Season's Greetings

The Model Home's first attempt at a family photo.

More pictorial evidence to come....

It's November and I have fresh tan lines!

Maybe global warming isn't so bad?

Watch the Teaser! (Below)

A few updates also:

Dan and I are all settled in PDX. We are both on Ironclad now and are living in a green (as in the color) 3577 with a couple of teammates. Our living room is filled with bikes :-)

I continue to ride my bike and Dan only moves sometimes, but when he DOES get on a bike he goes pretty fast, and sometimes wins, with the help of the rest of the boys.

I quit my job and am back in school getting pre-reqs for a master's degree in Occupational Therapy. I'm at the tip of a gigantic iceberg in terms of discovering how wonderful and interesting OT is, but its an exciting feeling, and I think I might have finally found my "CALLING". Well, I made a decision, and that's an important first step. The biggest challenge will be getting into school. Hummmm.

The last year, for me, was spent sleep-deprived in a raincloud. I did make a lot of friends and joined a racing team that has basically become my family. However, the longish commute out of town wore on me and I got stressed, irritable, had a constant cold, and fell out of love with everything. I don't know how I rode a bike at all, but I did alright in races, though not as well as I'd have liked, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have.

Being back in school is fabulous. I'll need to find a job shortly, but it feels good to just re-center. I look forward to doing better in races and to just have more fun!

Lists:

1) Kettlebells are the hottest way to get swoll.

2) Acupuncture clears your head and makes you more friendly toward the world.

3) When racing cyclocross:
a. Pre-ride the course.
b. Start behind/next to the fastest person and go out hard.
c. Put in several hard efforts in order to pass people, preferably
before a technical portion of the course in order to control the pace and
slow them down.
d. Slow down before a slick/weird corner, block the person you just passed, and
sprint out of the corner. Bye Bye!

4) Eat steak the week before your period.


Okay! Homework time!

The Teaser!

Chan, while your team was out guzzling Heed, we were busy working on this:

Life Updates from BCHAN

It's been a while...

Since last post (back in July??? whoa...) I have:

1. Gone back to skool. At first I was really dreading this. but so far gradskool year 2 has been a LOT more enjoyable. I've got a pretty good thesis topic, and my studio is fun. We'll see how I feel about this in a month or so once the craze of finals sets in.....

2. Accepted an offer to ride for this team in 2011. More on this later! SO EXCITED. RAR!!!

3. Moved to a new 'hood in Philly. I won't go into much detail here, but if any of you are Arrested Development fans, I am basically living in the Model Home.

4. Went to Austin, TX for a conference.

In addition to learning lots, networking, and attending some swanky parties, I hung out with pedi-cab drivers (pilots? peddlers?) and ate korean tacos from the food carts. And I rented a bike from Mellow Johnny's and went for a pretty sweet ride. fun times.

5. Discovered the joys of foam rollers and amino acids in recover drinks.

6. Got my first real bike fit. It rocks.

zoom zoom.

HI HI HI!

hi hi!  new improved view?

well, i exist.  thanks for the call to attention, b. chan.

i am busy setting up job shadowing with OTs, and am getting ready to go to school.  it's an unseasonably warm and sunny rest day.  more on life updates later.

blogging has fallen out of fashion, and i received brand new XTR pedals for my birthday 2 days ago!

well, hopefully y'all haven't deleted us off your google reader. There have been some exciting biking/school developments lately and it looks like I'll be reviving this thing....

more to come soon! but in the mean time, back to studio.

BCHAN, signing off.

Looks like someone has a new jersey...

I'm sorry, but I have to brag a little bit for my absentee co-blogger....

It's really blazing hot.

Also, I am in love with Fabian Cancellara.

That is all.

First Race Back!!

Heart House Crit, women's open. Flat, six-corner, hot as heeeeelllll with a bit o' wind. Drove with one of my favs in these parts. Witnessed some 4/5s get into an almost-fist-fight as I warmed up. Rode pretty aggressively considering today was essentially the end of week 1 of training. Finish-wise, meh. 5th maybe? Cramped in the sprint. Must eat bananas.

I had so much fun. I could feel myself grinning as I took corners. I love bike racing again. Doing it all again tomorrow :)

I'm so happy.

Back!!

SCHMOWER SCHMAP LIVES!!!!

(seriously, I just changed the hub batteries all.by.myself. and it seems to be working!)

Well after nearly dying of food poisoning in Paris, I'm back and working for the summer in the Iladelph. Philly is really great in the summer-- lots of art festivals, outdoor movies, markets etc. I had my first Water Ice experience last week, and if we were still doing Likes and Gripes Tuesdays here, it would definitely be on the "Like" list.

Been doing some riding, but real training starts tomorrow with, as all real training does, a rest day. There have been some good races in these parts the last couple weekends and it's pretty frustrating knowing that I can't do them if I want to maintain any sort of self respect on a bike. I'm thinking I'll cave and race next weekend though. Patience has never been my thing....

Taking a break....

Dobar don!


I'm taking a few weeks off the bike to do a summer course/project in Montenegro with Penn. Today I sat on a pebble beach and collected sea glass between dips in the Adriatic Sea and a plate of fresh seafood. Not feeling very fast currently, but I've got all summer to be a bike racer. Life is good.

New Plan!

1. Go to Montenegro on Saturday.
2. Come back. Be beastly fast.
3. Win GMSR in September.
4. GILA!
5. JizzleMIZZLE? Yes.

Glad I figured that one out....gchats with A.Miles are so productive.

Well, this weekend's races sucked. I'm full of allergy induced snot and flem. And a bit burned out on collegiate racing.

BUT

It doesn't matter because I'm going to Collegiate Nationals next next weekend.

See y'all in Madison!!!!

First USCF of the season: Lower Providence Crit 1/2/3

Sunday was my USCF PA debut. The race was the w1/2/3 Lower Providence Crit, an hourish-mostly-flat-four-corners-with-a-bit-of-wind bchan kind of race. 30+ ladies at the start line, and I was really effing scared going into it because there were lots of legit fast girls that showed up from local pro/semi pro teams and I just had no idea what to expect from the fields out here in general. I had 3 teammates, which made me feel a LOT better, and we had a brief team meeting before the race to talk about who to mark etc.

So, I spent some time dicking around in the pack, bridged to one early break with fast girls that didn't stick. With about 8 laps to go and sitting mid pack, I saw two girls go who were joined by two more. I was sitting a bit too far back in the pack, but I ejected myself and bridged to the break while my teammates blocked things up in the pack. We dropped one of the girls, but the break stuck!!! With 1 to go in the last corner, a 2 person chase caught us, and one girl flew by me and scared the crap out of me. I lost focus just long enough for another girl to jump. But I was able to close enough to end up 3rd!!!!! With legit fast people!!!!!

So things learned/to work on: I botched the sprint, for sure. My handling is getting a lot better, but I also have to learn how to move through the pack without forcing it. I burnt a lot of matches doing that, and it needs to stop. Also, having multiple teammates to work with and to block and counter things in the pack is really fun :)

In collegiate news, the fair ladies and gents of PENN CYCLING are going to take a run at the ECCC omnium this weekend. 60+ mile road race, crit and a nasty hill climb TTT for me. It's going to be a brutal weekend, and I can't wait!!! RAR!!!

Okay, time to go do the skool thang....

I did the local USCF race this weekend. As such, "Things Girls Say During Bike Races" is on hiatus until next weekend when I will inevitably be able to gather more material.

Race report to come.... it went well :)

Things Girls Say During Bike Races, v.3

Fashion faux pas during the circuit:

"Oh my gawd, I can totally see your panty line!"

"I always wear panties under my bibs. Don't you??"

I learned something this past weekend about cornering:

If you just take the same lines that the fast, smart girls take, then you'll be just fine!

Why didn't anyone tell me this before???

Things Girls Say During Bike Races, issue 2

What to say when cornering:

"Slowing....Still slowing.... Breaking...I guess kinda breaking....Almost stopping...Well I guess, I'm like, kinda still breaking, but pretty much stopping..."


How to lead out a teammate:

"Soooo we were like, getting sooo close to the line and I knew [name withheld] was somewhere behind me, and I was like speeding up and speeding up, and then like, I said APPLES and [teammate] just came right around me and was going so fast and she won!"

On bicycle color schemes:

Girl 1: Oh Em Gee. You are like, totally rocking the 80s colors on your bike. I just looooove the hot pink decals and green tires!

Girl 2: Oh I know, right??? These tires were my boyfriend's and I said to him, 'can I have those? because they'd look soo super cute on my bike' and he was just like, 'yeah okay' and now I have them! Isn't that great?!