I have been spending the past couple of days de-stressing from racing five days in a nine day period. The odd part about it is that for the past couple of days my sensations on and off the bike have been great! I'm full of energy and feel light on the bike.
I wonder if I am in impeccable form that will be wasted on my few days of rest OR if I am full of energy because i know there are no immediate races to fret about OR if I really do use a lot of energy in periods of heavy racing. I'm no genius but i would gather it's the last guess.
I am finally taking a rest before going back to the last chore of the day - gluing two Challenge Grifo Tubs onto my Easton wheels. It's always such a stressful process to get the tire onto the rim and straightened in two seconds before the glue sets! I will never forget when i had Don my California roommate put a tire on for me. He was so calm but i was so frantic because i needed it to be perfect (the cyclist in me) that i turned into psycho-bitch from hell! After that day, i promised myself i would relax about it next time i had to glue a tubular on. Well, that day came right before Nationals. This time i had Geoff (gewilli.blogspot.com) put it on for me. I was so proud of myself for being calm - unfortunately I soon realized where my nervous energy went - geoff was sweating bullets! Although i appreciated that he was so nervous about doing it perfectly for me, it was so funny to see him worked up about it! I'm sure we all have our tubular stories to tell! In fact, if anyone has any, please do share!
I am taking my rest for the moment on the comfy couch (courtesy of Serge) set up on the stage in my living room. AND since my last chore was to get internet in my apartment, I am actually writing this from INSIDE my apartment! Yipee!!! No more poaching wireless internet down the hallway on the cold floor.
Although it has threatened to rain the past couple of days, the most we had was a light rain coupled with 40-degree F weather. But even so, i was prepared. I have been wearing two thick tights, rain pants, two long sleeve jerseys, under shirt (the thick sheila moon one), wind vest, wind jacket, thick winter jacket, rain jacket, waterproof gloves, waterproof thick booties, ear warmers, thick fleece cap. By the time i have it all on, i look like an oompa loompa. Although i am tickled pink to be here in belgium, it is just WRONG to take TWENTY MINUTES to kit up for a bike ride. And God forbid i have to pee when wearing bib tights! (guys wouldn't understand this one.)
While running errands today, I ran into one of the managers from my former team. It felt great knowing that i was on a fabulous team that is a much better fit for me! I didn't bother telling him about my team since it seems news travels fast around these parts. At the last race in luxembourg, I tried to tell a few people about my new team but they already knew! And I just came across this page as well announcing the info:
http://cyclingfx.nl/Cyclingladies/News/2007/January.htm
seems the source was my blog! hahaha.
Thanks for reading!
:peanut
3 comments:
if only i had remembered the toes thing when doing the first wheel... not the second...
good luck with the glue'n CV...
remember they just wheels, and ya runnin so low pressure (14.5 psi/1 bar) that a wee bit of imperfection won't be noticed
and don't forget to put a bit of tape over the braking surface on the rim ;)
Gluing tubulars...just ask any trackie. ;)
Tape on the rim - damn that's a good idea! I have a set of wheels that have glue all over the place, both on the tires and rims...my first glue job, what a mess! I even had photographs where you can see the glue on my wheels despite it being the middle of a race..hahah... Luckily glue on the rim isn't a problem on a track bike...tho i would get the occasional joke about sticking to the track. =P
I can't take credit for the electrical tape on the rims pre-gluing. My coach told me to do it. He's the king of random useful information that doesn't make sense until after i screw something up.
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