Picture

Finally! I figured out how to get my picture back up. I am somewhat slow when it comes to computer anything so it has taken me awhile to get my picture back up. The whole jpg thing??? What is this??? Anyway, hopefully it works! Check out this web-site. These pictures were taken last year in the Wichita Mountains by Lawton, Oklahoma. And yes Forrest, I am actually on a mountain bike!

http://www.lampherephotography.com/gallery/Oklahoma-Trails?page=1

Arkansas Race

I went to Arkansas on Saturday to race. I thought maybe a few women would show up but only one other woman was there. So, the two of us raced together. She was pretty strong but I was able to win both primes and win the overall. I made pretty good money, at least enough to cover gas, food and entries. So, it was a good race. Sunday we did the SSLUT ride. We left from Freddie's rock climbing gym downtown and rode around Bricktown and along the river. It was a crzy ride. About 40 cruisers, BMX bikes, singlespeeds and townies cruising around the streets of OKC. A few people had trailers in tow with ice chests full of beer and even a "boombox" was strapped on. We had a cookout after the ride along with a skid contest and summo contests. Charles actually won one of the summo contests. He was the last one standing in the end. The whole point of the game was to knock everyone else off their bike and be the last one still upright. There were some bad crashes and even a little blood to boot! The Charles was doing some sort of bar spin thing on his BMX bike and went right off the back of his bike. He was clipped in his pedals and he landed right on his tailbone. OUCH!!! I am surprised he is walking today. Anyway, it was super hot and I was a little tired from the 3 hour ride that we did that morning. I have a whole new repsect for people who ride cruiser bikes around. My legs were pretty tired by the end of the ride.

Next weekend is the grand finale of road racing. Two races in Ft. Smith, Arkansas and then I'm done with road for awhile. I'm not burned out, so that is good. And I'm ready for cross season.

Results?

I raced last weekend as planned. It went pretty well. I made a ton of money, which is always a great thing. I won both women's races, but only because no one else was there. Really that was not that big of a deal because they paid me for 1st place both days and they threw in a $50.00 cash prime for the first lap of the Flint Ridge circuit race. Anyone who has ever done Flint Ridge knows that even by yourself, it is hard to win a first lap prime. The course is so hard. It is only a 5 mile loop, but there is a ton of climbing in that 5 miles. It is maybe the hardest course I have ever done. And especially by myself, it was like a really hard training ride. But since I was the only girl, I didn't have a lot of motivation to push too hard. Friday night I raced with the cat 4 men. It was like interval after interval after interval. Sprint sprint sprint and then brake brake brake for 30 minutes. And then one more really hard sprint to the finish line. I ended up 7th out of 20 guys, so that was cool. I made it in the money too. It is always nice to beat men out of the money. They usually don't like that but it helps womens racing earn a little more respect from the men. So, all in all it was a good racing weekend for me. We stayed at Chad's sister's house so no hotel cost. And we got to see Peter E. sleep in Barbie sheets! It was the best!

I'm not sure if I'm racing this weekend. Maybe next weekend for the Mercy crits. Then off to Interbike in Vegas!!! After that CX starts.

Racing

Well I guess I am going to race this weekend. A crit in Pryor, Oklahoma on Friday night and then a circuit race on Saturday in Flint Ridge, Oklahoma. I haven't raced in so long, hopefully I will remember how. The crit is flat so that should be no problem, but the circuit race is super hilly, which is always a problem for me. But, it should be fun.

I have been running lately. Yesterday was day number 4. I started with 15 minutes a day and last night we ran 23 minutes. It was actually pretty fast, and it didn't kill me, so I must be doing ok. Tuesday night we did hill sprints on the road bikes and then took the scooter to McGuinnes high school and ran bleachers. I was a little sore from the bleacher yesterday but I feel ok today. I need to get out on my cross bike and start practicing dismounts and remounts. I am hoping to do some bigger out-of-state cross races this year. I didn't do much road racing this year so I am rested and ready to go into cross season full throttle.

The cold sore is still visible. It will NOT go away. It doesn't hurt anymore but it has been almost three weeks! When will it end???

I got a new car. Not brand new, but new to me. It will be a good bike race car. I'll post pictures soon.