Riding my bike!

I have been riding my bike a LOT lately! This fall is all of my base phase before the build starts in december/january for my big 2103 goal. I don't feel quite ready to publish that goal, but I will soon!

Once our crazy summer travel stopped, I got into base training. It has been 20-25 hours a week of riding, plus swimming, a little running, some strength, and a dab of yoga. The fact that this feels normal combined with the fact that this is just the BASE phase is terrifiying.

I try not to think about it though....and just take it one day/week/session at a time.


I have found some serious motivation in a few ways lately.

1. Supporting others.

SO many people have supported me in my goals, and I feel SO lucky that I  have had the chance to support them.

George

My awesome husband qualified for Kona. It has been tough mentally for him to hop back into yet another IM training cycle. I have become "Kona Crew" or KC--which we thought was fitting! I am joining him in the pool every time I can. We are doing lots of sets and we take turns drafting on each other. It keeps the energy level and effort really high. We are trying to turn him into a fish for this part of the race:

We have also gone out of our way to do lots of cycling events in different places to keep his spirits high by riding lots of new roads. I am so very proud of him and excited to see him race in October!

Laura

  Laura has been my tightest training buddy. She has been by my side for SO many training and racing adventures. She ran 40+ miles of the double iron next to me. She wats registered for Ironman Mont Treblant, but so many work commitments got in the way of her training. In the last month, she had a setback due to the rubber leaving the road on her bike. She nursed herself back to health, and we forged ahead. George and I rode her last long ride with her. I couldn't keep up with her running anymore (since I am barely running still), but we rode lot of miles side by side talking and encouraging each other towards our goals. This one was a tough one just to get to the starting line, but I think that sometimes that makes the finish line even sweeter. On Sunday, she went 12:58, and I am SO proud of her I can hardly stand it! Go Laura!!

She is riding in to the distance. I was sending her strong leg vibes ALL day Sunday!

Anne

She might kill me for writing about her, but I find her SO inspiring. Anne told me at the end of RAAM that she wanted to ride a bike. One of our teammates owns the shop Cycleworks here. We spent the afternoon with him working on a bike fitting and some instruction. She bought a gorgeous Trek 2.3 aluminum road bike with Shimano 105s, which I think is a great intro bike! We have ridden on the Silver Comet Trail and around Roswell. She has already gotten up to a 35 mile ride, Every time we ride, she has tons of questions about cycling, because she truly wants to understand and engage with the bike. Riding with someone who is discovering the joys of riding a bike is exciting for me and reminds me of all of the reasons that I ride! I am SO proud of her risk taking and commitment to taking on a new sport that can be so intimidating.

2. Riding in events to keep it fresh

George and I have ridden in a few events lately. I think that new roads, new people, and new challenges keep riding exciting.

•     We started this series with a 100 mile ride with Laura before her IM. She chose the roads, and we were just along for a ride! It was a great day!
• Covington Century came next. It was a fast and easy course. I enjoyed the people and theroads. The support on course was mediocre, the markings were tough to read, and it poured rain on us. I did get to see lots of wonderful people like Tom, Collen, and Steve though!
•  Then we went to the Chattooga Century. George did the 200k, which I had intended to do, but I got multiple flats, so I just rode the century to save some time! This was very well supported and they had great aid stations. I would recommend this ride to anyone!
• Last weekend, we took an impulsive trip up to Asheville for the Blue Ridge Breakaway. It is a 105 mile climb with 10,000ft of climbing. It was an exceptional ride! Beautiful, hard, well supported, and chip timed! George was the first rider in, and even though I lost about an hour to chattting at aid stations and eating oreos, I was still the third woman. Next time I am timed, I might speed it up a little :-) This was an exceptional weekend riding, running, and eating delicious food, and generally soaking in the happiness which is the mountains!

3.  Planning the next adventures!

As soon as we left Asheville, I started planning our return to Asheville! Planning the next adventure keeps me excited about having rides that are 6+ hours on my schedule. In the next couple of  months we will be taking a tour of southern centuries! Will you be at any of these? Wanna ride with me!?

  Savannah Century

There might be a few more, but this is what is currently on my google calendar!

Oh summer....

This has been a remarkable summer. Really--a summer to remember. I am SO very lucky.

Last night, George proposed a toat to "a summer well spent." I must say that I couldn't agree more!

First, we went to Quassy to race at Rev3 and had some great races!





Then, I went to race RAAM, which was an incredible experience.







Then, I hopped right on a plane to Spokane, Washington, grabbed a car, and drove to watch George race in Ironman Coure d'alene. He KILLED it. He went 9:45, a 2:59 marathon (fastest amauter), and a slot to Kona. He's the cute one on the left.

And here he is taking that slot so we get to go to Hawaii in October! I am SO proud of him.

Then, we headed to London to see George's sister, her husband, and our three sweet neices who have been living there for the past year. We got to spend 10 days in London, and we split our time between family and seeing the city!

It was great to get hugs and kisses from those girls!

We had high tea!

We went to Buckingham Palace. We ate meringues. Sometimes at the same time.

We got back from London, and went to the beach the next day. I don't have any pictures. I layed in a hammock, got back on my bike a little bit, and read a lot. Great way to end a month of crazy awesomeness.

Since all of that, I have been working really hard doing things like riding my bike a lot, making really really really big plans for 2013 racing, spending time with family, and working on my waterfall braiding.

We Made It!

I owe this blog a MUCH longer race report for a 3000 mile race, but it has been a whirlwind after finishing RAAM! Here are just a few picture highlights!

 Looking very clean, rested, and fresh! This must be us pre-race!

Again--the van is fresh enough to do things like pyramids!



Ready to roll!



Time to start this thing--and it's dark---that is a theme for the first few days!



And it's still dark....




Now starting to get a little loopy from riding in the dark so much--time to pull out the hula skirts!




























Some brief sight seeing. Sparkles: "We are going to Four Corner, you are taking some pictures, and you are going to like it!"

Sparkles: "Now you are going to get some pictures by these haystacks and like it."
Lookin like farmer types, right?


Rode my bike...



Traded off with my teammates!



Rode my bike some more....



And then rode my bike...

And then I had the pleasure of riding my bike!

We didn't sleep all that much at all whatsoever really at all or at normal time. Things got silly a few times!

Banana Slugs..

Junk food!

Monsters!

More monsters! And a lot of caffeine!

I really loved riding my bike.....and wished I could have kept on riding (though I did want some sleep!)



We made it!



















Everyone who volunteered to crew worked hard and got us from one side of the country to another. THANK you all!

I personally owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the two amazing women who came with me.

The amazing, hard working, tireless, and always upbeat Anne. The entire team was stronger because you were there. Your collection of temporary tattoos, awesome gifts at the rider exchanges, and great team nicknames were amazing. Thank you.

 
















And my driver/navigator/sing-along buddy/companion/shoulder to cry on/bike loader/water bottle filler/best friend/shrink/conspirator/Mr. T rap producer/story teller/gear carrier/level head/big ball of awesome-ness--Sparkles!!!

I have long considered you among my best friends in the world, and our time together in this race showed me how incredibly fortunate I am to have you in my life.

Thank you. Thank you so much. No really, Thank you.






I mean it. Thank you. How wonderful is your life when your friends support you in you dreams/adventures by giving up so much of themselves? It is really really wonderful.


A huge adventure, and my lasting feeling is one of gratitude.

Thank you.

Tracking me as I Race Across America!

Quick run down of this race:

• I am on an 8 person team that is supporting the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
• Between the 8 of us, we will race over 3000 miles.
• We will be racing continuously, as the clock never stops in RAAM!
• The race for us starts on June 16th at noon.
• We hope to be done in 6-ish days!
• We have 5 vehicles that are travelling as a part of our team.
• We are in four teams of 2, and each team will be taking a 5 hour shift ON (riding), and a 15 hour shift off!

Here is the tracking information:

The ACTUAL race website is here, and they do a variety of tracking and web videos about the race. George and I love following this website every year, and this year I will be on it! So great :

http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/raam.php?N_webcat_id=1

My team will have an ongoing blog that is ONLY about our team! There are great pictures and updates throughout the race, and you can find that here!:

http://teamshepherd2012.wordpress.com/

My personal updates will be on my blog, my facebook, and my twitter accounts!

Blog: http://kacietri-ing.blogspot.com/

Facebook (if you want to follow me here, feel FREE to friend me!): http://www.facebook.com/kacie.darden 

Twitter (same with twitter!): https://twitter.com/#!/kacie_tri_ing

Donations to the Shepherd center can be made at this website. We and the patients there appreciate anything you are willing to or able to give!

http://www.shepherd.org/resources/raam

Cheers! And thanks for following my crazy adventures!

RAANDOM RAAM Updates--Pre-departure

Yesterday, we packed up all of our bikes and gear into four vans that I will see again in Oceanside on Wednesday!

Our Race Across America team is officially ready!

Leading into this packing day, I was training myself into the ground. So much so that I spent most of the day today just watching TV, napping, and finding more food to eat! I think that means that you came to the end of your training cycle and broke yourself down as much as possible.

Yesterday, we packed up, and our team blog has some great pictures that I am stealing about how our vans look:

Anne sparkles and I worked really hard with all of the tools and stuff. hehehehe. Our Team blog called it strategizing!

I was worried that I would be really sad saying goodbye to my bikes, but I mostly just wanted some fro yo and some sleep...which I got promptly after packing!

A little trippy that it is backwards, but here is our team shirt:

And the back has a great picture of Blaze!

And here is our team kit:

But we also have a team post up about the roster of people who are a part of this team!

Mostly, I like that Anne's picture is from my double iron:

And that Sparkles' picture does not disappoint:

Mine is from Rev3 Knoxville:

So the thing I can't stop thinking about right now is that Leslie's tubs of gear (Leslie is a friend who is also a racer on the team) have hot pink zebra print duct tape on them. And mine don't. I think I need to pull myself together before this race starts.

I had dinner with my good friends Jill and Colleen this week, which was a blast.  We had a great time, tons of food, and lots of laughs! Colleen's husband has raced RAAM twice with Team Type 1, who are super fast! She gave me the most thoughtful gift of "things I didn't know I would need" for RAAM, including pink earplugs and a sleeping mask! Brilliant! Thanks you two!

And my wonderful husband George gave me these sunglasses as a "RAAM Present."

Why yes, they DO match the helmet I am wearing in this picture EXACTLY!

I also bought this guy for our van's dashboard: