I’ve just spent my first full weekend in Phoenix with Gina, and boy have we had some fun. Not only have we laughed constantly, but we have gotten in some wonderful miles together in the beautiful, sunny desert.

Yesterday we logged a 95 mile ride out to Bartlett Lake. We started at 7:00am… why the locals decide to start group rides at 7:30am on a Saturday is beyond me, especially because it’s cold (like 40 degrees) before the sun comes up. So if any of you reading this are from Phoenix and can explain a 7:30am ride on a Saturday, please leave me a comment and let me know. I’d love to understand the madness of freezing my butt off when I don’t have to.

Anyways, despite the early start, it was a great ride. The people were all super nice and I enjoyed chatting with Gina and meeting all the new “friends” (as Gina and I call anyone we see on a bike). Gina’s quite the social butterfly. I think everyone in town knows who she is! Makes it easier for me to meet people because, believe it or not, I’m pretty shy.

So, since this was a “base ride” everyone was pretty mellow… yeah, RIGHT. For about 30 or 40 minutes they were, then it was slowly faster, faster, faster. Once we got out to Bartlett Lake and turned around to climb back home Gina and I decided to just ride by ourselves. It was really windy which made the climb feel twice as long as it was. But we made it FINALLY to the ranger station that was at the top.

It was at the ranger station that we bumped into another group, Team ONE, and they were heading back into town like we were. They were a bunch of fun- talkative, social, and provided a GREAT draft for us all the way back into Phoenix. It was nice to have a group to ride with to be able to get out of the wind.

While we were coming back into town, one of the Team ONE guys invited us to come out on a Tyler Hamilton Foundation charity ride the next day and to a small meet-and-greet party… the guests of honor being Tyler and his wife, Haven. We were so excited to be invited to come and support such a great cause… oh yeah, and to meet Tyler too I guess. hahaha, Seriously though, it was so much fun meeting both Tyler and Haven. They really are every bit of the most humble and down to earth people you will ever meet… just like everyone says. Gina and I had a great time at the party. I laughed so much my head hurt. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi! I just got back from my first ride in Arizona… and yes, it was sunny and beautiful just as I hoped it would be!

I rode with Deneen around Scottsdale. We apparently did this loop that is a Tues/Thurs group ride. It’s around Paradise Valley I think? I dunno, all I know is that it’s so pretty… I love the desert and the Southwest. Funny, I never thought I’d be a desert girl, but ever size my first trip to the desert for training camp a couple seasons ago I have absolutely adored it. Tour of the Gila in Silver City, NM is one of my favorite races on the NRC calendar for that very reason!

Now I am getting ready to go out for another ride with Gina. It’ll be nice to be in the sun for another hour or three.

The sights and smells of Christmas are alive in Munich… Here are some pictures from the Marienplatz Christkindlmarkt for you to enjoy.

So I just looked at the weather forecast for Phoenix today, and boy am I excited. Here’s what it looks like:

Thu Dec 08 Partly Cloudy 65°/44°

FriDec 09 Mostly Sunny 68°/45°

Sat Dec 10 Partly Cloudy 68°/43°

Sun Dec 11 Partly Cloudy 70°/44°

Mon Dec 12 Mostly Sunny 70°/48°

Tue Dec 13 Sunny 70°/46°

Wed Dec 14 Partly Cloudy 70°/47°

WAHOOO! This is a cyclist’s dream weather forecast any time of the year. I can’t wait to log some long miles in the desert mountains. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and write some good reports during my stay in Phoenix.

It’s that time again… Christmas! I love being here in Munich during the holiday season… all the shops are decorated and full of Christmas trinkets, snow is falling, and Marienplatz is full of people bustling in the streets wandering through the Christkindlmarkt.

Bavarians love Christmas time. Actually I think Bavarians love every season or period of the year. They seem to always have festivals to celebrate during the year. Oktoberfest is probably the most popular, but they also have the Auer Dult, Tollwood Winter Festival, Strong Beer Season, and the list goes on. You can see a full list of highlights for Bavarian festivals and activities for the entire year on Munich’s official website. I love all the festivities because since we live in die Stadtmitte (center city), we are right in the thick of things. It’s neat to see all the changes to the city and unique characteristics of each season.

Sendlinger Tor also has it’s own Christkindlmarkt. As soon as we pop out of the Ubahn station, Joe and I are greeted with the sights and smells of Christmas… with lots of people standing around and cheerily talking. They even have Christmas music live everyday in the square at 3:00pm.

I’ve enjoyed wandering around all the different vendor’s huts. There’s all sorts of things you can buy at the Christkindlmarkt. They have everything Christmas- ornaments, nativity sets, crosses, nutcrakers, figurines, santas, toys… to name a few - but they also have lots of good food particular to this certain time of year. Of course they have lots of Wurst (sausage) and Breze (soft pretzels)… it is Bavaria after all! The drink of Christkindlmarkt is Gluehwein- a spiced wine served hot in a nice souviener mug (well, that is if you don’t turn the mug back in. You have to pay a “pfand,” or deposit, on the mug). I highly recommed trying out the recipe for Gluehwein this holiday season… brew up a pot for your family and friends, or just for yourself! Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, Joe and I met up with Claudia Haeusler to drive 2.5 hours over to Stuttgart for a day of training, talking, eating, and of course fun!

I am excited to be racing with Team Stuttgart next season in the Bundessleague Races in Germany. Olaf Janson, the team manager, arranged for us a day of training at a sports club (very nice because we could shower after our cold ride and warm up again!). And then we had our team meeting in a nice Italian restaurant, Ristorante Bootshaus. Olaf had a slide show of pictures from last season to show everyone, and then he had a very nice presentation for the new season introducing all the new riders (me being one of them!) and what to expect for next year. It was all very professional.

The girls were all very nice, and even though they are all German, they all understand English very well. I had a great time talking to them during our ride… we mostly talked in English because my German is so limited. Olaf and the girls are going to help me learn German. I am still teaching myself German, but it is difficult when you don’t practice speaking it a lot. I know next season I will have lots of practice at the races!

After the presentation we had dinner, then Claudia, Joe, and I hit the Autobahn back to Munich. We arrived back home around 10pm and we were exhausted! It was a fun day and I had a great ride with the Stuttgart girls.

I am happy to announce I will be racing with Elk Haus-NÖ for 2006. Elk Haus is a UCI team based out of Austria. I will have more details about my schedule for next season posted soon under my schedule page.

Elk Haus-Tirol Noe is a partner team of Team Stuttgart. I will be racing with Team Stuttgart in Bundesliga races in Germany.

I am very excited about working with Heribert and Olaf, and I know that next season will bring lots of success for both Elk Haus and Stuttgart!