Andrea

How to repair a screen door

I’m smack in the middle of a week off of teaching, so I’ve been working on some home improvements- mainly the front porch. It was formerly a storage area, and I wanted to make it into a decent place to relax.

First, I had to fix both of my screen doors. The dogs had taken the liberty to convert them into doggie doors:
doggie door?

First, I pulled the trim off of the lower half of the door:

Next, I pulled the old screen off:

Then, I cut it off behind the middle trim piece and stapled the bottom of the old screen down:

I measured the hole and cut a piece to match:

I stapled the new screen on and replaced the trim, and VIOLA…

The dogs aren’t too happy, but I like it :)

Oh yeah, and I put some plants into a weird hanging thing on my porch:

Andrea

Personal Mt. Cheaha Challenge

Since my Roswell race wasn’t until Sunday afternoon, I decided I’d stick around Sunday night and venture out to Mt. Cheaha in the morning for a little climbing. Sunday morning was the Mount Cheaha Challenge Century, and I figured that I’d ride part of the course since the roads would still be marked.

I ended up parking on top of Mt Cheaha (highest point in Alabama!) and riding down the mountain and back. Just over 31 miles total. It was a nice ride- very rolling down and back with some very steep (thankfully not incredibly long) pitches. The longest climb was the last 3 miles on the way back. It wasn’t as steep as some of the other grades, though, so it wasn’t too hard to navigate.

You can go to Mapmyride for the route and elevation profile by clicking here

Here’s a camera-phone photo from one of the scenic overlooks:

Andrea

First NRC Weekend

Hopefully, first of many :)

The Sunny King crit on Saturday didn’t go so well. After a rushed warmup…

I lined up with the likes of Tina Pic and Laura Van Gilder (as well as a host of other very talented, very experienced teams).

Sunny King Start

The start was hectic. I was in the middle of the pack, and the girl in the front/right of me couldn’t get clipped in, and I ended up shoving her out of the way with my elbow. This got me stuck on the back of the pack from the beginning.

Me, in the back

From there, it didn’t get much better. In the back, I kept getting behind women that were falling off and letting gaps form. To make matters worse, there were big primes given out on the first few laps, so the field would surge up the slight hill to the finish line on every lap. After about 20 minutes, I ended up not being able to move up further into the pack and, by that time, was not able to cover the next gap that opened up in front of me.

WTF?!?!?!

SO, I got pulled. Probably not the first time that someone’s been pulled in their first NRC crit, but very disappointing, nonetheless. I felt like I’d let my team and team manager down.

For more photos of the women’s pro 1/2 race and the men’s 2/3 race, check out Ryan’s Blog

Thankfully, Sunday was better. The Roswell course was a bit more technical. I got a much better start, and I was actually able to move up in the field and hold better position for a about half the race. After the slower riders were pulled, I actually dropped to the back and stayed there for the remainder of the race , ending up 41st place. Sorry, no photos of Roswell yet, but hopefully I can post some of the ones that the team manager took.

I need a lot more practice, and I need to just be more fit in general so that moving up isn’t quite as physically taxing, and I’m able to hold my position more aggressively once I’m up. I plan to ride in a few local men’s cat 3 races to try and be more accustomed to the length/intensity of the NRC races.

Andrea

The Morning Ride

I woke up early to get a jump on the bad weather that was being predicted for this afternoon. On the schedule for today- a “tune up” ride of sorts. An hour of easy riding interspersed with a couple of 3 min zone 5 efforts and some small ring sprints.

During breakfast, I checked the weather- a couple of showers scattered across the area, but nothing too bad. When I left the house, no rain, but about 10 minutes later, some on & off showers began. As I progressed, the rain got more persistent- alternating between sprinkles & showers. Once, I found myself making a right turn too fast for the conditions (wet roads + 120psi don’t mix), and managed to fishtail. Good practice, maybe?

I’d completed my two intervals and two sprints when I noticed an odd noise coming from my front tire. I thought I was having some brake rub problems (again), but, upon further inspection, found that something had embedded itself into my tire & the air was slowly (but steadily) leaking out.

No fun!! I decided to limp home instead of fixing it in the rain, which eventually turned into a bit of lightning & a downpour when I was about 2 miles from home. Luckily, I managed to get home about the time the rim started to bottom out.

Tapering- DONE. Next up- two very tough races :)

Andrea

The time is drawing near

For Sunny King. Looks like the weather will generally suck until later in the afternoon- the weather channel is predicting thunderstorms for the earlier part of the day. Hopefully the streets will be dry by the time my race rolls around. I need to go wash my bike now.

Andrea

The “Tim Taylor” Incident

I was on my way home from work today (on my bike), when a beige Cadillac all but buzzed me in slow motion. I was a little miffed, but saw the handicap hangtag on the rearview and chocked it up to elderly driving. I continued up the road, approaching a stoplight at a busy cross-street. As I’m pedaling through the green light, I hear “Ma’am!” from my right , and see that the driver of the beige Cadillac has parked in the right lane of the busy cross street and is standing behind her car waving at me! I continue through the intersection and pull over to the gutter on the other side to find out what this woman wants.

The first thing I hear her say is “What are you doing all the way out here?”

Me (thinking she’s just a really crazy anti-bike person): “Uh… Riding home from work”

Her: “Are you Tim Taylor?” (I couldn’t understand her very well at that point, but she wandered into the street a little closer to me and yelled it a couple of times)

Me: No!

She starts trying to explain something to me, but I can’t hear what she’s saying because she’s on the other side of a busy road. By this time, the light has cycled, and she abandons her car on the side of the road and comes over to me. Apparently, she thought that I was her son, Tim Taylor, who lives in Midtown. He’s ridden a bike for more than 20 years, and she thought I was him.

Hmmm…
I know that it’s easy to mistake me for a guy from the back when I’m on my bike & wearing a helmet.
I know she said Ma’am when she was trying to get my attention.
I am confused as to how she thought I was her son while driving by and pulled over, used a female term to get my attention, then once again asked if I was Tim Taylor. Is he a transgender of some sort? I’m confused. I doubt that Tim’s bike is as ugly as the Mule, though.

Tim, if you’re out there, maybe you should give your mother a call.

Andrea

Sunny King & Nalley Roswell Criteriums

So, barely over a year ago, I competed in my first criterium race (and that’s only if you consider the last stage of the MS Gran Prix to be a crit and not a circuit). Otherwise, the Joe Martin 3/4 crit of 2007 was my first. However you slice it, though, I’m one week and a day away from my first NRC crit. I’ll be racing against some of the women I’ve looked up to and followed since I started racing. I’m both excited and a little nervous at the same time.

I’ve said in the past that I’m just hoping to go and hang on and whatnot, but, honestly, I was lying. I am going to compete. I want to be in the mix. I want to attack off the front & have Tina Pic wondering who the heck I am :) Even if I end up out of the money, I want the other racers to remember me (in a good way). Wish me luck!