When I can’t sleep, it means one of two things: I’m hungry for food or bloated with words that need to be written. Here are some of the late night moonlight finger tappings. |
When I can’t sleep, it means one of two things: I’m hungry for food or bloated with words that need to be written. Here are some of the late night moonlight finger tappings. |
Cusco, Peru is starting to feel like home. Here is a series of photos and short stories to give you an idea of what life is like here: (some photos related to the words, and some truly not...) Carnival! This past weekend/the entire past two weeks has been full of celebration. My friend Luke and I were in the plaza watching the havoc and we bought a soap/foam sprayer like all the kids so we had some chance at fighting back. While sitting calmly on the steps of a thousand year old church, we were ambushed by ~8 giggling boys who proceeded to douse us in water, soap, and smiles. They even managed to steal our one weapon and leave us drenched and, of course, laughing. ELEVATION. The city sits at 11,000 feet and the surrounding mountains reach 20,000 feet. Walking is hard, biking is hard, and I'm pretty sure my lungs are already bigger. It is stunning and steep and amazingly nestled so close to the sky. The stars are perfect, the sun is super strong, and hardly any bugs can live here -- I'll take it. Also, the city nestled in a valley does remind me of Durango, I feel held by Pacha Mama. Last night I poured coffee on my dinner. There was a clear vase of what I thought was balsamic vinegar, but was actually super concentrated coffee on the table. It was hilarious, the whole family laughed, and Kala, our tiny dog was a happy little gal after a dessert of rice and vegetable with coffee on top. I have not seen a single car stop at a stop sign. Actually I have never seen a car slow down at a stop sign, there are no rules and it is craziness. I ate some guinea pig.. can't say it was great. This croissant cost 60 cents and it was DELICIOUS. Cheap food is a crazy thing -- I've been eating a mango almost everyday and throwing down a full 75 cents for each one. :) Biking here is freaking hard. I am trying to make friends to ride with, but it's challenging. The hardest part is the dogs. They are fine with people walking and cars, but runners and bikers are vicious dog targets. I've only ridden outside twice and both times I was honestly scared the whole time. Hopefully finding some friends will make it easier. For now, I am happy as a clam on the trainer watching Pirates of the Caribbean in Spanish and hearing dogs bark outside without fearing for my life. Everyone I've met here is nice. Even though I'm continually laughed at for being a gringa and speaking truly remedial Spanish, everyone smiles and is happy to speak slowly for me. I feel super safe here (mom, take note). Everyday I am more and more impressed with the kindness of the Cuscanean people (rest of the world, take note). Here's my favorite breakfast: chive omelet, avocado, and beet/apple /banana fresh juice smoothie! I'm learning Spanish super quickly.. mostly because I have to because my family speaks super minimal English. It is pretty cool though! Immersion! Wow! I had to put my bike on top of a bus, twice, on Sunday. They didn't strap it down, it was just held on my the 6 inch railings on the side. I spent the next thirty minutes watching out the back window waiting for it to bounce out. TERRIFYING. However, it didn't bounce out, and it was a good lesson in trust. This is my roommate Allison, she's great. Nothing like a shared experience to create the best friendships possible in a two week span. S/o to my new friends, you guys are all SO COOL and I'm very thankful to know you. The food here is pretty good! Most of it is good and some of it is SUPER DUPER GREAT. My family cooks every meal for us, which is quite an adjustment from college life. We eat so much bread, lots of rice, some veggies, and some meat. There is also lots of fresh fruit which is a real win. While I don't eat meat at home in Colorado, I have been eating meat here. I don't want to impose a dietary preference on my fam, and I also need the protein, and I also want to try all the Peruvian food! So far, so good! Much love to you all, stay tuned for more cactus pics and stories and hopefully cycling success. :)
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Hola amigos! Yo soy en Cusco! I have been here for three days no, still no luggage, but lots of smiles and laughs. This city is beautiful, the surrounding peaks feels a bit like Durango, the valley is a new home. My host family is incredibly nice, they cook delicious food, and we have a dog, named Cala. Can't say she likes me yet, but stay posted, I'm working on it. My host mother and father do not speak English, so they are forced to try to understand my slow and present-tense-only Espanol. Even as I type this, I keep beginning sentences in Spanish, so I'll take that as a learnign win.
For now, here are some photos from our first day, enjoy, SO SO much more to come soon (alongside my luggage, hopefully) I don't want this post to be negative, more about how I adapted this season to work well and be super fun despite the lack of team support.
Last year Team RideBiker was like a full dream of support. We had a team at races, a team RV, managers to help out, a sweet Team Camp, and loads of support. (I know many pros have this, but it was new to me and I was blown away). This year though, we did not receive the funding we had anticipated and we were left with super minimal support. Luckily, we had built up a set of sponsors and partners who really helped us take care of our building our bikes and the gear we needed. We had all the supplies, just no help to get to races, or team help at those races. At first, I was honestly quite disappointed and simply sad. Luckily though, my boyfriend Levi and I are surrounded by people and nearby races to keep us moving forward. We re-looked at the calendar and planned a relatively local summer of great racing. We both worked during the week, (like normal people) then raced on most weekends of summer. We camped and worked with friends to create a great calendar of races. I feel super lucky to have ridden many rad trails in Colorado and raced with some super cyclists. We quickly learned the best part about racing near home, is training and racing in similar conditions and of course, winning races -- and the prize money often associated with local races. This helped us work slightly less and race slightly more. Aside from the logistics, it has been challenging mentally to stay feeling competitive with people who can travel around the world with support along the way. It does, however, feel great to be able to ride with these women and know I worked wicked hard to get myself there and be ready mentally and physically on my own terms. Additionally, I've been working with a new coach in Boulder, Grant Holicky. He works through Apex Coaching. The local help and push to train with groups has already been beneficial and super challenging. While last years team, which stretched across the country, was rad, I feel incredibly fortunate to have a local village ready to step in and help. I am also reminded to appreciate all opportunities, because, in a cliché way, there are no guarantees and all you can do is keep working hard and having fun out there. In order to keep with this sport, some years will be better than others, and each season will be infinitely different. However, the pedaling is always the same, the races always hurt in the best ways, and each day I can ride bikes, I remember to say thank you and recognize how glorious this opportunity is. Huge thanks to Trek Race Shop, Bontrager, Ridefast, Kenda, MECHA, Republic Cycles, Orange Seal, Magura, SQ Labs, Julbo, Athlos, HB Stache, ESI Grips, Honey Stinger, GQ6, and Chip Peddler. And definitely thanks to Apex Coaching, Adam Pulford, Levi, and the fam. Couldn't do it without you :) Here are my magic tips for putting ESI Grips on in t-minus 30 seconds. ESI grips are rad and my personal favorites. They are honestly a huge pain to put on though. I've spent many many minutes in the past trying to scootch them on slowly millimeter by millimeter. This though.. is a game changer. Here are the tools you need: -grips (these are the limited edition purple grips in Extra Chunky -- great for the upcoming Breck Epic aka tons of hours of bumpy trails) -Isopropyl Alcohol -Windex -Big clamp (or just a binder clip if you don't have a big one, even two clothes pins could work) Step One: after removing old grips, clamp the new grip on one end Step Two: spray a bit of Windex in the grip, then fill about 75% with Isopropyl Alcohol Step Three: Spray Windex on bar Step Four: Put the very end of the grip on the bar so it's ready to slide on (re-Windex the bar if needed). Also, make sure you keep the clamp side of the grip down so you don't pour out the Isopropyl !Step Five: Here's the fun part! Move to the other side of your bike, stand with your stomach touching the opposite end of the bar so you can reach across your bike and pull the grip towards you. Then in one fell swoop, pull the grip on and towards you. Ideally, it will be slick and slide on easily. If not, twist and move quickly before the Windex and Isopropyl dries.
** also not all my dying plants.. Ta-da! Hopefully that helps and makes some sense, when it works its magic. Check my Instagram for a quick video of this in action :) I've jumped head first into another season of cycling. Here are some quick updates: Collegiate Road Season- For the first time I committed to a full collegiate road season. It was surprisingly fun and I learned a whole lot. I even finished 2nd in a few races -- the ones with climbing. I went to Collegiate Road Nationals in Grand Junction, Colorado as well. The fields were massive, it snowed, and we raced our little hearts out. I finished 10th overall too! The women were 3rd in the TTT (with only three people) and our team won overall! The men absolutely smashed it and beat all the varsity and club times in the TTT. Pretty cool stuff! Disclaimer: the best part about road was how excited I grew for MTB season :) Grand Junction Off Road- After Hawaii (see post below), Levi and I were both pretty sick and I had a good number of final to finish up. The Grand Junction Off Road was quickly approaching and I was hoping the unplanned rest would pay off. To my pleasant surprise, during the Fat Tire Crit on Friday night, I jumped right back into road racing mode (Nationals was on the essentially the exact same course two weeks before!) and finished 5th!! I was riding with fast people too! Like Katerina Nash and Maghalie Rochette and Amy Beisel! Shoutout road season for the crit preparation. On Sunday, I woke up and had no voice from the tail-end of sickness. I could hardly speak, luckily cycling is a quiet sport and I felt fine otherwise. I felt a little slow at the start, but about an hour in the stoke of MTBing grew and I was romping happily. I finished 11th, in the money! and proud of myself! Maybe four hours of racing is the perfect way to get your voice back? Iron Horse Bicycle Classic- A race at home? over beautiful mountain passes? and surrounding by familiar faces? and a MTB race through a bar?? Yes, it exists. The IHBC is one of my favorite races of the year. I raced in the Road Race on Saturday, finished 7th and finally beat three hours!! I've had this goal since my freshman year of highschool, finally making it felt awesome. On Sunday, I raced the MTB. We started downtown, then rode up to the college on familiar trails three times, and between each lap came back to town and rode over obstacles and through a bar! (Shoutout julbo glasses for your photochromic abilities-- its dark in there!) I finished 2nd and felt firey and stoked! Overall, I was 2nd in the QOM for the weekend based on the two results. Most importantly though, racing surrounded by family, friends, and home made for a wonderful weekend of happiness. Firebird XC State Champs- Super duper stoked to camp with Durango DEVO in Eagle for the State Champs! The DEVO kids shred so hard and coach Chad Cheeney and Sam Vickery really nailed it. From the pre-race-just-have-fun talk to the post race creek dunk, it was a glorious weekend. Also, the DEVO girls won every single junior women's category, except 7-9 where we took second. RIPPERS!! I finished 4th and felt pretty good out there! Loving the new Trek Top Fuel and entire set up, things are looking good for the season <3 A few months ago, Levi and I were invited to Kauai for a Trek photoshoot. Before even checking my calendar, I agreed. We were lucky enough to spend 6 days riding bikes, sitting on the beach, surfing, eating fish tacos and shaved ice, and laughing with extremely rad and world renowned photographers. The Trek website will have the content up soon, for now here are a few sneak peeks. :) BE SURE YOU CLICK RIGHT THROUGH ALL THOSE PICTURES:
Levi and I left Boulder to escape the snow, (and the party that happened at our house). We drove west to Moab and met up with a speedy crew (Howard Grotts, Rotem Ishay, Payson Mcelveen, and Jenna Emerick) for a weekend of looking at far away rocks, riding over closer rocks, eating SO MUCH FOOD. I am very excited to announce a new partnership with MECHA Fitness! The MECHA studio offers a unique type of no-resistance strength training. We use these crazy machines in a beautiful studio: The center carriage moves, and there are springs for resistance. Also, not shown are cables which can pull the carriage. If you'd like a video of these machines in action, check it out here: I worked out with MECHA (previously called BOCO Fitness) last winter, I can honestly say it was an integral piece to my most successful season ever. When I started ramping up training on the bike last year, I could feel a direct and new sense of strength. I felt like my cycling was temporarily limited by my lungs instead of my legs and core. This did feel different than any previous season. As my lungs caught up, I felt better and stronger than ever, it was SWEET. Here is what happens at MECHA: the studio is on Spruce and 27th, it is a beautiful space (but not for long because you will grow to correlated it with PAIN, and GAIN, and strength and improvement of course :) There is a resistance studio of 12 machines, each athlete uses one machine for the 45 minute class. A super duper strong and kind instructor guides you through exercises, each of which is done slowly and deliberately. I am not kidding when I say my body starts shaking after 1 minute and continues for the following 44 minutes. The workouts focus on full body, with emphasis at different times on core, legs,and upper body. By the end, I always feel woobly and incredibly satisfied. So far, I have completed my first week of MECHA, (three times) and I already feel more confident on the machines and definitely very sore. It's awesome though, I can feel myself becoming stronger already and can't wait to see what a few months of MECHA will do for pedaling purposes and overall strength. I'll keep posting updates in the next few months. As of tomorrow, I am headed out to try the new Cardio portion of MECHA, in a seperate studio with climbers and rowing machines. I'll be sure to post about that as well because it looks crazy with lights and loud music and dark spaces and lots of tired people coming out afterwards. ALSO! I will have a promo code for a first week free at MECHA, stay posted. I am proud of this season. I raced for the University of Colorado, Boulder and felt the strongest I have to date. Throughout the season, I raced three times (due to far too many race cancellations from weather). I started the season with plans to race XC and STXC, but ended up with a crazy downhill bike (loaned from Boulder Cycle Sport: thanks guys!) and raced omnium all season! This made for BUSY INSANE weekends. I would finish one event, shove food down, and move to the next event. I learned how to manage it, and the importance of nutrition throughout the season. In the end, I won the Endurance Conference title after winning 2 of 3 XC races and 2 of 3 STXC races. It was a glorious season of fall leaves, talented cyclists, climbing up ski mountains, learning how sensible chairlifts are, camping in the cold, and spending time around campfires. Takeaway: collegiate cycling is the most fun you can have on a bike :) Also!! Downhill is crazy, downhill bikes are epic and eat everything in their path. I gained some super confidence on the descents while racing downhill, and also in XC. I could see noticeable differences between my descending abilities prior to racing downhill, and as the season progressed! IT WAS AWESOME! Now, NATIONALS!!!!! After a long day of travel, we finally made it to Showshoe, West Virginia. It is beautiful, and truly a super weird place. On Thursday, it was beautiful, sunny, and perfect temperature to race. We rode the course, and spent time resting up for the weekend. On Friday, we woke up to clouds, and two minutes after the boys started STXC, it started torrentially down pouring. By the end of the race, everyone was covered in mud and freezing. It was not ideal. I raced a few hours later, and it was freezing, and muddy, but not actively raining. I bundled up and tried to embrace the mud, and remember all of us were dealing with the same conditions. After lots of sliding around, we settled into the muddy mess of a race. I was impatient and took the lead too early, 0nly to be passed by Emily Shields halfway through. The best part was, everyone around was either cheering for me or for Emily Shields, so I told myself everyone was cheering for me. I tried with truly all I had to pass her on the last lap, but I couldn't quite get there. I did learn some valuable information about tactics, and allowing a surge of energy to be closer to her instead of coasting 10 seconds behind her for 10 minutes. I was still happy with a second place finish though, and looked forward to a serious revenge chase the next day. After STXC on Friday, I had downhill seeding. We geared up, and checked out the course. It was essentially a steep hill covered in peanut butter mud, with rocks, drops, and tons of slippery roots. I grew to trust the massive tread on my downhill bike earlier in the season, but this was a whole new game. It was far too easy to slide sideways straight off the trail, or simply not make a turn and be pulled into the trees from the mud. My teammate Clare and I made it down (a feat in itself) and tried to stay excited about romping through the mud. We were COVERED in mud, for the second time that day, and sat in the team van, laughing with the downhillers and slightly dreading/being stoked about going back out into the mud mess outside. I don't want this to sound terrible, I promise it was SO MUCH FUN. Just a cold and very muddy type of fun. The qualifying run went well,, (aka I made it down without dying/crashing) and was seeded 4th!! (< who knew this was possible?) Saturday: We woke up for XC on Saturday, and surprise! IT SNOWED. Now it was mud covered in ice outside!!! We stood on the porch, which overlooked the course, and cheered on fellow racers, who were COATED in mud and snow. When it was time to warm up, we tried to stay dry as long as possible, while staying stoked to race bikes. The race started, and my goal was to be patient. I stayed in third for the first 20 minutes (proud of myself), and moved to second halfway through the first lap. I stayed calmly behind Emily Shields, until I passed her on the descent of lap one. (shout out to downhill --> passing people on descents is a new thing for me, I never considered it as an option until this season) I WAS LEADING A NAT CHAMPS RACE AND STOKED ABOUT IT!! I tried to stay calm, and remember I didn't have any result until I crossed the line. I carefully chose sections to either stay steady on slippery roots or super mud sections, with the goal of staying upright or to send it as fast as I could on road climbs and less-muddy descents. Thanks to the cheers from my team (all in the hot tub on the porch banging pots and pans together, my coach Jeff on the climb, and of course Levi all over the course) I stayed in the lead and won!!!! It felt amazing to think about the thousands of hours I spend riding, and committing to be as healthy and strong as possible, I spend a ridiculous amount of time committing to pedaling faster, and this finish allowed me to realize it was all worth it and does pay off. AND! I was drug tested for the first time! This felt like a mile marker for me :) yay pee tests On Saturday afternoon, I had Downhill finals. I was seriously so tired already, but strapped on the muddy knee pads and made my way over, in the snow, to the course. I did one practice run and the course was nuts, it was so muddy and slippery. I raced, and felt as good as I could, I learned to work with the mud and let it slide me and my massive bike around instead of fighting it. Again, cheers on the course kept me STOKED. Somehow, I finished 3rd!!!!! I was one happy girl, aka this was probably the best, and muddiest, day of my life :) One more day: Sunday: I woke up feeling exhausted, my whole body was super hurty and I had bruises all over from the various crashes in the mud. We had a team relay (four people, two boys, two girls, one extended lap of the STXC course each) in the morning, then dual slalom all afternoon. At 7:30 (still dark out) Clare and I made our way over to the dual slalom course to practice, the course was sweet and I felt great on my XC bike with the seat dropped. Clare qualified 2nd and I qualified 4th!!! WOW COOL After practice, we went back to the condo to grab XC gear. We warmed up, then met up with the team for the relay. Josh started, and sent it super hard, finishing in second, I raced next, and was able to make up 35 second on the winners (UVM) putting us in the lead. Clare was third, and she was passed by the UVM boy, but held her own throughout. The Jakub finished it off and passed the final UVM girl for our team to take the win!!! WE WERE STOKED! After the relay, it was time for more food and a gear switch. We met down at the dual slalom course. Side note: people are crazy, watching the bike skills of some people on this course blew me away. I won the first round, and for the second I raced the girl who won, and simply was left in the dust behind her. (Goals to work on this!) In the end, there was an upset between the 5th place qualifier, and I finished 6th, less than one second off the podium! I was happy with the effort, and definitely found a place for improvement. Overall, I won XC, the Team Relay, and the Individual Omnium title (combination of all four events!), finished 2nd in STXC, 3rd in DH, 6th in DS, and CU won as a team!!!!! I came home exhausted and seriously so happy, I was proud of this whole weekend, the CU team for crushing it, and all the effort we each poured into the season. As always, I couldn't have done it without RideBiker, coach Colt, family, Levi, my supporting Boulder people, and a whole lot of food and cheers.
Its been a week, and I've biked for one hour --> let the off season commence. Thanks WV for a great culmination to the season <3 My theory on food is simply to eat what tastes good and what I feel good on. Here are a few meal examples and how I made them: (also, be warned, I'm not a huge recipe follower, but give it a try before you discard the combos ;) Breakfast (aka what I look forward at all times)Avocado Egg Miracle: This avocado has an egg cooked into it! -Preheat oven to ~400 -Half avocado, remove pit, cut a small flat piece off the back so it sits flat without tipping, scoop out an about 1/4 cup of avocado for the egg to fit and not overflow -Crack egg into avocado, its okay to not use all the white here -Add salt and pepper -Place in oven for ~15 minutes or until egg turns slightly golden on the edges -Add salsa or hot sauce for the last few minutes of cooking -Add more salsa (always), chives, put on a bed of greens (can be lightly cooked), rice, or beans Say hello to healthy avocado fats, protein from the egg, and loads of good stuff from the veggies! Post ride Breakfast: On early rides I'll eat a piece of toast, then come home and make real breakfast :) -Throw everything Magic Bullet or blender
-This is super food-faddy, lots of "super foods" but ITS SO GOOD AND SO FILLING. This is an awesome recovery breakfast meal -Cereal But Better I try to eat a few servings of either fruit or vegetable in the morning, this not only makes boring rice chex tastier, but starts the day off with real fruity nutrients! -Heat pan on medium/high heat, add teaspoon of coconut oil -Cut banana lengthwise, leaving a flat surface on at least one side -Add to pan, sprinkle with cinnamon -Cook until underside is golden brown, flip, cook until both sides are golden -Add to the top of a cereal bowl, top with blueberries or other fruit, and yummay! ( I use simple cereals such as Multigrain Cheerios or Rice Chex, usually a combination of the two, and almond milk) Lunch mhmmmButternut Squash & Tofu Overfilled Taco More of an eat-the-pile-of-food-with-a-fork, rather than a taco, but the intention was there. -Heat up a pan with coconut oil (I always use my huge cast iron pan) -Chop butternut squash into cubes, add to pan -Chop tofu, pat pieces dry with a paper towel to eliminate liquid, add to pan, add hot sauce/salt/pepper/any other spices you please -Let squash and tofu cook for a few minutes -Add chopped red pepper, and onions -In the last few minutes, add kale -Heat up tortilla in a second pan, I use Stacey's Whole Wheat Tortillas -Pile together and dig in! Avo Toast Turned into a Meal -Toss whole wheat bread in the toaster -Heat up a pan with coconut oil, add black beans, and onion -Toss on hot sauce (I love Trader Joes Green Dragon Sauce) -Toss in kale -Cut up avocado on toast, add salt/pepper/olive oil -Add beans/onions/kale to the plate -This would also work on rice instead of toast! Kale Salad and Cuties -pile in kale, avocado, toasted sunflower seeds, and cuties on top! -my favorite dressing to add to this is Annie's Goddess or Annie's Shiitake Mushroom Salad go to tip #1: No salad can go wrong if you add a fruit, a cheese, and a nut to it! (aka I need a cheese here) DinnerTechnically more breakfast-like but I'll take it: -warm up a big pan, add one egg, add kale and onion next to the egg -Heat up a corn tortilla (pan or microwave) -Heat up refried black beans (usually canned) -When egg is cooked as you please, and kale is slightly crispy, pile beans, egg, and veggies on top of tortilla, add avocado, and hot sauce Pre-Race Dinner -Chop vegetables, I used red pepper, broccoli, onion, sweet potatoes, and carrots -Chop tofu, when tofu is cubed, dry off lightly with a paper towel -Start cooking rice, I used Forbidden Black Rice, its delicious -Add tofu to hot pan, add soy sauce, hot sauce, and 1/4 jar of curry, I used Madras Curry, -Cook until tofu is golden brown, remove tofu and set aside -Cook sweet potatoes, after ~two minutes, add onion carrots, and broccoli, after ~two minutes add red pepper, after ~four minutes add the rest of the curry sauce -Mix in tofu, let cook for a few minutes -Combine for a great combination of protein, carbs, and veggies! -(This fed four of us for dinner) And after races I eat whatever's in sight.. Here I had a PB&J with Oreos inside |