Return from Blogophobia

I stopped by my Local Staples on my way home this evening to purchase a lovely blue notebook for a class project. When I asked the sales assoc. how he was doing, he looked at my helmeted head, rosy cheeks, and scarved neck and replied "Better than you." Surprised by his curtness, I said, "Oh really, why is that?" and he quickly referenced the cold weather we've been swallowed by. I explained that on the contrary, I was doing great, moving my body, getting some exercise, some fresh air, dot dot dot... To this the man smirked "Fresh air??" and realizing my mistake, I laughed. "Well at least I'm not contributing to the gas fumes and pollution." To this we could both agree.

Rewind 30 minutes, I was studying at the student union with some classmates. I had chosen to bring my Serrota inside the foyer area as I recently sold my commuter bike and felt better having that nice road bike right near me where I could keep an eyeball or two on it. There it was, there I was, and imagine that I turned my back to get something out of my bag, or organize a text message or something similar. Within seconds my bike was gone and my internal switch had been flipped. My friends immediately went to question the security people inside the building and I ran outside, scanning for some creep riding away with my horse and asking bystanders had they seen someone exit the building carrying a bicycle. Expletive, expletive, expletive.....well quickly my bike was located nearby with a note on it explaining that bikes are not allowed inside the building. Wow, I wanted to yell at some uniformed dude more than ever.

Rewind even more....to the weekend....The App State cycling team and I won stars and stripes jerseys as the Collegiate National Champions Team. That was pretty cool. The weekend consisted of 4 events- XC on Friday, short track and downhill on Saturday, and dual slalom on Sunday. I somehow managed to pick up the National Champ title at the XC race on Friday......that was a crazy race. I actually missed the start by about a minute, being ditzy and deciding to warm up in the woods, take my time getting changed, etc. etc. Suddenly the ASU coach was yelling at me "Rebecca, the girls just started!!" and I ripped my sweatpants off and charged across the field to the start line, thinking Oh Crap, now I've really got a lot of work to do. I managed to pull ahead of the field of ladies, leaving only the leader in front of me with 2 laps to go. I really didn't know who I was racing against, seeing as I missed the start, nor did I realize that the race officials had shortened the race from 4 to 3 laps. So, when I passed the leader halfway through the 3rd, I was figuring that I needed to keep it steady for a whole other lap. Boy did I GRIN when I came through the finish line and heard the announcer declare me the winner of the D2 ladies Coll.N.C. The rest of the weekend brought more amazing races and results- Moto Mike


took the Nats. Championship at the downhill race on Saturday afternoon giving the team our 2nd National title- pretty amazing. He and Steven Trottier (2nd place) got down the wet, muddy, slippery Sugar Mountain course in record time (3:49 and 4:01 I think), which blew everyone's minds. This is where I got off and ran:



And this is what it's supposed to look like:


I got 2nd in the Short Track, 5th Downhill (wasn't expecting that!!) and 7th in Dual Slalom. This tied me and Joanna Tuttle for the overall Omnium. The race officials had to exercise FIVE tiebreakers before awarding it to JT- she had finished highest in the last race- Dual Slalom. But as a team we had still been awarded enough collective points to earn the overall team stars and stripes. Last year's National Champ, Kyli Krauss, showed up to try to defend her title, but I punched her in the face and called her bad names until she left.



Lately things have been the craziest of the crazy. My studies have been amazing, but insanely time consuming and the rest of my time I spend staying strong on my bike and trying to keep up with that life thing. I am relieved to be done with the bulk of racing for the year. Take up some hikes with Lottie and some really nice, long rides in the woods. I'm thinking these "gravity" guys might help me get some better downhilling skills too, if I'm nice enough to them. I have to admit it tho- collegiate racing was seriously fun. If I didn't know better I'd consider going back to school for my PhD.....



Lottie was very supportive of the team, but was kind of pissed that she didn't get to race, so I jerseyed her up and it helped a little.

You know that whole line about "better late than never?" Somebody messed me up with that advice....in my unyielding optimism I overlook the importance of making it to work on time, writing in your blog regularly, starting a championship race with the other racers.......details, details. Here's another late shot. Note the really cute little bugs hanging out in my wound. Tasty.