Style, Passion, Precision...

If you stand beside me for at least ten minutes…you’ll soon find out what a “fan-girl” I am of the BMC racing team. That’s the term that Rob gave me, “fan-girl”. He says it with a bit of disdain, and truly he can’t be blamed since he does have to hear me go on and freaking on with daily updates of their latest races, injuries, triumphs, etc. I don’t throw this term around lightly either, because as recent as last week I was exchanging emails with the Assistant Marketing Coordinator for BMC, who was hailing all the way from Switzerland. He was kind enough to respond to the dork in South Carolina and actually seemed very enthusiastic about my love for the team and their products.

As you can imagine, I was delighted when they finally made the cover of ROAD magazine after their victory at the Tour of Battenkill. The magazine has sat proudly on my nightstand ever since. Just within the past 2 days, Rob needed “new” reading material and picked it up…and is on his way to becoming a “fan-boy”..heh heh heh…he has thoroughly enjoyed reading about Scott Nydam and Chad Beyer…their race, what they like to eat, etc. Jeff Louder’s twitter is equally engaging.

I’m giddy with excitement (and I’m not a very giddy girl) with the US Pro championships approaching… it’s on the calendar on their team site and I’m assuming they’ll be here in all their Assos glory. I have high hopes for them and am fully prepared to stalk (not really), whine and weasel my way into any venue, in which they may be….yes, I’m the “passion” in their “Style, Passion, Precision” (HA!). Only eighteen days and counting…

Of course size matters....

I like research, in fact, I pretty much research for a living. I owe this mostly to my parents. Most of my childhood was spent in a television free home. We had books. We went to the library weekly. We (my 3 sisters and I) would get in trouble for sneaking to stay up late at night, under our covers with hidden lights to read longer. Most of our family trips were spent with my father driving, while my mother read out loud from a book to him, to pass the miles. I even remember times when my allowance or reward for properly executing household chores, would be a trip to the local bookstore to pick out a new book. My mother has even carried on the tradition with my children and still picks them up weekly and takes them to the library to get “new” books once a week. I still have a television free home (though my children are spoiled with dvd’s/movies, etc). I feel sure that my love of books has fostered my love of research. I learned early on that if you are curious about something or want to know the inner workings…to look it up. This has, of course, become even easier over the years with the assistance of the internet.

You should all know by now, that with a lead in like this… I’m getting ready to express my discontent for something…enter the 650c vs. 700c wheel argument…again…and this is something I have been researching now for quite some time. Now, I know, most people could care less, because they aren’t short of stature, like me. I’m barely 5 feet tall…truthfully, without shoes, socks and the bangs I sported in the 80’s I’m probably closer to 4’11.5. I know, I know…. Most people don’t believe I’m this short….that’s because my personality is so very tall and it deceives you! But, alas, it is true. My 12 year old is almost taller than me, I cannot reach kitchen items, bathroom items in cabinets and shelves, etc. without climbing, I cannot place or retrieve my bike from the bike rack on top of the car and most all cycling shorts look more like knickers on me than shorts. My lack of height has never bothered me but while it has never bothered me, I’m realistic about the fact that I cannot wear/reach/do everything a taller person can… if only bike shop workers and bike manufacturers were also realistic about this…life would be grand.

For instance, for some reason (men especially) love to tell me that I should get a bike with “real wheels”. They, then, launch into breathtaking expositions on how 700c wheels are faster, toe overlap no longer exists, that companies like Specialized, Trek, etc have created frames that are small, that can flawlessly accommodate 700c wheels without compromising frame geometry, handling, etc. They take it even further and make statements regarding the companies that do have 650c wheeled bikes…they go something like this, they are backwards, outdated, trying to push them off on you because they spent so much money on that specific frame years ago and now need to sell it even though 700’s are clearly better. Those of us that like research, loathe those that fire off “facts”, rhetoric and half-truths without having the research to back it up.

Now it’s fine for these men to assume that because I’m a “beginning” cyclist that I may not know the pros/cons, etc. with different wheel sizes. It’s fine for them to assume that because I’m female I may not be very mechanically inclined. Though in this instance both assumptions aren’t entirely true for me, personally. However, it isn’t fine for them to assume that because I’m female that I don’t read, reason, discern and can’t make heads or tails of the laws of physics. More importantly, it isn’t fine for them to assume that I can’t tell what feels good to me. SO – for that reason, I went this weekend to a local shop to feel 700c wheels for myself. And?? What did they say? Most of what you read above…and what did I feel? That the bike felt a bit funky… it felt smooth since it was carbon, and my bike is aluminum….however, my feet felt oddly close to the wheels and I didn’t feel my untapped speed suddenly unleashed.

I wrote this post for 2 reasons.

1. To vent about all the injustice in the world and
2. To invite all you braniacs to give me your thoughts….

Am I horribly hindered in the area of speed by the size of my wheels? Is the frame geometry completely uncompromised when you take a teeny frame and stick 700’s on it? OR in contrast, since my wheels are more aerodynamic and lighter than 700’s, can I call “bull shit” on the theory that 700’s are always faster? Is the integrity of the frame more intact by putting smaller wheels on smaller frames? Is training your ass off more important to the progression of your speed than the size of your wheel? Lots to debate on this subject…talk amongst yourselves.

French Broad Cycling Classic Pics...

This is me before my race started and before my crash.... all smiles... ignorance truly is bliss!

It turned to this...after the crash (notice the road rash on leg and nursing of the left pinky finger!)

My favorites of Rob from the weekend...

This smile still makes me melt! ahhhhhhh...

The aftermath...

Haven't had much time to post lately...so today I'm posting a link to a blog I routinely read and a recent post that I enjoyed. I am frequently sickened by the way the majority of americans "choose" their idols and denigrate those that are not their "choice". I've watched the "questionable" attacks, read the hub-bub and still, I find myself liking Contador. Maybe it's the spread that I've read in months past in Cycle Sport about him, or maybe it's that he's quietly come back from illness to race without pomp and circumstance, without all the hype -- maybe it's the lack of hype in general I find refreshing....no global cause, just a poor, skinny kid who likes to race his bike and races it well.... but regardless, I enjoyed this post and maybe you will also (even if you don't share my opinions)...

http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2009/07/alberto-contador-you-may-not-know.html

Greenville Spinners Time Trial pics...

Failed to post these a few weeks back… just a couple of pics of Rob and the two youngest…. It’s clearly more fun to catch grasshoppers than to watch someone time trial!

French Broad Cycling Classic...

Well I’m typing almost with two hands and that should be ‘nuff said about how my weekend went.

We traveled this weekend to Asheville, NC to race in the French Broad Classic. I planned (only slightly under duress) to do the time-trial and I willingly planned to do the crit….I was going to leave the climbing road race to Rob.

My only goal for the weekend was to not come home with a DNF. This was my first time trial effort and truthfully, I really had no desire to do it. I haven’t worked on it, prepared for it, have nothing “aero” in equipment, hadn’t really worked on body positioning, etc… I didn’t come in last, or even next to last… so I am pleased. This time trial was strictly for experience. I took 18th out of 20th…and yes, my speed was slow, but probably the fastest average for me (with a lovely head wind to boot)… 19.5 mph…. hopefully I can only go up from there.

The crit… ahh the crit…solo crash in the fourth corner of the first lap (yours truly). No one else was involved, I high-sided (which was a new term to me, that I now know more about than I care to know) I have lovely road rash down left arm, left hand, left leg, left butt (my shower walls have never heard such profanity)…. No, I won’t be posting pics…I never enjoy seeing crash pics, so I’m not posting any either. I did finish the race… all 30 minutes of it still left after the crash…and surprisingly, I did not come in last place… next to last…I’ll take it… I destroyed an engagement ring in the process, (though we did find the stone on the course afterwards), roughed up the bike a bit…and definitely roughed up the body…. It could have been much, much worse… so I’m not going to complain about my 17/18th spot. I’m glad no one else was hurt, that I was able to finish and that Rob is always prepared with the best first aid kit money can buy. He’s such a good boy.

Rob’s results…29th out of 69th overall in the Omnium… not too shabby….mine, 17th out of 18th…granted, my upcoming triathlon has been put on hold, as this body, cannot touch a pool… and as Rob likes to say, “it is, what it is”. Race pics to follow.

All the latest...

I suppose after weeks and weeks of hardly posting, a “catch up” is in order. I’ve been busy and have been spreading myself thin between multiple sports….again. Only this time, I’ve brought swimming into the picture as well. I’m toying with doing a triathlon in August, the whole shebang this time, unlike my previous one where I was simply the “runner/hobbler”.

I learned to swim years ago. To this day, my mother is still petrified of water, never learned to swim and because of her fear, made it a point to put us in lessons at a very small age. Then, later, all those months at summer day camp and all those PE classes at Bob Jones kept me pounding out laps and hating swimming. I don’t enjoy it. Rob is trying to redirect my thinking of swimming so that I’ll actually enjoy it (like he does). He views it as fun, relaxing, therapeutic even. I don’t…so I’m obstinate. I’ll do 25 meters or 50 and stop. I then get scolded because as he says “you aren’t even out of breath, there is nothing keeping you from stringing together laps other than you just refuse”…My problem is…I don’t FEEL like a good swimmer, never have. I was taught that the amount of laps completed was all that mattered…not to enjoy them, or make them efficient….just beat them out. Subsequently, I kick too hard, obsess about completing another lap, do something funky with my legs when I’m trying NOT to kick too hard and it all falls to pieces from there.

It’s funny that this time last year, he was trying to get me on a bike and he tells me (though, of course I don’t remember it like this) that I acted much the same, refusing to get on my bike, refusing to even pedal…he literally would have to yell at me to get me going….and now, compared to swimming, my bike feels like my comfy security blanket…an old, comforting, friend.

Speaking of old friends, this past Saturday was my first “big ride” and among the group of riders was an old friend (Kirk). I spent much of my youth experiencing Kirk’s shenanigans. We spent years in the same school, playing the clarinet in band together, attending the same church/youth group and even traveling out of the country for a summer mission trip together. Ohhhh the stories I could tell! Instead, I’ll just say it was cool to ride with him all these years later, all grown up, both with families, etc…

We rode this weekend to Saluda with a great group that I’m not really worthy of riding with…but they were taking it easy…Steve Baker, Sam Smith, Hank, Matt, Kirk Flinte and of course my duly betrothed….and another POA guy that I don’t know..(SORRY!) I had never ridden 60 miles before and had never before ridden with a group of that caliber. Clearly, it was an easy day for them and I so I was able to hang on until the bottom of the climb, then I settled in and took my sweet time. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to ride in a non-sketchy group, where I could chat, enjoy the ride, the scenery etc…. it will make my ride tomorrow at Donaldson with less experienced riders (me included) seem all the worse, I’m sure! It was most interesting navigating through Saluda’s coon dog festival….carrying our bikes out down the rail road tracks to get back out of town, etc. but a great time all around. My legs seem to have bounced back nicely, and that makes me happy.

This week I’m looking forward to another week of multi-sport activities and perhaps another lesson in crit racing and the fine art of “getting dropped”.