ha !

24

is less than or equal to the number of days before Murray State, the first MWCCC race of the year. GET PUMPED.

5

It's 5 out!  5 degrees!  Fahrenheit.  Ugh.  A great day for delivering sandwiches.  I just wanted to share my excitement before I go put on 17 layers of clothing.  

On another note:  I urge you all to check out the Champaign Cycle website !  Axel is doing an awesome job revamping the site.  It actually has some relevant info on it now AND Axel's cute bio blip, and it's only going to get better.  I like.  

Who is riding the Illini Chill this coming Saturday?  It starts in St. Joe's; I say those of us from Chambana meet up and ride there together.  It is supposed to be in the 50's--that's about 45 degrees GREATER THAN 5--and if we are lucky it won't rain.  

My food update:  The soymilk turned out pretty good.  It's a bit beany tasting, and obviously does not taste as processed and refined as the stuff in the carton, but I like it.  It tasted great this morning with sprouted quinoa muesli!  (Quinoa is a delicious, small nutty grain that is a complete protein and can be eaten like rice).

10:24  time to put on all of my clothes.

rest day zzzz's; watching seeds grow...

hi all!  I found out we have another reader!  She might just get the shout-out next week    ;-)  

So today is Monday, my rest day.  I'm not going to say that I will ALWAYS rest on Monday, but lately my legs have been so sore by Friday that I think it is a good idea to rest them completely for a day.  But I am going to backtrack...  Saturday I rode the trainer and it was boring.  (Imagine?)  Sunday gifted us melting snow, sunshine, and 40 degree weather, so I went out with Wildcard.  We took it slow at first because there were still some icy patches, but then we got up to a good pace.  We did about 50 miles, which was good for the first day of February, and it sure beat the trainer blues.  I felt great yesterday actually; yay endurance.  So now sweet & sour Monday...  it's so boring !  My friends are in school, I live so far away from everything, and I've run out of stuff to sell on ebay.  My life is fairly solitary--I ride alone a lot, lift alone, go to class alone.. so the last thing I want to do for fun is sit and read alone or work on projects alone...  ugh   I need SPRING!  I need to get out of this town!  

My project lately has been sprouting seeds/grains/beans to eat.  Sprouts are so healthy (lots of enzymes and more nutrient dense than their "dead" counterparts) and they taste delicious.  Today I bought some mesh for the tops of my sprouting jars.  I'm now experimenting with almonds, quinoa, garbanzo beans, lentils, and fenugreek.  For breakfast this morning I made muesli with sprouted rye and sprouted millet, sunflower and pumpkin seeds (unsprouted), almonds (unsprouted), raisins, blueberries, flaxseed, honey, and hemp milk.  So delicious.  Hemp milk is usually more than $5.00, so I never bought it.  But yesterday it was on sale half-off at IGA ! It tastes a little bitter and nutty--perfect for everything except cappuccinos, which I think taste better with soy or almond milk.  Another project I've started is making my own soymilk.  It looks so easy to do, and it's a lot cheaper and saves packaging!  Now I am in the soaking stage.  After the process is over there are leftover soybean particles that get strained out, which can be used to make other foods (veggie burgers) or for making....baby clothes.

So tomorrow it is back to lifting, riding, and cutting my steer tube and shortening my brake/shift cables.  Monday's are good.  Mondays are when I ask myself "what the hell are you doing"...  what am I doing?  I graduated from college; I deliver for Jimmy John's twice a week, I take one class at Parkland as a pre-requisite for a degree I'll do someday, I live with my boyfriend...  My plan is to ride across the country at the end of the summer and move to Portland.  But really..I'm trying to train; I want to be good.  It's a big experiment.  It's just a new life I am trying out, but it makes me pretty happy.  

Xciting News for FASTGRRRLZ !

WE HAVE A READER !

We want to give a fast shout-out to Vesselin Velev; our first non-relative, non-boyfriend, non-Shirefolk, completely unprompted reader! Thank you Vess !

Because we are so excited by the rapid growth of fastgrrrlz, B.Chan and I have decided to highlight one lucky person a week with a Reader of the Week award ! Yay! Good luck everyone!

...............

And now I must get ready to deliver... More to come later on fastgrrrlz.

Well, it is snowing. Again. Seeing as this will be my last midwest winter for a looooong time, I have decided to adopt a new outlook on the freezing temperatures and snow covered ground. I will no longer gripe about my eyelashes freezing together in the subzero temperatures, or the bit of frost bite on the tip of my nose. I will no longer view snow as a horrible disruption of my training plans. Nor will I bitch about snow slowing my commute or drastically increasing the possibility of being pinned under a bus or other motorized vehicle piloted by an ignorant individual who has not yet discovered the joys of commuting in winter.

Rather, I will wake up every morning and be thankful for Pearl Izumi Lobster Gloves, being able to wear two pairs of tights under my pants, balaclavas and Smart Wool. I will relish the opportunity to ride my cyclocross bike across the illinois tundra, lift in the state of the art weight facility at the ARC, and watch endless hours of Sex in the City while riding the trainer.

And so it shall be.

I hate Illinois.

29er love

The XCaliber rolls over everything!  I rode a lap at Kickapoo today and it was so fun!  I was a bit slow, but thats cool..  I still can't believe I can roll right over stumps and logs and stuff.  Mountain biking is so cool.  We stayed really warm even though it was probably below 20.  Ah  love it.  I'm so excited to ride more.  And tomorrow we are going to Bloomington to ride cross!  Its a great weekend.  Really.

Yesterday I woke up feeling tired and crappy so I cancelled my VO2 max appointment.  Must be fresh.  I wonder how B.Chan's VO2 test went today ?   I'm supposed to go Monday.  That means easy ride Sunday and lots of sleep and pasta.

Yesterday I lifted and Nick and I went for an hour ride.  Powertap is so cool! Ride harder ---> higher numbers.  Take it easier ---> lower numbers.  Awesome.  I finally got it working with my computer today, after installing and deleting the software at least 5 times.  The problem was that the CPU was not pushed all the way on the cradle....drrr.  All of the info from the ride yesterday was deleted so I have still yet to see what the PT can do.

Today I felt like I was getting flu sick, so I stayed home from delivering and slept.  I can't get sick !!!!  This afternoon Nick & I cut the bars on XCaliber and  I wrapped them and adjusted the brake/shift levers and stuff.  X looks hot!  Its so fun to ride.  It's a lot lighter riding than I expected, it rolls over anything, and the handling is awwwesome.  I'm so excited for mtn biking tomorrow at Kickapooo!

B.Chan how was the test?

VO2 max

Oh!  Im going to get my VO2 max umm Thursday.  Its a study with 3 sessions..starts thursday.  yay!  

kitty is licking my arm

Props to B.Chan:

Good job B.Chan on your rest day.  Rest up.  Rest those legs.  Good job.

Today:

-  I received my Powertap.  Tomorrow I will begin training with Power.  

-  I lifted weights.  15 reps, 5 sets, usually.

-  95% on Anatomy/Physiology Quiz #1 

-  Barack Obama is president of the U.S. of A.

-  Trying adzuki beans for dinner.

-  Attempting to sprout lentils.

What to look forward to tomorrow:

-  Training with Power.

-  Receiving hemp seed protein and chlorella in the mail; 1 lb each.

-  Receiving and assembling a mountain bike.

-  Sprouted lentils.

-  Barack Obama is president of the U.S. of A.

*kitty is getting so huge and fat! I can't grab him by the arm anymore without him screaming.

Day 1

Not to overshadow Miz Miles' achievement, but today was also the first day of my training plan. Which, coincidentally, also started with a rest day. It is going fabulously. This is going to be a great season.

Base 1: Day 1

Hi, this is the first day of my training plan. It's a rest day. It's going really well so far.

If I was a car, this is how much space I would take.

Pre-Peoria 4:00 am  !

C-c-c-cold again today.  I am staying in the home.  I DID order the X-Caliber this morning.  Offroad living starts next week.  

It's still cold.

My Mom made that scarf.

Drunken promises

(flashy dramatic title)

Tonight Nick and I went to County Market  for cake and wine.  

We ate pasta, my ear still aches, we drank wine, and I pried Nick about his "love life".  THEN we watched mountain biking videos and I got PSYCHED.

Tomorrow I am ordering the Xcaliber.

Now I will have another glass of wine and buy ogle the Eastons.

:disgusting product geek consumer kid YACK   \\\///\\\///\\\///  but hey  . . .   oh well

frostbitten.

YES it is cold.  This morning it was -14 windchill -41 when I rode to Parkland.  My ear was bitten by frost.  It turned whitish and thawed when I sat in class, and now is red and achy.  Just the top though, and I don't need that part really.  My balaclava was all frosty and my eyelashes stuck together where my eyes teared up because of the headwind.  (Should have worn sunnies.)  I got to class and everyone stared at me.  

After class I went to the gym and lifted for a little over an hour.  Felt a lot stronger than last year when I decided to start lifting, so it wasn't as discouraging as I thought it would be.  

Today I learned how to create links.  Sometimes they are surprises!