Meal Ticket
I went down to Long Beach for the last stage of the Tour. No... I didn't go just for the Tour, I had to work in LA on Monday so this was an added bonus. I took my tired post-Snelling legs down to the LBC for a little watching. Personally, I liked Redondo Beach better last year (yes, I had to work in LA last year the day after the Tour as well.)
I have a few photos... one of my fav's is Basso pulling the whole train. I don't think we will see this again.
This is Karl Menzies pulling the break. They got caught with half a lap to go.
I went to the after party as well and met Jason Donald. He shared his meal ticket with me. I think this is one of the coolest sponsorships ever! I also love how this says "or until lost".
Labels: Chipotle, Tour of California
Il Grillo not so slow in SLO
I just love this guy even though we are the same height.
Stage 1:Yes... the oggling continued!
So, at this point I don't know what happened to Zabriskie. The poor guy was a DNF after a crash.
All in all, this was a great day, though. The stage was really fun and to think I felt guilty for missing work last year so I missed the stage instead! This year I decided to take the day off. I met many of my team mates at Poggio and we pretty much staked a claim at our sponsor's spot for the morning.
This guy won the stage today! Go Graeme Brown!!
Prologue: You would think we would be sick of oggling - - WRONG!
Sadly, I was playing with my settings on my new camera and I ended up erasing all my weekend's photos which included a Liquigas planting a kiss on my cheek as well as my birthday party. I was so sad... but guess what? I will never play around with the format settings, again! Here are some of MLE's photos... she's fabulous and BOLD! She got Basso out of the car for photos. I admire her!
The fabulous Saul Raisin.
Gala and Oggling
Tonight was the Tour of California Gala in Sausalito. The tickets were $250, luckily, I was asked to model with a group of CRC Girls and Guys and therefore, I could attend for free. The modeling was actually fun and MLE is one crazy gal!!! She humped a saddle on stage. Like a true model, I had many outfit changes. First off, I was in my work clothes, then I was in the Sheila Moon then a sheebeast outfit then there was the red dress.
(this photo was taken by Bobby Julich)
This photo was taken by Echimov
Another photo taken by Echimov
(Stuart and moi... I love the sprinters!)
Do you see how skinny this guy is? Wow...
Happy Veratine's Day!
I was having a little fun with my camera in my apartment.
Life is easier with a kitchenaid. I got this for college graduation... some people get pearls, I got the kitchenaid with the pasta attachment.
I had the most perfect birthday. I had a nice lunch at Slanted Door with my partner and director and then I left work early, went home and brought both road bikes to Tyson at American. I decided that if I was going to treat myself, I needed to treat Tinkie and the Olmo. I went across the street and got a nice mani and pedi. I went home sans bikes and made yummy chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting for work today.
Here's the left over cupcakes.
I did not receive any love today, but I picked up Tinkie from Tyson today and he treated my bike to new handlebar tape. Thanks Tyson!!
Shameless
Today, I am my race age. I always feel bad for people with late birthdays, like November. Sorry Breego. As I am February, I reach my race age early in the year. It is not painful to put down my age as it is usually correct by the time I am racing, anyway. Yes, these are trivial things I think about.
Apple Sauce
I raced a very soggy Apple Pie today. It was POURING. When it was over, I had all sorts of mud in my eyes and had to wring out my clothes.
The race had a whopping 12 women, 9 3/4's and 3 30+'s racing together. The pace was pretty slow but that was good for me as I was coming out of injury. Yes, I did ask Dr. Kristin if I could race this weekend and she thought it would be fine, but asked: "have you done any sprinting or speed work?" Uhhhhh, not really, but whatever... why not start with a race!? I opted for Apple Pie over Martinez as I figured that Martinez would have a showing of many Kay-Jones (Cajones in Gringo speak.)
I told myself that I wasn't going to go for any primes, but of course, I went for the first. I almost had it, but just got pipped for the apple pie. I also almost puked and it took 2 laps to recover from the sprint. No more primes for me. I also decided to try a break away, but that didn't work either. Hey, it's the first race, why not!
I was able to get through all twenty laps feeling quite good and at the last two turns, I was placed pretty well. I saw two ladies going for it right before their last turn, I grabbed their wheel, made the last turn for the sprint and got 2nd.
I have to say that this partial victory for the early season could also have been aided by my "pre release" Clif double espresso shot. I took my standard Cola Enervit prior to the race but 20 minutes before the end, I swallowed the Clif double espresso and about 5 minutes later, I had a nice sense of ahhhhhhhhhhh thanks to the caffeine high! Thanks Rafael for hooking me up!
Props to the two Metromints, Alyson and Sarah as well as Emma from Dolce Vita. I personally think we all were great considering how hard it was raining!!!
Some Tough Cookies
Or as I say in French, Les Gateaux Si Forts. Thanks to Tim our awesome team mate and photog for the photo!
The biggest Queen in San Francisco
I went down to Crissey Field on Sunday afternoon. I didn't think that too many people would be there, but was I wrong!! I have never seen so many people at Crissey Field or in the Marina ever!
