I was sitting at home last night watching the opening ceremonies in Beijing. I absolutely love the Olympics, and always have. I like all the artsy production, but what I truly love are all the athletes walking into the stadium. It was a dream of mine from the time I was a little girl to be in the Olympics, and now that I’m older and have done it, it still has a hold on me. I will never grow tired watching these athletes. More …

We have been building our mileage for a couple weeks now, and I know that I am starting to feel a bit tired. Everyone needs to pay close attention to the messages that your body is sending you. It’s important to get rest and to eat carefully. You are pushing your body hard, and you need to take care of it. We still have a lot more training to go, and sometimes if you are getting overly tired, a bit of rest is better than going out and doing an extra ride, or pushing through some hard interval workout. Also, factor in the stress of your life a bit. Sometimes less is more. I have a good friend who told me that you are never over-trained, just under-rested. There is a lot of wisdom in that statement. More …

I am in charge of a training program here in San Diego for the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge. The ride is to support CAF which is the Challenged Athletes Foundation. I absolutely love this Foundation, and I am so excited to be a part of the organization this year.

The actual ride is from San Francisco to San Diego. It is a long way, so we offer a training program that runs for 20 weeks. Our goal is to have everyone make it down the coast comfortably by October. More …

Ok, so I figure that it might be interesting to start a little bit of a discussion about cycling and athletic clothing. As anyone who knows me can attest, I have a huge obsession with clothes. Its one of my favorite pastimes… Lately I have been getting more and more discouraged with the lack of cute athletic clothing out there.

I raced for 20 years. When I was younger I liked having sponsors on my clothes because somehow it validated that someone else thought you had some kind of athletic talent. But, now after years of being told what to wear, I finally have the chance to go crazy, show my own style, and lo and behold, there is absolutely zero athletic clothing on the market that I think is HOT for women. I don’t think that women want to look like guys on the bike. Most of the girls I like to shop with are looking for clothes that make them feel fun and sexy. I think that there are a lot of women out there who feel the same way but can’t find anything that works. I know because I have been trying to find stuff that I would like to wear, and I am now taking some of the cute yoga and BeBe sport stuff to the tailor to get reworked into something that I will wear on the bike. Who says that you can’t show up to a group ride in something outrageous if you like it? Confidence is sexy. Athletic women should be rejoicing, not trying to look like their cycling brothers! More …

Every town has certain climbs or rides that all cyclists consider milestones. From my previous posts, you can tell that one of the main climbs in the San Diego area is Palomar Mountain. This is a milestone for cyclists who have been riding for awhile, because it is a long ride and a hard climb. But, there is a climb right in town up Torrey Pines, where many cyclists do hill repeats and is in one of the most scenic parts of town. This is a milestone climb for beginning cyclists. It’s a “Rite of Passage” and helps new cyclists realize that they can be a part of this cycling culture.

I am working with a wonderful woman named Becky and we ride together once a week. She has an amazing attitude and is willing to try anything, but had never been on a road bike with clip in pedals before. Her husband is a really good cyclist and wants her to get involved too. Let me just say that anytime you want to get your significant other to get involved in a sport that you like and are good at, it is always a better idea to have a neutral party do the teaching. This crosses all sporting lines, not just cycling! More …

This weekend I flew to Boston to do a ride for a foundation called Best Buddies. I have done this ride on the west coast for a few years, and was invited to ride in the east coast version from the JFK library to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port.

One of the things I swore I would never do again is ride in cold, wet weather, but somehow I have done more of it this year than I had planned. This weekend was no exception. I was so bummed to wake up and see the rain pouring down. I had flown in to Boston the night before and it was a really late night. By the time I was checked in and in my bed it was almost one in the morning, and I had to leave the hotel for the ride at 6am. Luckily it takes a bit to stress me out, so I wasn’t too bummed until I saw the pouring rain. The thought of doing a 100 mile ride in cold and rain at 4am my time was not making me smile. More …

It’s been a big couple weeks for Birthdays! My good friend Deb Hoffman had her 40th birthday, and she wanted to do a girls weekend in Ojai. We decided to visit the Ojai Valley Inn to do some rides and spa time. I hadn’t been on a “Girl’s Weekend” in a long time and it was long overdue. More …

Well, I just had my first birthday in San Diego. It was a great day even though the weather didn’t treat us well.

I’ve never had a “Birthday Ride” before and there was definitely a lot of hype leading up to it. I was on email chains that had all kinds of interesting banter going on in an attempt to convince people to ride. It wasn’t me that was scaring away the troops (I hope) but mainly our route, from Rancho Santa Fe to the top of Palomar and back. It’s about a 95 mile round trip. The other issue is that there are a couple of really strong guys, and it is always painful to ride with one in particular (you know who you are :)). Anyway, those of us who wanted to more relaxed pace decided that we would leave a half hour earlier and leave from Del Mar. I chose to go with this group because I decided that on my birthday I really wanted to be social, and was not so interested in hurting all day. And trust me, it would have been all day… More …

I got a beautiful new GIANT TCR ISP bike with the High Road Sports paint scheme. It is amazing. I am also trying out a new compact crank set from Shimano. It is their new Ultegra SL and is equally beautiful. The crank set is a darker color and matches the paint scheme beautifully. More …

On Saturday I went on a ride from Rancho Santa Fe to Palomar Mountain and back. It is a round trip of about 90 miles, but it was super windy, and COLD!

I have been riding a bit, but I have just started to do some longer rides. This was far and away the longest ride that I have done since last year. It was even more difficult because of all the climbing. More …