Notes to Self : Lessons

When traveling to NRC races, one Cat 4 lady racer must remember a few things:

the field size will probably be bigger than you've ever raced before, and that will FREAK YOU OUT.

the term "free lap" may or may not come into play, but if there's the option: you take it instead of chasing back on

the risk of crashing is much more likely because there are more people

evidence pictured below :

coulda been worse!

...and the final lesson:
...the amount of fun you will have will be exponentially greater!

Tulsa Tough lived up to its name and while I didn't take home any results to speak of, I certainly took home some serious lessons in how to race my bike.

Can't wait til next year!

Tough.

This weekend I find myself conjuring strength from the buffalo spirits along the Oklahoma plains.

Tulsa Tough, one of the best crit races in the country, will be blessed with me on its Cat 4 lady start list. Meanwhile, my teammates ventured to see our Team Shaman, Mark White Eagle, in West Texas. Thanks guys. I'll need the extra blessings.



If you wanna be tough, you gotta act tough...which is why I've surrounded myself with the handsome gentleman of GCCA/Toyota. On a publicity ride this morning the team flexed their training secrets, doning the red and black colors of Source Endurance. There's no need to hide in hotel rooms. These guys have 'win' written right there on their jerseys.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

The sweet taste...

And so as the temperatures rose close to 140 degrees in Austin, TX, the women of the Cat 4 peloton line up at the Driveway for our weekly race.

Beads of sweat drip down the cheeks of the racers.

The winds were calmed and the trees silenced in respect for the event that was about to happen...

GO!

30 minutes (yes, only 30) of hard cranking, pedal mashing, and the results threw me up on the podium with a 3rd place finish after a pack sprint! It was an awesome feeling, especially having my teammate, Bettina Hodginskya, right there at the finish leading me out!

Inspiration for this week's victory include : watching my extraordinary BF, Jed Rogers, take 1st place in the Matrix May Cup Track Omnium at the Superdrome in Frisco, TX last weekend...and then winning the sprint tournament that Sunday. All that driving and filming was well worth it!

Jed Rogers wins the CAT3 8 Lap Scratch Race at the ATRA Nationals from Toyota Cycling Team on Vimeo.

Just a taste of what's to come with Tulsa Tough weekend just a week away...

Best of times, Worst of times...

Over the past two months I've withheld all the stories and happenings in my life and you've probably been asking...

Am I being selfish?
Have I given up on this whole "racer" blog thing?
Do I not care about my loyal following and tifosi?
Have I developed a successful method of avoiding the paparazzi?

Or maybe I just went on vacation...

Well, whatever I've been up to over the past 2 months, I can tell you this. I've recommited myself to creative writing to a faceless, cyber audience for awhile...

One worthy event that has taken my time recently is bloggin' about the travels of Flat Aaron. Flat Aaron came to me in a letter from my youngest nephew from the great North. It was now my responsiblity to show this young flat creation of a youthful mind the sites of Austin, and to document such adventures.

(The letter read as follows)

Dear Amy

Thank you for taking my flat person. I won my secent basketball game I really like playing with my legos have fun with flat aaron

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

Really need to work on that grammatical punctuation, little one...

Never ceasing to capture a creative opportunity, created the blog FLAT AARON TAKES AUSTIN...

It's not like I was cheating or anything, think of it like when a musician collaborates with others outside his band to create a new sound for a new crowd. (This one consists of 4th graders)

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

Other events include the unexpected death of my dad, Fred. It's been difficult but with my family and friends close we are working through it

Trying times and trials...

There's a point in an athlete's training that you never want to encounter...

Over-reaching (also related to, but not quite as bad as: Overtraining).

It is in this condition that what once was a normal, happy go-lucky girl on bike turns into without notice a lackadaisical, whiny baby, that could be clinically diagnosed as bi-polar, but won't be because a day or two off the routine or maybe some chocolate would fix the problem.

While I don't feel as if I reached the point of over-reaching, my body did say "no" to the whining and complaining this week by acting out and slapping me with a bladder infection. Looking for comfort in a blog entry is what I've resorted to, understanding that no amount of support from friends, hugs from lovers, or antibiotics from the team doctor are going to turn my mood around. I've made the conscious choice to say "yes" to some tender loving care...

What does that look like?

Let me illustrate...

I don't who coined this phrase, but "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"

Introducing the newest of quad powered machines to my arsenal. The Time Trial bike.

This extremely fast, well fashioned apparatus will assist me in my goal of top 10 finishes in the mid-Spring stage races. Not only does it look bad ass, but I look TOTALLY bad ass riding it.

Who's got time to be a big whiny baby when there's new bikes to tinker with in the evenings??

Definitely not this happy go lucky girl...

TWM Ladies Quad Squad Dominate!

Decorated with medals of glory, quads of steel, and hearts of gold the members of Team Wooly Mammoth's womens squad dominated this past weekend's annual Pace Bend Road Race.

Because of its crowd pleasing race course and ample availability of sand volleyball courts this event brings out the most fierce competitors. As you can imagine the Wooly Ladies are of no exception.

After a brief warmup on the sand volleyball courts, the ladies staged on a slick and rainy course :

Katiki Forrest
Bettina Hodges
Jessica "Der Hammer" Russellini
and myself.

Grueling attacks and counterattacks resulted in a strong 1st place finish and automatic upgrade to Katiki Forrest. The rest of the ladies won't be far behind with Bettina placing 4th, and myself placing 9th and Jessica 10th. As we accepted are medals we were escorted to an impromptu "warm down/photo op" next to the finish line. (pictured below)

There are already rumors of a TWM calendar coming out. With ladies like this....who wouldn't want one??

Crashes, Champions, and Competitors...it must be racing season

The guns have been fired, the wheels are turning, and legs are being blown apart. My first official racing season started with a crash at the Tour of New Braunfels at the end of the month...crashing is one of those things that comes with racing your bike and it's best to get it out of the way first thing. It's the most ultra way to compete. My teammate, Katie Forrest, came back from the peloton and we worked hard to complete course. Success.



The injuries were minor and gave me the opportunity to try a different role as podium girl in the following week's race, the 138th Edizione of Belterra's Romantico Classico. The Wooly Mammoth women took 2 podium spots in both races this weekend, so even from the sidelines...I was a WINNER.



With a little help from our sponsor's at Austin Manual Therapy, I was able to get my shoulder and hip up and running to participate in another romantic event, the Valentine's Day University Oaks Criterium in San Antonio. Rubbing tires with the pavement and coming out incident free were the goals. Seeing Prancine and hearing my love, Jed, cheer me on each lap helped pushed me to the podium with a 3rd place finish.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.




MOST INITIMIDATING NEWS OF THE WEEK!
Jessica Russell, the final member of our quad exploding ladies team, is back and ready to thrash up some hills and destroy the flats. More on the outcome of this past weekend's races as soon as the photos and autographs subside...