This past week however, and increasingly in the past few months, I have been on the road for work – which has been AWESOME! Give me a laptop and an air-card and call me productivity! What sane cyclist wants to be in Phoenix in the summer anyways?

I returned today from Temecula, and while I don’t think its quite Napa, the riding was awesome and the weather was spectacular – 95 and sunny! The roads were rolling to downright mountainous, there was little traffic in the rural regions and best of all, there was SHADE!

I had never heard anything good about the Inland Empire but I am sold on the plethora of excellent riding!

This morning may have been the best of them all. Barely above the horizon line, the sun shone through the foggy vineyards like something out of a movie, and I quickly found myself lost in my ride. Then I realized, disappointed, I hadn’t visited any of the aforementioned vineyards. I’ve decided on my first trip back, I’ll try this one, but only to compare a glass of its finest to the sweet taste of ascending its namesake!

Looking forward to AZ State TTT this weekend! That’s it from the road for now, ride hard, be happy

Via Cyclelicio.us

We started Owen on the Specialized Kid’s Hotwalk.

He got his balance bike when he was 2 1/2.  It took about a week to convince him to get on it, but once he did it only took a couple of days for him to get the hang of it.  He was cruising around the neighborhood with his feet high in the air, jumping curbs, and going off road in no time!

A balance bike is a kid’s bike without training wheels or pedals.  The idea is that balance is the key to riding – if they learn balance, adding pedals is pretty simple – no training wheels required.  Here’s the part where I admit I didn’t believe it would actually work.  He learned the balance quickly, but you see much older kids out there who can’t ride without training wheels – could it really be possible a 2 year old (2 3/4 by the time I bought the Hotrock) could do this?  YES!

Here’s a quick video if you’ve never seen one in action…

A quick aside for those of you wondering why we didn’t opt for training wheels.  As most of you parents out there know, what works for one kid may not work for the other.  In our case, Owen seemed ready and able to do it and the training wheel bike just didn’t work very well for him and what he demanded in performance from his ride (long story).

He’s now on the Specialized Kid’s 12 Hotrock.  It comes with training wheels, but we took them off before he ever saw the bike.  We decided he would never know it was an option and, therefore, never think he needed them.  (I did give him a tricycle while he had the Hotwalk so that he would know how to pedal.)  With his dad following close behind and giving a push when needed, he rode sans training wheels on the first try.  It worked for him!

I’m sure there are a multitude of different variations to what we did with these two bikes to get your child riding.  I encourage you to give it a try, if you have even a suspicion that your child is ready. I’m happy to answer questions about how it worked for us if you still have some.

Bicycle Haus sells the Specialized line of bikes, and BikeKidShop.com sells Strider Balance Bikes as well (a little different than what I used, but looks like a good option as well).

Anyways, I have family cycling on the mind because one of our sponsors – Bike Shop Hub – recently opened a new online store dedicated entirely to family cycling and child transportation by bike.  The shop is called Bike Kid Shop, and its got a great assortment of bike child trailers by Burley Trailers, Chariot Carriers, and Croozer Trailers, as well as family cycling gear from Xtracycle, for the little ones in your family.  While the store is focused on bike trailers at the moment, it will soon expand to include helmets, glider bikes, and all kinds of other great gear for family cycling.  Take a look at their great “Bike Gear Combo Deals” on trailer like the Chariot Cougar, Chariot Cheetah, Burley Bee, Burley Encore and Burely d’Lite.  They also have a really great closeout on the Burley Solo ST for only $339!

It’s great to see that the idea of family cycling is really taking off!  I definitely plan to keep on riding for many years after I “retire” from the whole racing gig.    So it’s really cool to see what kinds of options are out there for family cycling.  Because after all, kids on bikes are so much fun!

Snow anyone?

Riding in Colorado during the winter can be tricky, especially because we all know the weather guy is not always spot-on when predicting the forecast. If you’re a fair weather rider (defined as: will not ride outside if the day’s high is below 40 degrees) and you have raynauds in your hand and feet like me, you might be spending the better part of the winter months inside on the trainer and/or rollers, which translates to losing your mind after watching one too many Tour de France and Giro DVDs.

As someone  who has now proudly survived two winters in Colorado (thanks to snowboarding), you can imagine my excitement this year when April rolled around and I was able to hit up the trails, which I  hadn’t seen since November. Problem is, my favorite trails are often times not-so-quick to dry out, hence the snow patches at high altitudes. Last Saturday (4/17/10) I decided I’d had enough of driving to Boulder and Lyons  (where the trails tend to dry out much more quickly), so Francis and I headed out to  Deer Creek Canyon Trail outside of Morrison. This trail is tough but fun, with big rocky climbs and fun single-track descents through pine forests. Overall, the trail was in great shape although I have to admit I was a bit skeptical of the snow patches like the one in the photo. However,  once I figured out how to ride over snow (no, you will not die!), I hardly even noticed the vast array of  mud and wetness covering my bike and entire body until I attempted to get into the’ car (sorry ’bout that, Francis). All and all, it was a great spring ride.  Thanks to the Jefferson County Forest  and Trail Service for keeping the trails in top-notch condition.

Found this at Austin on Two Wheels.

And if you are looking for some great blogs about bicycling written by and for women, in addition to this one, of course, check out this list over at Eco Velo!

It’s this Saturday, November 14 on 4th Ave. from 8am – 2pm.

Sell your stuff or buy some new-used stuff.  Best of all, have fun and mingle with cool bikey-folk.

Also, if you can’t make it but need to get ride of some old gear, consider donating it to the UA Cycling Club.  Contact Us for more details.

Now that the season is essentially over here, traveling is essential if I still want to race – and I do.  After a two year break (to have Owen), I can’t seem to bring my season to an end.  I’m completely burned out with training, juggling everyone’s schedules to train, etc., but for some reason, I just don’t want to stop.  Maybe I’m trying to make up for lost time or maybe it’s that I’m starting to feel like I used to on the bike – I’ve missed that!

I tried to go to L.A. to race this weekend.  I managed to make it happen in May.  Cody was out of town for a month and I decided I would bring my parents down for a visit and take off for a day to race.  I made it to Palm Springs the night before and stayed there because I was too tired to continue, drove the rest of the way to Long Beach in the morning, raced, and drove home.  24 hours away from home with 12 hours of driving and a race in between then back to chasing a toddler the next day.  It wasn’t perfect, but I would say it was worth the effort.

This time, Cody was in town, so I thought it would be a no brainer. I would get up Saturday morning, get my stuff together, get a coffee, drive over, nice dinner, nice hotel, race Sunday, drive home – ahhh!  I didn’t invite anyone to go.  I needed some time alone!  (Can any of you moms relate or is it just me?)

I woke up early Saturday morning and was freezing, pulled the covers up, and fell back to sleep.  Woke up again, this time, hot!  Hummm, what’s up?  The frosty chill earlier in the morning was the air conditioner’s last burst before it died.  Ok, no problem, get it fixed, leave town a little late, still make it, feeling good, it’s still going to be a great weekend!

I managed Owen down at the neighbor’s (much cooler) house and Cody took care of meeting the repairman, etc.  Waiting, waiting, time passing, getting grumpy, realizing my relaxing drive and quiet hotel room are slipping away, getting really grumpy.  Much later that day the a/c was fixed, but I wasn’t ready to go.  It had been way too hot to do all of the stuff I had to do to get myself going and I just couldn’t seem to pull it together.  Poor me, no racing, but worst of all, no break.

Why didn’t you just leave Cody to take care of it and go do your race, you ask?

Well…I’ve been left to manage major household disasters and a 2-year-old while Cody has been out of town for work.  It isn’t pleasant, to say the least.   In addition, this was the “trial run” of me leaving the two of them alone together for an entire weekend.  Cody is a great dad and very involved in Owen’s life.  The two of them spend a ton of time together and have spent many a Saturday OR Sunday together while I race.  They have not, however, spent an entire weekend together yet.  Those of you who don’t have kids may or may not get this, but I’m pretty sure the moms will.  Being with a kid 24/7 for a couple of days is WAY different than a few hours here and there.

Tiny Tornado for an entire weekend and household disaster - the Disaster Potential Meter was on HIGH.  I actually want to travel again and need the cooperation of my boys to do it.  This weekend would guage the likelihood that I would be able to do those NRC’s I’ve been eyeing for next year’s calendar.  I want them to embrace my time away, not dread it.  Most important, it won’t be something that we can do with any frequency if it’s too hard on partner or the other.

I was totally frustrated yesterday and really sad today, I won’t lie.  I wanted to race and I’m frustrated that it sometimes just doesn’t work no matter how hard I try or how well I plan (for a number of reasons other than a broken a/c – sick baby, sick mommy, sick babysitter, sick house plants.  Just kidding about the sick plants, but the point is there’s a ton of stuff that gets in the way sometimes).

When I read their blogs or see the team e-mails going around about how a race went or what’s coming up, I wonder when and if I will ever be able to travel and race like my teammates do (and like I used to).  Things are very different now.  Without a doubt better, but I do sometimes miss those times and the freedom I had to take off whenever I pleased.

I don’t know how life will be in the coming years and what parts of my life before baby will return, but I do know that I love to ride and race my bike and that most of the time it works out.  It’s worth it to keep trying, even if I fail repeatedly because it gives me so much most of the time – stress release, fitness, friends, confidence, time together as a family (see past post), time alone, travel, etc., etc., etc.  If or when it becomes more bad than good, I’ll know it’s time to make some changes or hang it up, but I’m not there yet.

I’ll do a hard ride tomorrow, get the self-pitty out of my system, and start planning to go to the next race.  Maybe I’ll actually make it to the race next time.

The Sweetwater Trails are on the west side of Tucson just north of Tucson Mountain Park and Starr Pass.  The trails are on Pima County land, and believe me, I was singing the county’s praises during the ride.  I am glad that they are open and friendly to mountain bikers, hikers, horseback riders, and full-out shredders like myself. 

The Sweetwater Trails are the perfect mix of desert riding and awesome singletrack.  If you don’t like the prospect of landing in a cactus, I suggest riding in another state, but really the trails are accessible to riders of all levels.  You can go as fast or as slow as you like out there, as the trails are smooth, with lots of corners and turns.  The faster you go, the harder it gets, but also the more fun!

Check out the map below if you want to try Sweetwater for yourself.  You can also check out my blog post over at Missing Saddle for a report on my first ride out there.

Until next time, Happy Trails!