Beer, Bikes, and Snow

As someone who is active, I have the usual aches and pains.  A few years ago, I was starting to have pain in my hips. I noticed it was more prevalent during my CX season.  I attributed it to the “mashing” and grinding through mud and sloppy conditions.  I talked to our school trainer and he mentioned it could be my IT band and a foam roller might be something to use. I talked to my friend Beth , who is a massage therapist.  I made an appointment and she started doing a series of tests on how my muscles were working.  What she discovered was pretty shocking to me.  A lot of my aches and pains were actually the result of my body using the wrong muscles or imbalances.  Rather than using my core to support me, I was relying on my neck.  And I was using my lower back for the powerhouse to push a pedal. Not the leg muscles I thought I had built strength in. What Beth has been doing each week during my visit is pretty cool.  She finds what m...

When picking what races I wanted to do this year, I put Rumble in the Jungle on my list.  I saw that this year's course would be very similar to last year.  I went up to pre-ride earlier in the week and felt good about the race, knowing lines I wanted to take. The night before the race we had some storms pass through, dumping rain.  The morning of the race things were wet and foggy, making the rocky course slick.  Everything I had in my head leading up to the race just changed.  I knew it was going to be a matter of trying to stay upright and finish. The sun came out before my race, making it a steamy hot start. I tried to stay hydrated and in the shade before lining up.  I heard people talking about how slick the rocks were and to be careful.  The women lined up in the back and I wanted a good start.  I had the whole shot going into the woods and got in front.  I knew someone was behind me but unsure of who.  I realized it was ...

While preparing dinner the night before the French Creek , I made some beet juice for Lance and finished off the little bit that wouldn't fit in his glass.  I started not to feel well and thought it was maybe it was my empty stomach and dinner would make it feel better. Not the case. I immediately vomited all of my dinner and beet juice (TMI?).  The only good thing about puking beet juice is you can see everywhere it went and makes clean up easy. I started to panic.  I had a nasty stomach virus just before SSaP that totally wiped me out. I felt drained and flopped on the couch. I woke up Saturday morning feeling ok but a bit groggy.  I ate my usual race-day breakfast and drank as much electrolytes as I could.  I figured I would go out to the race and see how I felt warming up.  Worse-case scenario, I bail on the race and go watch Lance race at the Smoketown Crit . I arrived early and got to watch some of the Cat 2 and Endurance racing.  Stacey arri...

I generally like riding rocks.  And I love riding at Wawayanda.  So I was excited to race this year's Spring Cleaning race.  The Tuesday prior to the race I met up with some other teammates to pre-ride the course. MTBNJ team pre-ride excitement But after going over-the-bars just past sitting bear and not finding my rhythm, I was a bit concerned about how my race would go.  Would I survive? I shook it off the morning of the race.  I had to.  I told myself to relax and kept repeating the mantra "smooth is fast".  I found some friends before the race to chat and chat with. I was hysterical at the start, some of the ladies discussing what they've used for toilet paper at races.  I had some ideas of how I wanted my race to start - not go off the front and pull the field on the prologue road start.  Relax and hide behind the group.  I had two hours to make passes and make my way up. Cat 1 Women 15-39 We were off and I was probably...

Growing up, my parents always had a garden.  However, I am not allowed to have a garden at our condo.  Nor am I allowed to have any potted plants on our deck.  So I opted to get a plot at our community garden. Gardening in my bikini I've passed the garden numerous times while riding and always thought about getting a plot.  But it was one of those things that always seemed to get pushed aside and it was too late in the season.  Not this year. I emailed the contact in March for information and in early April I paid my $30 and picked out my plot. I was anxious to get moving on my plot.  The community garden is relatively new and my plot hadn't been used or set up.  So I had to start from scratch.  That meant ripping out all of the grass.  Since I didn't have any tools, I borrowed some from school and got started.  . Starting from scratch on my plot It wasn't easy.  In fact, I'm pretty sure some foul words came out of ...

Are you still looking for something for your kids to do this summer? If so you may want to consider sending them to mountain bike camp!! The camp is run out of the Morristown-Beard School by myself and Brad Turner  and we travel to parks anywhere within an hour of Morristown. Here is the  weblink . If you are interested and have questions feel free to email me.  We run two different camps:   Beginner Mountain Bike Camp (week of 6/29-7/3) :  With an emphasis on Mountain Biking, this camp for boys and girls ages 9 and up offers attentive instruction and a low camper-to-counselor ratio. Riders of all abilities will learn the basics of mountain biking and safety while making new friends and exploring great trails. Campers should have some experience riding a geared bicycle. We will introduce trail etiquette and bike maintenance and basic trail riding skills to the campers. We will be riding approximately 8-10 miles each day. Regular Mountain Bike Cam...