Good Times

Had a great ride with the guys today. Thank God for them! I really hate the days that are cold AND grey. No sun. I can stand 10 degrees colder than today if the sun was shining. So, I just have to meet up with the crazy guys from Skylands, Van Dessel, ACT and Westwood who ride outside every weekend no matter the weather.

Found this photo of some of us visiting a school in Virginia to talk about bike safety. We were in town for the US Open Championships last April. Most of these kids were just interested in the CRASH stories. Some even came out to cheer us on to a double podium, but not on the highest step! I'm sure they were disapointed...not that we didn't beat Tina Pic that day, but that there were no CRASHES!! Ha!

Can't wait for my new Northwave Farenheit winter BOOOOOOTS!!!

Photos of NYC

We went to New York City on Dec 23rd to see The Grinch on Broadway, The TREE and Macy's Santa Land. Can you say over-crowded and over-stimulated!!!!On our way to see Santa and ask for Moon Shoes and a Harp!!!

Can you see the "big" tree in the background?

Getting ready to go on the ferry.

Bitter Sweet

Yesterday was a bitter sweet day. It started with me waking to amazingly mild weather...so I thought. I stepped out on my deck at 8AM and it was really nice out. I hopped on my bike at 9AM and descended off my mountain.......and out of the mild weather. When I hit the valley I was in THICK freezing fog! What? I couldn't see more than a foot ahead of me and I'm sure the cars could not see me at ALL! I couldn't see the cars with lights on until they were right on top of me. When I entered the freezing fog the temp would drop 10 degrees!!!! No joke. I would try to push myself to go faster to get out of the dangerous fog and end up coughing and choking on the air. The air was so full of water...but freezing....it would choke me if I breathed too deeply.
Finally I found myself climbing out of the freezing fog into the beautiful sunshine....10 degrees warmer. Instantly I would fall back in love with my bike! I tried to stay on the ridges for as long as possible, but ultimately would have to drop back into the freezing fog and emerge out of it looking like a freezer burned peice of chicken! I would be COVERED in frost....head to toe.
So my ride continued to be bitter sweet as I dropped in and out of the freezer!

Furthermore, my sister who lives in Germany has been home in Vernon since September with her two beautiful daughters. Madeline was able to really get to know her cousins and aunt. My brother in law would come visit every six weeks and stay for two weeks which was really nice for Bill and I as well. We wish that they lived closer and that we could spend every Sunday night together for dinner. But unfortunately, they had to fly home yesterday. We were SOOOOO very sad...lots of tears and still crying! We are saving our pennies to go visit them in Germany as soon as possible. Maybe I'll even do a few races over there???

Off to ride with Dave now. Dave is an amazingly strong cat 3 soon to be cat 2 rider that lives in town. I'm taking advantage of him being home on holiday break from teaching high school. It's lonely training alone all the time and nice when I can get out with others. I've even been able to ride with Bill once this break. We saw an albino deer out on our adventures. Sure hope the hunters don't get him. All white with brown shins.

Pictures of Christmas and some rides to come......

Waiting and Waiting

Today was a big day of waiting for me. It went like this:

1. Wait for the bus to pick up Maddie
2. Wait in the grocery store lines (shopped for 25 guests on x-mas)
3. Wait for the temperature to make it out of the 20's
4. Wait for three adorable Bear Cubs to run across the road. I almost took one out though!
5. Got on the bike and waited for 32 wild turkeys to cross
6. Waited for many many many cows to cross the road....finally snuck by them and caused one to kick, slip and fall on the road. OOOPS. Should have waited a little longer.
7. Waited for the sun to come back out but it didn't..
8. Waited for my toes to thaw out while riding, they didn't
9. Waited at the bus stop for Maddie again!

That's a lot of waiting! Nice ride today though...worth waiting for. I'm good and tired so now I'm waiting for Maddie to go to bed so that I can too!!

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Amy Dombrowski. I've never been tagged before so here it goes. I am supposed to tell you five things that you may not know about me already.

1. I did not ride a road bike or own a road bike until I was 30 years old! A year and half after my daughter, Madeline was born.
2. I am a debutante! Yes, I wore a tierra and all!! I danced at the Quadrille Debutante Ball in NYC
3. I swam and played soccer in college.
4. My mom is a German citizen and my sister lives in Germany with her family for 15 yrs now.
5. My nickname on the team is Dorie (the fish from Nemo) b/c I forget everything....especially the torture of racing. I think that's a great quality of a racer....forget the pain and do it again the next day.

There it is! Now I'm supposed to tag five friends. So I tag:
1. Natalie Klemko because she is an up and coming star on the bike!
2. Bowles b/c she cracks me up
3. Kirsten Robins b/c she's livin the life!
4. Tim Chien b/c he's the best director/swanny/mechanic out there!
5. Rochelle Gilmore b/c she rocks!

Cross in the Snow = Frozen Toes!!!

When you see the above photo on the way to a cross race..... beware of the photo below!

I had NO intention of going to Holiday Cross when I heard the forecast...but I got this vey convincing email from Kevin to come help my club (Skylands Cycling Club) win some cup they've been dueling for with Team Somersett. I'm a sucker...it doesn't take much to convince me to ride my bike. I raced last weekend in the MUD for the first time ever and this weekend....SNOW for the first time ever!

It took me a full lap to trust myself...thus I was in DEAD last heading into the second lap. I mean last of all the masters and juniors and women......LAST! Hmmmmm now what? Well I slowly trusted the yet again borrowed bike that I was on this time it was Kevins! When Bill yelled at me to RACE my bike....It finally clicked. Race your damn bike Heather! So I started to race and passed the other girls to win in the snow.

I hobbled to the car and told Bill NOT to let Maddie come in b/c I needed to scream as my frozen feet defrosted. I held on to the the holy sh_t bar in the front seat and screamed every bad word I knew! It took about ten minutes of hell but finally my feet thawed.

OH, for those of you that care....those are not actually MY toes in the photo! Mine look a little bit prettier than that!

Yoga a sin? C'mon!

Zabina...our ten yr old Weim on a hike!

Well, Since my last post I've had two bouts of bronchitus, a sinus infection, two ear infections and now...once again am coughing and starting a new cold. I'm almost ready to get blood work to see what or who is trying to kill me! Most likely it's the 42 four year olds that I teach. Yes, 42 of them!! I teach two sessions of preschool each having 21 four year olds in it. Training has been interrupted so much that I can't even say that I've started. I've been on the cross bike five times once was in a race which might I add I won. This win makes me the back to back NJ STATE CHAMPION...I really can see myself falling in love with cross if I could just stay healthy!

Cross is fun! Partly b/c I wear Bill's shoes which are two sizes too big...called the accelerators....and have no spikes, I ride a borrowed bike then brake the hanger on it and have to borrow another bike to race, it's short, it's muddy, lots of cowbells (from my entire family including Maddie, Bill, my sister and nieces from Germany and my Mom) and hot chocolate with whipped cream afterwards. Now who wouldn't fall in love!!

So...Pat Robertson says that Yoga is a sin! Hmmmmm......then I am confirming that I am a sinner. Yoga seems to be the only exercise that I've been able to do consistently since the off season began! I even stood on my head today! Now that feels good. Maybe Pat should try standing on his head for a while...a long while!