Kayak Adventure in the South American Desert

I don't usually see "Kayak Adventure" and "Desert" in the same sentence...

My friend Wendy M. called me tonight to tell me that a video of her National Geographic trip from a couple of years ago is up on the msn.com video page today. She didn't realize it was up there, she ran across it. I can't get to the URL of the specific video to post it here. Here is the general video page if anyone is interested.

Right now (Tuesday night) it's in the Most Watched column, called "Kayak Adventure: South American Desert - National Geographic"

The site has thumbnails of some of the videos. This one is the third thumbnail under Most Watched, which is in the right hand column. You can see a tiny pic of a lake, mountains in the background, and a red kayak. They don't mention her by name in the video, but she has blonde hair and is in a yellow kayak. At times they haul their kayaks across the desert on little carts with wheels. You can see her pulling hers.

The scenery is unusual and looks a little other-worldly. They are in a part of South America called the "Altiplano", a "massive volcano-studded plain" in Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Peru. The narrator says that NASA researchers think that a portion of it is the part of the Earth most similar to Mars.

She said she's not able to save it on her computer and asked me to save it to mine if I could. Does anyone know how to do this with an MSN video using the Safari browser? I couldn't get it to even play with Firefox, so that won't work.

Time to go hit the elliptical trainer. I need to get to the gym before it closes. Hard to motivate when it's like 10 degrees out.

Cruzin' Coolers... um, a new level of race support

I just read an article in the Sunday Tribune about Cruzin' Coolers. How funny. A motorized cooler with wheels that you can ride and steer. 15 mph around the WORS parking lot, can hold up to a 450 lb person! (sitting on top, not inside!!) Engineered for Clydes!

My first thought was, do they have an off-road version? Sure enough, the article said they will eventually have an off-road version. No more dragging coolers into the woods during the long expert races? Maybe just in time for WORS and better yet, WEMS? A whole new dimension in race support?

Hmmm, are those young bottle hander-uppers Russell talks about in his blog old enough to drive a cooler?

I think they are like, $500, so you better have good cooler sponsorship.

What's next, cooler races?

Sssssilverrrrr at Worlds!!

Congrats to all of our U.S. Cross team for their great showing at CX Worlds!!

There are some sweet Graham Watson pics (as well as articles on all of the races) on the VeloNews site.

The VeloNews article on the men's race calls Jonathan Page (who got second) "the greatest cyclocross racer that the U.S. has ever produced". You can read about Katie Compton (who also got second!) and see pics here.

The Xgames are on this weekend. Me, I'm a bit of Shaun White fan. Besides how good he is, I loooove that mop of red hair! Superpipe tonight, I think.

McDreamy on a bike...

Sooo, I was looking at People mag at the gym on the elliptical trainer. Yeah, I admit it. Probably even worse was the moronic MTV show that was on the TV .... but anyway, in the photo section there was a pic of Patrick Dempsey, who Grey's Anatomy fans know as "McDreamy". He rides!! Well, maybe he does.... he's got the gear....which doesn't necessarily mean anything....

He was on a Specialized Roubaix red and white road bike with what looked like SRAM Rival components (hard to tell in the pic) and had his white Specialized bike shoes on but no helmet. Probably because he was on a little ride with his young daughter, who has training wheels on her pink bike with pink tires and a white basket. Her helmet was tipped way back off her forehead just the way they tell you not to wear it...in typical little-kid fashion.. but at least she was wearing one. It looked like it's HIS helmet, actually! He was wearing a jersey with arm warmers and a black specialized vest over the jersey, and black Puma track pants with a stripe down the side of the leg. And a black beanie on his head.

Those white hood covers Rachael has on her blog would look really good on his red and white bike!

Thought Grey's Anatomy fans would want to know!

January stuff

I just downloaded some pics from my little pocket camera. These three are pics from a gathering at Brian's a few weeks ago. At the end of the evening I was talking to Brian and Kristin and we realized that we were the only people there who weren't moving away in the next few months. One of the most discouraging things about living here is that so many friends eventually move away in search of a better cycling (or outdoors in general) lifestyle. Some move for jobs too, of course. I am still not used to it, even though it happens like clockwork. Maybe it's different outside of cycling. I guess I need to get to know a few couch potatoes!! Elizabeth just moved to Santa Cruz a couple of weeks ago for a job at the university, so she was the first to go. Lee just got his PhD and has alot of research options, including Europe, and will be leaving soon for somewhere. I hope it works out that he and Elizabeth end up in the same place! Craig and Kristine are headed back to Boulder in April, now that Kristine is done with med school. That night Craig and Kristine had just driven through the super-nasty Colorado/Nebraska snowstorm and subsequent power outage (no running water or power at their motel and for the next two hours on the road!) and came straight to the party instead of stopping at home first! Noah may be headed for Colorado as well.


CP was in town from L.A. with his friend Molly. He didn't get to come home for Christmas cuz he was working on a show, so that was his "Christmas" weekend with his folks in mid-January. It was great to see him and meet Molly. In the midst of the L.A. film industry craziness he found a really cool down-to-earth girlfriend. Good to see Laura and his old bandmate Bill (Roller Coaster!) too. Some of our old bike racer crowd got together the night before that at Opart Thai (sp?) in Lincoln Square - it was so much fun to see those guys again - it made me really long for the old days.... (unfortunately didn't get a pic of that.)


This pic was taken at a women's cycling dinner last weekend. This bunch was among the last to leave - there were alot more people there earlier. Everyone there got an award - a small prize thought up by Francine, based on something she knew about the person. Like the "energizer bunny" person's award would be batteries, and the "nervous nellie's" award would be something to calm her down.... and so on.... Thanks to Francine and everyone else who helped her organize this!

Good Luck in Belgium!

Good Luck to Tristan and all of the U.S. riders at Cyclocross Worlds in Belgium this weekend!!!

Bumped

So, it turns out Chris Carmichael got bumped from the Today show on Monday. They are moving his segment to some other day. My friend thinks it will probably be January 30th.

Training Secret?

Mountain bike legend Ned Overend, with Suzette Ayotte, marketing director for fi'zi:k saddles (and race volunteer), right after he ripped the legs off the other guys in his age group to win the 50-54 men's race at Cross Nats in December.

Seems like everyone is talking about their 2007 training programs on their blogs. Maybe some of them even got some cool stuff for Christmas that is helping them in their training. One training and riding related book that I have been meaning to get for a long time is Ned Overend's "Mountain Bike Like a Champion". I put it on my Christmas list but didn't get it. Looking through my cross nats photos, however, I think I may have discovered his training secret, the one that isn't in the book!! Think how much lighter and faster you would feel in races if you trained with a friend on your handlebars! Maybe it explains the incredible bike-handling skills as well??

Today Show on Monday Jan 22

Chris Carmichael is supposed to be on the Today show tomorrow morning (9 or 9:30?? on a 7 - 10 am show) talking about his new book and DVD, for those of you who might be interested. My friend Tawnya produced the training DVD he will be introducing on the show! She is pretty excited about it. If you are near a TV Monday morning (Jan 22) check it out. I think it's on NBC.

What you didn't know about Spiders

A week ago I got an email with a link to a video about the Effects of Drugs and Alcohol on Spider Webs. I sent it to a bunch of friends, some of whom found it hilarious.

One of my friends just wrote me back saying that the video came in really handy. She is training to be a doctor and she was at work at the hospital and one of the attending physicians started quizzing her on the effects of drug use. They had a patient who was "on everything" that day. She had just watched this video and was able to answer his questions!

So I figured I would share it, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, or haven't done their own "research":
Effects of Drugs and Alcohol on Spider Webs

This is my first attempt at putting a link in a post, so bear with me if it doesn't work right!

Singing snowmen

The holidays seem so long ago. In trying to get some Nats pics up, I didn't get any up from the holidays. So here are a few...


One of the highlights of the holidays was spending time with this little guy!

The snowmen were at my sister's friend's parents' new condo across from the Chicago Cultural Center. The view was amazing, although you couldn't see all of it at night. I'd love to see it in the day. We could see the EL tracks below and the trains rounding the bend, the Bean and the skating rink in Millenium Park, and a beautiful skyline with lights sparkling. People were shooting pics of the Bean in the dark, which was kind of funny. The flash would probably just reflect right back at them from the shiny bean surface. You could see random flashes popping in the dark from way above. That and the skaters on the luminescent rink made for a interesting effect. The snowmen were pretty cute - you would press a button and one would start singing and playing the piano. I tried to press the buttons on both at the same time so they were in sync, but they were timed slightly differently so one was always a little ahead of the other. And Jordan kept pressing the buttons before I did, anyway. After a few minutes of snowman cuteness, however, I wished there was an off button!!


Caught red-handed? He is just getting old enough to understand the presents under the tree thing! Among other things he got a train set from Santa, er, make that Auntie Santa, which we had a lot of fun with the next day....


T came into town from Boulder on her way to her Dad's and some of us got together. We started at a local restaurant, but there was a pipe that started leaking above the restaurant. Water started dripping, then pouring, through the ceiling. That made us just a little nervous so we moved on to the Firehouse. I made sure to get the sweet hand-chalked Fat Tire Ale sign over the bar when I took the picture.

T got Sirius radio in her car the day before she left Boulder. She drove all the way here without stopping to even take a nap, courtesy of Sirius. Everytime she was going to stop and rest, a good song came on, so she kept driving!

more to come....

The Ukelele Lady

The Ukelele Lady asked me to take her picture at Nats. She even had pre-printed slips with her email on them so people could send her pics. She told me that she was protesting being a cycling widow alone on race weekends with three kids! She hung out by the Clif run-up singing and strumming protest songs when the racers came through. It was decent weather, but not that warm!! Brrr!

More Midwest Riders at CX Nats

Renee Callaway, of MadCross fame, racing in her women's masters race on Friday Dec. 15th. Renee organized a dinner at Nats for Midwest riders, which was a great idea. Her husband Dave raced too, but I don't have a pic of him racing.


Chris Strout of the Pony Shop putting in a strong showing in his masters race, on the Clif run-up. He also raced in the Elite race the next day.


Kurt Refsnider, now a Boulder resident, formerly of Wisconsin. He raced once on Saturday and twice on Sunday, for a total of THREE races over the course of the weekend!


Marcie Weiss and Sarah Huang did a great job in the junior events. I think Sarah got a gold medal in her age group.


Rich Weiss, Marcie's dad, was the Official Big Cheese (Chief Commissaire) of the race!!


Chris Dimmick, of Turin, who somehow found the energy to ride in his masters race AND work with the race organizers running the show all weekend!


Gene Beil, Chris D's teammate, who also raced and worked all weekend.


Ryan O'Connor, former SRAM employee and former local fast guy. He would use his mt bike skills to bunny-hop the barriers in the lakefront cross races. We would stand there just watching him hop. It was great to see him - it's been years!

The Mushy Food Diet

I am home today recovering from oral surgery. No workouts for a few days, and nothing but soft mushy foods. I miss crunchy foods already. So maybe I can finally get the last of the Nats pics posted, since I have a little more time. I am supposed to be icing my face every 15 minutes to keep the swelling down. I guess it's time to see if I can ice and type simultaneously!

Last February after my first gum surgery I lost 10 lbs in a week during the "mushy" food stage where I couldn't eat much. I don't think I worked out for a week, either. I was allowed to start again on the 5th day after the surgery, but I just didn't feel like it. I took antibiotics for a month after both the February surgery and the May surgery because things were a bit infected and weren't healing the way they were supposed to. The May surgery was to fix something that didn't go right in February. I did Alpine Valley a week and a half after the one in May. This may just be making excuses, but I really feel like my struggles with racing last year and decrease in fitness over 2005 have alot to do with my body struggling to recover and with taking antibiotics twice for a month at a time. I tried hard to get it all done in the winter before race season, but it didn't work out that way!

Eating nothing but mushy foods for a long time drove me crazy. Texture is so important in food! I couldn't have nuts, chips, or anything with seeds. I think this time around I will be able to eat normally sooner, since this one was less extensive than the last ones.

Belgium Bound!

The Clif Run up at the Elite race at Nationals in December 2006.

I read that Tristan Schouten got picked for the Cyclocross World's Team! That's really exciting. I bet his team managers and sponsors are pretty happy, too. Congrats and Good Luck to Tristan!

Lots of us WORS and 'Cross riders will be rooting for him to tear it up in Belgium.

Missed It

Well, Iceman is not a niceman this week. I am pretty mad at myself. A week or so ago I asked a friend to remind me to sign up for Iceman on January 1st. I had thought about it several times in December but wasn't sure I'd remember on Jan. 1....

I totally forgot about it when New Year's Eve and then New Year's Day finally rolled around. Arrrgh. She remembered it on Wednesday when she was talking to a friend about wanting to get into Leadville.... and she texted me. I went to the web site, but by then it was too late. Sold Out. I'm not sure when it filled up, Monday or Tuesday, or early Wednesday, but I missed it. I missed out in 2006 too, and didn't end up getting an entry through WORS either.

Thanks to T for reminding me, even if it was too late! I am not in the habit of registering for Iceman - it's just not wired into my brain the way Chequamegon is.

Good Luck!

Good Luck to Chris tomorrow on his first day at World Bicycle Relief!


Chris in his masters age group race at Nats.

More Elite Women

Sam Schneider in the elite race. She got second in her junior age group race on Saturday.


Catherine Walberg in the elite race. She won her masters age group race on Friday. The announcers at Nats didn't seem to know during staging of the masters race that she was a strong contender, but I could have told them that she probably would win her race! She always does well at Chequamegon. I think she got third there this year.

Cowbells for Katie

Now it's time to see some pics of the elite women at Cross Nationals! (see previous posts for some pics of the elite men's podium, start, etc.)

Note: There are Five pictures in this post, but for some reason when I view the post they get compressed and I can only see three. I can see a sliver of the missing ones and I can still click on the sliver to see them full size. Anyone know why? Did I post too many?

Katie Compton was unstoppable, which was no surprise!

I got to meet and briefly talk to Katie a couple of years ago when she was at a benefit for the velodrome. The film "Pure Sweet Hell" was shown as the main attraction of the benefit. She struck me as really down to earth and friendly, pretty low key. She obviously can call up her ferocious side when she wants to, though, because she was on fire at Nationals!

A friend of mine was fortunate enough to have her as a coach when my friend was training megamiles for Tour of Hope. My friend trained really hard that summer and got super strong, with Katie's help.

Happy New Year!

I'm hoping 2007 will be a great year. Happy New Year to all!