Welcome to my blog

NEW blog!!

2007-05-28T21:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the lack of posting but I started writing on a new blog. Check it out. www.chloeforsman.missingsaddle.com

NMBS #3 - Fontana

2007-05-09T11:19:00.000-06:00

It's finals week at the U of A. However this does not mean I'm up all night studying hard and downing the coffee. I only have two finals this week, one is already over and the other is on Friday. So far, after only two days it's been a long week. I've already packed my bags and spent an hour peeling tape residue off my dorm walls. I think I'm ready to go home.

NMBS #3 in Fontana was interesting. Three laps of the cross-country course kicked my butt, laps two and three I couldn't remember how to race my bike. Last year at this time, I finished 20th in the cross-country and it was the best race of my life. On Saturday I finished 21st and thought it disappointing. For whatever its worth, Fontana is still my favorite. The venue is unusual because trucking yards, freeways, railways, and warehouses surrounds it--not the usual alpine ski resort. The course meanders around a rocky hill littered with remnants of abandoned developments and concrete water ditches. It's rough out there too--lots of rocks, ruts, culverts, sand, and hills. But the dust is the worst. It gets everywhere--hair, lungs, chamois. Maybe I'm a little uncertain why Fontana is my favorite. It's different, that's for sure.

I also had a good short track race. I finished 7th and felt strong throughout. The lap had a good climb up the 4x course and a technical descent followed by some singletrack--good for bottlenecking and some serious dust clouds. Spectators like that kind of thing and I guess I do too. I better start studying. Adios.

Flyin' Fiasco

2007-05-03T19:59:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to airports and airplanes. I perfectly happy to sit in a car for eight hours--it's relaxing and I like to look at things. It's nice to have control of the radio, music, windows, AC, or maybe just the fan if you're in TJ's car because he left his AC behind the Phoenix International Raceway after a bike race this fall. Usually there's a lot to see between point A and B and I enjoy the ride. Airplanes have their perks too--I'd have failed most of my courses this semester without them. And I know It's a luxury to zip from one city to another in a matter of hours. I just need to learn how to relax at airports, and not think about engine explosions when I'm 30,000 feet from the ground. This posting is inspired by a United Airlines flight attendant who decided not to show up for work today. As a result, what could have been a six hour drive according to Melanie who I think likes to drive fast turned into an eleven hour airport mess. Eleven hours by plane from Tucson to LA, six hours by car. Eleven by plane, six by car...

I'm over it. I got to sit around talk with my boyfriend, then talk with my coach, then talk with my boyfriend, and even met Neil, a biker from Canada who informed me my sister is getting snowed on in Squamish BC. Neil doesn't know my sister but he just flew from Squamish and my sister is living in Squamish so I put two and two together. So now I'm in Ontario, California getting psyched for another bike race. Take care.

"Most Athletic"

2007-05-01T19:31:00.001-06:00

It's always fun to win a prize, excuse me, earn a prize. Walking up and down three flights of stairs numerous times throughout any given day is tough work. Smuggling bicycles in and out of the building isn't easy, sometimes requiring a sprint up a stairwell. On those easy recovery days, my heartrate spikes on the relentless climb to my room. Seriously. I've even managed to get an occupied 60-lb bike box up the stairway on a couple occasions. These are no small athletic feats and I'm glad somebody gave me an award.

The semester is creeping to an end. I took my first final today, and had my math instructor announce my math final is optional--sweet! With only three finals to go, another bike race in California and a final Shootout; I'm ready to vacate the football stadium, hop in my old Super-u and drive home. On a completely separate and disgruntled note, I met with my academic advisor yesterday who informed me that the school is 'likely' to eliminate my undergraduate major due to budget cuts. I have to complete a number of prerequisites before the college will 'accept' me into their program and chances are there will be no program by the time I finish the prereqs. So that meeting put a damper on the end of my semester. Anyway...back to the fun stuff.

Last weekend was a success for Team Luna. My teammates earned three top podium spots for short track and cross country. They're fast and everybody knows it so what's the point of me bragging? It's pretty exciting to be a part of it. Well my racing went well. In short track, I fumbled at the start and had to work my way up...into 5th! And I got to solo it for about 1/2 lap in 5th and then I got really tired and finished 11th. I'm still stoked, I've never pedaled into 5th position before... and then I finished 8th in cross-country, my best result in a NMBS to date. TJ posted a photo of me on his blog with my 'game' face on--check it out. This way I can also find out if anyone actually reads my blog :) Take care.

Unusual Saturday

2007-04-21T21:15:00.000-06:00

It's a Saturday and I am not racing my bike or pseudo-racing in Tucson's own weekly championship event--The Shootout. I haven't successfully completed any schoolwork either; I do that much better under high stress. What have I been doing off the bike? My new hobby: trying to make food. Last Monday I swore not to eat campus food ever again. So I went to target and bought a kitchen, and then proceeded to Safeway where I bought food. Putting the two together has been a little challenging, me and kitchens and stoves don't mix very well. Especially a dorm-room kitchen that's smelly and 50 yards down the hallway. Inspired by my teammate, Katerina Nash, I first made some cous cous, steamed some vegetables, and put the two together. It was really good. Three weeks ago I didn't know what cous cous was and before three days ago I had never willingly cooked vegetables. I'm usually not a big fan of rabbit-food but something has changed--I've been in that kitchen three times in one week. Here's a sampling of what I've been eating. Nothing fancy, I'm taking baby steps here.

I'll have to work on presentation for the next round of photos. If you can't tell, the bottom left photo is oatmeal with apples and almonds--yum.

2007-04-16T23:45:00.000-06:00

Finally I have a picture--courtesy of TJ. It's actually me too, as a Luna Chick, fighting to stay ahead of Heather Irmiger and her teammate during Saturday's short track. I finished 11th and Heather ended up 10th. It poured rain for hours leading up to our race but it broke up shortly before the start . I had a second row call-up and decent start--good enough so I didn't have to run up the first slippery hill. Three hours ten minutes is a long time to race a bike. Next year I'll try to be a little faster so I don't have to pedal so hard for so long. Honestly, pedaling a little harder for a litttle shorter seems like a good idea. Anyway, I finished 20th and I'm very pleased I hung in there to finish as well as I did. Lap 2 hurt pretty bad and when it was over every muscle in my lower back and legs wanted to cramp. My teammate Georgia won and Katerina finished 3rd. Another good weekend for Luna. Until later.

Sea Otter TT

2007-04-13T14:52:00.000-06:00

So far I've completed one of three races in three days. The format is very similar to Phoenix with a TT followed by short track and then cross-country on Sunday. Once again, the Luna ladies dominated with Katerina on the top of the podium with Georgia in second. Katerina is also an excellent hotel room chef and I'm trying to learn a thing or two from her--on the bike and also about vegetables. Well my TT, while not spectacular I'm happy about it. I placed 18th and fumbled a little here and there. The race lasted less than five minutes so it was pretty much an all out effort. The course had some tricky turns and I crashed a couple times pre-riding yesterday. Well off the bike things are going well. Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Fox Racing Shox factory. It's pretty incredible to see how complex it is to make a suspension fork. I also watched a machine bend the magnesium lowers of a Fox fork in all different directions trying to make it break. It didn't break. That's comforting. Well I've got some homework to do now. Until later.

NMBS #1 - Phoenix, AZ (sorry about the delay)

2007-04-10T22:09:00.000-06:00

It's incredibly fun to drive to a bike race. Perhaps I'm one of a few who believe a road trip is a good way to relax. True, Phoenix isn't far from Tucson but it feels like another world. The drive allowed me to think about bike racing for the first in a week. That's the beauty of being a college student and a biker racer--I don't have the time to think about bike racing a whole lot.

Race #1 released a lot of nervous energy. I think my stomach tied itself in a knot from butterflies. The TT course is all singletrack and contained one climb, a mountain of hump in McDowell Park. It probably took a whole four minutes to climb up. My intention isn't to belittle the hump because it hurt like hell. I finished the day, with my second ever TT effort on a mountain bike in 9th position. It took some effort to convince myself that, despite the fact that I'm in the desert with no one in sight, I am actually racing. It's easier to race against people. The Luna ladies had a spectacular day all in all with Georgia taking the W.

Race 2#
Georgia takes the W again but this time in a night-time fat-tire crit in downtown Fountain Hills. I like short track to begin with, but when you hold the event after dark with some serious lighting and spectators--it's even better. I got a first row call up and a pre-race consultation with Alison Dunlap, an absolutely incredible way to start the evening. Then I pretty much went as hard as I could for awhile and then realized I couldn't go hard any longer. Accomplishment #1: 3rd into 1st corner. Accomplishment #2: 13th overall. Lesson learned: you can definitely go too hard too soon. It was fun and my teammates are incredibly strong, but I knew that already.

Race #3
Georgia wins again. I realize that despite living in the desert all winter I am not immune to the heat. The cross-country course seemed really long because you had to pedal for the entirety of the loop. Usually you get to pedal up and ride down. The ladies completed 3 laps and my finishing time was about 2hrs 10min. Once again, I started hard and trailed off the end of the chase group for 1/2 lap--at this point, Georgia and Mary are off the front. Then I get dropped and find myself trailing yet again behind a group. I need to figure out how to stay in a group. Lap 2 I rode by myself and started to think about ice cubes and cold water and my legs that felt like they were going to cramp. At some point Zephanie flew by and I pretty much felt like I was moving backwards. I fared better during lap 3. The thought of an impending finish is motivating for sure but honestly I just felt better. I finished the day in 9th place again, my best cross-country result to date. Lap 3 was fun because I felt pretty good but I also moved up a lot due to broken seats, crashes, flat tires, and other mechanical issues that other riders endured. TJ had to endure quite a bit out there. He's got quite the story.

So that is my race weekend from a couple of weekends ago. Hopefully I'll get caught up to date. In the meanwhile I found an apartment and some roommates for next semester. I will be living in Tucson's own Alpine Chalet Apartments--gotta love the name--with a couple of engineers. Matt's on the three-year aerospace engineering plan and Alex is on some other engineering plan. Either way they're good guys and I'm looking forward to the new arrangements. Until later.

I'm ready

2007-03-26T22:21:00.000-06:00

This weekend was a good opportunity to get one more race in before the national series opener in Phoenix next weekend. It was a also a good opportunity for me to put a hole in my tire 10 minutes into the race. It's better to get that over with now rather then later. So I fumbled with my Big Air cartridge, and threw Stan's sealant everywhere as I tried and re-tried to get a seal. It didn't work. So I put a tube in the tire, and 10 minutes down, began to chase. I caught most the women on lap three of four and finished in 3rd, 10 minutes down from Sue Haywood--not bad. I felt good so I'm feeling good about next week. That's it for now.

Back to School.

2007-03-20T20:35:00.000-06:00

I made it back to Tucson and endured 3 tests in my first 36 hours back in town. I'm uncertain how the marks will turn out but I did manage to get a couple good nights of sleep in before the madness. On my flight from California I was studying brain anatomy and sleep cycles. Now I know what and where my amygdala is and that I should be sleeping at least nine hours every night. On Sunday I had a chance to visit with my family in Oakland, CA. It was my Grandpa's b-day and an excuse for everyone to get together. I got to hang out with my mom too. That's always fun now that I don't live at home :) Take care.

2007-03-16T01:44:00.000-06:00

Big Dinner

2007-03-16T00:45:00.000-06:00

My life has been on fast forward since my last post, a ton has happened but really I don't have time to let anyone know about it. I will let it slip that I had a good race down in Argentina. Maybe I can play catch up later. On to the important things. This evening was the Luna Chix team dinner with sponsors in San Francisco. First, orderves were served and I really had no clue what anything was but I heard words like "anchovies" and "mussels." Yeah, that kind of restaurant. Any other day I would have loved the unknown food but I'll give you a brief description of how this evening turned out. For reference: it wasn't the food. But I did spend the evening in the most physical discomfort I have ever experienced. I believe I had an extremely acidic stomach as there were plenty of burning and cramping sensations--I'll call it mega heart burn. As our main dishes were being served I told Waldek that I was in a lot of pain and that I had to lay down. So I spent the big dinner lying in the team truck on a San Francisco street curb. Oh, and the nineteen year old girl in me got really emotional and stressed out about the whole thing. TJ helped calm me down long enough for my phone battery to die. Lying down for awhile helped things enough, and once I got my head more or less functional I went back long enough to smile for a couple pictures and say some goodbyes. Paul was nice enough to have my dinner boxed up for me but I didn't really know what was in it so I thought it best not to find out, so I gave my dinner to a bum, got a little hug from Katerina and we drove back to Sausalito. And that was only this evening. I had to do a little public speaking this morning.. Anyway, the Luna crew is an incredible group of people. I'm truly honored to be a part of the team and however much respect I had for Marla, Alison, Katerina, Georgia, Shonny, Waldek and the rest of the crew before has grown considerably over the last couple days. So that's that. I guess this whole heart burn-cramping-burning-stomach thing is getting to be a problem. I'll add that to my list of things I need to figure out sometime soon although I think algebra is the most pressing matter at the moment--I've got a test on Tuesday. Take care and sleep well. I know I will.

Hamburguesa?

2007-03-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the rockiest section of the course, and really you just ride around the big ones. The course is all tacky singletrack with some steep climbing and slippery descending. The course isn't long at 6km but we get to do four laps. Yesterday, Melanie and I discovered what an Argentinean hamburger is. It consists of some cow, pig, and chicken. They put fried eggs and ham in their hamburgers...plenty of protein. I also noticed at the airport a pile of french fries topped with an egg. I like how they do things around here. Anyway, tomorrow I race at 11:05am, just 5 minutes behind the elite women's start. I'm excited about racing and interested to see what happens.

Today the U23 team went swimming in a river. For those of you interested in the sign "prohibido nadar" means swimming prohibited. Sometimes its convenient to be foreign. The culprits are Sam Schultz, Colin Cares, Sam Jurekovic, and Melanie Meyers (from the U of A!).

Buenos Aires Interntional Airport

2007-03-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this post somewhere outside of Barilloche, Argentina. I wish I knew exactly where I am right now but during the hour and a half bus ride here I kept falling asleep and it was dark out. We missed out. It would have been a beautiful drive. Melanie and I left Tucson 36 hours ago--there was a slight 8 hour delay at the airport in Buenos Aires. We arrived in a storm and apparently you can't leave in a storm. Well here's a picture I took at the airport. Hopefully I'll be able to post some picture of the race course tomorrow. Take care.

Another beautiful Orbea

2007-02-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

What a weekend...

2007-02-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

...of bike racing! Three races in 30 hours isn't a bad way to begin a season even if I had to spend the weekend in Phoenix (ever heard of a 24-lane hwy?). Saturday morning's mountain bike race, the Hedgehog Hustle, was like a mini-national with Sue Haywood, Jenna Zander, Nina Baum, and Melanie Meyers. I pulled a couple rookie moves during the race. First, I thought myself out of the correct lap sequence, took the wrong trail, thought better of it after a minute or two, and then turned around. Second, while riding the tech loop I failed to notice a tight switch back on a descent and rode a drainage ditch into a wash. Suddenly there was no trail and I was very confused. Despite all, for race #1 of the season things couldn't have gone better. I wish I had a recap of my 2006 mountain bike opener for comparison. That was bad. This year, things are off to a relatively good start. I placed 4th, Jenna Zander rolled over the line seconds for second behind Sue Haywood. Paul Hanson won the men's pro race by a lot. Tj's tire fell off but he still pulled through for a good finish.

Race #2

Here's Sunday's tailgate party post-UA's complete domination of the UA vs. ASU crit. Brian Meyer on the left won the men's B crit in a solo breakaway. Matt Novak on the right won the men's A crit in a breakaway with Pablo--oh, they lapped the field. I took the win in the women's race with some help from Melanie. The field size made for a good crit, there were 4 of us.

Race #3

Post-ASU smackdown and UA tailgate party I got to race again in the women's cat 3/4 race. I won a couple priems, tried to breakaway solo, failed, went with another woman, and that failed too. At least I was agressive and I tried to keep the pace up and keep things lively. Mostly I didn't know what I was doing. I got to meet an up and coming jr. expert mountain bike racer. Amy Cox, 17, is going to rip it up on the NORBA circuit this year, she's super strong. Well that's a brief recap of my weekend. On the college side of things I have a bluebook exam on Friday, we're covering the Ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Civilizations. I'm looking forward to that one. Until next time.

I like to read articles like this...

2007-02-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

Testing...

2007-02-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

This is my very first blog post, as you can see. The creation of this blog was somewhat compulsive and likely due to the fact that I am not doing homework. I'd like to keep my family and friends somewhat informed of my whereabouts and biking endeavours. This might be a good way to do it. For those of you who don't know me, I think you should go ride your bike for the same reason you did as a kid--to see how fast you can go and to to test your freedom. Riding a bike is never dull.
This is my home. It's ugly. It's a college dorm, so, by definition it's ugly and things grow in the bathroom. My roomate, Erin Cummings, is on mattress #3 due to a leaky ceiling that drips water from time to time. By the smell of things when mattress #2 had to leave, chances are that the dripping water isn't what comes out of the faucet.

I live in Tucson and am a student at the University of Arizona. Tucson is absolutely beautiful and excluding quarter million or so bad, inattentive, aggressive, uninsured, reckless, and retired drivers it's a great place to ride a bike.

This is my absolutely stunning Orbea Alma mountain bike. When I'm not in class, doing homework, eating, or sleeping, I'm riding. I'm a professional mountain biker racer and am a member of the Luna Chix mountain bike team. It'll be an adventure and I'm so grateful for the opportunities I have with the team this year. I'll do my best to keep the updates rollin' and recount my experiences racing as the rookie-esque member of such an accomplished team. I'll probably mention a thing or two about college and the dorm (and Erin). Have a good one.