Beer, Bikes, and Snow

June 6th - Had the intention of purchasing tomato baskets to support my plants.  After wrestling a few of the baskets at Home Depot, I got frustrated and spotted these colorful spiral supports.  For only $1, I thought they might look nice in my garden. The cucumbers I planted as seeds were struggling so I picked up two pepper plants and two basil plants to fill in the spots. June 14th - I spent some time weeding and cleaning up my plot.  It was a hot, dry week so I made sure the plants got plenty of water. June 22 - my zucchini seemed to explode over the past week.  A nice mix of sunshine and rain made my plot very happy.  Seems the grass and weeds were popping up again.  I managed to clean up things before leaving for vacation. June 29th - I was dreading coming back to my garden.  While we were gone, I got a flurry of emails from "the Mayor" about a hose/water issue.  And there was mention of a vole attack on one ...

When I was planning out my season, I made Bear Creek XC my last race for the season (I'll save those details for a later post).  I love the course - climbing and rocks.  And I had success there last year.  However, four weeks ago I wasn't sure I would be racing due to my crash at Jungle .  My ribs were still sore and I had to cut back on my riding.  Would I be able to handle the course? I went up the Wednesday before the race to give it a test ride.  While I felt some discomfort, it was nothing that would stop me from racing.  I had in my head this would be my last race and I was sticking with my plan.  I did two laps at my pace and registered for the Pro/Cat 1 race. Ribs Schmibs...not holding me back from racing Race day arrived and I saw who I was racing with.  With a field of mostly Pros, I knew I had to just race my own race and survive.  I got some insight on the course, and that it was similar to Nationals with a few tweeks...

I realize it's June.  But between school and racing, I haven't had a chance to update on how my garden is doing.  My last post left off with me putting in tomato plants, beets, cucumbers, and zucchini.  So what happened during the month of May? Really not much in the way of my plants.  However, there were a lot of emails going around about the vole issue.  Yes, voles . They apparently look like mice and create headaches for our garden.  So I've been told. Pesky residents in our garden (or so I've heard) The woman (let's call her "the mayor") in charge of the garden has been talking about the vole issue since I first got the plot.  Being a "green" gardener and this my first year with a plot, I can't imagine that these rodents are running the show in our garden. The mayor has talked to "vole experts" at Rutgers Cooperative Extension.  She's researched how to combat the critters.  Some of her ideas include putting up rap...

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...