Vermont Part II

This is the backyard of Kevin and Ellen's beautiful Vermont house! Sweet jet skis!

Maddie had a lot of fun w/ Jessie (Kevin Kean's son).

Maddie and Jessie at dinner...Thanks Stew and Blake for a great birthday dinner!!!!

This one is for my friend George! Passing Breadloaf College...where George spent many summers getting smarter!

VERMONT!!

On an 80 mile gap climbing ride! Had to be my favorite ride ever. One, because Kevin Haley kept me laughing and two, Bill was there!!

OUCH! The Brandon Gap was an awesome climb. Gradual (kind of) and long!

What a treat the cool water was after a day in the saddle. We went Kayaking (thanks to Stew and Blake) and splashed around. I have more photos that I checked off but for some reason they are not uploading to the blog. I'll add another blog entry w/ photos only. We stayed in a "ski house" w/19 people! The entire trip was organized by Skylands Cycling Club (With most of the leg work done by Buz)! Bill, Maddie and I packed our butts into Blakes SUV w/ her husband Stew, adorable son Sean and wonderful friend Catherine. Yup, 5 adults, 2 children, 4 bikes, a kayak, food, sheets, blankets, you get the picture. Actually it was quite nice. Lots of gutt laughing and slap happy giggling. Thanks Blake!

3 Generations of Advil-ChapStick

The well-deserved ice-coffee stop! Check out the 3 generations of kits! Gotta go with the sleeveless! No horrible tan lines.

Today I met up with 3 generations of Advil-ChapStick for a nice long ride. The ride was hosted by Mara and her husband Randy. Three years ago we started this team and Emma, Mara, Reem and myself were all there pitching our idea to the CEO of Wyeth and an entire board room! We started this team. Emma left after the first season to begin a family with her husband. They now have a 10 month old beautiful boy, Sebastian. Mara raced one more season and left to help support her CRAZY...ultra distance runner husband, Randy! They are quite the team. Reem and I are hanging in there...the final two from the VERY beginning.

It was a great day to be on the bike with great friends and teammates!

Philly

Photo is after Liberty Classic 2007

Anna told me to update my blog! So nothing new here, just another chest infection! Like I said, nothing new here. I pulled out of Philly and will go and support the team in any way that I can (other than actually riding my bike).

I asked the doctor if there was a reason why I'm always getting sick. He looked at me and asked if I was serious. Ya, I'm dead serious. Other cyclists are busting a gutt and destroying their immune systems...but don't seem to get sick so much!

I guess the combo of teaching 2nd grade full-time, my awesome daughter bringing home her first grade germs and trying to race/train just aren't great for the immune system. Go figure. Oh yeah, he said one has to average more than 6 hrs of sleep a night to have a healthy immune system. Guess I'm SOL!

Positive Attitude

This weekend I zoomed out of my second grade classroom to meet up with Reem, Anna and Natalie. We jammed ourselves in Anna's car and off to Maryland for Bike Jam. We would meet Kirsten down there. We stayed with Mo, Reem's brother. It's always nice to see Mo!!

The race at Bike Jam was...well.... well Anna broke her leg in a very stupid crash (on a straight away). The race actually stopped for a couple of minutes to get all the wounded off the course! The rest of the team continued to race while thinking of Anna. We were setting up for the sprint when yet another girl was sliding across the road! I narrowly missed running over her head and skidded to a complete stop. Kirsten almost t-boned me and Natalie flew towards the grass. Reem was able to ride around the carnage and continue. When the sprint started I was standing next to my bike trying to step over screaming girls still attached to their bikes. OK, trying to remain positive!

Anna came home from the hospital that night. She remained positive and upbeat! She never complained about pain, never complained about lost opportunities, never complained about waiting for the rest of us to race in DC the next day and then come back to get her for the long trip from Maryland...and didn't even complain when I cracked into her leg with my elbow while she had it elevated in the car! He comments were, "It's OK, don't worry about it, but we should all be careful!"

Our race at DC was nothing to write home about. Another bad crash with ambulances called. I tried to get in some moves to be in a break...my best chance of getting a good result, but nothing stuck and I probably wasted too much energy. I'm still trying to race into fitness and it's humbling but it's coming...it's coming!

Anna continues to inspire me!

Numbers Back ON!

Raced in Deleware this weekend and had a blast. Brought back all the bike love that was lacking in my hustle and bustle life. The promoter was great for this race. He made sure we were taken care of and set us up in an amazing host house. It was a huge playground for Maddie and Bill :)

We got second for the day which was pretty cool, but know that Jen would've taken first if we had a director with us to help us figure out who that Juice Plus girl was in the break. We didn't realize how fast she actually was...ooooops. It was nice to pin the numbers back on and suffer. Great weekend ended with a micro brew tour (Twin Lakes Brewery) mmmm mmmmm goood beer!

New Generation of Advil-ChapStick!

Maddie's first "REAL" race was on Saturday! It had all that a race should have. Downhills, steep uphills, single track and of course a spectacular crash. Maddie was flying down a hill and caught the side of a LOG and flipped right over her handlebars! She was wedged between the log and her bike and still managed to get up...continue racing and WIN! That's my girl! I had a blast. I might bust out the fat tires for a while. It was so much fun.

Sunday we had a 2 hr Mother's Day hike and topped it off with dinner and chocolate peanutbutter cake! What a weekend.