Team Camp Weekend!

Good morning Boulder!  Most mornings, I get up-- make coffee-- grab a cuppa and take a bit of a walk.  Here is the view only a few steps from my door.  (mom this is on our morning phone walks!)  This is my favorite part of the day-- when the sun begins to shine on the Flatirons.

This weekend, 6 of 8 of our teammates came to Boulder for a training camp-- we were lucky with weather and were able to get in plenty of riding, a local race, a photo shoot, and plenty of laughs.  We're looking forward to a good season!  We even were able to meet Buddy Bell (the owner of Bonne Bell or... aka LIP SMACKER).

Here we are finishing up our ride on Friday- Carla's all smiles... as usual.  Our new bikes are awesome and really fun to ride... and our new kits are pretty sweet too.

Missy and Kacey at my fav place:  West End.  

So, now I'm off to Fruita with some of my colleagues (if you can call employees at a bike shop colleagues??).... We'll go with that.  I have to leave in a half hour and still need to pack...  But before then, I need to finish my first cuppa.

Enjoy this excellent day!

:)

K

Back in Boulder.

I've been back in Boulder for just over a month now- and have been enjoying most days!  Training hard and working back at University Bikes... they have been very good to me, allowing me to work when I am available and making my work schedule work with my racing and training schedule.  I know I'm a pain to them, but it is such a fun job and I'm glad to be back.

It snowed a bit this morning and the temp dropped about 45 degrees f from last week.  Knowing Colorado weather, I just had to wait until the afternoon until the roads dried up... by 1pm, no snow-- good for riding.  But one thing that is true, cold + cold wind = cold.  You'll see by this pic of my uneaten banana.... can you tell which half of the banana was sticking out of my jacket and was frozen!?  I didn't see this until I got home, and it definitely made me laugh a bit.

This next picture is of my very favorite mailbox.  Someday when I have my own mailbox it will look something like this... minus the pink swirls... but if you look closely, you'll find a t-rex, a stegosaurus, a triceratops, AND... Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble.  Awesome.

AND... the best part of the ride today..... little flowering Simpson Hedgehog cactus!!  Very cool- and I didn't expect to see this today!
Training camp is this weekend- all but two of the Lipsmaker's Girls will be heading to Boulder!! 

~~

K

A trip to the grocery.

A while ago, Clare's mom Patricia (or Thea, auntie in Greek) took me on my first grocery excursion... Here are some photos from my adventure:

And, It was pretty exciting that the grocery store was an IGA, which is actually the grocery store that I grew up going to! There are more 'organic' groceries around... but this one is always convenient.I was surprised to see the butcher in the meat department actually butchering... not just slicing cheese and ham...

appetizing! :)

You can actually buy 1 single serving of creamed corn. What a cute, little can! :)

Condensed milk comes in a tube. I would probably confuse it with tooth paste!

The fruit here is TASTY and plentiful! I have learned hot to properly cut (and eat) a mango... and also how to drink Ouzo with Clare's dad Arthur... yum :).

tutu~

k

New Year's Resolution!!

In light of the New Year, I'm going to make a resolution:


I'm going to get BACK on the blog wagon! :) My mom and pop have been bugging me for updates, so here goes!

It's New Year's Eve here in Melbourne- I'll be celebrating NYE 16 hours before y'all! So perhaps, I'll celebrate twice! I'm at Bec and Arnaud's house for an excellent French-ish dinner -- stew and we'll be having CREPES for dessert! I'm excited for crepes.

The other night, Arnaud took out his indoor grill! It is definitely awesome-- 4 meats, including kangaroo! A bit gamey, but it truly reminded me of Venison. They continue to take very good care me here in OZ!

In two days my team here in Australia will be heading to the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic-- a 5 day criterium series in Geelong. I've been here in Australia for just over a month now and have been coming along with my training and some local crits.

Here are a couple photos of some training rides!

Clare and I went on a pretty nice ride on Christmas day- before we headed to her brother in-law's family's house for a traditional Greek Christmas! Very fun- very good food!

All is good here in Australia!

Have a safe and stellar New Years!!

~

K

Epic with a capital E.

~~I wrote this entry on 3 different days... it may be confusing- but after today, it shouldn't be.

Thanks to Garrett for taking me around Boulder yesterday morning… or 2 or 4 mornings ago? I don’t even know what day it is right now. Garrett is planning a 2 week trip to the mountains to climb 15 forteeners. He has already done 10 in the last month—so this will be a big deal for him! Check out his blog and climbing adventures here.
On to DIA/LAX/NZ/OZ!
DIA on thanksgiving... not very crowded.
I asked for 'spicy' tomato juice and ended up getting bloody mary mix-- with 85% of my daily dosage of sodium--

In the LAX bar, I was told by a fellow at the bar that I look very Scandinavian… I think I’ll take that as a compliment-- He was on his way to Hawaii to get married to a woman he met at his class reunion… (30 year I think). They had never met each other before! Funny how things work!

So far so good! I’m currently writing in Auckland NZ—funny thing is that I didn’t even know we were going to stop on Auckland. My ticket said—Melbourne and I didn’t ask questions. I have already learned that American Airlines and Qantas Airlines are both under the “one world” agreement… and basically it means that they are the same thing. ? Who knows... Anyhow, I’m here in NZ for an hour and then getting on another flight over to Melbourne. So far… it has been 22 hours since my first flight- the flight from LA to Auckland ended up being 12 hrs. AND I only remember about 2 hours of the entire flight. I caught some serious Zzzzz’s.

I won’t really get to see much of New Zealand. Just now, I’m sitting in the airport- and some guy just bought a beer-- it is 6:14 am! That is the last thing I would want right now. bleh. I’d like a coffee but haven’t exchanged currency yet- and I have plenty to eat… no need to indulge- I’ll wait for the plane.

Clare was at the airport to pick me up- everything went well and I'm settled into my new room at Clare's house!

~~now the blog is updated I'll be better at posting :)

~~Kate

Tomorrow- OUT.

If you ask my mother she'll definitely agree that I am a professional PROCRASTINATOR. I'm leaving tomorrow-- my flight is at 11:30... I am unsure of exactly what time I need to catch the bus-- but I know that I'll have a ride to the bus stop! (I'll look after I'm done posting!)

Anyhow, despite all that- I have had an amazing November. This fall, overall, has been excellent. I'll will reflect on that tomorrow at LAX during my 6 hr layover when I'm hanging out at the airport bar, while y'all are eating turkey and stuffing!! :) ... but get this. I get 2 bags-- 70 lbs each. No cost. AND my bike bag can count as 1 bag. Awesome. I'm bringing my down comforter AND my full sized french press that serves 20.

plush. high stylin'. for sure.

until then! Happy Thanksgiving! I will miss you all.
~~
xo--K

PS... I just got skype, so search for my email address and add me as a friend! Or just let me know if you have it.

The Albino Deer and the Metric System.

My dad sent me photos of a deer that is living by our house in Northern Wisconsin-- an albino deer-- he said it is one of the biggest deer he has ever seen, with a very well developed rack... and I'm not talking about boobs here... Anyhow, It is always cool to see things like this- especially an OLD albino deer! Thanks dad. I started my ride this morning at 10:15 and decided that today was going to be the day that I switch to the metric system. In order to function well in Australia AND converse with my Norske-esqe friends, I need to speak in metric! I changed the settings on my garmin and headed up the hill to 4th street. The Kilometers just fly by... unlike miles... However... elevation, unfortunately does not fly by. For example... I rode 86 miles (138 k), climbed 6675' (2035m). A bit to get used to, but a good change nonetheless.

My ride to Estes was pretty awesome. Gorgeous day, good tunes and podcasts (http://www.thislife.org/) and plenty of wildlife. Crazy thing though- I only saw ONE cyclist out on the road today, at the beginning of my ride. Weird. Check out the elk hanging out on the side of the Peak to Peak--and the people taking photos of the elk. Always my favorite.

This church is on the peak to peak hwy too- very beautiful!

More rides & metric mayhem to come!

~~

K