THIS IS A TEST!

Pam and I took Todd's Honda Element, a.k.a. The Elephant, and headed up to the Space Coast for the first official Time Trial AND Team Time Trial of the year. Todd had to work this particular Saturday, which never happens, so he wasn't able to join the Girls for a little TT fun but we assured him we could handle it on our own.

TEST #1: I left the house at 5am in The Elephant to go pick up Pam for the day and noticed my cell phone battery was drained. I must have forgotten to charge it but that's ok, Pam will have her phone, right? RIGHT buuuuut I was a little surprised when I arrived to pick her up to her telling me that Todd had been trying to call me...to tell me that I had accidentally packed HIS cycling shoes, not mine! Oops...so we loaded her bike and bags and drove back to my house to swap the shoes...oh and grab my cell phone charger. (Yeah, I've done this before!)

TEST #2: Did you bring the directions? Yeah, uh no, they're on my desk at home! Grab those when you get your shoes...

TEST #3: We did actually arrive, about 30 minutes later than projected, but without any wrong turns. The directions were good, at least! So a quick pick up of race numbers, stop off at the port-o-potty and it's time to get ready to race. We decided to pump up the race wheels and discs since, of all things, that would be our biggest challenge of the day. We did it...not easily and not without a little stress, but we did it!

Then, presto- chango girls in skin suits head out to warm up. And I'm ready and Pam's ready...the 2 of us are doing the individual 20k time trial...It's time for the final step...

TEST #4: ...change the wheels...thank goodness Pam had taught me well years ago so this one was no problem! I did it and we were ready to go.

As we roll up to the line to start the TT our record against the tasks of the day to get us here to the starting line is 2-2...speaking for myself, I can say all of that was forgotten and I looked forward to around twently-eight minutes of suffering, better knows as the Time Trial, my favorite event in cycling. Weird, but true. Pam starts right after me. The wind was strong, which is normal in Florida, but I felt good and as I crossed the line, I was happy. Pam crossed shortly after me and, based on her full-time Mommy job and 20 miles per week of training, I'd say she too had a stellar ride. Next up: Team Time Trial...and we're the only girl team!

More than anything, though, for me, it was a fabulous day with my best friend and that's what I remember more about this day. As far as I'm concerned, we got a 100%...100% of FUN that is!

Burrito Boy

Congrats to my Honey Bunny...he is the lucky winner of a year's supply of Chipolte burritos!!! REALLY- Todd won 52 Chipolte burritos in a register to win contest at the grand opening of the store by our house. They couldn't have chosen a better winner as Todd already eats burritos almost every single day and most of them are Chipolte...only down side for the company is that they might notice a significant drop in revenues during the time Todd uses his freebies. What are the chance, right? Apparently, pretty good! Nice going Burrito Boy!!!

WE WIN!

The day before the Tour of California crit, Carmen had us race the Norland Corporate Criterium as our first chance to the season to practice our leadout. Of course the main objective was to win the race but we wanted to do so by properly executing a leadout. Several pro teams had a presence in the race, although the field wasn't more than 25 riders. The Colavita girls were quite active, attacking over and over again but our Aaron's foursome of me, Meredith, Erica and Anna, shut them all down. In the end, we organize our leadout with me going first, followed by Meredith and finally Anna delivering Erica through the last corner. As you can see, Erica easily dusted the comptition and Anna even rolled in for fourth! Nice!!!

The Hansley Brothers, performing LIVE and in concert in Gainesville

Doesn't it sound like these guys would be the next N'Sync? The Hansley Brothers, Matt and Seth Hansley, actually aren't a boy band. They are bike racers...but it sounds good, right! Matt's on the left, Todd in the middle and Seth on the right. They're lined up for the Pro-1-2 criterium in Gainesville, FL, our first local race weekend of the year. Unfortunately none of the three pulled of the W but we all agreed that it was good to have the first one under our belts.

Rebecca and I did the women's race and we pulled out a fantastic uphill sprint to take the race for Aarons. The women's field was HUGE for local race, include ANOTHER Hansley, little sister Christianne, and about 35 other women. Rebecca and I attacked a ton but the field seemed bent on chasing only us. With about 7 laps to go, I took control, riding tempo on the front, protecting Rebecca until it was time for her to sprint. Rebecca made me feel good after the race as she said, "I had to win the sprint; you did your job so I had to do mine!" I love racing with teammates and Rebecca is one of the best, a true pro. Here we are after the race and picking up our prize money! Next stop...Chipolte...and who's there too...none other than the Hansleys!

Here Ya Go, ERICA!

LOVE YA - MEAN IT! Sorry Meredith but Erica made me do it...and this is, although entirely too short, really priceless! To everyone else, I would like to introduce to you Erica Allar and her back up dancer, Meredith Miller. Tour of California was our first NRC team race of the year and, well, let's say, everyone really came out of their shells!!!

(NOTE: If you know how to turn this the right way, please leave me a comment, otherwise, sorry you had to turn your head to the left to appreciate this all-to-short exhibition.)

Meet the Nico-MONSTER

This is my Christmas present to Todd last year. I picked him out myself and thought he was a good choice because he had big ears that made him cuter than all the other little Boxers...well, like they say about puppies with big feet, the same apparently holds true for big ears...he grew from an adorable 8 pounder into over ten times that in just one year! We named him Nico, after the Belgian cyclist Nico Matan. Today he's easily pushing 100 pounds...and always on the edge of out of control...hense, the Nico-MONSTER! But, of course, we love him!

Day 5 Team Camp

Our last day at training camp was a sunshine filled beauty! You should know that we've been situated right on the beach all this time. Here's a shot of our home for the weekend, which doubled as bike build central. I think somewhere around 25 bikes were built here during camp by our uber mechanic John with some help from SRAM's Paul and Chad. Rebecca and I posed for a quick snap shot in front of one magnificent scene. there's not much beach here as the coastline is all rock but it was certainly beautiful. So after the quick photo, Micah, our team's General Manager, wisked us off to the airport....and so we were on our way home.

Day 4 Team Camp

On the four day, there was sun!!! So I don't have a lot of shots because we did quite a bit of riding super-model style....meaning we rode in 2-by-2 fashion showing off our Specialized Ruby S-Works bikes, SRAM groupos and Hincapie clothing :) Plug Plug Plug! Anyway, other than riding, we did a lot of what you see here...this became known as "study hall" as at one point there were no less than nine laptops on line, cyclist pecking way at its keys. Everything from homework to research data entry to BLOGGING got done in study hall. Erica finishes some Spanish homework, Catherine graded some homework, I blogged and emails from all the laptops flew literally all over the world from our little "study hall!"

Apparently, I had the heat turned up too high last night because Kat's hair looked like this when she work up- my hair cannot do this!

Day 3 Team Camp

Today was possibly the most important day of our team camp so far. Although we woke up to a pouring windy rainstorm, our spirits were high as we loaded into the Aaron's van for the short drive over the mountains and to Specialized World Headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA. On the agenda at Specialized was a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility, a meeting with the Brand Manager of the Designs 4 Women (by which the Aaron's Team is fully sponsored) and, the highlight of the day, the World Championship Specialized employee LUNCH RIDE!

So, we unloaded the vans and headed to the front door. in our Hincapie "Sunday Best" team attire. This is Kat Carroll- wearing HIGH (sort of) HEELS! Never seen that before!

So here are a few shots of the facility...we visited the helmet research and development lab where we saw a first hand demonstration test of the very helmet the Aaron's team will be wearing. It was quite dramatic as we witnessed a 3-G-force impact, through which our helmet would have successfully protected the rider. Impressive!

You might not know this but Specialized makes the best water bottles on the market, hands down. They basically make water bottles for everybody else! Here's part of the process, where the do the artwork, and it includes a series of UV lights to help dry the ink. Everywhere you looked in this area of the facility were boxes and boxes filled with water bottles!

We also saw some top-secret departments at Specializes where a "no-photography" rule was enforced...from shot is our fearless leader Director Sportif Carmen DeLuisio sliding down a fire pole from a secret department to the bike-build shop. Also, we met this guy hard at work asleep on a stack of wheel bags!

This is Mario Cippolini's bike post-crash from an impact with a barrier. Unbelievable King Mario walked away unscathed but some of the tubing on this bike was severely compromised and buckled from the impact of the barricade. This is clearly a monument of stature for Specicalized as it represents the purpose of their hard work. Again, this place is impressive...these are the people who make the technology of cycling happen.

Our tour ends in the Marketing Department where Catherine Powers finds herself a new set of go-go boots, which we were told, could easily equipped with cleats! Eron Chorney inspired us all with an explanation of what the Designs 4Women brand is all about. We are now the women of Specialized...we represent strong, smart and athletic women of cycling. It is our mission to continue to reach out to the next generation of cyclist, no matter what age or "stage of the game"...we'll be looking for women who love cycling just like we do and we can't wait to help them find their way to the best line of women's cycling products in the world: Specialized D4W.

Oh, and we did head out with a few brave soles on the Lunch Ride-it was possibly the worst weather I've ever witnessed from my saddle but fun nonetheless. Felicia says "we won" meaning the Aaron's women beat the Specialized employees. She says the finish line was "back there where we were in front" and hey, I'm going with that!!!!!!!

Day 2 Team Camp

Today we woke up (and last night we slept through) pouring rain...the temperature was in the 40s and the wind was blowing like crazy...thank goodness we were not planning to be bike racers today! The team was scheduled for a photo shoot super-model style and so we all promptly began getting ready after a steady fill of java. It was fun, actually, and a great opportunity for us all to get to know each other. One by one, each of us were "on" and our photographers were awesome to help us put each to come out of our shells. This is Kat Carroll getting ready to strut her stuff. Catherine Powers prepped for her Superstar shot. Carmen McNellis and I bonded a bit. Carmen Deluisio, business as usual.

It took hours, though, to get all the shots but I think in the long run it will all be worth it. Although not as tough as bike racing, super modeling was exhausting so as soon as we were done, everyone retreated to the garage and hopped on to trainers for a workout. Here's Kat preparing for an upcoming race in Australia...she was set up across from me on the trainer.

Day 1 Aaron's Corporate Furnishings Women's Cycling Team Training Camp

Upon arrival to camp in Santa Cruz, California I was promptly greeted by my NEW RIDE!!! This is my 2008 Specialized S-Works Ruby training bike. It's outfitted with a SRAM Force groupo with the exception of the brand spanking new Red shifters. Its lighter than my 2007 Ruby AND this is only my training bike- the race bike will be full SRAM Red, the lightest component group on the market. Bottom line, I should be able to FLY up mountains!!!

I did have a few minutes to take the Ruby for a quick spin around Santa Cruz and get to know my teammates...and then off to our first official team dinner at a local Italian Restaurant!

So my day started at 430am Eastern Standard Time and ended at 900pm Pacific...long day to say the least so after dinner, I was fast asleep!

Last night we went out to dinner for Tina's birthday. Here she is blowing out the candles on the coolest dessert...it was all different little mini shot glass size creations...everything from German Chocolate Cake to Almond Parfait to Key Lime Pie and more. No two were the same and we shared and sampled most of them! Of course, Todd had the fresh fruit!!! And it was definitely guilt free as no one hesitate about having dessert since we rode 100 miles earlier that morning and planned to do the same again the next day. A group of twelve of us met at a local restaurant and we had a great time...thanks to Kenny for planning a fun evening and thanks to Tina for having her birthday!

The Posse

To know me is to know the posse....Pam, Shelley, me in the middle, Tawni and Tina....aka The Angels a la Charlie's Angels.  These are my girls!!!  We're at a fabulous Christmas Party hosted by Tina's boyfriend Ken.  I sort of talked Ken into having the party and it really was a great night. Almost everyone that came is a cyclist or supporter of a cyclist so the atmosphere was casual, although the dress was anything but!

Thanks to my personal shopping assistants, my Mom and Dad, I wore a fabulous LBD (little black dress) with a satin tie at the shoulder.  My parents were so patient as I drug them all over the mall (one of my favorite off-season destinations) insistent on trying every possible party dress...only to buy the first one we saw!  Typical of me, Mom and Dad didn't even blink at that.  I wore pink and black jewelry and pink shoes; my husband Todd, being the great sport he is, agreed to wear a pink striped shirt to match me.  Hey, what do you expect, this is my Oscar night and I went all out!!!  Getting ready for the party was as much fun as the party itself! 

The most popular topic of conversation was definately the legendary Sunday Group Ride, better know as the Jupiter World Championships.   It was nice to see everyone dressed up and without helmets even though we talked mostly about riding our bikes!   Pam, Shelley, Tina and I do our best to give the guys a run for their money on Sundays and, in the meantime, I get in some great training.  Beating the boys is HUGE motivation and we thoroughly enjoy, especially Tina, doing our share of trash-talking.  These Sunday World Championships are a big deviation from the seriousness of my usual life as a professional cyclist but they've become my social life and so, as silly as it may seem, I love going on Sunday.  Soon I start traveling with Aaron's Corporate Furnishings Professional Cycling Team and I won't see The Girls much so, along with the Christmas Party, Sunday rides are my time in the off season to bond with the best friends a girl could have!!!

These are my friends Janelle and Kat and thanks to them, I have a blog!