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.