Coming up for air

Who says cycling clothing isn't versatile enough to handle other activities? This was my pre-race warm up before day 3 of Tulsa Tough. I wanted to make sure the pool was clean for my post-race cool down and consumption of recovery beverages.

And talking about day 3 of Tulsa Tough means talking about some qt in the pain cave. The crit on day 3 had a steep hill and then a ripper of a brake burning descent (smelled like Little Cottonwood Canyon during spring break). The last corner was at the bottom of the descent as an off camber turn and about 150m to the finish.


Ouch

The race started out relatively hard. Attacks, breaks, chains, whips, that sort of thing. Of course you had the heat and humidity too. The 60 woman field (pro-1-2) got whittled down to about 30 riders by the last few laps. And, unbelievably, I was in that group. Bud was standing on the hill giving my awesome motivation every time up that thing. Our supporters were so key this weekend.


Anyway, I was tail gunning with about 3 to go and worked my way up with 2 to go. There was a Tibco/Lipsmacker attack with 1.5 to go and I got on that. Was in good position on the last lap and got swarmed on the downhill. Oh well, what're you going to do. The legs are improving--now I need to work on the cajone factor too. I finished 15th and was totally psyched. Shelly Olds got her 2nd win of the weekend. Carmen took 2nd (can't feel bad about losing to her the weekend before!) with Jen McRae 3rd.

I was WORKED after this race. My consistent finishes moved me into 12th in the omnium, so I was psyched.

Superphotog Mike (see Drewster- we do have our own pro photog!) posted his excellent weekend pics on Flickr.

Mo was there waiting (she managed to hang for about half the race on a cobbled together bike--awesome!) with beer in hand for her and water for me. She was a great teammate both on and off the bike. Superhostmom Marilyn slapped cold cloths on my head and totally took care of us.

Post race photo with Mo, Bud, me and uber host/soigneur/fixer Darrell.

After the race, Mo and I eventually pedalled along the awesome river path back to the compound. We headed straight to the pool. I think I sizzled when I went in. Once the core temp came down, I took a shower and had some good play time with the littlesis hosts Mia and Mattie. They were so fun. We had a secret club meeting where we planned some missions and assigned each other super secret club code names. They were awesome kiddos.

Bud, Lisa and all the compound dwellers gathered at HH1 (host house 1) for an awesome outdoor dining experience. Darrell and Melissa cheffed up some amazing pork tenderloin, chicken and veggies. Angel food cake and strawberries for dessert with some good vino and excellent company.

Bud hooked us up with some vid of the weekend. Still trying to figure out how to post. Best of all--he also gave up some goods on the Randypants, OR as he was known in Tulsa in the 90s, the RANDALIZER




















Oh you crazy runners. Eat something.
(Can't wait for your wedding, kid!)

It has been pretty non-stop since getting back from Tulsa. I had to travel for work for part of the week and everything is pretty much in a shambles (except for my bike and that's only b/c it got the Tommy J treatment). I'm HOME for the next 3 weeks (not including work travel of course) so I'm PUMPED to chillax a bit and get some hubs and friends hang time. Plus, I can't wait for the kickball season to start. I have been stockpiling oranges.