Crit

I did the local crit last night. It was windy. Surprise Surprise!!! I rode down there from my house and then my race was 30 minutes plus 3 laps. My friend Becky was there and I thought for sure if she won, she would take second overall. I already had first place locked in so I wanted to help her move up in points. I attacked on the third lap and Becky and I were off for a lap and then this other girl, Angie, bridged up to us. Angie is the chic that is currently in second place. So, it was a perfect set-up with the three of us off on our own. Angie was on the front and I motioned for Becky to go for it. She just sorta rolled off away from us. I blocked a little and then just sat on the rest of the time. Every lap Becky was increasing the gap. I attacked Angie a few times in hopes to bridge up to Becky, but that chic is a time trial machine and I wasn't able to get away. I was fine with that because I knew I could take the sprint. Sure enough, I pulled the entire last lap and nailed it at the end. She couldn't come around, so I got second and Becky won. I was stoked for her. She's an awesome mt biker and I'm trying to convince her to do some road races with me this year. That is of course, if I do any races. There is a race this weekend in Dallas that I'm thinking about. It is at 8:00 am on Sunday. I guess that means I would have to drive down the night before unless I wanted to leave at 3:30 in the morning which is doubtful. Dallas is a cool place so it might be good to get away for the weekend. I want to go to Stillwater on Friday night for the anual Calf fry. My favorite local band, Cross Canadian Ragweed is playing, so hopefully that will work out. I need to get my new red boots from Langstons before the concert, though!

New Office Sign

New Office Sign
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

I guess I am official now. This is the new sign outside of my office. For some reason, my middle initial is missing. Everyone else has an initial in their name. I'm not sure if that is a lawyer thing or what. Maybe it is in case there is another Miranda J. Quigley, attorney in OKC out there. I wouldn't want to be confused with her! I have such a common name. :-)

Stinky

I have ridden pretty hard this week, so far. Wednesday night I did the local crit. I did the womens's crit and there were 8-10 women, which was surprising. Usually there are 3! All of the women were on the same team, so they tried to work me over. I am not very fit right now, but I was not going to let that happen. I was pretty worn out by the 10 minute mark due to chasing the attacks and the counter-attacks down. I didn't let anything get away, so that was good. My jump isn't too great right now, but it was good enough for the locals, I guess. The last two laps I was off the front with one other girl, who wouldn't work with me at all. I just hammered away and jumped hard for the sprint. I beat her in the sprint so I was happy. It sorta makes me feel good when I can win on my own with the rest of women working against me!

Thursday night was a motorpacing night. I went for an hour on a pretty hilly route. It was tough, but felt good. I feel like I am starting to get more fit now. I took Friday off and did a time trial Saturday morning. The TT was 8 miles but it was around a lake and super windy. Like 30 mph nw wind windy. We rode out to the TT course, which was about 10 miles and then did the TT and rode home. It was only 45 degrees when we left the house. It was so cold. I thought winter was over. I'm glad I haven't put all my winter riding clothes in storage. I'm not too sure about my time today. I haven't seen the results. I felt ok, but the wind was really brutal.

After the TT, we moved some stuff out of storage and into our attic. The house has had this funky smell for a few days so Charles opened up the vents under the house. The smell has not gone away and only gotton worse. Charles crawled under the house today to discover a back-up in the sewer lines. Unde the house was entirely coated with crap-litterly! It smelled so bad! A plumber came out and cleared out the line but he said the sewer pipe needed to be replaced. I guess since my house in 60 years old, the clay pipes of the past of sorta started to decay a bit. So, it looks like more work on the house or more money to pay someone else to work on the house.

Tomorrow is the Memorial Marathon. It states early and I am hoping to walk a few blocks from my house to watch some of the runners. It is supposed to freeze tonight so it will be chilly in the morning, for sure.

Training has started

Last week was my first actual training week. I rode quite a bit in the early winter but then I quit riding. This past week was my first intensity of the year. By Saturday, I was blown and my legs were fried. I did some motorpacing on Thursday and felt suprisingly good for the first session of the year. The scooter wasn't going all that fast though. I did a long ride (4 hours) on Saturday and was pretty tired afterward. I took Sunday off due to the level of fatigue I had. Today I tried to do an easy ride, but the dang 30 mph south wind made it rather difficult to go easy. I rode south to the bicycle store too and then rode back with Charles. It was only 16 miles but it took over an hour. The flag at my neighbor's house next door is completely straight! It is so windy. They say it makes you stronger, but it sure does hurt,

I still haven't really raced yet. And I'm not exactly sure what my first race will be. Maybe Joe Martin. Depends how long it takes me to get fit to make the trip to Arkansas worth it. Hopefully, I'll start seeing some fitness in the next few weeks.

Work has been busy. It's weird to have a real job. I have had jobs before, but none with near the amount of responsibility that I have now. It is more like the amount of liability than it is responsibility. I know that if I screw something up, I am probably going to get sued and get a bar complaint filed against and possibly lose my license. None of those things sound like much fun so I am trying my best to not mess up. But, I think that sorta comes with the territory of being a new attorney. It is sorta like racing-there are those that have crashed and those that will crash. With attorneys-there are those that have messed up and those that will mess up. I'm sure that is the case in most people's jobs and really life in general. It's just learning from those screw ups are the ticket.

I am about to blow off my front porch right now while I'm typing so I better head inside. My little dog Pepper sorta reminds me of Toto in The Wizard of Oz. She is all windblown now and trying to not blow away, too! Too bad it is too dark to get a picture of her. It is pretty funny.

Downtown OKC

Downtown OKC
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

This is right in front of the new OKC Art Museum looking toward downtown. It was such a beautiful day! I was on my way to Draper Lake for the time trial which is part of the OKC Velo race series. I ended up with around 50 something miles plus a 9 mile TT. I was blown by the time I got back home. There was a pretty good north wind that I had to ride home against after the TT, plus it was getting cold and dark (no lights on my bike, of course!). It was a good ride though.

New Bike

New Bike
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

Redbud

Saturday was the epic Redbud charity "race". It was fast from the start. I felt ok and was positioned well. There were around 200 people in the mass-start 100k timed event. It was a little crazy at first and I thought for sure it would settle down. But, it never did. It was like doing interval after interval. I would be going all out and then have to hit my brakes. It was crazy. I'm sure the 25 mph south wind was the main cause of the madness, but it was a little scary at times. I am surprised there were not more crashes. Anyway, I hung on the lead group for awhile and then I got dropped in the hills. I knew that would probably happen, but I was hopeful I could hang on longer. I got dropped and settled in to ride the last 20 miles alone with my ipod and work on time trialing. I came over a hill and saw Charles standing on the side of the rode with his helmet already off. I stopped and he said he broke his chain. I thought I would just tow him home, but we would have had to ride into the strong wind and deal with the hills, so we hopped in the sag wagon. I probably should have finished the ride by myself for training purposes, but I just wasn't really feeling it. So, we rode back into town in the sag wagon and didn't even make it in time to see the finish. I heard Peter E finally won! I know he really wanted to win it, but he tried to act like it was no big deal. Deep down he wanted the redbud leader's jersey and he finally has it. He is riding super strong so he deserves the yellow.

My plans to motorpace yesterday were spoiled by rain and construction work at my house. We had to raise the ceiling in our garage in order to get a door in the house that connects to the garage. What a pain! Now our electricity is jacked, so we have an electrician at the house today. I will be so glad when all the repairs are fixed. It is like the Neverending Story! Maybe I'll be able to motorpace tonight. I have got to get fit if I plan on doing any races. Otherwise I am going to be terribly dissapointed in myself. The BLN group race is tomorrow, so that is going to be hard. I;m not sure about this weekend. I think there's a stage race in Arkansas, but since I'm not fit, it may be a big waste of time. I really would like a vacation, though. A race in Arkansas is not really vacation material, so who knows what will be on the agenda this weekend.

I still need to post a pic of the new ride.

New Bike Finally!

I finally got to ride my new bike over the weekend. It felt really good and seems to fit me well. This is the first time I have had a bike that actually fits me. My last bike was a small instead of an actual size. I rode almost 50 miles and thought I was going to die. That is the most I have ridden in 2 months! I got sunburned too. My first actual sun of the year! My fitness is not quite as bad as I expected it to be, so that is a bit of a relief. But compared to where I hoped to be, it is lacking, for sure. Looks like some motorpacing and alot of suffering will be in my near future. I am actually dreading the Redbud this year because I am going to suffer tremendously. I am planning on doing the group ride tomorrow, which is the first of the year and then the crit on Wednesday night. Since I have not done any racing or any real hard efforts, these next few weeks are going to hurt. I'll take a picture of my new bike and post it shortly.

We finally got moved into our house. I am glad the moving process is over. Now, the unpacking is another story. We have alot of organizing to do in the garage/bike shop. We have alot of stuff and a little space. Life is beginning to get back to normal, or at least what we perceive as normal.

I gotta run to court so I'll add some more later.

Car in Sonic

Car in Sonic
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

This car got hit by a pick-up and ended up in Sonic.

Tara&Jesse

Tara&Jesse
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

This is Tara, my brother's wife and their oldest son, Jesse, at the benefit poker run last weekend.