PIR tonight. I think I'll race novice once or twice more and see how it goes. If Crazy Swervy Chick is there again, I shall make sure to stay away from her.

Yep. That's right. I rode naked. If my head wasn't attached I'm sure I would've forgotten it. I forgot my cyclometer, so no cadence, speed, average speed, maximum sprint speed, or time. I forgot my heart rate monitor so no HR info. And y'all know how I love data! I forgot my watch so I had to keep asking what time it was so I wouldn't miss my start. I left my hubby's cell phone at work. The reason I even had hubby's cell was because I left MINE at home this morning. I'm surprised that I actually had my race number and clothing.

So it was all by feel today. Left me free to observe what everyone else  was doing (12 on the field), or just plain wonder WTF?. There was a sorta heavy chick in a green jersey that kept going up the side up to the front to pull. She never lasted very long and would end up back in 7th or so position, so I wasn't really sure what was up. There were two Sorella team chicks that traded off pulling nearly the whole way. Marca was there, she is the chick that never pulls, sits in second (this time third)position, and then wins the end sprint. This slightly annoys me. Seems like a person outta suck it up and pull their share if they're going to just camp out in second position blocking anyone else that would help the first rider. She is FAST though. I need some sprint work. She will be mine by the end of this summer. Put it on your calendar.

Oh. I got 4th. :)

While warming up, I heard someone calling me - it was Ken-who-is-fast from Thursday Night Ride! We've rarely spoken - I didn't know he knew my name. We chatted around the warmup area and he's been racing at PIR and Alpenrose all the time so that's why he hasn't been at TNR. He thought I had been racing last year too, but I said no. I said that the novice women's group was a bit odd (no trading pulling, etc.) He said I ought to be able to keep up with the Cat 4/5 men's group. Cool! Maybe I'll try that some time.

I went to the tri store and got a kickboard this afternoon. Gotta do the practice drills. :) My swim coach is trying to qualify for the Olympic trials (I think) tonight. I'm thinking fast thoughts for him. I hope that working with him will get me an 800m result less than 19:36.

We increased our distance a little bit. I want to do most of my runs at 6-7 miles. We had been doing 3-5. It was okay. Not a great pace. I've had a stomachache all day off and on, and it was on for the run. Yucky.

I guess I'm ready for another week. It's the last push for the project - due by the 1st. Tomorrow is PIR - should be fun. :)

Shopping!! I dropped in at Bicyclinghub.com's brick store today. I got some short-short periwinkle blue Castelli shorts and an awesome top. LOVE the top. Makes me look like I have boobs! And what's not to like about that? I think I'll break in the shorts today. One thing I noticed on the TNR is that as I looked at butts up the line (that's RIGHT I do...), it looks like half of us ride for 'team Castelli' with little scorpion logos all lined up on the left hip. So me too. :) And not so expensive. Nice!

Ride and swim today.

Ride: "Effin' A!!!! I am taking that bike back!!!" Umm... Sorry I dropped you sweetie. :) He wasn't actually mad. He's proud of me for making huge progress. 50 pounds ago 17 was really really fast and he'd have to wait for me. Today, battling a hella crosswind, I did 21-22. Yay me! I did drop him though. And worse, I made it look easy. I may have to do dishes for a while.

Swim: Practicing what my swim coach says is way harder that it seems like it would be. I can only mentally "watch" two or three things at once. He gave me more than that. Shoulder shrug, elbow up, drag fingers, hold breath, blow out and breathe early, full catch-up, feet together... I sorta got most of the upper body stuff. Who knows wth my feet were doing down there. Maybe nothing. LOL!

Friday and Rest Day!

I started listening to Three Cups of Tea (audio book) while knitting this evening. Fascinating story. It starts out with a guy who was on a team who attempted K2,  one guy on the team got pulmonary edema, in rescueing him the main character and one other guy gave up their own bids for the summit.  The main character ends up recuperating in a little village in Pakistan, and promises to build them a school. I'm only as far as him raising some money and going back to the village. He apparently has continued his mission and has built something like 50 schools in Pakistan. So far it's really interesting. He is a person who is completely NOT about stuff. That alone is fascinating to a packrat like me. He sold everything he owned to afford plane fare and living expenses while he built the school. Amazing.

In between knitting rows and changing 'book' CDs, Kona and I played tennis ball. I throw it, she occasionally brings it back, or comes back to pester me about getting it out from under whatever piece of furniture she's lost it under. Good times. :)

Thursday Night Ride - can't wait!

Man, I LOVE looking like this. :) I just learned everything I could possibly want to know about concrete quality, strength ratings, water:cement ratios, and gravel quality from the quality control guy at the tower construction site a block away from my office. As a bonus, I haven't had to touch a door all day. I rawk. :) Heh!

Thursday Night Ride

I.Have. Never. Worked. This. Hard. Before.Ever. Holy carp. I am so tired. It is 9:30. I'm going to bed. More tomorrow. Fun ride.

We got to the park and our regular ride leader wasn't there. Fill in was the guy who I'm pretty sure intentionally dropped me last week. (I grabbed his wheel, he increased speed, so did I, repeat, repeat, then he swerved out and sprinted hard. This appeared intentional. Perhaps not.) Other than me, hubby, Kit, Yellow-shirt new? guy and Jim, the 9 other riders were all FAST. On a really nice day. I'm glad I didn't think on this coincidence too long.

There were at least two newbies there. I felt bad for them. The chick was probably 40 pounds overweight, and the guy with her went to ask the ride leader what our pace was as they "hadn't been on the bikes for a few months". I really wanted to tell him that it wasn't going to work out and that they should try Monday, Tuesday or Sunday for a while first. But he didn't ask me and our ride leader sorta just said "Uh, we regroup." We did, but we didn't wait for them. Seemed kinda mean. Shoulda just laid it out.

Of course, the "cruise" over to Rocky Butte was unusually fast. The trip up wasn't so bad, I PRd by 1 second, and was about 30 seconds behind hubby. For once I was someone's pace booty up the hill. Kit was happy to have kept me 50yds ahead of her the whole way. Good for her! She's about 10 years older than me I think, and like me good on the flats, and slow on the hills (comparatively speaking).

Hubby got a flat at the bottom of Rocky Butte (on the way down) and had ride leader tell me to go ahead, he'd try to be at the post office to meet us. Of course, today I don't have my phone.

The ride out Fremont was tough. I didn't get the jump, so tailed Mike and someone else out at about 29. We truned the corner to come back, and I made it my life to be on Mike's wheel. Successfully. However, as we got to the little roller hill where I usually die, I figured out that I don't necessarily die there, they sprint there. All of a sudden Mike and I are a rock in a river of bikes going by. Sheesh.

No hubby at the Post Office. Called him on Mike's phone. His spare popped, he had to walk home in his cleats, and now needs new ones. Crap. So I'm on my own. You know, there is a lot of emotional security knowing that there is someone that will wait for you and make sure you're okay.

We headed out Airport Way FAST - Instead of 20-24, today it was 26-29. I learned that I cannot hold 29 for a long stretch even in a peloton. Fortunately by the time I was giving out, it was the sprint, so off they went, and I could watch them go and catch up at the turnaround. I think I need to drop some weight. Sigh.

Usually, on the way back, we cruise a bit slower. Nope! Not today. Fortunately we had to stop at a couple lights - sometimes that's GOOD!!! Sped by IKEA, and turned onto cornfoot. No 20-22 here. Why do that when you can go 25 and wear the chick out???? At least I can hang onto 25. I got dangerously close to the front though. I can't lead out at that pace. Not a chance. So when the wheel ahead pulled out, I did too, and caught the back. Worked out okay.

I finished the ride and headed home. Wow.  Just a little increase in speed is seriously a LOT of work.

I'm really going to be glad to see July. I'm tired of OT, software testing and getting home late. Blech.  I did get my hair cut though - now I'm hot again. Heh!

My books on bike racing came in. Can't wait to read them. Not tonight though. Time for bed.