So much happening. . . .
I've had a lot going on I'd have to say. Last week was work travel all over the state. It was good but exhausting. I logged 1800 miles in 2 weeks according to the odometer on the state car I was driving. That's a lot of driving.
This weekend was a flurry of excitement as always. It's such a blur that I hardly remember the weekend. Saturday I had to get everything ready for the Food Drive that took place on Sunday at the race. Somehow that made me feel exhausted and I had to lay down for awhile. That made Dave and I super late for pre-riding the race course so we only had time to get in a very short ride. Of course, everyone we bumped into had to chat since Dave FINALLY has a cross bike. After quite a few seasons of cross racing on a mountain bike I was fortunate to have an opportunity to get him a Schwinn cross bike. I'm very excited for him although he very well may have preferred some ski related item as a Christmas present. He's enjoying the bike thouggh and he'll fit in better at CX Nationals this year.
Saturday after our short pre-ride of the race course Dave had this great idea to stop at Best Buy to show me the laptop that he thought would work for me. This was a HUGE mistake on his part. On Friday I nearly kicked my computer as I was so frustrated with how slow it is and how impossible it was to edit the video that I was working on. However, I was still just dreaming of buying a laptop and still planned to wait until spring. I have this problem though . . . once I actually see and check out something then I can't walk away from it. Happened with my video camera and my digital slr camera. This is especially a problem if the item is available on a payment plan with no interest--such as offered frequently at Best Buy.
I can shorten this story up by saying Dave took me into the store so I could see it in person and make sure it was what I really wanted. I, of course, loved it and upon finding out that I could pay for it over 13 months with no interest told them I would take it. It really was an inevitability once I walked into the store and Dave steered me to the laptops. However, thanks to the new laptop I was able to actually edit photos in a timely fashion without having a nervous breakdown so I posted 259 photos from the Cat 4 Men's race on Sunday (and it took less time than editing 50 on my old computer). I would like to point out that it was a highly irresponsible act to buy Dave a bike and myself a laptop in the same week. Luckily I am the kind of person who will pay off the laptop (computer, video camera, etc) in the allotted time. I do realize that 13 months ago I could have just put that money aside and paid cash but I'm not that kind of girl.
Saturday night we met Steven and Lynne who are cxers from Minnesota at Bunky's for a nice night on the town. They are what you might call "blog friends" although I did meet them when they came down to do the race at Badger Prairie. It was a really fun evening getting to know them better and, of course, we had lots of chatter about biking and cyclocross. I have to say that they should move to Madison as Lynne would be a fun addition to the Capitol Velo Club. Of course, I'm always trying to get people to move to Madison thereby validating my belief that it is a cool place to live!
Sunday was the big Wisconsin State Cyclocross Championship race which was the end of our series. First I'd like to state that all the fans were great . . . I think next year we have to get the beer flowing sooner though as the Cat 1-2 Women want more rowdiness! It was cool though as people were cheering for me all over the course and I needed it. I've been feeling kind of run down lately and so I wasn't sure what to expect at the race. Great first lap though . . . I'm thinking next year the races should be shortened to one or even 1/2 lap races. That would be SWEET. For me at least.
Anyway, the race was hard. I loved the off cambers, the corners in the spiral and all the little sections where you had to make decisions about lines or where to mount/dismount. Totally cool in my book. I was really suffering on the backside of the course though on the steep hill to run up. Normally I love run ups but I felt really lethargic and slow for some reason. In the end I had a result that was pretty much my usual so that was good. And I got 5th in the Cat 1-2 women's overall which I'm very happy to have accomplished. Last year I got 4th but this year there were more racers turning out more frequently so it wasn't as easy.
I would also like to say how cool it was that the Food Drive went so well. When I went back to pick the winnner's in the prize drawing I couldn't believe how much food there was and how much cash. Cross racers rock! It was worth the effort that I put in to see such generosity. I also collected some more tubes and chains for my recycling program.
After the race we hit up the Market Street Diner with a zillion other racers - Holmes, Shannon, Chris, Kim, Greg, Jane, Richard and more. We even morphed our table into the MN table with Dag, Linda and some others.
Yesterday John Ericsson and I met with city officials to discuss having a race in a city park next year. Lots to do to make that happen but hopefully. It would be very cool to get fans out and would potentially offer more course options than Badger Prairie. I'm cautiously hopeful.
Okay, enough for now as this post is way, way too long. Jingle Cross is up next!
This weekend was a flurry of excitement as always. It's such a blur that I hardly remember the weekend. Saturday I had to get everything ready for the Food Drive that took place on Sunday at the race. Somehow that made me feel exhausted and I had to lay down for awhile. That made Dave and I super late for pre-riding the race course so we only had time to get in a very short ride. Of course, everyone we bumped into had to chat since Dave FINALLY has a cross bike. After quite a few seasons of cross racing on a mountain bike I was fortunate to have an opportunity to get him a Schwinn cross bike. I'm very excited for him although he very well may have preferred some ski related item as a Christmas present. He's enjoying the bike thouggh and he'll fit in better at CX Nationals this year.
Saturday after our short pre-ride of the race course Dave had this great idea to stop at Best Buy to show me the laptop that he thought would work for me. This was a HUGE mistake on his part. On Friday I nearly kicked my computer as I was so frustrated with how slow it is and how impossible it was to edit the video that I was working on. However, I was still just dreaming of buying a laptop and still planned to wait until spring. I have this problem though . . . once I actually see and check out something then I can't walk away from it. Happened with my video camera and my digital slr camera. This is especially a problem if the item is available on a payment plan with no interest--such as offered frequently at Best Buy.
I can shorten this story up by saying Dave took me into the store so I could see it in person and make sure it was what I really wanted. I, of course, loved it and upon finding out that I could pay for it over 13 months with no interest told them I would take it. It really was an inevitability once I walked into the store and Dave steered me to the laptops. However, thanks to the new laptop I was able to actually edit photos in a timely fashion without having a nervous breakdown so I posted 259 photos from the Cat 4 Men's race on Sunday (and it took less time than editing 50 on my old computer). I would like to point out that it was a highly irresponsible act to buy Dave a bike and myself a laptop in the same week. Luckily I am the kind of person who will pay off the laptop (computer, video camera, etc) in the allotted time. I do realize that 13 months ago I could have just put that money aside and paid cash but I'm not that kind of girl.
Saturday night we met Steven and Lynne who are cxers from Minnesota at Bunky's for a nice night on the town. They are what you might call "blog friends" although I did meet them when they came down to do the race at Badger Prairie. It was a really fun evening getting to know them better and, of course, we had lots of chatter about biking and cyclocross. I have to say that they should move to Madison as Lynne would be a fun addition to the Capitol Velo Club. Of course, I'm always trying to get people to move to Madison thereby validating my belief that it is a cool place to live!
Sunday was the big Wisconsin State Cyclocross Championship race which was the end of our series. First I'd like to state that all the fans were great . . . I think next year we have to get the beer flowing sooner though as the Cat 1-2 Women want more rowdiness! It was cool though as people were cheering for me all over the course and I needed it. I've been feeling kind of run down lately and so I wasn't sure what to expect at the race. Great first lap though . . . I'm thinking next year the races should be shortened to one or even 1/2 lap races. That would be SWEET. For me at least.
Anyway, the race was hard. I loved the off cambers, the corners in the spiral and all the little sections where you had to make decisions about lines or where to mount/dismount. Totally cool in my book. I was really suffering on the backside of the course though on the steep hill to run up. Normally I love run ups but I felt really lethargic and slow for some reason. In the end I had a result that was pretty much my usual so that was good. And I got 5th in the Cat 1-2 women's overall which I'm very happy to have accomplished. Last year I got 4th but this year there were more racers turning out more frequently so it wasn't as easy.
I would also like to say how cool it was that the Food Drive went so well. When I went back to pick the winnner's in the prize drawing I couldn't believe how much food there was and how much cash. Cross racers rock! It was worth the effort that I put in to see such generosity. I also collected some more tubes and chains for my recycling program.
After the race we hit up the Market Street Diner with a zillion other racers - Holmes, Shannon, Chris, Kim, Greg, Jane, Richard and more. We even morphed our table into the MN table with Dag, Linda and some others.
Yesterday John Ericsson and I met with city officials to discuss having a race in a city park next year. Lots to do to make that happen but hopefully. It would be very cool to get fans out and would potentially offer more course options than Badger Prairie. I'm cautiously hopeful.
Okay, enough for now as this post is way, way too long. Jingle Cross is up next!
posted by MadCross at 5:25 PM
2 Comments:
Wish we could have stuck around for your races, but Lynne scored big at the GF bakery! Nice pictures - I stay away from the digital SLRs, lest your experience happen to me!
Yep, I LOVE Madison!! And your kits are lovely...too bad there aren't a whole lot of medical malpractice jobs there ;-) Tell the organizers that the course was perfect!!! Easy for spectators to get around and lots of different types of things to get through/around.
Post a Comment
<< Home