Back 2 Burnaby

What is it about Canadian men???….all are good looking, funny, helpful, relaxed, quietly talented, and tolerant of my unending questions. I LOVE CANADA, eh!

Focus Kele Focus..Ok, yea, I was gonna talk about the racing, RIGHT!..
(PLEASE NOTE, I'M TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO USE PAINT, SO CLICK ON THE PHOTO AND THEY BECOME MORE CLEAR)
ok so I met Jen at her house (Jennifer Tripplett...not sure which letter there is doubled..who rides for Gregg’s) about 2:30..and head up north in the rain, and traffic. My trusty bladder asked me to stop after a couple hours..and we pulled over at a Rest Area..and check out this tree...




No that’s Jen, the tree is behind her (just kidding Jen, you don’t really look like a tree). Just imagine that’s how big they were..man what have we done to our environment??


Anyway, we make it to the track about 6:30...and being such a Fred...it takes me a good hour to get my gears/wheels/bars/head adjusted and ready to ride..

Finally I’m riding and Jen leads me in a few flying 2oo m (from speed, you do one lap fast...you go from the top of the track down to the inside..cause that’s the fastest..but I’m not so good at it..YET) At this point it’s now about 8pm, and I’m starting to loose motivation. I had been instructed to do a structured warm up, w/ 2 2oo m jumps, 2 flying 500 m timed, a 2k effort, and starts...so I was a BIT behind..but there was NO way..so I decided just to do a 2k effort.

It went well, I guess, there were ppl on the track, and I was surprised how much less freaked out I was once I knew the clock was running..but I was still about 4 seconds slower that what I need to do in LA..and 4 seconds is a lifetime when you are talking about a 2:34min effort.

My lungs, about uprooted from my chest..and lucky me I now have the Grandma Smoker’s hack for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday of Racing
Today we started w/ the 200 m sprints...so they time your 200 m and then the top 12 move on to compete in match sprints. And what do ya know, I was 13th..DAMNIT! I missed all these races (ok, like 2). So most of the morning, I watched everyone ELSE race (not one of my favorite things to do..BTW!)

This guy below...poor thing...became my 'go to' guy for all my questions...about saddle ht, riding the black line, bumping, raising my bars...he was extremely helpful, and knowledgeable...then I find out he's the multi-multi time medalist sprinter...man, I'm sure I sounded like an IDIOT...oh well, my instincts sent me to the right guy!! Thanks for all your help, Keith!!












Then we had the Kerin...w/ a guy on a bike as the motor (in a Kerin, it’s a 8 lap race..the first 5 is behind a ‘motor’, so it paces you up to speed..then pulls off and the last 3 laps are a match sprint for whomever crosses the line first). In one of the final on Sunday, the guy closest to the bottom of the track started too early and crashed into the ‘motor’ guy..and took him out for the rest of the day (apparently totally his frame)...not sure how that happened.

Seems like there were an awful lot of crashes this weekend..pretty much every type of race we did someone crashed (of the 3 groups racing, A/B/Cs). If I didn’t know better, I’d think they have a large population of SKETCHASAURIS'S here in Burnaby!!! I almost went down once, in a snowball race..no Chrissy we weren’t racing snowballs..This guy went down on uptrack from me, so I had to drop down off track..and for someone who’s not real sure about racing track that was REALLY scary..but I held it up (not the snowball) and kept the rubber side down!!

But, let’s talk about these fans!! Man we had a packed house on Sat…I could barely hear myself think…












Sunday, was a little more reasonable!














Jen, had a good weekend of racing…

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She really gives it her all!!!













So, did I mention the announcer…he was a riot..good ol’ Canadian humor…and he knew just enough about each rider to mention some humorous/condescending/embarrassing information about them throughout the weekend (I escaped w/ only having the fact I was wearing the kit of my Defunct Ford-Basis team, and getting the award for the most contorted face during a long solo effort in the final scratch race). But poor Mike ‘Hamburger’…this guy apparently holds the Guinness Book World record for eating a hamburger the size of a barstool (including bun and order of fries)…and we got to hear all about that…and THEN apparently, Mike is going for another title with Cheesecake..right after the races on Sunday…and although we all were invited, I should really be getting home…but, man it would be awesome to watch a healthy person try to consume 11 POUNDS of cheese cake in under 9min…sorry I have to miss it! Good luck Mike!!













Jen and I are thinking of going out for the Sonics Cheerleading squad…unfortunately the picture of me tossing Jen, from a perfect basket toss into an inverted one-legged superman tuck…didn’t turn out.











On Sunday, Heather VanVerbensomethingDutch, Jen, and I did the team sprints…well, they did well as a team…I never quite caught on! You all three start together, as seen below…







Then each person does one lap as hard as they can…to try and get the fastest time as a whole. I mistakenly ‘waited’ for Jen..then she came bolting by me, and I never got on her wheel…it was fairly comical…but Jen and Heather did great…

That's a wrap on the weekend. I'm headed to LA Monday....I'll let you know about that adventure soon!!

Sticky Situation

So, last week I went to Ryan Millers’ house to do a wkt…apparently he wanted to make sure I was ‘doing them right’…First thing he has me do, after the warm up, OF COURSE…is ‘Go all out for 30 seconds’…and he’s got a stopwatch..and my PowerTap is telling him how hard I’m going…so when he says go…I GO FREAKIN’ BALISTIC…Ryan stifles a laugh when I’m done, and suggests maybe I back off a little on the next one. Funny thing though…my forearm was really hurting, like I pulled a muscle from yanking on my bars so hard…and it kept bothering me through the 5x3 (or 4) min efforts he had me do.

So, ever since my arm has REALLY been bothering me. I called Peter Schsomething…the acupuncturist/herbal medicine guru that works at Inewmed…and has spent several hours listening to my stories from bowel to emotional health…looking for help for my arm, because it was getting very difficult to hold my pursuit bars due to pain/numbness/weakness of my R hand/arm.

And, seeing as I was really amp’ed about my upcoming Talent Pool Qualifier in LA..he got aggressive for me. Wanna see???
(First, I must tell you..he took like 20shots, but must have deleted most of them due to lacking artistic qualities…but you get the idea)










The white machine thing is a infra-red heater upper…to REALLY get my Chi movin’.







Most people’s first question is…’Did it hurt?’…when the more appropriate question may be ‘Did it help?’…but whatever, the answer is HELL YEA, to both!

Being smack dab in the middle of the western, insurance driven, medicine I don’t know much about acupuncture, nor have I had much done..but this made a significant difference in pain/strength/ROM/decreased numbness in my arm…but after the treatment (lasting about 30min) I left feeling a little ‘off’ for the rest of that day.

Now, it’s been week since my first acupuncture appointment w/ Peter (I had one more)…and the symptoms have remained lessened…even after a weekend of racing the track, w/ many hard efforts involving pulling on the bars.

Inewmed is this sweet, new age-esque, natropathic/herbal medicine-ic/cutting edge alternative health-ic….place…in downtown Seattle (www.inewmed.com)…
















For some of you die hard fans, you’ll remember an entry about the SUPER FUN lactic acid test (not to be confused w/ a V02 max test) David Jordan did w/ me in like Aug/Sept…and Peter and Dr. Pettis took blood/urine samples to really see what I’m made of….then compiled all the data and had me start taking liquid Vit/Minerals, Chinese Herbs, and a few other supplements I can’t remember the names of (glutimine/glutathione…maybe), and 15min of head stands 3x day to build me back up…just kidding about the head stands part…

I must say, I feel better than I have in years…just cleaner, clearer, fresher…it’s hard to objectify (ie DESCRIBE)….I just feel good. Now, if I can just race fast too…that will be the kickeroooski-ronie!

Catching up

So, in the morning, this is how I put my makeup on!!





You should see the eyeliner.....














This is Mike's favorite Cereal....














Look!! Mike put up a shelf for our drippy, nasty jackets!














On new years day...Mike and I went to the Imax theater...and watched "Wired to Win" (if you're a cyclist, there's not enough about the Tour...more about neuroanatomy)...the Imax is at the Seattle center...and there are dinosaurs in the water.

















Earlier, on New Year's Day...I worked with these distinguished gentelmen...the man on his feet and the man on his right were both bomber pilots WWII...the one closest to the camera in the bars is a Pediatric Doctor (94 years old)...and the guy across from him was a printer who remember the day when they had to set all the text...and now it's all computers....But my job is to make sure they get stronger so they can get back to thier families...











I'm getting more comfortable on my rollers:

If you can't read it it says "This is so easy, I'm whistling Dixie"..mild understatement







This one says something about my bad position...my elbow should be under my shoulder joint...notice it's about 6inches IN FRONT OF IT..oops

Picture this....

Ok, so today we have a test. Mike's Treo phone, verses my new Nikon XKLJ-50pjwrxt PRO digital camera.

Mike's camera on his Treo (he'd like all to know he has NO flash) took the below picture:













My camera took this one:













We are at Panera eating way too much, and enjoying the free wi fi....wanna see what we ate














That's all for now...going to work then to the Imax for a movie about the Tour (Wired to Win)!!

I've got the best Best Friend

Oh, I love the Christmas holidays....especially when you get gifts AFTER it's supposably all over...Look what my Best Friend gave me...again remember I LOVE anything w/ bikes on it....










It's a piggy bank...it's so cute!! It has the saying Mike is always drilling into my head...how did she know I needed help saving money, now it will be a sinch!! Thanks so much Nat it's awesome!





Here's me and Nat at my wedding. We've been best friends since sophomore year of high school. She now is married with three beautiful children. He husband and she met their Junior year of high school...it's a cool story, high school sweethearts and all...only in the midwest!


Anyway, she's been a great friend over the many, many years....thanks so much for the special piggy bank...I'll start saving for my next bike with it!

Dinner with friends

Merry Christmas and Hanukkah or just Dec 25th to All!!






Here we are (well, I'm taking the picture) at Sharon Ceaser's house for Christmas dinner. It was great to meet new people, connect with a family....seeing as Mike and I don't have family in the area.

Rollin' with it....

Ok, so I've been doing some track related workouts...and today was my first attempt at the rollers, on my TT bike, in my bars....and I was supposed to do 3x 10 min high spin...yet there was never a 10min segment that I didn't fall off the rollers.



Mike thought he would document this monumental day.

Small beginings.....

To get our gift exchange started, Mike told me he wanted to start small...and he had me intrigued....until I realized it was a paper clip..

Happy Holidays to all!!

God Jul!

On Christmas Eve in Sweden you do all the celebrating...the big dinner, open all the gifts, etc..so lucky for me...we opened our gifts one day early.

The big dinner was pretty simple. Turkey roast, cranberry sauce, Quinoa, Veggies, Pumpkin Pie (under loads of Whipped Cream, Egg Nog Flavored whipped cream, and for Mike Ice Cream too)...coffee, more egg nog, chocolates.....all in all a great Christmas dinner!
As seen below (you may recognize this pose from our Thanksgiving photo...very similar)

Fancy Feast

When I came home from work on Wed....Mike had dinner ready...from the left it was steak, steamed veggie, and Quinoa...WOW...too bad I'd already eaten...

So this was the picture he emailed me w/ his phone saying.."All this work, and you're not gonna eat"....ooops...at least it was a well balanced/healthy meal!! That he got to enjoy, and enjoy.

(so this is what I blog about when not much is happening in my life)

More early Christmas presents!!

After my very touching morning last week, I was bound and determined to show Mike my appreciation for him...in the only way I know how...BIG PRESENTS...so what if I have to buy his love...it's love none the less!!

So, I braved the mall and got him a Treo 650 PDA/phone , that has more bells and whistles, I couldn't even turn it on. This is on Sunday afternoon....and I just couldn't keep my awesome secret...so whilst writing Christmas cards (that have NO chance of making it to our loved ones BEFORE the holiday) at Starbucks...I ran out to my car, grabbed the phone from the trunk...and gave it to Mike (under protest, by him)...I was so excited, because I knew how much he wanted it, and would have NEVER bought it for himself...that's what Christmas is all about right?? Or was it something about some baby, and some wise guys....oh well, back to us...So here is the first photo from his new phone...




Although we look Jaudice here, it's just the lack of a flash that makes us look yellow, not pickeled livers (yet):o)

Then, on Monday we get a LARGE box from my Mom (and I had recieved a voicemail from her earlier that day w/ instructions to open the box when I recieved it)...and inside was this SWEET wreath made from a bike wheel...and SHE MADE IT!! I absolutely love it...wanna see??






Mom's always know right? She knows I'm koo-koo for anything w/ a bike on it, or silver....and this one is both..and I love that she made it. She got the wheel from a donation to the local shop in Wichita, Kansas where I was a bike mechanic for a summer back in the day...Thanks MOM, we'll use it every year!! What a perfect gift, and EARLY just the way I like it!

Early Christmas present!!

This morning, Mike gave me a gift that is timeless and priceless!

We were eating breakfast, watching the news...and Mike reached out for my hand and said, "Do you ever feel like you're so happy, you're gonna burst?!!"....I am such a lucky girl. What a great Christmas present!! Man oh man, whew...never thought I could have such a great guy!!!

So let's lighten this up...with some Funny pictures of my bugger...




Mike's (age 25) "Blue Steel"....and if you can see the temporary tatoo his roomate at the time drew, says 'Kele'

Let the Holiday parties begin.....

Tonight was our annual Christmas party for Lake Vue Gardens. We have over 200 employees and the ones that actually COME to the Christmas party are the ones who've been there a long time (or just like free food, and a slim chance to win stuff you would never buy).

Here Tara, Kari, Dada, and I are getting 'caught' up on any new juice...














Next we try to look more civilized.....











Kari, soakin up the spotlight as she does a solo dance....














Mike and I all cleaned up.....














It was fun to see everyone 'out of uniform', and gettin loose! But I bought these shoes for this dress...and man oh man, I don't know how women do it....they hurt so bad...I made Mike take this picture as soon as we got home....so everyone can empithze w/ me about HIGH they were. I made Mike walk around the garage in them...and almost split my dress laughing so hard...but he needs to understand what we go through (and luckily, we have similar sized feet).

Stitch and Bitch

Oh yea, I've gone and 'done it' now!! I'm throwin' in the towel on my 20s....I had a knitting party (well, does 5 people qualify as a 'Party')!! I know, it's strange for me...but I'm cross training right???









I just don't know what's gotten into me lately. But, knitting w/ friends sounded fun. A great excuse to have 'the girls' over and shoot the breeze. And possibly learn that family skill that all the elder females in my family have mastered...KNITTING!









Well, let me tell you....it's harder than it looks when Grandmother does it!! Jeez Liouse....there were more holes in my 'scarf' than Mike's socks!! And after 3 hrs of training, whining, unraveling.....and the first person had to leave....my yarn was still on the needel....because I kept pulling it off cause it was so ugly!! But, never fear...I'm gonna master this stupid skill!! If it KILLS me!!!

Oh, Mike did it too! and before I let his look better than my 15 attempts I stole my needles back.....I just wanted him to be cute and try, not SHOW ME UP!!

Back to my roots

Mike and I went to PCC (a local co-op, 'natural market' today.....we're turning into hippies....we bought Quinoa, steel cut oats, wild rice, ORGANIC hummus, PLAIN ORGANIC yogurt, seasime sticks, cage free eggs, couscous, sprouted grain bread....you get my drift....a new experience for me.
I've been avoiding this my entire adult life...I always thought new-age hippies were 'snobby' w/ thier 'organic' this and that, smelling of BO and pa-chew-ly...and here I am rubbin elbows w/ them at the grocery store.

My parents were 'stinky hippies' as seen below


Yea, that me...the bald one!







Most our food was from the farm, Mom had a huge garden, we had fresh meat, and milk. Mom wouldn't let us eat processed foods, I remember having to put wheat germ on my no sugar cereal...w/ Ovalteen on the holidays. Mom used to make her own bread, yougurt, and cloth...yea that's right...she had one of those HUGE looms that took up an entire room...

Enough walkin down memory lane...but I am joining my sister's good habits of low/no sugars, minimal processing, but LOTS of flavor type foods!!! We'll see how it works!