Road Riding in California

Thursday May 17, 2007 - 09:23pm (MDT)

Windy Los Olivos, CA

We are now in California wine country, most of our rides are on rolling roads through vineyards and horse farms. The next national series race is April 29th.

20th in NMBS #1 Phoenix, AZ

This was a very hot race on a fun course. The weather was perfect until 2 days before the race, then the temperature skyrocketed. The McDowell course is swoopy and flows well.

After the normal crazy start with 72 girls sprinting for single-track, we went entered ~5 wide, there was only room for 3, I almost went down twice but ended up in a good spot and hung onto a chase group for a little while. After the second lap Todd told me I was 24th, by the end of the third lap I had picked up 4 spots and was 2 seconds away from getting one more. I placed 20th out of 72. Good race.

Todd raced his first Expert race and placed mid-pack. So we both had a great day; hope we can keep it up. more NMBS#1 race info: Cycling News Story

View from the McDowell Course

Hanging out at the Venue, Phoenix AZ

Todd chilling out before the first National race. Our front yard Hanging out in our backyard Phoenix, AZ

View of the Fountain in Fountain Hills, AZ

New Shorts...

Tighten your pedals. My left pedal came off while I was hammering a flat section...

Parts for Sale March 04, 2007

Various parts for sale. I'll be putting them on ebay sometime soon, so let me know if you are interested. KristaParkMTB@yahoo.com

Power Tap SL Road Wheel: DT Swiss RR1.1 rim, computer and everything included. new, never used.

Brakes: 2006 Hope Mono Mini 160mm Rotors (and new brake pads).

Wheelset: ZTR Olympic disk rims with WTB Laser Disk Lite hubs.

Wheelset: ZTR 355 disk rims with WTB Laser Disk Lite hubs.

Road Pedals: Look KEO Sprint

Sidi Shoes size 40, Women’s: Black Dominator 5 (MTB), Rose Dominator 5 (MTB), Blue Genius 5 (Road).

Cassettes: DuraAce 9-speed 12-27, one brand new in box, second one was put on a bike but taken right off (I incorrectly ordered 9-speed instead of 10-speed).

V-Brake Levers: SRAM Speed Dial SL levers only (brand new in box).

Front Derailleur: XTR FD-M960 Top-Swing Dual-Pull Sizes 28.6/31.8 and 34.9mm (brand new in box).

Time Trial Bars: Syntace C2 Clip-on with aero bar Aerolink, used once. http://www.syntace.com/index.cfm?pid=3&pk=349

Jan 22, 2007 Snow in Tucson

Glad I don't have to ride today. Todd and I spent the last four days riding in the cold and rain. On our 2.5hour ride yesterday the rain turned to sleet then snow, it was 32 degrees and we were soaking wet (and almost frozen). We had to stop at the ranger's station to warm up, the ranger's station is only a five minute ride from our motor home but I couldn't make it.

It looked wonderful when we woke up, at 4:00am. I had to take Todd to the airport for a 6:30 flight. The entire town of Tucson was closed down because of snow and ice, we had to drive all the way through town. Every bridge, overpass and most on/off ramps were closed. That was fun, I felt like a mouse in a maze trying to get to the cheese.

The picture is a little dark, but I am headed back to bed and it will probably be melted by the time I wake up.

Jan 1st 2007 Leaving Santa Fe, NM. Headed back to Tucson, AZ

Shoveled out and ready to move. Chris and Todd did the shoveling, I am still "sick".

Christmas in NM

25 inches of snow in 48 hours. This picture was taken at 24 hours.

Dec 19th, I just finished a hard block of training. I took Ira to the airport, sent him to visit our sister in Texas. The plan was to leave for NM and park at Todd's Mom (Barbara) and stepDad (Chris)'s place. Chris had a spot all ready for us, he even cut trees so the motor home would fit.

A winter snowstorm hit right before I left Tucson. I took my time, waiting for the snow to melt on I-25. When the roads were clear I headed up to Santa Fe, but the city roads were completely snow packed and icy so I stayed at a RV resort on the edge of town. Todd had arrived from Baltimore the day before, it was nice to see him after three weeks.

Christmas was great. I had a good cold for two weeks, so could only do short easy rides on the trainer. Most of Todd's family still lives in Santa Fe. Mom and stepDad, Dad and stepMom, brothers and grandmas. His cousins from Texas and his brother and sister-in-law from LA were there to visit.

The big snowstorm hit the night of the 28th. ~15 inches. Todd swept all of the snow off of the roof. The dogs loved playing in the snow. It snowed all day and night; we ended up with a total of 25 inches. Todd swept the roof again, but was not quite as happy about it the second time. I was "sick" so didn't have to do anything. :)

The snow messed up the time I planned to visit my family in Albuquerque, I was able to see my Aunt Carolyn (Rusty), Uncle Jim and Grandma, but not my cousin. Grandma and Uncle Jim both shoveled a path from their front doors to the street for us. Go Grandma! My Grandparents full-time RV'd for six years, my Aunt and Uncle spend more than half their time RVing.