Quotes of the Week

This one is not exactly a quotable per-se, but I am SUPER proud of my cleverness. All week long a certain Transformers-obsessed friend has been calling himself various robot characters - Optimus Prime, Galvatron, Grimlock...

WELL, I am now calling him Dingletron. Up next might be Nerdimus Prime. If you have any ideas for me please let me know (and yes I do still have my favouritest Transformer ever, Jetfire).

***********************

Overheard...

Girl 1: Her ring was so gorgeous! It was like this antique setting, with all these little diamonds around it, but it still looked totally modern.

Girl 2: The one I have want has (some diamond-ring-speak I did not understand) and (more stuff).

Girl 1: Oh that sounds totally great!

Me In My Head: Hmm. I didn't know Girl 2 had a boyfriend?!?!

Girl 2: Yeah, I have the ring all picked out, but not the man.

***********************

I went to see Tim yesterday to get tested (basically, I got told what I already knew, which is that I am stronger but really tired)(but it was still useful and fun).

My favourite Tim comments of the afternoon:

"Oh. We have I Dream of Jeanie ponytail hair going on here..." (when affixing the breathing apparatus to my head)

"You should not do a triathlon. Why? Because running is retarded, and the only time you should be swimming is late at night at a friend's house with no clothes when you've had one too many cocktails. You are a bike racer!"

Steer Clear

I am having one of those weeks. I'm tired and have tons to do and I am being a total Grumplestiltskin. A.k.a. bitch.

Examples of said attitude problem:

On IM with my sister

Me:... and I got one of the leaves on my shoulder filled in with pink. (see "before" photo below if you are confused)
Scare: Ooo, pretty! What kind of pink?
Me: Um, the pink kind.
Scare: That's helpful.

*****************

To my co-worker who was playing music on his computer

Me: Is this HOLD MUSIC we are listening to?! Are you on HOLD?! When did you even call someone?
Him: It's my music. It's Miles Davis!
Me: Oh. It really sounds like you are on hold.

*****************

More music, this time discussing contents of my iTunes with Greg

Him: You like Cat Power?!
Me: NO!
Him: "The Greatest" is a great album, and that track is one of my favourites.
Me: Yeah well I think she sucks... boring. EW.
Him: -
Me: Um, sorry?

Once again Courtenay is an insensitive brat for poking her tongue out at other peoples' tastes.

Anyway here's the aforementioned "before" photo, now one of the leaves is pink:

I Saved the Best for Last

So, I am at the tail-end of my Nature Valley blogging. Although, I am not even remotely near the tail-end of my Nature Valley recovery. For some strange reason I am still way tired (might have something to do with my running-around-like-a-chicken-trying-to-get-stuff-done).

Anyway here is my favourite photo of the trip, it's Katie Mac in our lake after the Stillwater stage:


I love it... The nails. The laugh. The omnipresent Blackberry.

Like I am one to talk though. While I was taking this photo Sharon was teasing us. "This is so typical," she said, "we go in the lake for 5 minutes, but Courtenay and Katie still can't bear to leave their wireless devices on the shore!"

Nice Shirt

Still loving my cameraphone... this time, in the MPLS airport

Am I Quite Good At This?

So I am safely home from Nature Valley, and my computer is finally able to get a much-needed (ok, essential) charge so I can blog properly with photos and everything! Get psyched.

Or not. I am actually kinda running out of steam.

Here's Sharon. She has great taste in outfits and reading material, and she's an expert at stage-race recovery:

That is In Touch Magazine, those are tan lines not white spandex, and Sharon your hair looks great

She can't get mad at me for posting this because I totally made her bike-packing life way easier. Her "resident mechanic" had told her that to take off the pedals you just turn them the opposite way of the pedaling motion provided you only do some confusing thing or somethingorother. Basically a total guy trick. I helpfully informed her that you turn the wrench towards the back of the bike and presto change-o your pedals are off.

Moving on, I don't have photos from two of my favourite incidents from the trip, incident #1 being my breakaway on the Mankato stage and incident #2 being my horse rescue operation at the Stillwater stage. We were sitting in the parking lot, getting really fired up for the final stage ("OMG I so need coffee" "I can't deal with walking down the hill to get it" "Lisa do we have to warm up?" "Can we go clothes shopping instead?" sort of thing), and there was this horse trailer off in the corner of the lot with a carriage parked next to it. All of the sudden this big draft horse comes running out from behind the trailer, trotting across the parking lot looking totally scared, and no owner or responsible party seemed to be on hand. So tired-I-want-to-shop-or-nap Courtenay goes trotting across the parking lot at full speed to rescue the horse and return her to her tie-up spot. The Lipton girls seemed to be taking photos so maybe I will eventually see proof of my heroics.

(update: here is Meredith's post)

That was probably the fastest I moved all day.

O.K., more catch-up blogging to come, after I catch up on real life...

Not Quite Cracked Any More

I was in a terrible mood at the beginning of the race today.

Ready to pack it up and peace out of this crashfest suffer-party of a quote-unquote sport, in which I have lately felt like little more than a suffering crash-avoiding passenger, and which continually RUINS my hard-earned non-tan lines, anyway I was ready to kiss it goodbye and go have some temper tantrums in a corner by myself or something.

That's me in the middle, Crabby Appleton, rolling off the start of the 85ish mile Mankato Road Race today.

Then somewhere around mile 8 I decided I was having fun, and somewhere around mile 22 Katie asked me to come up front, I saw it was a good moment to attack, so off I went.

How cool! Me attacking! This is racing, I thought.

But NO ONE CAME WITH ME. Ugh and a half.

Then this girl bridged up.

Then we had this gap. We rode and rode and rode some more.

About 30 miles went by, and we were back in the peloton, I was chitchatting with all my teammates and fellow racers who I had really missed terribly during the breakaway, etc.

The finishing circuits were pretty harsh though and I fell off the back fast. But I still finished.

Here I am looking awesome and resplendently happy again (this is on the finishing circuit, 1 lap from being finished!):

How and why do I have the hugest head ever?

Seriously though, it was an awesome day. It felt great to actually do something during a big stage race, other than just following wheels. I had fun. I actually raced my bike. I can't wait till my next big breakaway, when I will pedal and drool away for even longer. Grand retirement soiree has been indefinitely postponed.

Tomorrow is our last race with Katie Mac this year, and might also be our last race with Marni as well. I'll miss them both a lot.

Separate observatory note: the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area seems to have as many chiropractors as it does churches. WTF do people DO to themselves here that they all need spinal adjustments all the time?!

More Minneapolitan Excitement

Tonight's crit was fast and painful, but blessedly dry in comparison to last year (scroll down, couldn't get just a picture link alone, sorry).

And, being a big important stage of a big important race and everything, there were plenty of gossip-worthy moments. For example the call-up situation that got totally botched, and the Theresa Moriarty fan in the crowd who started freaking out (which is the main theme of this blog post, btw) and yelling at Dave Towle to hold everything because Theresa couldn't move up to the front of the start line or whatever. There was plenty more, BUT:

I am going to tell you about the drive home instead. Sharon is driving, with Jill riding shotgun/manning air and radio controls, and Katie, Hannah, Marni and I are piled in back text messaging all our friends and advising Jill how to make us more comfy with her controls please.

BTW this is a Chevy Impala sedan (which Lisa is referring to as "black beauty" or something).

Sharon starts singing along to the White Wing Dove song on the radio (the Stevie Nicks one) as I am simultaneously texting a friend about how cool all my teammates are. I ask Sharon to please stop singing so as not to make a liar out of me regarding the coolness.

Marni mourns the fact that her iPod has been on since the afternoon by accident and is out of batteries so she can't drown out the karaoke routine with her earphones.

Katie rolls down her window and tosses out her gum.

A cop pulls out behind us. Right behind us.

I freak out and duck since I think 4 of us in a back seat is technically illegal and that's gotta be why we're in trouble.

Katie freaks out and wonders how to lie about her litterbugging actions from just a second ago because that's gotta be why we're in trouble.

Hannah doesn't freak out and tells Sharon turns onto a side street.

Marni tells Katie to say it was an apple core instead of gum because that's biodegradable and thus technically not littering.

Cop follows and turns on lights and sirens. We pull over and dude gets out of his cop car and walks over.

Jill freaks out because he has his gun!

And the rest is anticlimactic. Apparently we were doing 45 in a 30, on top of that you aren't supposed to have so many girls in one car, there was no mention of littering so Katie was off the hook, Sharon did a good job of being calm and giving the cop subtle hints that we are bike racers, and ultimately we got off with a warning. Oh, and the gun turned out to be his flashslight.

Major phew.

Tomorrow is the Mankato stage. Check back here for stories...

You Might Have Had To Be Here

So we are in the midst of the double day here at NVGP - the time trial was this morning and the second of three criteriums takes place tonight.

Phew.

Barely time to sleep let alone be funny, but nonetheless we have had some moments....

************************

Yesterday while we were cruising, pre-shammy time, at the Cannon Falls Road Race

Martina: You know, it's probably not a good idea to look too cute at a bike race.
Me: Well what if you are naturally cute looking?
Martina: I run into that problem all the time actually.

************************

Sitting at the kitchen table, Katie Mac playing twirly-whatever with a pencil

Katie: Am I quite good at this?!

************************

On the start line, next to the stage and loudspeaker action

Nicky Wangsgard, to Martina: So, is your man here?
-pause-
Martina: Roman?
Nicky: Oh, it's a woman now? That's cool.

She thought Martina said "woman" not "Roman"! We got a good laugh.



p.s. OMG apparently it's "pissing down rain" at the crit course. Joy and rapture.

p.p.s. I am pretty darn tired. Sorry it's so evident here. Valiant attempts at redeeming myself come Tuesday-ish.

Eek

Well. Today was Stage One of NVGP. I don't really like to be a whiner on this blog, I prefer to save that for in-person dramatics, but right now I am going to be a whiner because Stage One Was Awful (aside from guest cheerleader appearance by Smithers and super support from Super-Rookie, of course - those aspects were not awful, but most others were).

Anyway to recommence the whining let's do some bike arithmetic:

125 starters
+
1k course
+
90 something degrees outside
+
tight tight corners
+
your typical omnipresent midwestern wind
+
approximately 20 manhole covers per square foot of asphalt (only a mild exaggeration here)
+
2 riders called up per team (meaning almost 30 riders called up)
+
me not getting a call up
=
1 NOT HAPPY COURTENAY


and not a happy lots of riders actually. The race was fast from the gun (necessarily, I know, but still). There were some yucky crashes, including at least one somersault, and as per usual both times I was affected by crashes I stupidly opted to suck it up and chase rather than to feign crashing and take a free lap. Go pea-brain-me go! I spent the whole time trying for the life of me to make it into at least the top 30, wishing I could take off my freaking gloves since it was so hot, wanting to banish insidious "wtf am I doing here" thoughts from aforementioned pea brain, knowing it is harder in the back than the front and I needed to get up to the front, duh, but feeling so fried that The Front may as well have been Antarctica or some other far away and blessedly cold place, and nevertheless digging as deep as possible so as to not let anyone down.

Sigh.

Tomorrow is another day and I am somehow finding myself starting to look forward to it?!?! I guess that's a good sign.

In the meantime, I am going to get some good vibes from my little Pox because I have decided he is a polka dot king of the mountains pony, which btw is my new favourite phrase, and anyway as such he must have good vibes to give me so snuggle-time here I come. First however I may re-paint my fingernails. I got a manicure today and the really snazzy purply color in the bottle came out as this kind of muddy old-lady-hair-color on my nails.

Bleh, sigh, and eek again. And a protruding tongue to boot.

Land of Ten Thousand Churches

So far I have seen way more churches here in Minnesota than lakes. Whilst driving today:

There is aNOTHER church!
'Blessed Redemption' seems to be its name. Jesus.
Oh my god I just said jesus.
Oh my god listen to me...
GAH

This is reminding me of Gila last year, where our host mom's second words (after Hi I am So and So!) upon my arrival were "Make yourself at home, eat whatever you want, stay up late, drink, all I ask is that you not use the Lord's name in vain."

My totally gauche response included at least one 'oh my god', followed by at least one 'shit', and it went further downhill from there.

Smartypants-es (is that the plural?)

I am en route to Nature Valley.
For some reason my laptop is out of batteries.
For some further reason my laptop charger is on the floor by the bed 1000 miles away from here.

Grr.

So smartypants #1, that's me.

For #2 we turn to my lovely little sister Scare.

Me: So, what's on the agenda for the week? You going to look for a summer job?
Scare: Goal for the week is to get a tan. Anni gave me a white dress and I need a tan to wear it.
Me: Oh.

But here is the good one:

Me: Do you have a boyfriend yet?
Scare: There are boys in Maryland?! Ha. No, my life is a boyless dismality.

(emphasis added)

How awesome is that. A boyless dismality. My newest favouritest funny thing said by another person, after unicorns and other nickname things.

O.K. that's it for now. I would make fun of Lisa and her 5 checked bags (no joke - I documented it with my camera but the photo download will have to wait for the laptop to get charged) and her other team-travel-related amusements and freakouts but (a) she is kindly letting me use her laptop for this post and (b) me teasing her on my blog means that I am suddenly the one at whom all the bold capslock imperative statements are directed in team pre-race communiques (COURTENAY IF YOU WANT YOUR OWN SPECIAL BOTTLES AT THE START THEN BLAH BLAH BLAH ETC. sort of thing) So I have decided I should minimize Lisa Teasing here. Or at least try...

Cascade Women's Race Cancelled

Is it wrong that I am a teensy weensy bit relieved?

Rest Week

The week between race trips (Hood/Philly was last week, next week is Nature Valley) has thus far consisted of:

-two one-hour rides
-three trips to the grocery store
-about 37 clumsy tired run-ins with doors, furniture, etc. (possibly a record low for me)(apparently I have good kung-fu energy or something)
-diet soda and coffee in lieu of water, almost exclusively
-re-attempt at selling stuff
-a bit of work
-one trail run

and:
only
ONE
NAP?!?! :(

I must be reading too many blogs or something.

Photo Time

Photos from the Mt. Hood Prologue:




(for those of you who patiently listen to my complaints about pretty much any photo of myself, thank you, and yes i do like these, although my helmet is kinda crooked)

Update on Mom's Internet

(via chat with little sister Scare)
(who is apparently speaking to me again after last week's "incident")

Sarah: hey man
we have high SPEED!
except I'm not using it

me: WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Sarah: because you have to sit outside, in the car
and I am "CLEANING MY ROOM"
so hanging in the car isn't really an opsh

me: is it rigged through philipa and doug's place? (the neighbors)

Sarah: yeah

This exchange was on Monday. I chatted with her again yesterday, during which time she was again not using the New High Speed because it was 95 degrees outside and thus too hot to sit in the car with the laptop.

Forgot to ask the status of this "ROOM CLEANING" project but I have a sneaking suspicion that the status is a messy status quo.

A Question of Time

Hypothetically, if you could earn $44,000 in a week (for simplicity's sake let's say that amount is net of taxes), would you rather:

(a) work one week, have 51 weeks of vacation-slash-training-time and earn $44,000 in a year

-or-

(b) work 50 weeks and earn $2.2 million in a year


I chose option (a) without hesitation, a friend looked at me like I was nuts.

Can Every Week Please Be Philly Week

(written on plane, posted on ground)

We raced the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia today. Last year Liberty was one of many not-my-finest-moments, but today was great. It's quite probably the biggest women's race in the country and I loved it. What can I say, I am a typical girl in several respects: I love ponies, songs with good bass lines, and Large Audiences To Witness Me Doing Stuff I Think Is Cool. There were tons of people (helps that the boys race at the same time - thanksguys!!), the weather was pretty much perfect for racing, and the course was wonderfully devoid of the Oregonian "9 miles to the KOM!" climbs we faced just a week ago - in short, my kind of race.

Now I am on my way back to California, tired-excited about the race this morning and excited about getting home later.

But I wouldn't mind being at one end or the other of this trip.

I am sort of bored.

Planes are boring (my little cousins might beg to differ however).

I am wishing I could use my foam roller in the aisle, wishing I had my compression leggings, wishing I had someone to talk to (neighboring passengers are not likely candidates - post race Court tends to talk a mile-a-minute about the race and race gossip exclusively, and thorough perusal of the waiting area at the gate revealed no bike racers)(there was one dude with running shoes and a visor attached to his bag, for a second i thought maybe he was at least an athlete and thus in a pinch could be a somewhat adequate ear but a. he had on a hollister shirt and a remarkable amount of Gotti boys' ice-gel in his hair, overall effect was "ew", and b. he his not in my row anyway).

I wish I had Tetris on my computer.

I wish I had some internet. BTW I spent $30 on internet access over the past 4 days. Outrage.

I a little bit wish I had bought a beauty magazine instead of this squishy neck pillow in the airport terminal.

I wish I had not been directly behind the little 1K-to-go wrestling match today. No one won that one. (I did not go down, just came to a screeching halt and found myself at the back of the pack fast). I think my poor luck was probably some sort of kharmic retribution for recent transgressions, e.g. driving the little sister to tears and the mom to expletives earlier in the week...

I hope the asphalt-kissers in said crash (and the various ones prior) are unhurt and racing again soon. It's always more fun when everyone's there!

I wish Katie could race with us all year.

I wish I had brought some pencils and paper with me.

I wish I were home already.

I wish I didn't need a snack like every 29 minutes all day long. I am starved.

I wish I had a kitty at home, maybe one like Squawky.

My iPod playlist is making me wish I were still a dj.

And I somewhat crazily wish it were time for Nature Valley already. I can't wait to race again.

Oooo the beverage cart is here, I hope it has pretzel mix!!!!!

It does not.

Sigh.

Well you are in luck. Laptop is now Running On Reserve Battery Power so I am going to close my eyes and give this squishy neck pillow another try...

Quote of the Weekend Slash Year

(keeping in mind that The Huntress had a sleepless and harried weekend thanks to her charming athletic princesses)(meaning: us)

Us: blah blah blah Paris Hilton blah blah

Lisa: Ugh. You know, I kinda hope she dies. Her and Anna Nicole Smith.

Us: Um? Anna Nicole? Lisa, Anna Nicole already died.

Lisa: -pause- Court if this goes on your blog I'm going to -bleep-ing smack you!


Um, Greg, sugar-pie honey bun? Can you please play bodyguard for a little while please? Scared.

Pink

Philly pre-ride today was a blast.

Lots of nice views:
And cutenesses:

"Possum" giving "Groggles" a ride back to the hotel

In Sum...

It was a pretty successful family reunion week I have decided.

My mom managed to corner all 3 of her kids for a photo, and she even got one where no one had bunny-ears or a finger up their nose.

That's my cousin Elizabeth, then Me, Than, and Sarah who was still not speaking to me (see below).

My brother Than and my uncle Tony got out on the tennis court every day.

Me: How was the Tennis?
Than: We didn't play tennis.
Me: Huh? How come you are all sweaty and you are holding a racquet and how come I swear I just saw you guys on the tennis court?
Than: We didn't play tennis. We played Tony Wins.

The funny/embarrassing thing is we had pretty much this exact conversation every day... but back to the weekly tally.

I won two games of Scrabble and even got rid of all my letters one time ("requiem"! on a triple word score! how sick was that!).

I got out on my bike every day. I worked on my tan. I played with enough ponies, puppies, and kitties to last me until the next east-coast visit I hope.

We ate lots of watermelon.

Gin and tonics are delicious in the summertime.

I witnessed lengthy conversations about tractors, the county agricultural preserve (which successfully fended off a Target that was supposed to get built at Wayson's Corner - go Ag Preserve!), whose fence got knocked down by who else's tree, the live wire that PG&E left out at Bowie race track, the beating that the first crop of strawberries sustained in Monday's rainstorm, the diversity of color, use of natural light, and circuitous procession through Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Church, and the vast difference in 1970 vs. 1990-and-beyond childbirth practices with regards to presence of father, presence of doctor, inclusion of father in pre-birth instruction, verticality or horizontality of c-section cuts... Basically a whole lot of stuff about which I (shock and surprise!!) had little or nothing to contribute. So I sat all ears, refreshingly silent, and sometimes laughing.

For example of tractors and laughing: my mom was talking about Charles Tasker, the somewhat sort of reliable guy from down the road who comes to help her do stuff sometimes. Now, earlier I had heard her complain about the fact that he a. let out a possum who has been stealing the cat food all spring and she finally trapped it and was going to take down the road to dump off elsewhere but Charles didn't want the elsewhere to be his driveway so he turned over the trash can right there and the thing scampered back to the cat food and b. he's petrified of snakes. But give her a glass of wine or two and suddenly...

"Charles Tasker is a genius! He is an absolute ballerina with the tractor!"

OMG. My brother and I got some teasing mileage out of that one for sure.

Oh, and I succeeded in maintaining my bratty first-born child status by making my sister cry, driving my mom to call me a bitch, generally being busy or napping when I sensed such projects as furniture rearrangement, leaf raking, fence repair... And I broke a glass bowl too.

Sorry Ma.

But I did try to be good, I really did - I did dishes, asked my mom what was in the fridge before opening it and standing there for 5 seconds or more, helped grocery shop, graciously gave up my room for my cousin and even made the bed, filled the car with gas, and be'd nice when possible. So apparently I am invited back home for the holidays this year. Phew.

Midweek Update from Family Reunion

After Mt. Hood, I took a red-eye flight from Portland to Baltimore (photo at right is from the drive to the airport). My mom picked me up from the airport, full of energy and Hi Sweetie's and advisement that we were stopping at the grocery store on the way home since we were having a party that night and guess what the good news was I was getting to stay in my own room all week instead of with my brother or sister.


Whew. Good thing I brought my running shoes, sounds like a busy week already.


Anyway it's been non-stop ever since then. Party (fun - it rained but we have a screened porch), riding bike (my mom's horse Fox digs the Serotta), neighborhood picnic (I'd bore you with the gossip, there is lots, but none of you know any of the characters), riding bike some more, discussing merits of summer employment and general personal motivation and work ethic with 19 year old sister, hanging out with aunts/uncles/cousins/siblings/mom/cats etc., and basically enjoying June in Maryland. Btw the cat in the photo is Squawkbox (or Squawky), so named because he does not shut up, but he has a ton of personality and LOVES posing for the camera. My kind of cat.



Thankfully tonight is Shakespeare night in D.C. and since my mom got the tickets before I got my ticket East and when she tried to get a ticket for me they were sold out, I have a free evening to blog and watch DVD's and take a nap or two (already took one, in which I dreamed that the Aaron's girls came over to my mom's for dinner). I fall asleep at plays anyway.

-----------------------------

Aside:

My mom has no wireless (just very slow dial-up that freaks out if you try to down- or up-load anything) so I am at the semi-local Starhole replete with drive-thru, ridiculously loud World Muzak, highway-robbery internet fee (if I didn't totally idolize Kim Anderson I would hate T-Mobile and their stupid Hot Spots), and some sort of adult religious meeting going on where grown guys are holding hands and praying whilst sipping their berry smoothachinos.

----------------------------

O.K. back to my sister, I affectionately call her Scare, and she has been the most reliable source of family amusement thus far.

Here is a photo:


I showed it to my brother and mom.

Me: Dude do you recognize this?
Than: -pause-
---------longer pause-
--------Is that her room?

Our mom says she feels sorry for whoever has to room with her at college.

Additional amusement...

Me: Do you want to come to the pool with me to lay out?
Scare: I dunno. The sun makes me tired. I don't feel like getting tired.
Me: Well what are you going to do instead?
Scare: I think I will go upstairs and take a nap.



Parting shot:

See what I have to put up with?

(btw this photo depicts Me giving Sal Bunny Ears but you can't see my fingers too well)

I Put My Foot In My Mouth (can you beLIEVE it?!)

Twice in the same evening as a matter of fact. Whilst somewhat accidentally hanging out with the Toyota United boys after the race. The first time was not so bad...

The First Foot

Heath Blackgrove: Do you need the waitress to put more water in your bidon?
Me: No I am good. That's funny though, "bidon", I have two Aussie teammates so I know you are talking about my water bottle.
Heath: I am not from Australia.
Me: No no, I know I know, sorry, I know you are from New Zealand, I am just saying, they say that too! (ugh)

And I would have forgotten all about it if it weren't for the second instance. As a bit of scene-setting-slash-idiocy-explanation-attempt, this all happened the evening after the final stage of Mt. Hood, Heath had won the criterium, a few beers had been consumed but there seemed to have been a long wait for their food to come, during which time all bread and bread crumbs had been inhaled, also there was talk going around the table about their teammate who had just been hospitalized and both his condition and what actually happened seemed to still be up in the air, or at least not readily conveyable via text message. So, on to...

The Second Foot

Michael: Yeah, what kills me is the Monday mornings, having to get back to the grind and actually work, with a total race-hangover, staring at the computer screen.
Me to the T-U Boys: Do any of you guys have to have jobs?
Heath: Um, this is our job.
Me: No no, I know I know, that's not what I meant, I know it's a job, I wasn't trying to belittle what you do... I just meant, you know, do you like, have to get up and go to an office?

Thank god for Chris Baldwin, who seemed to grasp a. what I meant, b. how stupid I felt, although the whole town could probably see how red I got so this item b. was not too hard to grasp, and c. the borderline applicability of the question, given the fact that many guys on domestic pro teams do need another source of income. But this is Toyota United we are talking about here, and considering that I had earlier confirmed that these boys never even have to stay in host housing because their team budget is that cush, I should have deduced the job thing from there.

Anyway yeah, go me, way to totally fit the dumb-girl stereotype.

***************************

But I already have a plot for redeeming myself with Heath at Nature Valley. It is likely to go something like this:

Me: Hi Heath! How's it going?!
Heath: Oh it's you.
Me: So guess what I observed at Mt. Hood but neglected to mention aloud during our lovely post-race celebratory gathering?
Heath: Do tell.
Me: You and I have the same cell phone! The Sony Ericsson w810i! How sick is that?!

Heath will then roll his eyes/flee my presence/toss his phone in whatever river divides Minneapolis and St. Paul/exclaim how cool it is that I am so cool. I am not banking on that last possibility but one can always hope.


Do you think I am spending way to much time obsessing about this?

Scalping Internet in Hood River

(and swatting at mosquitoes - talk about instant kharma I guess but I need some wireless, I really do!)

Anyway, on to the day's post, which is really entitled:

So Far This Week I Have Learned

-More is not always better... 2 chewable mint-flavoured melatonin tablets taken at bedtime are tasty yet evil because such a dosage gave me run-for-your-life nightmares and then made me need naps all day. 1 tablet is plenty.

-Making my own drink mix bottles and marking them "Court - (mix/water/recovery/don't touch)" every day during a stage race when everyone else is using bottles that Lisa makes up for them every night, bottles that she gathers and washes and refills after the stages mind you, means that by day 4 every bottle in the cooler says "Court - (somethingorother)" and thus I have no guarantee of actually getting my desired bottle at the start. Must devise better system, maybe for tomorrow I will start putting "Ivan Dominguez - Rocket Fuel" on my bottles. I like this idea.

-Having a boyfriend who is 6'5" means that if he says he bought black beans and put them on the third shelf in the pantry, and if I cursorily look up at the above-my-5'4"-eye-level 3rd shelf and try to say he didn't, chances are I am wrong and will get a photographic text message advising me thusly upon his return to the apartment!

-If you see Lisa walking around with a big bag of what you expect to be potato chips, be prepared to see green leafy things, instead of yellow crispy things, getting shoved from said bag into her mouth. She's chomping on spinach.

-Likelihood of me liking the Cyclingnews or Velonews photos with me in them is inversely proportional to amount of time I spend feeling like I look photogenic during the race, or to the amount of times I see people taking photos in my general direction, or to the amount of times I check these websites for flattering photos... More bluntly, likelihood of me liking photographic representations of myself on the internet is pretty darn low. So I am not hyperlinking to the latest examples. I'll let you do the legwork ;)

-Incidentally, two years ago when I came to this race, I got on Cyclingnews! Here I am in all my mustard-yellow and forest green finery, at my first ever Cat. 2 race. Oh my.

So far, today's 18 mile TT has been my favourite stage of this race. With a fairly reliable headwind (since we were heading west along the river the whole time, and the wind always comes from the west along the river gorge), 2000' of climbing, temperatures in the 90's, and a G.C. position about a half hour down from the leaders, my expectations were low. Rolled around easily for twenty minutes, still a little groggy from my melatonin mistake, started in my little ring and gradually ramped it up, and before I knew it I had a smile on my face and a sensation of speed in my 110 rpm legs. Must have been the whoosh-whoosh sound of my wheels that made me feel fast. Results have not yet been posted but regardless, I am happy with the day.

Now that I have been eaten alive I am going to trudge back over to my host house, take not-2 sleeping aids, and have sweet dreams of tomorrow.