keirin!!!

on the tale end of this story, i'm back obsessing over keirin again.  gah, i wish i was at the manchester velodrome this weekend.  soo jealous of some people on twitter who were!   i stumbled upon these posters for sale today.  i think i need one of them in my life!  it would look amazing in my apartment, i promise!  hrmmm, now i want a geekhouse track bike too.  anyone??  :)

and now it all begins...

the 2011 road season started yesterday with the santos tour down under.  the new team, leopard trek is making their debut alongside newly merged garmin cervelo.  rounding out the black and baby blue is team sky.  i haven't been able to find a feed yet to watch here in the u.s., but i assume it's still going to be hard to distinguish who exactly is in the middle of the peloton.
it's also lance armstrong's last international race.  well, until another race offers him a 2 million dollar appearance fee.  sadly, australia has experienced some devastating floods lately.  armstrong gave $50,000 for disaster relief.  kind of seems like chump change to me for what he received.
speaking of armstrong, twitter is now a sponsor of team radio shack.  if you have read a few of my previous posts, you know i am not really a lance fan.  i also do not follow him on twitter, but i do enjoy people's re-tweets and off hand comments to him.  sorry, i never earned the "banned by lance" addition to my avatar.  i digress.  the fact that twitter is sponsoring team radio shack almost caused me to shut down my twitter account in protest.  i slapped myself silly and snapped out of it, but not after i curled up in a ball and cried for a few hours.  for the love of all that is holy, what's next in terms of sponsorship?
so after stage 1, matt goss (htc-highroad) took the stage win and seems to be giving andre greipel (omega pharma-lotto) a run for his money.  it would be nice to see an australian win, especially with cadel not riding in this year's tour down under.  unfortunately, i have yet to find a feed that works, so i am stuck looking at pictures via velonation and steephill.tv.  i know the tour down under isn't the most exciting race, but it is the first race.  personally, i am looking forward to the spring classics and then my favorite race the giro d'italia.  this will do for now.

fall city riding

even our four legged friends like bike rides!  say hello to the coolest chorkie in the world, sophie!   i should invent pooch helmets.  where would her ears go though?!?!

luxembourg cycling project...

best new team in the peloton?  quite possibly with everyone making the mass exodus from team saxo bank and leaving mr. 60%, bjarne riis a lonely director sportif.  now riis is left standing there with the embattled contador.  well, maybe he won't be standing there if contador's people don't pay off the uci in time and he faces a ban for his plasticizers and tainted meat.  oh wait, he threatened to retire because his good name has been marred.   guess maybe he learned a thing or two from lance armstrong while they were teammates on the astana squad.  if contador isn't banned, whom better to be his new doping mentor than riis?  anyways, i digress...
let's focus on the more important subject here, which is my new favorite team to watch in the peloton, the luxembourg cycling project!  by now, if you've read my few blog postings or follow me on twitter, you know that my heart will always lie with garmin.  i suppose i favor them, because they are an american pro team, and they are actually pretty decent although some may disagree.  ;)  now, the reason i am looking forward to this new team is because my baby daddy andy schleck, his brother frank, and my other baby daddy, spartacus himself, fabian cancellara will continue to ride together.   mmmmm, hold on a few minutes..............................................................  ok, done daydreaming.  they will be joined by some of the best riders in the peloton, jens voigt, stuart o'grady, and jakob fuglsang to name a few.  how excited will you be to see big jens crossing the finish line and cancellara handing everyone their asses in the time trials???  mmmm, cancellara's booty............................................................   ok, sorry again, got distracted. 
so i think the 2011 year is shaping up nicely.  this new team is going to give the others in the peloton something to worry about.  i can't wait to see their final roster and all their new sponsors.  no need to speculate, the official news will come soon enough.  hurry up with the spring classics and my favorite stage race, the giro d'italia! until then my friends, let's hope for a winter filled with riding.

it's cyclocross season

bring on the frites and belgium beer!  you guys can bring on the pain for yourselves.  my cross bike serves one purpose, and that is to get me to the bar and back.  hey, it's a steel s/s that i don't worry too much about when it's locked outside.  for now,  i'll watch from the side.  :)

r.i.p. laurent fignon

he died at 50 years young from cancer on august 31st.                                                                               

this is about right...

me too...

i got a wheel!!

woohoo! a very dear friend sent me a bike wheel the other day. as previously mentioned, i cracked the crappy wheel that came on my motobecane fantom cross uno. yup, still trying to figure that one out. well, it was a beautiful blue mavic cosmos, which after some research i found out is no longer being produced. now, i've put some time in to my road bike and a crash or two, ouch. plus, i live in the pothole capital of the world known as dc. the mavic open sport front wheel is in need of a truing, so i switched out the wheels. the murrrcycle deserves the nicer, albeit slightly heavier wheel. pfffttt, we are talking grams here people, i can't really tell the difference! i hate changing bike tires, but i've gotten quick! well, once i can pull that damn tire off the rim. thanks tire lever for saving my nails! the new wheel came perfectly true, and i got some strange looks walking home from work with a bike wheel in my hand. hey, it would have been better than dragging home the box that was pretty much the size of me. so my bikes are now both happy. can you see them giving each other googly eyes in the pic?? :) the best part? i am back to biking around the city and locking up my bar bike without a care in the world!!

fantasy vuelta!

so the vuelta a espana starts this saturday, august 28th. i can sense your excitement just as much as mine! it's the last big stage race of the summer. it's kind of bittersweet for me though. it's like that famous t.s. eliot quote, "this is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper." the vuelta is my least favorite big summer stage race. i love the giro and le tour! there is something about it that seems soo anti-climatic to me, and i am not sure why. maybe i should talk about it with a therapist, and please don't hate me you vuelta lovers!!! :)

ok, i am excited! why? because it's time for me to kick some butt in my fantasy cycling league. i am still riding high off my 35th placing in my tour de france league hosted by the wonderful simon lamb at his blog, la gazzetta della bici. so he decided to move the vuelta fantasy league to road.cc. i think there are some more prizes. it's cool, i fully expect to claim those prizes as the bootyhouse team has been rising steady ever since the giro! in fact, both times i kicked simon's butt. i don't expect my amazing team to do any different for this year's vuelta. so simon, i am looking at my vintage campagnolo water bottle where it belongs, on MY bike! you can send me some delicious british chocolate when i win! :)

it's time for the...

... vuelta!!!! it's the last summer stage race and i am about to pee my pants in excitement!

twitter

i love it! i have noticed a lot of people really don't understand it. i have met some awesome people on twitter! i won't mention them here, only to keep their privacy somewhat private. i love meeting anyone willing to talk about not only experiences on the bike, but the sport itself. let's talk about fixing our own bike problems, our favorite rider, and our problems on our own bikes. let's talk shit about our favorite riders and our favorite teams. i know i catch a lot of flack for having unconditional love for garmin transitions. yup, despite my tweets of millar time and my love of dave zabriskie; i don't really know why i love them. maybe it's the argyle, maybe it's the felt bike despite the fact i don't own one. i may be in love with their track bikes! speaking of track, i am going to daydream of keirin!

time to true a wheel...

oh jesus. i enjoy libations of the alcoholic kind. this isn't a shock to anyone who knows me. hey, i'm irish catholic, it's like my god given right in life. yeesh, let me at least have that! anyhow, it was just another normal wednesday night, hanging out with a friend and drinking beer, after beer, after beer. did i mention i was drinking beer? sigh... somehow i pretty much damaged my front wheel on my single speed cyclocross bike. how? well, frankly, that's a good question, and if you know, please leave the answer in the comments. i must be the queen of somehow messing up my bike. last year's fiasco was the broken rear derailleur on the murrrcycle, thank god for the bike mechanic boyfriend at the time. so, tomorrow i will take the single speed over to my parents' neighbor who is always building, fixing, doing something to bikes, a cool french guy. he says he can help with the truing. i hope he's right. i am pretty positive the wheel isn't bent, but then again, i woke up with only one contact in my eye. where the hell did the other go? frankly, this seems to be the running theme of my life at the moment! let me get this wheel straightened out and maybe my life will straighten itself out too!

update!!!
came home tonight and inspected my wheel one last time before i took it over to be trued... yup sunlight, you do help one see. that's a nice crack right there on the rim. great, have to buy a new wheel....

35th!!!!!!! i rock!

yup! that's right yours truly ended up 35th in her fantasy tour de france league! check out the results over at simon lamb's marvelous cycling blog, la gazzetta della bici. i frankly find his blog to be one of the best cycling blogs on the internet, and he gets all this awesome schwag from pro cyclists. admittedly, i am a bit jealous too! hey, maybe i can get my baby daddy, andy schleck to send me his autograph! anyways, i am pretty excited about my fantasy team and it's placement, especially seeing how well i did in our huge league. i think our giro d'italia league was half the size! anyways, le tour ended and alberto contador proved himself to be a true champion. andy schleck came in second and truly earned his young rider's jersey. i really expect to see some amazing things out of him in the coming years!
so let's all get excited for the vuelta in august! i am excited to pick another fantasy team filled with my scientific choices. oooh, i think he is cute, like his team kit, wish i had that bike. it's worked for me so far as i have kicked simon's team's butt twice! we have a little competition between us for the vuelta. if he wins, i am sending him a vintage 70's campagnolo water bottle and a t-shirt with the dc flag! he can rock dc in london!

my new obsession...

is avoiding the bike shop. i love my bike, and i want to learn how it works all on my own. sure i own "zinn and the art of road bike maintenance" and have the park tools website bookmarked. i cleaned my drive train the other day. i was covered in grease and it felt soo awesome! why? i did it myself. the next day i went for a ride and my bike purred. ahhh, so that's what it sounds like when not covered in dirt. oh my god, it actually shifts nicely too! 0.o i take a bit of pride in owning a chain whip! i appreciate the specialized ruby elite (a.k.a. the murrrcyle) even more! it's my bike and i love it!

vacation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RHTiXvELNg

vacation all i ever wanted, vacation had to get away! ok, so after snowpocalypse 1 & 2, it's time to get out of dc!! my 29th birthday is coming up. gotta celebrate the last year of my twenties in style. miami here i come! no, it won't be for winter music conference. my twin is down there for a business trip and our best friend ly and colleen's partner in crime valicia will be joining. it's girls gone wild in miami without the flashing of our boobies for a free t-shirt. sorry guys! now, to only get through this weekend! gotta celebrate a good buddy's birthday on saturday. i can't wait!!! a shit show weekend, a few days of rest, a good bike ride in the down time, then a trip to miami! yay! i will report on this all later. :)

dc pride

yeah, i got the dc flag tattooed on me, and yes, it's a rather large tattoo. this was tattoo number five for me and probably one of my favorites. sure, it's simple, but it means so much. many people balk and wonder why i have the dc flag permanently on my body. well, i grew up here for one. yeah, i actually grew up in dc, brookland to be exact. it's a wonderful, quiet part of the city that has the nickname "little vatican" thanks to three catholic churches, two catholic colleges, a catholic grade school (mine!), and a smattering of religious houses and seminaries to name a few. i grew up fives houses away from the house my mom and uncle grew up in, so my grandparents lived there. even my great grandparents lived on the same block at one point. we utilized the park at the end of the block, and i spent my summers learning to play tennis and my autumns playing on the soccer team. brookland is a great neighborhood that seems to evolve silently while dc itself has changed so much.
so alas, i moved from brookland to dupont circle eight years ago. being raised a city girl, i love being in the middle of the action and walking distance to a ton of great destinations, restaurants, and bars. i have never owned a car and get around via bike, my feet, or public transportation. it's fantastic!
within the last couple of years, dc has seen a huge gentrification process. neighborhoods that were filled with poverty and blight are now home to expensive "lofts" and fancy restaurants. soon a whole breed of hipsters were filling the streets, many of them sporting dc flag tattoos and a great percentage of them new to dc from their suburban upbringing. for some reason, this kind of irked me. maybe because i endured years of people assuming you lived in the ghetto because of your address. i'm not going to lie, the playground was often littered with drug paraphernalia and used condoms, but you told your parents or the teacher, avoided those items, and continued to play hide and go seek. hey, it was dc in the eighties and early nineties, and we had our crackhead mayor for life, marion barry! by the way, the hbo documentary on him does an excellent job of capturing what dc was like during that period. screw the fact that the president lives here, we were known for crack and being the murder capital of the world, and i as i like to say we were the "capital of crack". i experienced these tumultuous times first hand, and it shaped me in to the person i am now; fearless, cynical, and the ability to laugh at even the worst situation. i love this city! there is so much beauty and history here. i find myself just taking in the people, sites, and smells whilst walking or biking. i love it here, and that is exactly why i chose to permanently put our flag on my body.