State TT

Sunday was the Oklahoma State Time Trial. It was 40 k, which is roughly 24 miles. It was an out and back tt with a good head wind and cross wind. All of these add up to a lot of pain, at least for me anyway. I have never done a tt at that long of a distance before. I think my longest has been around 10 miles. Before the TT, 24 miles didn't seem that far. But after the TT, 24 miles is a LONG way. I hurt in places I have never hurt before. I used muscles I have never used before. I could not even sit down afterward because my butt muscles were so knotted up. It was even hard to sit down to go to the bathroom. I won the womens 3/4 TT, but I didn't think my time was so great. I finished almost 10 minutes behind Andrea Ratkovic. But then again, her time beat most of the guys too! And she is an amazing time trialist, so that's not really a good comparison for me. So, at least it was a good work-out and I have something to shoot for next year.

Part of the reason I was hurting so bad on Sunday was probably due the all the landscaping Charles and I did on Saturday. We rented a sod-cutter and made a huge curvy flowerbed around the front yard with 2 pathways. We then had to roll all of the sod up and put it in a wheelbarrow and lay it down in the backyard. This took all day and completely wore me out. I didn't realize just how heavy wet sod really is. I also got really sunburned. I thought it would be nice to even out me tan lines on my arms from my cycling jersey aka farmers tan, but ended up frying my back and my shoulders. So that felt really nice under the skinsuit on Sunday. But the yard is looking really great. We haven't put any plants in yet, but we're putting in the landscaping lights and the flagstone for the pathways in the next day or so. I'll take some pictures of it when we're done.

Good news of the weekend: the OKC police dept called Charles yesterday and told him they found the scooter. Someone stole his 2003 Yamaha scooter a month ago and it was found at the Arbuckle State Park down by Sulphur, OK. Apparantly they caught some people riding it too. The ignition is messed up due to the hotwiring and the seat is broken. But other than that hopefully its ok. We are going down to pick it up today. At least they caught the thieves who stole it.

Strongest Dad in the World!

This is one the most amazing stories I have heard. I ran across the article in the recent Sports Illustrated but here is the link to the web site.

http://www.teamhoyt.com/

Speedwheel

Last night we took off for Drumright, Oklahoma. Actually it was mid afternoon because my race started at 5:30 and it was an hour and a half drive. We stopped at Sonic in Drumright so Charles could eat. The truck wouldn't start back up. Wonderful! I have to race in one hour and the truck is broke. So we threw back-packs on and grabbed our bikes and tried to find a garage in town to come take a look. After getting the wrong directions we finally found a place. But the guy was closing shop in twenty minutes as was not overly excited about driving to Sonic to look at our truck. He said "just bang on the starter a little and then give her a try". Ok, so we rode back to the truck. By the way, Drumright is a super hilly little town and I was riding in Teva sandles. They were so slippery on my Dura Ace pedals. It was pretty difficult to get up some of those hills without sliding off my pedals. Plus I had on jean shots and was sweating my butt off. Anyway, we got to the truck and what do ya know, it started right up! Ok, we threw everything back in the truck and took off for the race.

Once I finally got signed up, which was a 15 minute ordeal, I was so sweaty from the earlier bike trek around downtown, I could barely get my skinsuit on. It is tight anyway, but when I'm all sticky it was a workout in and of itself to wiggle into that thing. So I get my number pinned and take off to ride the course a bit. I get in three laps and then they call us to the line. Not much of a warm-up but nothing I could do at that point. There were only 5 women and 10 or so juniors so we all started together. The course was really fast and technical with no real corners but just sweeping turns. It was on really smooth wide blacktop too, which was great. So we took off and it was a hole shot to the first corner and there were two juniors in front of me that of course hit the brakes. But out of the corner we hit it and seperated the bunch pretty fast. There were 4 juniors and me and Angie. One of the chics crashed and broke her collarbone, but still managed to finish. Angie and I basically alternated pulls and primes which I thought was more than a fair tradeoff. The juniors fizzled out so we were off by ourselves. They rang the bell for the bell lap after Angie and I had gone through start/finish so we didn't know it was bell lap. We were actually talking as we went the the finish. I got lucky and was a little in front of her and managed to win. Neither of us realized that was the finish. Anyway, it was dumb on our part but the officials never gave us the bell and the lapcard said 1 to go. Whatever. I still won, so that was good. I won some cash and a gift certificate for dinner in Drumright.

I also did the mens 4/5 race right after the womens. I went pretty hard in the womens race so I was a little tired but thought I was at least warmed up well. They threw in a $40 prime for the first lap which sucked, so it was super fast and squirrly from the start. It was like pedal pedal pedal --brake brake brake---pedal pedal pedal. Very annoying and very tireing to say the least. So I got gapped a few times and closed them and then I got dropped from the main group of 8 or so. I hopped in with the next group which was all strung out and then everyone hit the brakes and I got gapped again. I couldn't close it that time as we were getting lapped by two guys who were off the front anyway. So, we got pulled. It was a good workout anyway.

After the races we went to redeem my gift certificate and this local steakhouse. It was so busy with all the Freewheelers that it took forever. The salad bar that came with our dinner didn't even have any dressing. They were completely out or just too busy to refill them. The food sucked pretty bad, but it was free so it was hard to complain too much.

We missed our exit on the way home and had to go the long way instead but oh well, we made anyway. Really bad storms came through about an hour after we got home so luckily we made it just in time. On the news they were reporting 90 mph winds. That is crazy!

We may be going to Texas this weekend for some races but the OK state TT is this Sunday so we may stick around OKC instead. I guess it will be a last minute type of decision.

Sick of being sick

I have had a terrible cough for over a week now and it will not go away. I am generally up half the night coughing my head off and I am tired of it! I don't feel bad but I am sick of sounding like a smoker. I don't see how anyone can voluntarily chose to live this way.

I didn't ride all weekend. We decked the attic on Saturday and moved out of storage and into the attic on Sunday. It was so hot and I am glad that is over with. Landscaping the lawn is the next project. Probably next weekend, I guess.

Wednesday is a Velo TT and then Thursday is the Speedwheel crit. I am planning on doing both of those. Even though I feel like poop everytime I get on my bike. I don't feel as strong as I was last year. Maybe that has something to do with working full-time, fixing up the house and just simply not riding as much. But there are other things going on in my life right now that have taken precedent over riding and racing. I feel better when I am riding alot, but it will all come together. Everything always does.

I am curious how some of the pro cyclists do it though. How do you have a full-time job and still be able to take weeks off to go to races. I guess that is alot of vacation time. I don't think I would have a job anymore if I took off 2 weeks out of the month to go race. But, this is the life I have chosen. It has never been my dream to be a pro cyclists. It has been my dream for a long time to be an attorney, though. However, I would like to be as fast as some of the pros. Maybe not do all the races, but still being fast and strong would be good. Again, maybe one of theses days.

State Crit

State Crit
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

The Oklahoma State crit and road race was this weekend. I got 3rd in the crit and 5th in the road race. It was pretty tough. There were a few strong women there. It was a fun weekend all around though. I met a cool chic, Merill Sapp, that let us stay with her and her parents at their house instead of having to stay at a hotel. So, that was super nice. She was really strong and won both days. She lives in NM for college and wasn't up for the state title, so actually I got 2nd in the crit and 2th in the road race. It was a good workout for sure. My legs are pretty wasted right now. My throat has been really sore the past few days, so I may be fighting some kind of cold. Hopefully a few days of recovery riding will do me good.

Big Dog

Big Dog
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

This is Big Dog. He loves to play in the sprinkler!

US District Court Admission

Set176_02
Originally uploaded by cyclesq.

I spent all morning at the Western District of Oklahoma Federal Court gaining admission to practice in the Western District Federal Court. It was a long and boring process but well worth the trouble. The admission ceremony was at noon in front of 3 Federal Judges and the Chief Judge. It was a pretty cool experience and I have worked many years to get there finally. I was admitted to practive in Oklahoma last September and now I can practice in Federal Court as well. When I signed the roll of attorneys, there were only 7 attorneys with the last name that started with the letter Q. That roll of attorneys dates all the way back to statehood, so that is crazy to think that now there are 8 of us Q's on the roster!

It is really crazy to think that I have finally made it. But then I question, made it to where? I went from high school to undergrad and then straight to law school, so I have been in school constantly since I was 5 years old. So, basically I have gone to 7 years of college and counting kindergarten, a total of 20 years of education. Looking back, that seems crazy. If I live to be 100, I will have spent almost 1/4 of my life in school. If I live to be 50, I guess that is almost half of my life in school. So, now what? What am I supposed to do? I am "practicing law" but it sure is not as glamorous or a well paying as I expected it to be. I thought it would be exactly as it is portrayed on tv or in the books, but I was so wrong. I have a friend who is just beginning law school and he asked for my advice. I told him to run away now. I sm not sure that I would do it over again. At this point, I am not sure all the work and money is paying off. Hopefully in the future, near future, it will. My mom has always told me that anything worth having is worth working for. I worked for this little piece of paper and I am holding on to the notion that it will pay off-eventually!