H1N1 is no fun!

After getting a stomach virus a few weeks ago, I was hoping to be immune from sickness for the rest of cross, but alas... this is just not my lucky season. The stomach virus must have told h1n1 what a good viral host i was... because this week the flu bug hunted me down and attacked!

Being sick makes the Ellsworths (and me) very sad because I don't get to go out and play cyclocross which is my all time favorite fall activity. But on the bright side, I had a little buddy come keep me company and cheer me up while I was at home on the couch.

Meet Rubin (isn't he sooo cute?):

Now I imagine that Rubin did not enjoy spending the day with a sick person as much as I enjoyed having a cute little puppy around... after a bit of napping I started getting some stares and some whines from Rubin. I finally got the hint that he needed some play time when he started chasing his tail...

So we went to the backyard for a little sunshine...

where Rubin barked ferociously at the neighborhood cats (i don't think they'll be visiting me again any time soon)

We also went on a very slow and short walk to go see the cows (I don't know if Rubin had ever seen cows before... or if the cows had ever seen a Rubin). The cows gave Rubin a number of stares and a few moos... which didn't really phase the little guy. He was more interested in all the wonderful smells --- mmmm.

While Rubin sniffed and sniffed, I made an offering to this one curious cow -- he really likes yellow flowers! Check out that tongue!!

Aside from a few mini adventures, Rubin and I spent most of the day napping...

...and dreaming of being back on the bike soon (well, that's what i was dreaming about anyway...)

Beautiful!

i was loving my ride today

KY USGP

This weekend I took a trip to KY to face a stacked field at round 2 of the USGP. I was greeted upon arrival with a KY size (ok, maybe a Texas size) truck... woah - they just let anyone drive these things!

(a big truck!)

I managed to drive this massive vehicle to our super host house without causing any major traffic accidents (or minor ones for that matter). I then quickly unloaded the bikes and went out for a little spin in the last bit of daylight. While I can't complain about the near perfect CA climate I now live in, I do miss the midwest fall... so it was refreshing to take a spin in the cool crisp air of a colorful fall evening.

(ahhh... fall)

The next two days we joined the herds of cyclists at champions park for lots of cyclocross fun. The organizers worked closely with the "weather gods" to bring in buckets of rain for the race, and they arranged for the rain to halt right before the weekend so we had muddy, yet sunny conditions -- well done organizers!! They also put together a fun and challenging course complete with mud puddles, sand pits, and a "Green Monster"!

(teamate Kari and I preparing to get muddy)

(yay mud!)

I struggled with bike mechanicals as well as some recovering legs this weekend, but still had a blast getting splattered with mud, battling it out with Katie "teenage phenom" Antonneau on day 2, and riding my bike for 40 minutes of lung bursting fun. Cross is the best!! In the midst of day 2's race I also made a dollar -- people just hand out money sometimes (did i mention that cross is the best?)! They also handed me a beer... and I think I disappointed them by not partaking... beer is just so yucky... i would have enjoyed a yummy beverage though.

(a dollar!)

Overall, it was a great weekend of racing against a top notch field. It was also wonderful to see a bunch of the Chicago/midwest cyclocross crew (and to hear all their cheers during the race... thanks :)!

Also, a big thanks to our host Whitney (and her sweet dog Lucy) for letting us take over your living room with bikes and for all the support from you and your Scheller's crew.

(living room takeover)

now... back home cleaning bikes...

(cleanup time)

Pink Girl

Our Velo Bella jerseys are in the making, so Ellsworth (our sweet bike sponsor) is clothing us with Project Pink jerseys to start the cyclocross season. Now, I admit that when I heard about "pink" jerseys, my excitement level was about a zero on a scale from 1 to 10... i just wasn't so sure pink was a good, fast, tough looking race color. I consoled myself with the fact that I don't actually have to look at myself in a race and probably wouldn't even see the pink. Then I learned that the project pink jerseys support a good cause and raise money for ovarian and breast cancer research. Now the pink color becomes tough and having a good cause behind the color made me a little more enthusiastic about wearing the pink! Plus the Ellsworth jerseys are a pretty cool design too... I could handle this whole pink thing.

(loving the pink :)

It turns out that an all pink jersey also sticks out really really well at a race. I'm new to CA and nobody really knows who I am, but this weekend I was getting all kinds of cheers. I raced the Lion of Fairfax on Saturday which contained an energy crushing run up... but the rowdy fans kept me going with the "GO PINK" cheers. I actually started looking forward to the run up after a couple laps. I'm pretty sure the pink may have helped me to victory Saturday :)

(almost at the top of the run-up... i can hear pink cheers!)

(yay pink!)

On Sunday I entered the men's B race at the central coast cross series. Not only did I stand out in pink, but I was also the only girl in the event. Here cheers alternated between "GO PINK" and "Good Job Girl". After a terrible start and a crash in the bushes, all the pink girl cheers kept me motivated to keep passing the boys... in the end I passed all but 2 -- it was a good hard race.

(getting chased by boys...)

Next weekend I head to Louisville for round 2 of the Grand Prix Series. I'm looking forward to heading back to the midwest and of course to wearing the Pink!

Oh NO!

Little (tiny itty bitty) Twig vs. Sram FORCE Derailleur... twig wins :(

(the derailleur is not supposed to look like that)

Luckily home was downhill -- i removed the chain/derailleur and coasted all the way -- weeeee!

Cross Weather!

A Pacific Storm moved in and brought torrential downpours today.

Gray skies....

and wet trails...

make a happy cross bike!

(I think the Ellsworth is smiling...)

Surf City Cyclocross

I was hoping to go to my hometown state of Ohio for some muddy UCI 'cross races this weekend, but a stomach virus attack left me sick all week and kept me home. There were some upsides to staying home though...

First, I was able to help out in the surf city velo bella cyclocross clinic on Saturday and lure more newbies into the wonderful world of cyclocross! Lots of first timers showed up at the clinic and I joined teammate Erin in instructing a small group on mounting, dismounting, barriers, runups -- all the fun techniques used in cyclocross. It was great to see our group getting better and better throughout the day and seeing lots of smiles as they worked on these new techniques.

(lots of newbies ready for 'cross)

Second, Aspen's family came to visit and we all headed to the first Surf City cyclocross race on Sunday. Aspen's dad and little bro are experienced mountain bikers and two years ago we got them hooked on 'cross. Yesterday they were tearing it up on the cross course -- Cypress (not-so-little, little bro) got tangled up in the start of the 18 and under race and ended up starting dead last... but he managed to work his way through the field and eventually catch the leaders... then he turned up the gas and blew them away for a win! It was super exciting to watch -- he seemed to fly around the course. Wayne raced next in the masters category and followed Cypress' example to take the win! A successful day at the races :) I gave the racing a go, but the body wasn't quite ready for the intensity of 'cross -- I had to call it quits... but I'm hoping to get healthy for lots more racing to come!

(yay Cypress!)

(don't worry -- it's rootbeer... Mmmm.)

Morning Spin

Been under the weather... but my spin this morning cheered me up!