Farewell my dear friend...

I am a slave to Face Book. I admit it. FB is so quick and easy, that I can no longer have any interest in posting on my blog page any longer. Do not get me wrong, I have enjoyed creating my entries immensely, but the time has come to completley say good-bye to this ol' pal.

Face Book allows me to post pics and updates much easier than a blog, plus I can see everyone at the same time. No more typing in names or trying to remember their blog page.....FB has saved me the hassle.

I'll see you on Face Book, my dear blogging pals.

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.....

Fat Kat knew it was time for his medicine, so he ran upstairs and hid. I found him hiding under our bed. The tell-tail sign was clear......

Kern kernals

I'm going to start backwards, just because I need to get the bad crap out of the way.



Day #3 Race #4

Road race: is a hill climb, as far as I am concerned. Right from the gun, we climbed for almost 20-minutes, until we flattened out for any length of distance. Those short, steep descents, hardly justified all of that dam climbing.



I was told it was 109 degrees in the shade. Good times for me. Not good times, is when I lost all of my GU packets on the first lap. I was getting progressively weaker and did not want to ask for a gel from one of the others, otherwise they would have picked up the pace and then I would have been really S.O.L. I ate 1 pack and planned on 5!



Crossing the finish line, I was beyond depleted of calories, drinking only water on the final lap. The 4-mile ride back to the start seemed impossible, so I had to sit on the side of the road. Suddenly out of nowhere, Bellas surrounded me. Monica rode back to the start and brought back ice water for me (after ROCKING her race!), Liz, literally force fed me several GU packets, Stella watched over me like a mother would, Marian gave me her food, Sue was there pouring water on me and Andrea was on the way to retrieve a car to get me, when Robert showed up in his Velo Promo van, which felt like a Cadillac on the ride back. I barely recall much else, so I apologize if I am missing anyone. Angels? Teammates? Fricking impossible to tell the difference!



Day 2 race #3

11-mile hillclimb: from the start, we were climbing. We had a couple of mountain goats in our group, who set a blistering pace for this 145-lb. girl. The sun felt great on my skin and I slowly started passing other riders on the ascent. I have never passed anything on a climb except for rocks, so rolling by 6 girls was a great motivator.



Day 2 race #2

Circuit race: I really like this course, it suits me well. We had a crash on the first sprint and then three girls tangled handle-bars at the sprint finish......right in front on me. Were they going to topple over left or right? After a moments' hesitation, I bolted around them for a safe finish.



Day 1 race #1

Time trial: my forte'. I felt like a million bucks and love the internal challenge of a TT. The idea of catching the rider ahead of me, is all the motivation I need to keep me focused and powering through. We were let off at 1 minute intervals and I passed one rider and nearly caught up with the next.



I was 10th in my highest stage and finished 15th overall.....crappy final race, fudged it all up for me.



Our team was clearly the best supported, most cohesive, was the largest in numbers (bodies and winnings) and we had the most fun. Thanks to everyone for a spectacular weekend. Without our guys (Tyler, Michael, & Rick) and Erica, our weekend would have been much harder. THANKS!!!

Copperopolis

A.K.A. Crap-All-Over-Us

I thought this race was nick-named as such, because all of the poorly patched potholes. Newer layers plopped on top of older layers, mile after mile of rough, bone-jarring road. There was some relief with a nice smooth section, but the road pitches up to a seemingly 35% gradient, so smooth road is of little consolation.

Back to Crap-All-Over-Us. Driving into the starting area, I eye-balled the closest Port-o-Potty, and parked. I had to pee for over an hour, so I ran up the green door, knocked quickly, and flung the door open. There, at the threshold of the entry, was the largest, most disgusting pile of human crap I have ever seen, with my own eyes. I think the person, must have had his ass still out of the door, since it was nowhere near the toilet.

I stepped over the crap and went pee. I kept my eyes forward, but my peripheral vision kept focusing downward to the pile. In those few moments I came up with these assumptions about the assailant...

*It had to be a man
*There was no toilet paper for me, so there was probable no paper for him. He is walking around here, smelling of fresh poo. And if he did have t.p. why didn't he scoop his mess up?!
*He must have not been a cyclist. The sheer volume, told me there was alot of alcohol consumption the night before, along with a helping of chili verde.

As I stepped over the crap and opened the door, there was a guy waiting. As if I had to explain, I told him that I did not make that mess and hurried off...........looking and sniffing every man I passed, wondering who was the mystery pooper was.

These berries are almost as big as Barry Bonds head.......I assume that neither, have used organic and natural substances to maximize their potential.

The ride from a snowy hell.....

Every Wednesday, Coach Felicia prescribes a 40-minute hillclimb at a designated heart rate. This is best done on the "four-lane." For the non-Fresans, this road is an awesome seven-mile climb at about a 10% gradient.

Mistake #1--teaching two spin classes back-to-back
So, off I go up the gradient. My legs were heavy and my enthusiasm was low to moderate. Dark clouds were looming over me, and I was destined to get pelted with hail on my ride. Twenty minutes into the climb and my legs were still heavy and I could not get my HR (heart rate) anywhere near my target.

Mistake #2--self-punishment
I kept hearing, "Loser" over and over in my head. I resigned to the fact that my legs were not going to get any better, so I deserved to be punished for my inadequacies. "I'll go all the way to the top and get a Snickers bar at Cressman's." (Cressman's is a market at the 6,000' mark). This hour climb should be the perfect penalty for not being able to adhere to Coach's directions.

Mistake #3--piles of snow
At the 3,000' level, there was almost one foot of snow along the road. The views were amazing! Drivers would roll down their window, cheering me on. Several, blasted friendly honks. A Cal-Trans snowplow did a double take in his rear view mirror, as he passed me. All of these responses further encouraged my poor decision making.

Mistake #4--crap loads of snow
The ground was crackling under my tires and I believed this to be ice. I kept plugging along, knowing that the Holy Grail was around the corner (the Snickers bar). Once inside Cressman's, the store owner remarked how dangerous it may be going back down the four-lane. I bought the King-Size Snickers and cracked off a corner of the frozen reward. I grabbed the Penny Saver newspaper and shoved it into my jacket. Thirty-two degrees mandated several issues.

Mistake #5--f**king freezing decent
Since there was so much slush on the roadside, I kept the brakes on, going no faster than 15 mph. (usually, I can fly down at 45+ mph) The cold was biting. Miserably friggin' cold!! My patooties were frozen and my fingers were the coldest I have ever experienced. This was the worst punishment I could have inflicted on myself, since I thrive in the 100+ degree weather.

Back into my warm truck, I blasted Kid Rock on the way home, thinking, "Denise you are not a loser.....you're one tough chick!"

Facebook vs. Blogging

Denise is eating Fruit Loops.
Denise is thinking of changing her profile pic.
Denise is riding on a sunny, Fresno day.
Denise is relaxing after teaching spin class.

Do you see a pattern? This is Facebook. Quick. Easy. One liners. No brains. No thought. Most of the thinking involved, is when replying to someones Facebook posting. Still, it can be accomplished in a nano-second.

Blogging is much more complex--and time consuming. First, I create an entire entry around a photo.

#1 get photo

Then, I need to do the writing for the photo. I love to write, do it well, and can create ideas quickly (when required). The time consuming aspect is in the creation of the dialog.

#2 creating an entry using proper English

I need an "Introduction" in my writing; something that will capture the audience.

Secondly, creating the "Body" of my blog entry is a timely process. This is the meat and potatoes of my story. We know the basic sentence structure must have a noun and a verb, but there are adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, participles, and active vs. passive writing, and the list goes on.

Finally, the "Closing" of my blog entry must be constructed in such a manner that my readers will be satisfied when the story is over. Have you ever sat in a 3-hour movie and the ending did not meet your expectations?

SIGH......this is why I have not been blogging as frequently, as I have in the past. If you want to see what is going on in my life, written in fragment sentences, here is my link:

http://www.facebook.com/friends/?all#/home.php?ref=home

BlackJack is at it again.....

BlackJack has quite the reputation around our 'hood. He has a posse of females that he protects and allows onto his block, he smacks around other Toms who try to cut into his action, and he loiters around the fence tops ready to hand out ass-whoopins'.

This cat met his match.....a dog. The vet says the dog bit into his rear quarter, as BlackJack was running away, causing a large tear. He is stitched up and has an ugly drain hanging out of his side for a few days.

His #1 chick is waiting for him outside our door--day in and day out--waiting for the day he is sprung from this joint.

Another year recap....

Every year, I make a New Years' Resolutions.....tone my abs, tone my triceps, tone my rear, tone down my eating, tone up my hair color, eat less processed foods, stop at all 'stop' signs, paint my living room, race smart and get on the podium, and the list goes on. I have kept some of these Resolutions:

toned my abs
toned my triceps
genetics did not allow me to tone my rear
toned up my hair color--it's darker now
I eat about the same amount of processed foods
I come to a 100% stop at all stop signs
Jimmy will not allow any color except eggshell white on the walls
I raced several smart races and got on the podium several times

With this being said, I do not know what my Resolution is going to be this year. There are so many things I want to do, accomplish, and experience this year; I do not know if I should "Just Do It" (sorry Nike, I just stole your 1989 motto) or should it be a Resolution?

Either way, I have my health, a great family and a wonderful job. Do I really need to paint my walls or have a firm rear to make it a successful year?

Our idea of a great flick.....

After the 30-second info commercial, there is a trailer of the BEST movie in the theaters, now. If you are looking for human mutilations, graphic violence or gratuitous sex......you do not know me very well (except for the last one!).

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2121072665/

And not a moment too soon.....

Holiday schmaliday.....

Our decorations have been sitting in the living room, for several days now. Our tree is in 2 peices (lights and decorations are attached) and I have not had the time to do any of the holiday stuff that I would like to do. No cards have been sent, not one decoration has been put up, and even Bo has not worn his Christmas cardigan yet.

Four more days and counting......

Oh my gosh.....

If I can hang on for 8 more days, my life will resume to normalcy as I know it..............8 more short days.

Sensory overload.....

I was up to my eyeballs in homework, when I decided to take a much-needed break. Usually, my idea of a break would be checking e-mail, tossing the ball with the pooch, or walking around the backyard for a few laps.


A much better idea came to me. Heck, it's is almost dinner time, so why not have a banana split?! I will gladly forgo chicken and green salad for an ice cream dinner.



It looked so awesome, so perfect, so delectable, that I wanted to take a photo of my culinary creation and post it. Mid-way though the creation process, I got the camera ready. Poured on some more caramel and turned the camera on. A big whirl of whipped creme, with some chopped peanuts on top finished my masterpeice.

After that, it was a blur. I forgot about the camera. I sat down, moving my books out of the way and dug in, wiping the edges clean with the banana slices. What an awesome dinner.

Zabriskie fans......

If you know who he is, you'll enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/rumorvids

What the heck is goin' on....?

With me? Everything and nothing. My life in a nutshell:
teach spin 3x a week
school 5x a week
work 3-5x a week
wife 10x a week
train (back down to a measly 3x per week)

Once again, my plate is too darn full.......why my brains are not oozing out from my eyeballs, is beyond me.

Oh yah, I had to break out the sweatshirt for the first time, this year. Gloomy ol' winter is around the corner and that is going to reallllllly mess with my brain. I want off of this train.

Approved and funded by the Ramirez household.....

This photo evidences a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect wildlife in the U.S.

Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democratic Party- as they have apparently learned to simply sit and wait for the government to provide for their care and sustenance.

Welcome to my world.....

Bo, our one-eyed dog is happy as a clam these days. All the girls think he is flirting with him. Wink! Missy (the calico) is mentally challenged, due to a bang on her head as a kitten and Lil' Kitty has 1/2 an ear.

Meet our 3-legged kitty, named Kitty. Do not feel sorry for this fat guy; he rules the roost. Interestingly, the other cats always wack him on the left side of his head, like they know he is missing something. His right hand is lightening fast.

Perfect pets are a dime a dozen. Let Paris and Brittany keep their well-coiffed pooches and send us the rejects.............

Blah of a month....

I have not posted in exactly one month and that is pretty unusual for me. I love blogging and writing about the mundane aspects of my mundane life on my mundane neighborhood.

This month was filled with lots of real crappy stuff:
~My dear friend of 25-years died of cancer.
~Lil' Sis Johnna, finished radiation treatments for Stage 2 breast cancer.
~Bo, had to have his eye removed, due to advanced stages of glaucoma.
~And other shit I cannot even blog about..........

This month was filled was some slightly crappy stuff:
~I did not race San Ardo; my fav race of the season.
~School started back and I have 3 more semesters to go, before graduation
~In a few weeks, I'll be 46 years old
~Jimmy continues to loose weight without exercise and diet pills, while I maintain my weight with calorie restriction and 10-hours a week of exercise.

This month was filled with some not crappy stuff:
~The cat did not pee on my homework

Canine rehab....

Not to be confused with the reality show, Celebrity Rehab, Bo is not some washed-up, has-been who is addicted to drugs, alcohol, or sex (though he does like to hump the kitties; I would classify that as a fetish, but not an addiction). His therapy was prescribed so that he could increase his physical activity with little impact on his arthritic joints.

After his strenuous 5-minute walk, the doc said he should rest and stretch tonight. This is how he looked on the way home.....