I will pick up where I left off after camp...After I got back from camp, I left again for Wisconsin on a tuesday after I had returned from camp on sunday. My team mate Anina picked me up here in Knoxville, and we were off to the big race. We drove and drove and drove. As we drove north we began to see corn...lots and lots of corn. All we saw for hours was corn! I never knew there was so much corn in the world. I really did not know.
After many more hours of corn, and a night in a hotel, Anina and I finally made it to Wisconsin. (America's Dairyland) We were glad to be out of the car and riding the SWEET course. I was glad to be on my bike for sure, but I was slightly annoyed with my bottom bracket...I had no idea how bad it truly was! We got done riding, and we headed to the hotel to meet Kym and Mark. On the way, we stopped and grabbed some dinner at the Pioneer Family Restraunt. Interesting little place. I ordered a wonderful thing called deep fried cheese curds. I was able to check cheese curds off of my Wisconsin to-d0 list. YES! They were delicious. After dinner we arrived at the hotel and saw Mark and Kym's awesome Packers theme room and hit the hay.
The next morning we were all very happy because we were able to sleep in. YAAY! We had a nice morning of breakfast and love time on Emily's bike. (the bottom bracket) Kym took it apart, and we discovered that my bearings were totally seized! Uh Oh. Kym got them all cleaned out though, and everything was fine. I felt soooo much better riding after that! haha.
The next day was race day, and I knew that both me and my Trek 9.8 were totally ready. I took an ice bath and wore my compression tights. Those things made me feel very prepared in my mind and in my legs. I got a great night's sleep and was ready to go morning of the race!
Mark and I went early to set up camp for the team. It was fun to help him set up! After getting the tents up, we got ourselves ready and began to warm up for the race. This is always when my nerves really get going! I was riding around, and my legs felt pretty good! Yaaay! Finally it was time to line up! I found one other junior expert girl. Turns out there was one other. We waited to start, and I was getting really nervous! Finally they called all of the women experts to the line! They started all the age groups together. I was not in a very good position at the line, but when we went off I started passing people like crazy! It was a little bit of a strange feeling for me! We were climbing and I just kept gaining ground. I was feeling good. We got onto some single track in the woods after a while, and I passed yet another fairly large group of girls. I was feeling so good. I just kept telling myself I had to keep it up for the rest of the race. I guess I did that fairly well, because hardly anyone passed me, and I ended up with 7th over all! I was soooo happy.
I also won my age category, and that gives me a spot at Junior World Championships in Canada this fall! How EXCITING! I am so happy. It was a really great race trip. I had so much fun!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Long time away from home riding bikes : )
Ahhh. I have not been very deligent about updating my blog, but I will tell you all about what I have been doing for the last 11 or so days.
Well, it all started with taking the ACT last saturday at 8. I got out at 12:30 or so, and then it was time to round up my dad and get headed down to the SERC race in Jackson GA. We hit the road at about 2:30. Wow. That makes for a late arrival time for sure. We made it down in plenty good time and got a preride in. I some how managed to cut out a large part of the loop, but it turned out to not be a problem because the kind people at goneriding shortened the course because the heat index 105. Anyways, we got done preriding, found a hotel, and ate some yummy food, and went to bed.
We awoke the next morning and headed over to the course. I warmed up and felt like my body was boiling. We lined up, the race began, and I assumed my spot in last and held it for the remainder of the race. It was not a pretty day on the bike for me. haha. I drank a lot, but when I got done I still noticed that my vision was rather blurred. I attribute this to the heat. I guess I was riding my bike, and that is what I love, so it wasn't a total loss. I race my bike because I like it!
After the race, my dad drove me to Kym's house in Chattanooga. As soon as we got there, it was time to leave to go up to USA cycling's development camp in Sewanee. This came as a suprise to me. I did not know that we had to leave on Sunday night. haha. So, we left and got up there that night. I learned an interesting and confusing fact: because of the time zone change and the fact that driving distance is one hour, you get to camp at the SAME TIME YOU LEAVE! WOAH! That blew my mind.
So, camp had begun. I was the only girl at camp, but I still made friends. I'm not scared of boys! First day was not too bad, but I knew it would get harder as the week drew onwards. The second day we took our five minute TT Test. That is five minutes of killing yourself. It hurts! I felt like I gave it my all. That's all I can do.
The week went on and we rode and rode and rode. The next test rolled around. It was a 15 minute test. It also hurts very badly. I did so well on this one that I vomitted at the top! I hear that is a sign of sucess. haha. Only a little bit of throwing up though...the week finished up with more riding and skills lessons. I really enjoyed camp. I really learn a lot there. It my favorite camp I've ever been too, and it is one of the best parts of my summer. I really want to thank Scenic City Velo for helping make it possible for me to go. That really is generous. I also want to thank my team, Grace Law/Trek p.b. Vantaggio for helping me go to camp as well. I had a blast!
Well, after camp was over, I went to yet another race in Clemson SC. That was also a SERC race. It was not quite as boiling lava hot, but it was still hot. We lined up 9 girls I believe, and I got 8th. Yaay. I was proud of myself because I stayed with the group for a pretty good while, and I was quite close to 7th place. I was tired and I raced my hardest, again, that is all I can do.
It has been a really great week full of what I love most...bike riding. I seem to fall in love with riding bikes each time I ride them. Even when it's not one of the best days, I still know I love what I'm doing, and it will stay with me forever.
Well, it all started with taking the ACT last saturday at 8. I got out at 12:30 or so, and then it was time to round up my dad and get headed down to the SERC race in Jackson GA. We hit the road at about 2:30. Wow. That makes for a late arrival time for sure. We made it down in plenty good time and got a preride in. I some how managed to cut out a large part of the loop, but it turned out to not be a problem because the kind people at goneriding shortened the course because the heat index 105. Anyways, we got done preriding, found a hotel, and ate some yummy food, and went to bed.
We awoke the next morning and headed over to the course. I warmed up and felt like my body was boiling. We lined up, the race began, and I assumed my spot in last and held it for the remainder of the race. It was not a pretty day on the bike for me. haha. I drank a lot, but when I got done I still noticed that my vision was rather blurred. I attribute this to the heat. I guess I was riding my bike, and that is what I love, so it wasn't a total loss. I race my bike because I like it!
After the race, my dad drove me to Kym's house in Chattanooga. As soon as we got there, it was time to leave to go up to USA cycling's development camp in Sewanee. This came as a suprise to me. I did not know that we had to leave on Sunday night. haha. So, we left and got up there that night. I learned an interesting and confusing fact: because of the time zone change and the fact that driving distance is one hour, you get to camp at the SAME TIME YOU LEAVE! WOAH! That blew my mind.
So, camp had begun. I was the only girl at camp, but I still made friends. I'm not scared of boys! First day was not too bad, but I knew it would get harder as the week drew onwards. The second day we took our five minute TT Test. That is five minutes of killing yourself. It hurts! I felt like I gave it my all. That's all I can do.
The week went on and we rode and rode and rode. The next test rolled around. It was a 15 minute test. It also hurts very badly. I did so well on this one that I vomitted at the top! I hear that is a sign of sucess. haha. Only a little bit of throwing up though...the week finished up with more riding and skills lessons. I really enjoyed camp. I really learn a lot there. It my favorite camp I've ever been too, and it is one of the best parts of my summer. I really want to thank Scenic City Velo for helping make it possible for me to go. That really is generous. I also want to thank my team, Grace Law/Trek p.b. Vantaggio for helping me go to camp as well. I had a blast!
Well, after camp was over, I went to yet another race in Clemson SC. That was also a SERC race. It was not quite as boiling lava hot, but it was still hot. We lined up 9 girls I believe, and I got 8th. Yaay. I was proud of myself because I stayed with the group for a pretty good while, and I was quite close to 7th place. I was tired and I raced my hardest, again, that is all I can do.
It has been a really great week full of what I love most...bike riding. I seem to fall in love with riding bikes each time I ride them. Even when it's not one of the best days, I still know I love what I'm doing, and it will stay with me forever.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Cherohala Skyway Fun...or something along those lines
This is my sunburn.Today, I went with Kym, Mark, and a few others to ride the Cherohala Skyway. Two other people accompanied us, Mark's old room mate, Howell, and Steve a friend of Mark and Kym's. Anyway's the day startedo out pretty early for me today. I had to get up at 7. I guess that wasn't too bad, but I could have definitely handled a few more hours of sleep. I got on the road to Howell's house right on time, but I still did not get there on time at 8:30. I wouldn't say that I was lost necessarily, but I just couldn't find Howell's house. Well, he met me at a Kroger, and we were on the road to the skyway.
We got there on time, despite my difficulty with the directions. Mark, Kym and Steve arrived, and we were off on what was going to be a very lengthy ride. The ride started out along a really pretty road that went along the river. I don't really know what river it was. I knew at some point today. Anyway's, after a while we got to the part that began to not be quite so pleasant as the river road. We started climbing, and we all knew that we would be climbing for, like, 2 and a half hours. So, up we went! For ever and ever and ever. As we went up, we were passed by many speedy motor cycles, but they were pretty friendly for the most part.
Well, not much happened really for a long time you know because, we were just going up a huge mountain for hours. As I went up, I ate my food and drank my water like I have been told to by many people. However, I have failed to do this many times before. I don't think I will ever learn my lesson about all that sort of stuff.
So, finally I got up the mountain. I was soooo glad to have a little bit of time to sit down. My legs felt supprisinglly (I think I spelled that wrong.) good while I was riding up. I did not really expect them to feel good at all. Kym and I had a nice little picnic and girl time at the top of the mountain while we waited for the others to top the climb. As I sat up there, I was thinking that I felt like I was getting burnt. I didn't really pay attention, because I somehow felt like ignoring the problem would make it go away.
After everyone got up to the top of the mountian, we waited a minute, and then we began the long trip back down. You would think that it would just be a nice long descent back to the car after you get to the top, but that is now quite true, and that sucks. Even though there is a lot of descending, there are still some really annoying rollers along the way. As we were riding back, I noticed my sunburn getting worse and worse. I still tried to ignore it.
Finally we were back to the cars, and I was a very happy camper. It was a splendid ride, but it definitely felt good to step off of the bike.There was a nice little sandwich shop right down the street, and we went there to get our post ride meal. I got a really yummy sanwich that had turkey and some sort of cherry sauce stuff on it. It remined me of thanksgiving dinner. I liked it.
And then, Kym and I sat in the river and froze our butts off. That sucked, but I guess I liked it. So, that is pretty much the report on the ride. If you are reading this, it means you read the whold thing, or you just skipped to the last sentence for some reason. Either way, thanks for reading some or all of my report. : )
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
SERC #2 in Columbia TN
Last weekend was the second race in the SERC race series in Columbia TN. The weekend was a full and fun one for me. First of all, it was the beginning of spring break on Friday after school. I was excited about that for sure. On Friday, I went to a really neat jazz type concert. It was a really fun band to see. Then, on Saturday, I went to go see one of my favorite bands called Vampire Weekend at the Tennessee Theatre here in K-town. It was an AWESOME concert. I had so much fun. However, because of that concert my dad and I had to drive over to Columbia on Sunday morning.
So, on Sunday we woke up at 6 AM and were on the road by 6:30. I was proud of us! We had a perfect drive except for we just sort of took a "different" route than was originally planned. I didn't really make any difference though. We arrived at the race in plenty of time. I was so excited and sort of nervous when I got there that I got dressed way to early. haha. It was a rather cold day when the sun went behing a cloud, but when it decided to come out every now and then, it was quite pleasant.
As we sat and waited for our race to begin, we were really excited to see all the people from the first wave coming through absolutely COVERED in mud form head to toe. I know that really got me excited to race. There is nothing I love better than a peanut butter covered mtb course. lol.
So, I started my warm up, and my legs were actually feeling fairly good. I was glad for that. It sucks to do a warm up and you can just tell that you are gonna ride slow. Anyway's, we all got lined up, andit was a fairly large feild of 16 pro/expert racers. We went off and then the suffering began.
Once we hit the single track, we disovered that there was absolutely no hope of steering our bikes or staying upright pretty much. The trails seemed to take me where ever they wanted to. I was all over the place. I tumbled down a lot of the descents, but it did not ever hurt really. Sometimes it can be a little bit fun to wreck if you don't get hurt. Some of these wrecks were a little bit fun I guess.
After the 3 laps of suffering, slipping and sliding were finished I was totally covered in mud. I like to think of it as getting one of those fancy mud facial things. It had gotten much colder duringt the race, and all there was to clean off with was really cold water out of a hose. I got all cleaned up though, and then I felt warm and good. After the results came out I saw that I got 8th out of the 16 that lined up. I was really proud of that. That is good for me!
I also had a really good pit crew at this race! It was my dad. He did all kinds of stuff to help me get ready for the race, and he helped me out a lot afterwards. It was really nice. Thanks a lot!
Also, my Trek bike did perfectly in all of this mud. I did not ever have one single mechanical problem. That is saying a lot in conditions like those! Thanks so much to Trek and all of our other awesome sponosrs!
So, on Sunday we woke up at 6 AM and were on the road by 6:30. I was proud of us! We had a perfect drive except for we just sort of took a "different" route than was originally planned. I didn't really make any difference though. We arrived at the race in plenty of time. I was so excited and sort of nervous when I got there that I got dressed way to early. haha. It was a rather cold day when the sun went behing a cloud, but when it decided to come out every now and then, it was quite pleasant.
As we sat and waited for our race to begin, we were really excited to see all the people from the first wave coming through absolutely COVERED in mud form head to toe. I know that really got me excited to race. There is nothing I love better than a peanut butter covered mtb course. lol.
So, I started my warm up, and my legs were actually feeling fairly good. I was glad for that. It sucks to do a warm up and you can just tell that you are gonna ride slow. Anyway's, we all got lined up, andit was a fairly large feild of 16 pro/expert racers. We went off and then the suffering began.
Once we hit the single track, we disovered that there was absolutely no hope of steering our bikes or staying upright pretty much. The trails seemed to take me where ever they wanted to. I was all over the place. I tumbled down a lot of the descents, but it did not ever hurt really. Sometimes it can be a little bit fun to wreck if you don't get hurt. Some of these wrecks were a little bit fun I guess.
After the 3 laps of suffering, slipping and sliding were finished I was totally covered in mud. I like to think of it as getting one of those fancy mud facial things. It had gotten much colder duringt the race, and all there was to clean off with was really cold water out of a hose. I got all cleaned up though, and then I felt warm and good. After the results came out I saw that I got 8th out of the 16 that lined up. I was really proud of that. That is good for me!
I also had a really good pit crew at this race! It was my dad. He did all kinds of stuff to help me get ready for the race, and he helped me out a lot afterwards. It was really nice. Thanks a lot!
Also, my Trek bike did perfectly in all of this mud. I did not ever have one single mechanical problem. That is saying a lot in conditions like those! Thanks so much to Trek and all of our other awesome sponosrs!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
This weekend was our annual team camp in North Carolina. It is always a really fun weekend, because Scott, one of our sponsors, always comes with us and takes us around riding the awesome trails all weekend.
The weekend started out with carpooling up with Amy. Her GPS led her to my house with no problem, but it apparently did have a problem knowing that I-40 has a rock slide over it. So, we ended up having to turn around and find a new way, which was not the most efficient route, but we made it. We were getting really close, and it seemed like the GPS was working great, and it was leading us to the right place, but when we drove up the gravel road it showed us as the cabin, we found ourselves at the SCARIEST house I could have ever imagined coming to at night. This house was sketchy. There was an ocean of trash surrounding it, and I mean old cars, refridgerators, washers, dryers, and anything else you could imagine. I knew that someone was going to come out of the house with some sort of weapon any minute. As we realized where we were, Amy instructed me to, "lock my doors" as we found a way to turn around in the middle of the sea of trash. It was quite an adventure.
After we got out of the scary trash house, we called Kym, and made it safely to the cabin. We had some delicious burritos, and played Scrabble Slam. It was really nice to see everyone, and we had a great time together. After the Scrabble, and some questionable words, we watched some of the olympics. I finally figured out who this Apollo is that everyone has been talking about! I don't really think he's quite as hot as people think, but he is a very good ice skater. Anyways, after that, we went to be to get rested up for a day of riding.
The next morning, we woke up early in the morning and had a delicious breakfast of bagels and stuff. I was excited to ride, of course, but I had other things to be excited about as well! First of all I was getting my NEW BIKE! I was soooo excited to see it. It was like Christmas morning!
I absolutely love it! It is a Trek 9.8. First of all, it is really pretty. I love the colors. It is a great combination of white, black, and red. It has a really fast and racy look to it. (hopefully it will be more than a look.) It is a carbon fiber hardtail and it weighs, like, 16 lbs. It is sooooo light. It feels great to ride. I am really excited to do a season on a hardtail after a few years on a full suspension. It just feels so fast to ride. I am in love with it.
Anyway's, I got on my new mountain bike, and we all went for a group ride. The tails were covered in snow, but it was early enough in the morning that it was all still frozen. After the sun came out though, the trails started to thaw, and it was lunch time, so we went back to the cabin for some sandwiches.
After that, we set out on a road ride. I did not have a new bike for this ride, but I was still excited to ride with my team. The ride had a lot of climbing, and I guess I suffered from not eating at all during the 4 hours of riding we had done because, I was hurting very bad, and riding very slow by the last big climb. I ate some nuts though and then I was fine.
We got back and had a delicious dinner, and played some more scrabble. The next morning, we woke up for another mountain bike ride. I was excited to get on my new bike again. We rode some fire roads, and then we hit the part of the trail, that had all of the downed trees. : ) We carried our bikes for about 2 hours over the trees, but we all decided that it was WAY better than school or work, and that we were just glad to be with Scott and our team mates.
We made it back in, and then it was time to head home. We had a great weekend, and we really thank Scott for doing it for us. We had tons of fun with you! Thanks!
The weekend started out with carpooling up with Amy. Her GPS led her to my house with no problem, but it apparently did have a problem knowing that I-40 has a rock slide over it. So, we ended up having to turn around and find a new way, which was not the most efficient route, but we made it. We were getting really close, and it seemed like the GPS was working great, and it was leading us to the right place, but when we drove up the gravel road it showed us as the cabin, we found ourselves at the SCARIEST house I could have ever imagined coming to at night. This house was sketchy. There was an ocean of trash surrounding it, and I mean old cars, refridgerators, washers, dryers, and anything else you could imagine. I knew that someone was going to come out of the house with some sort of weapon any minute. As we realized where we were, Amy instructed me to, "lock my doors" as we found a way to turn around in the middle of the sea of trash. It was quite an adventure.
After we got out of the scary trash house, we called Kym, and made it safely to the cabin. We had some delicious burritos, and played Scrabble Slam. It was really nice to see everyone, and we had a great time together. After the Scrabble, and some questionable words, we watched some of the olympics. I finally figured out who this Apollo is that everyone has been talking about! I don't really think he's quite as hot as people think, but he is a very good ice skater. Anyways, after that, we went to be to get rested up for a day of riding.
The next morning, we woke up early in the morning and had a delicious breakfast of bagels and stuff. I was excited to ride, of course, but I had other things to be excited about as well! First of all I was getting my NEW BIKE! I was soooo excited to see it. It was like Christmas morning!
I absolutely love it! It is a Trek 9.8. First of all, it is really pretty. I love the colors. It is a great combination of white, black, and red. It has a really fast and racy look to it. (hopefully it will be more than a look.) It is a carbon fiber hardtail and it weighs, like, 16 lbs. It is sooooo light. It feels great to ride. I am really excited to do a season on a hardtail after a few years on a full suspension. It just feels so fast to ride. I am in love with it.
Anyway's, I got on my new mountain bike, and we all went for a group ride. The tails were covered in snow, but it was early enough in the morning that it was all still frozen. After the sun came out though, the trails started to thaw, and it was lunch time, so we went back to the cabin for some sandwiches.
After that, we set out on a road ride. I did not have a new bike for this ride, but I was still excited to ride with my team. The ride had a lot of climbing, and I guess I suffered from not eating at all during the 4 hours of riding we had done because, I was hurting very bad, and riding very slow by the last big climb. I ate some nuts though and then I was fine.
We got back and had a delicious dinner, and played some more scrabble. The next morning, we woke up for another mountain bike ride. I was excited to get on my new bike again. We rode some fire roads, and then we hit the part of the trail, that had all of the downed trees. : ) We carried our bikes for about 2 hours over the trees, but we all decided that it was WAY better than school or work, and that we were just glad to be with Scott and our team mates.
We made it back in, and then it was time to head home. We had a great weekend, and we really thank Scott for doing it for us. We had tons of fun with you! Thanks!
Monday, February 15, 2010
It's like Christmas!
I went on a really nice mountian bike ride, and it was made even better with my really awesome new shoes! Our team just got the COOLEST new cycling shoes from our sponosors. They are super comfy and they look really really neat. I can't wait to race in them this season.
Also, my new team bike got all built up today! Thanks to the guys at the Trek store! It is a Trek 9.8. I haven't gotten to see it in person yet, but I know that it is going to be sooo great...only 22lbs! My birthday is coming up soon, so a super fast new race bike will be the perfect present!
Also, my new team bike got all built up today! Thanks to the guys at the Trek store! It is a Trek 9.8. I haven't gotten to see it in person yet, but I know that it is going to be sooo great...only 22lbs! My birthday is coming up soon, so a super fast new race bike will be the perfect present!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Rollers, rollers ,rollers.
The winter is really brutal this year! (and every year I guess.) It has been rainy and dreary for about two days now. Ewww. Definitely not good weather for bike riding. I have been stuck on the rollers for a long time now! Hopefully spring will come soon. I am starting to get pretty antsy to get some racing in, I really miss it. Hopefully I will get to go to a cross race this weekend. I have got my fingers crossed! : )
Along with a cross race this weekend, I am alos going to Gatlinburg for a music clinic called All East. It is a really fun event where you get play music with a lot of other really talented highschool students from all over east Tennessee. I am really looking forward to it.
It should be a good weekend with music, riding, and a super bowl party to top it all off!
Along with a cross race this weekend, I am alos going to Gatlinburg for a music clinic called All East. It is a really fun event where you get play music with a lot of other really talented highschool students from all over east Tennessee. I am really looking forward to it.
It should be a good weekend with music, riding, and a super bowl party to top it all off!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Hello!
Hey. I'm Emily. I just set this up, and I am gonna try to tell about my bike riding experiences and other experiences in general! It sounds fun! : )
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