Elixia Wellness Group

I am officially at Elixia full time now. What an amazing clinic with brilliant, wonderful practitioners!! I am sharing space with one of my best friends and our room is so warm and inviting. We gave it a face lift with some paint and some warm red accents and it looks great! I feel so blessed to be part of such a wonderful group of people. There are so many knowledgable people at the clinic that I can refer my patients to, or even discuss difficult cases with. I know my patients will be recieving the best care at Elixia. Both from myself and the staff.

New Clinic, New Husband, New Bike!!

August has been quite a busy month (hence the lack of postings). The first week of August, I married the love of my life, here in Portland. Then the second week of August, I started in my new clinic, Elixia Wellness Group. The third week of August, Ellsworth sent me my new frame, painted in semi-custom Wildfire.

The wedding was amazing! Getting hitched went off without a hitch! My sister was the most amaizng maid of honor, she took care of everything. I think I was the calmest bride ever!! (She was the stress-ball). We got married in Portland at the World Forestry Center, it was an amazing venue. We had 120 of our closest friends and family with us. We are waiting on our honeymoon until it's winter here in Portland. We will be doing a mini- honeymoon on Bends Big Fat Tour. It's a 3 day mt. bike ride all over the Bend area. BBFT was our first date two years ago.

I also started at my new Clinic the next week. Elixia offers Chiropractic, Naturopath, Acupuncute, Massage Therapy, Psycology, and aesthetics. I am so excited to be part of this advanced group of physicians and therapists. We believe in a "whole person" approach to each patient. From the inside out and the outside in. My full schedule begins September 1st.

Then, last week I got my new Ellsworth Moment frame. So light and amazing!! The color is stellar! Anodized orange with subtle flames. I've been told there are only 4!! I can't wait to get it built up and start doing some more free-ride and super D races!!

Short track #2 = Second Place!!

Went out for my second short track race this year. I moved up one place! Got second in the womens pro field. I'm getting this whole 45 minutes of "as hard as you can go" thing figured out...slowly. This time I warmed up for a good 45 minutes, did some high intensity openers for about 5 minutes and tried to keep spinning around until about 5 minutes before the start. The last race I somehow got stuck out on the course during the race that was right before me and had to start cold. I didn't warm up until the last lap...not fun! This time I was pretty warm. I think I need to do a little more high intensity in my warm ups because I didn't feel "great" until about lap 3 (20 minutes into the race). My sister comes to all my races (best cheerleader ever!) and she says she can tell which lap I finally warm up in because I don't look like I'm dying! :)

Next Monday, we'll try some more high intensity for longer before the race and see how that goes. Sunday is the Fluid ride cup DH up at Ski bowl, so my legs will be pretty shot. Should be fun. Post to follow!

Finish

Hood River Super D

Last weekend was the Hood River Super D. I knew about it for awhile, and had been riding it with a group that was going to race it, but my sights were on the Downhill at Mt. Hood the day after the Super D race. But the more I rode the course, and thought about the technicalities of the Super D, it really sounded fun...and challenging. For those who don't know me, I'm a bit A-D-D and I am always looking for something different to try. I have raced the Mt. Hood Downhill for many years now, but had never raced the Hood River Super D.

First thing was to figure out which bike to race. It was an extra hard decision, because I had just fond out the week prior, that Ellsworth is sending out a small Moment, which would be the absolute perfect bike for this course!!

The course started out on a Motorcycle trail that was pummice with baby heads everywhere...definetly want your DH bike, then went into a super steep shoot with drops and rocks and roots and baby heads, yup...DH bike. The course then went out on the ridge and it was a fairly smooth, bermy single track with tons of flow, long travel trail bike here. Then....the UPHILL!! Open, exposed south facing, pummice, steep. Super light XC race bike for the next 5 minutes. Back up on the ridge, long trail bike here, down a newly made, very rocky, steep, drop off section...DH bike. Down a super steep shute, across the road and straight up a steep bank to hopefully "jump" back onto the trail. Once you got back on the trail...up we go!! XC bike here. Then gods country! The next 5 minutes of trail were open, smooth, fast, huge berms you can rail and know you will stick. Long travel trail bike. Well, I have two bikes...a full DH bike with 9" front and rear, or an XC race bike that's super light (with expensive, breakable parts). Hmmm...do I lose time on the down or the up. I rode the course on both bikes, and on the DH bike the uphills were so steep that I couldn't peddle, so I would be walking up the hills. Unacceptable in a race. On the XC bike, the uphills were cake, but the gnarly rock sections were a little sketchy with my steep head angle and little weeny XC tires. I decided that my best bet would be 2.2 tires with super thick sidewall on my XC bike. Worked like a charm! I actually passed the two girls that went off in front of me...on the uphill! With the big tires on the bike, I was able to have more control in the rocky sections.

I won the pro women's class with a time of 20.56. Fastest male time was about 15'. The winner of each field recieved a comp. entry to the Crankworx Garbonzo super D. Unfortunatley, it's 2 days after my wedding...next year! Can't wait for more Super D races! I will have my new Moment in about a week! Yea!!!

Ellsworth

Dan's bad a@# bike

Last night was our conference call with Dan, from Ellsworth bikes. Ellsworth is now the Velobella title sponsor, and I can't even begin to express how excited I am! Anyone who rides a bike can tell you that Ellsworth handcrafted bicycles are pretty much the bomb-diggity!! I had Dan send me a picture of the color and OH MY GOD! It's so fast! I decided to get a Moment, which is their Super D, long travel trail bike. It should get shipped next week, I can't wait to ride it. I'm having it shipped back to Spokane so I can have the local shop build it and the maiden voyage will be at Beacon, the local free ride area where I learned how to ride.

We were chatting with Dan last night about all the latest technology that Ellsworth bikes offer. The most exiting is their "center tracking" technology. Usually, with rear suspension, when the back shock compresses, it shortens the chain and changes your peddling. With Ellsworth, the bottom bracket actually shadows the rear wheel during activity. No change in peddling, no change in chain length, no loss of energy! Check out their website: www.ellsworthbikes.com

First Short track race

I've decided this year to branch out and try more cycling disciplines. Portland has a great, local, Monday night short track series...so I thought.."What the hey?" I called my best cheerleaders (sister Laura and friend Cindy) and asked them if they wanted to check out the Portland International Raceway short track races. "SURE!!!" The best thing about the PIR short track is that about 50% of the track is on their motocross track...super FUN!! Woops and jumps and super bermed turns.

While I was checking out the course and chatting with my sister, a woman in a Velobella shirt came up and introduced herself. She said this was her first short track race ever and she had a blast! We exchanged pleasantries, chatted about biking and Velobella. Every time I am at a race wearing a kit, I always have someone come up to me and introduce themselves. They are either a fellow bella, or they know someone who is or was. It's so great!!

I didn't get a chance to warm up on the track, so I tried to get a good start so I could follow the people who knew the course. I started out in about 4th place in Pro/Open women, after about a minute, I passed 3rd and pretty much stayed in 3rd the whole time. Sue Butler was in first (she is an ANIMAL!! :) ) and Alice Pennington (another local animal) was in second. I was actually in 1st place for about 30 seconds when they missed a turn and I caught up to them and made the turn while they were backtracing on the course. They stayed in my sight for the first 4 laps, and then they were about a minute ahead of me. I had a very solid 3rd place the entire time. I was pretty stoked, and I was having a blast!!


Still smiling, after the race!

4 Girls, 4 Bikes and a fat lip!

Last weekend was amazing! I got together with some old race buddies I haven't seen in awhile and headed down to Black Rock Mountain Bike Area. I just recently discovered this free-ride gem, located about 20 minutes southwest of Salem. We started the day by loading up our bikes in the 4 door, long bed cummins dodge truck and headed out. A quick stop for a coffee and we were on our way. We arrived at the riding area, warm and SUNNY! Started peddling up the hill (on our DH bikes..not fun) and came to the skills park area. FUN Stuff!! So we get to the top, pick our trail and start down. We were taking turns leading, since none of us knew the trails. There are some pretty big stunts up there, so we were checking everything out before we would ride it. Well one of the girls was in the flow and rode off a bridge, but the bridge didn't connect. It was a 20' gap and 7' drop to the transition on the other side of the road. She didn't have enough speed to make the transition,but she had too much speed to stop so she did the only thing she could do....rode it and prayed! If she weren't such a skilled ride, she probably would have seriously hurt herself. Instead, she ended up with a fat lip, and a bruised chest and ego. :)



I can't say enought about the condition of the trails out there! I swear they have little elves that go in front and behind you and rake them smooth. The berms are perfect, never blown out, all the stunts are made by an engineer perfectly measured and the transitions feel like you've never left the ground. We did a couple top to bottom runs, and then hung out in the skills park at the bottom for awhile playing around on the stunts. What a great day!! I can't wait to go back! There is a race this weekend, so I'm going to drive down and see what kind of free-ride racer I am!
Update to come!

Long overdue update

Where shall I start...the beginning. This year has started off pretty slow as far as racing. First, I had a pesky case of knee bursitis, then I had a very intense Yoga Teacher training program, then an abnormal mole which required stitches and 3 weeks of "taking it easy". So far I've had 4 weeks of normalcy. Is that a word? Normalcy? Anyway, End of April was a two day, double down ho down at Beacon, my local hill in Spokane. I'm pretty sure I'm undefeated at Beacon, there may have been a 2nd place in there years ago, but I'm not sure. Anyway...about the race. Saturday was the first course. This course was more jumps, berms and peddle sections. The conditions were pretty much perfect. No dust, tacky dirt, a little bit of sun during the day. Practice went great..especially since I had to take the number plate off my bike from last years race in August (I really didn't touch my bike for that long? Holy crap!). There were 3 women signed up for the Pro course. Both girls I was going against are phenomenal riders, so I wasn't sure how the race would go. With the delay in my season, and lack of riding I was pretty sure it wasn't going to go very well for me. I had a great, super clean run...and had a blast while I was racing!! I probably recognized all the voices that were cheering me on. Racing in your hometown is amazing! Results had just been posted and I was on my way up to check them when the race promoter came up to me and congratulated me! I was super stoked, I still had to go check because I didn't believe it! Yea, 1st place!! As I was heading back to the car to get some water, my boyfriend stopped me. We were both sitting on our bikes, I can't even remember what he said, something about "planning for the future etc etc" all I know is he was pulling a little black box out of his pocket and saying the words "will you marry me". HOLY CRAP! Of course! So, now the 1st place finish has taken a backseat to this new amazingness. But, there is still a race on Sunday to think about. I decided that a celebration dinner was in order and saved practice for the next morning before the race (something I hate to do). Sunday was not quite as nice as Saturday. We woke up to an inch of snow and really cold temperatures. I drug myself out of bed, put on my warm clothes and hoofed it up the hill. The Sunday course was much more technical then Saturdays course. There were a few new sections that were pretty hairy. They had already taken out a couple hands and collar bones the day before. I decided to check the line for a bit, then I rode it. It was scary, but rideable. Well, I ended up getting first again on Sunday, this time by default since both the other girls had headed home the night before. I'll take it! So that is the race season so far. Ride report to follow!

Bike/Car war

What is it about almost getting hit, twice in as many minutes, that just makes my blood boil?? Oh yea, probably the fact that because someone was talking on the phone and not paying attention they almost KILLED ME! And worse, they almost wrecked my bike! I don't even want to know how many blogs out there that mirror what I'm saying. PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION!! I have like 8 lights in the front, 8 in the back, I wear RED, it's day time....I know you can see me.
Tuesday, I'm riding to work and I have an encounter with wet rail road tracks. The encounter did not go well, and my body is paying for it. The guy in the car behind me, who actually had to stop because I was in a pile in the middle of the street, just drove around me and didn't even stop to ask if I was ok. Then, yesterday, riding to work and some too-cool-for-school hipster high school chic thinks that it would be great to walk out into the street in front of me. She actually stops, looks right at me, eye contact and all, and steps out into the bike lane in front of me. I had some choice words that I whispered into her ear as I brushed by her. On the way home, at a stop light and some lady tries to turn left in front of me, of course since I'm on a bike, I must be going much slower than her in her car, even though I am moving and she is starting from a complete stop. At the last minute she finally stopped so she didn't hit me. As soon as my heart rate goes down, some guy turns left into a shopping center parking lot and misses my back wheel by about an inch. If I hadn't seen him coming and veered at the last second, I would be his hood ornament right now. He actually stopped and was very apologetic, but my boiling point had been reached. I was so mad that all I could think of was to yell.."YOU need to watch where you're going!!!"
I wanted to ride again today because the weather is so nice, but I don't think my stress level has gone down enough yet. Today, a nice, safe run in the woods.
That is my rant.

Now What?! Oh yea, training....

It's definitely been awhile since I've updated a post. Been super busy, so I have an excuse. I just finished my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, and am now a registered yoga teacher. I will teach my first class next Wednesday at the local bouldering gym. I plan to host some free classes at the clinic for patients and offer one-on-one classes as soon as I find a space. I am also enrolled in the advanced Teacher Training extensions program which starts tomorrow, but it is only 8 weeks long and once a week. I am also talking with a local bike shop about co-sponsoring a cycling team. So far it is an all male team, but I'm trying to change that. The practice is getting busy, I have recently joined a few more insurance panels and have been receiving quite a few MD referals.
Now that I am done with the intense yoga program, I can bring my focus back to training for cycling this year. Training resumes today. If it would just stop being so damn cold and not appealing to ride!

Back in the saddle

Well, I'm back. Thank god for that because I was going NUTS! I think I was driving everyone else nuts too! Forced myself to take it easy, did my rehab exercises, treated myself at the clinic and I think I licked the knee issue. Basically what happened is I sat on my butt for too long, trudged around in boots with no arch support and then went to the bouldering gym and kept jumping down the problems instead of down climbing them. I am a huge pronator, so the knees were already angry from spending so much time in shoes with no support and the jumping gave me an acute case of jumpers knee, in BOTH knees. I treated them with massage, muscle stim, ultra sound and kinesio tape. Oh, and LOTS of hot baths in epson salt. Went for a ride Thursday, the IT band was a bit tight so I felt a little pain on the outside of my knee, but the problem area (pes anserine bursa) felt good on both knees. Yea! Did some inverted bicycles when I got home to pump out any inflamation and put stim on both knees when I got to the clinic. Kinesio tape to allow the tissue to drain from any residual inflamation. And now, they are BACK! I also ordered some orthotics. Two reasons, one to stop the pronation when I walk, and two becasue studies have shown that people who cycle and pronate actually put out more power per stroke if they have orthotics in their bike shoes. So, going on a group ride today and I am pretty confident that I can FINALLY start my training for the year.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!

Dangit dangit dangit! My damn knees are hurting again. I thought maybe, just maybe that I would get off easy with this one. Nope.. After my ride on Tuesday they were a little achey, and then yesterday they were definetely worse. So, I guess the now I will just have to suck it up and rest until they are totally 100% so I don't have to deal with this issue all season long. Sucks tho because I see everyone else out there training and I'm just sitting on the couch playing the stupid xbox wishing I could be out riding. Sooo frustrating! I've been treating myself in the clinic every other day and that is helping, I will start doing some re-hab strengthening exercises next week and hopefully (HOPEFULLY) I will be back on the bike in two weeks. Some serious cabin fever here....

First training ride!

Did the first "base" training ride of the year today. I forgot how boring it is keeping your heart rate low. I had a head wind right off the get-go and had to peddle sloooooowly...painfully sloooooooow. I really had to stay focused to keep the pace in my base training range, especially after training at such high intensity for cross. Felt pretty good tho. Did about and hour and a half on the bike and will be doing some hot yoga tonight. The knee didn't trouble me too much. I noticed if I really focus on my peddle stroke and don't get sloppy I feel less pain under the knee cap. The yoga tonight will really help the knee too. Last year I ended up building up some scar tissue and just got "tight" all over. My goal this year is to do Yoga at least 2x per week to really keep limber. I was off the bike for a couple months really focusing on getting my range of motion back in my hips and shoulders.

Training starts today: Updates to follow.

Going out for my first training ride in, oh I'd say at least 1 and a half months. Probably the longest "rest" I've ever taken between seasons. I sure needed it though. With cross this year, it was a long season for me. The typical downhill season is June through September. I raced from early March to November this year. I came to the point where I didn't even want to ride my bike. I had to "ground" myself from the bike until I actually wanted to ride it again. Well, today is crappy and dark and I could have slept in, but instead I am tuning up the training bike and going for a ride.