Found My Legs on Fitzhugh

One of my favorite Austin training routes is the Austin-Johnson City-Cypress Mill loop - 90 miles of hills, hills, a few cattleguards, and did I mention hills? It's a quad-heavy cyclist's dream! The hills aren't steep, they are just relentless. So on Saturday, myself and 5 other friends ventured out to tackle the loop. It turned out to be an all day affair complete with 90+ degree temps, a few wet water crossings, and lots of wildife. I felt my legs getting stronger and stronger as the hills continued to roll by. 6800 feet of climbing later, it was a great day and a great ride. And that pizza (with cheese) tasted oh so good!

Finding My Legs on Lost Creek

On Saturday we finally got back into our old Saturday "Fred Ride" groove (that's Fred as in "Fred Rookie Crew Chief" Fred). It was great! The weather was beautiful - sunny and slightly cool but warming up by the minute as the sun climbed into the sky. Wheels down at 9am leaving Fred's and by 10:00am-ish Leary, Fred, and I were at the 2244/360 intersection split. Everyone else made the turn but we opted to do the "Lost Creek Extension" and get in some hills.

The big difference between conceptually loving to ride hills and actually loving to ride hills is a matter of physical condition. I haven't really been riding hills lately but my mind was all for it (conceptually) however my legs weren't so sure (physically).

We made the turn from 360 onto Lost Creek and enjoyed a long down, down, down curving descent. We flew across the little low water crossing bridge, past the Lost Creek Country Club and around the first blind corner where climb #1 awaited us. Fred and Leary were out in front and almost immediately popped out of the saddle and started to pull away. But I stayed seated, quickly found my rhythm, and pedal after pedal I slowly pulled my way back up to them. Note: I am a seated climber. The only time I get out of the saddle is if the hill grade exceeds 20% (like on "the Beast" at the St. Croix half ironman race - US Virgin Islands) or if I'm thinking I need to practice how to climb out of the saddle so I remember how to do it.

One by one we made our way up and over the relatively short but steep hills. For Fred and Leary's amusement I pointed to the driveway where an aquaintance of mine fell over on her bike and proceeded to throw up. Apparently a little old lady came out, unreeled the garden hose, and started washing the barf off the driveway while saying, "It's OK deary. Lots of cyclist have passed out or thrown up on my driveway. I'm used to it."

Once onto Barton Creek Bouldevard we made the last short, steep climb up by the church (praise be to GOD!) and finally popped out onto Barton Creek Blvd. We took a left onto 2244 and eventually regroup with everyone at "The Worlds Greatest Gas Station" in Lakeway (they have kick@ss breakfast tacos, the best view of the hill country from the women's bathroom, and they are bike friendly).

It was good to get those batch of hills under my belt for the start of this year. Riverplace hills are coming in a few weeks and I know Fitzhugh has my name on it for many rides this summer. Gotta start somewhere! My legs are finally coming around to my mind's mantra - bring on those hills!!

Only 7 Miles Per Hour!

Vicki and I raced the Enchanted Rock Duathlon this past Saturday. It consisted of a 5 mile trail run, 16 mile road bike, and a 2 mile trail run - the last half mile of the run went straight UP Enchanted Rock (approx 425 feet of elevation).

The course was beautiful and very scenic and I especially appreciated the fact that the bike leg was on the road rather than on trail (I don't do mountain biking). But in typical Texas Hill Country fashion, the out and back bike course was filled with rolling hills and what felt like a head wind both ways. I thought we had a headwind on the way out but was quickly corrected when I made the turn around at mile 8 and almost immediately felt the strong head/cross wind. But we are strong cyclists and we are used to these conditions. So you just put your head down and GO.

I saw Vicki after the race and we were chatting about how the morning went. When we got to discussing the bike leg, the first words out of her mouth were, "Susan, I looked down at my cyclometer and was only going 7 miles per hour. 7 MILES PER HOUR!!How am I going to do RAAM?!" I couldn't help but bust out laughing. I'm sure there were times I wasn't going much faster either. I responded with, "Hey, you were making forward progress right? Well that's how we are going to do RAAM." Then I reminded her that per her request, she's going to be the one bombing down the mountains in the darkness of night, so she'll have plenty of time to make up for "7 miles per hour".

Bottom line, we just have to put one wheel in front of the other. Or something like that.

Things that make me happy...

Thank you MJ for making me smile after a very rough start to the week. This is one of the many reasons you are an awesome friend and will make a kick@ss crew member (and are officially in charge of morale and motivational phrases for the team ;-)

Are We There Yet? (RAAM Crewing Seminar)

On Saturday we attended the RAAM Crewing seminar held in our very own backyard of Austin, Texas. It was a great session and answered many questions we had (How to timing stations work? What to do to prevent saddle sores? What makes up a good team?). It also raised many more (Who will be our beneficiary? How many crew members do we really need? Will snapping rubberbands around our wrists really help keep us awake?) We followed the Saturday session with a Sunday team meeting to discuss these and many more topics. It seems official - we have a logo, we attended a crewing seminar, we had a team meeting. I think this means we're actually going to do RAAM. Oh, and Leary is on line right this minute looking at mini vans. He just asked me if I would prefer driving a panel van or a mini van. Um...how about neither?

In photo left to right:
Leary Walker*, Fred Huang*, George Thomas**, Vicki Ford*, Susan Farago*, Rick Boethling**, Fred Boethling**.
*Members of Team Galaxy
**Members of RAAM organization

I Don't Want a Mini-Van!

I grew up watching my Dad and brother rebuild cars for fun (and sometimes out of necessity). I became familar with words such as "4 barrel carburetor", "big block", and "454"(ours was a Chevy household). And it was not uncommon for my brother to take me for a ride to test out some new or rebuilt engine component with the hood of the car completey removed. When I was in college, I met my to-be husband. He was an auto mechanic in highschool and college. After we were married we would spend our weekends in the "bone yard" looking for this or that. Or we would scour the papers trying to find a "numbers matching" fixer-upper. We came up with the down payment to our first house by buying, refurbishing, and reselling a 1978 corvette - Indy Pace Car edition. And the first car I bought with my own money was a 1994 Chevy Camaro (manual transmission of course).

You get the idea - I know and appreciate cars, especially those classic American muscle cars that you can feel and hear long before you can see. You know that scene at the end of the movie "Fast and Furious" when Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are drag racing - Paul is in some digitized rice burner and Vin is in the Charger? And then Vin pops a wheelie IN THE CHARGER when they take off from the line? That scene still gives me goosebumps. Nothing beats raw, mechanical, horse power.

So you can imagine my dismay when we got back from scouting the Hill Country 600 bike race and Leary suggested we get a mini van, gut it, and set it up as a support vehicle for RAAM. I was actually OK with that part. What I wasn't OK with was his follow up comment, "And then after RAAM you can drive it around and that can be your vehicle."

Huh?

Yeah, I don't think so. I don't "do" mini-vans. The closest I ever came to that was driving a Chevy Celebrity station wagon for one of my winter beaters when we lived in Minnesota. The definition of a winter beater is: it's a cheap car, front wheel drive, and if you end up sliding on ice and wrapping it around a telephone pole or flipping it into the ditch, no big deal. But what I quickly came to discover is that people TREATED me differently when I drove that station wagon. People would honk at me, cut me off, and pull out in front of me. I never had that problem when I drove my Camaro.

So I can only imagine what I would experience driving a mini-van. And quite frankly, I don't want to find out.

But something tells me that my goal of completing RAAM is bigger than my vehicular vanity. So don't be surprised if you read a future blog entitled "I am a Mini-Van Owner". Of course, I may change my tune if I ever see Vin Diesel pop a wheelie while driving a big block mini-van ;-)

Drum Roll...Announcing Team Galaxy's New Logo

HUGE thanks to Michelle Ryan of iDesign - Austin, Texas.
Some thoughts and concepts from Michelle that went into the overall design:

"My proposal for your team logo was inspired by the roads and signs you will see as your team journeys across the country. Think yield signs and cross roads.

The direction of the rider - why facing left? 1) The chainring looks like it's on the right. 2) Since you always ride on the right and pass on the left, your view of the rider should always be from the left side. 3) The only time you should see a rider from the right is if you are the one being passed. I can't imagine that's the impression you want to make.

The original image of the rider was male. I modified the nose, chin, neck, arms, bust and hair. It may not all be apparent, but it's much better."

We can't wait to get the logo on shirts, jerseys, and other cool stuff. We'll wear it proud!!!