stupid hard at times. beautiful.

After weeks of cold and snowy weather here in NC, we finally had a nice warm Saturday.  So I headed out for a long bike ride.     It was a fantastic day for a ride, too.    About 8 miles into my ride, a female rider waved to me as she rode by in the opposite direction.  I waved back, and wondered who it was.  She looked lean and mean, for sure.     Later in the evening, I found out it was local pro triathlete and USAT coach, Stacey Richardson, when she struck up a google chat with me.  🙂  Stacey is always filled with words of wisdom, and has graciously allowed me to share this with my readers.  Enjoy!

stacey: heya carol. that was me waving to you today on fearrington
road, just beyond governor’s village. good to see you out! hope to
God that was a big gear set and not how you usually ride, you beast!
: )
me: haha, how did you recognize me and how on earth did you evaluate
my cadence during that short wave? i do tend to drive a big gear, my
weakness, i know. very nice day for a ride…did you enjoy?
stacey: are you kidding? I saw you half a mile away, grinding 75 rpms.
: ))
but your smile is what gave you away, too. : ))
it was great to be out!
me: aw thanks. i could tell you were a pro, but my eyes are bad, so
did not recognize you! thinking of getting contacts for riding.
stacey: haha. I wear prescription sunglasses. Im with you!
a pro. riding 16 mph. oh yeah. get it awwwwn. : )
me: good thinking. your riding form was spot on…i can spot that much!
what is next in your tri life?
stacey: hahhaa.
recovering.
riding 42 miles felt like an eternity today! : )
to think that 6 weeks ago I was in rocking IM shape!
bleggh.
me: I know, not fair how easy it is to lose all that hard earned fitness.
i rode 3 hours and have been exhausted all day since. that used to be
a walk in the park for me.
stacey: solid work! now do it at 90 rpms and you won’t be so tired. : )))))
then it’s not weight lifting on the bike but rather pure aerobic
exercise, burning fat not glycogen. : )))
let me know when you are going out. we’ll drag you along. heck, you
can drag us! ; )
me: i am fat and out of shape right now so i’m sure i could not keep
pace with you. i love my new job but there is ALWAYS food around.
donuts, pizza, pretzels, cookies. ACK, how am i supposed to get lean
again with that going on?
stacey: I know. I hear ye. but again, make sure you are burning fat on long distance workouts,
missy. it’s called using your metabolic fitness to your advantage.
cadence, aerobic. no grinding. and eating while you ride so you
don’t chow at home. I’m soo guilty of that sometimes.
you are in great shape. so don’t you let a few lbs put the frown on you.
think of it as adding training benefit- cuase when you lose em you can FLYY! ; )
me: good points, thanks. i think i am going to do a mountain
century this season. that will give me big incentive to try to get
lean.
stacey: sweet. I do most of em. blue ridge brutal is lovely. tour
de cashiers is murder.
queen isaqueena’s last ride I’ve never done.
mountains of misery is goofy.
roan moan- lovely!
I’ll be going to most of em.
me: how is blood sweat and gears? i just like that sound o f that one!
stacey: stupid hard at times. beautiful.
for that one, def lose the weight or you’ll die.
Ive done it with 5 extra lbs and thought I’d shoot myself.
me: FML
stacey: fml?
me:  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fml
stacey:  ohh!  like that!!!  you are so online hip
me: can’t believe you never saw that on facebook.
stacey: haha. I’m not that hip, dude.
I do waste more time on fb now. ; )
stacey:  road bikes a must [for mountain century]
me: i do have a road bike. need to get fit on it b/c it is very uncofmrtable
stacey: ooh. good idea. it should feel like home.
bike fit-matt loder, cary cycle surgeon.
stacey: or — dave w or me.  TTFN. see. I know one.
me: have a good one.
stacey: : )))
xoxoxoox
me: ur cute!

stupid hard at times. beautiful.  I like that. I’m in…. http://www.bloodsweatandgears.org/

Update later on:  Not sure if I can do Blood sweat and gears.  It might end up on the same weekend as Kure Beach, dang!

Here is a list for myself while I think about this:

• Mountains of Misery is May 29th.   Got to figure out when is  UNC graduation. http://www.cyclingdoubleheader.com/mountains-of-misery
• Blood Sweat and Gears was June 26th last year. Date not set yet. http://bloodsweatandgears.org/bsg/main/start.htm
• Roan Moan. Date not set yet, but will be last saturday in July, probably not doable due to Kure Beach. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roan-Moan/321923559916
• Blue Ridge Brutal, Mid August, possibly. http://www.ashecivic.com/about-blue-ridge-brutal.html
• Tour de Casheirs, early May (crap, that’s not enough time to lose 20 lbs!), http://tourdecashiers.com/
• queen isaqueena’s last ride, May 7, queen isaqueena’s last ride http://ilrsc.com/
• 3 mountain madness, june 4th, http://www.3mountainmadness.com/routes.htm

List of century rides southeast 2010. http://nashvillecyclist.com/events/charity-rides

I guess I need to chart out my race schedule so I can choose which one to do.  Maybe there are other choices as well.