Gluek Gone Bad & Some Super Time Trialin'

Warp speed wrap up!!!

I am finally back on the internet! Thank you NewEgg for getting me back into the blog-o-sphere. To celebrate, I'll give you the mighty quick summary of the latest races.

May 5th was the Gluek Road Race. I rode W Cat 4, riding harder and better than ever before! I was with the lead pack for the first 24 miles, then got dropped on the last lap when the sky opened up, dumping cold, stinging rain on me as I watched the field ride away. The sick thing was that I was riding at 30 mph when they rode away! I chased them all the way to the finish, ending up 13th of 20. I learned so much about myself and how hard I could push, that it was all worth it.

(Skinny Ski Rules!)

Jay was positioned to finish top 3 in the Men's 35+ when the guy in 3rd blew a tire on the wet pavement, causing a messy bike pile. Jay Cyclocrossed it onto the shoulder to avoid the accident, but couldn't dodge a bike flying through the air, sending him over his handlebars, bouncing off his back, and launched into a corn field. ATTN: HENDERSON FAMILY - JAY IS DOING FINE - NO SERIOUS INJURIES!!! Actually, he couldn't have crashed better (is that an oxymoron?). The corn field had been freshly plowed, allowing him to land quite gingerly in a field of soft soil, and most likely manure. He was able to get back on his bike after a quick self-evaluation, dropping 20 places to 25th.

The following weekend was the Bike Club TT. The weather was beautiful, the course a little more rolling than most of us liked, and the after-race hang out was fabulous! I wound up with my first official Top 10 ever! (top 10 in a field with more than 10 riders). I was 10th of 15 Women and 17th of 28 overall, finishing the 20K race in 41:26. Jay rode hard, but wasn't all feeling it, finishing with a time of 1:04. Timmer, on the other hand, DESTROYED the field!!! He is en fuego this year, blowing the field away at the Bike Club TT, finishing the 40K in 55:36, more than a minute faster than second place!

Great Job, Timmer!!!

This past Wednesday, we took over Black Dog Rd. again for the Black Dog Time Trials #2. The evening was a little cool, but fun and exciting as usual. In an attempt to keep my lunch down, I hit the trainers with the ipoder cranked. It definitely helped, because I got to the start calm and collected. (After puking at Gluek, I never want to go there again). I've been fightin off a mean cold, so little did I expect to actually improve on my time! I rode my a$$ off, sure, but I figured that me feeling like I was dragging meant that I was REALLY dragging.... I beat my time by 47 seconds! I finished in 19:30, winding up getting 1st of 3 in the Women's Stock Cat! My first time getting FIRST PLACE!!!! Holy &%$#!!! Overall for Women racers, I was 7th of 10. Wow! Black Dog has already been such a great tool to teach me - I have never pushed myself so hard before, and I've never believed I could keep it up for the entire race....now if I could only maintain that pace for a longer race.

Patience, Grasshopper.

Jay finished 7th in both the Men's 35+ and Men's Overall times. Nice job, sweetheart!!! It would have been spotless, except for the post-race Taco Bell purge. Eewww...glad I missed that one. :) Timmer, of course, had the fire lit, taking 1st place yet AGAIN! Way to go!

Since we were all having fun, and delirious from racing, we got out the chairs and beers for some great tailgating. Needing food, Jay called up Domino's, scoring us parking lot pizzas as the sun went down! I can't believe they delivered it to a freakin' parking lot, but man...that food was scarfed up so FAST!! Yummy, though. Much better than the Gu packs I had in my bag.

John & Jacki havin fun

My hungry man

Tonite, we're driving up to Cable, WI for the Cable Classics MTB Race. This will be my first official Mountain bike race...I hope the pony is ready! Speaking of which - I should be packing!

In love with riding, and riding in love,

Kristy Kreme

Office Antics

One of the greatest things ever created for white-collar office jobs was the Office Prank. Of course, there is an expansive variety of pranks to choose from, depending on your personal desire, cynisism, and dark side.

Needless to say, one of the primary things that gets me through work on somedays is to mess with someone else. At my work, I've seen (allegedly participated in) a number of minute or sneaky endeavors....spider in the drawer, boxing up someone's belongings as if they're getting fired, changing the key code on the door when someone goes on vacation....

Well, this time, I got Jeremy while he was out drinking on a boat for fishing opener.....

Racing season has begun

On top of all the pre-marital bliss and planning in my life, I have realized that there is more excitement in the air.....this is my first full year of cycling!

For those of you who don't know, I bought my first bike in late August of 2006...and jumped into my first race (the Henderson Time Trials) one week later! Since then, I've kept myself quite entertained by racing cyclocross in the fall and the Ice Race in January on my SS Mtn bike. Now, we are full-swing into the 2007 season!

"Training" in Belgium was a blast....well, I don't know if I'd actually call it training, more like touring. Its not like I was watching my heart rate and doing sprints at 5:00 a.m.- I was checking out the scenery and having fun. But, then again, that's how I've done most of my races, too.

So far, I've gotten 3 races in already.
I did the Durand RR, placing 27th of 30 in the Women's Open field. This is amazing! Especially since my goal is simply to finish, with hopefully the bonus of learning something while doing it.

Last Saturday, I did the Ken Woods RR, placing 24th of 33 in Womens Cat 4. I learned how to Pace Line! It was so much fun : )

Last night was my first taste of the Black Dog TT. I had so much fun! I was super nervous at first, trying desperately not to spray Casper w/ regurgitated bananas. But racing it, I felt ON! I did it in 20:17, placing 2nd of 3 in the Women's Stock category! YOWZA! I had a blast. And, to top it all off, I got to finish the night tailgating with the Motley-est of all crews under the full moon... Jay, Timmer, Ronnie, Shad, Super-Linda, and the crew sat around laughing, enjoying snacks & bevies, and goofing off until bedtime. Silver Cycling & Hollywood Cycles put on a great race! Nice job Russ and friends.

This weekend is the Gluek RR on Saturday. 36 miles....oh, boy.... Sunday is what I'm really excited for though....brunch w/ Mom & the family, sharing stories, souveniers, and a little more engagement celebration. Uber fun! We haven't seen them since before we left for Europe and I am so very excited.

Have I said it lately that I am a very lucky woman? Life is wonderful, and the best part.....it has only just begun.