TGIF- 9/4/09

Labor day weekend- where has the summer gone? Hopefully a bunch of you are heading to the Bay Country Century tomorrow- ABRT has been putting that event on for years and they do an awesome job every time. I'd go myself but ... well, I'm kinda looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Vacation last week was much needed and exactly what the dr. ordered. On a whim, I went to Charlotte, NC, my favorite city in the US so far. (my caveat is that I haven't seen the west coast yet so it is "so far"). With a little research, I found Crowders Mtn State Park, where I spent 5 hours hiking one day and another couple hours cycling the next.

After refocusing and conquering a few mountains, I met up with Zim to head to Nashville, where we found ourselves at the Wildhorse Saloon, watching the Charlie Daniels Band. It was probably one of the best shows I've seen. I was raised on old country music and Charlie was old when I was young, so it was super cool to see him hit the stage with more energy than most performers I've seen.

We took a trip down to Memphis where we got to see Graceland - anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of Elvis, so this was kinda a big deal to me. I was worried that it'd be super tacky but it was actually really well-done. I'm glad I went.

Zim and I spent the evening on Beale Street at the Rum Boogie Cafe. This is the place where national acts often randomly appear to jam on stage - they have a great display of guitars from artists who have performed there - Hootie, DMB, Aerosmith, AC/CD, Stevie Ray Vaughn ... very cool. There was a great blues band playing so we just enjoyed the atmosphere and people watching.

We started the next day by sharing mimosas at the Peabody Hotel, watching the marching of the ducks. I must be the only person that didn't know about this ... but in case you don't, here's a link to info.

All in all, it was a great week and a much needed break from the world. I managed to avoid the phone, emails and most text messages for almost 7 days ... that in itself is a novel idea.

Click on the photos above to link to my picasa album with more pics from the week ... happy to be back but really, really glad that I had the experience.

Happy Friday, ya'll ... enjoy the holiday.

TGIF 8/21/2009

It's tough to follow up the last blog, especially since I don't have more embarrassing pictures (at least none that I'm willing to post). The responses to that write-up and, more importantly, the actual event, have been hilarious - thank you !

Random ramblings:

I received an email with various witty, sarcastic statements about life and how the general public sucks ... usually that's right up my alley - until I ran into the statement "When I'm a pedestrian, I hate cars, when I'm in a car, I hate pedestrians. No matter what, I hate cyclists." Grr...

I've had several "car" incidents lately. I try to be a conscientious rider, especially when I'm in my kit (my sponsors will never get a call about me running a red light). My teammates will attest that they've heard me tell them "Don't even THINK about doing that in MY jersey" enough times to be annoying. If I'm going straight, riding in my lane with a green light, why would the arse-hole decide to turn left in front of me, pausing long enough as I slam on my brakes to give me the finger ? For whatever reason, that really hurt my feelings. Oh, I know, I'm tougher than that, but honestly, why ??

Big shout out, lotsa luv and luck to superstar Leslie, who is on her way out to Masters World Championships this week ... she's been on fire this year and I can't wait to see her show her stuff over there.

Congratulations to Jason Merdhott (Meidhoff), the newest National Champion on the Track in the 3k. He has been saying he wanted to win that race for months and damn if he didn't get it done. here's a pic that his honey sent out - nothing but smiles !

(sorry, I dont know who to credit for this photo ... if it's yours, speak up!)

Good luck to the DC Velo guys tomorrow in their final event ... and Good luck to all of you doing Church Creek. That's all I've got for today- Happy Friday !

The Shellfish Girls

What started as a "how funny would it be" phone call somehow morphed into a full-blown costume party for me and Zim. There was really no rhyme or reason for the costumes, which made it even more amusing.
Zim and PJ hamming it up. (c'mon, that's funny!)

You can barely see my good friend Billy in the BBC kit behind Robin - he deadpanned "Wendy, I'm glad to see you're finally coming out of your shell"

Bob, the Fiddler, was extremely entertained by the dancing shellfish ... and we were thankful for music for heckle-by.
You can find these photos, along with results, at the Chesapeake Wheelmen website.

Our costumes invited many interesting comments ... some of the more memorable ones:

• Crab telling a passerby "Man, I'm steamed".
• Me loudly asking Robin why she was always so crabby
• Walking by a confused group of people, asking where the Bay was. They responded by actually pointing in the general direction of the Bay.
• Being asked if we were getting paid for this, and whether we do this at ALL the races.
• Getting a suggestion that we should stick around because there was a bike race getting ready to start (uhm... did they think we dressed up as shellfish on a regular basis just for the fun?)
• A woman telling us not to listen if a man suggested that we had good pot-holders (?)
• Watching Chicken shake her head as she slowly realized that the two shellfish on the course were, indeed, her friends/teammates. She managed to comment "I don't even know what to say" as we chased her up the final pitch in the course.
• Various exclamations that we were cracking each other/everyone else up
• Crab running along side cyclists encouraging them to "Claw their way up the hill."
• Commentary that those riders who veered to the other side of the road when passing us must have shellfish allergies
• A comment to the Lobster that she had a great tail

Thanks to Chesapeake Wheelmen, who didn't throw us off the course, to Bob the fiddler, who put up with our antics and to the riders, who did all of the real work and didn't necessarily hate us. Big thanks to those who let us know that they appreciated our entertainment - it was one of the funniest experiences I've had in a long time.

Since the CW didn't know who we were, we are now known as either the "Shellfish girls" or the "Crab girls". I suppose I've been called worse !

Other big news: I am now cast-free !!! It came off yesterday morning and I officially removed the bar-tape from my car's steering wheel on my way back from the Dr ... fully recovered, just need to work out the stiffness from being in one position for 12-weeks.