Sunshine on my Shoulders

I snuggled with the Hurricane last night before the Sunshine Hill Climb this morning.

It was a good race with some heavy hitters showing up - Alex Wrubleski (Colavita), Anne Samplonius (Expresscopy), and Ann Trombley (local legend and hero, former Olympian). Frisky Fisky attacked early on, which split things up, and more selections were made as soon as we hit the dirt section (which is in incredible shape, almost like pavement). Alex had already been up the road and off the front, holding onto it for the win. Anne, Ann, and I were together until the dirt, when Samplonius put in an acceleration to open up a gap between her and Trombley, and another gap between Trombley and I. It stayed this way until about 600 meters to go, when my rookiness checked in; I cross-chained and my drive train locked up (to my defense, my chain is a little short - no excuse though!). I ran from there to the finish line - cyclocross style...just getting ready for 'cross season! Ridiculous, because Brother Dan and the Hurricane had already given me a lesson about cross chaining before the race. Here's a picture of my derailleur arm that I kind of destroyed. Luckily an Aussie had a pair of scissors on hand to trim the jagged pieces!

Thankfully, for the sake of the blogs, Beth brought her camera...so these pictures are courtesy of her.

Here's the team...missing Carlalalala though...Carol, me, Jilayne, and Ann.

Meanwhile, Brother Dan fixes the car...?

At this rate, I'm curious when there will just be four wheels and four seats resting in the driveway, with the rusted body dust blowing away in the wind.

Picture courtesy of Rolf at a Wilco concert in VT!

L'alpe de bike path

Fisky took me on an epic ride through the bike path switchbacks of Louisville. Seriously, she knows some awesome routes, whether it's easy bike path spins or ridiculous mountain rides. I know - I didn't know this sort of riding existed in Louisville either!!

Bike to Work Day!

My favorite day of the year!! Missy, Brother Dan, Nicoleee and I went on an early morning spin. I was aghast to be on the bike at 6am, but it was actually great; there were very few cars on the road and if you can imagine it - Boulder was quiet. After, we fueled up at Great Harvest with pumpkin-walnut muffins and coffee, before "biking to work" up Sunshine. The muffins sat like a rock, we had muffin problems.

It was wicked humid for Boulder and it reminded me of the east coast. However, it wasn't windy at all, which is also an aberration for Boulder! After leaving Great Harvest it started to rain a little, but we climbed over those clouds and had a dry ride. Here's Brother Dan nearing the top of Sunshine. Check out Left Hand in the background...I love how you can go climbing and loop around to all sorts of awesome roads.

Dead Pooch

We didn't have the internets while staying in Albany, WY so I'm catching up on the blogging today. It was a great race for the team with Maatje taking first in general classification by over 3 minutes. Carol took fourth, with me 2 seconds behind in fifth. The Hurricane was in full force in Sunday's time trial, blazing in at 24 minutes...wrecking, destroying, crushing. I had a good crit and got away in a break with Frisky Fisky (who took the triumphant win), Boo-Ya Boyd, and three Rio girls. Maatje outclimbed everyone in Saturday's RR, rolled in comfortably with the pack in the crit, and muscled out a 2nd place TT, 30 seconds behind our Hurricane.

Brother Dan was in the zone, taking a 14th place finish in the road race, and held onto the 14th for GC. Wild Oats had a big squad out for the Dead Pooch, and took 3rd and 4th in the crit for the 1/2's.

After the road race, Brother Dan and I indulged on a piece of chocolate peanut butter pie. We figure that it's basically a health food. Anti-oxidants from the chocolate, protein from the peanut butter, and good carbs from the crust.

Finally kicking the Dead Pooch, my coach, Missy and I wait for the final time trialists to roll in before heading back to Laramie for the BBQ. Notice the wind turbines on Missy's shirt...she's a hippie too.

I stole this picture from the Eastmeister. We had a 'who's shortest' contest. Missy towers over us, but I think it's a close call between Renee and I.

Out of Our Element

Brother Dan and I went to the big city of Denver today to take care of some business that we never really do. We bought some new wheels and tires for our hippie-wagon. Unfortunately the spinners were a little out of our price range. But, I gotta say, our car looks pretty bling-bling now!

Next we went to the mall at Flat-Iron Crossing. Wow, that place is ridiculous. It took us 15 minutes before we could find the bathrooms - and we had to consult the mall directory. I felt so lost. Here's a picture of two hippies waaay out of their element.

Dan is trying on suits for his wedding in September. Now Brother Dan looks bling-bling. His Fiancee, Nicole is a lucky lucky woman!

Wondering what the new fashion is going to be? Apparently it is capri-length-jeans and a polo shirt underneath a summer dress. Sorry, Dan wouldn't let me take pictures of the manikins.

MagNumOlia

Eric Kenney - Captain Energy and I rode Magnolia to Peak-Peak to Eldora down Canyon. It was an awesome ride, and great to get up higher in elevation because it was so much cooler. I'm sad I'll be missing out on Mike Horgan this year. Magnumolia is brutal...it hurts so good. It's so steep and it seems to keep up forever. At one point, I remember looking to my right and being appalled at seeing only mile marker 4! On our way up Canyon, we saw Jon Baker cruising down on his TT bike and disc wheel; he was probably just doing an easy spin up Magnolia - out and back, no big deal or anything...

We stopped to refuel at a gas station in Nederland. Coke and donuts - the fuel of champions.

Seriously, 50 cents for these 6 mini morsels of goodness. We got the powdered ones today becauce they were out of the chocolate covered; they're a hot ticket! Good ol' Little Debbie - check out her fig bars too. Below, Captain Energy savors the donuts.

Broken and Being

a ticking clock for possibilities,
it is the essence of distress.
a virtual stairway of fear,
of failure, false hopes, of being outdone.
a suspension from the forgotten being.
when there is a plethora
it is always too little, too late,
obliviously wasted, still counting down,
living without touch.
worry for the insignificant,
forgetting the search on the inside,
we search for an outlet,
somewhere to place the blame
and to dispose of emotions.
the love for another vanishes,
as all internal questioning and connections
are overlooked without hesitation.
these mistakes are the liminal flaw of false being.
surrounding beauty forgotten,
replaced with processed dreams,
which are not dreams at all.
never observing in quiet contemplation,
but living in a rush.
anger, bitterness, disappointment lingers
when we live so far from the heart.
without touch, without feeling,
we are reduced to maintaining an image.
no longer do our ventures construct a being,
but this hellish time becomes the being
of a race impossible to fathom.

Curtis Park Crit

We had a good day at the Curtis Park Crit. Carol held onto the Omnium victory, with Beth and Renee close behind her. Jenna Boo-Ya-Boyd was back in action after yesterday's crash and lent the Hurricane some help. The Hurricane loves to share, so she and the Eastmeister held hands as they shared the top of the podium. It wasn't because of any sort of height difference. I redeemed myself after my less than stellar performance at the Hugo RR. I was in a break with Kori Seehafer, Lisa Matlock, and Katie Monahan...some of the most fun I've had in a crit all year!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Dad...hopefully the dog and the kitzah took you out for a tasty dinner!

More on Carol's brilliant win tomorrow....Congrats Hurricane!

Naked Hugo

Apparently I missed World Naked Bike Ride Day this year! I'm putting this on my race schedule for next year. June 9th in Vancouver, BC (also the date of the best ski coach in the world's birthday).

Today, Today, Today. My little Hurricane still maintains the lead in the overall RMO, with a stellar win in the field sprint today. However, Vitamin Cottage's Renee Eastmeister took the win of today's Hugo Road Race, with Trish from Rio Grande. My teammate Carlalalala was back in action today and doing a bountiful amount of work for our leader until a squirrel (wearing chamois and riding a bicycle!) invoked a crash. But she caught back on to the pack and undoubtebly did a bunch of work...I wasn't there to witness it, as I decided to ride the rest of the race at my own pace...I got shelled.

I rode to Hugo with Cannon Lannan from Vitamin Cottage and Willa The Killa from Title 9. It was great having such splendid company for the two hour drive. That place is in the middle of bum-fum nowhere, is as flat as a pancake - uphill both directions, and the wind is always at your face. I just wish I had such nice company for the four hour wind-havocked race, as I did for the drive! Hmm.

RMO - Rocky Mtn. Oysters?

My Teammate, Carol The Hurricane Hutton put us all in a house of hurt today. Below is a picture of her navigating the technical section of today's time trial course in Morrison; part of the Rocky Mountain Omnium. Frisky Fisky took second and Hella Bella Hottman was third.

Colorado Cycling Festival

Today was the Ft Collins Road Race…a hilly-ous little bugger, and scenic and beautiful. Our start time was a painful 7:30am roll out, meaning we had a rude awakening at 5am. We had a huge women’s field of about 60 or 70. It’s exciting seeing the bigger fields at all these local races; it really bodes well for women’s cycling. I remember such tiny fields in my first few races last year – even at the Gila, I remember our Cat ¾ field having only 15-20 women! Our team had a successful day with Maatje taking the win, and Carol coming in 7th, with me in 4th. Carla’s taking a knee from the races this weekend, but will be rip-roaring and ready to go next weekend! I gotta say, we had some great teamwork out there, which really makes me happy. My big bro, Dan had a good one today, despite the unexpected sluggishness of his climbing. I guess he forgot the climbing legs, but still pulled off an awesome 10th place in the ½ field. Tomorrow’s the crit, and I’ll bet he brought those legs!

a drug named 'Me'

There is a plethora of performance enhancing drugs in our world of sports today. But the worst drug out there is ourselves; our incredible need to become the best – no matter what it takes. Can we say we are 'becoming' the best if these drugs are altering it?? We are more focused on being the best as soon as possible. We have forgotten what matters; what makes you become the best – the road, the journey to the top, including every major win AND loss. There is a need to prove to the world an incredible strength, to prove to ourselves that we are untouchable. However, to succumb to doping as a means to achieve intangibility is an automatic loss. What’s worst, we are lying to ourselves. When we swallow that pill or inject that needle, we are tossing up a white flag. We are surrendering to ourselves that our feet are not fast enough, our muscles will not lift enough, our minds are not sharp enough, and our heart will not beat enough.

I only use “we” because we are all affected by this at different levels, whether it is through actual experience or through sheer disappointment.

Knee Touch Squats

What does it feel like to collapse
from definite exhaustion?
To push your body to that point
where it hits a wall
with nothing left to hold it.
To be stumbling, dragging yourself,
until even a crawl is impossible.
To fight through seven layers of fatigue
and find a new energy,
another strength, newly discovered.
To crumble to the earth,
with no means to rise,
but with the aid of a friend
with absolute awe and understanding.
To envision a light ahead,
when your body is drawing black,
when your lungs are on fire,
when your muscles are numb
and your brain is miles out of reach.

Mr. Clean

It was an exciting day in the life of a dombroski. Dan and I organized our garage...even though the 80 mph wind was blowing leaves and sand and trees and squirrels at us.

Take a knee!

I'm a little fried right now so I'm taking a knee. But I'm bored, so I'm starting a blog. I like to write and I guess I like to share, so I'm sharing my writing. I just got home from house sitting for my coach's sister in Louisville, and taking care of their pooch, Inga, a german shepard, a sweetheart. I had never spent any time in Louisville, and always referred to it as Loserville...but it has a pretty unique downtown area. Other than that, I've just been working. I do this data entry job where I search papers for addresses of houses for sale, type the addresses into a spreadsheet, and email these off to my boss. He then sells them to moving companies, who send postcards out to the addresses that say "We can help you move!" Not gonna lie, it is boring, but my boss makes up for it. If you see a family out at the local Boulder races, with two cutey little kids cheering "amy, amy, amy!", that's them. So supportive! If you're selling your house and you get a bunch of moving company's postcards - that's my fault, sorry. But without junk mail, your mailman would be without a job.