I happened to be up late f*%#*$'n putzing with packing and laundry. I watched the Jon Stewart Show and she was the guest promoting her new movie, A Mighty Heart.
Jon asked Angelina Jolie if her Pakistani Burka can contain her hotness. Need I say more?
Friday, June 15, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Bags and Boxers
My third week of Build turned into a rest week once the stay over in Philly Sunday night rocked my week. Monday, Jdub and I did head bobs and blinking eyes rolls as we tried to look awake all day at our respective jobs (in different states) as the five cups of coffee, 2 diet cokes and handful of espresso beans didn't work. I took another easy day because of the fabulous cool, rainy weather in June. Still tired, I took a trip to Oz as we had threats of tornadoes. I have written before about my great excuses not to ride. How am I doing? The threats of tornadoes were true, thanks to global warming, probably. I believed those threats. At least I rode the computrainer for half an hour watching the news breaking weather reports. After that, I was done for the week. Bleary eyed on Thursday, I tried the computrainer one more time but never made it to the bike. I detoured to my friend's kitchen and had coffee with her.
Tonight, I went shopping with my teammates. We did my favorite shopping - food shopping. Off to Costco for gas and our usual, Nature Valley trail mix bars, Kirkland juice, yogurt, frozen ravoli and I walked out with mocha coffeecake (for Brad's team race on Sunday, right!), mixed nuts, Terra chips, whole grain parmesan cracker bread, gourmet flatbread, ummm, and honey. I forgot to buy the bulk Ghrardelli chocolate squares so I wandered aimlessly in TJMAX at the gourmet food section. The selection lacked a bit of solid chocolates. Too many chocolate covered I don't know whats.
My basic leather purse of 15+ years broke over the weekend so I spent way too much time looking at purses and bags at TJMAX. I was overwhelmed. I could not break down and buy another purse. What seems to be back in style is in my attic. I am definitely not fashion conscious. Tomorrow, I will dig through boxes to find that woven, bamboo, flowery bag from the Philippines. I did find a cool bag and in my team colors, too. It is actually a market tote that is foldable and light weight. I am a sucker for bags. I love to buy them from my travels. It's pretty bad when I get excited over the Whole Foods shopping bags. They are a dollar and come in many varieties - how exciting!
We shopped at Ollies, too, because I got a tip they had upright ACs for sale. Well, they did not or were out of them and I ended up buying two cookbooks and body spray. It was an evening of mindless shopping for everything and anything. Hmmm. Dangerous for the wallet that I didn't buy at TJMAX. Those flashy little buggers were more expensive than my purse budget! Oh, I am not a true shopper.
Tonight, I went shopping with my teammates. We did my favorite shopping - food shopping. Off to Costco for gas and our usual, Nature Valley trail mix bars, Kirkland juice, yogurt, frozen ravoli and I walked out with mocha coffeecake (for Brad's team race on Sunday, right!), mixed nuts, Terra chips, whole grain parmesan cracker bread, gourmet flatbread, ummm, and honey. I forgot to buy the bulk Ghrardelli chocolate squares so I wandered aimlessly in TJMAX at the gourmet food section. The selection lacked a bit of solid chocolates. Too many chocolate covered I don't know whats.
My basic leather purse of 15+ years broke over the weekend so I spent way too much time looking at purses and bags at TJMAX. I was overwhelmed. I could not break down and buy another purse. What seems to be back in style is in my attic. I am definitely not fashion conscious. Tomorrow, I will dig through boxes to find that woven, bamboo, flowery bag from the Philippines. I did find a cool bag and in my team colors, too. It is actually a market tote that is foldable and light weight. I am a sucker for bags. I love to buy them from my travels. It's pretty bad when I get excited over the Whole Foods shopping bags. They are a dollar and come in many varieties - how exciting!
We shopped at Ollies, too, because I got a tip they had upright ACs for sale. Well, they did not or were out of them and I ended up buying two cookbooks and body spray. It was an evening of mindless shopping for everything and anything. Hmmm. Dangerous for the wallet that I didn't buy at TJMAX. Those flashy little buggers were more expensive than my purse budget! Oh, I am not a true shopper.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Liberty Classic 2007
We survived the first lap - rubber side down. I made it to the climb clinging to the tail end of the pack as it stretched up the Manayunk Wall. Here are a few pictures as I lost contact over the top and did not get reconnected.
I will post later on the adventures of laps 2 and 3. I will say I was impressed that I could ride the wall one-handed. It was right after this section that I grabbed a beer from a spectator and had a swig. I would have loved to have chugged the bugger but I could not breath, even going my beer drinking pace up the Wall.
Photos are complements of a local photography from the DC/Maryland area, Dennis Smith.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
National Racing Calendar - East Coast
Snapshots as I am 2 wks behind on the posting...
I had my first weekend of speed racing Memorial Day weekend at BikeJam and Somerville. I hung on like a champ and tried to work the leadout train for my teammates. BikeJam did not go so well for me but I hung on and we all avoided crashes. Jenette Williams (J-dub) finished 5th.
Somerville was another adventure with Jdub flying from the middle of the pack for 8th. Again, Dale Tye and I avoided crashes but that left me out of position to help with the leadout.
CSC - Got too comfortable in the first four laps (what was I thinking?!!) and eventually lost contact with the main group as the hammer went down. Jdub and DT rocked and rolled with the pack and finished 16th & 26th.
I will post later about the Triple Crown Series. I love the series as it starts in my home town. My 'mates were in town since CSC so I was pre-occupied with being Momma Michele. Air mattresses and laptops everywhere and AC units blowing out circuits with over use last week.
I had my first weekend of speed racing Memorial Day weekend at BikeJam and Somerville. I hung on like a champ and tried to work the leadout train for my teammates. BikeJam did not go so well for me but I hung on and we all avoided crashes. Jenette Williams (J-dub) finished 5th.
Somerville was another adventure with Jdub flying from the middle of the pack for 8th. Again, Dale Tye and I avoided crashes but that left me out of position to help with the leadout.
CSC - Got too comfortable in the first four laps (what was I thinking?!!) and eventually lost contact with the main group as the hammer went down. Jdub and DT rocked and rolled with the pack and finished 16th & 26th.
I will post later about the Triple Crown Series. I love the series as it starts in my home town. My 'mates were in town since CSC so I was pre-occupied with being Momma Michele. Air mattresses and laptops everywhere and AC units blowing out circuits with over use last week.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Drive home from Somerville, NJ
After about rear ending a VW that about rear ended a truck towing Sea-Doos when he came to a complete stop on a major highway going 60+ mphs, I am damn glad I am alive. I think I lost 5 lbs. out of shock. That was the first time I had to slam on the brakes in my little Prius. The salesman said the brakes stop on a dime. He was right. I hope I never have to do that again. It was like we were pace-lining, too. Very dangerous. We were all very lucky.
I arrive home 1/2 hr later still shook up. Brad heard on the radio the next day about the spot I almost crashed (the exit for the Reading - triple crown race - going south, though). Earlier that day a police officer was setting up a speed trap and got hit. 222 southbound was shut down for 4 hrs after a 3 car pile up occurred after the officer was hit. I came up on the road closure around 7 p.m. where they detoured us off the exit ramp. The cones and a fire police guy were the only things in the road. The guy was standing in the left lane and we had all just moved from the right lane to get around some dufus (little did we know why we he was a dufus - he probably saw the cones) and that's when we went from 60 to zero in 5 seconds. Everything went silent. I poured sweat and my stomach sank. When there were no metal crushing, air bags bursting, I started to breath. My whole body went numb. Then I hope the traffic behind me would stop. The road closure was at a very dangerous spot on a crest bending to the left at an exiting ramp with an other ramp entering the highway. The fire police guy was lucky he didn't get hit, either. No flag, nothing. Just standing in the middle of a 65 mph highway behind small orange cones.
Note to self - drive slower and more focused, especially alone and when I am close to home. I tend to rehash the bike race in my head and the next thing I know, I'm going 80 and drafting a truck. On long drives, I get anxious about getting home and try to push the speed limit envelope.
I arrive home 1/2 hr later still shook up. Brad heard on the radio the next day about the spot I almost crashed (the exit for the Reading - triple crown race - going south, though). Earlier that day a police officer was setting up a speed trap and got hit. 222 southbound was shut down for 4 hrs after a 3 car pile up occurred after the officer was hit. I came up on the road closure around 7 p.m. where they detoured us off the exit ramp. The cones and a fire police guy were the only things in the road. The guy was standing in the left lane and we had all just moved from the right lane to get around some dufus (little did we know why we he was a dufus - he probably saw the cones) and that's when we went from 60 to zero in 5 seconds. Everything went silent. I poured sweat and my stomach sank. When there were no metal crushing, air bags bursting, I started to breath. My whole body went numb. Then I hope the traffic behind me would stop. The road closure was at a very dangerous spot on a crest bending to the left at an exiting ramp with an other ramp entering the highway. The fire police guy was lucky he didn't get hit, either. No flag, nothing. Just standing in the middle of a 65 mph highway behind small orange cones.
Note to self - drive slower and more focused, especially alone and when I am close to home. I tend to rehash the bike race in my head and the next thing I know, I'm going 80 and drafting a truck. On long drives, I get anxious about getting home and try to push the speed limit envelope.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Why I love bike riding
On my morning spin after racing my first NRC race of the season (BikeJam), I rode about an hour to work out the crap in my legs. I didn't last long when I came upon the cutest little cow-looking goat! Isn't he too cute? I stood and watched the goat and cow hang out together with the black goat. I think they are family (That's Lancaster County, dont ja know, wonst?!)
Monday, May 21, 2007
Wilbur Buds
Mmmmmmm. TWENTY pounds of milk and dark chocolate buds. 20 lbs! I think Wilbur is better chocolate than Hershey. Oh, if I could only keep this BIG box of chocolate. I felt like a little kid leaving the Candy Store with the box of chocolate. I had a smile so big while I was skipping to my car, I had cars honking at me!
I teach spinning Mondays and took the box in with me so they would not melt into one big bud and I thought I had started a riot at Tim's Fitness Center. Everyone got excited and were my next best friend. I was lucky to get out alive.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)