Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, from me to you..

I caught the flu, and I have been sick for two weeks. Although I never had a diagnosis of swine flu, I am positive that I caught the horrid virus. It has not been a fun ride and it wreaked havoc on my body, so I have not been working out.

Today will be the first day I start back again, just going to go the gym and take it easy. I feel like today the fevers are gone, and strength is a bit back up.

I will post more as I get back to feeling somewhat normal again.

Peace! Angie

beginning to feel like Christmas...

Home Sweet Home (no snow yet):
This past weekend, we loaded up the kids and headed to Regensburg to the romantic Christmas market in Regensburg at the Thurn and Taxis Palace.
Taking a break to sip Gluehwein (a hot mulled red wine with spices, orange juice, sugar) and kinderpunch for the kids (the non-alco version):
They were brewing it right there!
The big pretty tree, love the pretzel on it!
Fun to be had by all:
The monkeys might have had too much kinderpunch:
We had a lot of fun, Regensburg is a short drive from our home, via the autobahn. It was really busy, but we had a great time. It was REALLY cold though, but that's what Gluehwein is for!!
We all ate a lot! My favorite thing was the footlong (at least) wurst in a bun with a yummy sweet stone ground mustard. mmmmm!!

Other Christmas market in old town Regenburg:
Random sights:
This week starts a very busy week on the training front. I have about two more weeks, then some time off, then I go on a two week intensive, dietary and physical, long, long rides.

Im really excited for this season coming up. Justin and I are dueling it out over which races we are doing and who's doing what. There are just so many races here, every weekend you can travel to race. I hope that this is my year to cut teeth!!

Hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying the upcoming holiday season!! --angie

training plan

"i know im not going to the olympics, but i did sleep at a holiday inn last nite..."-angie koppa 2008

so, can u fake it? nahhh,,,not really. you cant fake fitness baybee, if we could, we'd all be rockstars, or in my world, olympians...but you can aspire, be the best you can, whether that is beerpong nationals or a worldcup mountain bike race in germany,,,YOU CAN DO IT!!!

anyway, Justin has his coaching cert underway with usa cycling, so I thought i would give the guy props for the great coaching he as given ME all these years. One thing i figured out with a coach is that, One: you need to do what your coach says. Since I have a problem with authority, this hasnt always worked out so well.--just kidding, but at least give 60% to conformity otherwise, suffer the embarrassment lata..So, pick a coach that is going to keep you motivated and that you like, because if you dont like them all that much, that wont get you too far (and if they are hot, it really helps too, and he's hot!).
Next thing is that you have to remember WHY you might need a coach in the first place. Me, I get unmotivated, A>D>D kicks in and angie just goes into lala land, so having someone motivate and keep you in check is kinda important, especially when you know that you could have solid results with the proper training, which comes to the next point, training. How much, when to rest, what to eat, what do all these heart rates mean, how do they correlate to me and my training?????? am i getting faster? what to do in the off season..etc.etc.

its very helpful having someone give you a schedule, you just do the work. then you see the results, then you are happy :)

some coaches cost a gazillion dollars, i think Justin is very affordable--but i wont go into that ;)

tictactoexoxox angie

thanks!!!

Thanksgiving was great! It was a typical American Thanksgiving, complete with turkey and all the fixin's. I was a bit worried, only cuz our freezer is not much bigger than a shoebox and our oven isnt much bigger. We pulled it off, our turkey was only 9 lbs, so we didnt have a lot of leftovers. But it was still perfekt!!

Things are smaller in Europe. Our flat is not that big, but we have a whole nother seperate flat that houses a bar, sauna, hot tub another bedroom, a bike workshop and a bathroom. So nothing is terribly small I guess.

We've been here a year now and I have been thinking about all the things that make living here so different than living in the states. How thankful I am for all the great opportunities we have had and the chance we get to experience bike life abroad. And its all just simply amazing. I love it. I miss home sometimes, but I really do like life here and I think we will stay as long as we can.

Life in Germany is VERY different, than living in Colorado where we just came from. But the differences only add to the greater experience called "Life". Things that seemed so important a year ago, are only lost and forgotten somewhere in the distant past. You just have to take it all in perspective I guess.

monkeys:
Justin tearing it up in Strullendorf, then we headed to Bamberg and enjoyed the rauchbier, its a very smoky, yummy beer:
Life is what you make it!! Angie

pitchers

Been riding the singlespeed. Its definitely a different kind of riding. I really like it. I think Justin thought I would hate it, but he wuz WRONG! I love it! I also started a run and ride class I take on tues and thurs. Its an indoor spinning class for an hour then we go up to the track and do a sprinting with a core body workout incorporated into it. It is killer, literally, Im pretty fatigued physically from it, but I am already seeing some results in such a short period of time. Its nice to be around like minded individuals!

Im really looking forward to racing in Germany and beyond this year. I like the energy of the races here. I do miss racing in the states, and all the good friends I've made along the way. The slick desert singletrack, the high alpine riding, the pretty intense technical sections that give you the butterflies in the tummy...i miss that. Not a lot of crazy open singletrack here, but TONS of safe riding. Miles, and miles and miles. and miles....
What is your best? What are your goals? I have a lot of plans or goals I guess, but the one thing that I think Ive learned that is soooo important is dont sweat the small stuff! I think that if you understand your going to make mistakes along the way and dont beat yourself up about it, you feel so much better in the long run.

I am really enjoying this time in Germany. The snow hasnt fallen yet and the days are chillier but doable on the bike. I have not had to set up the trainer yet (YAY), so that is good.

bavaria, religious references everywhere
back behind our village
our village (tiny dot on the road is JK):
This weekend Im pretty sure I am going to do a cross race somewhere around nurnberg. I dont know if Im ready, but I'll never know if I dont at least try! Better go work on my dis/mounts...

angie

Falling

Its Fall in Bavaria. So beautiful. Leave colors exploding, falling...fog in the morning, darnkness at the rise and the fall...
It all begins, the long sleep once again.
A few weeks ago, we headed to Plzen, Czech to watch the UCI cyclocross worldcup. It was really fun to drive down with friends that have not seen a race like this. It was cold, rain, and muddy, perfekt conditions for the cyclocross race. Plzen is only a rough hour from our home in Germany. We take the autobahn into the Czech Republik and its off the highway not much further after the border. We found a quaint little restaurant where i was given the "bear claw", a pork chop style piece of meat stuffed with melted cheese and mushrooms. mmmmm...and topped it off with one of the local biers. It was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed watching Mr. Albert take the win.

what's a x race without a beer, especially in the home of the original budweiser
Go, Go, Go!!!
Random pics:
The winners:
Now, I have been just being lazy. Sorta, but I have my training plan in order and starting tuesday i will do a group training that incorporates running and riding in a two hour increment. I run on other days and lift weights, and then da, dah, da dahhhhh.....Justin converted my bike into a singlespeed for the "off season" training. Im really excited about it. Maybe I wont change it back :)

Rylee and I on our morning hike into the forest
awww, pickin' flowers for mommy
It has been really cold. REALLY cold. It snowed a few weeks ago, but no new snow, just bitter cold, and very wet. The forest is back behind our village and I ride and run into it almost everyday. Rylee and I have been finding all kinds of cool mushrooms. When we lived in Colorado we would go mushroom hunting. My kids loved it. I was beginning to know and ID the mushrooms, but they are bit different here. I do recognize some of them. Especially the MAJICK ones...heeeehehee...of course i just look, dont touch :)

where's the white rabbit?
Who's that scary guy behind me??? G was wolverine for halloween,
I will try to keep the posts up and the pics. Hope ur staying warm where ever you are! Angie :)

pause button

I've hit the pause button on the blog, sorry, just not a whole lot going on since there is no racing and taking a little bit of a break.

I started running again and there are some other things that i am going to be doing as well. We have a lot of nordic ski places so gonna do that and some other stuff.

Im just trying to enjoy the everyday here in Bavaria. the weather is getting pretty crisp, and the usual high fog/wetness factor has begun and the trees are changing their leaves. It wont be long before the first snow hits the ground.

what a great season of racing I had. especially here in germany. im starting to warm up to this place i think... :)

Next weeknd i am heading to the Czech Rep. to watch a little UCI world cyclocross action. I plan to get a lot of pics and just watching the best cyclocross racers in the world will be amazing. I have never been to this big of an event, so it will be a treat. Blogging on that to come...

I will get some pics and post them soon..

hope all is well in your world, keep the rubber side down, angie

out with a bang...

Last weekend was the US forces mtb championship finals in Hohenfels germany. I was really excited to do this race because we raced here earlier in the season, and it was one of the sweetest courses I have ridden here in Germany. (lots of singetrack, fairly technical)

Going into this race, I knew I was going to have some good competition. When we rolled up, there wasnt a huge field of women, but the ones racing were fast and I was actually nervous. For me, being a bit nervous at the lineup is a good thing. I felt some butterflies flying around in my stomach as i did the regular chitchat at the start. Some of the competition that i was worried about was a lady that has always won that race, and another was an elite level cyclocrosser, etc, etc, so I knew i was going to have to work for it if I wanted to win the championship. (I was really tired too, as I hadnt slept the night before because every 10 minutes I would wake up to a freakin' mosquito buzzing in my ear. anyway...)

They started the men off 10 minutes before us. Justin told me right before his start that his Stans'd up rear tire was losing air. He didnt look to confident on the line. But as soon as the gun went off, he shot up and was in second place, first place was some young 19 yr old phenom champion.

Then it was my turn, off went the gun, feeling the rush of adrenaline and the over eager beating of my heart, I did what i do and pushed the pedals hard, I wanted to be the first one into the singletrack as that is my forte, but one girl pushed it hard too and so in the game of strategy and tactics, I let her go in front and decided to ride her wheel to see what kind of pace she was pushing. Right away, I felt comfortable, not breathing too hard, but she was breathing rather hard, and the technical skills were a little sketchy. The first singletrack ends at the bottom of a very steep climb back into more singletrack, so I knew this was the place to attack. As soon as I hit the climb, I powered up the motor and pushed past her, I even got out of the saddle and didnt look back. Women did five 6km laps of pretty intense riding, near the end of the first lap, I saw the "lady that has always won that race" close behind me. So I pushed, went deep, I knew my heart rate was in the anaerobic range, I was feeling my legs begin to lose ground, but I would recover on the few decents and in the end I was beginning to put a gap on the lady behind me. Then I see Justin, he is at the bottom of the singletrack. Double flats! Bummer, he is a bit bummed but tells me that girl is right behind me so go, go! Soon I was catching up to some of the guys and I was feeling good, I just settled into the pace and kept at it. It felt great coming across the finish! Especially having my kids, Justin there to meet me.

In the end I finished strong and put 11 minutes on the "lady that has always won that race". All the women rode excellent. There were a lot of mechanicals and wrecks, I saw two guys go down in front of me, so the course was definately on par for a championship.
Regaining my composure at the finish:
Looking a little better:--like my socks?! Littlemismatched.com, awesome little sockies!
The sweet taste of success, 2009 US forces Europe mtb champion:
The next day we ventured to a little town an hour away and I watched Justin race the final local german cross country. They gave him some organic bread and his race number was 29, so that was cool. No podiums, but his ridng was great. The German racers are super fast, SUPER fast, so this is going to get him in shape! He is used to the longer races, this was a shorter xc, but I think it will be great trainining for both of us next season.
Justin looking like he's working hard:
29'er Boy chasin':
This weekend I am babysitting a cute dog while friends head to Oktoberfest in Munich, we'll probably go next year, not exactly the place I want to take our small children. But maybe next year we can find a sitter. Plus it's my baby girls 3rd birthday, so busy weekend ahead!

Well, more to come later on my plans for the future...

Peace, Angie

its called a bike numnutz...

Went to a wedding at a castle last Saturday. The wedding was like this freakin' illicit situation because some of the people we know dont like the couple. It was totally takin' me back to circa 1990, yeah, that was a year i was in highschool....anyway, Im glad we went and now that is history. Here are some pics from that illicit day....
Next on the sched is the championship race in Hohenfels on saturday. We have raced there before and it was super fun. Nice twisty singletrack, some good climbing, not a lot of time for recovery, so that will test the norms of this body. I have really backed off on the training miles. I have started to do some running and still doing weights. Not sure what my plans are here, but I am thinking I like the endurance races, so will probably focus on that for 2010, maybe a 24 hour in there, and some duo races with Justin. Having him as a coach has really pushed me and kept me focused, he gets on me when i slack off and also encourages me when its needed. If you cant tell i have an ego problem and he has no problem puttin it in check when needed...

The point of this post is the fact that Justin gets all kind of attention for his 29'er. It seems the oddity, the freakshow around these parts. The germans give it a good long glance, sometimes even stopping to stare at the anomaly before them. Why is it such a big deal? i dont know, but i promise it is not some lame attempt to take over the world...(maybe..heeehee)

I ordered some long, cute socks from a sight, called little mismatched.com, you should check it out, i will do a nice little "review" on them when they get here. hopefully i will get to rock em the next race,,,

anyway, this is a post fr the sake of posting and by the way, I still cant get over how many peeps from Israel read my stupid blog. It is awesome and hope you guys are rockin' rubber side down over there.!!!!!

Peace, more on HOhenfels later...

blurhaze

Garmisch--
This is a sorta long post....(make up for not posting..haha)

The past week was rollin by so fast, that i didnt get to savor each flavor, i just kinda rolled along on the roller coaster called life.

Friday we headed to Regensburg, an hour drive from our house to watch the World Cup of Baseball. We got there early enough to watch Venezuela play China, which was pretty cool to watch, then we stuck around for the first inning of the USA vs. Germany. USA won the game and it was a lot of fun. We ate a bunch of bratwurst and drank some good bier, the kids ate a lot of candy and drank cokes, which is a treat cuz i dont buy that crap for them too often. We did a lot of hootin' and hollerin' and the Germans looked at us sorta wierd, but in a good way.
We had to leave early because we had to get up to Garmisch and at least sleep a few hours before our race in the a.m.
Getting into Garmisch around midnight, we realized we were not prepared AT ALL. We didnt buy groceries and had some meusli for the kids, but we needed more sustenance for racing. That night I felt nauseated and almost threw up a few times, I figured it to be all the crap i ate and drank at the game, but the next night Justin was sick, so I guess we had some bug, cuz my oldest missed some school this week because of it..

Up and at em, we headed over to the venue, it was at Keane's Lodge and all the super fast German locals were on hand, including Andi Stroebl, the marathon phenom racer, super fast and amazing cyclist. I didnt feel like eating really, and managed down a power bar, Justin the same, and then we warmed up. The highlight was that Justin and I led the kids race out. Gavin was really excited because he has been training, he rides every chance and he loves it.

So Gavin, my 7 yr old rolled up to the line with his two competitors, two older girls. He was so little compared to all the kids, they had the under 13 year olds on the line too.
He might have been towards the back in the beginning, but he put his game face on....
The little guy passed all his competition, he rode all the singletrack and had a blast. First Place for another Koppa. The next generation is gonna be fast!!
So it was time for me and Justin to race, I did okay, I got first in my category, but third place overall. There were two other girls, I know i coulda probably passed the one girl in second, but i just didnt have it in me, then the first place chick was Andi's wife and super fast. It was her race and she deserved it. Good job!
The real excitement was watching my husband. He got 5th place, missing first by 4 plus minutes. That is exciting, expecially it being Andi Strobel winning. Justin played cat and mouse i guess with another American riding a 29'er, being a guy named Ken who is the Indy Fab distributor here in Germany. I was glad to see Justin have some hearty competition and it was exciting to see. We all ended up getting First places in our classes because it was a US forces race and those with US id cards get the points for that I guess, so that's cool.
We headed back to the cabin, changed in our swimsuits and headed to the resorts indoor pool, hottub, sauna and steam room. It felt really good. Then had a nice dinner and some wine and went to bed.
Up early for the Ritchey Marathon race, we could still hear the rain pouring down, just as it had all night long. Justin and I headed to Oberammergau and saddled up, somewhat prepped, but neither of us had CO2 or a pump, forgetting about it and depending on our Stans'd up tubes.

I went first, as I was doing the US forces Nato race, Justin would go 2nd doing the 80km race. It was cold, wet and rainy, I knew this would garner some good carnage, hopefully not on my part, but nonetheless, it would be exciting.
My race was awesome, I loved it! it was super challenging, beautiful along the alpen countryside, cows with bells eating the super green grass, little alpen huts just sitting alone amongst the company of wildflowers, fog, hovering over us in the mountains, yes, we climbed a mountain. Before the ascent, there was a descent, that is when I noticed my front tire was flat. SHIT!!!!!!!! I was coming to the base of the climb in my best most polite, but freaked out manner, I asked some specatators if they had a pump, I used big arm pumping motion, i didnt know the word for PUMP in german, what a douchebag, so anyway, they understood me, the Stans held up and i was on my way. I probably lost at least 5 minutes due to this little fiasco, but I perservered and I managed to pull myself to a 10th place finish. There were 30 women in my group, so I am super happy with that result!!! YAHHHHYEEEHAWWWWWWWW!!!!
on a bummer note, my husband got a flat about 13k in, he was waiting for me at the line. He always has the most positive attitude, it lifts me up, but I know he was pissed and I would be too. We were not happy with our unpreparedness, and by luck did I get a pump, so always be prepared!!!! The morning of:
I like mud, its good for you and it tastes even better....
We headed back, rested, slept good, then headed out to do some eatin' and drinking. Went to Ettal to the 700 yr old monastery there. We had some of the schnapps they produce. It was herbal and so good, not making you feel wierd, actually we felt so good, it is supposed to be healing. After that we headed to a cheese place in Ettal, it is where they make the cheese and you can eat bread and cheese and beer there. Fresh alpen milk, all that, I never felt so stuffed on so little, it was hearty and good. You should go there if you ever make it out here!!
Cheese...mmmmmm
mmm...dunkel bier...
We had a pretty good time, despite a few bumps in the road, but that is what makes it real, and racing with some pretty stiff competition makes it even better. I will never forget this weekend or the prize i won:
Cool, huh, u know u want one...

This weekend I head to a wedding at a castle tomorrow, then a race sunday, most likely watching Justin. Then next weekend is the final in Hohenfels. Thee championship race, so looking forward to that. More to come soon, and thanks for reading this novel if you actually felt so inclined....Peace!!@ angie