Andrea

Werewolf Night

Every year the Warthogs have a “werewolf run” out at Shelby Forest in north Shelby County. We rent the group camp lodge, go for a cold night run to the Mississippi River (9 miles round trip), then spend the rest of the night “celebrating.” Some people spend the night, but I opted for the “stop celebrating early” and go home around midnight strategy.

This year, Steve and I opted to ride mountain bikes down to the river (necessary if you’re going to stop celebrating early) rather than run (in case you’re wondering, running takes a lot longer!) We rode down the boat ramp, dipped our tires in the river, then hurried back to enjoy some delicious lodge food & beverage. It was pretty good time…

Andrea

Connect the Dots

I played connect-the-reflective-tree-dots tonight at the Lakeland Trails. I’ve grown to love the little reflective points of light (invisible by day) that lead me around the trail via hadlight @ night. I wanted to go for a short, hard run, which is the perfect fit to the short, but hill-intense trail system. To say I felt great would be an understatement. I warmed up on the flatter section of trail in the back of the park then came back to the front to run repeats back and fourth on the first 1/2 mile of yellow trail. I managed two repeats (2 miles), and had a blast! Hills that I normally find myself barely cresting felt surprisingly easy.

Oh yeah… and it had just finished raining, so they were a little wet, too. In my exuberance, I failed to shine my headlamp on a large root in the middle of a downhill section of trail. Before I knew what was happening, I became airboune… but not for long. I landed still going downhill and slid long enough to think “WOOHOO!” Once I came to a stop, I stood up and shined my flashlight back at the trail- I’d made a good two & a half foot slide mark in the wet leaves… DAMN I wish someone had been there to see that!!! Oh well- I had Ryan take a photo when I got home:

Andrea

While I was home wrapping my handlebars and going on trail runs, Ryan was at the Hoss of Cross race… kicking a little ass :)

Read his race report HERE

Andrea

Memphis Style

In light of my neck issue and boredom, I figured that yesterday would be a good day to give my bike some new cables & housings (I wanted to flip the stem, too, which would leave me short on housing in the front). I’d also noticed recently that my awesome harlequin-pattern drop wrap was shifting around & not looking so hot, so I figured I’d re-wrap the bars, too.

The Harlequin:

I can’t have plain bar tape. I’ve decided that now. The new wrap is what I call “Memphis Style”

If I lived anywhere else, I wouldn’t do this…

Andrea

Well, Crap

So I’m sitting at my desk this morning. I stretch & yawn.

Then my neck tightens up. WTF??? I can’t lift my head up to a normal level without neck pain. In fact, I can’t turn my head side to side without neck pain. Holy crap! It hurts!

Fast forward a few hours. I got an appointment at Campbell Clinic with a PT friend. She pokes around on my neck and determines that I’ve got a rotated segment at C7 and T1, and it’s stuck in that position. After some manipulations, my range of motion is somewhat better, though nowhere near 100%. She sticks an Iontophoresis patch on my neck and gives me instructions… problem is, treatment doesn’t include a CX race this weekend (Hoss of Cross). She actually told me that riding a bike probably isn’t the best thing for it since it involves extension of the cervical spine.

Crap.

Is someone trying to tell me something? Am I going to get injured every time I want to go to a croos race??? Last year, it was my toe the day before the Outdoors Mud Island race. Then my ankle the weekend before Chattanooga. I pulled a groin muscle the day before this years 3rd Cyclocrunk race, and now this…

Andrea

Conspiracy Theory

…I have one!

So now that the election is over, reports are coming out about just how bad Sara Palin is. In fact, you KNOW it must be bad when Fox News is reporting things like this:

It’s gripping! Everyone is obsessed with the realization that this woman is a dumb twit!

…and the media is eating it up. However, the media is NOT eating up the current goings-on in the White House. What tricks is old GWB up to now-a-days?

Who cares! Look over here… Sara Palin! She’s a dumb twit! Pay no attention to anything else!

Yeah, I see through your ploy- even if noone else does. Luckily, Rachel Maddow, my favorite smirking newsperson, has added a “Lame Duck Watch” to her show to help us keep an eye on him…

Andrea

More Change for You!

..in addition to the results of our presidential election:

Next year I’ll be riding for Metro Volkswagen Cycling. I’m looking forward to hitting the road & racing my butt off with Shannon Koch and the gals in 2009!

It goes without saying that I thank my 2008 sponsor, Team Kenda Tire. Paul Forsythe, my teammates- especially the local ones I got to race with a few times: Molly & Lee (you guys ROCK!), the team sponsors… it was a great 2008 season! My choice to move on was not an easy one, but I feel like a smaller, more concentrated team may be where I belong. I wish you all the best.

Andrea

Fun with GPS

I stole Ryan’s Garmin computer today & went out for a run on the Wolf River Trail. I wanted to make it a semi-urban adventure, so I decided to take a side trail out of the woods and into the bordering neighborhood. I didn’t quite know how to get back- obvious by the mile or so out & back on a dead end street off of Walnut Grove. Nearly 8 miles later, I arrived back at my car…