MEGuarnier

New Addition to the Top 3 All-Time Favorite Rides

2009-10-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

I can't keep having these incredible rides, because then someone is going to get bumped out of the "Top 3 All-Time Best Rides Ever", and I don't want to insult anyone. Maybe I will just have to extend it to Top 5, then Top 10.....etc. and avoid the issue all together. So bring on the group rides!

The most recent addition was Pete's ride up in Marin.

Any ride can be great when you have beautiful roads, stunning scenery, and the kind of weather every roadie dreams of (70 degrees and sunny). Now add some of my favorite people, and this is when a ride kicks it up a notch to extra-ordinary, out-of-this-world, will-always-make-me-smile-when-I-remember-it kind of ride.

(This is the kind of smile I am talking about.) Beth and me.

Palaez joined us for the beginning third of the ride. I guess a fixie with a 38" doesn't really cut it

First Bakery Stop. Tomales.

Yes, Beth DID bring her tape measure on our ROAD ride.

Beth was tearing everyone's legs off, and this may or may not have been a town-line sprint victory.

A little video on one of Pete's favorite roads. There were a lot of cows and it was very green....were we in Vermont. No? Ok, just checking.
These views made me say "Can you believe it?! We actually live here!"

One big happy family.

Footage along the Bay.

I was told, "The People want More!!!"

2009-10-22T17:05:00.002-07:00

I went on a blogging hiatus again. This time it was not due to laziness or computer unavailability. Instead, this time it is due to the fact that the first day of the Giro della Toscana, my camera was run over by a car.

Here is the scenario: In the race, it poured (and do not take the term "poured" here lightly, I actually think it was the most intense rain I have ever ridden in. It was as if someone continuously dumped buckets of water on your head and shot a garden hose in your face, because you couldn't see a thing! I stayed on the front :) ). So post-race we were dirty and dazed and, of course, we are changing in a parking lot, with all of our belongings sprawled everywhere. Well I was the lucky one to have my bag run over while a car maneuvered around the other bags. Low and behold, my camera was in that bag.

Hence, no pictures of:

Giro della Toscana

My mini-vacation in SLO and Laguna Beach

Track Nationals
and my off-season shenanigans

And since there are no pictures, there is no text.

Honestly, People, do you read what I write?

I am guessing: "No."

Lucky enough for me, I have the bumper-to-bumper warranty camera equivalent for 2 years. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that the camera gets shipped back to me before another weekend of memorable moments.

Anyway, enough about how I dropped the ball. Someone had my back, and that would be Manuel, who brought out his camera for our San Francisco exploration two weeks ago.

And so the People get what they want:

For the first time I got to appreciate the beauty of the Golden Gate.

Manu and I debating if we are "going to do 'the idiot'".

Outside the Exploratorium that we didn't get to explore.....we were running late.

I made Gio roll down a hill, I was giggling too hard to stand up.

I found a rock, and apparently wanted to tell the whole world? (I am not quite sure what is going on here, but it looks fun.)

2009-09-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that Lucca has not seen precipitation since June, but yet it has been relentlessly raining (and by raining I mean "pouring") since last night. Add in the thunder and lightening that has been shaking the doors and then you have an idea of what our day has been like.

We were supposed to begin the day with a 10AM spin with the team. I was ready to go, despite the thunder and lightening, when the girls laughed in my face, reminding me that the roads have accumulated 3 months of diesel and now are as slick as an ice-skating rink. So I did some trainer time, for the first time since December.

My busy day: a fabulous salad for lunch (I think this is a hobby for cyclists: contriving tastey and creative salads), watched a couple episodes of "Mad Men" with my roommate, cleaned out my inbox on facebook (this is a big deal), sat on my computer, got a massage, and read. Interesting.

That pretty much sums it up. Thought I would give you an update before race start.

Tomorrow we kick of with a team time trial.

Una Buona Giornata in Italia

2009-09-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

I had a really nice ride today. It started with a visit to the cafe for an incredible Italian cappuccino. I rode with Liza (fellow American racing for an Italian team based in the Lucca area), and a couple others for the first half of my ride. Then I went on a little exploration, which always happens when I find myself in new places.

This is one of the more noteworthy structures I saw:

I am also going to give myself a pat on the back. I struck up a conversation with a guy on our ride, and he said "Parli Italiano bene." I then went on to explain that I took Italian in college but have since forgotten how to speak for two reasons 1) the most common reason: "If you don't use it, you lose it" and 2) I have acquired a form of incomprehensible french at the expense of my Italian fluency.

Number 8 is a Charm

2009-09-10T10:31:00.003-07:00

I am on my 8th ROAD bike of the year. And by that I mean: I have seriously trained or raced on 7 bikes previous to the current bicicletta. This does not include the multiple time trial bikes and track bikes I have ridden for a single race (if you want to count those, make it 12 or 13).

Anyway, check out my new rocket ship:

It is complete with:

Fenders for all weather conditions.

Pedal Powered Light: the more wattage you put in, the more wattage you get out. Fascinating.

A rear panier (this is not the definition I was looking for) (which isn't fool-proof considering my post-grocery mishap with my bag of apples in the middle of traffic).

Flat pedals so you can wear any comfortable footwear, but make sure it is fashionable.

Disc Brakes for superb handling.

One front chain ring to minimize user-error.

And what I believe is an electrical shifter for the rear.....too high-tech for me, I do not quite understand it.

Jealous yet?

Just kidding.

For real though, check out my new wheels for the next 14 days:

Pete: For the first time in my life, I have full Dura Ace components (minus the SRM).

Its on.

2009-09-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

I arrived back home in Upstate, quite certain that there wouldn't be any food in the 'fridge', since I will be the only one feeding for the next week. I was mistaken.

Blueberries Anyone?

Whirlwinds During Downtime

2009-08-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

3 Days in Boston, 7 Days at my Family Reunion, 2 Days at Home (including rides and a tastey Salmon dinner with my Father), 1 Day in the Air, and now, a surprise visit to California....but I am only here for a blink.

Some pictures from the Family Reunion:

The view from the deck and the Girls Town window (above).

Sunset on Square Dancing Night (above).

Adirondack chairs, in their appropriate place.

Hellyer tonight for Friday Night Racing. Should be a fast one.

Downtime

2009-07-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

We stayed in some 'resort' town 'similar' to Myrtle Beach between Tour de Bretagne and Tour International Féminin en Limousin. This is the best scenery we found along the coast. We didn't go swimming or do any 'sight seeing', as Devon and I were quite pre-occupied with the internet access at a local pub (the only place with wifi within 30 kilometers) where we got the local flavor.

A picture by the Atlantic Coast.

The light at the end of the tunnel was Einat's appearance at my final stage of Limousin. Upon completing the race Einat asked me: "What do you want to eat?"

My response: "A burrito."

Now I have wrapped up my whirlwind stage race tour and am back in the States. In my short time back in the States, I have successfully had 4 burritos. I would like to thank my cousins and brother for making this [burrito eating] possible.

Next up: My happy place = Schroon Lake.

Who wouldn't be excited to go home.....

2009-07-27T15:19:00.001-07:00

......when you have this to look forward to:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32168635#32168635

Yup, headed to the camp. It doesn't have 42 rooms, but it is our camp.

20 UCI Stages in 24 Days

2009-07-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

Part 1: I have a lot of updating to do, here is a start:

(Ride around Lucca)

Warning, random Italy photos posted throughout.

I am now at that point where there is so much to talk about, I don't really have anything to say. It is much like those times when you get on the phone with someone whom you have not talked to in a few years, months, weeks, and they ask you "Whats new?" and your response is: "Oh, nothing....." because you do not want to spend the next 2 hrs recapping everything.

That is what we call "laziness", my friends.

(This is a mountain we climbed/raced up on Stage 4 (above), it was nicknamed the Queen Bee-itch (sorry for the profanity))

(Its July, and there is still snow on this mountain, in Southern Italy)

I am going to blame it on the fact that I only had one evening of internet access during the Giro and no internet access during the Tour of Bretagne. There is A LOT to talk about, but delving into the colossal task of summarzing 15 stages which included racing all over Italy and then traveling from Italy to the most Northwest corner of France to race Bretagne.....well do you really want to read a novel?

(View from one of the hotel rooms - we had transfers every day at the Giro)

The Giro was the BEST. Not exactly courses that suited my strenghts, but it was the highest level of racing, and I loved it. I had the best teammates and team USA staff (director, soigneur, mechanic, logistics) were all incredible. We traveled all over gorgeous Italy and had a lot of laughs along the way. I was impressed with how well Team USA came together as a team; the seven of us had never ridden as a team before, but each day things seemed to fall more and more into place.

(A transfer)

Then I hopped an overnight train (travelled for 20 hrs), sat at a train station for another 6 hours, spun with Devon (new arrival from the US to be my teammate for Tour of Bretagne and Tour of Limousin), and began the next stage race with ASPTT Dijon

Tour of Bretagne: not uber aggressive racing, and coming off the Giro, I had to be conservative. The races weren't insane enough to whittle down the field, and I wasn't comfortable with the way some of the women handled their bikes/themselves, which left me hesitant for sprint finishes....and therefore there were really no sprint finishes (for me - always getting boxed in or too far back). Overall, for me, Bretagne was frustrating. I felt I had the legs, I just wasn't willing to take the risk; there is a safe sprint, and then there is a sprint where you know someone is going to hit the deck. The latter I avoid. The latter seemed to dominate Bretagne.

I am thankful to have Devon here as a teammate, for sanity's sake. She got the Queen of the Mountain jersey, so she wore polka dots every day. Yay Devon!

Now we are in some small tourist town, sitting at a pub for hours on end (the only place in the area that has wi-fi), getting our internet fix before our next no-"weeefeeeee"-week.

Giro Donne 2009

2009-07-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

Places to find race information, in case I slack in the posting department. All efforts will be on the bike, sorry blog-readers, it is all about energy allocation.

The new and 'improved' cyclingnews

Giro Donne Race website

And I found this review on another blog (Podium Cafe), it gives a nice one-glance summary of the 10 days of racing.

2009-06-29T03:52:00.000-07:00

View from the house.

Since when is 17 hours of travel seemingly typical to get to a race?

2009-06-29T03:48:00.001-07:00

I guess these past few months have desensitized me to long travel days before races. For instance, two weeks ago, I traveled 11 hours to get to a 2hr road race and a 20 minute time trial. I just completed my 17 hours of trains from Limoux, France to Lucca, Italy and I am extremely glad to be here.

My standard philosophy is that I like to keep my time/miles in the car less than the miles I spend on a bike on any given day/week. I do not know how time/miles in a train fits into this scheme I have created for myself. Is my footprint considered less, since I am using mass transit? I don’t know.

So how do reduce the impact of travel? Well there are a lot of tricks, and I probably look like an idiot doing them, but it works for me. Here are some of my tips:

-Every transfer and every time I stand up, I stretch.

-Music. Not my bumping beats - those get me riled up. My current travel selection primarily comprises “Explosions in the Sky.”

-Podcasts, i.e., Coffee Break French, NPR Science Friday, NPR on Health......NPR has some great podcasts.

- A book. Sometimes one that I can depend on putting me to sleep.

- Sleep which requires:

-Therma-rest compressible pillow.

-Ear plugs.

-Bandana to cover my eyes.

-Traveling to bike races includes traveling with a bike. Bring a lock because you can’t keep your eye on the bike the whole time (yea, sometimes a bandana is covering your eyes).

-Sunglasses, in case I want to fool the people around when I am sleeping, “No I am not sleeping, I am watching you and keep your hands off my things.”

-Alarm clock, so I don’t sleep through my stop; it’s not like a plane were everyone gets off at the same time.

-Copious amounts of water. To ensure that I drink my water: I bring all of the water that I should drink for the day. This is quite heavy, but I don’t want to carry it, so its gotta go down the tubes.

-Food for the entire day. Tuper-ware is an amazing thing. Boiled eggs usually come in handy here for protein.

-Camera.

-(I am going here, sorry, but its important) Bring your own toilet paper – the trains run out of it ALL the time.

-Which leaves us at: hand sanitizer.

Off topic, but I have the time (musings on the train, again)

2009-06-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

The rodent of the sky, a.k.a. the pigeon. Ewwww. Do other people feel as repulsed at these species as I do? Did you know they are considered a delicacy? This blows my mind.

Second, and more important question: Why can’t they walk without bobbing their head? If I didn’t dislike the species to begin with, this behavior solidifies my disgust for them.

2009-06-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

I definitely knew when I arrived in Italy – it was the first place that people actually offered to assist me and my luggage. Shoot. One bike bag, one luggage bag, and a backpack.....up and down stairs in crowded train stations. I must have looked a bit pathetic as I was shuffling along the stairs.

I LOVE Italy. Fact. I have said it a million times before, and I will say it again. It’s “Guarnieri” not Guarnier. The French love to point out I have a French last name, and I love to point out, “I am actually Italian,” and then I go onto tell the 30second family story.

The minute the train crossed the border, the architecture, landscape, and people changed, and it is much more up my alley. I foresee establishing myself here. What a beautiful country.

(This is the view from one side of the train......

.....and this is the view from the other side.)

Even the food at the train station looks irresistible, but I am holding back on the panini/pizza as I am not training today and I don’t have euros to be throwing out the window on temporary indulgences.

(At the train station)

I am writing this blog on my third of four train transfers.Now that I am in Italy, I was able to successfully purchase the final leg of my journey. I had a tiny bit of anxiety about the fact that I had tickets only ¾’s of the way to my final destination; I am not touring, I am bike racing, and I have places to be, and kilometers to pedal. So “YAY” for: easy ticket purchases, smooth (albeit long) travel days, all things Italian, bike racing and the Giro.

Yea, this is going to be good.

My Big News

2009-06-26T02:38:00.000-07:00

I am racing the GIRO DONNE (Giro Ciclistico Internazionale Femminile or the Giro of Italy) with the US National Team!!!!

I am so grateful and very excited about this opportunity. The US squad is unbelievably strong and will be run by Michael Tamayo and Andrew Hawkes.

With the best teams in the world competing, the racing is going to be incredible. I have been working very hard here in France and am elated to be going to Italy.

I travel to Italy tomorrow to meet up with the US girls. I look forward to being around Americans!

It is going to be quite the travel day: 6:30AM departure, 4 transfers on the train, and hopefully, I will get all the way to my intended destination in Italy by 11pm (or after). The Euro-rail system is interesting; I cannot buy train tickets for Italy in the train stations of France, and you cannot buy tickets online either because they do not issue e-tickets. It seems somewhat backwards, eh? So hopefully there will be a seat available even though online it says "please reserve"...this is what we call flying by the seat of your pants. I am used to this though, and I am learning the ropes of the rails with all the race travel I have been doing.

Stage 4

2009-06-21T23:48:00.002-07:00

Lesson Learned: 15 seconds of being in your head too much on a Cat 1 climb gets you nowhere.

Stage 3

2009-06-21T23:48:00.001-07:00

Lesson Learned: There is only so much one person can do.

I suppose you want to know about today

2009-06-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

Stage 2: Brasseiur to Noirt

Stayed upright. Attacked twice. Too fast, but too easy.

They shouldn't post a "4km Arrive" sign when its only 2km. Didn't get to sprint. 14th in the Stage. I should trust my computers and cheat sheets over signs.

13th GC.

Stage 1: Bressieur Time Trial

2009-06-19T13:38:00.001-07:00

18km, we quickly modified one of my teammate’s time trial bike 25 minutes before my start time, and off I went. Well kind of......I need to work on my starts, today wasn’t the first time that I almost rode off the ramp. It’s kind of scary and an awesome way to make yourself look like a complete idiot.

So about the course: it was very bumpy; it reminded me of the day Einat and I were riding, and she commented, “I don’t get this! There were holes here, and now there are bumps – what’s the difference?!” So that is basically the feel of the entire course, really patched up pavement and sometimes I had the joy of rolling over the ripples (don’t you love it when pavement does that?)

The turns were quite tight, and for my first ride on a time trial bike in 3 months (I rode a TT bike once in April, so maybe I should say for the first ride on a time trial bike since last August), I would say my technical skills were somewhat adept.

Another little obstacle to ‘letting her rip’ was the tiny factor of gravel ALL over the descents and sharp corners – if I fall, the TT is over, if I am slow and stay upright, well, then I finish. I was aggressive, and might have taken some chances, but I am not super pleased with my decelerations into the corners and my hesitation on the descents.

I dropped my chain twice, and had some difficulties with the rear derailleur finding gears. The second time I dropped my chain, Marianne Vos was passing me. What was I doing letting Vos pass me 1km from the finish? Hahaha.

It’s a bummer, because the last chain drop cost me big time, as I was drilling it (within 1km to the finish) and I mid-hill, preparing for the remainder of the hill, and bam! Off with the chain –eerrrrrrrrrr, so frustrating. BUT the key today was that I had a time trial bike, sooooo key.

Oh I guess you want to know my placing too, I was 16^th, I think had I not been busy easing the chain off the front chain rings I could have found myself in the top 10, or had I just pushed it a little more up and over one hill, or had I not slowed down going into some of the corners, or had I not gotten out of my aero bars into some of the corners......well you get the point. But I guess the magic number was “20” (seconds) because the directeur sportif who was following me said I lost 20 seconds on the second chain drop (I was messing around for a long time), and looking at the results right now, I am seeing that to beat the 10^th place woman, I would have had to be 20 seconds faster.

Anyway, it was fun. I like time-trialing and the next few days should be interesting.

Quick Update

2009-06-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

I am on a French Keyboard, and actually do not feel like talking/typing much.

A few things to update:
Saturday: was an 11hr travel day.
Sunday:
Road Race in AM: I was 2nd. I tried to be aggressive the first 3 laps but quickly realized I was not going to be allowed to get away from the pack solo or in a small group, so I ended up just sitting in - not so fun for me. I am not overly happy as I was beat in the final sprint.
Time Trial in the PM: I think it was a decent effort. I did not have any aero equipment, and the 'posted results' were incorrect, and then we could not find other results. Anyway, it was a solid training day.

Monday/Tuesday: Stayed at my teammate Isabelle's house (I just met her, and she is the BEST! She is a world class triathlete and an awesome person.) She lived 20km outside of Dijon in the countryside - it was beautiful there.

Wednesday: Travel to Grande Boucle Internationale. I am rooming with Isa, and its great.

Thrusday: We have an 18km TT this afternoon.

I am learning this whole process is about building character and staying focused in the face of adversity. Send me your positive thoughts and your strong legs this week.

98 years old and still riding

2009-06-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

An inspirational little story. Keep those legs moving!!

An Elephant with Wings

2009-06-08T04:05:00.001-07:00

As I was saying, our apartment should be listed as a tourist attraction, under the heading "Zoos". This morning we had another exotic 'find'. This insect was about 3 inches in length, I would not get close enough to give you an adequate scale to appreciate its enormity, but trust me, this thing was HUGE! Looks like a bee, on 'roids.

This is a couple days after Einat walks by me with "Fluffy", her little pet spider. She used the web as a leash to walk around the apartment with him.

Lets see, its been a few weeks since my last update. Lots and lots of training and thus exploring of the area - I am getting a hang for the geography: up and down, and then back up again.

A trip to Carcassonne, but not the Castle.

And apparently "John's Club" in Carcassone (just realized the name of the cafe we sat at, for ages - very French, eh?).

"Show me pensive"(....or "bored"... or "irritated"? I guess this might have been during our 1/2hr wait for the bill.)

Friday Night Racing

2009-05-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

My short stay in CA luckily overlapped with one night of Friday Night Racing brought to you by Hellyer Velodrome and the one-and-only, Michael Hernandez; as much racing as your heart desires, and shenanigans that will keep you laughing and smiling all night.

I did not get to chat as much with everyone as I would have liked. I seemed to either be on the track, changing gears, or trying to get on my rollers.

Another great night, keep up the good work, the fun times, and the fast racing.

Its all fun and games (or at least Andreas thinks so) until Megan is put into a Match Sprints.

This is me trying to look serious, waiting for the throwdown.

Post-racing I went to the Cheesecake Factory. Be jealous Bry Guy, well...not really, I didn’t even get a piece of cheesecake. Tsk tsk.

Back on the road....or air...or rails...

2009-05-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

I had a nice “vacation” back “home.” Just like last year around this time, I am scratching my head (literally, as I have acquired a case of poison oak) wondering where “home” is. I guess I can only list my homes:

Home #1: Where my family lives/Where I grew up

Home #2: California

And the most recent addition

Home #3: Limoux, France

Now that I am on the plane, headed back to France, I feel that my recharge trip to Home #2 (California) was exceptionally short and I am hoping my half-full battery can carry me through the next few months. I was productive while in CA, but I am quite certain that a stop at Home #1 was in order, but as the Rolling Stones said, “You can’t always get what you want.”

This is the life a cyclist. No complaints: the travel is uber cool, I go to amazing places and meet new people that I never would have had the opportunity to meet, and I am seeing the world by pursuing my passion.

This is the life.

Cycling has brought so many remarkable people into my life, all of who are excited for me and want to see (and help) me follow my dreams. I want to express my gratitude to all of you; your comments on my blog, facebook, internet messengers, and the random emails help in sustaining my drive and focus when I am so far away.

What it comes down to is: it is tough being away from the people I love. Despite this, I have also realized that the people that I love would rather have me far away, living the dream, opposed to stalling out in one place because I am ‘homesick’.

So I board the plane, say ‘Au Revoir’, and I am off. More races, more adventures, and more stories to come.