These Go To Eleven

This is one of the best things I've seen on YouTube. Just had to post it. You'll be glad you watched the whole thing.

Donate $ to the American Cancer Society for my 5k on November 29th!

http://www.active.com/donate/acscharityrunner/CChang73

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I think I've found it...

My motivation, that is! I have a desire to actually complete my prescribed workouts, and I enjoy feeling the pain in my legs and fatigue in my body afterwards. It's enough to be...exhilarating!

Unfortunately, I'm also proving to myself that I can not do all of the following in the same time period: (1) work full-time with a 1hr+ total commute, (2) train with dedication, (3) studiously take a class, and (4) get enough sleep so that I don't conk out while I'm attempting one of the first 3 things.

So, I'm trying to figure out how to rectify that.

In any case, it is now quarter after 9pm, I need to wake up early for a morning meeting, and I'm hoping to make it to the place where I can register my car. Plus I have a 1.5hr ride scheduled tomorrow. In the rain? Yep, in the rain. Don't really feel like confining myself to a trainer quite yet.

Time for bed. Homework can wait till tomorrow...

I'll leave you with some photos from our trip to the zoo (!) last week:

Bald Eagle (Where's Waldo?)




Primate (Chillin')



Lion (Peekin')

Floating along

Recently I've felt little motivation to get on my bike. A dull feeling of guilt occasionally nags at me, but I don't do much about it. I sit on my butt. I sometimes go running. Then last Sunday, Byron convinced me to go for a ride. I expected to be gone for 3 hours max, hoping for closer to 2. We were gone for about 5. I ran out of food and limped home. But at least it convinced me I could still pedal.

The weather has been gorgeous, so that definitely wasn't the issue with my motivation. But today was our first real taste of the winter to come, and it has me even less enthusiastic than I was. Plus I'm all partied out from last weekend's early Halloween party, and now that my house's party is tomorrow, I'm just not very psyched up about it. Can it just be Saturday morning already?

What I really need is to give my bikes some good TLC, get them all back in working order, and get my butt on them! So many excuses, though - homework, studying, getting ready for parties...plus it's cold, my basement (where I keep the bikes and ideally where I'd work on them) isn't well-lit, and I'm tired!

Maybe this weekend will do me good. I plan to ride both days, get my butt kicked, and hopefully take my rain bike in for a good tune-up next week. If I'm lucky, that will all be enough to whip me back into gear (pun intended).

And my house is cold. Need more blankets. And sweaters. And rugs... hmmm... I think trips to Target and Ikea are in order...

I DO have an epic adventure to the Northeast (yes, again) planned for Christmas and New Year's to look forward to! I am quite excited about it: we'll fly into Boston, spend Christmas with my parents in Amherst, and then bounce around the MA/CT/NY area through the New Year. No real plans - just an itch for some excitement. Now THAT sounds fun.

Head of the Charles, Part I

yesterday we arrived on the red-eye, walked down to the information desk, and asked the woman sitting there he we should get to Harvard on the T. She opens her mouth and proceeds to tell us in a thick Bostonian accent, "Well, to git ta Havad squay, ya gotta take the Silva loine..." It was all I could do to keep from laughing! She then explained that we could use the automated T ticket machines that were "really confusing," or just take the bus to South Station where we could "tawk to a real pehson." We managed to figure out the rather self-explanatory machines to buy our passes.

This morning, we wandered down the main drag near Will's house in search of something resembling breakfast. We decided to try Ruggiero's Market, a true greasy spoon that more resembled a convenience store than a restaurant. While waiting for our food (and coffee), we eavesdropped on a guy talking on his cellphone, also waiting for his breakfast. "I just got out of jail at 3am last night," he told his friend. He then explained how the cops had eaten his sub sandwich, which Jamie agreed would make him pretty angry too. Then another guy walked in who told the cook that he only asked her to get him something so he could see her bend over. Classy. He then continued on to tell her about some tickets he'd been given to the Madonna concert in Boston last week, but ended up not going to. Jamie asked if I could imagine seeing this guy dancing to "Like a Virgin." In fact I could, and it made me laugh pretty hard. :p

Now we're on the T headed back to Hahvahd for today's races. More stories to come...

Oh, by the way, the coffee was awful. (:

Nats Wrap-up

I guess I'll finish up the report and post on the final day of racing. Jamie and Dan raced the Madison (not with each other - Jamie with Kenny, Dan with Beardsley), and I did the Points race. I made it 35 laps before they pulled me. It was fast. I was slow. That's about all there is to it. As for Jamie and Kenny, they made 6th place, just one step short of the medals and the podium.

I've had some time now to reflect on things. Many things contributed to my poor performance at track nats, but I think the overarching issue was that I did not mentally prepare myself to race this long a season. When I started racing in February, I didn't plan to go to track nats in October. I planned to race my heart out until Friday Night Racing ended in September. I think I did that. And then I took a mental break. So I didn't continue to train hard, I got sick, and I had no real goals for nationals. I went to get the experience. Now I know I need to be faster, and I think that is more than possible for next year. I will begin the year knowing that I want to go to nats and surprise people who saw me this year. (:

Now it's time to focus on winter training...and time to stock up on toe warmers.

CYCLISTS FOR OBAMA

Unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to take a photo of any of this, but I just HAD to share the happenings of this afternoon.

So Dan, Jamie, and I took our time heading to the track, since they wouldn't need much warmup, and I just wanted get in some ride time. Little did we know, Sarah Palin was making an appearance at the Home Depot Center. Traffic was backed up, and they wouldn't let us in our normal entrance. They redirected us to another entry, then made us park in a remote lot. After we unloaded our stuff, we headed over to where a bunch of other racers and even some officials were waiting around. We asked if perhaps they were waiting for an escort inside or something, but no, the entire center was on "lock-down" for Sarah Palin! So as we stood there on the corner, waiting indefinitely, most of us cursing Palin for making us miss our warmups, all of the sudden down the road comes a caravan of black SUVs with flashing lights. As the caravan rounds the corner where all of the cyclists are by this point very disgruntled and all yelling, "Obama!" we see sweet little Sarah Palin smiling and waving at us through the window of one of the SUVs!! I simply cracked up. Hilarious!

I wish I'd had a video camera. The whole situation was just priceless.

Jamie and Sam also pointed out that even though we are fervent supporters of Obama, and have strong negative feelings towards Palin, we're still kind of star-struck with the incident...

I can't wait for election day - man, are we gonna have a kick-ass Obama supporters party!

Racing Day 1

Today Jamie and Dan had their team pursuit with Kenny and Roman. I had my scratch race heat. Then Jamie had his scratch race heat.

I managed to sleep in until 11am!! I don't think I've done that since college! It worked out perfectly, though, because I had time to eat breakfast, check some email, respond to some classmates for my online course, and pack up before we headed out the track at 1pm.

Once we arrived, I did some laps on the track, and then relaxed while lots of racing happened. One of the things I hate about the track is trying to time my warm-up, and waiting around while all the other racing goes on. I ended up getting in a longer warm-up than I'd planned, but that's not really a bad thing. We were finally up, and a kind guy was my holder (holders for a mass start?!). It was helpful to have someone who knew what was going on to calmly talk to me, tell me to sit up, and basically help me mentally at the beginning. It was a heat of 13, and the top 8 would advance. I tried to remember all the advice I'd been given - don't work too hard, don't pull at the front, don't chase things, but be sure to follow certain people if they tried to attack. I was doing great, making the stronger people chase things down, sticking with the pack when the pace picked up, and responding when I needed to. But with about 4 laps to go, the pace just picked up and I couldn't hang... it sucked. I feel like a few months ago, I could have made it to the final, but my fitness seems to have faded, unfortunately.

I now know what I need to work on for next year, and maybe that even involves taking a mid-season break in racing. When the road season starts at the end of February, it's hard to peak in October...

Now I don't race again till Sunday, the last day of racing, in the points race. We shall see how that pans out...

Here's Jamie's pursuit team on the podium claiming silver:



And here's a blurry view of his scratch heat, which he WON by lapping the field with 5 other guys! The final is tomorrow:



Oh! And you know what else I learned? I was reminded that I LOVE racing! It feels so good! Next year I'm coming back, and I'm going to rock this.

ADT Event Center velodrome at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA

This afternoon we headed back to the track to get in a training session. Annette was kind enough to help me navigate the track by taking me on a few jumps. Jamie, Roman, Dan, and Kenny practiced their team pursuit pace. It was crowded. I also bumped [figuratively] into Leigh, which was a nice surprise! A bunch of people I met in Minnesota have come as well. It's fun to see people I know here. And after this week, I'll have ridden on 5 different velodromes! That's a lot of new people. (:

I'm still waiting to see if we'll be running heats tomorrow for the scratch race.

Here are our pretty Tiemeyer bikes; the view is from our little corral, facing the homestraight:



And this is the view as you walk through the tunnel, facing corners one and two:



Tomorrow I may try to get some good photos of the Jamie and Dan's team pursuit, though the shutter speed on this camera is somewhat slow.

Chillaxin' in LA

Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Los Angeles for Elite Track Nationals (or, as many people call it, "Track Nats," which sounds kind of like a VD...heh). Anyways, it was apparently the hottest day of the year, and we were sweating as we loaded all of my, Jamie's, and Dan's gear into the Chevy Trailblazer (which the kind lady at the rental place upgraded us into for free).

We stopped at the track in Carson to get in a quick spin, and I got a feel for what my traction speed is -- my rear wheel slipped multiple times, but I managed to stay upright. Luckily I don't think it'll be a problem keeping my speed up during our races. : p

Then we headed to our host house in Cypress. It's a nice home, with a pool that takes up over half the back "yard":



I even went for a swim this morning. The thermometer now shows that today has bumped yesterday to the second-hottest day of the year...

Soon we're headed back to the track to get in a workout before today's session of racing begins. Vroom! : D Hopefully I'll remember to take some photos this time, and I'll post them when I get back.

Boo on colds.

I'm sick. It's annoying. But enough of the complaining, take this quiz!

http://www.bunkbeds.net/velociraptor/index.php

Is the world falling apart?

It almost feels like it.

The death of a young person, filled with love for others and a love of life.

Hurricanes and their aftermath ravaging friends' homes.

Our rapidly declining economy, with large financial institutions flailing and failing.

This frustrating strike with no end in sight, and not knowing whether we will strike as well in December.


I feel so helpless. What am I supposed to do? Everything is so much bigger than any of my influences or abilities.


At least the weather in Seattle has been beautiful lately. Going on something like 2 weeks of constant sun and perfect temperatures. And my track fitness is showing, I think. Only 2 weeks to Nationals.


The service was so nice yesterday, listening to others recount their memories of Ryan. Lots of tears, but smiles and laughs as well.


Small things. But that's all it is, sometimes, eh?

My Teammate, a National Champion!

I'm sure she'll be posting all about it on her own blog, but I wanted to brag for her. Ms. T is the new Women's Masters Champion in the Pursuit for her age group!

Portland and Seward Park

Quick recap.

Saturday was the Alpenrose Qualifier for Elite Track Nationals. Through their interesting system to try to get as many people qualified as possible, I managed to qualify in the scratch race. So I'm headed to LA in October for a beating with Liz and Jen! I can't wait - I think it's going to be an amazing experience, no matter how I perform.

Sunday I raced the end-of-season Seward Park crit. It was my second race as a Cat 3, and a hill-repeat crit to boot. Even though I got dropped, I managed to put out some crazy power numbers, so I'm pretty happy with my performance in the end. Hopefully I can use that power and some good prep to get ready for nats!

Tonight: a field test. Thursday: motorpacing. Friday: racing. Sunday: final road race of the season.

Then it's time to focus, and head into the homestretch of the track season. (:

Photos from Manzanita

Well, first we had to get there. On I-5 around Kent we saw this awful sight:


Then closer:


And the gutted double-bus:


But we finally made it to the Oregon coast, and Jamie, Claire, and Tai cozied up on the couch to watch some Olympics:


Then Jamie and I did some riding - Saturday it was north to Canon Beach, and Sunday it was south to Tillamook:





What a great break from everything!

(Photos courtesy of my new iPhone!)

Manzanita Adventure

This weekend Jamie, Claire, and I drove the scenic route to Manzanita, Oregon. It was gorgeous, and Jamie and I did some great riding. But there was a bit of traffic on the way out, and now we're stuck in a really frustrating traffic jam between Olympia and Tacoma. Teh sux0r! Pics to come.

So much to write about!

There's the FSA Grand Prix, the State TTT, all the hubub about Critical Mass, and my awesome boyfriend. I'm too tired to write a comprehensive report about everything, so I'll do the best I can with the time and energy I've got...

Chronologically:

The FSA Grand Prix was amazingly fun. I was able to compare myself to some of the strongest women in US track racing, plus some from around the world. Like I said in last Friday's report, I bettered my Individual Pursuit time, we placed in my first ever Team Pursuit despite a flub on the last lap where we passed the other team on the track, and I helped out Jen in the points race just a li'l bit. Saturday was even better, with a fun and fast scratch race (where I did WAY too much work), a miss and out (where I'm always learning - this time it was learning to pay more attention, and learning that I still need more fitness), and my first ever Women's Madison!

Let me tell you about the Madison: it consists of teams of 2 racers each, competing in a points race (every X number of laps there are sprints for points across the start-finish line). One rider on each team is racing at a time, while the other rider is "on relief," rolling along slowly at the top of the track. To relieve the rider who is racing, the relief rider accelerates as the racing rider is approaching, they link hands, and the racing rider transfers her momentum to the relief rider via an arm sling, and then the relief rider becomes the racer. See a photo of Jen relieving me here. It's hard to understand without someone showing you in person, or just watching the race, but I think you get the general idea - a relay race. This race is FAST, as you can see by the pain on ALL the riders' faces if you flip through Amara's photos. It's basically one and a half HOT laps, and then you do an exchange and your partner is up, while you try to recover as quickly as possible before you're thrown into the melee again.

The women's Madison had 9 teams participate, which I think is an incredible turnout. In the late evening, it was shortened to a 5x8, which means a 40-lap race with sprints every 8 laps (on our 400m track). We managed to pull off 4th place (with prize money of $100!), even contesting 3rd for a short while, and losing to 3 extremely strong teams of women who'd been winning all weekend.

Also exciting was watching Jamie in his 40 lap scratch race. LAST year at this same extravaganza he won that race in a spectacular showing, where he was in a 2-man break for the majority of the race, then completed the final laps solo as the pack surely gained on him. In the final lap, coming down the home straight towards the finish line, he was so nearly caught, but held off the sprinters by mere meters for the win. THIS year, there were constant attacks and various breakaways, with the pack chasing when it wanted, and letting up as it saw fit. Jamie, lacking teammates, had to choose which attacks to chase, when to bridge, and all that stuff. He was in a break for a while that kept growing with people bridging across, and was finally swallowed up by the pack again. Later in the race, he got into really good break with some strong guys, that you just knew would stay away. They rang the bell for a prime with 4 laps to go, and Jamie took it - wohoo! $40 richer! There was a weird crash, in which only Emile went down, and he managed to get back in, but it was too close to the end. On the final lap, the break came out of turn 2, and Jamie was in perfect position. Out of turn 4, he was coming around the leaders, and it was a nose-to-nose sprint for the line, where he beat Adrian by a small but certain margin! I was so excited, and screaming my head off as I spun on my trainer to warm up for my Madison. YAY JAMIE!!!

We got home late, after stopping for Taco Truck (dinner), and I managed to get into bed by 1:15am. But with the racing still running through my head, I couldn't fall asleep till after 2. I had to set my alarm for a 5:45am wake-up, so that I could make it to the Team Time Trial (TTT) on time, down in Elma (ugh!). I managed to get a front flat on the 0.5-mi ride to the starting line, had to sprint back to the car to get another wheel that I had luckily stuck in there at the last minute, got some help throwing it on and pumped it up, then sprinted back to the start with about 3 seconds to turn my bike in the right direction and clip in -- NO exaggeration. My exhausted legs got me dropped from the paceline a few miles after the turn-around halfway, but I did my part, and we had a good time.

I was going to put something in here about the Critical Mass incident, but I'm running out of time, and this is getting long, so suffice it to say that BOTH the riders and the driver seem to be at fault, and I really wish people who know nothing about those kinds of rides, or the situation, would stop passing judgment on it.

As for my awesome boyfriend -- well, I already wrote about his incredible win on Saturday night in the scratch race. Then he and his teammates pulled of 2nd place in the State TTT, after a team of the strongest time trialists in the Pacific Northwest. Plus, he brought me a slice of CHOCOLATE cake from his office party on Monday morning, helps me out with all my bike issues, and is an all-around great guy. I just thought he deserved some blog-time in the form of a big thank-you. I don't think he knows how appreciative I am of all that he does for me - including putting up with me on Monday mornings when I don't want to go back to work (or really any morning when I'd rather stay in bed and sleep than wake up and do anything). Thanks, baby, you're the best.

On that note, it's time to get psyched up for Friday night, the schedule for which looks meager compared to last week's racing. Let's rock!

Monday Morning

Coming off such a crazy weekend of racing is difficult, especially when all I want to do is eat, sleep, and ride my bike, but I still have to get up and go to work to earn a paycheck. (Yes, I hear you: at least I have a paycheck to earn. Blah.) I hope this gets better once I have something meaningful to do at work. Here's to Friday (when I not only start my new position, but also get back to the racing).

Weekend report is forthcoming. I'm trying to actually accomplish something - anything - at work today, despite how it may appear.

In the meantime, you can appreciate this crazy photo of me in the Madison.

Quick Post for Friday

Exhausted. Realized I already am up on last year's performance. I set a new PR for the individual pursuit by 11 seconds. I won $10 in the Team Pursuit (with Ms. T and Ms. N). And I was actually something of a factor in the points race, which my teammate took 3rd in - SWEET. Tomorrow: 20 lap scratch, miss and out, and MADISON!

Jumping Jitterbugs!!

I'm having pre-race jitters and it's only Wednesday! Racing starts at 1pm Friday with the Individual and Team Pursuits. At least they start us off nice and easy with the non-mass-start events.

I spoke with Coach yesterday and have been trying to become more mentally prepared since our talk. I know my body is ready. I am more on form than I have ever been. All I can do now is focus; channel my (nervous) energy towards concentration, speed, and racing smart.

I was looking at last year's results, largely to figure out how many international names were there, and how many girls did well whom I normally race with. I realized I actually did better than I thought (in the mass start events, at least -- the individual events were a disaster). But I was still a long ways from qualifying for Nationals. I know I need to believe that I can do it in order to even get anywhere near the ADT center, ergo the mental preparation. Building on my lesson(s) learned from last weekend, I am reminding myself over and over to never give up. I watched Jennie Reed's World Championship-winning Keirin about 10 times this morning: she never relinquishes her position, and even when she has to take the long way around for an entire lap, she doesn't give up; she JUST KEEPS FIGHTING. And then she wins the rainbow jersey. It's so inspiring to watch.

So, there's my midweek rant. I'm nervous. I pictured myself heading towards the line with Jen and Liz for the finish of the Team Pursuit and I could feel my heart in my throat. But I will focus on my fitness, which is great. I will focus on eating right, which I can control. I will focus on getting more sleep (which I really need to do). And I will focus.