I can ride my bike with no handlebars

"No Handlebars. No Handlebars. I can ride my bike with no handlebars."

Well, not really, but I can ride my bike without brakes. The last mechanic to work on my TT bike figured that I was either 1) too slow to bother with using a rear brake and I can just roll to a complete stop or 2) I am so legit that I don't need brakes. The jury is out.

Other news: we have gotten almost 6 inches of rain in the past 24hrs - pretty good eh? It makes for things plush and green, but it makes for a really dirty bike. Since I left all my bike cleaning stuff on the left coast, SuperClean has become my new best friend. I also have spent a ridiculously long time switching components between the road and TT bike. Its a common sight to see me in the garage covered to the elbows in grease with electrical tape everywhere. Its quite a mess, but after 3 weeks, I think I am getting the hang of it.

The Three "H's"

New Englander's identify themselves with the weather - I must be a New Englander.
Last week was so hot and humid I melted off the bike. Its easy to overheat; my bike computer has been registering temperatures averaging around 95, and don't forget about the humidity. Mid-way through one of my rides I found myself taking shelter underneath a tree next to a cemetery.....dreary. (I seem to excel in finding roads that offer no shade) I took off my helmet and I must have looked just as horrible as I felt because after sitting there for ten minutes the first car passed me, and quickly turned around to see if everything was "okay". I put on a smiling face and the kind man gave me the remaining cold water he had in his truck.

To say the least, I was looking forward to a break in the humidity, so the following day when it rained for my entire 4+hr ride, I was not so bummed. Maybe it didn't bother me because I was busy chit-chatting and learning new roads in the area. After a solid, fun ride I was looking forward to a more mild week. Well, we had one and a half "decent" weather days and the humidity (and heat) is back in full force. Yeeehhaaaw! That nice rainy ride only left me with a messy bike and soggy shoes that still haven't completely dried out - gross, I know.

Sunshine Daydream Farm

My time in Maine was extraordinary. I cannot believe how much work it is to keep the farm up, and Shelley's incessant hard work certainly shines through - it is such an anodyne, down-to-earth place. I thought I might share a few more photos. I took many photos of the flowers, but I will share those in future posts when I have no pictures to go with my stories.....keep you in suspense. This is the orchid plant that was on the coffee table on the porch. So peaceful to work on that coffee table - I thought "Life would have been so much easier getting through college if I had a place like this to study!"

This is the most incredible cake ever! Thanks to Rockstone Bakery of North Conway, NH, we were able to celebrate our belated birthdays.

Meet Romeo.
This is the finished product. The brown is Romeo's wool. I actually designed every part of that bag....I still can't believe it. I love it. I have to mention again: Shelley dyes all the wool (from her sheep) with flowers from her farm. Pretty amazing.
Jayley saying hello to Oreo. Mom (Lily) is very protective.

"Oh Geez! Where do I start!?!"

I have had the most incredible past few days!

Friday night I actually watched an entire movie, "The Four Feathers" and if Damian hadn't been there to encourage me every inch of the way, it would have never happened.

After a rocky start to my weekend on Saturday when I overheated during my long ride, things have been on the up and up.

Immediately following Saturday's disaster for a ride, I hopped in the car and headed to Maine, to visit my cousin, Shelley. On the way, we had a Turkey (Thanksgiving) dinner at "the turkey farm." All that food definitely helped with recovery and fuel for the next day's ride. Once we arrived at Sunshine Day Dream Farm (Shelley's home), it was a breath of fresh air.

Upon waking up Sunday, I was surprised to be informed that Lily, one of Shelley's sheep, gave birth. I was given the task of naming the baby lamb, and I thought I was up to challenge since I had a four hour ride ahead of me and no iPod for entertainment (my iPod decided to check out). I failed miserably, and Shelley came up with "Oreo." It is quite fitting, see photo. After much procrastination, because there was so much to see on the farm, I eventually made it out on the bike. (Did I mention Jayley- the horse. Tough not to procrastinate, right?)

I had a really pleasant ride, and having never rode in the area before, I departed with handwritten directions and hoped for the best. At one point I was questioning the turn I made, and I eventually came across another cyclist, well mountain biker, but none-the-less he was on two wheels, and I verified that I was headed in the right direction. So I continued on my way. Well about 1 mile later, I was going through my back pockets, and realized I had lost two very important things: my zip-lock baggy with my $20 bill and my directions. UtOh. I pulled up on the side of the road, to do a thorough pocket check, and look who comes rolling up behind me. "You dropped this!" There was the "direction guy" with my money and directions! What a God-send! The guy laughed and said, "I thought it was probably just garbage, but I am glad I stopped." Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We got to chatting and funny enough, he actually lived in San Francisco for awhile. My world is shrinking.

I continued on my fantastic ride, and eventually got home. I was a little tuckered out, but nothing like the previous day when I was completely spent and absolutely miserable. I had a big salad with a lot of deliciousness and "tofu cooked correctly". Post-food, I witnessed the grooming and trimming of an Angora rabbit. So soft! I want a pillow made of that fur!

Angora Rabbit, post-clipping. Actually this isn't the one I witnessed the grooming and clipping, but they are big rabbits, and so incredibly soft!

After grooming, Shelley took on the formidable task of teaching me how to "felt". I felt a bit wool-design-challenged for about 20 minutes, but then I started to get the hang of it. After getting off to a slow start, I began the foundations of a felt bag. Into our little project, I was once again distracted by food, but the work is still in progress, and hopefully tomorrow I will continue.

This is Shelley's "Studio", where all the creativity takes place. Well, there are a lot of places where creativity blooms around here (wow, me and the puns lately - I guess I am just inspired - the gardens are gorgeous), but in the studio there is all kinds of wools and fibers (mostly fibers from Shelley's farm), which Shelley dyes herself with flowers from her own gardens! Unbelievable!
The studio also contains Shelley's photography, and felted pieces she has completed amongst a slew of other incredibly interesting crafty things. Inside the Studio, we create a mess and a masterpiece.This is the beginning stages of my bag. Yea, I thought of that! Can you believe it?! I can't.

This morning was another slow start to the day, but that is what is great about being "on vacation". Today was day number two of trying new oats, and if you weren't aware, oatmeal is just about my favorite food, ever. So new oats are pret-ty exciting. Today I had "Steel cut oats." Mixin' it up. I was once again well-fueled for my ride, and departed for another scenic rolling ride through New Hampshire/Maine. Beautiful scenes, but I did not take any pictures, shame, shame. Very old homes and barns, gorgeous mountains and lakes, absolutely beautiful. The quality of the paving of the roads leaves something to be desired, but you tend to not notice because you are too busy looking at everything else, which is ultimately a bit dangerous since the cracks will come up and bite you!

After the ride, we went to North Conway and did a little shopping. I found a bunch of my favorite socks at an outlet! So exciting. Shopping helped me work up an appetite, oh wait, that happens anyway, and then we went to an Indian restaurant. Naan is another amazing carbohydrate. Delicious!

I am not going to slack: the Fitchburg wrap up, and then some

Is it worth re-hashing the remainder of Fitchburg? Maybe.

You know how the TT and crit unfolded, and if you don't there are summaries beneath this post.
The RR the next day was a challenge. 70 miles, 6 laps on a circuit. The last 2/3rds of each lap was climbing, and I left my climbing legs in the closet that day. Whoops. I put in an attack at the beginning of the final lap (after the descent), had a gap, with a Colavita (Nicky W.) rider at first, then a Cheerwine (Stacey Marple) bridged up. The "break" blew apart on the first part of the final 10-15km. I was caught by the first chase group and held on for dear life. Not an ideal situation, but I had to try to do something.
The Circuit Race did not go a whole lot better. I missed the early break, didn't bridge early enough, and all attacks were futile. It came down to a bunch sprint for 3rd place. I had decent positioning on the final lap, but I was pinched out when I was bobbing and weaving through leadouts and people on the finishing power climb.
And that's a wrap.

Now I am home. Home-home that is. Back in Upstate. Lovin' it. Hangin' with the breeders....Bud. (If you aren't from GF you wouldn't know what that means) Actually I haven't really seen anyone from my high school years, yet. I have been balancing between being super busy, driving everywhere (since gas is so cheap here! not really, but relatively speaking compared to California), seeing tons of people, and then I "level out" with sitting around the house, plowing through the 10 books that I just picked up at the library. I also rented two DVDs from the library, but considering how awesome I am at actually sitting down and watching a movie, they are collecting dust at the moment.
Libraries are great.
Two things that leave me happy: cheap produce (at the grocery store) and a library (with more books than I can fathom reading). In both places I am like a "kid in a candy store."

Oh! I also got my hair cut. I haven't had it cut in 7 months! This was for two reasons: 1) The glamorous-ness of CA scares me away from the "Salons" and 2) I have my own hairdresser, Pam. After waiting 7 months to see Pam, you can imagine my dismay when I called the Salon to make an appointment with Pam, and the response was "Oh Honey, Pam retired." WHAT?! How sad for me! So I cut my losses (no pun intended) and settled for a new hair stylist - I am pretty sure life will never be the same.

Pictures from my first day back in LG at the beach with my Dad and Aunt Ang, respectively.

Fitchburg Criterium

I will work my ways backwards to the previous Fitchburg stages when I actually get the motivation to do so, in the interim, I will let others do the typing:

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/sports/ci_9806752

Sprinting was fun today: http://www.bike-zone.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2008/jul08/fitchburg08/fitchburg084/CYC-FLC0534

Maybe I look so awkward in the picture because I am about to fall off the edge backwards. And since when do I ever stand with my feet together. Yea, that's what I thought: never.

Fitchy

Brief update before my head hits the pillow.....
Fun crit today - I really like the Fitchburg crit. Thank goodness it was not raining because there is a gnarly man-hole cover on the final corner that could prove itself to be a monster.
After a few disappointing days, but some aggressive racing, my legs final decided to show up on the start line today, and I was third in the crit.

This was an amusing story that was published in the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2008/07/04/guarnier_has_trials_in_time_trial/

Here is the same article with a bit more embellishment on the previous story found in this local newspaper (I guess they had to cut down on the word count for the Boston Globe):
http://www.telegram.com/article/20080704/LONGSJO/695125664

Come under my weeping willow

Come wallow under my weeping willow with me.

Today was Stage 1 of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. It was a 1okm mostly uphill time trial. I was in the time trialing pain cave until at about 10 minutes I dropped my chain. Shifting from the big ring, into the little ring into an uphill - I coasted for awhile trying to get the chain back on...kept trying. No luck. I then lost all momentum and had to stop, get off the bike, mess with the chain that wanted nothing to do with the chain rings and eventually got the stupid chain on the big ring. Crap. Awesome, I got to re-start in the big ring on a hill.

Obviously, I am really disappointed, and its a bummer it wasn't one of those easy chain drops where you can coax the chain back onto the rings. It was just too far gone.

Of course after that fiasco my mind was all over the place, I lost my groove. Another bummer, I guess I need to learn how to get back into that groove despite the complications.

Yup, I don't think there is anything that can make me feel better about this one.
I am going to go start building my bridge..........