Aspen: Acknowledging each lovely vista with a snack

Posted on by lindsay
[caption id="attachment_3360" align="alignnone" width="400"] This shouldn't need a caption. It's The Pizza at the Denver airport. Five minutes after this photo was taken, this box was empty and I was eyeing my carry-on's potential to hold another.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_3361" align="alignnone" width="400"] Riding up Maroon Bells with the Susan G. Komen Ride for the Cure. This would have been the TT course for the stage race, but I was happy soft-pedaling up while taking photos and stopping to harass wildlife. Marmots are just asking to be hugged.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_3362" align="alignnone" width="400"] My Aspen Valley Hospital teammates Amber and Abby rocking the ride.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_3363" align="alignnone" width="400"] The view was breathtaking. No, wait, that was the lack of oxygen at the high altitude. But the view was still awesome.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_3364" align="alignnone" width="400"] Apparently Abby was so moved by the ride with Amber that, upon reaching Maroon Bells, she proposed against a ...continue reading.

This One Time, At USA Cycling Talent ID Camp

Posted on by lindsay
It's been a while since I've written here. Things got a little chaotic in life and I lost my voice, so to speak (although not my taste for bad puns). At first I just didn't have time to write, then I was distracted by the things happening, and then I had a lot of feelings that were not blog-friendly, unless this blog were retitled, "Times I Have Held A Serious, Exhausting Grudge That Is Refueled On A Near-Daily Basis." The good news is that throughout this period of being unable to find words to share a lot of what is going on, the bike is still making me happy. Sure, I had some boring-ass rides before I went off to Colorado, rides where I slogged around the same local roads watching the minutes crawl by, but even despite some minor mental burnout, I'm still deeply in love with the bike. ...continue reading.

Reston: Where Thousands Cheer (if only my father laughs at that, it will be enough)

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Reston Grand Prix Criterium The Course: 8 corners, an hour, no idea of how many laps The Field: 1/2/3 women The Finish: 1st I really wanted to win Reston. It's a race in my own neighborhood, it's an important event for the XO team and sponsors, and I had family and friends coming out to watch. A few days before the race, I came down with the snotty, disgusting cold previously enjoyed by my Nature Valley teammates, but was determined to make the best of it. As for race tactics, I was undecided about how to handle being a marked rider with no teammates. Everybody knew I'd want to chase everything down and nobody would be willing to let me go without a fight. When the race started, I sat in for part of a lap and then went to the front to set a moderately high pace. My hope was that it would ...continue reading.

NVGP: I hope you had the time of your life

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Nature Valley Grand Prix Stillwater Criterium The Course: 13 laps, 14 trips up Chilkoot Hill The Field: Pro 1/2 women The Finish: 19th on the stage, 14th on the GC First and foremost, here is our final video masterpiece as a team.  The videographer, who shall remain nameless to protect him from the masses of people who would mock his appalling love of liverwurst (seriously, it has the word wurst in the name, isn't that a hint??), asked that one of us make a joke referencing the fan shown in the background. After we finished making fun of him for being totally lame, of course I did it. The wurst part (see what I did there?) is that it's the kind of joke I would have made all on my own. Better to let him take the fall for it, though. [caption id="attachment_3220" align="alignnone" width="400"] Team director Michael Englemen interrupts our warm-ups to ask if anybody has ...continue reading.

NVGP: Failure to launch

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Nature Valley Grand Prix Cannon Falls Road Race The Course: 74ish miles, or so I heard The Field: Pro 1/2 women The Finish: The parking lot Thursday morning dawned cold and wet, but ever the optimists, the women of the Nature Valley Cycling Team prepared diligently for the road race scheduled to begin at 5pm. This included fretting, checking the weather obsessively, and eating everything in the host house that was not nailed down (excluding the cats, because life here would not be the same without those assholes precious little bundles of joy). Can we talk about the cats for a second? On the whole, I don't mind cats. They're fascinating; while I'm told they have bones, personal experience suggests this is a lie. One minute a cat is sitting on the floor and the next minute he's on top of the refrigerator. No matter where he is, he's silently judging you. ...continue reading.

It’s never a bad idea to jump into a pool in your clothes

Posted on by lindsay
[caption id="attachment_3135" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Yesterday was my first attempt at motor pacing; today was my first try riding with a radio. Tomorrow I enter the Tour de France."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3136" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Mid-ride tea party on the side of the road."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3137" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="When chicks get together to ride, we stop to save turtles and take photos. Not pictured: pillow fighting, nail polishing."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3138" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="I was on my way to the shower and somehow ended up in the pool in my clothes."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_3139" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="My fellow campers are not ones to sit out a good time. We even had bubbles."][/caption]