Have you seen me?

I'm a salsa connoisseur. A few months ago Old El Paso introduced its Fresh Mexican Style salsa and I fell in love. Smooth, yet still able to pack a punch it could go on anything from tortilla chips to pancakes. And for many months it did. ...only to go missing sometime mid-August. I've searched in Safeway, Albertson's, and King Soopers to no avail.

Old El Paso claims to still make it -- as such a new product it's still featured under their "News" page. Please let me know if you've seen it around. And don't waste my time telling me to look in Whole Foods; there's nothing organic about this stuff.

Oh and I really don't put salsa on pancakes, but if I did, I would use Old El Paso Fresh Mexican Style Smooth Chipotle Salsa.

And no, I'm not getting paid to write this.

Interbike

The Sunday after the race, Jordan and I ventured over to the Oregon coast to check out Cannon Beach. Really, really cool. We enjoyed the stereotypical weather of the Northwest and strolled along the beach watching the fog wrap around the massive rocks jutting from the waves. A most excellent way to kick off the off-season.

7:30 Monday morning we were on a plane heading back to Denver. After a brief sojourn we were once again on the road, this time in a Dodge Caravan heading to Vegas. Talk about living the dream...

Rolling into the City that Never Sleeps (or is that NY? I always forget..) around 4pm on Tuesday we went straight to The Sands to set up our booth. With the help of Jordan's coach, Sean, and some teamsters, we got everything in place in no time at all. We checked into our quarters in the ever classy Hooters Hotel and Casino, which at $37/night I have to say is an amazing deal. Whoa whoa whoa...before you judge me, let me first say that I, too, was like you. A bit leary of the whole thing would be an understatement. I thought I would be the only girl there. I've never even eaten at a Hooters and now I was committing to spend four nights in one. In Las Vegas. However, it was nearly the exact opposite. The female to male guest ratio was probably 5:4. And I don't mean butch "girls" that I would be scared to ride in an elevator with. Totally normal people just wanting a laid-back experience. It was a lot of fun. And the wings are amazing. I also recommend the Hooters Ale. But I digress...

Walking in to the convention center Wednesday morning was terrifying. The first display I saw was SRAM. I wanted to crawl into a corner and pretend we hadn't even attempted this. Obviously, we soldiered on, and I am more than pleased with how our booth turned out. We had our tactics to draw people in. First, there were cookies, but that lead to excess freeloading, so we switched to Halloween candy and ate the cookies ourselves. We sold our free product as best as we could, and I had some great reception.

The highlight of the show by far was the Sinclair Imports VIP party on Wednesday night (a top-notch team effort as Jordan and Cyrus snagged the tickets and I got us to the front of the line once there). It was on the roof of the Rio, and while I find Vegas to be a hideous city, it looked beautiful from up there. And at $12/drink, that's not the booze talking. We chatted it up behind the velvet ropes with the CEOs of Lazer Helmets and Ridley bikes. Sehr cool. Hopefully some pictures of that night will surface eventually, but for now all I have is pics of our booth. Enjoy!

USAT Age Group Nationals

I'll start at the beginning.

The weeks leading up to Portland were crazy hectic as we prepared everything for Interbike. I'm pretty sure there were days in there where I spent over 14 hours a day in front of the computer. Fortunately, despite doing everything at the last possible minute, it all came together (you'll hear more about Interbike later on). With so much going on for the business it really didn't leave me much time to think about the race, which is exactly how I like it. It wasn't until packet pick-up the day before that I really started thinking about it, and even then I was honestly more concerned with if the promo cards would be printed in time.

The course venue was beautiful, and the swim started with everyone holding onto the dock with one hand. When the horn sounded I went for it as hard as I could. My tactic of swimming the first 100m all out has worked well for me before, but here it wasn't enough. 50m into it everyone was still right there. 100m in they were still there. Eventually it thinned out, but I still wasn't up toward the front. About 1/2 way through I found my rhythm and got going. I felt good and shook off a girl who was along for a free ride and gained some ground on those ahead of me.

Out of the water in 22:53 and up the steep boat ramp to transition. Got on the bike nice and awkwardly and went out hard. I really got after it on the first lap and caught a few girls in my age group. Then on the second lap I fell apart, almost completely. My stomach was all messed up and I couldn't even think of eating a gel, my focus was lost and all I could think of was that I probably wasn't going to make it through the run. DNFing crossed my mind a few times and had a spot to Worlds not been on the line, would've sounded like a sweet option. I knew I was still doing decently enough that even if I had to stop a few times on the run I could probably still finish top-20. For the last 5 miles of the bike people passed in droves. Uh-oh.

Off the bike in 1:13:27 and out of transition with a focus on staying relaxed and trying to push the run as best I could. Two miles in I realized my stomach would hold up and I tried to push the pace. This worked on the downhills, but like usual I suffered on the ups. ...until a mile to go and I picked it up. A lot. Definitely something I need to do sooner from now on because once I get going I always feel way better and I know I can hold on, I just get scared early on (10k is still so far!). A girl came up with about 5 strides left in the race. If there's one thing I hate, it's being outkicked so I quick stepped it in, but have no idea who got the lean, though I guess I could dig up the results if I really wanted.

The run was 41:53 with my final time of 2:20:50. I finished 6th in the 20-24 age group and 47th overall. Since I move up to the 25-29 age group (!) next year my spot for Worlds was dependent on my place in that category as well, where I would've been 10th. So my goal was accomplished and next September I'll be toeing the line in Queensland, Australia! Sweet!

Real Quick

I just stumbled across this: Pet Treadmill. Unfortunately, it's not a joke. Fortunately, I can't see it catching on.

Anyway.

We're getting down to the wire! A week from now we'll be somewhere between Denver and Las Vegas in a sweet Dodge Caravan on our way to Interbike. Oh, right, and Thursday we're going to Portland for USAT Nationals! Lots to do, but we're getting it done. Today the last of our printed materials went off to J&R. I really can't say enough about how great they have been in helping us with all of our last minute work.

Today's big project was getting a promo postcard together for the Riptide team. They are hoping to attract sponsors at Interbike and need materials to hand out. In addition to the postcards, I'm designing a book to hand out to companies that express sincere interest.

Front:


Back:

This one took longer to make than the bikeBounce card. I messed around with a lot of pictures. I even conducted a "photoshoot" with four of the guys on Saturday at Lookout Mountain. The photos seemed to come out okay, until I got home and put them in Photoshop and realized the light wasn't too great and the resolution would be questionable when printed. Robert at J&R offered some guidance and I ended up going with a photo purchased from brightroom.com (not sure if that is allowed, please don't turn me in...though for $28 I would think I could do whatever I wanted with it) and then using a photo from Saturday for the back since I was going for a grainy effect anyway.

Interbike or bust

bikeBounce.com is heading to Interbike, the largest bicycle trade show on the continent, in two weeks. We decided to go about 2 weeks ago and have been working like mad to get everything together in such a short time. 2 weeks ago we had nothing. This is the first time we'll be an exhibitor at a trade show so we had to start at the very beginning.

Now we are 12 days out and things are coming together. Today we put in the order for some T-shirts and postcards I designed. J&R Marketing Tools have helped us a ton in getting our stuff together at the last minute. They are two offices down from us and really convenient and friendly. I can't wait to get all of our shirts and print materials off the presses!

The shirts will come in different colors and varieties, but the basic T looks like this:

The front of the postcard:

Recognize those legs? They belong to Jordan. I shot the picture while he was riding the trainer a few weeks ago.

Cold spell, Hot bike

Everyone has had his share of laughs at the Trek 1000's and/or QR Tequilo's expense. Sure, they might not be shiny and new. And yea, they are probably carrying a few extra pounds. But - they got the job done. The Trek 1000 endured 3 harsh Boston winters, carrying me through the city streets to class, the track, and on occasion, out to Walden Pond for some quiet refuge. The Roo doesn't have as much of an extensive history with me -- I'm her third owner that I know of -- but we still racked up plenty of hours together on the trainer last winter and throughout my first season of triathlons.

I'm keeping the Trek around for sloppy winter riding and if I ever really need a triple, but the QR has been replaced with this fine steed:


It was bound to happen eventually, so why not now?

I've had it for over a week now, but have only ridden it twice due to a cold I got early this week that's rendered me somewhat useless as far as training goes. Now I know what all the hubbub is about over nice components and frame design. When I click the shifter it changes gears instantly, something most of you take for granted, but not me! Luxurious! The QR required lots of adjusting and waiting and then readjusting and then maybe it would be in gear by the time I got to the top of the hill I had downshifted for.

That being said, anyone in the market for a 650c tri bike? Honestly it's a great bike for someone like me who is just starting out with tri's and still figuring out if this whole thing is for her or if she'd rather go running back to well, running.

I made fun of Jordan last week for buying a pair of Newton's since no runner would ever wear them and the whole idea is just ridiculous. Then he ever so kindly pointed out that no runner would have a bike like mine either. So yep, it's official: I'm no longer a runner, but a triathlete.

Where'd that come from?

I've been slacking. Chicago was over a week ago and I still haven't updated this thing. Everything has been in whirlwind mode since we got back, meaning work is busy and people are starting to buy skis in droves, which of course is a very good thing! Speaking of which, what will you be skiing on this season? It'll be here before you know it and I know this great little online shop...

Anyway... Chicago.

While Jordan got to snooze for another 4 hours or so, us amateurs (Cyrus, his friend Dan whom we stayed with, and I) were up before the crack of down, pedaling ourselves through the empty downtown streets to the transition area beside Lake Michigan. The transition area was huge, I think they said the size of 6 football fields, so I was extra attentive to where my stuff was. If I got lost in there I might never make it out!

I was in the 46th wave, leaving me with a solid 3 hours to kill after getting my stuff in to transition. Luckily, we had some connections at the Fleet Feet tent, so I just crashed there in a state of tired numbness.

When the elite amateurs went off I wandered over and took some pictures...



A couple hours later it was my turn, and after some Ludicris, Flobots, and an easy run, I was ready to go.

The swim was a total disaster. I tried to squeeze my way into the front row of my wave, but ended up in the second row, close to the wall. People were everywhere and I felt like I had been floundering around for an eternity. Picture a water park wave pool (sans waves) on a 110 degree day...that's the population density I'm talking about.

Finally! Out in the air and a white cap a few steps ahead of me (20-24 females wore white swim caps, don't mistake me and think I was trying to take down an 80 year old). I hustled to pass her on the 1/4 mile run to transition. Then, as I ran off with my bike a few minutes later I saw her ever so calmly toweling off her legs. Classic.

Out on the bike I stayed relaxed, watched the time, and kept the cadence high. I always have a problem staying focused on the bike, but somehow not today. Every time I looked at my watch my confidence grew. Instead of seeing the sub-2:30 slowly slip out of reach, it became more and more of sure bet. About 3/4 of the way through the first loop a lady passed me. She got about 50m on me, then I did something I've never done before: reeled her back in, and passed her. In my head I pleaded with her to not let me drop her...I wanted her to come back for more so I would have a reason to push harder. And she did. And again she took off. And again, I got her back. This time for good.

The first mile of the run was mostly on grass and it felt just like XC. Just like on the bike I felt light and fresh and ready to go. A sidestitch developed about a 1/2 mile in, but unlike at Boulder Peak, I was relaxed and it disappeared on its own. I tried to push myself the last 3 miles because I knew I would be close to sub-2:20, but I couldn't do it on my own and came up just shy by 10 seconds. Obviously happy nonetheless, an Olympic distance PR by over 11 minutes, and pretty much all due to my long time nemesis: The Bike.

Everything about this race was really relaxed and I've come to realize that is the key to good races. When it comes down to it nothing else matters except what's going on in your head when it's go time.

So of course right after finishing I grabbed my camera from the Fleet Feet tent and ran to catch Jordan come in off the bike. What timing we have:



I chased him around the run course, but only got some scenery:


And the fourth leg of the triathlon? Ever determined to not live up to his nickname of Old Man Jonesy, he and I managed to stay out until a not-so-respectable 10:30. We did see Wrigley Field though: