I thought I had lost the pictures and video on this post. I "found" them when we went on vacation and I downloaded the camera for the first time. By then, it was time to blog about TransALPs, but I really wanted to put these up to show one of the cool demolition steps in the new addition. I will move this post to chronological order in a few weeks.
Because the new master suite was to be above the existing kitchen, the roof over that part of the house needed to go. Adam did this by sawing the existing roof into big chunks
and lifting them off with a crane. In this video you can see how very windy it was on this day. That made me very nervous.
That was the neighbor kids heading out to the sidewalk to practice rollerskating. I think they wanted to be part of the action. Bad idea on this day!
So once the roof was off it looked like this.
A storm was blowing in that night, and we had this electrical work fully exposed to the elements.
Adam tarped everything as good as he could, and luckily we didn't get the storm.
Finally, here is a calming view from the upper level.
So it is done. The 2010 Intermountain Cup 13-race mountain bike race series is finally done. After our Europe trip, I will admit my head was not as into it as I needed it to be, but I made it though and raced that one last race on Saturday.
When Drew and I pre-rode the course on Thursday with Erica T., we were not excited about a Leadville-style out and back climb on a steep gravel road. On Saturday morning, Ed the race organizer tweeted that he had taken out the climb. That made what would have been at 2+ hour race into what turned out to be an hour and 21 minutes for me. I was seriously OK with that!
On the start, I was very disappointed to see that my only competitor was Mary Foss. She has beaten me on most occasions except one, I think. One of the things I learned about my racing during this long year is how important it is for me to have competition. The best races of the season were races where I was close enough to other women that we could see each other and push each other to ride faster. With only one other person to race against, I was not believing in myself.
Off the start, my legs disappeared. It was like they were not even there. They didn't hurt or anything, they just weren't there and certainly wouldn't turn pedals. We started behind the sport men and in front of the Clydesdales and beginner men. I was horrified to have about 5 of them pass me after the first little single track section. After 10 minutes or so, I got my legs back and started to ride, but I would have to pass each of those guys again and still didn't see Mary until the lap zone. I was, however, excited to see her only 30 seconds in front of me there, so I gave it the best shot I could, but she still ended up winning by about a minute.
Lesson learned: ride more than once the week prior and get a decent warm up on the bike day-of. Also, eat 3 hours before.
Drew, on the other hand, had a fabulous race, despite a head cold! For the previous two days he couldn't ride or hardly even walk without hacking. Even on the morning of, he was congested. But because of his 46-hour training week a couple of weeks ago during which he dropped 10 pounds (!), he was lean and mean and placed 4th out of 15!! His best I-Cup finish ever. 4th place gets you into the Tweety Chair.
I was so proud to see him the chair!
There was a barbecue and a lot of sitting around between the day's awards and the overall series awards. I took the time to go spend my $20 gift certificate at the nearby bike shop and bought a clip on light and a coin purse made from recycled inner tubes. Cool stuff.
A brief but serious rain shower forced us inside for the overall series awards. I was really disappointed that neither Lisa nor Jen was there to accept the awards with me, but it still felt really great to get up on the top of the podium to accept my $7 plaque and cool hat.
Erica, who started as a sport racer this season and who just kept getting faster and faster and beating me by more and more as the season progressed, and then who moved to Pro, took third in the Pro category. Way to go Erica.
It has been fun going to races with Erica.
I was happy to have Drew's ribbon flapping with mine on the customary rear-view mirror placement on the drive home.
And here my snazzy plaque.
I like those words.
So overall, I had a better season than I expected after making the scary move up to Expert. My two goals at the start of the season were to 1) finish at least mid-pack in most races and podium at least once and 2) win the overall season title. After I got onto the podium at the third race, I made a new goal to win at least one race, which I did on two occasions (Deer Valley and Sherwood Hills). There were races where I did not perform my best (Draper, Soldier Hollow) and races that were fun and exciting because of the competition (Deer Valley, Snowbird, Rampage). My favorite race was Deer Valley because it was two days after my 40th birthday and I raced really hard and won. I would like to forget about Draper, but will try to remember how that hurt and what not to do before a bike race (drink wine and neglect sleep).
My coach, Kathy Sherwin, helped me out so much this year. She lined out training schedules for me and gave me advice and encouragement when I needed it. Having a schedule and someone checking that I was keeping that schedule made it so much easier to find the motivation to do the work. She is a good coach, and I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking to improve his or her race results. I went from taking 8th place in two races in the Sport Women's category last year to winning the Expert Cat this year. That's a big improvement!
I've said a bunch of times that I am "retiring" after this season. We'll see. Maybe I'll just race for fun. What a concept.
If I learned one thing about blogging while we were in Europe, it is to write and post as soon as possible after the event. So I learned it, but still don't do it. Here we are, back for a week and a half, tons of progress on the home addition that we have pictures and stories for, and two races later, and I'm just now posting about one of those races. Maybe I needed a blogger vacation. Anyhoo, here are a few notes and pics from the second to last Intermountain Cup race.
Basin Bash at Snowbasin
I had big doubts about how it would go at the race at Snowbasin ski resort near Ogden last Saturday. What with 2 and a half weeks of vacationing, eating croissants, drinking beer, driving around Europe, and not riding nearly as much as I wanted to or needed to, my goal was to not come in last. On the start line there were 9 Expert Women, a larger field than we've had in a long time. My start, despite the less than ideal warm-up, was OK and I was in 3rd going into the singletrack. Meg Plank was hot off the front, but Amy from Roosters, who I beat at Deer Valley but who beat me at Solitude, was just ahead of me so I stuck with her. At one of the first switchbacks, she pulled off to let a guy pass, so I passed too. What was she thinking? So then I was in 2nd, but she was tight on my tail, so I ended up riding much harder than I was fit to do. She messed up on one of the switchbacks, so I gained a little more on her. She ended up passing me again, but near the top of the climb, she had a chain suck issue, so I passed her again. Back and forth! The course was almost 100% fun, rocky, dusty singletrack, with a very fast and sometimes sketchy descent, but I stayed ahead of her through the downhill. My first lap was about 55 minutes, and throughout the 2nd lap, we battled back and forth. Again, I was riding a little above my sustainable race pace for the big singletrack climb, and it hurt. In truth, she was the faster rider, but her chain issue and a couple of bobbles kept me in the running for 2nd. That is until the start of the 3rd, shorter half lap, where she passed me on the climb after the start/finish zone. I popped, and was hurting the entire third half lap. She ended up beating me by almost 5 minutes, which is really bad since until about 2 hours into the race we were within 15 seconds of each other. Training and fitness would have made all the difference in this hot, long (2 hours 39 minutes) race, but I just didn't have it.
Still, I surpassed my goal of not coming in last by a long shot, and I was happy with how I felt and did.
The prize was a white ribbon and a $15 off coupon for Kuhl.com, a sweet local clothing company. Unfortunately, I have been unable to redeem said coupon on their website.
This was the first ICUP race at Snowbasin, but I would definitely do it again. The venue was great,
the barbecue afterward was good, the awards were fun, and the course was excellent. It was a great day made extra fun by my carpool buddies Erica and Heather.
Well, we've been home from our European vacation for almost a week now. I am letting things sink into my memory bank before I write about my favorites, highlights, surprises, and dislikes. Here is the last travel log of the trip:
The day after the wedding in Malcesine, Drew and I said goodbye to Tracey and David.
And hit the road. Drew drove most of the 7 hours from northern Italy to central Germany, but it was on these kinds of roads
instead of the crazy narrow ones I had been driving on for the last week. We made it to Esslingen where we would stay for the night to get the bikes packed up into their boxes and visit with our sister-in-law, Emily, and new niece, Charlotte.
Charlotte is a cutie that has loads of personality!
We were happy to see their friendly cats again too, and Pandora was happy to explore Drew's bag.
We had a nice visit and got things packed up for the early morning and full day of travel.
The next day was that long, frustrating, stinky, painful day of travel after a big trip. We took the train, including two transfers, up to the airport in Frankfurt. Got there plenty early, which was a good thing as the airport is massive - the largest I have ever been in. It took forever just to find our check-in counter. The flight was delayed, but finally departed and we were airborne. Unfortunately, my airplane headphone jack didn't work so I couldn't watch movies, and the kid next to me stunk like B.O. I suffered through it until Drew was chivalrous enough to trade with me. I traded into a seat that had headphones, but the guy next to me was farting every two minutes! It was a long nasty flight. When we finally landed in Houston (the crabbiest, unhappiest airport workers I have ever met), we had just enough time to go through customs and catch the flight to SLC. We got home to a gutted kitchen and hot, dusty house around 11:30 PM.
It is official; Tracey and David, after 8 years together, are officially husband and wife as of July 26, 2010!! Drew and I were honored to be their witnesses for their matrimony in Malcesine, Italy.
Tracey and David met, as Drew and I did, online many years ago. After four years of courtship, David proposed to Tracey in 2007 while they were on vacation at in Costa Rica after David had completed that other grueling mountain bike stage race, La Ruta de los Conquistadores. The Costa Rica race is where we first met and traveled with Tracey and David, so we are especially lucky to have now been a part of two of the important milestones in their life as a couple.
On Monday morning at 11 o’clock, we met the interpreter, Tainia, at the Municipio (city hall) of Malcesine, a 30-minute taxi ride from Riva, to sign the paperwork. Because of the sprained or broken finger impairing Tracey’s ability to put her normal signature on the paperwork, we are skeptical that this wedding is legal. Just kidding.
After the paperwork, we were able to walk around beautiful old Malcesine for some shopping at the many tourist stores and general sightseeing
and a cup of joe.
After lunch of pizza and pasta (what else?) at a waterfront restaurant, it was time to meet at the Malcesine Castle, built sometime before 590 A.D.!
overlooking Lago di Garda
and the red clay tile rooftops of the town. They were to be married under the canopy you can see in the lower part of this picture on a terrace of the castle.
It was a truly beautiful and romantic place for a wedding, and the ceremony was fantastic. Tracey and David were married by what we would call a Justice of the Peace. She was a wonderful middle-aged matron who seemed truly happy to be performing this ceremony for a couple of Irish people she had never met before. The translator was great as well, facilitating and translating the Italian civil ceremony into English. The verbiage was concise, practical, and elegant at the same time.
It must be universal to exchange rings,
kiss the bride,
and sign paperwork,
before the happy couple can be announced
After the ceremony, we had time to look around the castle
at the thick walls
And go to the top of the keep.
We had several hours to enjoy the town of Malcesine before our dinner sitting, so we changed into casual clothes and walked around the beautiful town.
We thought it was cool how this vine is growing out from inside the building up to two separate balconies.
We stopped in a bar to have a toast of grappa (regional whiskey) and lemon liquors to celebrate the newlyweds.
And then strolled down to the lake shore harbor
For a quick nap on the warm rock.
As dinner time approached we made our way to a cove near the restaurant below the castle
It was time for a seven course meal at the finest restaurant in town
As we watched the sunset on the lake
I wish I had taken pictures of each course, but we were too busy eating! We started with potato chips, fresh olives and champagne. Second was an appetizer of cold fresh salmon and bread paired with a refreshing white wine. Third we were served an ultra thinly shaved pork salad, which surprised us all with how light and tender it was. The fourth course was ravioli in black truffle (mushroom-y) sauce paired with rosé. The fifth course was shrimp risotto for Tracey and David and grilled onion and chicken salad for Drew and me. For the main course, after a civilized 15 minute break in which we were served a smooth red wine and encouraged to take a stroll along the beach (!) came out fillet mignon. Not a tiny cutlet, as we expected, but a steak that weighed at least 6 oz and was served with gravy and sautéed potatoes. By this time, we had polished off 4 bottles of wine and enough food to last us two days, but of course we couldn’t say no to a slightly raisin-flavored sweet dessert wine to accompany our two, yes two, desserts: molten chocolate cake and panna cotta (custard). Wow, what an amazing meal. I have never eaten such a civilized and delicious meal made extra special by the wonderful conversation and company of our dear newlywed friends.
We rolled out of there to capture fireworks in celebration of Santa Anna day, and Tracey and David!
