Two People, Two Dogs, Ten Bikes

MT bike Riding in France.

2009-06-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

I left my hotel this morning about 12 minutes before my train to Montrejeau was to depart. I walked outside to find that it was lightly drizzling, which gave me a second excuse to run to the station.

I was able to make it in time, and actually ended up on the correct train, and didn't get thrown off when the billet guy came around.

As we got closer to the mountains, I got so excited, I couldn't help but take pictures of them out of the train window although they were hardly distinquishable amonst the clouds. However, as the train progressed, it started raining heavier and heavier. Somehow, it wasn't raining when I arrived in Montrejeau. Chris of pyractif picked me up from the train station and took me to the beautiful house that they run as a hotel/ bike rental place. I was super stoked on the place...especially since Chris had been so helpful to set me up last minute.

Their house was awesome, and both Chris and his wife Helen were super nice and helpful-- I hope to someday go back and visit them for more than a day (and of course, do plenty of cycling while I'm there).

Chris described the local mountain bike routes and the local Col climbs as well. The call of being able to ride some of the climbs that are featured in the Tour de France as well as the spectacular views that accompany them were tempting, but I stuck my original plan to ride the trails, so Chris hooked me up with a steed for the day, a helmet, spare tubes, a pump, a couple energy bars, a detailed map of the area, a rain jacket and a back pack to carry everything in....and even some spare cash hidden inside the backpack.

I hadn't brough my shoes and pedals, so I rode in my tennis shoes and some toe clips. It was quite interesting: every time I stopped and got off the bike, I found myself "clipping out" (twisting my foot out of the pedal which you need to do to release from 'clipless' pedals...which are, strangely, the ones you actually clip into).

The ride was quite a bit of road riding, actually, or connecting dirt roads with paved roads, pretty much. After only about 5-10 minutes of riding, I was to climb to Mont de Galie, a 3 km climb at about a 9% grade.

I was super-stoked at the u switch backs that you see so often in European tours, and even more stoked to see some of thedown-hill looking single track that crossed the road frequently. I rode part way up the hill, and came down some of the single track to check it out. It burned having to go back up the climb again, though.

At Mont de Galie, I was greeted with nice views of the mountains and villages. The top of a col was peaking out of a cloud just enough to distinguish it from a shadow.

I made my way through several other towns to find the first trail head. After a bit of confusion (thank goodness for the map) I figured it out. It turns out the area has a nice off-road trail system, with well marked trails.

The first bit of off road stretch was quite nice, but quickly turned into the Paris Roubaix of mountain biking. I guess that's what mtn biking should be all about...but this was a seriously cobbled steep climb...and it had been raining. The rocks were quite slippery, and I only made it about 1/4 of the way up the cobbled section before I slipped out. It was next to impossible (for me anyway) to get back on the bike on the cobbles, so I had to hike up the hill. I grumbled to myself about choosing mtn biking over road biking. I was fearful the descents would be much the same-- which was terrifying to me to think of riding down such steep terrain on such slippery, wet rocks (the picture doesn't quite do justice to the grade)...but I pressed on, anyway

After a gradual climb on both fire road and tarmac, I got to the top of the hill and followed the mapped route. I had a nice long fire road descent to another town, where the trail finally turned to singletrack!! (the rocks behind the flowers are the single track on what part of the trail...actually the trails are quite rocky and rooty, and quite slippery when wet!)

After several more miles/ kilometers/ hours/ minutes? of stop and go action that involved: riding a bit, stopping to check the map and take a photo or two, and changing between single track, double track and paved road, I got to the town of Barry, where there was a short little climb that I could do to the top of a hill with a tower on top. Here's a picture of the beginning of the climb, and the sign for the climb

The bit at the top was quite rewarding, though, there was a church and a tower, and a picnic table where I got to stop and eat some more food and enjoy the view. And take a few fun action shots of myself. White girl can jump.......... a lot higher when she's got regular shoes instead of cycling shoes!

:

One of the bike signs was seriously hidden right behind this tower, and there was a trail that went directly down the hillside into the next town that I wanted to go to. The trail was a bit hidden because you had to ride across the grass to get there. I felt like such a derelict riding across the grass--especially so close to a church. I couldn't believe that that was the trail!

It started raining a little bit more during the rest of the ride, and then started coming down quite hard during the last 15 minutes or so of the ride, which was on the road. I was quite wet by the time I returned to the house in Bertren. Chris kindly let me take a shower there, and as I was just finishing up, it started dumping buckets. Seriously, buckets! I think you could've stuck a pint glass outside and it would've filled up in less than 5 seconds. I was happy with my timing for finishing the ride.

I was super stoked on the rental place-- and Chris even cut me a deal since I returned his 20 Euro that were in his backpack to him. I now can't wait to come back to France, although I'm likely to spend all of it in Bertren riding the trails and the cols.

Here are a couple more photos that I took during the day.

Bark people falling off a wall. Apparently the didn't need any help since they didn't answer when I asked.

A poppy in a field.

A loaf of bread in a window.

Happy cows come from France.

Adventures in France...so far

2009-06-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

I arrived in France on Sunday evening-- about 5:30 pm Toulouse time, which is about 8:30 am Reno time, after leaving at ~5:00 pm (but getting to the airport about 2:30 pm for my delayed flight) on Saturday. When I got on the plane for the long leg from Phoenix to airport, I was relieved to find out that the people I was sitting next to weren't fat, only to find out later that they wouldn't shut the hell up during the red eye flight, so I was quite exhausted when I got here.

Since the sun doesn't set until 9:30 pm, though, I decided to explore the city a little bit. Here are the first few pictures I took since arriving in France. Of course, the classic long narrow street...first photo since arriving. And a picture of the Ponte Neuf.

Monday I didn't have to conference, so I got up early in the morning to go for a run, and then wandered about the city for at least 5 hours. Nothing seemed to be open, and I learned later that Monday was an "optional" holiday. Why call it optional? Who would choose not to have a holiday? So, I saw pretty much the same sights as the night previous. The river, the capitole and a church.
Church tower...went inside, it was quite nice.
The salles les illustrales (something like that, anyway) at the Capitole.

After 5 hours of walking (plus the other running time), I was quite frustrated that I didn't have a bike to get around on. Even more frustrating (but actually rather cool if I had been able to use them) was that fact that these bike rental stations are about every 3-5 blocks, and you (maybe, but not me) can rent a bike for about 1/2 euro an hour.
Tuesday, the conferencing started. Since the city wasn't on holiday anymore, it was hustling and bustling. There was a large farmers market on my way to the conference center, and the massive piles of cherries and peaches were mouthwateringly tempting.
The conference schedule was quite relaxed compare to other conferences I've been to. It went something like this : Start 9 am for 1 hour of keynote sessions. Coffee break from 10-11 am. 11am- 12:30 pm, parallel breakout sessions, 3 speakers each for 20 minutes w/ 10 minutes of questions. No body ever ran over. 12:30-2:30-- lunch. Yes, a two hour lunch which consisted of a first course (generally some unrecognizable pate looking things with crab cake like items...not made out of crab) main course (usually risotto rice with some type of meat-- chicken or calamari, one day) and dessert (and each one was delicious). Of course, wine is served with lunch, so we must have coffee afterward, too, to stay away through the afternoon sessions). 2-3:30-- parallel sessions w/ 3 speakers. 3:30 to 4:30, another 1 hour coffee break. 4:30-6, parallel sessions. In total, thats 4 hours of break times and 5 hours of talks.) Tuesday night the group went to the Salle des illustres in the Capitole for a cocktail...same room I thought was perhaps a museum before. It was quite cool to sip champagne among the paintings and statues. Well, it would've been cool if it hadn't been so hot in the room. People bolted out of there quickly, which was unfortunate.

Wednesday, I had to chair a session and give a talk. Both of which went nicely, I think. Wednesday evening, the group headed to the Chauteux de Merville for a dinner.

The place even had a labyrinthe, complete with mosquites is you got lost wandering around for too long. The dinner was quite nice, but much of the same. First course was a crab-cake like thing made out of vegetables with some type of pate thing on top. Complete with a large cheese cracker that tasted like a cheese nip. The main course was duck with a small dish of purple potatoes. I suppose they could have been something other than potatoes, but the texture was the same so I didn't eat them,regardless. Dessert was....nothing short of spectacular. It was a rasperry whip cream type thing, a giant purple oreo that looked or tasted nothing like an oreo, and a creamy, fluffy chocalte frostingy type thing with a piece of rice delicious chocolate on top. Perhaps you don't get the idea, but its probably for the best because you would really want some if you could.

Of course, the journey description cannot be complete without a picture of the view out my window, and the view into the....ahem, bathroom. I still have yet to use a bidet. Perhaps one day I will fall in love, but a well used one in a hotel room will not be my first bidet-love.

Tomorrow, however, the real adventure begins. I was able to book a trip over to the mountains ( the Pyranees) for a mountain bike trip. Can't wait! I'm glad I get to enjoy the outdoors while I'm here. I guess I'm definitely not made to be a city person, because I would definitely be ready to leave already if I didn't have this lined up for tomorrow.

Got to get some sleep

Spring Thaw

2009-05-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

I was really looking forward to racing at the Spring Thaw. It promised steeper competition on a course that hopefully would be good for me. I was definitely nervous headed in, and had high expectations on myself to do well-- although I expected that the single track descent would be my doom.

The Pro and Cat 1 men and women started together, and the field size was probably close to 100 deep. I was at the very back of the group with several other women--but a lot of women seemed scattered throughout. I felt like I started in dead last, though, but even as I passed some people, others passed me. The course started up at least a mile of paved road, but even as we hit the dirt, I had no idea where I was compared w/ the other women. A woman in a WTB jersey soon came flying around me. I tried to stick with her, but couldn't. Then, another woman came around me, and I was able to ride on her wheel.

I was riding in a steady line of people, so I just tried to take the inside lines whenever they took the smooth outside lines to move up a bit. Soon, I spotted Casey up ahead. I made it my goal to get him. As I got closer, I noticed that two in a group of three right behind him were women. I tried not to focus on them, and figured they would be an added benefit of catching Casey. I started to gain ground, and was soon on the back of the two-woman train. I sat there briefly, but didn't want to get too comfortable and forget my mission, so I moved around them and focused again on Casey. As I moved past, I could tell they stuck right on my wheel. I wouldn't be dropping them any time soon.

I caught Casey at minute 33. When he saw me, he told me not to pass. I wasn't sure if it was out of pride or because he wanted to pull me up for a little bit, so I just sat on his wheel and "rested" for a bit. The other three were still right behind.

We hit a straight away that seemed to flatten out a bit, and up ahead, I saw Jon Wilson. New carrot! So, I surged around Casey to go get Jon. I couldn't tell anymore if the others were still on my wheel or not. I was kind of hoping that Casey was throwing some blocks for me. As I started catching Jon, I noticed someone else. Was that Maureen?!?!?

I ended up catching Jon and Maureen (although Jon surged past me later...I think actually dragging Mo back up to me in the process--thanks, Jon!). Then we took a sharp turn onto some windy, steep single track. Mo was hot on my tail, but I felt my pace drop off and suspected the other girls would be catching up at any minute. I already felt like I was working hard, even though my HR was starting to drop a bit. I just convinced myself that the single track would be over soon.

It ended soon enough. Hidden in the trees near the top were some course marshals. As we passed, I heard them count "first and second woman". Whoa! I had no idea that I was in the lead. Sweet!! Now I hoped that Mo and I would be able to work together to stay away from the rest of the women so that I could at least earn 2nd (Mo is a much better descender--but whose not, really?).

When the single track dumped us back onto fire road, we were actually in a cluster w/ about 5 or 6 other men, including Jon. One guy immediately organized us into a pace line, and away we went. The guys seemed strong and fast, and I wasn't too spent from the climb, so I took a couple turns at the front to help out. I figured Mo was right there in the group, but at a corner, I looked back and found myself among a bunch of dudes, only. No Mo. No Way!! What happened to her?

The road took freaking forever, and our group slowly atrophied--I think one or two guys dropped off (incl. Jon), and another guy flatted. I had mixed feelings about being in the group. I got plenty of opportunity to rest up, but at times I felt like our pace wasn't high enough. I knew my only chance at a win was going to require a HUGE lead going into the single track descent. As the road dragged on and on and on, the pace seemed to drop off and I started to get more worried about the time gap.

We hit the single track, and the men quickly dissappeared. I tried to go fast, but was definitely on the brakes more than not. Then I saw a yellow and blue jersey behind me....but it was a guy! As he caught me, though, he started shouting my whereabouts at the top of his lungs back to Mo. It was super cheesy and annoying.

She caught me soon enough, and I let her by. I tried to stick on her as long as I could, but it didn't take long before I couldn't even see her anymore. I knew 3rd place was probably not too far back, and that I still had to push it to not lose any more spots.

Then, Casey passed me-- loudly and celebrating-- right at the top of BTI. I was inspired by how fast he was going, and tried to pick it up, but he dissappeared super quickly into the dust and the trees. I was super sketched out by the last part of the trail. A bunch of jumps and kickers had been installed since the last time I had ridden it for 12 mi (which I was petrified of it then), so I was really riding the brakes. I few more guys passed me, and I was desperately hoping that I wouldn't see third place.

I recognized the last switchback, and celebrated by pedaling hard so that I could speed down to the finish. The road flattened out, and I picked up a ton of speed...only to come around a corner to a short, steep downhill with a huge waterbar across it. Not a fan of getting air, I grabbed my brakes to try and slow down. And slow down I did....to an abrubt skidding stop on my knee and my elbow as my rear tire washed out from underneath me. I didn't want to lose time or place, though, so I quicly picked up my bike, and pedaled as hard as I could to the finish.

Although someone was nearing on me, and cars were trying to slow me down, no one else passed me by the time I crossed the line. 2nd place overall! Super stoked!!! Katie crossed the line only 47 seconds behind me.

I wore pads the next day for the DH race...which doesn't seem to really help my fear of crashing, but would at least protect my new wounds if I did. I was panting like a maniac at the end of my race run, and felt like I was going pretty fast. There were only two women total in my category, and I ended up getting second. But, by less than 7 seconds. I'm pretty happy with that, since the other girl was actually racing a DH bike, and actually races DH races. And, I didn't get DFL, which I had been expecting. Although the pads didn't come into play during my race run, I sure was glad I was wearing them when I supermanned over my handlebars not once, but twice on a flatter part of the trail after the DH for no apparent reason. My poor body is a little sore from all the crashing this weekend.

My First Road Race Ever...

2009-04-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

(well...almost ever)

I was planning this year on trying out road racing, since Scott had been telling me that he thought I’d be really good at it. Cody had earlier tried to convince me that Copperopolis would be the best place for me to try it out, but I was skeptical after hearing about how bumpy and hard it was. I was on the fence about it the whole week leading up to the race, but figured it would be the best training for Sea Otter since I hadn’t had much opportunity to ride.

I finally committed to doing it when I registered at the race that morning during Scott’s race. I just told myself that I’d either drop off the back or drop out if I really didn’t like it.

Since I hadn’t set any expectations, I wasn’t nervous at the start at all…at least not as nervous as I get at the start of a mtb race. Some of the 25-30 girls looked intimidating, but others were talking about their “one ride a week if I’m lucky” training policy.

I started the race out at the back of the pack after a last minute front wheel swap with Scott. The pace was slow enough that I felt totally fine, but I still wanted to move up, since I knew the hill started right away and I didn’t want to get trapped in the back. So, I tried to move up with other girls as they were coming around me.

Then the climb started. I was about mid-pack, but still wanted to move up. A girl in pink and red came around me, so I moved over onto her wheel, and we slowly moved up a little bit. I was actually suffering quite a bit, so didn’t pay too much attention to where we were in the pack. One girl was already a bit off the front, but the rest of the girls were sticking together like glue. I glanced down at my HR monitor ( I had strategically turned off the beeps for this race) to see that I was nicely above threshold , and when I looked back, I was a bit devastated to see that it looked like the entire field was still right there. “I’m supposed to be a good climber, but I’m frickin’ gassed and the entire group is still right with us?!?!? I am NOT cut out for this” I thought.

Then the climb began to pitch up a little bit. The one girl was still off the front, pushing the pace. I was already bottomed out in my middle ring, and desperately wanted to shift down into my granny gear, but I figured that everyone else would notice and take me for a total joke, so I stuck it out.

I peaked over my shoulder at the next turn and saw that… no one else was behind me. Whoa, when did that happen?!?! A bit of relief sank in, but as we reached the top as a group of five, one, one woman immediately started cheerleading and organizing us into a paceline. Ouch, active recovery!

The one girl was still off the front, but visible, and within minutes, we swallowed her up and now had a group of six. But, when we hit a short little uphill kicker, she powered up it and dropped the rest of us. Let her go, she’ll tire herself out, we agreed. Meanwhile, I was in the rear, and the girl in front of me was quickly dropping off the back. “Come on, let’s stay up with them” I pulled around her, and dragged her back up to the group.

“Are we all on?...Okay” , so we set off in our 5 girl paceline again. As we came up to a bend in the road, the girl off the front took a sharp left turn, and began descending down an obviously wrong direction. Where did she get that idea? Oh well….

So, the five of us rounded the bend and whooshed down the hill. We quickly dropped the same tired girl for a third time. This time, we didn’t wait for her to catch back on.

As we continued on in our paceline of four on the flat road, there was a bit of a crosswind. One of the girls was giving instructions to echelon left…or right….or, “what? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” One of the women was nice/irritated enough to give me some one on-one instructions-- “Think like a flock of birds.”

A couple of times, whenever I pulled through for my turn at the front, I pulled too fast and quickly dropped the other ladies. “Sorry, I don’t have a computer…I don’t know what I’m doing.. this is my first road race” I felt like such an idiot. I saw them talking to each other here and there, and figured that they were probably discussing a strategy to drop me since I was annoying them so much.

They kept looking over their shoulders the first lap to see where the pack was, but we managed to get to the top of the last hill without another girl in sight.

I was nervous about the descent since all the rumors about how scary and bumpy it is, and since I’ve never descended as a group before, I dropped back a little bit. At the bottom, I was worried that they were going to attack to drop me, as per their strategy that they had likely been discussing, but they didn’t. I guess I was feeling a little overly sensitive. We reformed as a group, and went charging on into the second lap.

As we came through the feed-zone, I announced that I wanted to grab a bottle, so they all slowed down a bit for me…definite evidence that they didn’t want to drop me…just yet, anyway. Scott was near the top of the hill, I was stoked for him to see me in the lead group.

The second time up the hill, the pace dropped of significantly. The other girls were chatting, and I started to get a bit worried that we actually WOULD get caught on the hill. I glanced down at my HR monitor, it was definitely too relaxing of a pace. So, I moved to the front of the group and tried to push the pace a little bit. When we reached the top, I stayed up in the front and took a long pull, hoping that everyone would get focused again. Two of the other girls thanked me for pulling as they finally came around me.

On the backside of the second lap, our pace dropped off significantly, though. I don’t know if it was just lack of attention, fatigue, or strategy, but even without my computer, I felt like we were going slooooowwww. This time, I was the one getting nervous and repeatedly looking over my shoulder because I’d already convinced myself that I was going to be stoked on a top four finish in my first road race.

We were going so slow that a group of the 55+ men caught us and came around us. The second they moved around us, the slowed up (it seemed). Great, now we were going to have to ride their pace the rest of the way. Thankfully, as the Touchstone girl took her position in the lead, she picked it up to move around them. I actually wasn’t sure if she was just trying to attack or not, but I was second wheel and managed to maintain. I looked back, and it looked like we had everybody, but it was hard to tell in the mix. I took a pull, and tried to pull hard into the wind to stay away from the men, but as I dropped back for me rest, the pace slowed, and they passed us again and slowed down immediately.

Luckily, one of the men recognized that we were the lead group, and told the rest of the group that they should let us go by. We came around them for the last time, and they dropped back into the distance. That motivated us to pick up the pace for a bit.

As we neared the final short climb, I started thinking that our break was actually going to stick. Now what? I wasn’t really in this race to win it—should I just lead out the group and take fourth place? But fourth place sucks…one off the podium. I want top three. I figured to do that, I’d have to get to the top of the hill first. These other three had way more experience racing than I do, they’re going to out-strategize me if I don’t.

So, after my next pull, I moved to the back and ate the last of my hammer gel and drank the last of my water. I figured at this point, I could probably maintain threshold or higher until the finish (especially with all that rest during such a slow lap).

But, as soon as I finished eating, the paceline broke up as everyone else started to eat and drink, and I quickly found myself at the front of the group, leading everyone up the last mellow grade into the wind and tiring myself out. Should I just attack now? I picked the pace up a little bit. After we rounded the bend into the wind, I decided that that had been a dumb decision, so I slowed up to let someone else come by, and of course, no one did.

So, as I rounded the corner to begin the climb in the lead, I gradually increased my effort. Probably not the best plan of attack…but I really don’t know what is. I was working hard to get up that hill, but could hear heavy breathing behind me. I looked back at my rear wheel and saw a pair of white shoes. Note to self…pay more attention to shoes. I was getting gassed, but wanted to get to the top first, and I still didn’t know if the other two were right behind Ms. Whiteshoes, so I stepped it up as much as I could. As we neared the top, I glanced back…Ms. Whiteshoes was Ms. Touchstone….only! She told me “great job, keep it up.”

I figured I just gave her a great lead up the hill, and now I would be racing for second, since I couldn’t tell how far back the other two were. As we started to descend, she moved around me, and I told her “Great job girl, you got it now” figuring that she was pretty fresh, and probably a better descender and would crush me the rest of the way.

But, I had learned the descent was nothing to be feared, especially now that there was only one other. A passed her briefly on a short uphill, but she came flying around me again. She managed only to put a couple seconds on my on the descent, and mostly those seconds were just me giving her a little bit of space. So, as the grade flattened out, I realized I needed to be up on her wheel, and I would still have a chance to win.

So, I powered up, and easily got on her wheel. I rode right there for a bit, but I really wasn’t sure what to do from there. When do I attack? Should I just go around her? When should I start sprinting? We hit another kicker up hill, and in my indecisiveness, I found myself riding shoulder to shoulder with her to the bottom of the hill coming up on the 200 m mark. Well, this probably isn’t the best place to be, but it’s too late to drop back, cause she’ll probably out sprint me. So, we hit the bottom of the climb, and I hammered and moved in front of her. Now this is probably a really bad place to be. So, as the grade mellowed, and with the finish line in front of me, I stood up and started to sprint for it. Since I don’t ever sprint, I can’t be sure that my standing sprint is faster than my seated sprint, or that my standing sprint is even actually a sprint at all….but I faked the motions, figuring at any second she would fly around me. But, the line came up faster than she did, and I crossed in FIRST PLACE!

After all the waffling, I’m definitely glad I raced, although all I won was a t-shirt. I’m not totally hooked just yet, but will probably try out another road race or two this season…especially the climbing ones.

Doggie Resolution?

2008-11-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

When I last posted, Scott and I were both pretty much at our wit's end of dealing w/ Bowie. Scott had even set a date to take him back to the pound..."tomorrow." But, I think doing the deed was a little too hard for both of us...so we decided to switch things up a bit. Although Bowie can be a terror when he is not put in the cage during the day, the reason why we were both so annoyed was because of the peeing--his refusal to go INTO the cage in the first place. So, we decided just to make sure that all the pantry doors were closed and the trash was secured, and we left him out of the cage.
Although a couple times, I've come home to a chewed up empty plastic bag or milk carton out of the recycle, or bathroom tissue trash pulled out about the bathroom floor, the trash is a little easier to clean up, and not nearly as smelly as pee. So for now, Bowie's got his chance #4.

Doggie Dilemma

2008-11-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

It's been nearly a year since we adopted Dog #2, Bowie, from the pound. I remember our visit-- I had decided to get Scott a dog for x-mas, against my better judgement. Not my better judgement, I guess, but just because of the fact that I really love little Henry, and I didn't think there was any way possible that another dog existed out there that would be anywhere nearly as good and as loveable as him. But, Scott had been wanting a dog of his own that he could excercise w/ since Henry's a little too old, and once I started looking at all the adoption adds and cute pics, I couldn't help but want a new little cuddly family member, either. So, we went to the humane society together, cruised around amidst all the pit bull mixes, and decided that Bowie--then Mikey, was cute enough to come home w/ us although he was nearly four years old. We were both excited, and visited the pet store right away, gave him a bath that night, and got started on our new life together.

I had adopted Hendrix from the pound, and he has been w/o a doubt, the best little friend anyone could have, so I didn't even think that another pound dog would be any sort of problem at all. Bowie was okay at first, perhaps a little neurotic, but we figured that he'd get used to us and grow out of his issues. But, over the last 11 months, he seems to have gone from okay to bad to worse. The first couple months, he was okay to leave at home by himself, but after a while, he developed these really bad habits of stealing food out the pantry--he's eaten entire loaves of bread, boxes of dog cookies and other dog treats, or knocking over the trash can and dragging everything out so he can find anything edible. I've come home to horrendous scenes of trash strewn about in three different rooms wtih avocado smashed into the carpet. The worst part about it is, if you try and get him in trouble for the things that he's done wrong, he freaks out and leaks pee on the carpet. In an effort to keep the carpet clean, I just ignore him.

So, we had to start kenneling him when were both gone for the day. He never liked that idea one bit, all though for an extremely short period of time-maybe a week or so, I could get him to go into the cage on his own w/ nothing but the promise of a cookie. But, that has also changed for the worse, and he now has to be put on a leash and lead into the cage AND rewarded w/ a cookie. Most mornings, however, he fights it, and of course, he gets scared and pees on the carpet.

And he's neurotic besides that as well: he gets up in the morning, and is of course, excited to go outside and relieve himself. But, the second I open the back door to let him out, he runs and hides behind the couch. He rarely goes outside on his own without one of us having to go outside w/ him. Even if Hendrix is out there!

It's gotten to the point that I just plain don't like him. He's cute most of the time, but I just don't love him like I love Hendrix. I love to cuddle w/ Hendrix on the couch, but I can't stand to hug Bowie or have him breath in my face. I hate having a dog that I have to cage every day so that he doesn't get himself into trouble. But now, he gets into trouble getting INTO the cage in the first place. He seems sulky all the time and bummed out and weird.

So, we've been considering taking him back to the pound. It's an absolutely awful idea, and I hate the fact that we've even considered it, but I don't know what to do w/ him. I've always wondered how people could abandon their dogs, and now, I could become one of those people. I've waffled back and forth so many times about taking him back, and now is probably one of the worst possible times to take a dog to the pound: w/so many people in foreclosure, animals are getting abandoned left and right. So it seems as if his chances of re-adoption would be slim. And, it totally breaks my heart to think of him back in that little tiny kennel at the pound, behind bars w/ no people around. I don't know what to do.

In Other News...

2008-10-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Scott is in North Carolina right now w/ a few other members from the cycling team for collegiate mtb nationals. He's started a blog for the cycling team, and has posted some funny comments about their trip so far. Great, huh, that he's been posting elsewhere than this blog. Oh well, someday it we'll populate it with more blogs.

In Case You Were Wondering....

2008-09-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

For those of you who frequent this page (and when I say "frequent" I mean "visit more often than posting occurs" --which probably refers to approximately 0.000000000000000000000001% of the population of Reno), are probably confused by Scott's (a.k.a Jermaine) recent posting about also being famous.

You may think he's trying to steal the limelight from me, but it's not quite stealable. He's referring to THIS article in the RGJ about him. About US, actually. Or, perhaps, more appropriately, about John Wilson feeling like a kid again.

Ahhh fall is here

2008-09-19T00:03:00.002-07:00

I think fall might be here now. Cool air slips in through window at night forcing me deep under the covers. The thin blanket that had nearly asphyxiated me with heat all summer has now been covered with a heavy down comforter. I look forward to the time when I get to rake up all my leaves into a pile and then dive into them from the top of the wall. Then I will look forward to the broken clavicle and 3 months of physical therapy that will follow after failing to recognize that our trees produced approximately 11 crispy leaves this year and wouldn't break the fall of a thin four year old. I have a love-hate relationship with winter. I love to go on vacation to warm climates during the winter and I hate the chilly times in between those vacations. Winter just brings so much misery. Now that Amber and I have a kick ass scooter that get 95 miles to the gallon we will undoubtedly be in this situation sometime this winter. At least our friendly neighbor makes us delicious brownies all winter.

Hey now I'm famous too.

2008-09-19T00:03:00.001-07:00

I'm Expecting!!!

2008-09-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hooray!! After months of waiting, I'm finaly ready to announce. I'm expecting a new member of the family. So now, it'll be two dogs...and eleven bikes! That's right eleven bikes!

My new bike will be the Anthem X1. After racing on a heavy (31+lb ) all-mountain bike, I'm finally upgrading to an actual race bike--six pounds later (meaning that I don't have to struggle so hard to lose those last 6 pounds :) ). So, in six days or so, we'll have a new addition in the garage. Better go make room!

I'm Famous

2008-06-02T16:18:00.001-07:00

The Peavine Challenge race was this last weekend. After years of racing in the sport category, I finally opted to upgrade and race in the expert category. However, this decision was not based on my faith in my fitness or ability, but simply for the fact that the race promoters of the Nevada Cup Series have not opened up any communication what-so-ever, and race distances for the women have yet to be made even some-what consistent. At the first two races of the season, the womens expert raced the same as the mens expert (~30 miles), and womens sport with the mens sport (~20 miles). I never wanted to upgrade at those, because I didn't want to be the last one to finish the race.

But, at the Peavine Challenge this year, despite complaints about the same set-up at last year's race...the womens sport raced w/ the mens beginner, and only completed one lap of the 13.5 mile course while the expert women completed the same as the mens sport, and did a lap and a half which totalled 19 miles (which is comparable to the distances at the previous races that I've finished this year.) The mens expert did two full laps (27 mi).

So, I raced in the womens expert for my first time ever. And for another first this year, there were actually other women who came out and competed!!! So, I was expecting to get my ass kicked (which happened), but, I was pretty stoked at the start. When the race director shouted "Go" all five of us took off.

I got a great start, and although I didn't exactly get the "hole shot"...it was close enough. One pro girl led us all out, but she already had a 15 ft lead by the time we reached the single track, and I was the next person in line. So, I led the other three girls into the single track. I was totally stoked to see someone taking photos at that point. Although I was already winded, and could tell that I should've spent at least another half an hour warming up, I was hoping that he would get a great shot of me leading Elizabeth (? name), Cody, and Valerie into the climb before they took me over.

Well, he didn't get Cody into the shot, but this photo still showed up in the RGJ today. Although it wasn't associated with an article, and wasn't even taken by one of the RGJ photgraphers, I'll still autograph it for you if you wish. Cause, although you can only see one girl...I was in the lead at this point. And besides that...check out my calf!

Fair Weather Rider...Not Anymore!

2008-05-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was great, we had nice weather and set record highs. 95 deg mid-May is pretty ridiculous. But, yesterday, when I heard a radio announcer wish for last weekend's weather this weekend, but say that at least this weather gives you a good excuse to be lazy all weekend-- I found myself laughing and thinking "No way, I'll definitely take 65 deg and raining!"

This weekend was anything but lazy, and was definitely the most enjoyable this season yet. Of course, it helped that it was an extra day.

Although, I guess on Friday, I was probably thinking the same thing as the radio announcer. It was cloudy and dreary and pouring rain. I thought that the rain spelled doom for the PineNut Cracker race the next day. And since Scott had just put a brand new drive train on my bike, I was almost convinced not to go. I knew that if I didn't go out there, it would most likely be the best conditions ever, and if I did go, it would most likely be crappy and muddy. But, I hate to get left behind, so when Alex was working out carpooling, I made sure that I was included in the plans.

The next morning on the drive out to the race, it was still dreary and rainy. When John, Kenny, Don, Alex and I got there, we only had about 25 mins until the race started. At registration, the course map that was laid out described that the race was going to go up to "the mine." I'm not familiar at all with the trails out there other than doing the race for the past two years, but the course two years ago had gone up to 'the mine', and I hated every second of it. The giant whoops leading up there forced me to walk my bike for at least two miles for fear of crashing w/o insurance. And then, Fifield announced that he had tried to ride the course earlier, and it was so muddy, he was force to walk.

So I decided not to race. I walked away from registration with my filled-out form in hand, and walked back to the truck where everyone was frantically getting ready to race. "Dammit, what else am I going to do here for the next two hours while everyone races?" I thought....so I turned back around and registered.

15 mins to go until race time. I quickly visited the ladies room, ran out and grabbed my bike...put some air in the tires, and hopped on to ride up to the start line, feeling like I probably forgot something. We got to the start just in time to line up and "GO!".

What the hell was Fifield talking about? He must've been trying to convince us not to race. The conditions were awesome! The trails out there are motorcycle trails that are whoopy, and flowy, and lumpy and bumpy, and twist and turny, and usually pretty sandy and loose. Not today! They were hard packed, and freaking fun! The dirt was smooth and tacky, and cornering was easy. Of course, race-pace speeds helped the fun factor. It was a great day! I was stoked I had done it!

The next day, after pouring rain that afternoon, and raining through most of the early morning, I was once again convinced that trail conditions were going to be crappy as hell. However, Giant was holding a demo day at Peavine, and I really wanted to check out a bike that I'm thinking of getting, so I HAD to go out there. As I chatted with the rep while they were setting up the bike for me, I said "Better your bike than mine...", thinking that it was going to be the kind of mud that forces you to put all new cables and housing on.

I was wrong AGAIN!! The dirt was great. Riding new, top-of-the-line bikes was great. It was another great day of riding.

So, by Monday, I was hooked. It rained more over the night. That morning was when I heard the radio announcer. But, now, I knew the trails were going to be great. So, I rode with Alex one more time for the weekend out at White's Creek. It was actually my first time riding out there, and now I know I'm spoiled for that trail, sinces it's almost never in that great of condition.

This entire season, I've been a fair-weather rider. If it's too cold or windy, I just won't go. I think I've learned my lesson about that. Now, I'm crossing my fingers this weather lasts a little bit longer.

Career Day

2008-04-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I was invited to do a Career Day at a middle school by the husband (who I work with) of a school's counselor. I agreed, mostly because he was standing in front of me in my office, and a face-to-face rejection was way more difficult than if I had just been able to politely respond with a "no" email. Although I've been teaching engineering classes at UNR for four semesters, the thought of standing in front of 7th and 8th graders was totally terrifying.
I asked my friend Krista, who's a middle school teacher, for advice, and of course she told me exactly what I was expecting, but hoped not to hear..."just bring props, or something to pass out." Of course, I don't have any cool toys that I paly with at work that I could do a demonstration, and couldn't really think of anything that I could hand out.

So, I went to the school armed only with a bottle of water labeled "Exhaust" that I'd picked up at a recent conference on hydrogen. When I checked the first question I was asked was "Do you have anything you need to set up?"...um, no, I responded, as I looked around to see the other speakers; a police officer with a dog, an architect with drawings, and other people carrying arm loads of crap.

I was to have three different sessions of students, each lasting about 25 minutes. I hadn't prepared a single thing to say. So, the first session was kind of a guineau pig session. I mentioned several different types of engineering, and tried to make them sound as cool as possible.. "as a computer engineer, you could write software for nintendo games....as a mechanical engineer, you can design and build cars..". And then I talked about what I do..working on alternative-fuel vehicles and other renewable energy. And, of course, I drank out of my exhaust water. I looked at the clock when I was done, and only 10 minutes had passed. Luckily, each student had a handout of questions that they needed to get answered "How much money do you make"..."What is your favorite thing about your job?".

But, after they were done asking their boilerplate questions, I was totally amazed at some of the thougtful questions that I received from some of those middle school students. They asked me questions like "Does using the alternative fuels change the power output of the vehicle"...and other extremely thoughtful questions. I was amazed. I don't get that level of thinking out of students in my upper-level engineering classes.

Anyway, I just received a thank you letter from the school yesterday, and handwritten letters from several students that are just so cute I wanted to share. Here's one:

Dear Ms. Amber..
I just think it's so neat that you are an engineer for the D.r.i. (Desert
Reasearch istitute). Solving energy crisises, creating new energy efficiant
materials, it all looks pretty cool. Almost as if your saving the
world. Science to me truly is a facinating subject. Everything
happens unexpectingly. Also, drinking that exaust waster was also pretty
cool. I would really consider this career as it truly looks
promising.
Sinciraly,
Erik ..

and another

Dear, Amber..
I really like what you job was about and I would love to look more into
like the curtian ranks. Anyways thank you for telling us about reaserch
engineering and I am a 7th grader doing and participating in 8th grade math so
next year I'll be doing Algabra.
Sincerly Collin...

Don't worry, I don't know waht curtian ranks are, either.

Skeletal Weakness

2008-04-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone welcome to Amber and Scott's new blog.
As you may have noticed our blog address is the bike couple. For the next few weeks, however, it may as well be titled: Amber and the guy who blows his f'ing back out picking up things like lint and empty ziploc sandwich bags.
Today was awesome; 70 something degrees, clear, and not a lick of wind. I stood in the garage watching Amber go through her normal pre-ride checks - air pressure, chain lube, spare tube, CO2, water. "Okay by. I should be back in a few hours. I'm just going to ride up to the top of peavine and then come down all the single track into Evans"

"Have fun" I thought to myself. "I am going to vacuum the living room and try not to lose bowel or bladder control when I sneeze". No I'm not bitter. After all I got in a great ride just the other day. It was a beautiful overcast day and a gentle 45 mph wind was ripping down the Bacon Strip as I crawled along in my 22-34. You know you're having a bad day when you're in the 22-34 and you aren't A) bonking and hopelessly lost somewhere near Bend OR, or B) experiencing mild anaphylaxis from being stung on the tongue by a bee (never wear a yellow helmet - you look like the pollen mother load).
Honestly I would loved to have ridden today, but there are problems that need solving...things like global warming and plummeting honey bee populations. I hope someone is working on those things because I don't really know anything about that stuff. Actually I didn't ride because I wrecked my back lifting a bag of dog food er...I mean doing squats.
How did this guy not poop doing this? I would love to see him try this after a strong cup of coffee. There is actually a tragic story associated with this photo. Kim Il Song, 27, was attempting a So. Korean national snatch record to earn himself a spot on the 2008 Olympic team when his right tibia shattered, peppering the front row of the audience with bone fragments killing 11 people.