That Dreaded Email...

Look Out! **Doesn't Matter What The Name Is You're Officially Now At War** just took your QOM!

Me: That bitch!

In my defense, halfway through this ride we stopped to talk plan of action with Coach BF Rob...
which was AT LEAST 10 minutes. Oh AJ, sorry for putting you on blast but... I'm coming for you.

I have a love-hate relationship with Strava. I act like it's "Strava? Whatever. No big deal. Seriously. I've got better things to do." (well those better things to do is really just one thing, ride my bike). Unless I get a QOM or did something rad like rode 60 miles. You better believe I'll be posting it up on facebook and sending an mass email. Heck... it'd be worthy of a blog post.

But when I do get that crown, all that sparkly gold, it's an uplifting mood moment that gives the feeling that I can walk on water. So, when I get that email saying that someone took my QOM... damn son, bring it on!

I act like I don't care but it's really because I am still not as fast as I was pre-crash (oh did I ever mention I was chasing a QOM when I crashed - Oopsy! Bitter, slightly). I cling to my few QOMs with all my might (even telling the Tam-Tam to back off and let me have at least one. She's just THAT GOOD).

When I upload my rides... it goes like this:

1. Put the bike down and run to the computer. Scrambling for the cable, all while still in my sweaty lycra.
2. I know I totally got that segment! Grins, grins grins.
3. Plug Garmin into computer.
4. Garmin not detected. #$%@! Unplug, replug, hit refresh a zillion times.
5. New (ride date, yadda-yadda). Click to upload. Why is it taking FOREVER...
6. Name ride something to make others jealous (Climb, Climb, Climb to the Sexy Firemen Ride) - anyone who posts this (my H&S ladies you know who you are) better know that I am coming after all the QOM's on every segment of this ride. I heart Firemen!
7. Open the ride and... NOTHING. Or maybe (x3) but they are all 2nd and 3rd best times that are no better than the last time you did that ride (yet you swore you kicked but but then you realized you forgot to turn your Garmin back on after you stopped or stopped in the wrong spot - oh Tam-Tam).
8. Create a new segment during the ride in a spot you are certain you killed it in, only to watch it go to your best friend/fierce competitor/amazing teammate.

So for now I am carrying on, pretending that it doesn't really matter and hoping that the less I focus on those QOM crowns and the more I just ride, ride, ride that those crowns will start appearing and ladies all over Southern California will be getting that dreaded email.  

Keep on pedaling!

My Cycling Ritual

It wasn't until my whole routine was thrown off by one simple misplacement that I realized, I have a cycling ritual, and it's a mood changer.

One small hiccup in my 20 minute prep ritual falls out of place and my ride is guaranteed to start off on the wrong foot. Luckily, after 5 minutes on the bike I have usually snapped out of it, but still... it messes with my mojo!

First, I wrangle all required cycling items:

• sports bra
• heart rate monitor
• chamois cream
• jersey
• bib
• socks
• cycling shoes
• Oakley's
• helmet
• hair tie
• gloves
• Garmin
• water bottle
• tire pump
• Gu
• Cash and ID

The order of my assembly is crucial in keeping the balance:

1. Strap the girls in and put on the sports bra
2. Apply my chamois cream in the appropriate places
3. Wash hands
4. Slap on the heart rate monitor
5. Get into the bib and do the Lycra dance. I was shocked to find that nothing comes up when you google "Lycra Cycling Dance". I think I found a video that needs to be made. Stay tuned.
6. Put on the jersey, followed by the socks and then cycling shoes.
7. Hook your Garmin to the bike (I do so using a FABULOUS K-Edge Garmin Mount) and turn it on because sometimes it takes FOREEEEEEEEEVER to get it up and running.
8. Load in a water bottle with fresh water. I say fresh because once I kinda, sorta, forgot to put a new water bottle on my bike and learned the nasty way.
9. Pump up the jam on those tires. I do100 in the front and 110 in the back. Why? Because Rob said so.
10. Pull hair back into a ponytail, put on Oakley's, tack on the helmet, slap on the gloves, toss a GU, cash and ID into my pocket, turn on the Garmin (nothing is worse than realizing you forgot to do that) and hit the road.

Today I road a quick ride on my lunch break and my whole world was turned upside down when:

1. I forgot a hair tie. Rob said, No worries, use a rubber band. A RUBBER BAND????????? He just doesn't get me sometimes. I could never do that to my hair.
2. I realized my lack of time to sort laundry came back to bite me in the arse when I put on a bib that seems a little bigger than I remembered. Did I lose weight!?!?! YAY! Oh no wait... they say OTR Racing on them and were clearly Rob's. Riding in mismatched Lycra is a sin and so I started my ride in shame, with my head hung low. I look like that person who has no idea what's going on. That can't be me, IT CAN'T!!! 

H&S Bikes and OTR Racing, what a beautiful union.

Despite my ritual being incomplete and me having to do a little improvisation, the ride wasn't all that bad (well except for the side wind that was determined to take me out). I started out a little grumpy, but that might have been due to the fact I broke the stem of the valve off in my pump and I wasn't sure if the tire was going to hold. I decided to risk it. It was lunch time and I knew one of my 70 Wipeout co-workers would pass me on the road and I  wouldn't be stranded for long.

Post ride, now I am in a great mood, relieved a little stress and discovered that sometimes you got to take what life hands you, and make due with what you've got. If you're determined, anything is possible, and it's not worth it to sweat the small stuff. So it's time I throw, not the routine out the window (I'm a Virgo. I could never) but the little anxieties that come up when something is not perfect and out of line... I'll learn to do without those.

Post ride, it turned out to be a bright, bright, bright, bright sun shiny day!