Hmmm?

Oh My Oh-Nine: The Impossible

2010-01-01T15:06:00.008-07:00

As I look back on 2009 and look forward to 2010, I have mixed feelings. Like I said in my previous post, 2009 was great overall, but a few bad memories seem to take over the retrospective. The best way to sum up the year is to say that in 2009, I realized that the impossible can happen -- both in good ways and bad.

Two main adventures stick out in my mind as my big sports accomplishments of 2009. In May, I successfully rode White Rim in a day. Chris and I had previously done this in a 1.5 day camping trip, and I always saw this 100 mile mountain bike ride as impossible for me.
Yet...
100 degrees and 100 miles later...
I did it.

On July 31st, Chris convinced me to get up at 1:30 am to climb Longs Peak. Longs Peak had always scared me, and he not only convinced me to climb it, but he convinced me to climb it via a 5.4 rock climbing route. 5.4 should've been a walk in the park for both of us, but with the route covered in ice from an overnight freeze, the trip became somewhat epic. When we started the climb up Longs, I looked up and declared that it is impossible.
Yet...

I did it.

I've tried to decide which adventure I'm most proud of, White Rim or Longs, and I can't.

In 2009, I also broke the 30 minute mark in the Cherry Creek Time Trials -- which I'm very certain I declared impossible for me to do on more than one occasion. It's hard to look back on 2009 and not marvel at Chris's accomplishments as well. He kicked serious butt and set the singlespeed record on the AZT300 in April. He then went on to dominate the Tour Divide and set the new singlespeed record for the Divide route. Being away from each other successfully for 20 days was something we'd always seen as an impossibility. But, 19 days and 21 minutes later...
He did it. We'd done it.

Of course we all know how the month of October went for the Plesko family. One miscarriage and an avalanche later, and the world found us pretty beaten down and listless. The bad impossibles had happened.

We made a goal of making it to Thanksgiving when things would be looking up. Chris began to walk again and slowly (as it seemed to us, but quite quickly in the world of broken-ankle-recovery) got back to riding and climbing. From there we made a goal of making it to Christmas, when things would hopefully be looking a lot better.

As it turns out, it seems Santa brought our smiles back.

I think 2010 will be full of more surprises, both good and bad. My main goal for 2010? Keep in mind that both the good and bad impossibles can happen, but as long as you keep your head up, each will make you stronger. From there, seek out the adventures in everyday life and enjoy them.

Happy New Year!

Oh my Oh-Nine!

2009-12-28T20:28:00.002-07:00

As this year plows to an end, it is hard not to look back on the last few months and feel like it was a bad year. However, as I look back on all of the pictures and stories of 2009's trips, adventures, purchases, and laughs, it is clear that 2009 was 10.5/12ths absolutely wonderful!

The last few years I have set some goals for the year and then looked back at the end to see if I followed through. Always entertaining to look back on, so here it goes:

Looking forward to 2009? Well, I'm sure it'll hold many surprises just like this year. The word "surprises" is an understatement. I hope to continue to build my climbing skills, as I've really enjoyed climbing both inside and outside this winter. At this point, it's still a Just For Fun hobby with an added bonus of a bit of cross-training for bike season. With no major climbing goals in mind, I simply hope to continue to enjoy it -- safely. I would say we achieved this. We climbed a lot in the Flatirons and Eldo. We even set up a "first ascent" in La Veta (Mind Over Bat Poo). I'm sure Chris and I will continue to work toward our 14ers goals together, hopefully including some multi-mountain-multi-day trips in this summer. Almost every 14er trip this year involved overnight camping partway up the mountain. Time and lack of responsibilities allowed this and it was a blast. We never fit in the super multi-peak challenge we hoped for, but we did get Belford and Oxford done in one day. I will climb Longs Peak this year, perhaps by the traditional Keyhole route, perhaps by a different one. Yeah different one! Go me! Either way, I will do it... even though it scares me. Quite the experience and glad I met this goal! Chris and I have our sights set on a tour of the Colorado Trail this summer -- probably by bikes, but we'll have to see. This was the plan, but honestly, I wussed out. I'm not sure what our summer will look like, with Chris planning more big adventures, and me taking at least one masters class, but somehow we'll fit at least a few fun things in when we can. We did fit in many fun things and I ended up pounding out three masters classes this year. My biking goals for '09? Pretty similar to last year. I'd like to crush the 30 minute mark at Cherry Creek, in addition to trying to make the top 10 at one of the races. The 30 minute mark will be easy, top 10 probably not so easy. But I'll try. I beat the 30 minute mark. It was magical. Top ten, not so much. I want to survive Expert at Winter Park and if I can get top 3 on any race, I'll be super excited. I didn't do many of the Winter Park races this year. The desire and drive wasn't there. Sad. I've kicked around the idea of the Leadville 100. I need to decide soon, as applications need to be in ASAP. It's so expensive though, and hard to commit that much money to 8 months out when I'm trying to get pregnant, but maybe. I feel like I can do it with some good training, and I'd like to do it, so who knows. Well, our group didn't get in and now they are being greedy and jacking up the price even more, so we're priced out of this race for quite a while. Maybe one day. Or maybe one day we'll just ride the course on our own and enjoy the ride for free! That could be fun...

And so we have it. I met some of my big goals, wussed out on one, and surpassed my wildest expectations in a lot of ways. Not too bad.

Tomorrow I will post a wrap-up with pics. Tonight blogger does not want to upload any.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T12:49:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas from the Pleskos!

If you haven't already answered my poll on facebook, answer it here so I can beat Chris in a bet!

When you sing "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," how do you finish this part: "he'll go down in history (like ________)!" Apparently there are two answers, total news to me! I'm firmly in one camp and Chris is firmly in the other. Help me win.

New Look

2009-12-19T19:28:00.004-07:00

I was getting tired of my blog's look, so it got a quick makeover. Hopefully the colors aren't too painful to read.

In other news, I am officially on Christmas break and couldn't be happier about it. I have a great group of kids, but I think we all needed a little break from each other. I know that two weeks without tattling or crying because "she won't be my friennnnnd" is going to be wonderful. I am going to try to make the most of this break and do my best to relax. This weekend is being used to catch up on much needed sleep and hopefully next week I will get caught up on some much needed ride time. I also plan to eat A LOT. That's what the holidays are for!

I am also happy to be done with grad school for the semester. Taking two classes was hard, but I made it through and I'm glad I am two classes closer to being finished. One of the bigger laughs of the semester came when I wrote my 11 page final paper on one computer, only to try to post it online a few days later. When I went to post it up, I realized that only half of the paper had saved. I had a huge breakdown only to rally myself a few minutes later. I made a goal to try to type the remaining six pages of the paper in one hour. I put my mind to it, finished it, and submitted it knowing that it was total crap. The first paper was good. This was crap. A few days ago I logged back on to see if it had been graded only to find a comment from the professor saying that it was the best paper submitted! Ha! I love my ability to crank out some quality BS! I am signed up for two more classes in the Spring, which will be no easy task, but I'll be happy to get done with this masters sometime in the next year or year and a half. I'm over homework and looking forward to being able to read for fun again!

I am really excited for Christmas this year. Whether it is having a tree, listening to Christmas tunes on XM on the way home from work, or just being excited for 2009 to end and bring on a better year, I'll take it. Chris already got his big Christmas present from Santa and he's off using it this weekend. I'm sure pictures will turn up on his blog as soon as he gets back!

Hopefully in a few days I will get some year-in-review blogs up, because I love having a good excuse to relive all of the fun adventures of the past year.

Giving it a good shot

2009-12-12T15:40:00.008-07:00

I don't put a lot of stock into what my fortune cookies tell me...

unless they say what I want them to!

Then I keep them and put them on display.

The next day, hubby mixed up the goodies...

While Pup watched with great interest...

And I, and my butt, got nervous...

But all went well.

Today we got the job done at the dr's office and now we wait.

I predict my fingers will eventually freeze into the crossed position.

Thankful

2009-11-25T19:21:00.004-07:00

Tomorrow is thanksgiving, which means the usual explosion of "what I'm thankful for" blogs.

Since I could use a little reminder of all that is truly good in life rather than sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I'm going to give in and make one too.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for...

the most amazing husband in the whole world. He just gets me. Right now he's making me dinner and we are both singing at the top of our lungs. I'm sure it doesn't sound good, but I love that we can do it. How many people can you do that in front of?

a great family and a nephew #2 to be born any day now! My family and Chris's family are all amazing people and great supporters.

amazing friends. I don't know what I'd do without them. Besides meeting Chris, they are the best thing that came from college! They make everything okay. It is hard to leave an evening with them without your cheeks and abs hurting from the laughter.

Turbo! Having grown up without pets, I never knew you could get so attached to a dog. He is the greatest dog in the whole world.

my health. So my body doesn't cooperate how I'd like it to, but I'm grateful things aren't worse.

Chris's health. Again, things aren't working as he'd like either, but things could be worse.

my warm house and a perfectly good car. A lot of my students' families are deciding between heat and food this season, and on snowy days there are always a few absent because their cars won't start (despite the fact that they live a block from school, but don't get me started on that one...).

a job and an amazing class. I am still in shock that I only have twenty students this year. This time last year I had 28. 20 is perfect. They are an amazing group and I am thankful for each one of them. They deal with so much crap and they are still about as sweet as humanly possible. If you ever need a barrage of hugs, come to my class. That and they'll most likely sneeze on you -- but we're working on that.

flannel sheets, warm blankets, slippers, synchilla pants, and my new Sheila Moon hoody from Mr. Nice. I like comfy things. A lot.

delicious food and delicious wine. I mentioned hubby is making me dinner. It smells GOOOOOOD (as I typed that, he simultaneously asked me if I was writing that I am thankful for the food he's making, because "it looks gooooood" -- haha, yes I was hubby!).

Amazon Video on Demand. When Chris got hurt, we started watching all episodes of The Office that were available on online Netflix. Season 6 is in progress so is obviously not available on Netflix and NBC deletes the new episodes after a few weeks (and we are far too spotty of TV watchers to see it when it's actually on). We went into The Office withdrawl. We were sad. Then last night I discovered Amazon Video on Demand. The $2.00 an episode is well-worth the happiness of being able to catch up on the new season. We were giddy and dancing with excitement when we discovered it. Yes, we're giant nerds.

grad school. I know, it's not fun, but I guess I should be thankful for it, right? One day it will make me more money, afterall. More money = more comfy things.

Okay, I think that's all I can come up with at the moment. I hope everyone out in bloggerland has a great Thanksgiving!

I Spy...

2009-11-22T15:56:00.008-07:00

Today the weather and lack of imminent homework lead me to a wonderful SS ride outside for a few hours.

The best part? On my ride I found an endangered species!

This is the most unusual species, pretty common around these parts not too long ago, but unseen lately. It is known to fly south in the summer and rumors have it that it is flying north in the winter. It primarily resides in Colorado, although its roots can be traced back to the midwest and even back to New York. It is also suuuuuuper cute!

It is complete with gray claws...

...a blue butt...

...a blue and white head...

...and speedy paws.

It even follows the path of the whale!

I'm happy it is back!

But shhhhhh, don't tell the doctors :)

Back in the SSaddle again

2009-11-14T13:06:00.008-07:00

Today I rode my single speed again after many many months.
Hubby took many many hours yesterday to put it back together for me (some parts, including the wheels, are shared with my Frankendoo bike which was my primary summer ride). So many hours in fact, that he managed to forget to eat all day. I got home yesterday to a spiffed up, shiny bike ready for me to ride. Unfortunately it was also snowing really hard at the moment, so I had to wait until today to try it out.

I've ridden the trainer ONCE in the last six weeks.

And before that I'd ridden my bike ONCE since Chequamegon.

Yes.

Pathetic.

So today's ride was ultra painful but supremely fun.

After I got over the guilty feeling of being able to go ride outside while hubby is stuck to ride the trainer, I put on a lot of clothes and my new lobster gloves and headed out into the 35 degree weather. Today's destination: the good old dogpark loop by our house. The back area has been closed since June because of the plague (!) but now it is finally open again. I missed it.

We found my lobsters on super sale at Bicycle Village a few months ago. They are awesome. I can safely say, for one of the few times in my life, that my hands were hot. I'm in love.

The single speed was great. I only tried to shift a few times :)

I'm sure I'll get used to it again soon.

The best part about today's ride? For a few minutes there, I actually felt like everything is going to be alright. That's a good feeling.

Moving forward...

2009-11-11T11:07:00.005-07:00

is easier said than done.

Well, we're officially at the "trying game" again. Doing what worked last time plus an added shot in the butt the other night = a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride.

One second I feel hopeful and positive, the next I am in tears. It's ridiculous and I have to blame the hormones. Otherwise I'd have to blame myself and that's not nearly as much fun.

We did make the best of the shot-giving though. Chris had to learn to mix up the drugs, assemble the needle, and then shoot me up. It was pretty hilarious trying to figure it all out, complete with a target on my butt and everything. This time we took pictures. If we have to do it again next month, there will most certainly be video. It's that funny. I've never seen Chris so nervous! Luckily for me, I hardly felt a thing -- until the next few days of course, when I feel as if I've grown an extra sore cheek to sit on.

Yes, too much information.

I know.

But that's my life right now.

And I'm okay with that.

In other news, I managed to force myself onto the trainer the other night for a half hour. I've had six weeks off the bike completely, despite the beautiful fall weather and a serious need to burn off some pent up emotion. Between work, two grad classes, a gimpy husband, and hundreds of other things on my to-do list, I've hardly had time to even think about the bike. Plus, it's hard to motivate yourself to exercise and stay healthy when you know that no matter what you do, your body won't cooperate to do the one thing it should be able to do. All of those factors combined equals a few dusty bikes around the house. I know I need to ride though. I know I need to get back to my normal routine. It will help SO much. So I'm working my way back into it. A ride on Monday and hopefully a few more easy spins as the week progresses and hopefully I'll be back to doing what I enjoy and feeling slightly more normal. I am even getting excited to hopefully start up my bike/bus commuting again next week.

Chris is excited to do his first short trainer session tonight after breaking his ankle. I'm excited for him to be able to get back to his own routine and building up some of those lost muscles in the process. He's doing great hobbling around on one crutch after Monday's appointment. He's putting weight on the foot in the boot and I can tell he is starting to feel a little more like himself. He joined me on our Kinder field trip to the zoo yesterday and he did an awesome job hobbling after me and three of my students all morning.

We were both so tired last night that we ate dinner, sat down to watch TV, and were both fast asleep on the couch within an hour. Around 7:30 we decided to move up to bed. Pretty pathetic for a couple who is used to climbing 14ers on the weekend and riding bikes almost every week night.

Oh how things change.

We'll get back though. We're both moving forward toward getting out from what is holding each of us down. We are both hiking up snowy slopes, taking two steps forward and then sliding back another before willing ourselves to move on and do it again.

Thank you hubby, for joining me on our slippery journey, wherever it happens to take us. And thanks to whoever actually reads this blog for putting up with my whine fests while we get through this crappy time. I can't wait to start having more fun adventures to blog about again!

And...

2009-11-03T21:37:00.007-07:00

Since I can't stand to have bad news constantly taking up my blog space (as I recover from my first lovely bought of strep... that ruined my fall break...).

I bring you...

A dog with a buffalo on his head!

And...

A very Plesko Picnic!

(yes, our bed now serves as a bed, a table, a couch, and the perfect spot for catching up on all episodes of The Office in instant-Netflix)

And...

The inventor of the snowball!

(discovered when one cute dog took his ball into the snow, rolled it around, then pranced proudly as he showed off his new invention)

Finally...

The token "awwwwwwww" shot!

This weekend is supposed to be beautiful. I hope to be healthy and reunite with my pretty pretty singlespeed. I have not touched my bike in almost 6 weeks. That's not good. Not good at all.

Roller coaster

2009-10-09T17:07:00.003-06:00

I'm usually not an "oh, poor me" kind of person, but seriously, enough is enough.

There are two ways to look at every situation and I am trying my hardest to look on the bright side.

My new typical response for "how are things?" is: Life has been better but it could be a lot worse.

I'm grateful for what I have. I may have lost something a few Mondays ago, but this last Monday I nearly lost the person that means more to me than anything in the whole world.

I have been thankful every second since that I didn't.

Heal up my sweet love...

"No matter the size of the mountain you and me will be side by side, ain't life and love one big roller coaster ride..."

High highs and low lows

2009-10-01T21:17:00.002-06:00

So, I have to preface this blog by saying it will be sappy, emotional, and probably far more personal than any of you care to read.

But I have to write it.

As I find myself trying to pull out of a very dark hole, Chris encouraged me to write a blog about it. Writing seems to be a way for me to put my thoughts down and release the burden of holding on to them and... you know what?... that can't be a bad thing.

I've eluded to our fertility struggles on the blog before, but to make a long story short: we've been trying to get pregnant for a little over two and a half years. We've gone through plenty of stuff -- none too interesting or new to most people. This past month was a little more intense, requiring daily blood draws that made me end up feeling like some sort of weird human pin cushion most of the time. In the end though, it all seemed worth it when Chris and I saw a VERY faint positive on the pregnancy test last week. We both were cautiously optimistic as I headed off for yet another blood draw and then a whole day of waiting for the results. As I checked my email at the REI Starbucks between a school conference and grad class, I got the news we've waited so long to hear. Not only was I pregnant, but my numbers were labeled as "excellent". While I've always hoped to give Chris the good news in some creative fashion, I found myself mis-dialing our home phone number on the cell phone (and then mumbling something unintelligible to Chris once I finally got it right) outside the Denver REI store. Not so creative, but exciting nonetheless.

Everything was great. I immediately found myself worried that somehow this wonderful news would turn bad -- but that's my personality. Somehow along the road of my life, I found it "easier" to temper excitement with a little pessimism. That way I can't get too disappointed in the end. However, after a celebratory Starbucks date in the morning with Chris, I was driving to work and saw a church sign that said "worry is the thief of joy". It seemed oddly appropriate and I decided right then and there to not let worry ruin all the fun of the news that we had waited so long for. For the next few days, both of us were about as happy as two people can get. I, at least, felt like I was walking on a cloud. Suddenly 2.5 years of worry and pressure lifted and everything seemed worth any struggles we had gone through.

It's amazing how quickly everything can come crashing down.

After another blood draw and waiting for the news that everything was on track and good, Chris met me at work (rather than meeting me at the climbing gym as planned) with some terrible news. My "numbers" had plummeted and we lost the baby.

Now, as I have come to realize in the last few days, this is very common. In fact, everyone you talk to has either been through it or knows someone that's been through it -- and we know several people that have been through even worse.

Somehow, though, that doesn't make it any easier.

I have never felt so incredibly empty and horrible.

Instead of calling our family with good news, we had to call with "well, we had good news, BUT..."

That's not fun.

That night the horrible cramps and bleeding started.

That's also not fun.

At all.

There's nothing like that lovely physical pain to constantly remind you of what's going on.

It was a horrible night for both me and Chris. A night I get nauseous at just thinking about. I can now officially pinpoint THE worst day of my life.

As the days have gone on, things have started to look up. I can make it through the day without any major meltdowns. We even got out to the climbing gym last night to burn off a little frustration and pent up energy. The overwhelming feeling of trying to make it through the day isn't quite as bad.

I feel like I've been pretty strong through the whole fertility process. I've tried to see the good aspects -- for example, it completely challenges me in a way that nothing ever has. I can do everything right and still fail... but through that I've learned a lot about myself, a lot about Chris, and a lot about us as a couple. I appreciate those lessons.

While this is one lesson I could have, and wish I would have, lived without, I am starting to accept that things will get better. I still wonder if letting go of the worry allowed me to have at least a few days of total bliss, or if a little worrying could have ultimately tempered the shock and sadness. I think, though, that it was better to feel those few days of unexplainable joy than never to have felt it at all (I always thought that saying was cheesy and stupid, but now I get it). I can't believe the enormous support that our friends and family have shown us... and I can't imagine anyone going through this without it. I have the greatest husband in the whole world -- one who can put aside his own grief to focus on making sure I am okay in my darkest moments... I only hope I can do the same.

We are both still, undeniably crushed over what this week has handed us. Food doesn't quite taste as good, the sunrise is a little less pretty, and rather than walking on a cloud I feel like I am dragging an elephant around.

But we'll make it through this.

And one day soon, I hope to make a more happy blog...

Chequame-what?

2009-09-23T19:56:00.011-06:00

This weekend Brett, Scott, Chris and I went to Wisconsin for the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40.

The fun was nearly never-ending.

We left Denver on Wednesday night after work, packed into Brett's new E.

We drove WAY further into the night than planned because of some sort of interesting farm convention happening in Nebraska, causing all of the hotels to be booked up. Once we finally got settled into a dive of a hotel in Seward, we slept for a few hours before getting out of there as quickly as possible in the morning.
(The apples Scott brought us from his parents' apple trees in Iowa were by far the best I've ever had)

In the early evening we made it to Eau Claire, Wisconsin where we met up with one of Brett's friends and got to cruise around on some awesome single track. The riding in Wisconsin looked to be just my kind of riding -- no hills, no rocks, just smooth swoopy funness. I hoped this is what the course would be like on Saturday. Unfortunately we were racing the setting sun and the vicious peloton of mosquitos so we didn't get very many pictures of the ride.

We had some good burgers in Eau Claire, stayed in a decent hotel, and got back on the road for a few hours on Friday. Soon we found ourselves in Hayward, Wisconsin -- our home for the next whoppin' day and a half. We were treated to standing in the world's largest Muskee (yes, I'm sure there's a big market for those, making the competition stiff).

After many too many minutes of trying to find somewhere out in the woods, we settled into the cottage on the lake and headed back to the car to drive to race registration a half hour away.

I forgot the camera, but registration was quite the sight. Chris has me used to these underground races where "registration" consists of a few beers and a two-minute prerace meeting. Cheq's race registration had 2800 people piled into some sort of hotel or ski lodge -- one line for getting your race packet, one for getting your ankle bracelet, one for your shwag bag, and one for testing your ankle bracelet. I have to hand it to the race organization though -- the registration was streamlined and quick moving. Everyone seemed really nice and happy to be there. After I went through the first line behind Scott, the lady at the table made the comment "Wow! There's two of you from Colorado in a row! What are the odds?" Ha, I had to laugh at that one. Shocking!

Brett, being the race veteran, was grilled by me and Scott throughout the night. We wanted to know EVERYTHING about the course. Scott and I had never ridden in Wisconsin (other than our hour jaunt in Eau Claire the day before) and we were both quite concerned that we might die. Chris, also having never ridden in Wisconsin, was cool as a cucumber. Getting over a nasty sickness and feeling pretty terrible, but cool as a cucumber.

We spent the evening scraping off the hoards of dead bugs from the front of our bikes, eating a tasty meal cooked by the chef of the house, and organizing race food and clothes for the next morning. There was a general air of stressfulness over where people would start, how early they should get their bikes to the start to get a good position, etc. Lucky for Chris and Brett, they had preferred start and didn't have to worry about getting there early to be in the front, and luckily for them, Scott and I didn't care AT ALL where we started in the group. That meant no one in our group had to get up at the butt crack of dawn to place bikes upside down in the middle of the main street.

The next morning found Chris up early making Brett, Scott, and I some pancakes and eggs. Worried about that northern Wisconsin weather, I was fully prepared to freeze at the start of the race. When I stepped outside to load my bag into the car, I was pleasantly surprised to find downright WARM weather! Who knew that existed up north in the fall (says the Colorado native)? We did our prerace activities, placing Scott and I's bikes in the middle/back of the quickly growing field of upside down bikes. We finalized clothes, food, water, and nervous chit chat about how a mountain bike course in Wisconsin could not possibly have 4,000 ft of climbing in it... even if it is 40 miles.

Before we knew it the race was about to start and Scott and I found our bikes. We chatted it up with the others around us -- most of them laughing when they heard we were from Colorado and actually concerned about the course. I guess being from Colorado means we're hardcore. Scott and I threw each other "haha, little do they know" glances and were soon off with the crowd. The sound of 2700 riders clipping into clipless pedals can never be replecated. I love that sound. The click, click, click, click sound is strangely comforting. The sound of 2700 wheels spinning down the road was like sitting in the middle of a vicious pack of swarming bees. Despite the start being the part I was most worried about (I know our group can stay on a line for 3 miles on a road, but you can't control the things 2696 other people will do). Turns out the start was pretty tame. No screaming crashes like I was warned about. There were stops and starts along the way, but overall it was fine.

Since 40 miles is a long way, and frankly would make from a long, fairly boring race report, here are a few memories, insights, and observations about the course:

1) The rolling grassy hills of the Berky were painful. I'm not used to miles and miles of rolling hills. I felt totally and completely retarded trying to ride them. I was constantly in the wrong gear. I do have to say that I quickly learned the benefits of not touching your brakes on the downhills. Why give up all that precious free speed?

2) Despite my previous statement, I learned in this race that I can climb. Really. Amazing actually how this suddenly came to me. I would climb past people walking up the hills ALL THE TIME. It was almost funny. On the one *big* climb of the course, I rode over half of it while strings of people hiked up the side. I rode everything else. And I wasn't even out of breath. At all.

3) Connecting to number two (I'm all about transitions today), breathing at sea level is significantly easier. People would be huffing and puffing and I was able to carry on complete (although often one-sided) conversations with those around me. I'm not sure my breathing ever reached beyond a pretty normal level. My legs, on the other hand, were hurting pretty good almost immediately! Strange.

4) Even though I've never actually done it before, I was really good at taking the water hand up on the fly. Must be all that 24 Hours of Moab practice being on the other side of the hand up.

5) Chris, despite being sick, feeling generally crappy, and being largely untrained, still beat me by an hour and a half. Humbling.

6) I only beat Scott by 8 minutes. Neither of us knew the other was that close. Otherwise it would've been a lot of fun to ride together.

7) Thank goodness fellow cyclo-blogger Vito warned me of the last 8 miles. "Relentless hills" is an understatement. It wasn't just hills, it was rollers. And we all know I hate the rollers.

8) Fighting a cold for the first 3 weeks of school, then doing a hard 40 mile race, gives the cold a considerable edge. My head and sinuses felt absolutely horrible the night after the race and I ended up sleeping a full 12 hours, starting at 7:45 pm, through the drunken banter upstairs. the sleep helped a lot though and I felt a lot better the next day.

9) I'm glad I took time now and then to look around. The leaves were spectacular in Wisconsin and they were especially pretty on a few parts of the course. Back at the cabin I picked 20 big red leaves to bring home to my students. For once I can teach them about the colors of fall without them looking at me with skepticism as all they see in Denver is green, brown, and yellow.

I think that's it. We took Sunday and Monday to drive home and Tuesday was back to work. It was hard returning to the real-world after a blissful 5 1/2 days of friends, fun, eating, laughing, and riding.

Thanks to Brett for all of the driving. Chris and I got to hang in the back and relax the whole trip. I'm not sure that has ever happened and it was lovely.

(P.S I finished the race in a relatively slow 3 hours and 51 minutes... although this was as good as I could do given my current fitness, so I'm pleased. Next year it'd be fun to go back and gun for the 3-3.5 hour mark -- easily do-able with a little work. At least I'll show good improvement!)

Chequamegon or bust!

2009-09-13T18:48:00.002-06:00

On Wednesday after work, Scott, Brett, Chris and I leave for Wisconsin for the Chequamegon 40.

Since I will most likely run out of time, motivation, and energy to make a pre-race post between now and Wednesday, here it is.

I'm ill prepared, under trained, and super excited.

I originally planned to make this the "focus" of my biking season, really training and preparing for it.

Unfortunately, work, grad school, and throwing a lot of mental energy into the fertility issues have managed to change those plans. (I know, excuses excuses -- but what good are excuses if you don't use them when you need them?)

I still think I'll do alright though, and here's why:

1) My bike is awesome. The squeaky ladybug should strike fear in those around me and they will simply move out of the way and let me past.
2) While the race is UP in Wisconsin, it is also WAY DOWN in Wisconsin. There will be so much oxygen in the air that I'm sure my body will sprout an extra lung. That can only help.
3) Our new team kits are sewn together with magical threads and there is a hidden rocket in the back pocket.
4) It's 40 miles. Only 40 miles. That's nothing. That's what I tell myself at least.

So, in all, piece of cake.

No problem.

I can't wait!!

I am a...

2009-09-12T16:09:00.003-06:00

PC?

Gasp!

Welcome to Pinky, my cute little Toshiba mini-notebook:
An investment in the next few years of grad school from my wonderful hubby.

I am a Mac person, always have and always will be (and going back to Windows is not easy).

But this is a pretty cool little computer.

And yes, as a mini "notebook" it is already lighter than my actual school notebook that houses gazillions of articles about language, literacy, and culture.

It's really cute too.

Thanks for the wonderful surprise hubby.

Doing homework just got a bit more fun!

Dirty house

2009-09-07T17:02:00.008-06:00

I clean when I'm stressed.

I think I get that trait from my mom, who would always break out the dusting and vacuuming when the Broncos would be blowing a game.

My house has been dirty.

Now that's a good sign in my house!

School has been going great. I have 17 well-behaved, sweet, and generally knowledgeable kids. I've certainly paid my dues with difficult kids in the last few years and it is a whole different world having a class without any major issues. I am starting to remember why I love teaching. (I'm really not just a fair-weather teacher, it just takes a lot of energy and tolerance that wears thin to have the challenging ones -- and yes it is often more rewarding to teach them than the 'easy' kids).

I finished the climbing part of my cute mountain bulletin board:

Now I just need some clouds. The kids love it and it looks really cute!

I am taking a full-time load of graduate classes this semester -- one online and one weekly class downtown. The classes so far have their ups and downs, and it is a lot of work. I'm getting through it though and I'm sure the semester will be over before I know it. I wouldn't call the classes stressful, just time consuming.

Even though work and class haven't been too bad so far, it sure was nice to have this three day weekend.

Friday night after work, Chris and I caravanned down to the Tabaguach/Shavano trailhead to park the Es and get a nice night's sleep before our big ride on Saturday. The views in the morning were spectacular!

E camping is the best kind of camping at the end of a long week.

Beautiful 14ers views!

Saturday, Brett, Chris, and I met Erik and Michelle at the Poncho Springs Visitor Center to organize our shuttle vehicles to go up to the top (the trail starts up at the top of Monarch Pass at 11,700 ft then climbs and drops back down to Poncho Springs about 34 miles later).

Our self-shuttle was a good idea until the keys for the finish car ended up in one of the start cars. Luckily bikers are nice and someone gave Chris and Brett a ride up the pass to get the cars.

Four bikes. Two 29ers. Two with front wheels on. Lots more room. Elements rock.

I was glad I had my camera!

Getting ready to roll.

The trail is a classic and I can see why. The rolling and varied terrain keeps the trail exciting. There is plenty of climbing for a shuttle route and since you are riding at 12,000 ft, the burning lungs add an interesting challenge. The down hills were great fun -- until we hit the sloppy mud and wet roots at least.

Our new team kits made a glowing debut. We got a lot of compliments on the trail.

All smiles today!

We spent much of our first few hours stopping to take pictures. Amazing views!

We spent a decent amount of time riding above tree line.

"Look fast!"

Chris, Brett, and Erik were speedy!

Chris might be getting his bike-smile back!!!!!!!!

The peanut-butter mud made things interesting!

Frankendoo takes a rest on the Rainbow Trail while I wait to the boys' pictures.

One of the best shots of the day.

The Rainbow trail had a lot of steep ups and more loose ickiness than the rest of the trail. Chris, as usual, rocked everything on his rigid single speed. People would watch him from the side of the trail with their jaws open as he made it up some of the steep climbs. I had a hard time walking them and he would give it one good grunt and be dancing up. He hasn't really ridden his bike in a while and it seems like he never put it down.

The end of the ride consists of a 35-40 mph coast down highway 285. Without a big ring on my bike I joined Chris in the "really spun out" category and we enjoyed the ride. I did wonder a few times if MTB tires are rated to go 35 mph for 10 minutes on hot pavement. They survived though!

What an absolutely spectacular ride. I felt good all day up until the last five miles or so on the trail. By that point I was getting pretty tired -- having been out on the trail for 6 hours so far. After the cruise down the highway we regrouped in the parking lot and there may have been some napping happening while Brett and Chris got the cars from the top.

To see the rest of the pictures from the wonderful ride, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/marniplesko/MonarchCrestTrail?feat=directlink

The delightful weekend got cut a bit shorter than I would've preferred because I had to be back for a blood draw at 7 am Sunday morning. We all ended up driving home Saturday night instead of having one more night of camping.

On Sunday while Chris was climbing with Brett, I caught up on some homework and... yes ... cleaned the house. But thankfully not out of stress, just out of necessity.

It was a beautiful weekend.

Dry Eyes

2009-08-20T19:53:00.002-06:00

Well, hallelujah!

No crying.

No screaming.

No running out of the room in hysterics...

And the kids did pretty well too!

The first day is down, over, done with.

Phew.

Let's hope day 2 goes as smoothly.

Revisiting Reality

2009-08-18T18:04:00.011-06:00

Summer break 2009 is officially over.

And it has been over for more than a week.

As I think back to our wonderful summer, I can't help but feel completely satisfied and happy with all that went on.

The summer began with preparing for, blog-updating for, watching, and generally obsessing over Chris's record-setting Divide race. In the process, I got to both meet and reunite with many cyber-friends from the bike-blogosphere.

After that great adventure, Chris and I embarked on some adventures together.

We hiked five 14ers together...

biked up one...

climbed a rock or two...

learned to flip in the sand...

rode amongst the flowers...

took the best kiddos in the world rock climbing in the gym...

ate some great meals...

and napped some good naps.

Now that I am back to preparing for getting the Kinders, I am trying to carry a bit of my summer experiences into the classroom:

This will get much cuter in the next week with Wish Clouds and pictures of my students pretending to hike up the mountain, connected by a climbing rope made of yarn. Whether it makes any impact on them or not, it is sure to remind me constantly that these kids face challenges every day that pale in comparison to mine. Either way, I have made it a personal goal (yes honey, I have set a goal for myself for once) to keep this class feeling connected to each other and me like a team climbing up the toughest of mountains.

(As a side note, I have also made goals to actually be ORGANIZED -- the only way I foresee not losing my mind amid teaching full time, participating in an extra program at school that requires a lot of additional commitments within the classroom, and attending grad school *full time* by taking six credits -- and PREPARED -- yes, being consistent with my planning certainly slacks as the stress rises.)

I am also looking forward to a Labor Day weekend in Salida riding with the team, a long weekend in the upper throws of Wisconsin for the Chequamegon 40 in about a month (which, at this point, I simply hope to survive well enough to enjoy the rest of the weekend), and hopefully some monthly game nights and hikes with the girls.

Thinking I sound surprisingly ambitious and optimistic considering the kids start on Thursday?

Did I mention my class list currently has 13 students. 13!!!!?????!!!!

Compared to my typical class of 28, I can deal with 13 (even though more will certainly enroll and start a day to several months late).

Ah.

Reality might not bite so much.

Long overdue

2009-08-16T16:28:00.005-06:00

August 6, 2004:

August 6/7, 2009:

Five years of adventures.

I can't even imagine the stories we'll have in another five years.

Love you hubby.

Longs Peak: Some Lessons in Life

2009-08-01T12:24:00.018-06:00

Yesterday, Chris and I completed 14er number twenty by climbing Longs Peak.

Longs Peak is one of the few 14ers that is visible and recognizable from almost anywhere in the Denver/Boulder area (you actually see Long's close neighbor Mount Meeker, but the tippy top is Long's summit). It looks huge and out of place.

Since it is so visible and close to Denver, many tourists, Coloradans, climbers, hikers, and old people in sweats alike are drawn to this mountain. By 3 am on any given day the huge parking lot is full and people are parked down the road. 3 am! Eww.

The traditional route on Longs, the Keyhole Route, is classified as class 3 (hiking in Colorado ranges from class 1 -- easy walking -- to class 5 -- where you start to do real rock climbing with ropes). Class 3 is not anything to be taken lightly, yet the most unlikely people seem to make it to the summit of Longs everyday. The length of the hike is no joke either -- the Keyhole route being 15 miles round trip. That's a long day. Hence the full parking lot at 3 am. Did I mention: ewww?

I have been nervous to climb Longs since I first learned about it. The exposure, length, and really early wake-up time made me nervous. The Keyhole Route, despite its thousands of unacclimatized ascenders, sounded bad. Over the last year and a half, I have slowly come to realize that the route itself wouldn't be so terrible -- exposed, maybe, but not anything I couldn't handle. But it would certainly be crowded and relying on other people not to screw up and inadvertently take me down with them is a skill I don't really possess.

If you remember, Chris and I are on a mission to complete all of Colorado's 14ers as a couple. So, no matter how many excuses I could find, I needed to do this mountain. I decided back in May that I needed to do it this summer. I have had enough of seeing the big peak looming in front of me on my commute home from work each day, knowing that it scares me and had thus far gotten the best of me mentally.

So yesterday I found myself waking up to the alarm at 1:15 am. Ewww. Seriously, 1:15. As I got ready in the bathroom I tried to decide whether, since I hated being up at this hour, it makes me an anti-morning-person or an anti-night-person. 1:15 am really qualifies as both. It was early and I can honestly say I was not a terribly pleasant person to be around.

So by 2 am we were loaded in the car and Chris (being quite perky, thus qualifying himself as both a night person and a morning person) drove us up to Rocky Mountain National Park. I felt pretty horrible, dizzy, nauseous, and tired to boot. My current drug of choice, Clomid, leaves me suffering from all sorts of crazy side-effects every month. This month seems to be dizziness. Oh goody.

But, as I said, I've made enough excuses not to do this peak, and I thought that any mention of my crappy feeling would only makes things worse. So I sucked it up and closed my eyes through the twisty, turny road that leads to Longs. Around 3 am we drove through dozens upon dozens of cars parked in the lot and down the road. Chris found us an up front parking space and by 3 we were headed up the trail.

Chris seems to be recovering well from his Tour Divide craziness and I've noticed that his fitness is not only coming back to where it was before he left, it seems nearly out of control. He has been filling his non wife-mandated-rest-days with high altitude adventures. So, needless to say, even at 3 am on a dark morning, he bounded up the Longs trail like a deer. One second I was right behind him and the next had my headlamp shining on nothing but trees.

And other hikers.

We stopped counting when we'd passed 50 other hikers just in the first two hours before the Boulderfield. Amazing. Groups ranging from kids to the elderly. Lightweight hikers to overweight hikers. Gortex to cotton. Ski pants to sweat pants. Headlamps to flashlights. The range of people on the trail really spanned the population. Many of those slower hikers were stopped within the first half mile to catch their breath and rest. I quickly started to realize why many trip reports have people taking upwards of 16 hours to complete this trail.

Chris would stop and wait for me now and then, but I was really poking and he was really flying, and the combination wasn't a good partner hiking experience. Every 14er that we hike gives me times where I get into the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other mentality. At least for a short section. For Longs, I had this from the very beginning. Whether it is the pills or the fatigue from climbing three 14ers in the last two weeks or just that it was "one of those days", I can't be sure.

Then the wind started.

That helped.

Not.

It got really windy. Windy enough that the gusts would come and I would have to lean into it on my poles just to keep from being toppled. Honestly, any other mountain and I would've bagged it right there. But two things kept me really motivated: 1) I did not want to have to wake up that early again to climb this peak. Ever. and 2) If the zillions of other hikers could make it up in the conditions, I certainly wasn't going to be the one idiot who turned around and passed them all again on the way back down. I care way too much about what other people think and they'd certainly be laughing on the inside as I walked past them back to the comfort of the car.

So we kept going and eventually we made it to the boulder field as the sun started to rise and my spirits started to lift. I could finally SEE Longs Peak and it is amazing what a little visual motivation can do for your mood. I've heard about the boulder field many many times and it was fun to see it in person. There are a lot of boulders. Quite big ones. We stopped for a bathroom break (yes, there are even bathrooms there somehow) and to eat some cheese danishes. I could stomach about half of one before throwing in the towel. We put on our climbing harnesses and...

climbing harnesses?

Oh yeah. Between being scared to do the class 3 Keyhole route and our actual hike, somehow we decided to climb the old Cables route instead. Class? 5.4. Rock climbing.

I didn't want to just bag this peak, I wanted to be able to give it a big f-you on my way down.

Yeah baby.

Anyway, we put on the harnesses and some extra clothes (ok, all of my extra clothes -- base layer, R1 balaclava hoody, windshirt, down coat, rain pants, two pairs of gloves, hat and 3 layers of hoods -- minus my rain jacket. I was saving that as one last safety piece in case it got even colder, which it eventually did...).

We hiked past the boulder field and to the base of our climb. We boulder hopped for a while before coming to the first of a few snow fields that we needed to cross. When Chris had done this climb previously he crossed these with crampons and ice axes. Neither of us had crampons this time, but we did have the ice axes. Chris went up ahead and kicked and cut steps and I followed in his footsteps. It wasn't so bad for me, since the footsteps were already there, but it was hard work for Chris. And I appreciate that he was willing to do it for me.

Eventually we got to the rock where we had to rope up and climb. Chris would lead, placing a scant amount of gear now and then to protect a fall, then he would find an old eye-bolt and stop to belay me up. This route used to be protected by fixed cables as the main route up Longs. One day someone wised up and took them down, forcing the less experienced to either summit via the Keyhole or not at all. Luckily for us, they left the bolts which made great anchors on the way up and down the route. The climbing wasn't too hard. Except for one major factor: ice.

Yep, July 31st and we were contending with freshly frozen ice on the route.

Verglass to use the fancy word for it.

Essentially, it was a thin layer of ice with water running underneath. So the route was both icy and really wet. Really, really wet. And really, really cold wet. That turned a 5.4 walk in the park into a much more mentally and physically taxing climb for both of us. Pretty soon our gloves and feet were soaked and we were really cold. I added my last precious layer -- the rain jacket. I wouldn't say it helped very much. But at least it added yet another hood to the system. Yep, now I had five hood layers and a climbing helmet on my head.

At one belay station Chris asked me if I wanted to turn around. I told him no. Then he climbed up and I quickly changed my mind. Honestly, if he was within earshot, I would've called him back down and bailed. I was cold, wet, dizzy, nauseous, and cold. Fortunately, he wasn't in ear shot so I bucked up and kept going.

The climbing was remarkably fun. I didn't freak out and I didn't cry... pretty standard protocol for an outdoor climbing experience for me... so this was unusual. I had a lot of fun climbing the route. Despite the wind (it was relentless) and the cloud cover (turns out the sunrise was only a sort of cruel tease as it didn't really show its true beauty and heat until much later), we wanted the summit. We watched the clouds blow on and off the summit at a faster rate than I have ever seen clouds move. At the top of the technical section, Chris coiled the rope, shoved it in his bag, and we did the final rock hopping to the summit.

We made it!

I have heard that the summit is HUGE. That's true. It was pretty flat and big. Amazing. We met an awesome retired couple that had just completed their 54th 14er in 52 days. They rock. We tried to shove down some food, but even Chris had no appetite (gasp!). We took our summit picture and headed back down.

Depending on the minute, the summit view would sometimes look like this:

Sometimes it would look like this:
(Same view!!)

Some rock hopping down got us back to the top eye-bolt and then the fun really started.

Rather than hiking down, which is always a way bigger pain than it sounds, we got to rappel! Yes! Sweeeeeet! Not only that, but we got simul-rappel the route -- meaning we each went down on one side of the rope and rappelled together. I was nervous at first but it was actually a blast.

We rappelled eye-bolt to eye-bolt, did some very interesting down climbing, and were quite quickly back at the snow field. We hiked around it this time, stopping to admire The Diamond (the picturesque huge vertical face on Longs) and some climbers climbing it.

Below: Our route is up to right, up the snow then straight up and left to the summit.

By now we were tired but much perkier. We made the technical summit, safely got down the scary parts, and were pretty close to being back to the nice path leading back to the car. The sun also decided to come out, so we quickly shed layer upon layer upon layer. We smiled, laughed, chatted about nothing, and finally seemed to really let ourselves enjoy the experience.

We stopped in the boulder field to enjoy the view, pack the layers, and eat some Combos and Reeces peanut butter bar (umm, yummm). Our relaxation was short lived as the clouds turned from breezy to building and we knew a thunder/rain storm was eminent. We got our stuff together and started to bust a move back down the trail to the car. When the thunder started rolling when we neared tree-line, our trot turned to a jog and an occasional run. We got wet, but safely back to the car at 3:30 pm on the dot.

13.5 hours after leaving the car.

A LONG day (how appropriate), but an adventure that I'm really proud of and excited that we pulled off.

Sure, altitude probably makes me a little dramatic, but on the way back down I realized that Longs reinforced a few of life's lessons for me:

1) Commitment: I had a lot of excuses to bail but I didn't let them overtake me and I stuck with the plan. Nothing was really physically wrong, there was no eminent danger... my mind was trying to wuss out. I committed to doing this climb and I was going to do it. And I did.

2) Trust: When you are climbing anytime, and especially around 13,500 ft, you have to trust your partner to do what he needs to do safely. When you are rappelling together, you have to trust the other person to not screw up. My one piece of marital advice? Do an activity like climbing where you have to literally put your life in your spouse's hands. That'll teach you to rely on each other in stressful situations.

3) Persistence: If you keep one foot moving in front of the other, eventually you'll get where you want to go. It might not be as pleasant of an experience as you had hoped, but you'll get there. I needed this reminder and I needed it now. This hike refreshed my resolve to keep moving forward in a few frustrating aspects of life that were leaving me drained in so many ways.

4) Laugh at yourself: During a particularly rough down climb on the way back down, I found myself lowering myself down the rock on my belly, shoving my shirts/coats around my neck and my pants and harness up as far as they could go. This was after getting a knee stuck in a crack and taking a few minutes to figure out how to get it out -- only to get it out just as I was about to tell Chris he may have to amputate. As I slid slowly down the rock (holding onto the hold above me), Chris guided my feet down to the next stable footing. I had to laugh. How can you not be in that position and laugh at yourself. Some things are just to ridiculous to pass up.

5) Push past fear: This mountain really scared me. I'm not sure exactly why. Especially now that I've done one of the harder routes in really crappy conditions. But it scared me. When I reached the summit, I found myself tearing up for the first time on a summit. I realized how much this meant to me to pull off. Ah, relief.

Thanks to Chris for another great adventure one week before our 5th wedding anniversary!

(Oh yeah, I did an experiment on the way back down on the merits of hiking poles. The left hand did not ever have a hiking pole, the right hand one the whole time. See the difference? I love my poles!)

Wild Weekend

2009-07-28T20:45:00.005-06:00

After completing two more fourteeners on Thursday and finding a much needed Starbucks in Pueblo, we headed down to La Veta (waaaaaaaay down south in Colorado) for our friend Scott's wedding.

We originally planned to camp in the Hotelement with Turbo, but after finding a half-open cabin that allowed dogs (with our friends Craig and Emily who own their own golden retriever named Turbo), we gladly settled in to this wee little cabin:

The cabin itself was a nice little size, but our closet that housed our twin bed for the weekend was a bit cramped between two adults and a full sized Golden. It was cozy enough though but we won't take our queen sized bed for granted again any time soon!

The cabin had this awesome rock climbing area right behind it. We brought the gear and had a really fun afternoon of setting up a new route. Chris did some great route finding and we weaseled our way up this rock and over a difficult roof to the top. Finding a way down through the trees and bushes was another adventure in itself!

After rock climbing, we threw on some clean clothes and hustled over to the rehearsal BBQ.
The next day, Chris and I kept it pretty low key and hung out on the porch reading books most of the day. Before we knew it, he was all spiffed up in his tux and we were ready to watch a beautiful wedding!
I'd say we clean up pretty well!
The wedding was a lot of fun -- hopefully there will be more pictures to come from a friend's camera (including a few photos that document what happens when you take a few engineers, a fire fighter, a kindergarten teacher, and put them alone with some little silicon balls from the center pieces... Let's just say it was quite amusing...)

On Sunday, we went to see the Great Sand Dunes with Erik and Michelle. Chris had never been to this crazy national park and I hadn't been there since my fifth grade trip -- over 18 years ago). The normally HOT tourist attraction was actually quite pleasant with some heavy cloud cover. We were on the lookout for lightning, but never saw any and instead just enjoyed the cooler weather.
The Great Sand Dunes sit at the foot of the San Juan mountains. The contrast between high peaks and endless miles of sand is stunning. Go there if you've never been.
Disclaimer: Chris is really good at backflips. Surprisingly good. At least on a slope. So he immediately found us a good dune and started hucking backflips off of it. He made it look pretty and easy, just as he does everything else, so I decided to give it a try.

Not so easy.

Not so pretty.
Chris essentially had to toss me over backwards. I completed the flip -- more like a back handspring since I put my hands down somewhat -- but then couldn't stop the rotation and ended up on my back in the sand. The good thing about sand is that it is quite forgiving.
I have a great husband who would even break from his hysterical laughing to come help me up. The sand would just pour out of my shorts!
Chris is an acrobat. Very impressive!
Chris and Erik hiked over to a far away dune and wrote us a message. The two ladies on top of the dune with Michelle and I swooned too!
There are so many great pictures from this trip that I'd love to show. I need to put them in a slideshow and then I'll post it. We had an amazing time at the wedding and at the dunes. Many many laughs were had over the weekend and it was great spending time with friends who we only usually get to see on bike rides (which don't really allow for much conversation!).

Congratulations to Scott and Melissa on a beautiful wedding!

Remember these??

2009-07-19T14:19:00.003-06:00

I forgot all about them until a recent trip to Target.

Yes, they are as outstanding as you remember them to be.

Pizzeria Pretzel is my latest obsession.

Yum.

Get some.

You won't regret it.

Summer should never end

2009-07-18T20:06:00.009-06:00

I have many excuses for not blogging.

Although none of them really matter, so I won't go into it.

Instead, here's a bit of what has happened lately...

*I picked up Chris from Antelope Wells, NM shortly into his 19th day of riding the Divide on July 1st. The road he had to finish on was really boring -- even in a car -- I can't even imagine how he did it on a very spun out singlespeed. He ended up finishing the race in 19 days and 21 minutes, setting a new singlespeed course record. I could not be more proud of him.

Having him gone for that long was really hard. I had a lot of things on my intended 'to-do list' that never got anywhere near touched. One might think that having hubby gone for nearly three weeks and no job to keep me busy would open up a lot of time. But, as Chris says, Divide racers are high maintenance -- even in a self-supported race. Any time he'd get anywhere near a town that might possibly have a phone, I would wait like a teenager next to the phone waiting for it to ring. And yes, a few times I picked it up just to make sure it was working and yes, a few times I gave sales calls a few choice words before rudely hanging up. Luckily my friends and family were unbelievably patient with my mood swings -- happy as can be if I just talked to Chris recently, crabby and stressed if I hadn't. But, in the end, it was all 100% completely worth it. What an amazing accomplishment. I think we're both still in shock. The news even came to our house and did a story!

*After bringing Chris home, we essentially ate, slept, and enjoyed each other's company for a while. The hardest part of having a husband home freshly off 19 days of living off candy and gas station food is not falling into his same eating habits. He would eat every hour or two -- usually full meals -- and then snack on anything he could find. He dropped nearly 10 pounds racing the divide, while I gained a few eating junk while he was gone. The napping, however, was good. Really, really good. I love naps. It was fun to bring him to the dark side, even if it was just for a week.

*I went to Eldorado Canyon for the first time to go rock climbing. It was a lot of fun. Different than most stuff I've done, but fun!

*I had my first mountain bike race of the season last weekend -- and my first race as an EXPERT. Yeah, doesn't seem right to me either. It was eh. I felt okay overall, but ended up helping a hurt teammate an hour in and subsequently giving up the race and turning the rest into a chill ride. I wasn't really prepared for 3.5 hours out on the bike though (food/water wise) and ended up puking a few times back at the car from a supposed mega-bonk. That was not awesome. The Winter Park series isn't appealing to me this year for some reason, but I expect to do another race or two to see if I get into it. I am really looking forward to the Chequamegon 40 in September in Wisconsin with some friends, so I should get myself in good enough shape so I don't just keel over and die in that one!

*We hosted a really fun party at the house to celebrate Chris's race. Nearly 30 friends were able to make it. It was fun getting together friends from all sorts of aspects of life in one place. My dad's cousin made an UNBELIEVABLE cake for Chris and Kurt. If you are in the Denver area and need a wedding/other celebration cake (or cookies or pastries or cupcakes apparently), find The Cakehouse. So tasty and beautiful to boot!

*Chris and I had an excellent overnight camping trip to hike Mount Yale this week. Chris has a great write-up about it, complete with lots of pictures! We hope to do another one early this week, and perhaps a twofer early the following week. The wildflowers are out of this world on the 14ers right now because of all of the rain that we've had. We want to squeeze in as many peaks as we can before they remember that this is not normally a rainy state!

*Last night Chris and I went to a great dinner at The Fort. We promised his mom we'd go to a special celebration dinner for the Divide race and we both finally felt up to it last night. Previously, I'm sure one of us would've fallen asleep mid-dinner (ahem... Chris). We've always wanted to go to The Fort in Morrison and it was pretty darn tasty. Thanks for the dinner TMom!!

*Tonight Chris is at a bachelor party, so as the weather finally cooled, I headed out for a little mountain bike ride. I tried the two nearest neighborhood stand-bys and both were closed! The dogpark was closed because of fleas that had been found to have the plague! Who knew a "The Plague" even existed anymore? I thought the closure probably mostly applied to the dogs, but I didn't really want to take the chance that I'd cross the closed sign only to be attacked by rabid plague ridden fleas. So I went over to Standley Lake and tried there, but the trail was closed there also -- not sure why. I would normally have just taken the mountain bike on one of our good 'ol road bike routes since I was already out, but my rear tire was quickly losing air and I really didn't want to mess with a flat. So, I pedaled carefully home, willing to admit when the world doesn't want me out on my bike. Instead, I ate some tasty food and ice cream and I can blog while watching Shrek. Not a terrible backup plan!

My summer break is quickly dwindling down. I have a school training on Tuesday, which seems to mark the beginning of the end. It makes me sad, this has truly be a great summer so far. I'm not ready to go back to the stress and routine of work and grad school (two classes in the fall!) as I feel I have just started to recover from last year. It'll be fun once it gets started, but I'm certainly going to enjoy every second I have left of not working or doing homework. Maybe that'll involve blogging once in a while!

Me, Myself, and I

2009-06-16T15:01:00.006-06:00

Picture from Buffalo Creek ride with Dave Nice, Ed, Spike, and Chris

I've seriously slacked on the blog since school got out. My intention was to start up blogging again once I wasn't so stressed and crabby about school. Turns out, it took a few weeks of decompression to get there (much longer than any previous year of teaching).

My first week off involved sleep, more sleep, and even more sleep. I would sleep in until 11:00 am, eat breakfast, read for an hour, then take a two hour nap, only to go to sleep for the night around 9:00 pm. I was really hoping that wouldn't last the entire summer, causing me to sleep away my precious time off, and luckily a week of that seemed to do the trick. Chris, in an attempt to taper before the Divide, was remarkably understanding and even cashed on a few naps with me.

Last Monday, the 8th, Chris, Jill from Juneau, and I left Denver with the car packed up and pointed toward Montana. We had a nice day of driving and ended up staying for the night in rockin' Great Falls, Montana (which holds some unfavorable memories for me). The next day, we zoomed across the border and were in Banff, Alberta before we knew it. We dropped Jill off where she was staying and Chris and I checked into the same apartment hotel that we stayed in last year. We stocked up on some groceries for the week and settled in for a nice vacation. Over the week in Banff, we visited some unbelievably beautiful places such as Lake Louise:

The Crowfoot Glacier:

and the hot springs (no pictures because our Colorado whiteness in bathing suits could only harm the camera).

We even managed to spot some elk, a porcupine, and a moose-butt. That was exciting!
We also got to have an outstanding dinner on Thursday night, at The Maple Leaf with Joel. Joel lives near Boulder, and despite living so close, it apparently takes us to all be up in Canada to get together! It was fun catching up with him and eating some really good steak!

Before we knew it, Friday was upon us and Chris and I were driving to the YMCA in Banff for the start of Tour Divide 2009! Chris was calm, cool, and collected and ready to head out for his big adventure.

After I kissed him off at the trailhead, I found myself on this seemingly annual trek of driving 18.5 hours from Banff to Denver by myself. This year was a bit easier to drive away from the race start, although not much. As I got going though, I fell into a groove and enjoyed the drive (despite ANOTHER night's stay in Great Falls).

Since I've been home, I've been trying to resist the urge to obsessively refresh the Tour Divide Leaderboard. My ability to track Chris's progress via the internet is both a blessing and a curse. He certainly would not be "encouraged" to do such crazy adventures without my ability to check in on him in the wild west. On the other hand, I find myself getting sucked into the Leaderboard, refreshing it even when I know there's nothing new to see. I did pretty well on Sunday at getting out and riding my bike, thinking I may have actually matured past the obsessive SPOT-tracking. Monday, however, found me unmotivated to do anything, huddled on the couch, depressed and lonely and SPOT-refreshing like a mad woman. Luckily for me, Chris got the opportunity to call, and his enthusiasm and excitement about the race got me off my butt. I eventually visited a friend's new baby and had a great dinner with some out-of-town aunts.

Today I was determined to not get sucked into the computer and I'm happy to say that it's 3:30 and I've only loaded up the Leaderboard four or five times. I managed to get myself out of bed in a reasonable time, make an awesome breakfast, then set out for a great ride at Marshal Mesa with my most reliable training partners: me, myself, and I. I went out expecting to ride some easy but big miles, but ended up only riding about 12. In that 12, however, I sessioned the one technical section of the trail for nearly an hour. I could get the lower part, get the top part, but never seem to link them together in one solid run. I hope to go back at least a few more times before Chris gets home and try to perfect it. Then, when he gets home, I can show off my new mad skillz! Just as I was cruising back to the car, Chris called from Helena! He sounded good and was grabbing some food before heading out. I was happy to get to talk to him!

Buffalo Creek with Mr. Nice

When I got home, I showered, packed up a picnic lunch, and took Turbo out to the park for a bally-playing-picnic. It was really nice. Finally Colorado seems to have found its sun today, while the last month has looked a bit like Seattle. The sun does wonderful things for my mood at least!

If you want to follow Chris along his Divide journey, check here, here, or here.

Now? Apple pie, lemonade, Cash Cab, and maybe even a nap!!

P.S -- ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY NEW BIKE!!!!!!!

Adios, Blooby...

2009-05-23T16:42:00.008-06:00

Hola, FRANKENDOO!!!

Back in October 2006, Chris bought me my very first "new to me" mountain bike. We had searched and searched for a WSD Fuel and found one at Veloswap that seemed perfect. Going from a hand-me-down Cannondale from my brother to my very own girl bike was awesome. I learned to really "ride" on that bike. I bashed into stuff, dropped it on the ground, and slowly learned to let go of the brakes on downhills. I raced my first cross country races, my first downhill race, rode the Kokopelli unsupported in three days, and rode the White Rim for the first time in 1.5 days (which was, in the end, its farewell ride). The bike rode countless times in Colorado, Utah, and Missouri. It really was a great bike. However, over time, I came to realize that it was slightly too small. I also came to realize that it was slightly too heavy. When introduced to the world of 29ers, I also realized that its wheels were just too small.

After posting it up for sale this winter, then again this spring, Blooby was finally sold to a new owner a few weeks ago. By the time it was sold, it hardly looked like my bike anymore, with its long stem, skinny handlebars, aero-bunny, and blue SLR stripped off. I didn't meet its new owner, and I'm glad I don't know what the new rider looks like. I know, I know, it's a bike. But still. It was MY bike.

As a good replacement, Chris had been looking at several different 29er hardtail options. Today we went to pick up a "surprise" and look what I got!!

Oooh lah lah!!!!

I had no idea he had ordered me a frame (or even narrowed down the options), so it was an awesome surprise. Chris, knowing me quite well, added to the excitement and fun of getting a new bike by eliminating the necessity of me actually choosing which bike to get. I hate decisions. I especially hate BIG decisions.

I absolutely love the frame he chose... a VooDoo Aizan in Silver. Our friend Jeny has one in gold and she seems to love it!

Currently, Chris is stripping the headset out of my first Cannondale, my new Reba from the singlespeed, the brakes from the Monocog, my handlebars from my Fuel pile, the derailleur from Chris's old Fuel, the SLR from my road bike, and an old seatpost from something so old we can't remember :) (oh yeah, it will also be borrowing wheels from the singlespeed and getting a "new" wheel made from the parts from Chris's JabberWocky blown wheel and parts from a Monocog wheel!) It has some good love in its parts, which to me, makes it even better. Eventually some of these parts will be upgraded, but I like knowing it is a bit of a Frankenstein.

Can't wait to take Frankendoo out on its maiden voyage!