Much Needed Weekend Ride

After a very stressful trip home the night before, Chris and I made our way up to North Georgia for a much needed "recovery" ride. We rode mostly forest roads with just a couple of miles of singletrack to connect the roads together. I really like riding the MTB a lot more at this point - mostly because it is so much more comfortable than my road bike. I did notice that when I sit down to pedal and lean forward, my belly can almost rest on the nose of the saddle. That I found a bit disturbing...but funny at the same time. Only two more months before I can return to my normal size...

There's no place like home...

Wow, what a tiring trip and I didn't even do all that much other than eat and sit in a chair all day. I think that was part of the problem! Traveling while obviously round and pregnant was interesting. I got jokingly harassed by the flight attendants "You're not going to have that baby on the plane are you??" and an older lady asked if I needed help getting off the airport shuttle bus. DO I NEED HELP??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Do I look weak and frail? I've specifically been doing upper body weights so as to NOT look weak and frail.

Anyways, just getting home was quite an ordeal. After paying $50 to change to an earlier flight, we had the pleasure of sitting on the runway for 45 minutes due to isolated thunderstorms. Mind you this was the first rain Houston had seen in the past 30 days...lucky me I guess.

Once we finally arrive back in Atlanta, I go to hop on the train back from the D Terminal and find it was out of service. So not only do I have to lug my uncomfortable luggage around (gotta get one of those rolly-suitcases with wheels instead of my shoulder duffels), but I have to fight my way through a thousand slow moving people as we all try to make a mass exodus out of the airport. Every time the corridor narrowed, there was a HUGE bottleneck and we'd have to stand around and wait. It reminded me of TransRockies day 2 last year...except this time I was much more impatient. Whenever I saw an opening, I'd go charging through as fast as I could, luggage and belly flailing...I'm sure it was quite comical.

I finally made my way out of the airport (after 45 minutes) and get on the parking shuttle, which was jam packed and of course, as luck would have it, I was one of the last people dropped off. At least my car was still there...

So I'm FINALLY on the highway and I find that 285 is just full of idiots driving 65 mph in pretty much all lanes. By now I'm seriously cranky and ready to put all these pokey drivers into the wall. Argh! Get the hell out of my way!!!!! Raging hormones coming through! I call Chris to complain and he tells me to be careful and relax...ok..trying to relax.

FINALLY get home, and find that the upstairs AC unit crapped out that day. So much for a good nights sleep in my own bed! The world is seriously conspiring against me. I had a restless nights sleep, so I'm hoping today will be better.

I'm looking forward to a MTB ride with Chris tomorrow to cleanse my soul of all this crankiness.

Currently in TX

Been in Texas now for a couple of days at a training course. I'm not used to having to sit in a chair for this long each day, especially with the little one poking at the ribs all day. At least its half way over...We miss daddy!

Siege on Ft Yargo/Baby Shower

We headed up to Fort Yargo yesterday for the Siege sprint AR where Chris, Kim and Julia did battle with 102 other teams. It was extremely tough to be around so many racers and NOT be racing...I tried to convince Goble and Peter J. that we needed to throw a threesome together, but I think we were short one bike and a canoe...so the three of us settled for chasing teams around and taking pictures. Here they are all clean and smiley before the race:



Their first special test was trying to fit 3 bikes, 3 coolers, 3 bins and 3 people all in a 6' x 6' square transition space...considering how much open space there was in the vicinity..this was a bit goofy.



The race started with a run to retrieve a numbered passport which indicated which race discipline each team would do first. Unfortunately, the OutSpokin' gang had to paddle first which turned out to be somewhat of a disadvantage as that section had the fewest possible CPs on it. They had some initial frustration on one of the early paddle points that was hung under a low bridge, but after that, things seemed to go pretty smoothly.





Next they were off on the bikes which was good, because it meant that I could ride around and take pictures of them going to the various bike CPs. I managed to get a good bit of riding in throughout the race and thoroughly enjoyed bombing down the new "Monster Mile" which is full of whoop-te-dos. The team didn't seem to have any problems with the bike section and obtained all but one CP.





Finally they headed out on the trek where they picked up a bunch of CPs, but had to skip quite a few due to the time cutoff.

Gearing up..



How could you possibly look this happy jogging around in 98 degree heat wearing a pfd???





As the finish cutoff was drawing near, I began to get worried. At about a minute and a half from the cutoff, I saw them running up the hill. I told them they had 30 seconds for extra motivation...sorry guys :)



Not as clean, but just as smiley as when they started...



The awards were pretty anti-climactic, as they only announced the top three teams in each division, but did not specify which place each team got. Chris checked the CP totals of the other teams, and it looked like they were unofficially first by 5 CPs, so it was a good day for Team OutSpokin'!

After the race, Julia and Kim organized a Baby Shower for Chris and I in one of the picnic shelters. It was pretty quick, since we were all hot and tired. We ate some good food and opened presents (yay!)

Only at a Randall Baby shower would the mom-to-be still be wearing her bike shorts. Also of note are the bike and canoe in the background. Precious!



I opened gifts while Chris ate banana pudding:



This was her "transition area" outfit from Julia (after yesterday, we may need to get a "Daddy Rules" onesie as well):



All kinds of goodies for bathtime!



Thanks to Julia and Kim for taking the time to organize this for us. Any shower where I can mountain bike first gets two thumbs up from me!

Just another Thursday

So I guess its officially hot here now, since the temps today and in the next few days are supposed to top 95 degrees. My hubby is lucky enough to be out on Lake Allatoona today for a company outing. They rented some boats..er I mean yachts...and a jet-ski...and instead of some lame pot-luck picnic, they are probably getting rowdy, making waves, and sliding down the waterslide beers-in-hand. Apparently computer geeks are better at planning social activities than engineers, because I have yet to have a company picnic that was that exciting.

We are nearing completion of painting the stripes in the nursery and should finish that up tonight. One of our cats, Fudgie, likes to "talk" to us while we paint, but his tail got a little too close to the paint tray this morning and he was left with some green stripes himself!

The weather looks pretty nasty for road riding tomorrow morning, as I have a doc appt. that will keep me from getting out there before 9:30. By then it will be 85 degrees in the sun and I will be hard boiled by the time I'm finished. Sounds fabulous...eh? But, since the Siege on Ft. Yargo is Saturday, I feel obligated to get some bike miles in on Friday. I know...I must be neurotic since I'm in my third trimester and I still worry about miles and hours, but I'd like to stay as active as I can, while I can, since I'm sure that last month will be a doozy.

I finally got a new pair on Inov-8 shoes yesterday, after about a month of size swapping...funny, but I now have three pairs and they are three different sizes, ranging from a 7.5 to 8.5. These new ones are RocLite 320's so I hope to try them out on my next hike/jog. I'm so very much wanting to race right now and yearn for the days when I can go back to falling down and beating the heck out of myself. I guess I'll have to live vicariously through Chris as he teams up with Kim and Julia this weekend to defend our title at Fort Yargo. No pressure...

Good Weekend

Despite the threat of isolated thunderstorms, the weather gods were smiling upon us this weekend and I managed to spend a lot of quality time outside. On Saturday, Chris and I went for a 3.5 hour MTB ride near Springer Mtn and the Fish Hatchery and on Sunday it was more of the same on a forest service road ride with Kim. I had a crazy amount of energy last week and was on my bike about 10 hours, plus I did a couple hours of hiking and even managed to jog (gasp!) a little bit without being all achy afterwards. Notice I said "jog" as what I was doing was a far cry from a "run". I'm waiting to downgrade again to a "fast waddle".

We started painting the nursery, and all that is left to do is add the darker color stripes and white trim. Chris gets to have fun installing an outlet in the ceiling for the special lighting we're adding as well as a third switch to turn it on. Glad he knows how to do all that, because I'd end up setting the house on fire if I had to mess with any of the wiring! I'm "nesting" like crazy, trying to organize and purge things we don't need...and believe me there is PLENTY!

Progress is Tiring!

Whew! I'm pooped! I managed to motivate myself to get on the road bike this morning, which ended up being a decent ride once I was out there for a little while.

We picked out the paint colors for our nursery and spent the evening cleaning the room out so we could paint in the near future. It was no easy task since the room was serving as Chris's office and he had 5 years worth of junk piled up! I think I went up and down the stairs about 50 times! We are painting the room with 3 different colors, so it should be interesting.

Third Trimester

Who hoo! Today marks the official start of my third trimester. I guess this is when things start to get ugly...So far I have been blessed with minimal weight gain (7 lbs and it appears to be all baby...or at least that's what I tell myself) and minimal aches and pains. I credit this to remaining active and not letting pregnancy get me in a slump.

Being an endurance athlete, I'm used to some part of me usually aching, so the back pain and rib pain is tolerable, as long as I get my mind off of it. My belly is starting to feel pretty tight and crammed, so I'm hoping my skin will stretch a bit more before my ribs start getting all deformed. No stretch marks yet, but I'm so small that I don't see how I will avoid them...sigh.

We celebrated the day with a 55 mile road ride up at White. Here I am with my cross bike that I converted to a road bike since its a teensy bit more comfortable to ride with my big belly. Normally I would refrain from a side-view pic, but Chris says I still look like my normal self from the front. I wore one of my old SoBe jerseys because I remember them being loose...hmmmm...



Sadly, I am getting slower while Chris is getting faster, which I think is payback for all my years of racing and "torturing" him (his words) on MTB rides. Its hard now not to notice the little creature growing in my belly, as I think she requires more oxygen - because it sure seems like there is less for me! I'm hoping to at least get another month out of my cross/road bike before I have to start riding my much more upright MTB on the roads. Oh, won't that be shameful! Thankfully I haven't experienced any changes in balance or center of gravity yet (I also attribute that to riding on a regular basis), as I'm still smooth and coordinated in the singletrack. I'm sure the words singletrack and third trimester shouldn't be used in the same sentence, but really, I ride better than I can walk!

Oh well, I'm out to see if I can help with some yard work outside, then we're off to a party at my boss's house.

Summer is finally here!

Or at least the sultry temps are here! Kim and I headed up to the Bear Creek area for our Wednesday ride. I'm not sure if we just need to acclimate to the heat, but it seemed like we were both bungeed to a pile of bricks that we had to drag up the hills behind us. I told her she was having "sympathy fatigue" for me. We ended up riding the Pinhotis and then Bear Creek and decided that was plenty. Kind of a "short" ride compared to our usual adventures. It must be that I just turned 31...

I do have to say the the trails were in fantastic condition. Good and dry and I was glad to have brought my S-works so as not to be rattled to death coming down Bear Creek. I even saw a small bear..it was so cute and cuddly looking. I'm sure its momma had big teeth and sharp claws though...

We have a big presentation coming up at work for a huge job that I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we win, as it will mean job security for me for the next several years...and that is REALLY important right now.

Falling Down on the Blogging...

Wow, a whole week went by and I haven't posted any updates. Last week was pretty good. We received our box of new stems from Thomson, as I had to cash in a bunch of freebie certificates to get some higher rise stems to make riding more comfortable. I also switched my road wheels to my cyclocross bike, which is a bit more comfortable to ride and has brake levers on the tops of the bar, which is where I've been resting my hands lately. After a suicidal squirrel ran in between or through? my wheels on Friday, I figured it would be good to have brakes where my hands actually are!

Chris said I was starting to pedal "knees-out" on my road bike so we had to do something drastic, lest I look like those goofy people who can't seem to raise their seat high enough. We had a nice 55 mile ride on Saturday morning, but I was reminded of how much my scrawny body still sucks at breaking through a headwind.

Sunday was the GAOC Canoe-O where I was a bit over-zealous and Julia and I ended up going a minute overtime. I'm not sure what the penalty was, so I guess we'll have to wait until results are posted. We were up against Kim and Chris who were paddling our other canoe, so I figured we'd either beat them by a hair or go down fighting. Looks like we went down fighting at least. After paddling, us girls headed out for a MTB ride on the Fort Yargo trails while Chris sat through a lengthy GAOC meeting.

I have to say that there is quite a lot of quality trail now at Fort Yargo and we rode the new "Monster Mile" section. Unfortunately, we were going in the uphill direction, so it was more like the "Cadence-of-30-rpm-and-a-lot-of-grunting Mile" for Julia and I on our singlespeeds. I'm pleased that my IF still handles great, despite us raising the handlebar a bit, but then, I'm convinced that it truly is the world's greatest bike.

I have a belated B-day present hopefully coming soon...a Niner 29" scandium singlespeed. I'm excited to have big wheels! Can't wait to see how they roll! Thanks again to my super-hubby for picking out a practical gift for me! Maybe now I can stay far enough away from him that he won't rub my back wheel!