Just in time

Yesterday and today I tried went riding with a new girl on the team, Stephanie. Yesterday I went on the AVX recovery ride, and today she and I went to Big Creek in Roswell to do some mountain biking. Afterwards I told her about my dance classes and she went with me!

I've been looking for a girl riding buddy for forever, and she's pumped about doing some riding. Which is awesome. She's a good mountain biker and just got a road bike recently. She comes in just the nick of time as I am (don't want to count my chickens)/was hurting for a riding buddy.

As awesome as all this is, though, I still wish I had a mentor. Someone to coach, motivate, push and answer questions. She and I are both newbies, so she won't be as useful as someone who can give me pointers. Although I'll be fine on my own, I do everything else in life on my own. It'd be really nice to have some support and encouragement in this venture.

Perhaps now my summer of speed can start.

Breakthrough

Today, I made a breakthrough. I had fun. Mountain biking. Yep, me. The one who doesn't like mountain biking.

Previously, mountain biking was really tough on me. I wasn't comfortable on it. It was really tough aerobically. My inability to get enough oxygen made me feel dizzy. All the exertion made me feel sick to my stomach.

This was my third attempt to get out there in two weeks. The previous two attempts ended up in me sitting on my butt in front of the tv. But today, I felt a little like myself when I woke up (despite waking up extremely late) so I decided to take advantage and get out there.

I took it easy at first. I thought it was an enormous step for me to just be out there in the first place, especially mountain biking. It's something that even at my best I don't ever really feel like doing. But everything lined up today and I had a good time. My mission was to complete the easy loop in 6 minutes. At first I just told myself that it was a big enough deal for me to be out there and that I didn't have to push if I didn't feel like it. But on my next turn out, I looked down and saw the time and all of a sudden the competitive part of me that had been sleeping for a few weeks woke up and pushed. I ended up finishing that loop in 6:27, the next in 5:48 and the last in 5:19.

I'm really proud of myself, to the point of being ecstatic. And even more excited to feel a little like myself. I'm going to try to grab on to that feeling and not let go. Part of me wonders if it's the new medicine.

To my mountain biking mentor: Your patience and advice helped me to have fun for the first time since I made the semi-large investment in mountain biking. I'm excited that my better fitness, ability to breath and effort have begun to pay off. But more than that, you gave me a glimpse at what I am capable of, at who I really am, and at this time in my life that is invaluable. I look forward to giving some back when I am better.

Done.

My semester is over. I can't say that it ended well (my gpa will probably plummet), but I also can't say that I tried really hard. And this semester was rough on me and my motivation just wasn't there. So I'm just glad it's over. All that stands between me and my masters degree now is my special topics report and presentation.

Now hopefully I'll have time to catch up. Pay my bills. Upload the hundreds of pictures I've taken at all the cool things I've been doing. And, to write about them. There was Al Gore's speech, the Tour of Georgia, and Talladega this past weekend.

Today marked the beginning of Summer of Speed Part 2. It began better than Part 1 ended in the sense that I went on a group ride that I couldn't finish last summer and completed it. The bad news is I wouldn't have been able to without the help of others to pull me back up there. And that I thought I was going to pass out from riding at a heart rate of 190-195 for so long (my max is 198). It was discouraging because it is a "recovery" ride, but it is faster than any race I've participated in. We'll see how it goes next week.

Now it's time to go wash everything I took to Talladega and rehydrate.

Reasons I'm not a Pro Cyclist...

...and why I'm not sad about it.

Earlier this week I was planning a very long ride on the Silver Comet, perhaps the longest ever. This was a reflection of how much I've been enjoying the time on my bicycle lately and the desire to test my new abilities. Yesterday I canceled the ride because of the forecast weather... below freezing and gusting winds.

Now I'm sitting here inside, nice and warm, watching the coverage on NBC of the inagural US Open Championships. Those guys are riding in the snow today.

As much as I love riding my bike, I'm glad on days like today that I can opt out. Maybe that would change if I were getting paid for it... or maybe not. Hopefully that's not a reflection of my motivation, but a reflection of my desire not to suffer more than I have to.

Not to mention that I'm not nearly fast enough, but hey, that's just a technicality.

Uncharted Territory: I can beat people now*

So, this past weekend I went with the cycling team to Georgia Southern in good old Statesboro to do some racing. Racing for me has never gone well and previously my record is finishing next to last in 1 crit, next to last in 1 time trial, dead last in one road race and dropping out of a couple of other road races and crits.

I struggled with whether to go or not this past weekend and Friday night it seemed like I might have made a bad decision. I wanted to prove to myself that I cycle because I like it (and not for other past reasons), but traveling with a bunch of bitchy and disorganized boys tests my patience. But, my new mellowed out self decided to wait til the end of Saturday to decide whether it was a waste.

Saturday morning was the road race. 8 girls, including my new teammate Jenn. The 8 of us rode ttt style almost the entire time. My strategy was not to get dropped by the group. I was thrilled when I hit 10 miles and was still with the group (last year on the same course I had been dropped long before then, then I flatted). Not only that, but I could tell that I was stronger than some of them because my pulls were faster and also a little longer. By the time we turned for the last 10 miles it dawned on me that I was going to get to be a part of a sprint finish and I got really excited. I started thinking about where I wanted to be position wise and how I'd be able to make sure I hadn't just pulled so I would be fresh. We passed a guy who said the finish was a ways down and everyone just took off. I had fortunately placed myself in a good position, which managed to open me up and box in another girl. This paid off, and my new sprinting abilities helped me take third place (and I beat the much stronger UF girl, which was awesome)!!! I can't describe the feeling I had, but I can say it included an enormous goofy smile and a lot of emotions. This was a huge moment for me since I've always struggled when it comes to being athletic. It almost made all the crap that happens worth it.

Later that afternoon my new teammate and I did the team time trial, a first for the GT Cycling team. I really didn't want to ride it since I was pretty tired, but we did it for the team. I gotta say, I was pretty bored of the TTT by then, since that's all the road race was. Not only that, but Jenn died towards the end and I basically had to haul her back in. Regardless, we got a good time, almost the same as the A Vandy women, and I was impressed with how strong I am. I was irritated, however, that we had to ride almost 6 miles back to where we were parked. The boys went to go pick us up, but missed us so we ended up riding the entire way back. Very slowly.

The next morning was the crit, which I am not a fan of since they run all the women together. This pisses me off, but oh well. Our strategy was get lapped enough so that we get pulled (so that we could still get points), but then we discovered that they weren't pulling people. I was retarded and wasted a bunch of energy bridging a gap with the florida girl to get to the A women, which was futile since I can't keep up with them anyway. I stuck with the Brevard girl for a while, but then got dropped and grouped up with Jenn. Then we went back to the TTT practice, alternating pulls on each lap. My goal was to stay away from the slow Auburn girl, but that didn't happen and soon it was me and Auburn with Jenn out the back. Anyway, I did the bitchy thing and rode Auburn's wheel until the last turn after which I left her ass and beat her by a lot.

The rest of the team had a great showing also, which was really good. I really enjoyed actually getting to race, which was a first for me, although I know I will struggle on the hillier course this weekend. I am surprised and ecstatic at my own strength though, especially since usually after absences I struggle a lot. After this past absence, though, I've put in 5 really good rides, so here's hoping I can keep the momentum going. I think my body is finally adapting, as well as starting to look like it's adapting, so that makes me excited. I'm more motivated now to ride, but still unsure of whether I can commit like I did last summer. But it's good to know my Summer of Speed didn't go to waste, because it was rough and took a lot of dedication and determination.

Here's to not getting dropped this weekend and getting to sprint to a finish again... this time with spectators hopefully.

*Will's suggestion for a title, after being asked what I should call the entry about this past weekend racing. Other suggestions included but are not limited to: Going Slow as Fast as I can, Renovating my cottage of wattage and Using my cottage

History!

Let it be stated for the record books that today I, Livia Carneiro, beat one Will Evans, master of all things bicycle, up a hill. Strike that... up a few.

I made that hill my bitch.

The end.

Back in the Saddle... Again

This weekend was the first time I rode a bike in a few weeks and my first time outside on The Stig in over a month and a half. And, even though I suffered during and after, I must say, it felt good. I felt comfortable and at home and what's best of all, not too slow.

Makes me even contemplate giving up the fun lifestyle to work hard and be super motivated like I once was. For now, though, I'll just look to strike a happy medium. Which includes heading to Georgia Southern for a race this weekend, even though I probably shouldn't. This way, though, I know I'll actually get up and work out, as opposed to being distracted or lazy.