Boys on Bikes

I wore high heels for 19 hours!?!?!?!?!! By the time I climbed out of the taxi and Tyler Farrar’s lap (because our cab was way too small for 5 people) with Cadel Evans, Christian Vandavelde, and Alex howes at 4am I could barely crawl to the room because my feet had grown to the size of an elephants, but boy was I happy! My head was spinning due to too much tequila but mostly from all the things I could barely believe I got to experience first hand at the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge. 

The last couple of weekends I can easily say marked two of the best weekends of my life. It’s like the Tour de France of the Americas for sure and I got to spend some quality time with some of the best riders in the world! Taylor Phinney invited me out in Durango for a couple of drinks with his teammates Cadel Evans 2011 Tour de France winner (who bought me a beer… I don’t even drink beer, but I drank that beer.) Cutie pie Mathias Frank from Amsterdam and Michy, a tall blond and a total ladies man. Jens Voigt (my cycling hero) and I had a couple nice conversations over the week and he even remembered me and came out of the peloton and said "hi" when they were on the final climb into Telluride the first stage.  The next weekend I got to run up flagstaff and paint the roads wearing a ridiculous lack of clothing with Danny Summerhill and Taylor Phinney printed across each one of my breasts in a light of making fun of their apparent bromance and me thinking that both are rather good looking.  The fans on Flagstaff were insane to say the least and something I hope to be a part of as long as the race is around.  Sunday TT was rather uneventful, besides mingling with Bobke in the shade and Vandevelde taking over the Yellow again. The after party which included a lot of tequila, dancing, and mingling with a ton of really awesome people in the world who love the bassackwards sport of cycling as much as me was awesome!  Ben King even after a couple of crashes and a llooonnng week of racing danced like he was auditioning for dancing with the stars. And those Australians… holy cow those Australians are crazy fun.....

I could go on for days about all the pros I got to know and the fine print details that I will never forget, but all in all I just want to express how blown away I am at the kindness of the riders in the pro peloton (for the most part. It may have some part to do with being a young red head with long legs, but I’ll take what I can get. There are truly some of the worlds most remarkable people who partake in this sport! And I feel blessed to say I got to be around them for a short bit. It reminded me how I still want to be a part of the cycling world… (Thinking I will become a cycling clothing model after I win my first bikini competition and return to some Cyclocross racing. haha.) 

Something that my weekend had me thinking about is how some people often find the confidence and energy that I exude to be intimidating or overwhelming or maybe just a bit of crazy, but those who really take a minute to know me realize that the confidence is my belief in myself that I can achieve my dreams and that the energy is my love for people and the world.  At times my dreams may be far off, but if I don’t believe I can achieve them, no one is going to do it for me. I have my doubts and frustrations with society and fear of failing a few too many times, but I have confidence I can be somebody… You know it’s like that Rocky Quote, “The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!”   I don’t necessarily disagree with the phrase “fake it until you make it” either. I find cycling is a perfect reminder to its on lookers that it is possible to do and achieve incredible things everyday.