Can I get out of my own way?

It's already August and I feel like I haven't really started to feel comfortable yet while racing, but I'm kind of running out of time. The road season ends for me in about 7 weeks. My fitness is better than I really deserve, given the hours I've put in, but I still get kind of nervous at races -- especially on courses where I've crashed or Ed has crashed. My last two crits both fell into that category (that category being "places where Ed or I separated and/or broke a shoulder in 2003"), so I'm trying to give myself a pass with my less-than-stellar performances. I recently re-read my account of my win at collegiate crit nationals in 2000 and was kind of in awe. I used to feel comfortable cornering on cobblestones at 30+ mph? Who was that kid?

I realize that the fear is a nice problem to have. After all, it stems from having much more to lose now than I did back then.

Rather than race at Bow Road Race today, I drove the pace car for a couple of fields (supporting my wonderful club, NEBC) and enjoyed the excellent view of the women's race. The course is very hilly and very selective.



I was driving a Volvo wagon from a local dealership. It is much more complex than my '96 Civic, in which I roll down windows by hand and there is no rear windshield wiper, so my non-car-owning passenger (Bill) and I had quite a time trying to figure out how to close the sunroof while it was raining inside the car and we were driving down a hill at 45 mph with 30 female cyclists behind us.

Bill is an amateur photographer and took lots of cool photos of the racing through the sunroof during the non-rainy periods.



My teammate Silke was in a break for most of the race and got second by centimeters. Or maybe millimeters.

In recent weeks I've also been to the track. Here you can watch a video of me sprinting for third in the win-and-out a few weeks ago. It's kind of cool but also illustrates my problem of needing excessive personal space while riding.

I have several more trips to the track planned as well as a road race and a few crits. The 'cross bike will be out again soon as well. So here's hoping that I'll relax enough to start racing a little bit more like the 23-year-old me. :)

Happy times are skyr again

We're so lucky to have such thoughtful visitors from Iceland. The pear is my favorite, while Ed loves the flavors he told Silas are "manly": vanilla and banana splitti. Yum.

Tour de Friend

Friday was a big day.

We started off with breakfast in Boston at the Logan Hilton with Fiona and Silas, who were passing through on their way from Iceland to Washington DC.





We had lunch with Blake, Cindy, and Hattie in Northampton, the Asheville of the north. (They'd flown up from Asheville to see family and were on their way from Hartford to Montpelier.) We went to Paul and Elizabeth's -- so yummy. We forgot about our camera ("camnesia") until it was almost too late.



After this we pretty much gave up on the camera. :) We went to Meg & JD's in Easthampton to hang out for a bit. So fun! We talked about Apples and home improvement and kittehs and D2R2. We had so much fun in fact that we were a bit late heading back home.

When we arrived, Brad, also passing through from Iceland to DC, was waiting for us in our front yard. We had some dinner, did the Career Anchors quiz (because we are so much fun like that), and watched some Tour.

I hope we have some more friends passing through New England again soon!

Attleboro and New Britain

Two races this weekend. Attleboro went pretty well. It was a combined masters and 3/4 race and sketchy as hell. At one point someone came up on the inside of turn one and hit my elbow with her shifter. I think this same rider also hopped on the granite curb to cut turn 2. I get the feeling that not everyone needs intact collarbones and acromioclavicular joints to do their jobs like I do. :) I managed to get near the front before the finish and got 4th overall, 2nd in my 30+ field. Cathy got first in the 3/4 field. I'm so proud of her!

Today was a different story. It was super windy and the breakaway strategy I had proposed was clearly unwise. I rode poorly and kept getting stuck behind riders who were letting gaps open. I popped off in the wicked headwind to the start/finish about 2/3 of the way through and jumped back in after getting lapped. With one to go I got stuck on the right as the pack drifted toward me and had to put on the brakes to avoid hitting an outcropping from the curb. I felt like such an idiot. After that there was no getting near the front to try to help Silke, but she pulled off an impressive 3rd place nonetheless. Ah well. I had the best time with Brenda, Silke, and Pauline, so that made it all worth it.

All the driving was boring and kind of silly. 300+ miles for 2 crits? I decided to scale back next weekend and am just doing Claremont on Saturday and then Wells Ave with Ed on Sunday.

The Great Kitty Rescue of Aught-Eight

Betty and Lola mostly ignore each other, but are usually within 10 feet or so of one another. Cats are weird like that. So when I saw Lola sauntering out of Ed's closet this morning (the door was accidentally left open -- closets are generally cat-free zones), I was pretty sure Betty was in there too.

Sure enough, we couldn't find Betty after searching the house. We didn't even hear her distinctive bell. (Both cats have tags and bells so we can find them easily in the house. Although it was unplanned, the different metals in their tags -- stainless for Betty and aluminum for Lola -- make it easy to tell who's who without looking.)



Ed got out a flashlight and found Betty in the unfinished part of his closet, which is over the stairs.



She had managed to creep down into the area in the ceiling above the stairs and under the particle board (through a tunnel with 5" of clearance). Betty is just 2/3 the size of Lola, so she fits into tight parking spaces. Ed pried up the floorboards to get to her.



Betty, no worse for the adventure, immediately ran off to snorgle with the catnip cigar.

Ed took these photos even though I didn't ask him to. He wanted to make sure I could blog the rescue ops, which took place after I left for work. :)

More bounty from the farmers' market

My favorite chef made this amazing cucumber, radish and green onion salad with chili-lime dressing.

A nice end to a long weekend

I read about the Bedford Farmers' Market in Cathy's blog a few weeks ago. This afternoon Ed and I finally went to check it out. We just had the most amazing dinner as a result: a radish green/green onion frittata (ingredients from Kimball Fruit Farm and Chip-In Farm), with some yummy bread (SwissBäkers) recommended by Claudia on more than one of our long rides. We also ate grape tomatoes from Kimball Fruit Farm, which were the absolute best tomatoes I've ever had. We decided they were too good for salad and should be eaten on their own. For dessert, we had Greek yogurt with Kimball blueberries, some homemade granola from Neilie, and some local honey from Jennie. Yum.

The Bedford Farmer's Market (I've heard) is smaller than some others around, but Monday works pretty well with my schedule and the selection was really good without being overwhelming. I'll definitely be back!

P.S. Dad: Kimball Farm had rhubarb, which I've already cut up and put in the freezer for your next visit, whenever it is. :)