A new Chick in Black
joins C3 for cross season.
Care to make a guess?

The first person to correctly name our new rider will win something. I don't know what. It could be something crappy or something really good. Current Chicks in Black are not eligible.

Happy Friday

Since Plain Jane has not posted her TGIF segment yet, I give you this. Thanks Girloffroad. You made my day by sending this to me.

Amish Weekend

Be sure to read Beth's posts here and here first.  I've posted some additional pictures to tell more of the story. I'm short on words so I'll just write a bit about the pictures.

The cows are milked twice a day.

Don't try this at home.

In the hen house. The eggs are collected once a day. 50 hens = 50+ eggs.

The Bull. It's actually very unusual for dairy farms to have a bull. They are mean. Most farms use artificial insemination. But not the Smuckers!  With 60 cows, that makes for one busy bull.

Captain Janet. Check out that cow behind her.

Unpasteurized milk. The milk man comes every other day but never on Sunday.

More dairy cows (and a couple of chickens).

Eggs. Mrs. Smuckers gave each of us a dozen eggs before we left. And we got to pick tomatoes and peppers from her garden.

The Smuckers' new buggy. It has battery powered tail lights.

All pimped-out on the inside. That's a Pioneer sound system.

Chickens!

Rooster.

Horses. The road you see is Kessler, part of the road race course.

Crowing rooster.

Marvin (Mrs. Smuckers 10th and youngest child) on his trike. He was FAST on that thing!

On our buggy ride we ran into some folks from Artemis. We also went by the boys' school, a turkey farm, and the homes of several family members.

The road race. Look very close and you can see Dave O in the break. Our Amish friends were able to cheer for the racers because they go to church every other Sunday and this Sunday was off.

We learned so much about the Amish this weekend and can't wait to go back and visit the Smuckers. Here are some random thoughts and tidbits:

They don't use rubber except on their bicycles. Speaking of which, somehow they wound up with a presta valve and were confused by it. Sonja and I left them our pump.

Their scriptures are written in German and their sermons are also in German, even though they speak Pennsylvania Dutch at home. Mrs. Smucker admitted to peeking at the English translation at church.

They can ride in cars just not own them or drive. When they have to travel long distances they use a taxi service.

They were thoroughly interested in our bikes and racing. Some of the boys even rode Janet's bike. And after the race on Sunday, they were waiting with bated breath for us to return and tell them all about it. I actually didn't think we were ever going to get out of there. But I would have been ok with that.

A truly amazing and unforgettable experience. We can learn a lot from them and we only hope to be able to return the favor some day. And no poaching our host family next year. We've already claimed them.

Wednesday Update

My knee is still sore.

Can't go to Colorado.

Hiking would be bad.

Millersburg was great.

Lorena and Jen rocked it.

Race report pending.

We stayed with Amish.

Milked cows, collected eggs, and

rode in their buggy.

I have some pictures to post when I get the darn internets working at home. Also waiting on Janet O to write the race report.

Knee Woes

First diagnosis:
Something wrong with my plica.
Easily treated.

Second opinion:
I have a pinched meniscus.
May miss Millersburg.

Initially I thought I had pika. I was ok with that. In fact, I think they are kinda cute. Then I found out she meant plica. I was still ok with that. The meniscus thing I'm not so happy about. I'm starting PT today and will register for Millersburg anyway. Once again, I will be a race-day decision.

The Race that Almost Wasn't

Saturday was the Church Creek Time Trial. For my race report go here. What follows is the rest of the story.

Thursday

I was riding to work on the TT bike hoping to hit Hains Point during lunch for some laps to get reacquainted with the bike position. I knew that I was missing a bolt in my crank but had been assured by the guys at the bike shop that it was ridable. Well, it was not. Riding up 14th St I felt a little wiggle in my foot. At first I thought my cleat was loose but with the next pedal stroke I found myself splayed on the aero bars and ping-ponging between two cars. I somehow managed to stay upright and pedal with one leg to safety.

Not what you want to see on your morning commute. That spot of grease on my leg has turned into a nice bruise from where I hit the thingy where the crank should go.

After surveying the damage, I realized that I would have to walk the remaining mile to work. With no shoes in my pack (I keep them at work) and not able to release my crank/pedal from the shoe I trudged barefoot not wanting to mess up my brand new Raw Talent Ranch socks. In fact, one of my first thoughts after the incident was how happy I was that I did not hit pavement and ruin my RTR kit.

The new RTR kit. Very retro and cool. If you want one of the coolest kits out there (next to the C3 kit of course) get in touch with Jay Moglia.

Thankfully I work near one of DC's newest bike shops, The Bike Rack. I called and Chuck promised that if I could bring the bike by his shop he'd do whatever possible to get me rolling again. And he did. He even had to take a bolt from a bike on the showroom floor, but rest assured... he has already ordered a new one for that bike. Thanks Chuck!

Chuck at The Bike Rack.

So with the bike as good as new, and only minimal swelling in my ankle I was set for Saturday's TT.

Friday

I probably should not admit this but I played hooky from work Friday. Sonja and I had the White Menace (aka Azucar) for the weekend and I really wanted to take her hiking. So off we went to Fort Marcy, our favorite watering hole (the swimming kind, not the drinking kind... that would be Sonoma).

Azu is an extremely athletic dog but got a late start in the swimming arena so I've been working with her on various tricks. My goal for the weekend was to get her to start jumping into the water, not just wading in after the stick. I found a suitable rock with water deep enough for her to jump and tried to persuade her to join me on the rock. Now, I'm not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed, so I thought I could pull her up on the rock with a big stick. Well, instead of my pulling her up she pulled me down into the water, twisting my left knee in the process.

At first I thought nothing of it, but as the evening wore on I could barely walk. Sonja used her "magic tape" and I put some ice on it, but I was going to be a race-day decision.

Kinesio tape is the bomb.

Even though I hurt my knee, seeing Azu jumping off the rock was worth it. This is what she looks like after one of our hikes.

Saturday

I woke up after a restless evening. Every time I turned over I had severe pain in my knee. Sonja did not want me to race but I promised her that I would abandon if necessary.

After a very long drive due to beach traffic and a pit stop for someone to visit the cornfields, we arrived at the race venue. The knee did not feel great, but I was determined to at least start and I'm so glad I did. Only the first couple of pedal strokes hurt but when I settled down into tempo, the pain in my knee was a distant memory. (If only it would stay that way... turns out I have some kind of issue with my meniscus. More on that later.)

Unnamed rockstar.

On the way home, we once again hit traffic but made the best of it by stopping at Wendy's. Sonja and Anathea chose their meals wisely. Amanda and I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. If you know Amanda and me, you know that we will eat pretty much anything, but we draw the line at rawhide.

Grilled chicken or rawhide?

A closer look at what was truly an inedible chicken sandwich.

Stormin' Mormon turns 28

A little belated but here are some pics from Lo C's birthday party last Thursday. For the party report and more pictures from the party people read this and this. Thanks BAMF Anna for having us over!

Before the party I bumped into Amanda at Sticky Fingers. Great minds think alike.

Heidi arrives. She must have loved it because there was no meat allowed in the house.

J-Maxx and Diane enjoyed the festivities.

Party People (from left to right: Maggie, Leslie, BAMF, the Stormin' Mormon, Rob)

Amanda's rendition of The Breakfast Club.

VegNews Magazine 2008 Best Of Survey

Many of you know Doron from Sticky Fingers Bakery. She races for The Bike Rack and sponsors a couple of cycling teams in the MABRA.

Sticky Fingers is nominated for Favorite Bakery and Favorite Vegan Cookie in VegNews Magazine.

If you've ever had one of Doron's cookies, then I don't have to ask you to go here and vote. If you've never had one, please vote anyway, then head over to Sticky Fingers for a cookie, or a sticky bun (my personal favorite).

No, I am not a vegan (not even close), nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I know good cookies when I eat them!

Orfay Rischay

Aikushay ucksay

enwhay ittenwray inway

igpay atinlay.

There is no "i" in team

But there sure is a lot of F-U-N! Wow, what a great weekend of racing in PA this weekend, and even better, I don't have to write race reports because my lovely teammates already took care of that.

In summary, Di Diesel soloed in for the win at Saturday's Hammer Creek Road Race. Her report is here. I will add some of my perspective from the pack as Di was hammering off the front.

• At one point, Loraine and I were on the front when Michele from HPC went blasting by with Sonja on her wheel. Loraine's initial reaction was to go with them but I told her to let them go. My thinking was that if Michele wanted to drag Sonja up to Diane, well, I'd take that. A couple of more riders went by and still I told Loraine to let them go. Now we had a mini-break of about 4 riders chasing Di, but the pack was not going to have it. They started to chase down the break and when they were reeled in, everyone sat up, and in a moment of confusion, I guess they forgot Di was up the road. A bit later a Sturdy Girl asked Sonja if there was still someone up the road. Sonja said nothing, but another rider piped in.. "Yeah, one of theirs." Ha, Di had pulled off the perfect Houdini... out of sight, out of mind. The chase began in earnest, but with Di's time trialing skills, not a lot of time was taken out of her lead.
• Beth's crash was awful. I had moved up to the front, hugging the yellow line as I saw Sonja moving up on the inside. I had a feeling she was getting ready to launch so I wanted to be on the front protecting the yellow line and forcing potential chasers to move up on the inside/middle. About this same time Heidi was also thinking of attacking and was moving up in the middle. Poor Beth was taking a drink of water. Next thing I know, Heidi is teetering like a weeble-wobble and saying "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." She managed to stay upright (weebles wobble but they don't fall down), but Beth could not. Now, I've heard a lot of crashes but I've actually never heard the sound of carbon breaking. It freaked me out. I wanted to stop, but I'm glad I didn't. The Major said she would have kicked my ass if I had.
• Racing carbon wheels in the rain with 120 psi in your tires is not fun. Once the rain began I could not seem to hold a straight line as my tires had lost all grip, and worse my braking power was down to about 10%. I eased up and let the pack go approaching the "llama turn" but then chased back on. I had a Tri-State Velo girl with me and helped her reconnect with the pack. On the final lap approaching the "llama turn", I once again let off the gas early in order to take the turn easy. The Tri-State Velo girl did not feel comfortable taking the turn with the group either, but I told her to stay on my wheel after the turn and I'd get us back on, which I did. (I only mention this because she returned the favor Sunday when I was caught out of the draft and looking to move back in.) At the finish I was feeling strong but had lost all confidence in my tires/wheels so I just rolled in towards the back of the pack for 11th. Didn't matter much, my teammate had won.

Sunday's race, the Cycle Sports Circuit Race, if possible, was an even better display of team tactics than Saturday. I won't repeat what's already been said on Sonja's blog and Beth's blog, but have I told you lately how much I love my team? And in addition to all the love going around, there's been a lot of mention of C3 on other blogs so now I have new friends and blogs to read and links to add. Check them out.

Sara Iepson
Lenore Pipes
Davina Summers