Blazing New Trail

On the 27th. I left knoxville and flew to Grand Junction CO. There, I was met by Sean and our new friend Izzy in the big white sprinter van. Now I am in Ketchum Idaho waiting for MTB nationals this weekend! I am typing this from my phone. I'm pretty proud of myself because I just set up my blog so that I can update it from my phone.

So, the riding out here is pretty epic. You climb up and up for an hour and then you descend awesome trail for ten minutes. Then you go up and do it all over again, and all the while you are surrounded by beautiful, massive mountain vistas.

Thanks to all of our super cool team sponsors. Trek Store Chattanooga www.trekstorechattanooga.com , and US Stove www.usstove.com. I'll be reppin the colors all over the west cost until I have to go back to school in August!

Until next time.
Emily.

Hot Times in Southern GA

This weekend I set out to race on my bike. This particular race was part of the SERC series, and it was at a park near Jackson GA called Dauset trails. This place and I have a love hate relationship, well, mostly hate to be honest. These trails are fun to tule around on, but once you go to race on this stuff, it becomes VERY challenging. All the roots just take it out of me so quickly. As usual, there was a field of crazy strong ladies, and I managed to finish the race. : )

So, probably one of the coolest parts of this race was the drive down. My bf Sean got a sprinter van last week. It is THE COOLEST. It is the ultimate race traveling machine. We will be taking a trip across the country to see what there is to see and do a bunch of races all around. I can't wait for this trip to start. I just have to get through my month of summer school learning about biology. LAME.

Today, I am about to head out to do a fun ride in Townsend Tennessee. This ride is a favorite of a lot of people in Knoxville. It cuts through the Cades Cove loop and has multiple VERY challenging gravel road climbs. So, I guess I need to go get my things together for that. Until next time.

6 Hours of Hate

Well. Hello there my loyal readers. When you last heard from me, I was on a mission to chill. Now, while hard core chilling on a professional level is pretty great, you just have to get out there and do some suffering. As cyclist knows this is just something that we are addicted to. SUFFERING. I don't know why we like it, but we just do.

So, this weekend certainly gave me the opportunity to suffer heavily. Let me just start from the beginning about this weekend....

So, originally I wasn't actually planning on racing. I was going to ride down the Syllamo's revenge with my boyfriend and just go along for the trip.I figured, "I've never been to Arkansas, so why not?" I figured there would be trees, roads, hills and chain restaurants. (Pretty much like Tennessee.) Anyways, I wanted to see for my self. Sean's awesome van (that you can sleep in) is loaded down with all of our gear and a food bag that could cook about three gourmet meals. Also, we decided to bring Sean's dog Tyrone along for the ride. He was sooooo happy!

As we get onto the highway (about two minutes from the house) we begin to notice this disturbing vibration that is vibrating the entire van. We know something is wrong, and then the whole thing just starts rolling all bumpy like. We pull onto the shoulder and discover that the wheel has FALLEN OFF. Like, seriously? How often does that happen? *sigh* So, after much ordeal we totally unpack the van on the side of the interstate, and make like tuna fish and get out of there.

It was too late in the day to get Sean to his race in a timely manner, so that whole plan just had to be aborted. We decided to ease the pain of our defeat by sitting by the pool for the rest of the day. Later that night we cooked dinner with some friends, and I at a steak...what a mistake. That stuff is WEIRD.

Anyways, so at about ten oclock we had the bright idea to get up in the morning and go race the Tsali 6 hour race in Bryson City North Carolina (or as some might say "cak-a-lacky"). After so much chillin for the past while, I wasn't entirely sure how successful this race was really going to be for me. But, I lined up with a positive attitude and just went for it.

The race began with a les mond (sp?) start that was literally like half a mile up a gravel road. When I started running my hands hurt. I thought that was really weird. Running is terrible, and it made me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable, but once I got to my pretty little Trek bicycle I felt in my element once again.

I just started pedaling because, well, that's just what you do at bike races. I had no clue where I was in the field, but I found this girl in my category (solo six hour women) who looked like she knew what she was doing as far as pacing herself, and I just stuck behind her. I was feeling pretty good!

Eventually we both stopped in the pits at the same time, and I was ready to leave before she was apparently, so I left, and then I never saw her again! I did six laps in all. 1,2, and 3 were fun, but then I got to a wall for sure and old number 4. I didn't cry, but I came pretty close. haha. So, after a long 66 miles I ended up as THE VICTOR OF THE DAY!

As my prize I received some lubricant for my butt, a two foot tall trophy, and a gift card to thompson. Not too shabby I would say. Oh, and a bottle of champagne, but we all know that I am under 21 and would never dream of sipping on some bubbly. : )

I was really proud of myself today. I paced my self well, and dug deep and kept my hate going the entire time. (We all know that hate is what makes you go fast. lol.) Yep. I really like to say "lol."

Riding bikes sure is fun yall!

Here is the photo documentation.

Ya girl crossing the finish line.
So hungry.

I might be dirty, but at least I keep a nice manicure.

Winning a trophy. Woop!






















Until next time bros!

On a Mission

Wellllll. Hello there. While I haven't been to any races the past weekend, I have had so many amazing experiences that are just waiting to be shared.....not really. haha. But, you obviously want to know, so I'll fill you in.

Well. I finally got done with school and ended up with one A and a whole slew of B's. I would say that I definitely put in a solid B effort in all of those classes where I got a B. Well deserved. So, It's great to be done with that. However, my summer only lasts for two weeks. On May 29 I get to go take a biology class at a community college here in Knoxville. So, for the next two weeks I have made it my personal goal to take as many naps as possible and basically be as worthless as possible and of course do some bike riding.

Last weekend was a fun one becuase a few of my friends graduated from college! Yaaay for them. I am so jealous. I am a mere freshman, and I can hardly even believe that I will ever be done with the drudgeries of school. So, there was much celebration and happiness and TONS of food everywhere I turned.

After the weekend of food and fun ended I realized that it was monday. Hmmmmm. I'm sure that I slept in late and then probably took a nap at least once. I've decided that a day without a nap is basically a lost cause. Also on monday I made some banana bread. However, I forgot to put in the baking powder, so it is very dense. WOOPS. Today has played out in a similar manner. I was napping before 12! Now that is a sign of a quality day. My agenda for the day included meeting my dad for lunch and....well, that was it until an evening group ride.

While I was down town I spotted a bike that I really like at a pawn shop. It is most definitely stolen from some poor hipster in another city. I'm not sure if the price was right, so I'm gonna sleep on it.

I went on the weekly group road ride that I have been attending this evening. We rode 40 miles or something. We probably averaged a good 65 mph.....EASILY. hehe. I have enjoyed doing group road rides. They are new to me, and very different from mountian biking. The pace line is fun, and it makes me feel like an awesome road racer. I think these rides are making me stronger for my races too.
So, there you have it. A peep into the life of a 19 year old who is whole heartedly on a mission to do some hard core relaxing and sleeping until biology fest begins on May 29th.

I went to Tanasi to race my bike Dudes

Hello. Well, this weekend was the Tanasi SERC race. I have been to this place a whole bunch of times because it is pretty close to Knoxville. It is a pretty fun place to ride, but it can be a challenge to race there.

I got there on Saturday, and enjoyed van camping under the “supermoon.” It really was big. They weren’t kidding. There weren’t even any clouds getting in the way of looking at it. On Saturday night we also got to swim in the Ocoee river. It was SO MUCH FUN! I love that river because there are so many little water falls that you can play in. It wasn’t even too cold. I was awoken very early by someone running their generator, but that is alright. I understand. How could anyone be without ac and televsion? I ate a hearty breakfast of peanut butter sandwich with granola. Oh yeah.

We lined up 11 girls. The race was fun, but I guess I rode pretty hard the previous week, and my legs hurt really badly, so I couldn’t go very fast. I still tried my hardest though. I always looked forward to going down thunder rock express.

Apparently some of the racers saw a bear while they were out on the course. I would have been really scared. Maybe that would have helped me ride faster…..?

Now I am back in Knoxville studying for my last final of the semester. I have been in finals week for the past week. So far I have taken one in chemistry and calculus. The only one I have left (tomorrow) is nutrition. I have been studying for nutrition tonight. It is not really all that fun. I would probably rather be sleeping than studying. Tomorrow I get to get a massage though. I am looking forward to that.

So, I guess I will get back to my nutrition studies now. Good Night.

Here is me riding my bike so quickly!

Hello everyone. My life has been going fairly great here lately. I seem to be finding more time to ride, and that is making me feel much better. Regular exercis really is important to being happy and feeling good.

Aside from biking, I have been going to school. I am now in my second semester here at UT. I am making new friends and learning a lot about how to get things done. This semester I have been in organic chemistry. It is really confusing, but it's pretty neat to know so much stuff about all those crazy carbon molecules. Also, I am in calculus. I don't really find that as interesting as chemistry. It seems like a bunch of magic tricks that you do with numbers to me.

One really cool thing from this semester is that the UT Orchestra (wich I am in) played "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky/Ravel. This piece is AMAZING! You should look it up and give it a listen if you have never heard it. It has a really big bassoon solo, and I nailed it! I was so nervous.

On the biking side of things, I am getting excited to get ready for a new season of bike racing! Woo hoo! I'm sure I will be doing the SERC series again. Those races are always so much fun. I have also been contemplating trying my hand at some road racing. Maybe. We will see how that works out. I'm not so good at riding in straight lines in a pack. One thing that is lame though, is that I will be in summer school this year. BUMMER!!!! But, I am still looking forward to racing. It was so much fun last year with our sponsors US Stove and the Trek store. I hope we all get to have a fun year of racing together this year!

YEAHHH!!!!

Helen Georgia!

Hello everyone! Last weekend, I went down to Helen Georgia for some racing. This race was part of the Georgia state series, but it was also a SERC makeup race, and I needed it for my final SERC standing points. The weekend started out with the rather long drive on all two lane roads. It seems there was just not really a good route to get to this place! Once we finally made it though, it was a BEAUTIFUL place! There were hills around, and it was just really pretty.

We made it there in time to get in a pre ride which was REALLY important on this course. It was a fairly challenging one! I had soooo much fun riding these trails. Once I went down the first downhill, I was thinking, "man are these trails awesome!" I was really excited for the race the next morning! After the preride, my two friends and I found a camp site in the extremely crowded camp ground at Unicoi State Park where the race was. I am pretty sure we got THE LAST spot in the entire camp ground. We were very happy to have found it! After getting camp all set up, we had a yummy dinner of tuna and rice burritos, and then hit the hay for the day of racing ahead!

In the morning we woke up and I was ready to race! We got to the course, and I started my warm up, and my legs were feeling pretty good. I was totally looking forward to a long day on some awesome trails.

Race time came quickly as always, and I found myslef on the line about to start. We lined up ten girls. A pretty good field! I had a pretty good start and went into the woods in third. By the end of things I ended up in fifth. I was pretty pleased with myself! I tried my hardest, and I felt like I had clean and steady race. That is what I always aim for, and of course I had FUN! Racing is fun, and that is why we do it!

My bike worked great thanks to the new bottom bracket bearings that the guys at the Trek Store helped me get a hold of. Thanks guys! And thank you soooo sooo much to US Stove and all of our other sponsors for helping us go to these races. We love it!