Tits of Steel Do It for 24 Hours

Don't tell the Hamana Hos......but Tits of Steel just wanted to race the 24 Hours of Adrenaline for fun. However, that's not the way it went...

Friday evening: set up camp and socialize with our camp mates the Velo Nerds,Google Earthlings, Team MBOSC, and our pal DJ in a phenomenal social area set up with comfy camp chairs, stoves, a keg, and a heater donated to the group by our sexy volunteer, Geo. I decided that this weekend was going to be fun, and began to enjoy my first Google sponsored pint in my commemorative glass. Our gracious sponsors Jeni and Kyle soon showed up and began to wow the crowd with BR Lights. A fun social evening. A great start.

7:00 am: crawl out of a warm tent for two monster cups of Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company's Fair Trade Organic Sumatra Dark Roast and two slices of Nicole's campfire toast with organic peanut butter and raw honey. It was cool to see Eve out there supporting us and Mark, since she had to drop off the team for motherly purposes.

10:00 am: We saw Caroline off to her running start, then I sat in the shade to hydrate and enjoy my final moments of rest.

2:30 pm: first lap. While I was waiting for Becky to come in, volunteer extraordinaire Geo gave me an awesome back rub (that's Nic in the photo), including pulling my shoulders out of their cyclist's slouch position with his giant man hands of steel. It was a rough and rutty dust fest out there until Hurl Hill. I regretted the high tire pressure I was running until I got to the climbs.

My hardtail scooted up the fire roads and shot me up the giant fire road whoopties in my big ring. What sucked on the ruts made those long climbs easy. A fair trade in a course with about 2000 feet of climbing. I resolved that during lap two I would power through the rough sections with a little more resolve to reduce my lap time.

Between laps one and two, I was informed that we were in second place, the Hamana Hos were first. The excitement grew and the pressure was on.

8:00 pm: My best lap. We were in second place, and the Hamana Ho sharing my lap was waiting in the transition area with me. Her teammate came in shortly before Becky; Kyle told me I'd catch the Ho on the grind, and dammit if I didn't. I passed her, then she hopped on my wheel. I swerved over and slowed, then hopped on hers. She tolerated it for the remainder of the climb. Once we hit more technical stuff, she showed a bit of apprehension, so I passed her closely on a single track. She called, “Be careful!” after I scraped by, then followed me to the bridge. I hopped off the bike, ran up the stairs and she asked me if I was going to ride down the stairs on the other side. I just kept running, then ran down the middle of the flight, my bike blocking her way. At the bottom I knew the lap was mine, because I am strongest on the flats, and that's where I took off. I finished in front of her. She found me at the transition area, and gave me a big hug for making the lap fun. Then she offered to teach me to ride stairs in the morning after the race, because she said I was a good rider and shouldn't be afraid. Jeni was standing there with a knowing smile as I thanked the competition for her offer. How could I tell her I didn't ride them because I knew it's what she wanted? I think this was the first time in my life where I felt competitive enough and strong enough to use some strategy out there. It was a new feeling for me, and I liked it.

10:30 pm: Old habits are hard to break. One and a half pints from the keg, not so bad, right? I wanted to wind down from the coffee, GU shots, and Gatorade all surging through my system. I headed to the tent, and caught very little sleep between random fits of anxiety.

1:30 am: Feeling oddly like an old shoe, I dressed in my warm cycling clothes. The best thing I can say about this lap is that BR Lights rock. The white light illuminated everything I needed to see out there, which was good, because I was delirious. I had no legs and no brain. I was caught on the grind by the tiny Ho that could. I resented her big time as I hopped on her wheel. She was making me work way harder than I wanted to. Eventually I dropped back, promising myself I would catch her soon enough. Suddenly I was alone; I saw night lights parallel to me, but maybe 500 feet up. Realizing that I was no longer on the course, I sighed and threw my bike over my shoulder to hike back up to it. I finished three minutes behind the Tiny Motorized Ho. We had been eight minutes ahead. Never have I been so bummed to have dropped off of a wheel.

7:00 am. Caroline woke me to tell me we were ten minutes ahead again, and I didn't have to do my last lap if I would let Sophie take it. In my mind I heard, “You are the weakest link. Good-bye.” I was happy to sip coffee as I warmed the bench and cheered on Nicole and Sophie as they left for the last two laps.

10:45 am: We beat the Hos by one lap. The day was sunny, and the beer relatively cool. Dance contests filled the void until the awards ceremony. We patiently awaited our podium call as we basked in the wonder of our win. The announcer called out “First place, Tits of Steel” and we jumped up to receive the glory. It was exciting to throw on the yellow jerseys, receive the first place medals, and get cheered on by the crowd. It was really cool to hold the BR Lights banner during all of the photos, and to stay on the stage for photos of just our team.

This weekend will definitely go down as one of the most awesome in my book. Geoff, Jeni and Kyle were tireless in taking care of us for the entire race. I mean, these people gave us cocoa, rubbed our shoulders, mounted our lights and cheered us on every minute of the race. DJ had gotten me a tent at the last minute, and Mark & Eve lent me their cozy sleeping bag. My teammates were so mellow, beautiful, and wonderful to race with. We took first place and made our light sponsor proud. I met more cool people with whom I hope to ride again. It was a big 24 hour love fest.

Will Tits of Steel race next year, or just go down as a one hit wonder? Who can say, but I can't help wondering, what would have happened if we had actually trained for this?

Lots going on...

Wabbit came and climbed over my balcony, onto a ledge, and saved me from freezing my ass off when I locked myself out. Thanks Wabbit.

Big Wabbit hugs for you!

I went to Dallas for a wedding. I was supposed to sleep in the same home as the teen-aged kids of the groom. Everyone trusts a teacher. During my fifth glass of wine, the 14 year-old came and said, "You're our designated driver." "Uh, does your brother has a license?" "He's got a permit." As we approached the car after bidding the new groom daddy good-bye (whom I promised the kid would not drive), I gave the kid the keys. We got lost a few times, but we made out way. Is it legal to drive a drunken adult when you have a permit?

The bike parts saga continues. only awaiting the headset at the moment. it's been any day now for a while. Spending all of this dough and waiting waiting waiting, it's just like being unemployed. No money, no cool ride. I'm ready for some new girl clothes, but I really need new pads, new helmet, and new everything so I can be brave and do new stuff while I lose less skin. At least I got a pretty dress for the wedding. If any boys want to take me out, I can show a little leg and a lot of cleavage like a real girl.

The next generation of former delinquents has graduated. It is really fun being in a small school. The graduates all had stories told about them, we whooped and hollered, and tears were shed, even on the part of school board members. Kids sang, gave speeches, and I cried like a baby as they told about where they've come from and the struggles they've overcome, how they're going to go to college. Times like that make me so proud.

Do you know where your bike parts are?

I think I do:

5/25/2007 10:31:00 AM THE DELIVERY INTERCEPT REQUEST FOR THIS PACKAGE  WAS
SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED;THE ADDRESS HAS BEEN CORRECTED. THE DELIVERY HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED SUNNYVALE, CA US

Expected:Jan. 1, 1900 12:00:00 AM 
HUH?

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

The poor UPS guy. I'm probably going to jump on him like the homemaking wife of a traveling sales guy.

One of my best friends is getting married in two weeks, in Dallas. I didn't know until two days ago. She had my latest address wrong, and the invitation was lost. Another of my friends had a showing of her movie, but I didn't know. Her hard drive had crashed, and she lost her email addresses. Whenever I see my sister, we rush to tell each other everything that's been going on in our lives. We are both so hungry for intimate female friendship.

I asked myself how did my life get this way? When I was younger, in school, friends were everything, I don't think an invitation getting lost in the mail would have prevented me from knowing about the wedding, or a crashed hard drive would have kept me from seeing the movie. My sister and I were close, we knew everything about each other.

Modern life is so hard on friendships. I know I spend my days at work, my off hours riding or taking care of some other business, then I'm tired. I don't keep in touch regularly anymore. Neither do any of my old friends.

Am I the only one that thinks something is wrong with that? Or is this freedom we have to live our own way and to roam about the country (or the globe for that matter) for a better salary or a preferred lifestyle truly the way to go? I mean, for the most part, I like the choices I've made and what I've been doing these days. But not knowing about the wedding of a friend who has been such an intimate part of my life for so long, it just really made me take a step back and look at things.

So, will I make more of an effort to call? Hmmm...I'm starting to feel sleepy again.

Ahhhhh

Sore legs. Tight back. Tight abs. Three days of dirt.

How sweet it is!

Big Bears Like Skirts

I'm down to the dregs of the laundry.

Usually I wear jeans to work. Something about bending over to help students in a skirt is just uncomfortable. Plus, I like my comfortable shoes.

But I haven't been doing my laundry. Last weekend I was at a conference and then I've just been working and riding this week. So I had to wear a skirt to work, or really gross way too recycled jeans...

So, I walk towards my classroom, and the boys all look at my legs (another thing that weirds me out, when they look at my ass in jeans at least I don't know).

After I unlock the door, a boy who is called Oso, because he actually does have the shape of a big bear, comes into my room and says, "Hey Donna, Danny say you look pretty today." I say "Marco, I think you are the one who thinks that, and now you are embarrassing Danny." "Yes Donna, you are pretty today," he said back with a red sheepish grin before he shuffled off to the right class.

Are men really that easy, or is it just hormonally challenged adolescent boys?

Envy During the Wait

Sometimes I wish I sat in front of a computer most of the day, so I could blog before work gets me tired. My boss always seems to find too much for me to do. Damn saving the world takes a lot of time...maybe I should send him this:












Then there's this whole salary issue. Over the course of building this bike, I am sooo jealous of those who don't have to wait patiently for all of the deals to come along and sponsors to send product, and blah blah blah. I know I am lucky to have the resources I do have, but damn, at my age, I could've had more dough, you know? I've been thinking a lot about the ways we pay, and when we pay. Because you've always got to pay, right? So I pay with low pay, but I get all the time off, I run my little classroom world, and, I get to feel damn good about what I do most of the time.






But I want to ride my new bike, NOW! It's not the same since I rode Jeni's bike in the Sugoi Clinic. I want my BIG FIVE INCHES NOW!!!! I want to jump and hop and drop off RIGHT NOW!!!

But will I feel this pain when the bike is done? I don't know...








And then there's the worst jealousy: all you lucky folks who have found a mate who wants to ride with you or go to races with you or even lives near you.

Just 'cause I chose to be a weirdo and make no money doing God's work doesn't mean I wanted to become a celibate nun. Just someone who I like who likes me, too. That's all I ask. Why is that so hard?