My next bicycle will be a lawn mower bicycle

A few days ago I was joking around with Jeff about what I would be getting him for X-mas. I told him the needed a lawn mower, which lead me on a search for an energy efficient mower. I found many of these machines have been made, so maybe, I could create my own!

Other news, Happy Thanksgiving! I am happy to be home with my family. And..extra time to ride my bike.

I have 4 more exams within the next 3 weeks before the end of the semester. Study, study, and try to plan for next semester. I am still trying to get into one class I need for next semester.

I've also been trying to plan for the 2011 race season. I hope to do a few different races from last season, but it's a little frustrating that pretty much all the Big races are on the West coast. I'm not really in a financial situation to fly across the country to race my mountain bike...bummer.

fall=cyclocross

This is a short update, I should be studying for my chemistry exam that's tomorrow. I don't have any fun photos from any of my cyclocross races yet, but I've done three races so far this fall. Fun and painful! More cyclocross racing next weekend, hopefully I can do a real blog post!

Wrapping up mountain bike season

The last SERC race of the season was a couple weekends ago. I was really excited to go into the weekend sitting in the top expert standing. It was going to be a fun weekend hanging out with the team. Apparently my body thought something different. I spent the night before the race throwing up and laying in bed, unable to lift my head up due to a severe migraine. Not how I pictured the weekend. I had to do Sunday's race, no matter what. I was feeling alot better Sunday, but still feeling woozy and sick to my stomach. My laps were slow and painful, but I finally finished and got to stand on the top spot of the podium for the series! Very exciting!

This past weekend was the local TBRA race at Booker T in Chattanooga. Grace Law-Trek girls totally rocked! Kym won the race, and I got second! Star was right on my wheel the whole first lap and finished right behind me! Amy got forth, and she had raced the day before in GA, doing an endurance mountain bike race!

Other news: I am back in school working on my master's! I am currently seeking a part-time job, hopefully this means a lot more time on my bike!!!

A few races have happened since my last post. The first one was Raccoon Mountain. This was supposed to be my race! I knew the course well, and was riding strong. I was flying, apparently a little too fast. I don’t even know what I hit, but I flipped over my handlebars, and managed to hit my chin on a rock. Also, hitting my shoulder and hand (which still hurts). After I fell, I got up quickly, then screamed, once I realized I was covered in blood! At the time, I couldn’t assess the damage to my face, I just knew it was a lot of blood! It wasn’t bad, luckily, just butterflied my chin for a few days. It’s a little embarrassing going into work with bandages on your face and arms!!

The next race was the SERC make-up race at Ft. Mountain State Park in GA. I had to do this race because of my crash. I needed to do well to replace my score. This course was about three-fourths climbing. It was physically demanding, but it was the least technical course I’ve raced on this year. I got second in this race, behind a Pro rider. And Catherine got 4th! She totally rocked!

Last weekend was a local TBRA race at Haw Ridge. This trail system is where I began and learned how to mountain bike!!! I didn’t pre-ride the course, but I was really happy about the trails chosen for the course! It was a hot race, so it was really hard to tell how I felt, I just felt hot! Kym, Emily, and Starr where also there, and a few other girls. I definitely had some competition. I ended up 2nd behind Kym, which I’m thrilled about!

One more SERC race, next weekend!

Catching up

It’s been another long gap since my last blog update. I think I’ve had three races since the last update. The first one was Bump, then two SERC races Jackson and Clemson.

Jackson was my most successful race, which I placed second! It ended up being a super fast course and was easy to keep a good pace.

Clemson, let’s just say if your travel plans sound like a bad idea on paper, they are not going to magically turn into a good idea. I had to work the Saturday before Clemson, so I didn’t even start my journey until about 1:30 PM, and then I had a few stops including Chattanooga to pick up Emily, and Knoxville to pick up Jeff. The total drive was probably 7 hours! Not cool, not good for legs either! And, it totally showed during my race. I won’t be doing that again.

Other news, I have a few new toys including a new set of mavic crossmax wheels that totally rock and a powertap, thanks to Jeff for hooking me up!!!

Now that I have a powertap, I am going to start a real training regimen! Vantaggio is one of our main team sponsors, which everyone probably already knows. Vantaggio coaches consist of Kym and Mark Fasczewski. Kym is the Grace Law team manager, team member, and now my awesome coach!! I’m really excited to work with such a great coach!

Although the mountain bike reason is really almost over, two more SERC races! Wow! I am going to be racing cyclocross this fall!

No race report

Well its been a few weeks since I have really raced my bike. I chickened out of the GA SERC race because of tornados and thunderstorms, and this past weekend's Huntsville SERC was a failure for me. I pre-rode the course then realized that a bolt that holds part of the rear suspension/rear triangle was missing, so I was bike-less for the race. 10pm Saturday night I was able to borrow a bike from a lady down the road. It was a Litespeed Niota, a decent bike. The shifting was working fine just running through the gears. However, on the course which was rocky and rooty, every time I hit a bump the freakin chain was bouncing off the chainring. How horrible! How was I going to ride like that? I then was passed by a singlespeed guy who nicely knocked me off my bike when he went by. And then I flatted about one minute later. Atleast the suffering was over. Yes, my Trek is broken, but I miss her, and she will be mended soon. Riding a bike that's probably about 5 years old, or older really makes me appreciate how awesome my bike is!! My Top Fuel components rock, the shifting is smooth, and the suspension is incredible!

Other news, I just went full-time at work! That means less long fun days on the trail, but the plan is commuting to work. I will have to figure out some logistics of showering and eating, but I hope to be riding atleast home from work a few days a week and my mom and I can carpool to work in the morning. We will see!

Tsali

This past weekend was the SERC Tsali race in Bryson City, NC. And...where do I begin? I had to work Saturday until noon so I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it to pre-ride. Jeff was doing the Chickamauga GA Cup road race, so I thought I would swing by and see the end of his race before making my way to the race. That's where my crazy luck started.... I was driving and I reached into my backseat to grab a water bottle, and realized I had a few ants on my hand. I pulled over on the side of the road and saw that my cooler full of food had been a home to ants, and apparently the ice in the cooler, made them want to come out of the hollow plastic(there weren't any ants in sight when I was filling up my cooler). I used bodyspray and febreeze to kill the ones that were in my car, and stopped at the dollar general and bought a new cooler and tossed the other one in the trash (not salvageable).

My next "issue" was that I should not have relied on my GPS to get me to Jeff's race. I drove up a one car wide gravel road up a mountain, that was one foot from the edge with a straight drop down. I was terrified! I don't think I have ever been that scared in my car! And there was no way to turn around. I safely arrived, but missed the end of his race which was disappointing.

Then we were off to my race! It was a late start. We got to Tsali around 10 pm and the campground was full. Luckily I had seen a sign for camping about 5 miles down the road. I am still a rookie camper, and let's just say that I froze my ass off! But, the campsite owners make their traditional pancake breakfast for its campers! Yum!!!! I had brought muffins, but who can pass up pancakes?!

Ok..now about the race. I got second in this race last year, and the girl that beat me was there. I quickly found out she wasn't going to be my competition this time, but some different faces. When they said go Kym and Anina took off in front, and I prepared myself for what was going to be 28 miles of torture! There was one expert girl in front of me and once the trail started to kick up a tad I passed her. I stayed in the lead probably the first 15 miles of the race. Two girls were right on my wheel and it was a game of cat and mouse between Diana and myself. I was definitely faster on the climbs, but she was alot faster descending (she told me at one point she was a pro...she's fast). The end of the first lap had lot of descending and that it where she ended up passing me.

Then in the second I was starting to feel really fatigued. I had felt great the first lap, but this lap the tank was empty. I was later passed by a second rider near the beginning of the second lap. Bummer....but I'm still thrilled with 3rd considering the expert field was 22 women! And...there were some other super tough women there!!!

Recap...1st place girl could descend fast. 2nd place girl could climb faster. Me...faster than last year, and ready to go faster!!

And lastly, I want to throw in a Greg Lemond quote, "It never gets easier, you just go faster."

Chickasaw Trace SERC

This is the only time that I was clean the whole day! So..the story. Saturday was around 70 degrees not a cloud in the sky with perfect trail conditions. But, I knew that it was supposed to rain on Sunday for the race. Did I mention it always rains for this race? Saturday night I could hear the wind roaring, and around 2 AM I could hear it storming. I left my house around 8, and at that point it had stopped, but the damage was done and I knew it was going to be a LONG race! When I arrived I saw the sport class going through a grassy open section, and they looked like they were moving like snails, and I found out first hand, as I had suspected that the field was a sloppy thick muddy mess!

Okay, now to the actual race. We lined up a field of around 16 women, around half the field was the Grace Law women! How exciting to have all my teammates to race with! When they said go, I went, but my legs said no! Girls were starting to pass me on the open section! WTF! We hit the single track and Kym and Anina were in the front and I knew they were long gone, but there were about 3 other girls in front of me, and I needed to pass them ASAP. After a short section of single track, the trail opened up for a second, so I made a decision to pass then. Through I first lap I battled back and forth with a girl from Knoxville, Elizabeth. We were staying around the same pace through about two laps. I think she must of had a mechanical because I didn't see here on the results. I stayed in 4th place for the rest of the race. The girl in 3rd was also a pro race, so I was the first expert to finish. I'm so happy to finish this race. I really wanted to quit after the first lap! I didn't even get to drink anything my first lap because my bottle was full of mud. Jeff, my boyfriend was helping me out and handed me a clean bottle for my second lap, which I downed before hitting the muddy single track again. And did the same thing before my third lap. I NEVER want to race in the mud again! Hopefully I can get more photos from the race up here to show how muddy it was!

SERC FL

This past weekend was my first race of the season. Kym, Emily, Anina, and myself made the journey down to beautiful Gainesville, FL. I was really nervous about this race because not only was it the first race of the season, but it also marks a year for me racing in the pro/expert women's field. Last year I accomplished my goal of having competitive results against the other expert women. But, it was going to be interesting to see about this year. This past fall I took about 2 months off the bike!!! And...we had the coldest winter in TN that I can remember! I trained the best I could this past winter.

We lined up 11 women for the pro and experts. The course basically ran reverse from last year. It started pretty wide open, but quickly narrowed into the twisty, hilly single track. I sat in 5th for the first lap, then dropped to 6th when I ran off the trail...(now I remember why my leg was bleeding). I stayed about 10 seconds behind the girl now sitting in 5th. With two laps left, I could tell she was slowing up, so going up the gravel/rock hill I passed her and gave an extra push to try to make a little space between us and it worked! I finished in 5th! I'm thrilled, especially considering that trail is like nothing I train on or will even race on for the rest of the year. It was technical with steep power climbs. The only redeeming quality is that it's a short race!

This week I'm finishing up a training block with alot of hours. Weather and motivation permitting, I should have about 19 hours in on the bike! We will see how that turns out!!

Truth

Today I went to AEDC for mountain bike ride before work. While riding, sometimes my mind wonders a little. First, I started thinking that I haven't came up with names for my new bikes. So I made a mental note to think of names later. Then I started thinking about how sometimes I have to be nice when I don't want to be, and often I have to say things are great, when maybe I disagree. And...how I wish I could always tell the Truth, about how I really feel. Truth...what a great name for my mountain bike! Truth stands for me, and how I feel inside, and even how my training with show this season! Truth will prevail!

As far as my ride, I did about 30 minutes on the trail, and decided I was tired of riding on buttery trails, so I did about another 1.5 hrs on the road.

Other notable events this week, include my inaugural Wednesday cooking. I made a Mexican lasagna for my family, and by looking at the small amount left over I can say that it was delicious! Next week, I'm thinking chicken marsala. I want to start cooking more, and even preparing meals to take with me to races, so I can have more control on what I eat before and after races. Not to mention save $$$$

I also started my compost pile, and am doing lots of research on gardening. I can't wait to plant my garden, and have fresh veggies in my backyard!!!

That's all for now!

Awesome weather..finally!!

This past weekend and today, I got to take advantage of this amazing weather! No rain, snow, sleet, ice, or sub 25 degrees. Only plenty of sunshine! And... I got to ride my new mountain bike! All I can say is fast! This bike is incredible, by far the nicest mountain bike I've ever been on (and I've been out quiet a few over the past couple years)! The mountain bike trails at Sewanee drain well, so I did all my weekend riding there. The Perimeter trail wraps around the domain of University of the South. It is approximately 20 miles per loop, and all but the last few miles are accessible by bike. This place is absolutely gorgeous! If I have to live at home for awhile, I definitely won't be complaining about the trails, or even the road biking in this area.

2/15/10

I just arrived home from another weekend with Jeff. I came home early because of the "massive snow storm!" Seriously, I'm just tired of this cold weather. It really hinders my hours on the bike. Yesterday, Jeff and I celebrated Valentine's Day with a trainer ride. And...tomorrow is his birthday...Happy Birthday!

I also found out that my new mountain bike came in, I can't wait to pick it up from the Chattanooga Trek Store!

Lastly, on the updates: I plan to be back on track this week with my training. Food poisoning can take a few days to recover from. I felt pretty weak for several days, but I am going to keep moving forward!!!

New Bike!

I got to pick up my new Project One Madone Saturday. Jeff helped me with adjusting the bike fit, and Sunday we were off to the Foothills Parkway for my first ride! It was way colder than we expected it to be. There was ice along the parkway, but it was closed to motor traffic. Yay! More room for us! The bike was incredible, it was so smooth compared to my Giant TCR. I'm so happy to finally upgrade. We ended up doing around 4 hours, it was so much fun and lots of climbing. Monday, we did a little recovery ride from Jeff's house. Jeff and I must have ate something bad. While I was driving back home, Jeff called and told me that he started throwing up. About an hour after I got home I got sick, and stayed up all night hugging the toilet! Worst feeling ever! Tuesday I stayed in the recliner all day trying to recover. Today, I can eat again! But I still haven't regained my regular appetite. It's amazing when you get sick, you realize how lucky you are to feel so great most days!

2010 season...I'm ready!!!

Hi, I'm Amanda, this is my second year racing for Vantaggio, and I'm super excited! I want to keep the world connected to what it's like to be an athlete, and have a blast doing it! Not only will I be racing in the Pro/Cat 1 Women's mountain bike field, but I will also be doing a season of Xterra Triathlons. I'm going to be a busy girl...but hey what else is there to do right?