Breif update on the return from Wisco.

After the race on Sunday in Evanston- Clare and I headed south a bit to my mom's and spent a relaxing day chillin' by the pool, basking in the sun. We drove home on Tuesday- through Kansas. We hit some storms- but made it safely. Here are some photos of the past week.

A photo of the Sram guys that worked Superweek... and are probably STILL working superweek- Jose rocks!! Thanks to ya'll for taking care of us.

Before the race, we met up with John Hanson, a good friend of mine from Chicago- he is a pro photographer and wanted to get some shots of us. Check it! http://www.hansonimages.com/

John was able to get some sweet shots during the race- there are more!!

I have some photos from shelbyville and will be posting them soon... sorry Mom! :) hang tight.

This is where we were in Kansas. Kansas is a long, long state. for sure. Almost as exciting as Nebraska.

Clare is a good driver.... I was able to get some rest and some zzzz's.

Off to work.

gotta RUN!!!

tutu,

K

Richton Park!

 

MONDAY, JULY 14, 2008

Richton Park!

We landed in another awesome host housing situation! How do we get so lucky? Dan and Susan live in Naperville and are our most gracious hosts! They cooked up a full-on breakfast and also a dinner too! We couldn't do what we do with out our hosts! THANK YOU so much!! :)

We kicked superweek off tonight with a criterium in Richton Park. It is a new addition to this year's superweek -- and it was an excellent addition at that! The course was fun and most of the people who lived in the neighborhood were out enjoying the race-- always nice to see. The course consisted of four left turns with a couple of chicanes thrown in. The back straight had a nice head wind and some of the corners could be considered, well, undesirable. But nonetheless... we did 50 laps and it was a beautiful day.

The field turned to be about 50 riders deep, with some talented riders showing up. During the race, there were a couple minor attacks and a couple gaps, but nothing would stick. With about 15ish to go, it seemed as if everyone knew that it would come down to a field sprint- which it did. Cari had a great wheel to follow and ended up 3rd- Kate 22ish and Clare 24ish. It was a good race to get our legs under us.

Clare had a nasty crash with about 20 to go. She was off the front with one other girl and while glancing back to check their gap, the girl in front of her slowed down a bit... she ended up overlapping wheels and went down hard. She trashed her helmet and scraped up her back/hip/knee. Ouch. She got back in and continued to race. I'm sure she'll feel it tomorrow. :(

Until tomrrow!
~~Kate

P.S. Cari wants everyone to know that the podium consisted of girls who race the track. (Cari has highjacked Kate's computer and hoping Kate doesn't notice this.)

If you like Eastern Colorado... You'll LOVE Nebraska!

Before heading to Superweek yesterday morning, Clare and I stumbled upon some GREAT morningtime TV while flipping around on the tele waiting for the tour to come back on... We found the best aerobics show ever. Anyone can do these aerobics because they are specifically for senior citizens... they even had big band music to work out too and silk flowers lingering in the background.

Off too Galena IL for the night, then Chicago Sunday morning. We ended up getting a late start b/c our car wasn't ready... etc...etc. We left at 10:00 mtn time and made it to Galena just before midnight (cst). We made good time, listened to a lot of bad music, looked at a lot of cows, and ate some good snacks. Here are some photos. This is what it is like to drive from Boulder to the Chicagoland area...

Hour #1--- excited to be on the road... loving Eastern Colorado.

Hour #2--- still loving Eastern Colorado...
Hour #2.5--- Colorado Cows- probably happier than California cows, but LESS happier than Wisconsin cows.
Hour #2.75 Welcome to Nebraska... Home of "Arbor Day" Thankfully someone had the foresight to plant some stinkin' trees around the Arbor Day sign...

Hour #4-- Clare isn't showing it, but she LOVES Nebraska.

Hour 5--- I love sandwiches.

Hour 6-- Nebraska Cows... See Colorado Cows... (still happier than California).

Hour 8.15-- What is worse than driving through Nebraska ? Driving through NE in the afternoon... worse than that??? Driving through Nebraska with road construction, traveling at 55 when you could be driving 77.
We found this independent burger joint that had a bunch of gorillas in front of it. They were all chained to the ground... We would have probably taken one if they hadn't been secured to the cement ground.

Hour #7-- IOWA

My friends Kelly and Joe hosted Clare and I last night in Galena, IL (where I lived for a good 3 years). We got in around 11:30 and left at 9 am-- her kids are great-- Nick and Mia- Nick is the next Shaun White and Mia the next Picaboo Street! :) It was great to see them-- the kiddos are getting so big! I was also able to make quick stops to see my friends Jim and Josie (and new baby Lilliana Sophia) AND my bud Jennifer!

I do miss Galena! It is a great place. Here is a photo that Peter Fraterdeaus took a couple years ago:

good night!

K

It's embarassing.... but....

While usually, we're training-- working on bikes-- eating... and resting... Today we've been packing for our journey to Superweek--Today is also the day that happened to to be the day that MTV aired the entire season 7 of America's Next Top Model. Clare was VERY excited about this reality tv marathon. I, well, I'm honestly pretty sick of the television. BUT after the first episode, I was very interested... I did do some errands, work in the yard, go on a short ride all while this marathon was airing... but It was fun!!! And Clare and I would like to congratulate CARIDEE!!!

America's Next Top Model:
Okay... don't hold this against me. But if you haven't seen it... it is a pretty cool show-- I have to confess that I liked it and we were pretty excited when Caridee kicked Melrose's ass. Sorry Melrose.

tutu.
Kate

Happy Thursday!

THANK YOU BRIAN "intergalactic" PIERCE for sharing your stellar mechanical skills!! I work with Brian at Ubikes-- he has wrenched for navigators and lipton in the past... he was kind enough to help me rebuild my bike (I didn't help much though...)! My frame is being sent back to Trek for some inspection- I'm using a different frame, but many of my same parts- I needed to swap the handlebars and crankset from my bike to an extra team frame... intense. For sure.

Clare and I decided that we would venture down to Pearl Street last night to get some food-- she was ravenous, so off we went. This singletrack photo is the trail that we take to get to Pearl St. You can see a fence on the left-- it is actually doubles as a fence and one beautiful piece of metal sculpture.

Thursday night in Boulder is happenin'. While eating on the patio at Old Chicago-- the Thursday night cruiser ride. We didn't see any naked people... but we saw many cross dressers, funky bikes, and crazy outfits. This is a big deal. We probably saw 300-400 people cruise by. No joke. "Happy Thursday, Happy Thursday"

What would make the night even better? Gelato. WOW... we stopped here on our way home. I chose coconut and Clare chose dutch choco and coconut.


Today we're getting everything packed and ready to go for superweek. We're heading out tomorrow AM- driving to Galena, IL and then to Chicago on Sunday. We begin racing on Monday and continue racing until the next Sunday. Sounds like a party! I'm pretty excited.


until later--

K

Watch the video on my new "video bar"...

Interesting. You my not be able to solve the the energy crisis entirely by riding a bike, but this guy is ridiculous. Obviously he could stand to ride a few km's. Perhaps he's a little jaded because his bike sucks.

Easy day?

When I got home from work around 5:30, Clare and I got ready to ride. I had an easier spin on par for the evening and Clare was stressed about her flight info for her up coming travels. On our ride, we took some weird turns and ended up on the Diagonal Hwy. We took the very first exit (only 50 yards after the intersection) to get off the highway-- and we had to go over some speed bumps. Since Clare has MAD mtn biking skills, she tried to jump them... so I thought about yet another ridiculous time to document stupid things we do for entertainment... enjoy... unfortunately, most of the photos document absolutely NO air. So, don't be surprised.

After our ride was ALMOST finished, we stopped by Cari's... Moo their dog (actually named Elka) began to lick my bike. Thanks to Elka, I don't have to wash it! I think she likes cytomax...

After our visit w/ Cari, Clare and I trudged back Mapleton to our apt... it is a super steep climb from a dead stop. I totally beat Clare up the hill... (haha).

tutu,

K

4th of JULY!!! AND another blissful saturday.

Fourth of July was too much fun this year!! My boss, Doug, invited all of his employees over for a barbecue that included steaks, chicken, ribs, great salads (green... not macaroni), apple pie ala mode, a half barrel of Fat Tire Ale, dangerous hand-held fireworks and SOFTBALL! We could bring a friend, so of course I brought CLARE!!! Since they don't party on the 4th of July in Australia like we do... Clare had quite the American afternoon.

Here is Clare on first base-- she hit a single the first time she ever picked up a bat. I guess she is quite the cricket player.
I'm getting ready to bat. Although softball was fun... I am really sore from running the bases. I don't get to run much... and I will tell you, once I got up to speed while running the bases, I felt like I was a freight train that couldn't stop. I had a lot of forward momentum that felt unstoppable. Luckily, I managed to stay upright... but during my ride today, my adductors hurt horribly. I don't think I'll be doing too much more softball.... hmm... that whole sprinting from base to base thing just doesn't work with me right now.
To top off the evening, Doug hosted a "zany bike race." This bike was AWFUL to ride. It was a time trial...we had to ride down the alley about 25 yards, circle around an empty case of MGD and sprint to the finish line. I opted out from racing, because I didn't want to get too overzealous and crash on this thing. I could barely ride it. Take a look at my face. This is PURE fear. Here is the bossman getting ready to race. He did a lap in 25 seconds, but the winner... broke 20 seconds!!! Crazy. I did an informal race and made it in about 34. Clare opted out too...
Clare's FIRST root beer ever.

A successful forth of July, although I didn't stick around for the big fire works-- I was too tired! Lame-O. Went to bed instead.

Saturday ride on the Peak to Peak:

This is the guy who owns the Raymond Store- he was PISSED because some cyclists take water from his water jug and do not contribute to the fund. Please give him money to get more jugs of water!! :) He is a pretty cool guy-- he gave me directions to a place to take some great photos, but I didn't go- perhaps next time. He had already sold 50 bottles of gatorade by the time I arrived at 11:30 am. Pretty cool. You can even purchase vienna sausages there... if you ever get the hankering.

I started with Clare, but she wasn't feelin' it so she headed back down to town-- she only needed to do 3 hrs anyways. Good thing-- I was able to get some good riding in with my buds: Tom Ashbrook and Ira Glass...

Here is my bike seat and a couple ladies working a hot dog stand in front of the BP in Ned... I took it secretly... but they were totally going crazy dancing to a song by Jessica Simpson. I was inspired.... so I'm hosting a dance party on our patio sometime soon!

until tomorrow!

:)

tutu,

kt