iPod

Yea!!! I got an iPod mini for Christmas from Charles. I am so excited to use it on my next outdoor ride. I have wanted one for awhile but haven't been able to afford one. Charles ordered it and it didn't arrive in time for Christmas. He told me it was a handmade vase from China and all the Chinese shipping was delayed! I kinda believed him, which is pretty lame on my part. But when I opened my gift finally, I was pretty surprised. He did good, for sure! It is even pink and he engraved the back of it with a little personalized message. I have been trying it out at work. That is, until my boss walks by and I have to take out my earbuds before he sees it. I'm afraid he will confiscate it. Wow, it's almost like high school and I'm hiding my walkman from the teacher!

Anyway, today I am taking off work a little early with the hopes of going for a ride outside before it gets too dark. I not getting along very well with my trainer. I think we need a break. It is supposed to be 68 degrees and partly sunny, so I am excited to leave the gloves at home for a change!

TRUST

I have been watching Desperate Housewives every week. Yesterday, I realized that the main theme that the show is based on, is so very true in my life. TRUST. Everything in life is based on trust. Your family, your friends, your co-workers, your cycling buddies. We all trust one another in order to function and have an enjoyable existence. But what happens when that trust is broken? The only answer I can think of is to learn from that experience and move on with life.

All that being said, I am no longer going to ride for Mercy next season. I won't go into details, but somewhere along the way, trust was lost. I can no longer trust certain girls on the team. So, I learn from that experience and move on with my cycling career and my life.

Everything happens for a reason, for sure!!!

After Christmas ride in Norman, OK

Christmas Eve

I have to work today. Kinda puts a damper on last minute shopping, I guess. I have to go to Wal-Mart during lunch though. I am sooooo not looking forward to that. I can only imagine the craziness there. I talked to my brother this morning. He said he got up at 5:00 AM to go to Wal-Mart to get last minute stuff. I would rather wait in line for two hours than miss out on two more hours of sleep!

Oklahoma State Cyclocross race

Pepper on the Rocks at the bike shop! 

MALL MADNESS

During my lunch break I thought I would run by the mall to get Charles' Christmas present. That was such a BAD idea. The police officers directing traffic in the parking lot should have tipped me off. It was so jam packed with people. It was maybe the most miserable experience I have had in a very long time. The store where I bought my gift had 7 people in line in front of one register--one freakin register!!! I waited for 30 minutes just to buy my gift. I then went to the Food Court to "grab" something for lunch. I stood in line for 16 minutes at the Taco Bell in order to get 2 bean burritos. It's a darn good thing I am only buying one Christmas present at the mall this year!

Cyclocross is OVER (finally)!

I raced my last cyclocross race on Sunday. I am so glad to be finished with that. I have fun and all, but I'm getting tired of racing. I need a break. I also want to up my riding hours and that's hard to do when I race every Sunday. I won the overall series and got a nice pay-out for that. Now, I can do my Christmas shopping!

Saturday, I did the Buchanan's group ride from Norman. A nice group of 30 or so people showed up. Due to the strong northwest wind, we rode that way first. About half of the group turned back pretty early on and then another group peeled off about 5 miles later. Six of us kept going and turned back after 2 1/2 hours. Andrea Rat kept on. She said she was going to ride all day because it was nice weather. When she says she is going to ride all day, she literally is going to ride ALL day. I ended up with four hours, which was my goal.

This week I am riding the trainer every morning for 1 hour and then again every evening for 1 hour. I want to do 2 long rides this weekend, but with Christmas, I don't know if I will be able to ride as much as I want to. Also, I have to work on Christmas Eve. I have never worked on Christmas Eve before. I'm trying to convince my boss that no real lawyers work on Christmas Eve. He said, "well you will be working so what does that tell you?" One more reason why my job sucks!!!

Pepper

Pepper has been going to work at The Bicycle Store, Too everyday with Charles. She is becoming quite the shop dog. She loves all of the attention she gets from customers.

Princess Pepper working at the bike shop! 

Training Camp

This weekend was the Mercy women's training camp in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I had to work on Friday, so I missed out on the 90 mile ride plus getting to climb Mt. Magazine. I arrived Friday evening to find some pretty beat girls, to say the least. Saturday morning we started our ride at 10:00. It was about 38 degrees with a 10 mph north wind. We rode to Mt Gaylor, which was about 30 miles northeast of Ft. Smith. There were a few rollers, but the scenery was awesome. Riding in Arkansas is so different from the flat land of Oklahoma! I mistakenly forgot to change my gears before camp, so I had to ride with a 23 while everyone else was spinning their 27! After climbing 20 miles with an average gradient of 5%, my legs were trashed. I am not used to climbing that much and my legs could feel it, for sure. After the climb, we rode back to Ft. Smith, for a total of 92 miles. We were on the bikes for 5 hours and 45 minutes. It was a great ride!!!

Sunday, I had a cyclocross race in Tulsa at 2:00, so I left Ft. Smith at 10:00 when the rest of the girls were going for a 40 mile ride. My legs were so tired for the race. I spun on my road bike for 45 minutes on a borrowed trainer and then did the race. Luckily, my competition didn't show up. I used the race as sort of a recovery ride, instead of a race.

The team camp was a great experience. It is such a positive thing to hang out with my teammates and get to know them better. We are all good friends and I think that will allow us to race better as a team. We really felt like pros this weekend. We had a follow van with us the whole time and had great support from the Mercy club members. We made our race schedule for next season and I am really looking forward to racing with them next season.

Even Einstein was a cyclist! 

Busted Car

My car is not running so good right now. I had the oil changed yesterday and for some reason I thought that would be sort of a cure all. But, of course, it wasn't. My car is an automatic, but when I take off from a stop, it's like I'm taking off in 4th gear. It only goes like 10 mph for about 5 seconds and then it jerks a little and shifts normal. I called my trusty mechanic Mike Allison, who knows everything about cars, and he said to bring it by his shop after I get off work or he will send someone to pick it up for me. I am supposed to be leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to training camp in Ft. Smith. Mike said, "well, now Miranda, you may not make it out of town the way your car is running, you see (that's how Mike talks)! So, it looks like I am either going to have to rent a car for the weekend or stay home. I had planned on heading from Ft. Smith to Tulsa for the cross race on Sunday, but now, I may be stuck at home. Hopefully, Mike the magic mechanic can get me up and running.

SICK

I think I'm getting the flu bug. My throat hurts and my glands are swollen and pretty sore. I am actually hot, which is unusual because I am always cold. So, I think I am on the verge of getting sick. I have taken some cold medicine, but I think I need to go home and go to bed. We are having one of our team training camps this weekend in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, so hopefully I will be feeling better by then. The camp is Thursday thru Sunday, but I have to work until Friday afternoon. I won't get there until Friday evening and then I have a cyclocross race in Tulsa on Sunday. I guess that means I only get to ride one 5 hour team ride, instead of three.
Over the weekend Charles and I watched the new cycling movie, PRO. It was awesome! Very real and I highly recommend it. Not to give any promo to a non-sponsor shop, but I know Steve at The Bicycle Store, Too has a few copies for sale. A good thing to watch while riding the trainer this winter, for sure.

Cross Race

It was another mucky and muddy cyclocross race. Today the race was in Oklahoma City. The women started with the masters men, so it was a super fast start. My goal was to stay on wheels and I did that to perfection until the first set of barricades. I don't run quite as fast as the men. It's like I'm in slow motion! So, I was on my own for a lap until my pace-setter buddy Charles caught up to me. I jumped on his wheel and hung on for a few laps until my shorts got caught on my saddle and I almost crashed. (I felt a little retarded today!) After I got my chamois re-adjusted, I was off his wheel. I was feeling a little tired from the ride yesterday and I just didn't have much desire to try to catch him. I just kinda spun around the rest of the race. I still passed a few guys, even the ones who started a minute before me. My second place girl was half a lap behind so I didn't have much incentive to push real hard. I think it is very odd that my second place girl, Becky Gross, is a pro mountain biker and she can't stay on my wheel. She blows me away on a mountain bike, but in cyclocross it is totally different. I am not complaining, I just think that it is odd. Anyway, I won the race today and I am happy about that. I now hold the much coveted title of the Oklahoma State Cyclocross Champion. I think I should at least get a jersey or something, like other states give for their state champions. But even better, I moved up to first in the overall series. I just have to win the next two races to keep my first place position! Hopefully my legs will feel better for those races than they did today!
Tonight, I made homemade macaroni and cheese for the first time. It turned out okay, at least that's what Charles said, but I think my mom's is much better. I even used her recipe. Oh well, at least I didn't eat as much of it!

READY TO RACE?

Today is the the Oklahoma State Championships. And it is raining, AGAIN! I guess it's a good thing I haven't washed my bike from the last race. The weatherman said it will be sunny be noon, but I'm not holding my breath,
Yesterday, was a nice ride. It was a bit shorter than I expected but I still got in 50. It was a nice pace heading south into the wind for the first half of the ride and then Andrea Rat and her world-class duathalete buddy decided to string it out. For the next 10 miles in was just a game follow the wheel in front of me. I decided to sit up and Steven Cate pushed me back in and said PEDAL! So I hung on for a few more miles and snuck to the back and then sat up. I really didn't want to go quite that hard since I have a race today. I spun back into Norman and a few country folk riding in the back of a flat bed pick-up truck offered me a tow. They threw a rope at me and told me to grab on. I thought that would have been crazy hilarious to pass the lead pack hanging on to a rope behind a old pick-up at 40 mph. But after weighing the safety concerns, I opted against their offer. Somehow I managed to beat the lead pack back to Buchanan Bicycles. I guess I am getting good at shortcuts!

Rather be riding!

The weather is actually nice for a change and I am stuck inside my office for another 3 hours. It's around 50 degrees and sunny with not much wind. I know that is hard to believe, Oklahoma and not much wind! It's too bad that it will be almost dark when I get off work and cold.

My riding has been somewhat limited the past few weeks. I have only been riding on the weekends. A long group ride on Saturday and a cyclocross race on Sunday. I have been running during the week and going to the gym to lift weights. Last night, Charles and I went to the gym and I finally came to grips with the fact that my upper body is weak. I could barely lift 30 lbs! I guess I need to find something to strengthen that up a bit. We also did the eliptical machine for 20 minutes and it sorta kicked my butt, or at least my lower back. I am feeling muscles back there that I don't normally feel. Oh well, no pain no gain, right?

Have I mentioned that I hate my job and would rather be riding than working?

COOL WEBSITE

http://www.cycleok.com

This is everything you need to know about cycling in Oklahoma. It has alot of pictures and links to Oklahoma cycling clubs and forums.

mud and rain 

Muddy Cyclocross race in Tulsa 2004