HIGHLIGHTS

I've been training for 10 weeks now and I'm loving every minute of it! Here are a few memorable moments over the last ten weeks:

11.29.08: NEW BIKE!
My (dad's) mountain bike just wasn't cutting it. I never realized how slow mountain bikes were and how much of a difference the type of bike really makes. When I started, I had a very hard time keeping up on the flat roads. Now that I have my bike (and quite a few miles under my belt) I'm at the front of the pack, even on hills!

here's what I rode before:

here's what I ride now:

BIG difference! I'd say the mountain bike has to weigh somewhere around 40lbs (I could be slightly off, but it's a heavy beast). My bike weighs about 20lbs! That 20lbs makes a HUGE difference. What I like most about my bike (besides the fact that it's mine and it's NOT a mountain bike) is the clip in shoes. It's a completely different ride and somewhat dangerous in fact. I mean, if you fall, you just tip right over because you're feet are stuck! It takes some getting used to, that's for sure. I took a spill my first day out. I did good, riding a whole hour and a half but as I pulled up to the curb at home, there I went! Luckily my bike only suffered a minor scratch to the seat:

Here's how it works. The pedals look like this:

And the shoes look like this:

And on the bottom of the shoe it clips onto the pedals as shown below...

(Just thought someone, probably my sister, would be curious)

12.06.08: All TEAM Winter Blast!
TNT took over Irvine for our Saturday practice. We met up with the cycling team, the marathon team, half marathon team, and the alumni team. All together there had to be around 100 people running and biking around town. We went out for a 20ish mile ride and came back for a 30minute run, all the while wearing my homemade TNT Santa hat. =) This is Mike and Rebecca Emelo (brother and sister, not a couple!). We took three pictures and Mike couldn't get his face to act right. So this is his best shot. He's a cutie in real life, don't let the goofy smirk fool ya. We were everywhere! Around every corner was another teammate with a cheerful "GO TEAM!" Back at the base (the park where we all met up) was a few tents with different fundraising sales, tons of food, and best of all, 10 massage tables! One of the local schools came out to get their volunteer hours and offered free ten minute massages to anyone and everyone... I had two ;-) We had a guest appearance by our new mascot. The TNT bear? Mentor Joe is typically quiet, introverted, and rather reserved but sometimes... sometimes the guy gets a little crazy and does or says some pretty hilarious things. So here's Joe dressed as our TNT bear with Mentor Rich (and some other pics):












Changing tires makes me crazy!! And here's a pic of our honorary teammate, Ilana...

12.20.08: Christmas BBQ/Practice/Ugly Sweater Contest.
It was a great practice! We met up in Santiago Canyon and went over transitions before we began. Believe it or not, transitions are a BIG deal! It's said to be the 4th sport in a TRIathlon. it makes sense though. A lot of time can be wasted trying to get the wetsuit off, putting on and taking off shoes... it's highly regulated actually! Coach Julia taught us the tricks of the
trade with our wonderful transition clinic. After the clinic, we practiced our transition skills by going out on a short ride, transitioning to our run (about 3 miles) and back to the ride and back to the run. It was an awesome practice where I found I was really able to keep up with some of the fastest girls of the group. The competitiveness is definitely coming out of me!Coach Julia taught us the tricks of the trade with our wonderful transition clinic. After the clinic, we practiced our transition skills by going out on a short ride, transitioning to our run (about 3 miles) and back to the ride and back to the run. It was an awesome practice where I found I was really able to keep up with some of the fastest girls of the group. The competitiveness is definitely coming out of me!

Below are pictures of the transition rack with all of our bike mess, Coach Collin showin off his amazing Cervelo and Coach Sally making sure we're mounting and dismounting in time, and then Coach Sally mapping out our rides and runs for the day.

After practice we went to a nearby park and had

a nice BBQ with a ton of yummy food. Let me tell ya, food tastes SO MUCH better after a rough 2hr workout. I really enjoyed sitting down with my teammates and really getting to know them. I found out that a few of the girls and I have some REALLY good friends in common and a few other teammates are just as geeky as me!! After the BBQ we got down to business with the judging of the UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATERS! And I won! =) Thanks Mechelle for the outfit!!

12.29.08: So I bought my bike from Competative Edge in Rancho and they are the coolest bunch of people ever. The owner's daughter, Ashley, invited me to ride with her, her dad Umaro, and their neighbor, Greg, and another employee, kevin. The guys are amazing riders, especially Greg. Greg is a very competative racer. He's finished and WON quite a few 100mile races and recently completed, and won, a 150 miler. Anyway, he stayed with me the whole time, coaching me along the way. He gave me his number (not like that) and said that he'd like to ride with me again. Cool!!!

01.04.09: Hangin with the big boys! I went on another ride with Greg and Umaro and it was fantastic! We climbed Baldy (ok not all the way, but made a loop from Euclid up to Baldo road and down to Padua) and I rocked (according to Greg)! I rocked enough for him to tell me that he really wants to train me because I have a lot of potential. I raced Umaro up a small hill and won, but I think he might have let me win. I wouldn't be surprised. When we got back, Greg showed me how to clean my bike, hooked me up with some gear, and offered to take me out to Bonelli later on this week (Bonelli is very hilly and only the strongest survive... apparently he has some sort of faith in me...). It all just feels surreal because all of my life, I'm been a "jack of trades and master of none" and for once, I feel like I might actually be good at something. I was never athletic in any sense (unless you call dancing when you're 13 'athletic'), so it's interesting to see my growth and fun to actually be good at something. Really, I just have fun doing it. Greg's eagerness and fervor for training together leads me to believe that I'm at least above the average novice! Anyway, I'll let you know how that ride goes...