will pay for that later.......

I lined up amidst the mass of people for the 8:30am start, and just hoped that my husband could hang with "pit duty". This was his first time pitting for me, so I was a little nervous. Just pretty much hoped that I would not end up with random things mixed in my water bottles....it could get ugly. They started us off in a mass of Pro Men, Solo singlespeeders, and Pro Women. Fortunately, they started all groups off with enough of a gap so that we did not get bombarded by racers from other categories.....let's face it, us solo people are not on the same pace as the team riders. The course quickly turned to EPIC singletrack, and all in all, the course was probably about 90-95% singletrack. It led to challenges when it came to passing, but it was a blast. I cannot begin to say enough about how great the trail system is at Boggs Mtn.

Ok, back to the race. I was unsure of where I was at for most of the race, I actually didn't really want to know, mostly because I was a little unsure of my fitness, and also because my whole intent of doing this race was for training purposes.....of course where I placed still mattered, but I didn't want to stress myself out over it. I figured all in all, this would be a good chance to gauge where my fitness is currently at......note to self.....I definitely need to work on climbing (Kingsbury Grade, here I come......). I tried just to remain consistent throughout the race, which I did a pretty good job of accomplishing. I finally asked where I was at in terms of placing when there was just 2 hours left of the race (really 3, because you could go out again if you came in before 4:30, but had to finish by 5:30). Turns out I was in 2nd, YEAH!!!!!! Fortunately at that point I only had to do the last lap. First place was quite a ways ahead of me, so there was no catching her. I was pretty relieved at this point, because I was beat, my legs were tired, and my butt really didn't want to sit on the bike any longer.....after all, this was the longest ride I have done in months! My Pivot Mach 4 worked great (even though my original plan was to race the Mach 5, just for fun.....), and thanks to my awesome mechanic, it ran smoothly the whole time. Not bad for the first race of the season!

On a special note, I have to say that one of my sponsors, Sheila Moon, was VERY well represented at this race (probably because we were in Nor Cal and they are big on supporting one of their own), however, it was quite strange that it was more of the men wearing her stuff than the women........Sheila, how ever did a team of men get the hot pink, floral skin suits in their size???????? It was a little scary........... :)

Ridin' in the dirt!

So I FINALLY got to take the new Pivot Mach 5 in the dirt this weekend! It has been all built up and ready to go, and while I have ridden it around town (literally) at home, it had only BARELY gone in the dirt at home. Not to mention that the riding that was done on it in the dirt, certainly didn't do the bike any justice.......those trails were not even worthy of what that bike is capable of. I have been down in my old stomping grounds in Southern California for the last few days......5 hour ride on Saturday, and 3.5 hours today. I am in absolute heaven on this bike, and it even climbs like a dream, just like my Mach 4. Below are a few pics from the trail.....miles and miles of singletrack!!!!!! Oh, and did I mention the perfect weather??????? It was in the 60's, meanwhile, at home it was supposedly in the 50's, but with high winds. Riding in So Cal is one of the few things I miss about this place!

Slacker.....

As you can tell, I am being a complete slacker with a lack of posts lately (or at all since I started these shenanigans!). Lots to tell, but just NO time to post it! Finally went skiing last weekend (have some pics to post), and have been bombarded with school.....let's see, a quiz, a lab test, a presentation, and lecture exam all within a week and a half, and all in the same class! This weekend is a chance to rest. I FINALLY got to take the Mach 5 out for its maiden voyage today.....more on that later.....all I can say for now is, it was SWEET! I am in love with that bike.............no wonder the husband feels neglected.......

Mach 5-----The finished version!

Here it is in all its glory.......the finished version my my Mach 5! I can't WAIT to ride it! Now if it would just stop snowing..............................................A girl can dream can't she?

The New Toy in Progress

The cool, and very sexy, new red Magura Marta SL's, that match the red pivots on the bike quite nicely!

Should I be worried that my mechanic showed up, dressed head to toe, in Abercrombie & Fitch....to build a bike??????? Oh wait, I stand corrected....I think the jeans are Seven jeans....and even then I could be wrong! We all know that I am far from being the queen of fashion.

So, there you have it......we were at the shop working on it till 11:30pm the other night. Actually, Klint was working on it, and I was just there for moral support. We don't want me actually touching the bike, other than to ride it! I believe he finished it up this morning. I have been sick since Sunday morning, and wallowing in the misery of not getting to ride for the last 2 days. What really sucks is that I have a nice, new, pretty Mach 5 just waiting to be ridden! Maybe Wednesday....................

Chased by a Lab.....

So the riding here in G-ville has been KILLER lately! Temps have been in the mid 50's for almost 2 weeks now, and still no sign of snow, or any precipitation for that matter, for the next 10 days. While normally I would be dissappointed (trust me, I am the total die hard skier.....), somehow this year, I am diggin' getting to ride my bike OUTDOORS in the middle of January. I think it is the fact that I have seen my training suffer the last few winters, and I was SO used to getting to ride all winter long when I lived down in southern California. My fellow skiing buddies would kill me for what I just wrote! :) So life has been cool with all my riding lately, but today, of all things, I got chased by a Lab! Seriously.....a LAB???????? Maybe it is because it was yellow. My chocolate lab is the biggest bundle of love, I don't think he would hurt a fly. My yellow lab however, is another story! Maybe it is the color of their fur? It was totally unexpected. I saw the dog in the yard, but most everyone here in "rural Nevada" has their dogs on underground fence (electric fence, invisible fence...call it what you will.....), so I thought nothing of it....untill I heard a barking dog! I looked back (as I am starting to go up a slight incline) and was stunned. A yellow lab chasing me. Fortunately, as it got closer, I was able to yell at it "Go home", and go figure, it listened! Lucky me. Hopefully tomorrow's ride will be less eventful!

My New Toy!!!!!

Ok, so the moment I have been waiting for (or at least one of them...and you can ask all the guys at Pivot Cycles....I have been after this for months!) has arrived! My mom called me yesterday to tell me that I had a box waiting for me, and I KNEW what that box contained! I got to my parent's house as fast as I could (I wouldn't trust this, let alone anything being shipped to my house...the punk 14 year old who lives in the house up the hill from us stole a gas can out of our yard.....can you imagine if he got his hands on this?????).


I wasted no time opening the box......and found a neatly packed frame...with some "bonus" messages on it (thanks guys!). One side even said "for a good time, call Adam". My dad's first question was "Timari, who's Adam?????".

As you can see from the messages, my brownies have made quite the impression! Sometimes I start to wonder if I stay sponsored based on my brownie making abilities alone???????

Once I unwraped everything, I found this BEAUTIFUL piece of machinery! It is pretty sweet! Of course this is not my race bike for the season (although I am sure it will see it's fair share when the course demands the 5 inches of plushness that the Mach 5 has to offer!), it is my "fun" bike (not that my Mach 4 isn't a blast......I can hardly wait for spring/summer so I can test it out on the trails up in Tahoe).

Needless to say I can harldy wait to get this bad boy built up! Just waiting for a few parts, and I am good to go, of course more pics are to follow upon completion!