The Whirlwind that was September.

Photo by Niki Frazier

First up was Lake Geneva. 

Photo by Amy Dykema

Didn't quite make the cut for the overall but received a little WORS cash.

 Firetower climb -  Photo by Skinnyski

My favorite race of the year, the Cheq 40.  I had reports during the race from a variety of individuals telling me I was in the top 10 (which turned out to be off by one or two places).  I've never experienced quite so many physically and emotionally draining battles with myself and the other women on the race course.  I rolled to the finish line 12th overall.  I'm still a little sad about it, but I'll be back next year.

Photo by Amy Dykema

The look of happiness masking the relief that I was finally done. 

Photo by Flame Photography

This last weekend was a double header - USGP and WORS Bear Paw.  On Saturday at USGP I spent 40 very hard minutes getting spanked by some pretty serious cross racers.  I can say hands down, I was one on the most skilled bike handlers in my race.  Unfortunately I was one of the weakest riders who went backwards on wide open flats sections.  The net result was 8/11 for Cat 2/3 women.  Ouch.

Photo by Niki Frazier

After Saturday's pounding, there was a little redemption for me in WORS #11 Bear Paw.  

I found myself riding the first lap with Lisa and Anna as we were sitting 3rd, 4th and 5th.  I grabbed 3rd a time or two but with no pre-ride, I wasn't riding well enough to hold it.  

On lap 2, Lisa and Anna dropped me on the last part of the climb.  Then they opened up some serious time on me on the flat leading to the singletrack.  I eventually made my way back to Anna for the rest of the lap.  

Going into the final lap, my bike wouldn't shift so I ran the climb while Anna rode away from me.  I spent of good part of that lap resigning to the fact that I'd probably have to settle for 5th.  But low and behold, I caught Anna half way through.  So for the rest of the race we battled it out - riding, running and sliding all around.  Anna made a small mistake and I slipped past her.  I turned on the juice a little, kept the mistakes to a minimum and was 4th when the dust settled.  Good stuff.

What's up next?  Two weeks off of training to transition into Cross season.  And Sheboygan!  I have no vested interested in the Elite Overall as I'm not in the running for a top 5.  But I do plan on bringing my detrained legs, pride and a little bit of left over Bear Paw confidence.  It's those miserable, cold, muddy and technically challenging races where you find out what you are made of.  More importantly, you can use that knowledge in many areas of your life...racing and otherwise.

Did you know that this guy has a blog?

Look for him to do some damage on the WCA circuit this fall.

Back in Business

The business of blogging, that is.  There is really nothing like having your computer and back up system die at the same time.  I've been trying to put my computer life back together since June.   Lessons learned?  Have everything backed up in no less than two places.

It's hard to believe that mountain bike season will be over in a few short weeks and Cross is almost in the air.  I've had a pretty fun summer of racing.  And, as usual, I'm not doing as well as I would have liked.  But I can say without hesitation, the competition has been phenomenal this year.

There were lots of mediocre races finishes in June and July, but I was finally able to get a bit of a decent result at CamRock.  Home court advantage coupled with some training tapering being the primary factors for my solid result.

 

Every dog has their day....and I hope to have one or two more before the season ends.  

Overwhelmed but Making Progress.

 I've been a pretty lazy chick for the last few weeks.

 This whole knee situation has been a major irritation.

After a month off, I started riding again this week.....like a grandma.  That's O.K.  You have to take each moment as it comes.  I did get to rip my first singletrack of the season today.  I'm happy to report that CamRock is in fine shape.

As usual the projects have been piling up round me.


I'm no bike mechanic, but I play one every spring.  As the stable of bikes in the Bach household grows, so does my stress level.  Too much to do, too much to fix, too much to upgrade.

Some fairly substantial tasks were undertaken this weekend.

Out with the old.

In with the new.

Who knew that wheel bags were multi-purpose?

I have Beautiful VMO's.

That is what my physical therapist tells me.  Unfortunately my right Vastus Medialis Oblique is very upset with me right now.

 

This problem is generally not common in cyclists (more so in runners), but lots of force intervals on the trainer and skipping my usual wintertime gym routine has brought me to my current condition.  90 days of fitness was fun, but next year I'll return to lifting heavy in the gym.

If you are a cyclist, you probably have beautiful VMO's too and they are probably currently working better than mine.  And you probably are racing at Iola today.  This would have been my 8th Iola in a row.  Sitting on the sidelines is not one of my strong suits but bike maintenance, grocery shopping and laundry are top priorities of the day.  I will be eagerly looking at WORS results before I go to bed tonite.  I'm like a sad puppy that was left home alone all day.  Pitty party for one, please.

Good luck to all those racing at Iola.

Wors finale.....SheVegas!

Sheboygan has always been a special course for me. A few years ago I gave up multi-sport at the doctor's urging (running was bad for my feet) and took up mountain biking. I wasn't sure I liked it very much at first. I wasn't good at it compared to my friends who had been mountain biking for years - my legs were always full of scrapes and bruises from falling. After trying a few races in 2003 & 2004, I attempted my first full WORS season in 2005. The highlight of that year was when I took the overall win at Sheboygan, one of the more technical courses on the WORS circuit. This victory was especially sweet because earlier in the summer, the doctors thought I had MS...which had derailed my training in July and August that year. After winning that race, I was hooked. I wanted to move up in class, I wanted to train, I wanted to rock the single track, I wanted to kick ass. More importantly, I was in love with this sport. Winning that race was a big deal to me. I'll never forget how it made me feel and how it motivated me over the winter to train for the next season.

Sheboygan 2005. That's me in the red and white jersey and red helmet with the tiny legs.


Fast forward to Sheboygan 2008. I warmed up with this girl and rolled to the start line just minutes before the race began. The nerves were dancing around in my stomach more than usual, even though I had a great pre-ride the day before. My technical riding hasn't been so hot and I don't think I'm alone in worrying about when and where the first Comp men are going to start passing me. Don said GO!!!! and the sprint for the hole shot was on. My start was better than normal and I was sitting right in the middle of the pack when we entered the single track. I rode my first lap smooth and fast, it was almost shocking and too good to be true....and it was... because on my second lap, I began to fall apart. Lap 2, I started off by sitting on April's wheel in the single track, almost feeling like I should pass her as she was a touch slower than me. Before I could act, we would hit the open sections and she would blow me freaking up (almost like it was the first time I had ever ridden a bike). That girl has a big motor on the flats and knows how to use it. I ate dirt a few times and subsequently watched April ride away. Patti and Christine passed me as I floundered. I was left to finish the lap by myself. My Sheboygan was slowly heading down the poop tube.

Picture courtesy of mountaingoat

On lap 3 I hunkered down and focused, which is hard to do when you have no carrot to chase. Ride it cleanly and keep pressing, I told myself. They have to be just up ahead. I obsessively eyeballed my heart rate monitor and made sure that my body was being pushed to its fullest. I ran up that bitch of a hill that SheVegans call the Equalizer for the 3rd time. (I have never attempted to ride the Equalizer during a race. In fact, it's just as fast for me to run it, if not faster. Though, it probably juices my legs more as I am not a runner). Shortly after I re-mounted my bike, I saw Christine in the quarry just ahead of me. In the past my approach would be to hammer up to her and try to immediately pass her. But my summer of getting schooled by road racers who were weaker than me has taught me to settle down and use my head. So I followed her at a bit of a distance. I needed to recover from running the Equalizer. I moved closer and was just a few feet behind her for the remainder of the lap. Lucky for me, Christine never looked back....she too was drinking her bottle and recovering in the single track. As we headed onto the service road for the beginning of lap 4, Christine turned and looked at me. Then I fucking punched it with all I had (the song "drop it like it's hot" kept running through my head as I told myself to "pedal RB, pedal".....at least I entertain myself during these excruciating physical activities or perhaps it's just the dehydration talking). I wanted a nice gap before I got into the single track and I thought it might deflate her a bit. The last lap was pretty uneventful other than I felt great and rode great which is very unfamiliar territory for me. My little tactic worked as Christine never passed me. I kept seeing Patti ahead of me, but I was too tapped out to catch her. So I rolled to 12th out of 18 starters. While not fantastic finish for some, it's a solid result for me.

Picture Courtesy of Velogrrl. The Equalizer run-up. Except my legs are less tiny these days.

At the end of another mountain bike season, I have to remind myself not to stress over how I finished. It's not always about what place you took or didn't take....or who you passed or couldn't pass....sometimes it's just about the journey.

Retro Blogging. UCI CX and Shawano Wors.

A few weeks ago I decided to race Day 1 of the UCI Planet Bike CX Cup on Saturday followed by the Shawano WORS race on Sunday. I learned some very interesting things at my first official UCI race....like there are no feed zones. So say it's 90 degrees outside and you don't have a water bottle cage on your bike, you'll just have to suck it up and pretend that you're a camel. Of course all this information was relayed to me as I was sitting at the start line, so suck it up was all I could do. In fact, I sucked it up all the way to 5th place out of 16 starters in the Women's Cat 3 race. WooHoo! Price to enter the race - 30 dollars. Prize money won - 31 dollars. Net gain - one dollar. Sweet.

With a dollar in my pocket and white dehyration spittle crusted on my lips, I headed to my parents home in Green Bay for a some dinner and a good night of sleep before the WORS race. While I didn't have high hopes for Shawano, I didn't realize how smoked out I was going to feel after racing CX. The race started and I was motoring with everyone on the lead out, then the singletrack, and through the tunnel. When I hit the flat horse pasture I watched almost everyone in the field ride away from me and I had no answer. And to top it off I rode singletrack like a beginner. Result - DFL....and actually, I believe this was my first DFL in a mountain bike race ever. So I left Shawano with a mildly bruised ego, a nasty cold that would cost me a few training days, a realization that I suck on flats and no confidence heading into Sheboygan. At least I had a dollar in my pocket.

Border Battle

Picture courtesy of Mountaingoat.


It was a long drive to River Falls, but the single track was well worth the trip. I'm very happy to report that I didn't end up laying on the ground, dehydrated, writhing in agony like I did at Alterra. Unfortunately I didn't ride my bike very well through the single track...so once again I'm managed to bring up the caboose in the women's field. I meet with the surgeon on Friday so he can evaluate my MRI and EMG tests. If I put in as many hours on the bike as I do the doctor's office, I'd probably have my pro license by now.

At least my coach had a pretty good racing weekend. There is really nothing like a SSWC tattoo to top off your race.

Alterra and everything else.

I have been a bad summer blogger. Life has gotten way too busy and it's hard to find time to do anything else other than go to work, ride the bike and go to all my stupid doctor's appointments. So I guess a short recap of my summer is in order.

In June and July I tried to pass myself off as a cat 4 road racer. I've been putting quite a bit of training in since the spring, but unfortunately I still don't understand the fine details of racing on the road. So my results weren't exactly reflecting the shape that I've come to be in.

I tried my hand at the last two Wors races and my attempts were pretty unsuccessful. Leading up to the Alterra race, I'd been very sick. I ran out of water on my third lap and had to soft pedal my fourth lap sans anything to drink. I figured I drank over 70 ounces of fluid during that race and when I finished I really needed an IV. I'm probably not recovered from that episode.

Last week I showed up to Sunburst which has to be one of the most boring courses on the WORS circuit....which is super fine with me because I've only been able to mountain bike a handful of times in the last calendar year (stupid swollen wrist) and my technical riding skills have diminished to that of a citizen rider. After two laps, I pulled myself out of the race. My hydration was fine, my heart rate was fine, but my body was so exhausted I just couldn't continue. I've never experienced anything like that before. Plus I had a terrible stomach ache that wouldn't quit. As much as I love Muddy Cup coffee, I think that it is best consumed after a race and not before.

I finally had my appointment with the wrist surgeon from UW-Hospital. He is a sports medicine orthopedist and is also an avid cyclist. He ran me through a bunch of physical tests, looked at my x-rays, ordered an MRI and a nerve test. The MRI was actually pretty painful. I was in a super-contorted position for 45 motionless minutes. When the MRI was over I was numb wrist to shoulder....well, at least I'm not claustrophobic because that little tube they stick you in is pretty damn tiny. My nerve conduction is set for Tuesday. I'm a little concerned as I understand that this is an exceptionally painful test involving needles and electrodes. Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger, or something like that.

What all these annoying tests boil down to is that either my wrist is irritated or it's damaged....the surgeon is not sure which it is. So that means either complete rest or perhaps surgery followed by complete rest. The doctor said my "version" of rest isn't the same "version" of rest that is need to rest a ulnar nerve. At least he is a cyclist and understands how obsessive we can be.

Lake Geneva from the sidelines.

I headed to Lake Geneva this weekend with Wendy and Ryan. None of us raced due to a variety of circumstances but we certainly had a decent time camping, socializing and riding. Wendy and I took a easy lap on the citizen course so she could practice her singletrack skills. Ryan did a few laps of his own and managed to catch the wheel of an Alterra superstar. Camping was a little trying with the annoying rain showers. Sitting around the campfire with good company and hot beverages was a great way to combat the cold.

Race day was a little chilly, but at least the rain stayed away. After all, most people did not want a repeat of last year. It is extremely difficult to sit on the sidelines and watch others participate in the sport you love. So I did a lot of cheering and picture taking to keep from dwelling on my current doctor ordered, non-mountain biking status. The subsequent inflammation that followed my 5 mile pre-ride lap on Saturday has convinced me to listen to the doctor; I'll be hanging up the mountain bike for a few weeks and crossing my fingers that my supposedly "incurable" condition will magically go into remission. If that is what is even wrong with me.

I snapped a ton of pictures of ChainSmokers, MadForcs, and women racers in general. Feel free to grab photos from my gallery.

Iola thoughts.

Picture courtesy of Rusty

While my results were certainly nothing to write home about (I posted a faster time last year), I'm glad that I decided to start racing in May. As I write this, I'm sitting here sipping on a glass of wine. If I can consume alcohol after a race, then I usually know that I'm doing well. The wrist is pretty swollen so I'll be icing and popping pills for the next few days. I guess that means most of my training is going to happen on the road. Oh well, life could be worse.

My time off from mountain biking really made me forget how tough racing is. During my first lap, I wasn't sure what was going to explode first - lungs, legs or mental toughness. On the first climb, I mis shifted and dropped my chain. Running up a hill with your bike is not the way to start a mountain bike season. Once I hit the singletrack, it all came back to me. It was awesome....while it lasted. Lap two I felt extremely sick. I have to apologize to anyone who saw me dry heaving on that lap; it was disgusting. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, the lack of fitness or something I ate at the wedding. I'm not sure. The 3rd lap had me cramping because the sickness on the second lap made me stop drinking. By the 4th lap a strange, peaceful feeling came over me and I felt ok with how bad I felt (if that makes sense). As I rolled to the finish, my HR monitor said 182 (average). That might explain some of my issues....

All in all, it was nice getting this race under my belt. I give my fitness a grade of D and my singletrack skills a C+ (I fucked up here and there.) Today was a good starting point and hopefully I can only go up from here. It was really great to see a lot of familiar faces again. It's good to be back.

Time is flying.

The month of March has been a busy one. Wendy and I participated in a charity spin class at Supreme Fitness and the proceeds went to Multiple Sclerosis. The morning of the class I rolled out of bed, didn't comb my hair and threw on my glasses. We hit up an hour of pilates before we dove into spin class. The spin class was pretty fun and full of energy. About 1.5 hours into spin, the cameras showed up. What I hadn't realized is that NBC 15 was covering this event for the local news. Boy did I look like shit. The camera man shot the class from a few different angles. For some strange reason he parked himself in front of me, zoomed in, and shot film of me for what seemed like hours (it must have been my bright yellow Chain Smoker jersey that attracted the camera). Sure enough, my ugly mug made the news. The next week at work I had multiple people come up to me to say they had seen my stellar cycling performance on Channel 15. Of course this included finger pointing and laughing.....which is a small price to pay for a great cause.

The MS issue hits home with me. In 2005 I had a MS scare. I was experiencing some very strange symptoms that were making me extremely sick. To make a very long story short, after multiple blood tests for various diseases, a trip to the ER for an EKG for my panic attack and a MRI of my brain to check for MS lesions, it was determined that I did not have MS. 10 days worth of super strong antibiotics "cured" me as I might have acquired a tick-borne illness that was similar to MS. We'll never know. But for that 2 month period, those MS-like symptoms turned my world upside down. I certainly feel for people who are affected by this disease.

Base training has been going well but has mostly been on the trainer. I haven't been impressed with the WI weather so far. Last March I remember doing a 60 mile ride in shorts and a jersey with Ryan. This year has me freezing my limbs in my winter cycling attire. I've been piling on the miles as my coach has been scheduling the hours. This week it's 10 hours, next week it's 11. My fitness has slowly been coming around but I'm certainly not in the shape that I was before my injuries.

Iola is around the corner and it makes me so nervous that I want to puke. I haven't had too many high end workouts yet, I haven't ridden on my mountain bike in almost a year, I'm still 10-15 lbs overweight and my usacycling license says Expert. I think I might be in trouble. I'd like to do the Rock Cut Race to gauge my fitness before I embarrass myself at a WORS race, but the weather doesn't seem to be cooperating and my mountain bike isn't ready to go yet. On a more positive note, Chequamagon is a go. I opted for the Short and Fat this year as I wasn't sure I would be able to handle the 40. My 2008 racing year is going to be centered around the Cheq Short and Fat and perhaps Sheboygan WORS.

The single speed commuter is almost done. Now it will be time to turn my attention to my Trek Fuel EX 9. I'm scrapping the Hayes disc brakes for Avid 7's. I'm convinced that there is not an easy way to bleed Hayes brakes and the brakes are constantly making noise (no matter how they are adjusted). My life was so much easier before disc brakes, but damn do I love them.

Solo Saturday

Today was the first official ChainSmoker ride of 2008. I opted out as I'm not yet ready to blow myself up by riding with a bunch of pumped up Comp and Expert guys who are sick of riding on their trainers. 14 ChainSmokers rode the capital city trail which was pretty much covered in ice. Apparently almost everyone crashed at least once during the outing and they stopped at a bar to kick back a few pitches of beer in the middle of the ride. I'm not sure if the crashing was attributed to the ice or beer though.....that's up for debate.


I wisely decided to head out to Gov. Nelson to do a little skiing. This was a solo adventure as Ryan and Wendy were up at Devil's Head/Lake for a little snowboarding and nordic skiing. I spent about two hours skiing around the park, checking out trails and jamming to tunes on my iPod while trying to keep my heart rate at a reasonable level (Zones 1-2). As I found out, keeping the heart rate in check is hard to accomplish when you are a cross country ski hack. After all, today officially kicks off the beginning of my training program. Since I have yet to spring for a power meter, my training program is entirely heart rate based.

It is also hard to stay in your training zones when a 45+ year-old, caravan-driving lady throws down the cross country ski gauntlet. She passed me, offered up a competitive smirk, and subsequently left me in the dust. I wanted so badly to throw down and put her in her place, but the alarm on my HR monitor reminded me that today was not going to be that day. How sad does your life have to be when you want to race a recreational skiing mom-type at a state park to feel good about yourself. I really need the WORS season to start.


I found a few cool trails in Gov. Nelson. This is one of the prettier lookout points; you can see a nice view of the capital.


Another nice view. You can see Westport and Madison's north side.

It looks like skiing might come to an abrupt end tomorrow - 40 degrees and rain in the afternoon. I might try to get one more round of skiing in at Cherokee Marsh in the morning. Then it's two easy hours on the trainer.

Happy base training!

-RB

Dinner for one, as usual.

Another night, another dinner alone. The typical life of a chef's wife. People who watch the Food Network think being a chef is all glamor and excitement. The reality of the situation is it's stressful, it's often working sixty hours each week, it's working nights and weekends, it's not taking vacations because you have to work, it's not interacting with your spouse because you are too tired to deal, it's not celebrating holidays and other important days with family or friends (yes my husband is currently sitting in a bar de-stressing from his crappy day at work on valentines day....not that we celebrate it, but thats pretty typical of what happens in our house), it's giving up the work-life balance that most people strive for, and it's eating fast food because you don't cook at home or because you are sick of fine dining (yes, my husband eats at McDonald's). You get the point.

A little known secret outside of the Bach household is that I do most of the cooking. It is probably for the best because Jeff and I are of very different philosophies when it comes to the preparation of food. He believes that fat is flavor and food should be cooked in fattening ways. I believe that fatty food items should be rubbed directly on the thighs because that is where they end up when I eat them. Give me the low-fat or no-fat version and I'll eat it. Then again, if I were 140lbs and 6 feet tall, I'd be slathering my gravy all over my potatoes too.

Speaking of low-fat, my nutritional plan has been going well. Though as you can see from the picture above, I'm not totally rigid about this diet thing. I refuse to give up my wine entirely, so I try to keep it to one glass per night (I have been known to throw down a half or full bottle on my own every now and again). I'm currently down from 142lbs to 132lbs. Once my training takes off a little more, I'm sure the rest of the weight will drop right off.

Unfortunately my injuries are going to be a major issue for 2008. My doctor is concerned about my wrist/ulnar nerve injury. She said things like, "This isn't typical", "Some people have to get surgery, though we should try to avoid it", "This might be a chronic problem for you"," You might have to change sports". I told her "I figured it wasn't typical problem", "I agree, I won't be having surgery","If this is a chronic problem, I'll just ice and tape it","I won't be changing sports". It's a good thing she is a cyclist so she understands my lack of logic on the matter.

Besides the wrist thing, there is still a very large bump (or the more appropriate description might be - divot) on my quad from my accident at Lake Geneva. It hurts when I pedal my bike and when I pedal faster it hurts even more. It hurts when I get up in the morning and walk around the house. I guess I'll just have to endure all the hurting. Maybe in 2-15 years it might go away. We can't be too certain. It's a shitty hand of cards to be dealt, but I'll be playing them in 2008. I personally think it would "hurt" more to sit on the sideline again.

The final piece of my plan has fallen into place. I pulled the trigger and hired a coach.....Rachel.

I can't wait to get started.

Another Year Older.

Today is my birthday and I've been feeling overwhelmingly sad. I'm really not sure why. Maybe it's working at a job that doesn't give me the satisfaction which I crave, maybe it's my semi-permanent injuries that I have to tolerate or maybe it's my current lack of fitness. Can you say Seasonal Affective Disorder? I'll put money on that...

Turning 32 has been quite uneventful. A boring day spent at work followed by a trip to Texas Roadhouse to eat a little prime rib with the hubby (but its back on the diet tomorrow). I thought I'd get outside and exercise the dog a bit. Unfortunately it is so damn cold that the Pepper didn't even want to go on a walk. She convincingly told me so by lifting her front legs off the ground like a prairie dog and shook like a leaf. Scrap that idea. Jeff had his bowling league tonite, so that meant I was spending my birthday alone. After eating a huge prime rib, I thought maybe a Pilates workout was in order. A hour-long Pilates class at Supreme Fitness last Saturday, followed by some cross country skiing with Ryan and Wendy sent my body into serious disarray. Every muscle in my body still hurts.....can you say two day recovery! Scrap the Pilates idea. I guess that leaves a little blogging and some vino! Happy birthday to me...

Chipotle Exile

Picture Left: 2008 and 20lbs heavier.

After months of hibernation from cycling life and exercise in general, I've concluded that I'm at the fattest point of my life. Last month I tipped the scale at a whopping 142 lbs. Considering that my racing weight in 2006 was between 120-125 lbs (which is what it should be) and considering it is now January, I think I have a pretty major problem on my hands (in addition to the not so minor problem of not having any serious training under my belt since May 2007).

I'm not sure why I didn't notice this situation in the months leading up to the present. Too many enjoyable trips to Chipotle and daily imbibing of wine, coupled with zero physical activities are most likely to blame. Not to mention wallowing in my (still present) injuries really made it easy to not care about anything other than consuming tasty chicken burritos with a side of guacamole.

Picture Right: 2006 Phillips (thanks Amelia) was a skinnier time.....

This problem became a reality during Christmas. My mother casually mentioned to me that perhaps my jeans are a little tight. I thought to myself, are you kidding me? My jeans aren't that tight. Shit, are they? The female youth of today are perpetually packing themselves into jeans which are so tight that a shoe horn is necessary for removal. I guess I'm now a member of this not so exclusive club. Crap. I'm officially swearing off Chipotle.

Once a person has fallen so far down into the well, its hard to climb out of it. Last year I started this blog as a way to chronicle my first year of racing mountain bikes as an expert. I guess this blog has tuned into a diary about a fat girl who had to claw her way out of a 50 foot well. The question is: Will she drown or will she make it?

Picture Left: My best friend and worst enemy.

Knowing that my situation is very dire, I formulated a very exacting plan that would make my return to racing somewhat less embarrassing.

Step 1 - revamp the nutrition. I ponied up a small sum of money and purchased a sports nutrition plan. Along with this plan, I acquired calorie counting software that would track my progress out of the world of the fat into the world of the thin. Bottom line - I don't get to eat anything that I want and I will be measuring/weighing out all my food. I hope this doesn't turn me into a bitch.

Step 2 - Spend a few weeks getting back into the swing of things. This means riding on the trainer, pilates and spin classes at Supreme Fitness and Zoned 4 Fitness, and some weight training at MATC Fitness Center (saying "fitness" three times in once sentence makes me feel stronger already). I have to work all the aches and pains out of my system and remind my body how to work.

Step 3 - Hire a cycling coach by mid-february and do what they say. Coach TBD.

This week's status: 4.5 hours of exercise including a trip to Zoned, no fatty foods and 136 lbs on the scale.

To be continued....

Wors 2007....

Didn't happen for me.

2007 was a shit year. I was seriously injured in both Wors Races #2 and #3. I had a compressed ulnar nerve in my left hand and some pretty serious soft tissue damage in my left leg. It is now 2008 and I'm still nursing these injuries. The doctor said it might take a long time to get over the leg injury (as in years). I'm really worried about the compressed ulnar nerve. It was doing well in October, but one cold night ride in November has set me back months. I'm 20lbs overweight (I don't recall ever being this fat in my entire life), I'm loosing muscle mass by the week and the only cardiovascular exercise I get is when I use the stairs at work. In addition I started a new job this year that causes me more stress that I would like, my husband lost his job, we had thousands of dollars worth of vet bills and car bills, and my dog was seriously attacked at the dog park. I recently admitted to myself that I've been depressed due to my lack of exercise and/or lack of motivation. 2008 can only be better.




My husband did get a great new job. Unfortunately it takes up all his time and I only see him a few hours every week. This should make it easy for me to start my base training, if I could only snap out of my funk. I have yet to renew my cycling license. Maybe if I spend the $90 on it, that will light the fire that I need in order to get prepared for Iola.

Maybe I'll do that tonite...