Also – stay tuned for an update to this site following the new developments on the Subaru/Gary Fisher, now Subaru/Trek team. Heather and I will be checking in from next weekend’s ProXCT race in Wisconsin, where we’ll be debuting the all-new look of the team, as well as launching the Superfly Elite – the Gary Fisher Collection’s newest 29er. Thanks for checking in,

JHK

Just like every day in life is different, every season is different.  For example, last August I was feeling quite spry and chipper.  Training was going well, I was sleeping great and the travel schedule just didn’t feel particularly demanding.  Even the hard stuff felt easy – I loved doing intervals, prepping for the races and polishing of tough training days.

This August is pretty different.  I wouldn’t say it’s at the complete opposite end of the spectrum – I’ve definitely had years where I didn’t even want to look at my bike let alone get out on a training ride.  For those years, just riding 5 blocks to the coffee shop sounded daunting.  I hate it when it get’s that bad…I do, after all want to continue to like riding my bike and enjoying my job!  Right now, I still love my bike but I do think I am a bit tired.

We just got back from Europe a few days ago where my two World Cups weren’t quite what I was hoping for.  I’ll tell you, when it’s hard, it’s hard and these races just felt REAL hard.  There’s no denying that bike racing is super challenging and there are more tough days than easy days.  If you’ve made it to the top of the sport it’s because you’re pretty resilient and learn from these tough races and bounce back.  I certainly learned a few things in these past couple of weeks but I’m not going to lie to you, for some reason that last trip sort of took it out of me.

Now, it’s August 2010 and in contrast to August 2009, I’m feeling like the best way to finish of the year is to have some fun and listen to my body which thinks super long training rides and intervals sounds like no good.  There are only two races left the last week of August and the first week of September – World Cup finals in Windham, NY and World Championships in Mont Ste Anne in Quebec, respectively.  The domestic races are all wrapped up but I’ve got a couple of cool things to focus on in the next three weeks.

The first thing is a brief trip to Vancouver to visit lululemon and to attend their ambassador summit.  lululemon has long been one of my favorite clothing companies – they make some of the most outstanding yoga/running/technical apparel, PLUS their clothes are super sexy and stylish so why wouldn’t I want to wear it?  So, this year I actively pursued a relationship with them and we clicked right away.  The super bonus is that they happen to be one of the coolest companies I’ve ever worked with.  They have a huge involvement with the community and are are very supportive of their “ambassadors” – athletes who range from yoga instructors to elite athletes.  The company works with these ambassadors and their personal advocacy missions.  Also, they love and listen to feedback which goes back into that awesome clothing equation.

The ambassador summit is a demonstration of their involvement and extreme coolness as a company.  This 2 day summit is all about meeting new people, goal-setting, and being, well, awesome.  I absolutely CANNOT wait…plus, for the first time in FOREVER I don’t have to pack my chamois!  I leave tomorrow – it’s going to be a lovely short break from the bike!
After this, I plan to support Jeremy at the Leadville 100.  This is Jeremy’s first time racing this event and I’m pretty excited to ride my moto around to the feed stations.  The race is going to be the most stacked it’s ever been – Lance, Todd Wells, Levi Leipheimer, Dave Wiens to name a few.  I’m also excited to watch the other 1600 racers push their limits and achieve amazing personal goals.  I’ll also be tweeting regularly from the race so if you want to know the grimy details of how much the boys at the front are putting the hurt on each other.

I for one will NOT be doing Leadville – I just start to get real cranky after about 5 hours on the bike which leads me back to the third thing I have to look forward to in these next few weeks….riding my single speed.  This August is all about keeping things fun until the restful off-season begins and for me, that means setting out on exploratory missions in Winter Park on a machine that is so simple that I can just turn my brain off.  Pedal, stand, breathe, pedal, stand, breathe.  With this approach, I just might like riding my bike enough to get to the coffee shop in September and even New Zealand in October….

Thanks for reading

So, what’s a girl to do when her mind and body aren’t listening and there are two sort of kind really important races coming in three weeks? Well, I tell you what she doesn’t do – no forcing it!

I had about three weeks between our last European World Cups where a crash on the start loop in Switzerland followed by a mediocre day in Italy left me wishing the season could just end the Monday I got home.  And then, the feeling like crap.  I still really wanted to have good days at World Cup Finals and World Championships at the end of the year so it was clear that if I didn’t feel good, I was going to have to keep my mind as happy as possible.

So, for the last three weeks, I happily did one of two things: either 1) “Nothing” or 2) Ride my Single Speed – yeah!  As I said, I had about one good day a week in my body, so, on that one day I cruised out with a tough enough gear to murder my legs on all the climbs.  The Single Speed is an amazing machine and if you don’t own one yet, I can honestly say you are truly missing out, really.  My SuperFly single is quiet and simple.  And when you’ve only got one gear, there is no decision making required when your body screams “stop” which is exactly what I needed – no screaming.

Happy Maker

On the other days, I spun around with my head cocked slightly to the right and barely made it over small rises on the bike path (my mind says yes but my body says no) or just left the big wheels hanging on the wall.  On these off days, I got to do really cool brain-happiness inducing things like support JHK at the Leadville 100, traveling to Vancouver for one of the most amazing two days I’ve had in my life at the lululemon summit (happy, happy brain!) and working on my skillllzzzzz at the track.

Leadville and lululemon both left me inspired and helped me forget about how bad I felt on my bike.  Leadville was amazing – JHK and EVERY single other athlete out there blew my mind.  Racing 100 miles on a mountain bike is truly insane but also oddly moving.  I’ve never seen so many different types of people working so passionately towards one goal.  What an incredible race!  Plus, serving as support crew was quite humbling…and hard!  I found myself going up and down emotionally all day (wow, now I understand that supporters actually get nervous too).  Plus, my right neck spazed out from carrying JHK’s wheels everywhere and my back was killing me from standing up all day – I thought I was fit!!??  I am so inspired by our amazing staff: Matt O, Shep, Jon and Troy for doing that week in and out – back rub anyone?

Leadville: Support Crew and JHK and Levi Post race – after breaking Lance’s Record!

Dear Staff: I appreciate YOU!!  Jon Rourke: Manager extraordinare! (Ummm, in his defense, the fanny pack is an inside joke)

The lululemon summit was incredible for reasons I wasn’t expecting.  I traveled to the two day summit imagining that I would meet some new people, learn more about the brand, and find out about other people’s jobs.  This ended up being about 5% of what I actually did.  While at the summit people really opened up – it’s a bit difficult to explain but I can certainly say this – the goal setting and values that lululemon shares with it’s employees, ambassadors, athletes, etc. is truly genuine and amazing.  I still feel happy, inspired, amazed, warm and fuzzy about all the people I met and things I learned.

The “lulus” – what an amazing group of people!

The third exciting thing I did was try out my first day on the track…the street moto track, that is.  This was such an intense day and exactly what I need to work on my technical skills without actually riding my bicycle.  I was very impressed with the scene: people were so nice, professional and safe.  I was blown away not only by the SPEED and technical savviness of the riders, but also their attention to detail and keeping things well organized.  Plus, I got to feel very cool when one of the sports best, Wyeth Jackson, let me use her leathers for a few laps.

Working on our skills!

After these last three weeks of struggling to perform physically I wasn’t so sure about how World Cup Finals and World Champs would go.  Fortunately, though, the brain was fine with checking things out and giving it a whirl.  Today, it’s the 5th day of my off-season and I look back on the last season and two weekends feeling very happy and satisfied.  I had a pretty good World Cup Finals, finishing 11th.  But the coolest day was Worlds where I finished 6th – my best international finish to date!  I had a blast, felt good and even had the fastest lap of the entire race on my last lap!

Getting it Done at Worlds

I’m proud of 2010 – it was one of the hardest season’s I’ve had playing tug of war with my body.  But I’m walking away with some solid podiums, a National Championship title and a sweet last race performance.  Now I’m ready to chill a bit.  I’m so excited for next season already so it’s time to let the body come down and do what it’s been asking me to do for months: nothing.  Okay, well, not totally nothing…it loves riding the single speed so I’m going to give it that.  See you at SSWC in New Zealand!!!