Mt. Charleston

A group of Red Burro's rolled out of Summerlin at 5:00 AM. By the time we hit the bottom of Mt. Charleston there were about 10 people.  I dropped a bottle a few minutes into the climb so I had to turn around to grab it. As frustrating as it was to lose the lead group, I'm grateful it happened. I ended up pulling the whole day alone, didn't ever get to draft. Near the top of Kyle canyon there is a crossover to Lee Canyon. At the top of Lee Canyon is the one little ski resort we boast in Southern Nevada.  The elevation is close to 8,300 feet. The Bristlecone trailhead (and ski resort) was 53 miles from home and about 5,000 feet higher than I started. At the end of my ride I had climbed 7,500 feet in 73 miles. I was spent! John had already planned to get me around 10:30 regardless of where I was since I knew I wouldn't tolerate the heat very well and 5.5 hours was all I was prepared to ride. I made it half way down Kyle canyon when he picked me up with 32 oz. of cold recovery drink! Awesome way to finish that ride! 
Now, I just have to go that far, double that elevation in climbing, all on single track and I'll be ready for Point to Point. Mmmm, ouch. Good thing I have a few more weeks to get my endurance built up.






Song for today:

Thursday night Ride with White Pine Touring (#6)

It was July's free BBQ & Stan's clinic for the Thursday night ride at White Pine! To top it off some of my fast female friends showed for the ride! It was a perfect evening, great temperatures and amazing trails. Julian took us on an hour+ climb, up Ontario Bypass and Team Big Bear. Then we were rewarded with an amazing descent (and no more climbing!). We came down the Super G trees, Twist and Shout, then Nail Driver. We rolled over to Deer Crest for the final descent. Perfect ride, everyone was fast and fun. 
Daryl, the rep for Giro rode with us too. I had a chance to thank him in person for the sweet sponsorship of helmet, shoes and gloves (all of which are amazing!).
Back at the BBQ it was Stans NoTubes time! Everyone was so excited about the samples and a few people wanted to know about the conversion process. Stan's NoTubes THE ONLY way to go. 



A friend, Katherine, Erica, Erika, Daryl, Julian (Logan took the photo)










Song of the day:

Red Burro Ride

We joined a few Red Burros for a road ride this morning. We hit Villa Ridge then Red Rock Loop. On the way back to town 4 of us did a really efficient rotation and I remembered why I like road biking!
Randy, Al, Tiffany, Erica, John, Mike (Brad took the photograph for us)
Al is the man that holds the course record for LOTOJA and the course record for Single Speed at Leadville. He is a machine on wheels!

We are Augustines, check them out. Their album isn't out yet, but you can listen to 2 of their songs on their website. I really dig their sound. If you like The National or Mumford and Sons, you'll enjoy them.

Inside Ride

More time was spent on the trainer this week. On Monday I was feeling super motivated and spent 2:10 on it. About an hour into my ride my Dad came out to see how much longer he "got" to play my son and he took a few photos to pass the time.

My son trying to open the cooler behind me
The view in the garage...of the garage. Non-movie day, just some seriously good tunes piped into my eardrums. (SOTD: Warning by Great Northern)

Skate Ski Suffer Sessions

Skate skiing is now my second favorite sport. If my passion for racing bikes ever dwindles, I will pick up skate ski racing. In fact, if we ever move to Park City, I will race skate skis in the winter and bikes in the summer. That sounds like an ideal life. But I have a LONG way to go. Twice this week I was humbled on the skate track. First by Chrispy then by Julian & Jesse. Since I'd been out a few times in the past with Carl, I assumed I knew what I was doing. How wrong I was. There is some very serious technique behind the V1 & V2 and I don't do either of them correctly. My skis are too far apart, I plant my poles at the wrong time & grip them too hard, my body is too far forward and I use my arms too much. Other than that, it's perfect. I thought being in shape for cycling would translate to ease out there, but no. Within 5 minutes I am sweating profusely, literally steaming, and it's around 25 degrees. Thanks to those fellas for waiting for me and patiently showing me how it's done. We got in about 19K each day. (The sport is so cool that they use kilometers instead of miles, that's how you know it's tough!)

Julian & me on the Farm Loop

Those 2 tiny dots in the distance are Julian & Jesse, I was VERY far behind by this point.

Sweet album recommend by Abe & Adam that I'm getting really into: Mumford and Sons, Sigh No More

Snow ride

There was a break in weather and holiday gatherings in SLC so I jumped on my mountain bike. I was so thrilled to not be riding the trainer in my parents freezing cold garage that the 32 degree sunshine felt amazing. The trail (Boneville Shoreline & Dry Creek) was in great condition, most of it was snow or frozen dirt with just a little bit of mud. I forgot to wear toe warmers or booties, so I ended up with frozen sausage toes. I think next time I will wear wool socks, toe warmers and booties. Just to be safe.
I hear that Round Valley is rideable so I will try to get in a spin up there.

Let the fun begin!
Overlooking the Salt Lake Valley from the top of Dry Creek

Some great music I've been listening to this trip:
Poor Animal by Zola Jesus
The Smoke by Home Video
White on White by Fredrik
You by Gold Panda
And the best new song:

Trainer days

See this muddy river? It's not supposed to be there. It's been raining non-stop for days and the desert can't handle the water, it just runs off the hard surface.
I was hoping to avoid the trainer until January, but with washed out roads and muddy trails, there aren't a lot of choices. Tuesday morning Bill & I tried to make it to Blue Diamond for a ride, but that's when we discovered the road to Red Rocks and beyond is washed out. Instead we did our 10 minute sprints behind my house on the dirt roads, in the rain, in the dark.
If I didn't have a race 10 weeks from now, I'd just hibernate. But summer is just around the corner!
I've been getting caught up on podcasts while I ride the trainer:
Dirtbag Diaries (Great stories and always great music)(this is where I've been finding all of my new music lately, such as the Faunts)
RadioLab (Great stories and always great music)
This American Life (Great stories from Ira Glass)
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (Great way to catch up on current events, in a funny way)
Stuff You Should Know (Great way to learn about really random topics)

Affleck Park & Race Prep

This morning's ride was to Affleck Park. Just a recovery spin. The important part of the ride was the great new song I had to listen to. It's from a band that is a one hit wonder, I don't like any of their other songs, but this one is stirring. It's Vicious Traditions by The Veils. Try it and let me know what you think.
GREEN GREEN GREEN @ Affleck Park

This afternoon was race prep...bike cleaning. It really makes me miss my husband (my built in mechanic!). I can't wait for him to join me next week, I may let him have some time off from bike cleaning duties now that I've become proficient at the cleaning.

Nice farmer tan huh?

Cottonwood/Blue Diamond

Prepare yourself for some amazing filming and editing skills. The video on this post is top quality! It was so beautiful this morning (I think I say that every day), that I had to do a little filming. I was descending while holding my phone in my left hand, I wasn't going very fast because, well, because I was holding on with just one hand! Out of the 2 minute clip that I filmed there are only 27 seconds without my finger in front of the view, like I said, quality filming.
The background noise was left in, it's sounds cool with the Foals. Inevitably if there is ever a long descent, I choose the Foals to be piped directly into my ears, so I have included it for your listening pleasure.
I had 4 intervals to complete today, I was supposed to be switching up my cadence during them. It sort of worked, but I was concentrating so much on my cadence that I forgot to push hard. So, they were perhaps marginally effective. I didn't have much time, so I had to retrace the climb up to Badger a few times. On the way out I ran into Jared & on the way back I ran into Heather. As the owners of the bike shop (Las Vegas Cyclery) that sponsors me, I think they were both glad to see their athlete out training at 5 AM. Yes, that puts my wake up time around 4:15, some days that's just what training calls for!


Heather took my picture when I ran into her. I know it's a boring stance, she had me flex my arms for the next pic, but I made a very strange face, so you get the boring one.

Intervals this morning


My coach, had me do 5 minute intervals 4 times this morning. This little sign is where I ended my intervals. Who knew a pile of rocks & garbage could be so nice to see? To view a map of my ride click here. I know it sounds strange that cello music could be used for riding, but as I listened to an older podcast by RadioLab during my warm up they featured Zoe Keating. She creates some amazing cello music and it worked perfect for my ride intervals.