Road Trippin'......

Heading South with MLuv and PattyMac.

At least I know that Myles isn't lonely when I'm away...

More on Nature Valley...

Here we are just before the stage race began. We went on a fun team ride with these women ---and Bob... our host:)
Bob`s dad Tom (also pictured) was our other host. They took great care of us!
Alot of the women in this picture put in volunteer time for our race... Thanks for your support ladies!



We came away with a solid team effort for The Nature Valley Grand Prix. Everyone made a valuable contribution to the win. It was my first time defending a leader at such a big stage race, and I have to say that it was incredibly rewarding to work for Kristin... she really is a true champion! My teammate Meredith (who is linked to this blog in the column to the right), put up a great post about the week of racing... check it out.

Celebrating the Win!

Here we are --all smiles after the win at Nature Valley. ...more reporting to come....

Nature Valley Continued...

We had a decent day yesterday in the road race. We got active about halfway through the race to see if we could get things going with a breakaway, but we were always chased down (pretty much right away). It made for an aggressive race in one sense... however it seemed like the real race began once we entered the finishing circuits. Our team goal for the day was to make sure that Kristin was there for a top finish. She came in just outside of the podium and the rest of us were right there in the mix.
Today was a new day--- Kristin stormed the Time Trial and took over the GC lead. I believe that we are also winning the Team GC... but I have not seen the official result on that. I have to say... I liked the time trial, which is very rare for this little pocket rocket sprinter! I didn`t go "hard" or anything, but I just loved riding in my own rhythm and the sound of the disc wheel... it was the first time I`ve ever ridden with actually.. At first I kept thinking people were catching me, and then I realized it was the sound of my own bike I was hearing!! .... hahaha. Such a rooky...
So we go into this evening looking to defend our lead...we`ve got a fast and technical criterium coming our way with time bonus sprints, so it ought to be exciting! Again... stay tuned :)
Oh and on another note... I`m still feeling limited by the pain in my back, and it`s a little bit frustrating... but I`m being patient with the healing process, and doing what I can for the team. Still having a great time racing!

Not Tonight..

Too tired to write a report. No changes in GC at the moment, but we have a time trial early in the morning and that should shake things up a bit. Stay tuned....
ps) i had to race on Advil today because the body is STILL not coming around...bullocks!

Nature Valley-- from The Lipton Camp Perspective

Just a quick race recap, as I assume most folks are following the race on cyclingnews.com, but anyway -- I think anyone would say that today`s criterium was a challenging one. The course was swift and technical, with a couple of slight uphill drags. As a team, we wanted to take charge of the race and set a good tone for the overall event. We were hot on the front all the time, and then Kristin made a nice little split in the field after the "Queen of the Hill" sprint mid-race. That sprint effort caused the break and Kristin was in it. We were very happy with the situation since we are shooting to have her defend her overall victory title from last year at this race. Anyway, the break worked incredibly well for us, Kristin gained some valuable time on some of the other GC (general classification) contenders. So as of now, the race seems to be working in our favor....we`ll just have to work to keep it that way!
For me personally...It was great to race with all the girls again. After having raced solo alot on the east coast while they were all up at Montreal, it was really nice to play the game of bike racing in a team setting again. I have to admit though... this was not the best day for my body on the bike. It was my first real effort since crashing, and with my back still not in check, I just wasn`t feeling all that super. Mentally, I`m really motivated, but physically... my energy was a little low. However, I found my legs here and there --think I might have still eeked out a top five in the field sprint ...and with a little more time I should be coming around even better. I`m glad to be here....

Nature Valley... here we come.

Up next for TEAm LIPTON is Nature Valley Grand Prix.
www.minnbikefestival.com

Living

Why is it that nothing makes me happier than a day on my bike?

Bici Sport Cycling Clinic

It`s incredibly rewarding to teach others what you know.

Newman has replaced the Oreo

If Paul Newman didn't get into cookie making, my life would be less enjoyable :)
...and on another note, The Honeysuckle has replaced The Mojito in my book.
ok...one more thing, I met my first male Diamond. interesting to say the least.

Pink is my new favorite color...

I have discovered that my banged up body has become quite the conversation piece. I am suddenly meeting and talking to ALL sorts of strangers who are curious about my bandages. I'm amazed at how many people think I crashed on a motorcycle! Really though.... the conversations and encounters have been bizarre to say the least. I was even offered a full body massage at a gas station! Oh man.....
I just hope my bum heals up quickly because sitting on the pink patch is so not enjoyable.

oh bebe it's a hot one

Breath for a minute breath breath for a minute.....

Spent some quality time in the hyperbaric chamber today, to aid in the healing of my oozing wounds and banged up body.
I was in there for an hour to be exact... and I fell sound asleep.
This thing is the real deal.
Thank you Dr. Grund :)

Sweet Homecoming...

Somebody's happy to have his mama home, but his mama was not so happy to receive the bill for the broken computer ordeal that happened in the last week of school.
Anyone got $1,000.00 extra dollars?!!

Philly

This picture tells the story of TEAm LIPTON teamwork, and the story that we reached our goal for the day -- Kristin won the race for the Queen of The Mountains Jersey.
That was awesome.


This picture below tells the story of what happens when things get tight...really tight, in the last kilometer of racing. There was no intentional bumping or shoving going on... just some handlebars touching, which caused some contact, which caused some of us hit the deck. Nobody can be happy about crashing, especially so close to the finish of such an epic race... but accidents do happen, and as they say, that's bike racing. Luckily, we all walked away from it! Personally, my clothes were torn to shreds and my body has road rash all over both arms and elbows, one shoulder and leg and one whole butt cheek! --but I should heal up soon...and hopefully so will everyone else who went down.

www.actionimages.cc

peep this website. good pics going on.....