Gearing for the Tucson Bike Classic. 8 minute prologue today… who knew 8 minutes could hurt so much?

On the bike during the TT and Worlds, proudly flyin' the SKN colors

After a great few months of winter training, I’ll be starting my national race calendar at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in a couple weeks. In the meantime, a few local races and training rides have been preparing me well for the 2010 season. I’ve been busy lately with last minute book edits (it just went to the printer yesterday!) for AS GOOD AS GOLD, publicity preparation, teaching journalism at the local community college, renting my home to visiting athletes, and rockin’ and rollin’.  That’s right. I’m in a band. We’re all cyclists, hence The Psycholists. Adrian Schumacher on guitar, Rene Ortega on bass, Mike Welborn on vocals, and as for me…I’m a drummer (since age ten). Had a couple bands in college, but haven’t played for a number of years due to the lack of space for a drum set. Drums; the only thing more menacing to travel with than a bike. Anyway, I’ll have photos up soon. Thanks for checking in…more soon.

So happy to be at Worlds! About halfway on the TT... coming up on the big TV screen. Hard not to watch yourself race! Note the great crowd. Wish women's races always had this turnout.

Wonderminion, Guiseppina Grassi (MEX), and KB. Guiseppina was my roommate for the Venezuela races last year. She's also an Olympian, so that rocks.

Warming up in the funky smelling athletes tent

Quick post, as brain is shutting down for the day. I finished the TT in 37th place, five spots better than last year. At this rate I will take the podium at age 41 (hey, if Jeannie Longo can do it…). the course was very good, very challenging and with a brutal climb that just didn’t seem so bad in practice. A few sharp out-of-aerobars corners. Hard to get a rhythm on, as it seems my watts jumped from 300 to 85 to 250 all in a few pedal strokes. But Worlds courses should be that challenging, so no complaints! The best and worst part was the weather; total sunshine, but freaking hot. Tropical. In Switzerland?! Mid-Eighties. Yes, it gets that hot here. Great memories of the 41 minute sufferfest include our homestay family, the Petroboni clan, out on the course with a “Go St. Kitts and Nevis” poster and tons of verbal enthusiasm. Great fan support, and wonderful tech support from Wonderminion, Winston, Reggie and James. I am honored and proud to be here. And to my inspiration, Colleen… you were in my thoughts all race long. Thank you for showing me what true courage and strength is all about. Road race on Saturday, keep ya posted! September 18 Off to Switzerland!

Love thy Baggage Handler: Never underestimate the power of kindness. And free candy. Since taping this note/gift to my bike box, my bike has arrived at 99% of my races on time.

The cold, hard truth: The entire year of work I’ve done leading up to this race doesn’t mean a damn thing. My fate at the World Championships lies in one person, The Airport Baggage Handler. If this man or woman does not feel like putting my bike on the same flight as me, then I’m pretty much screwed. But I am not going down without a fight, no. I have learned something in all my bike box travels. Kindness gets you far…free candy gets you farther. Literally. Since adapting the Note of Kindness and and taping a candy bar or Sport Beans to my bike box, my luggage has gotten to my races on time. The method isn’t perfect, but hey, neither is anything. Ready bikes? Let’s go to Switzerland! September 7 Tucson, AZ

This is a soothing picture. I am hoping a prospective employer is looking at it right now, feeling soothed, and will offer me a job.

Home sweet home…I’m back in town. Loved every minute of my last week in NY. But reality just set in. If I don’t find a job soon, bad things will happen. I have about 15.2 million resumes out, but I figure posting a cover letter here might help. Or not. Like everything else in life, it’s all about perspective.

Green Lake. Adirondack League Club. Pretty.

September 1 New York City While in the city to check out the proofs of my book cover at ESPN, I had the chance to see three of my favorite people. My nephew Alex, his mommy Kasia, and Kathrine Switzer, the woman who broke the gender barriers of marathon running when she entered the all-male Boston Marathon in 1967. Kathrine rocks. She’s helping me navigate a few paths in my quest to get more media coverage for female cycling. If you haven’t read her book, Marathon Woman, definitely pick it up on Amazon. Feel free to buy my book, too. You’ll actually pay more for postage than my book. But whatever. Makes a good coaster.

Kathrine Switzer, the first lady of marathon, and I exchange books.

Not yet 2 and already a swinger. At Sea's in Brooklyn with my nephew, Alex. Coolest restaurant furniture ever.

August 30 Chris Thater Criterium & Mini Golf with Dad

Let's Play Nutty Putty!

On the podium: Tina Pic, Brooke Miller, Teresa Cliff-Ryan. Not on the podium: me.

I birdied the back nine. I'm not sure I know what that means. I just know I'm better at mini golf than criteriums.

August 23 Inlet, NY (Adirondack Mountains)

A bike store and a flower store! Genius!

Wyatt Williams; toddler, legend, sports fashion icon.

How cool do you have to be to have Skee Ball in your basement? Personally, I can only dream of being cool enough to someday have a basement.

I went to visit my college friends, Jacaranda and Brett, in Saranac Lake a couple days ago. They have an actual, carnival regulation, full-size Skee Ball machine in their basement. My friends know better than to put me in a room with bright, shiny objects, so needless to say I was fascinated for hours. Is it bad to be in your mid-thirties and favor picking up Skee Balls over babies? That’s rhetorical, thank you.

Jacaranda and future Skee Ball World Champion, Cade Palmateer.

July 28 New York City The Zoolander Files

Professional make up, good lighting and free sports bras. What more could a girl want? I'm in NYC at the photo shoot for my book cover.

After nearly three years since my book deal began, today was the photo shoot for the cover of “As Good as Gold”. Though I still have to wait till April until it comes out, today I got to play Model for a Day. The shoot was in midtown, and the photographer Aaron Goodman and his staff were terrific. They had hair and make up for me, which is a hell of a treat for a woman who wears cycling clothes all day. Nancy, the make up artist, did wonders with the airbrush gun as I was literally coated in foundation. And for the shots that required an athletic glow, I was sprayed with “sweat.” Though I offered to go run around outside to garner the glistening affect, Nancy preferred to use the spray bottle. You know how a rag looks after cleaning a bike chain? My washcloth looked like that after taking off my mascara. It was awesome! When Nancy did my hair, she parted it on the right. I’ve always had a left part. When I mentioned this, I was informed by one of the girls “That’s the wrong side.” Now, I’ve known for a long time that there is a lot wrong with my head, but I didn’t know it was that part. How did I get to be 34 years old and not know this about hair parts? I guess this is the consequence of having a bowl haircut for the first six years. Anyway. Also amusing was lunch; sushi was ordered for the photo crew and I got three big rolls. The staff looked at me funny and smiled, and one of them confessed that “most models don’t eat lunch.” To which I replied, “Are you gonna finish that?”

I have the wrong part? Ack! Fix it, quick, it's been 34 years!

We did about five poses in different outfits, a few with my bike, a few with a wheel, and a few shots with me holding equipment from all of the sports I tried during my Olympic quest. Even a regulation handball was in the mix. (I got to keep the sportsbras. Score!) and I was instructed to look “Sassy but not too silly, determined but not too intense, happy but not a ham, and pretty but not too glamorous.” I assured them the latter was not a problem. But the first three might be. After eight hours, I’m just hoping one of the 400 shots turned out decent. I am amazed what make up can do! In fact, after the shoot I cycled a few loops of Central Park (with make up still on, and real sweat mixing with the fake sweat). Always great to be in NYC, and thanks ESPN, for the terrific day.

Aaron Goodman (with handball) and I (with swim cap) getting ready for the photo shoot of my book

July 26 Bend, OR Cascade Classic Race went well, we did a pretty decent job as a rookie team of four against all the pro teams of six riders. Marilyn did especially well on Stage 7, Burritoville. Now that’s how you end a stage race.

Marily displays proper stage race recovery

July 23 Bend, Oregon Cascade Classic

Tracey, me, Melanie and Marilyn at the Cascade Classic

Bend is just plain super, what a great town. Lots of trees. I like trees. I also like the fact that I’m talking about my love of trees rather than a disastrous start to a race. This is good. I’m here for the Cascade Classic, a grueling six-day stage race, with my teammates Marilyn and Melanie (and a spare guest rider we picked up, Tracey). Better still, we have Chris (Marilyn’s husband) on hand to act as our manager. It is so much easier to do a stage race when you have support, as it gets difficult to think straight after a hard day of racing. Thank you, Chris! Today is day three, we had a 16 mile time trial and Mel, Marilyn and I all finished within 30 sec of each other, placing in the 30s. The race started out with 120 entered riders, and now we are down to 89 after six crashes on the first day. I was in one of them but managed to hop/straddle/dance my way out of colliding with pavement. Meow. Three more stages to go…

Chris McDonald, mega champ pro triathlete, is contemplating a career switch to being my professional tire inflator. I wish.

"I'll take one stage win with a side of whoop-ass" Melanie displays our nifty race radios.

July 10 Adirondack Mts, New York

You can't see me, but I can see you. Here's my happy place in the Adirondack Mountains.

I am hiding. Alone. In the woods. Resting. Riding. Reading. Writing. Thoreau’n down and living deliberately in an old Adirondack camp on a little lake in a little town where my family has come since before I ever knew what a bicycle was. There is electricity and running water and a even a rotary-dial telephone. And mice. I am happy. Today I had breakfast with a black bear. He climbed up onto the deck, in pursuit of my peanut butter toast. Bears should know better than to challenge me for food, especially breakfast. I took my peanut butter toast (and myself) inside, and watched him through the window. I coulda taken him if I had to, of course. His claws were longer than mine, though, which repressed my urge to pet him. He was about the size of a German Shepard, on the cusp of the age when a mama bear decides to kick the cubs out of the den. Decided it was best not to look around for mama. July 5, Fitchburg, MA I GOT A $20 FINE FOR MY PONYTAIL?!?! http://www.examiner.com/x-3266-Womens-Cycling-Examiner~y2009m7d14-Want-to-race-with-long-hair-Fine July 3 Fitchburg, MA

This is not Fitchburg, MA. But let's pretend it is.

I’m at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, a 4-day stage race an hour west of Boston. A great event with stellar competition. Unfortunately, it is pouring here. And alas, I’m a bit under the stellar radar. Going from the heat and humidity of St. Lucia to the damp rain of New England has left me with a bit of an energy-sapping cold, so my hopes for a strong finish here have shifted to hopes of a pack finish. Ah, so goes a life in cycling! Last year I came in 14th. As of today, I think I’m somewhere in the 70s. Better to laugh about this than cry. I’m almost out of tissues anyway. Tomorrow is the road race, and the criterium is on Sunday. Hopefully the sun will come out and dry all the roads and sinuses. As for a not-so-sunny side note, Winston discovered that the race director of the OECS Caribbean Championships published the race results WITHOUT including the women in the standings. So let’s re-publish the correct top 20 list right here.

Today we’re heading over to St. Lucia to compete in the OECS Caribbean Championships. “We” is Winston (team manager), Reggie, James, Kristina, Monica and me representing St. Kitts and Nevis. Strangely, the OECS did not include a women’s division for this race. When Winston gave our team member names to the race director, the race director replied “Why are you bringing women?” Well, because the race application refered to rider entrants as “he or she.” The race director was not happy. He has not created a women’s category. But we’re going anyway! Because St. Kitts and Nevis only has two male elite riders, we three women are riding in the men’s race to comprise a “full” team. It’ll be interesting to see how the other male cyclists treat us. Once my helmet goes on, I could care less about the gender of my competition. Hopefully they’ll feel the same. Probably not the race director, though. What century is this, again? Ok…let’s go to St. Lucia! This is my favorite Caribbean drink. Ginseng Up! Its like ginger ale, but with something special in it. Maybe crack? Could explain my severe addiction to it.

Ginseng Up! My happy drink. Sadly, available only in the Caribbean.

June 21 Nevis, West Indies

Monica Ceccone, me, Kristina Stoney celebrate our road race podium finishes

The next generation of Nevis's cycling women!

The first national championships of SKN sees a great turn out of cyclists

Today was the National Championship road race event…65km which means two laps around the volcano island of Nevis. Because our federation is so small, the men and women started the race together. After the first lap, 5 remained in the lead…Reggie, James, Gerard, Monica and myself. The race was open to traffic, church-goers and free roaming goats. I have yet to decide which were the most hazardous, but we all escaped unscathed. Reggie and Gerard finished 1 and 2 for the men, I captured the women’s title and came in 3rd out of the dudes. It was a great day. Despite the fact I didn’t realize there were ants in my granola until the leftover milk displayed them. Good protein. Breakfast of champions: Ants + Athlete Octane=national champion. June 20 Nevis, West Indies Today was the St. Kitts and Nevis National Time Trial Championships, and let me just say that one has not lived until they have done a bike race in June in the Caribbean at 11:00am. Kinda hot. I think I lost 10lbs in the 20K event. It was a great day, though, as a couple women gave me a run for my money! I managed to win, but the highlight of the day was watching about 15 juniors take to the start line… proof that the sport of cycling is not only alive and well in the Caribbean, but beginning to thrive. Thanks to the hard work of Winston Crooke, Reggie Douglas, Greg Phillip and an amazing troop of volunteers, more kids are getting on bikes than ever before. Some of those bikes even come from Tucson! Check out the great photos…

A couple SKN juniors in GST gear

Reggie Douglas and James Weekes, SKN Nat'l Champs

Sweet helmet, Reg!

June 17 Nevis, West Indies (Caribbean)

National flag of St. Kitts and Nevis. Sweet!

Gerard, 18, of "GST SKN" gets fit by Reggie. Donations can change the world, mon.

Greetings from Nevis, down here in the heart of the Caribbean. I’m in my homeland for this weekend’s National TT and Road Race Championships, and it is great to be back among the smiling faces of the SKN cycling federation and the wonderful people of Nevis. My only enemy here is the rooster outside my window who has decided dawn arrives at 3am. I am thinking chicken for dinner. The greatest sight upon arriving in Nevis was heading over to Winston’s bike shop, Wheel World, and seeing a young man in one of Tucson’s club kits (GST). In March, my Tucson cycling buddies and I gathered over 800lbs of cycling gear donations to send to St. Kitts and Nevis. I am honored and proud to say it is all going to great use. A few months ago, the kids here were riding in jeans and flip flops. Now, they all have proper cycling kits, shoes and helmets. For me, seeing kids riding in the clothes of Tucson clubs gives me the most wonderful feeling of being both far away and right at home all at the same time. Every now and then, someone gives me the “How can you represent a country other than the USA?” speech. I tell them when it comes to furthering sport, youth, and the human race, it isn’t about “America only.” It’s about “America and…” I think these pictures prove it. Here is Gerard, 18, wearing Team GST of Tucson cycling gear and getting fit into a pair of shoes donated by Fly V Australia pro, Curtis Gunn. Doing the cleat fit is Reggie Douglas, the national triathlon and cycling champion of St. Kitts and Nevis. And here is Reggie flying the TriSports.com colors.

Reggie Douglas, rockin' the TriSports.com jersey in Nevis thanks to Seton and Debbie Claggett

June 14 Stillwater, MN In and effort to cheer me up from a week of tough racing, one of my Tucson cycling buddies sent me a great quote from the Tao: “In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.” Alas, today’s dropped something was me. Thus, my acquired learning for today is that no Chinese philosopher has ever raced a bicycle. Either that or I’m the most enlightened Taoist this world has ever seen. While the Tao approach works for some, my enlightenment seems to come directly from the D’oh. Still, the Stillwater race was lots of fun. With a hill of an 18% grade, the 1.2 mile course was more of a circuit race than a criterium. Which was just fine with me. I was able to stay in the race for 30 of the 40 minutes before the Cat 2 & 3 men came by and lapped me. It was a good way to end a rough race week. But here is a better way to end a fun week in Minnesota–the wonderful home state of Prince, Al Franken, and Target. My college buddy Lyndsay invited me to spend a few great days with her family on Christmas Lake. What does one do on a lake in Minnesota? Go surfing, of course.

Surfing in Minnesota, who knew?

Lyndsay shows me how its done, yo!

Walnut Grove, MN 2009. Likely not the Ingalls homestead.

June 11: Minneapolis; The Lemonade Criteriums After the disappointing situation of my NVGP race, my teammate Melanie Meyers suggested that I see if any citizens races are taking place in Minneapolis this week so at least I could get some racing in while I’m here. Ooh, more crits! Great idea! Just what my psyche needs. But in fact, she is right. The only way to get over a bad race is to race again and do less bad. I call this “rebound racing” and it either works great or leads to a breakdown. Either works well for a writer, so no harm done. Turns out there are two crits, Mankato and Stillwater, and the race director has allowed me to race with the Cat 3 men. I’m sure those dudes will be thrilled. We will race just before the pros start, to keep the spectators entertained, so I’m basically the jester to my own profession. Awesome. Looking forward to it anyway. So that’s the plan for Saturday and Sunday…take the lemons of NVGP and make myself some Cat 3, jester-filled, criterium lemonade. Today, Casey, Bec and I got a terrific bike tour of downtown Minneapolis from our homestay hosts, Chris and Andy. What a great city with friendly people. And weird art. Here is a shot of a giant Spoon and Cherry sculpture, which is also a fountain and clearly has no creative innuendos.

Casey, Bec and I check out the spoon n' cherry sculpture in Minneapolis

Casey had her first experience with trolley tracks, too.

Fall down, go boom. Casey vs. trolley tracks.

June 10: Minneapolis; Nature Valley Gran Prix

KB and Bec at the crit start. Now would be a good time to wipe the smile off my face.

Well. No cyclist can escape a bad race day. Here’s the low-down.

Ah, the posture of the disappointed.

Bec Domange (AUS) cruising the crit for Specialized/Bicycle Haus.