FAST GRRRLZ

MMm ciclistos...

So i didnt say a whole lot about much about HOW WHAT the group rides are like out here. First of all, they are TEAM rides that I'm talking about. TEAMS. You seem to have to get invited, but once you are there, everyone is really cool. Fenders are a must. Unlike in the midwest, where everyone complains about the gravel-y sound of rocks up in your fender on a ride, in Portland you look like kind of a douchebagette if you don't have a fender. I didn't use a fender on Sunday (it was peeling the paint off Mad One) but it was sunny. Poprad is getting fenders, and will be the choice ride for any un-sunny day.

On the first group ride Dan and I went on, there was a dude on a fixie. IMAGINE a fixie mixed up with GEARED bicycles! I never saw that in the midwest either.. He climbed the long hill also, which impressed the hell out of me. Then he dropped off and went his own way. Very nice.

There is a lot of climbing here. On Sunday we made a point to ride on Sauvie Island, where it is flat. The cars buzzed us and flipped us off and yelled---it was outside of portland by a few miles. You have to ride somewhere else to get away from hills, which is kind of funny when I'm used to riding somewhere else to ride up the SAME hill multiple times. Everyday I ride up a few steep hills on the way to work, so it seems like no big deal anymore.

I rode with Ironclad Cycling , which the team I'm thinking of joining soon. All of the women are Cat 4s, but half of them are catting up soon probably. They ride together a lot, and race well as a team, which are both pretty important to me. I'll be the only 3 on the team for now. That's fine, because right now I guess I'm just seeing what Oregon racing is like in general. I really liked everyone on the team ride and the vibe was great, so yeaaaaa.... noice, all good ;-) I was extremely impressed when Dave pulled out a hamm's tallboy before the hill climb !!!!

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today i got a new pair of knickers; the 1st pair of knickers, wooooooooot, sugoi, sould be noice..

i you go to Teamestrogen's website you can see my new career blossoming as an athletic apparel model. see if you can spot it. ha !

sunday is a ride 'round Hagg (?) Lake with Ironclad; a preview for the Bananabelt series. I like bananas, maybe Ill do well? It's supposed to be hilly. Everyone out here is telling me " OH Such-and-such race is..well..it's hilly...uhh" and I secretly but not so secretly say WOOOOOOOO YES HILLY! while they say Uhhhhh hilly... sounds fun. Of course, there are a fair amount of crits here too, and some strong crit riders, and apparently it doesn't rain all summer like I thought it might.

I can't wait till road bicycle racing season. Can you tell? Starts in two weeks... !!!!!!!!!!

My new dream, as of this morning's commute, is to get strong enough to lead Daniel out in the weekly men's 3 PIR races. We'd be such a good team if we could get that together. I don't think, though, that if he is strong enough to win a race that I'd be able to keep up.

Ahh tomorrow I think I'll ride, but I need to make it a priority to go shopping for essentials, like toothpaste and floss, and powertap hub batteries. I forget these errands when I just ride all weekend. Last weekend I rode a lot of hours and moved, so I got nothing done except for some new muscle and more space. But no new groceries. Ohh Dan says we can do taxes now!

Ok goodnite. Dan downloaded the NIN discography so I guess I'm in for the most depressing sleep ever. Happy trails.....