Jump on over to HERE and HERE

for lots and lots of pictures

Thanks,

:)Chrissy

Dang, unbelievable, truly truly … I just wrote some stuff and my computer has a mind of its own so it decided to turn itself off. Anyways, what I was saying was… The race of Tour de Toona has one final day left consisting of a lot of right hand turns with a few left hand turns all done 30 times over and over around a box with a twist. Although I am going to try to round the box more like a circle. (This already happened)

The past few days of racing have come and gone fast and furious. Yesterday was another almost 100 mile day and the day before was 80 miles.

The day before yesterday the race started right outside our front door which was sweet because we got to wake up to men in spandex AND oh yes I agree what better way to wake up… wahooo. Millions upon millions, but of course there was only one cuter then cute… oh yes Phil.

Our race began with not one but two flats which meant I almost blew sky high in the first 5.893 miles of the race from chasing back on to the pack not once but twice all with in 0.9394 seconds of each other. But that wasn’t as sweet as dropping my chain in the break about 8K, give or take a few miles (I like to talk in both K’s and Miles to soot all readers) from the finish.

All in all it was like the day before… yep, hard.

Then there was the next day… hills, hills and more hills. Did I mention there were hills in the race? In the end of a hard day and Laura Van Gilder won a hard race.

Then there was today where Brenda WON WON WON WON WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool, let me tell you. AND Kate and Rachel rounded out the sprinting during the race gaining time in seconds to leap them ahead of were they where before circular motion occurred around a box course.

Now a hard week of racing is finished with Kristin Armstrong killing it… literally. Alex finishing in second and Erin (not Shannon like the results say) finishing in third.

Our Rachel finished 9^th, Kate 10^th and Leigh 16^th.

Alright that is all for now and here from the region of Altoona where the Tour of Toona took place in all different areas around this area.

Tomorrow we are off to Asheville, NC where I will put up all of my sweet pictures, but until then later and until later

Have fun

:) Chrissy

Alright so I guess my fingers were a bit more tired from yesterday then I thought… I forgot how many hills are in PA. And you know what that means… A lot of shifting. So really my fingers were pretty tuckered out by the end of the race. That lead to the next thing… not typing this and that

Which consisted of letting one and all know that Rachel is in the Queen of the Mountain, pock-a-dot jersey wearer from both yesterday and today’s races getting to the top of the mountain and over the top faster then the speed of sound.

But first before I continue I must admit my legs were way more tired then my fingers after riding almost, but not quite 100 miles.

So for right now, I am currently going to begin working on making a crown for Rachel because I cannot find the Burger King Crown of Devin’s (the little youngster we are staying with… and his parents), which is actually okay because Rachel is a queen not a king.

Then during the race today we were able to once again take a shower, which was alright, but during the shower Rachel decided to take a mud bath also. Well she didn’t really decide on her own… she had the help of someone crashing, but either way, she got a nice mud bath in today.

I think secretly she wants to become a jello wrestler and was practicing today… just kidding. She just wanted to spend a day at the spay getting a facial and couldn’t so did the next best thing… got a mud bath to make her skin nice and soft…

That led to a lot of chasing by Lauren and I. While this was all occuring the rest of the group was covering moves that were flying off the front. Leigh was able to get the first Queen of the Mountain points too. All in all it was a tough day racing with lots of action. In the end the finish line came today and yesterday with Kristin Armstrong killing it yesterday and Tina Mayolo Pic killing it today.

To see a great super race report about the race today you should visit Rachel’s site. She is the queen of Tour de Toona right now AND the words of a queen are always superb. For right now it is time for bed which means I am going to go to sleep…

If it is time for your bed I hope you get to sleep too and if not try not to fall asleep, unless you are tired of course…

Cheers for Cheering,

:) Me

ps… Altoona and Fish have nothing to do with each other… you (being someone) is right for sure. I think that is what you (being someone) was saying just yesterday…

pss… I have a specialized saddle which is surely nice when riding almost 100 miles

Yesterday at the Tour de Toona, Tuna fish we made 3 loop-t-ee loops around Johnstown, PA. In the beginning it was faster moving, then slower moving, then super fast for the sprint where Tina Mayolo Pic won followed by Laura Van Gilder and Gina Grain.
Today we race 96.2 miles which is almost 100 miles but not quite ending in the town of Altoona, Tuna Fish right next to a mall.

And we are leaving soon and I have to go make some food so I will finish this later when we are finished if I can still type after riding almost 100 miles… just kidding I will be able to. I am not using my fingers to much so they should be fine for typing. My legs… that will be another story.

I mean yes I have to shift every so often but the amount of rest my fingers get between intervals of shifting is so significant that they should be fine later…

As for pedaling my legs round and round… that is what gets worked. I mean really in 100 miles that must be almost 1 million or maybe a billion pedal strokes. If only we could make a dollar for every pedal stoke we made. We would all be rich!!!

Until later,

Have fun sitting around for almost 100 miles, hitting almost 100 tennis balls, watching almost 100 birds (thats for bird watchers), or talking for almost 100 minutes…

:)Chrissy

 Yes, it is true here in Altoona, Tuna fish at the Tour de Toona, Tuna Fish yesterday we had a crit lasting between 5 minutes give or take a few minutes depending on your superb or lack of superb corning, down hill roller coaster racing. Lucky for our team we went the amusement park a couple weeks ago and had Lauren finishing in 6th, Kate in 7th, Katharine in 10th.

Alison Powers so Powerful won the crit against yourself… great job Alison. Kristen Armstrong with strong legs was 2^nd, and Alex Wrubleski was 3^rd. The rounds out the top three who got to stand on sweet blue blocks.

With last names like that no wonder they are so fast… Power, Armstrong and Wrubleski. Although Wrubleski doesn’t quite fit my theory it is still two out of three so the theory of last names sticks…

Today we got to sleep in a bit and start racing at 1pm and since I like sleeping in that is a superbly good thing.

Now that I have a head cold and low iron I am going to go stand upside down while eating nails with iron to both drain my head and increase my iron. And actually this will not work so well because my nose will be facing the wrong direction so instead I am going to go jump up and down to see if that will help…

Although first I have to mention that last night we ate at Sheetez and guess who we saw there… Health Net Pro Cycling team… so that is correct the winner of the mens race was eating at the same place as us. I in fact have pictures and will be putting them up later…

This only means one thing… the place to eat was Sheetez, Sheetez you show know that…

For now it is time to go jump up and down while eating iron nails…

Until Later, Later

It is about that time of year when one and all cyclists gather in the town where the Tuna runs free and wild. I am still yet to see any Tuna, but why would you name your town after a fish if it didn’t exist in the town. Yes, try there are cans and cans of tuna at the store, but I am talking about the wild tuna…

But anyways, the real topic at hand is getting ready for the Tour de Toona, Tuna fish race. The obvious and logical way is to eat tuna fish. Depending on how well you want to do really depends on how much Tuna Fish you eat… There is of course the slow base phase in which you should consume a lot of tuna fish followed by intense interval eating of tuna fish. There probably should be a build phase too so maybe do something between slow eating and super fast eating of tuna fish…

Then there should be some water training in order to simulate what a Tuna Fish would do at the Tour de Toona. Laps in the ocean are probably best because if you are going to do well in a race like this you have to be one with the race. I would recommend actually swimming with Tuna Fish to see exactly how they bump and move…

Not only will you become one with the fish you will be ready for the down pour of rain that will surely hit us on one of the stages.

Alright so between eating and swimming you should be on your way to success!! If you happen to have a not so good Tour de Toona, Tuna Fish try to start training a little earlier next year.

So we (being Rachel, Mike, Lauren, and Chris the Reno gambling now in PA Tuna’s; Katharine, Brenda, Phil, and me the Lauren house Tuna’s; and Kate and Leigh the still coming to PA Tuna’s) are heading out to Altoona tomorrow where we will be staying for a week racing up and down and around the streets here and there all in towns of PA.

Today, if you haven’t heard yet Floyd road super and smashed the TT and is in the great color yellow shinning like the sun. Maybe that is why the jersey is so yellow… the sun is strong and so is the person in the leaders jersey…

Time to go swim and eat some Tuna… Have a good day

:) Chrissy

Since I bounced across the sky from one coast to another I have been to the airport and back to Lauren’s house three and a half times… all times being earlier then most birds would even think about getting up to chirp.

The reason I haven’t been a full four times and hope not to make it four times is because I haven’t made 4 full trips… my first trip was from the airport at 11pm only to go back two hours later to pick up Phil, next Katharine about 24hrs later and Brenda today another 24hrs later all being way to early in the morning.

But there is more important stuff occurring like the soon to be the end of the Tour de France where Floyd managed to lose a bunch of time and gain it almost back the next day… wow-y-zowee… that is what I have to say about that.

He (being Floyd) must have forgotten his chain necklace the day before and put it on yesterday… I understand how something like this could happen. Heck, I am happy when I remember my gloves for the race, let alone my shoes. I mean imagine how much time he would have lost if he would have forgotten his shoes…

For today we (being Phil, Katharine, Brenda, and me) are riding our bikes here and there probably getting lost again, but not really getting lost because we always find our way back

But for now this is what I want to do until after that

Brenda sleeping on the chair while boys in spandix are on TV

Hope you don’t have to get up before the birds,

:)Chrissy

Since I was in Bend, OR trying to race the Cascade Cycling Classic in which Kristin LaSassoe won!!! I have been out of Tour de France touch, but today I was able to watch the race and see what really makes a great climber a great climber… chains. Not just any chain… it has to be a long one and have something attached to the end of it. Oh yes this is true… I discovered this while watching the tour this afternoon, not this morning cause I was still sleeping. AND actually this occurred yesterday…

But anyways, for today the rest of the importance of chains…

Why one would need a chain like this is obvious if you just sit down and think about the logic of the chain and where it came from. Well first of all chains have been around for a long time… I mean really since way back when, when they were first used

What they were exactly used for isn’t as important as what they are used for today… biking AND why they are used. There are a couple explanations why bikers of this generation have found them so useful…

1) Being the most important… the bling factor. To win a race you have to have baling and the more bling the more likely you will win. ACTUALLY, really it isn’t so much the bling as it is the way your neck sparkles in the sunlight

2) Then those chains must weigh a lot… they are so big. This is important because the climbers are so goss darn light and they may in fact get blown off their bikes without the chains. Also by weighing down their chest the climbers have any easier time keeping their chest closer to their bars, which makes it easier to hold onto the bars and stay in a more air position while climbing

3) And if you have a chain hanging down around your neck as you bounce back and forth while climbing the chain will surely hit you in the face diverting the pain away from your legs to your face allowing you or in this case the rider to go faster

SO it is time for you to begin your chain training and you will become a better climber in just a matter of a few months…

WARNING: results vary from biker to biker. Some bikers are just meant to go down hills, not up them… BUT keep trying.

For now Phil, Katharine and I are watching the Tour de France in Barto, PA and then we are going biking here and there while some of us go here and there for longer then others….

At Cascade

1)Kristen won the QOM jersey the first day
2)Jen and my Dad where kicking back (the hip way for saying waiting and waiting in the hot sun wishing we would hurry up) in the sun waiting patently for us to zoom by the feed zone
3)Phil and I after I demolished him in a whip cream fight

Please click on to make larger… larger is better most of the time

Alright, that is all for now… I have to go find some nails to chew on so my iron isn’t so low cause it is hard to ride a bike when you want to sleep on your bike. I am working on it right now, but I don’t know the area very well so I keep running off the road

Until later, Later

:) Me also known as I or Chrissy

ps… hope you find a big chain that sparkles in the sun

pss… Phil might (and I say might because I am pretty sure it isn’t what really happened) have squirted a tad, only a tad more whip cream on me then me on him

Our teammate Kirsten Robbins had a great race today!!!! She was off the front with Kristen (Lipton), Amber (Webcor), Hiroko (Vello Bella) and Kele (Vello Bella) pretty much all day in the wind, dust, and hills on the road from Bend to the Lava Fields high in the sky.

Kristen Lasasso Won today followed by Kirsten Robbins (wahhhhhhhhhhhoooooooo) and then Kristen Armstrong.

Not only did she get second today, she got the poke-a-dot jersey!!!!!!!! Double waahhhooooo!!!

As I was going up the Lava Fields I was waiting for the valcano to go off so I could make it up to the top, but that never happened. What is up with that…

Anyways, we are in Bend, OR where the Cascade Cycling Classic is taking place in my hometown where I grew up since I was a little lass…

They (being the cops) only pointed us in the wrong direction once today… I think that was because for some reason the marsals only stuck around to watch the guys go by… I understand though. Holding a flag standing in the sun all day can be a tough job… don’t get me wrong.

It is about dinner time and that only means one thing… time to eat

have a good night….

:)Chrissy

Now I am not talking about the kind of roller riding I did all winter where I rode my bike backwards no handed on rollers while racing Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France while it was snowing outside in almost sub zero conditions, but I am talking about the sweet fun roller swinging riding in PA yesterday out side in 90 degree weather give or take a few degrees…

And for the full story and picture please click right HERE… as in HERE

Kirsten and I are the first ones to arrive to Oreo, Oregon where there are no cookies to be found right here. Next Phil arrives and then we are departing the airport to eat  with my Dad who is waiting for us and then coming back for Mike, Chris, Rachel, Ian, and Kate then heading to Bend earlier then expect… 8pm getting there a tad before midnight

But for now click here… unless you already did then,

Have a good rest of your day, afternoon, night, and evening

:) I