finally the weekend!!!

It has been a great week on the training front.  Since going on vacay, I gained a bit of weight, but after going to the races to watch JK and getting back in the training groove, I've found my mojo (motivation) again and I am back on my regularly scheduled programming.

pretty blooms all over the place
Since I am a bike racer, and my husband is also, we split up our training and we have been doing this since we started having kids and it works.  I sometimes get the rare opportunity to ride with him, and it's a treat, but sometimes, I think, going a lot slower than he wants to. 

Early bird gets to see the sunrise in the morning

Following Justin on his daily commute to work


Im still trying to figure out which races Im doing.  As life goes, suprises and unexepted crap has happened, so a few things have changed as far as races go.  But it wont be long before I get to push my limits again. 

Its been a beautiful week here weatherwise.  We've had some wind, but use that as a training tool.  Rain is forecasted through the weekend, but I just have to suck it up and put on a rainjacket.  I am super motivated and I am so ready to tear it up!!!!!  I crack myself up.

Just over the hump is some sweet singletrack


Its hard to tell, but its a fast and steep desent

Im really, really, really tired, and I like it!!!  Should be a race around here in a few weeks, cant wait!!
, angie

three more..

I just love these pictures.  They really make me happy everytime I see them.

good things

lallala (blogger has new stuff, so just playing around with the new stuff)
This was the view on my ride yesterday, but then miraculously the clouds parted and the big giant sun came out!  It got pretty warm, I was pretty baked toward the end of the ride.  Then I rode to the gym and pumped some iron.  It has been 3 weeks since I have pushed any weight and I am sore today.  I looooove it!!  It feels good, also considering I gained some weight on the Spain trip (beer flowing from fountains will do that to you).
Now is the time for peanut butter samwitches in my jersey pocket.  After a few hours, I have to eat something, I am sensitive at times to solids, but usually only when racing, peanut butter sandwiches are a great way to refuel after major caloric defecit.  plus they remind of being a kid and no better way when you are on your bike.  I really think riding is the fountain of youth.  It only keeps us younger.  It gives life, it replenishes, it makes my butt less big!!  Good things, good things...

bike bling

I finally got my bike assembled and it's pretty sweet! Thanks to my amazing husband, he pretty much rebuilt my bike with new upgrades and it feels like a brand new bike! My frame is a Kona kula lisa. It is a team issue Velo Bella bike, paint job, all that. It is scandium, hard tail and rides light and fast. We put on the new Fox fork and new juicy carbon brakes, new headset, new cables, new crankbrothers pedals. It feels sooo wonderful.

Im really happy with the setup. Im thinking of switching to twist shifters, I tried some out and I really like it, I used the twist waay back in the day before switching to rapid fire, but I feel the ease of the twist, so might go back to those..

finished product
The fork though, seriously, rides like a dream. Smooth..

the lockout is great on the climbs and you can adjust the compression and rebound too. Its pretty cool. I cant wait to race it now! Justin is the man and he pretty much rocks. He even built me two wheels from scratch. Literally. So now I have two training sets of wheels that are heavy as hell, but its an advantage, when I put the stans wheelset on, it will be suuuper light!!

Anyway, more on it all laters, but just had to share my enthusiasm,,,

im a happy girl :), yes, bike parts get me alllllll excited!
oh, and Justin raced a great race on Sat. I think he was the only singlespeed dude out there. He was sick and still did it awesome, so props to him! Of course we couldnt resist a beer afterwards
Everyone looked fast
pretty girls come and give you food after you race here in germany
Justin at the finish
more to come, hope you had a great weekend!!

Espana

Here are some pics of our trip to Spain. It is really beautiful there and if you can go, go for it! This trip for us was mainly about rest and relaxation. We enjoyed the tapas, sangria and beer and the super friendly charm of the locals. The beach was super pretty, the water crystal clear. We probably picked a good time to go, it was busy, a lot of british travelers on Easter holiday, but not too bad. We had a great time.

Here's some pics

alternate view
we always bring tha crazy...alternate skyjust down from where we stayed
Crystal clear

Steamed mussels in white wine sauce=yuuuummmmm!!!!! Good times!!!

stranded under volcanic ash?

I was m.i.a for a few weeks, our family took a holiday to Spain, and when we went to catch our return flight, we were, notified, along with hundreds of other passengers that our flights were all cancelled due to the volcanic ash from Icelands volcano..with no end in sight or any idea when we would be able to reschedule.

We stood in a long que for over 2 hours with all the other people needing a way to get home and found ourselves in Spain for another 5 days (oh..darn..hehee). It wasnt bad, not bad at all. The weather was perfect, we were on the Mediterranean, the accomodations were outstanding, but it was the uncertainty of not knowing how we were going to get all the way back to Germany, especially with two little kiddos.

On Tuesday, Justin and I decided we would head to Barcelona, only a short trip from where we were staying but that's when we got the news that we could get a flight out on Thursday, so we flew out yesterday and got home last night. The plane trip was really bumpy and the landing was atrocious, it was like we were just destined not to get home soundly, but eventually we did, and it feels so good to sleep in my own bed, although, I really miss the beach now, and all the great food, and the cervesas...ah, yes, it was a great vacation!

I am going to post some pics sometime, I need to decompress a bit, and I really, really need to ride my bike this weekend. I missed my first race of the season, the citybike marathon in Munich because of the situation, but I have many more races ahead, so I try not to see it as a big loss. I really, really missed my bike tremendously, but I did stay in shape, we walked ALOT and we played soccer like rugby players, like I seriously hurt my foot one day, and Justin has sand burn on his knees, so we played hard! Im excited to ride and will give a holla about the new Fox fork Im going to mount on the baby tonight!! So happy to have Fox as a sponsor this year!

Anway, more, lots more to come soon...for now, laterz....angie

when im almost dead, nurse me on cytomax...

This post is a review on cytomax by your lovely angie k.

I happen to come upon a stash of cytomax. The way I did this involves the military...shhhhh...cant divulge too much info, but les just say I got hooookked UUP!!

Seriously though, I went on post to the 'sports store' and there was a clearance on power gels and cytomax. I hardly see a sale of this sort that doesnt spark my interest, but I kinda thought, hmmm? they must be expired or something.

nope, pretty much I got this stuff for free, plus I bought the powergels. Anyway, the cytomax, i think we bought 5 canisters has pretty much lasted me through a winter and most of spring. I never got tired of drinking it.

So, what we got was cytomax, tangy orange with herbal lift. First off the taste is great. It reminds me kindof of Tang, that orange ghetto drink from my childhood. I really like that taste for some reason. One thing that I kinda dont like about it is that it gives you that sticky glue tongue when you are in the heat of your workout and you are needing those xtra electrolytes and your mouth gets all syrupy and stuff, but its not as pronounced as that, just a bit. I used this a lot in the winter because I was cutting calories, but doing some good workouts, plus swimming and my energy level would wane a bit, but this stuff gave me the energy I needed, plus I also felt like I was putting back in what I was losing, which I think is important. I never felt like hitting the wall when I drink this stuff. So I definately think this stuff is great. It can be on the pricy end, but I will consider paying the full price for it in the summer months when the heat picks up. It claims sustained energy, and a bunch of other stuff. Yes on the energy, as far as the other stuff, who knows--did it lower my lactate acid level by 40% during and after training? did it stabilize my power output by 10% for more strength?? who knows, It would be hard to say unless I was living in a lab, but I think it definitely didn't hinder any of my performance!

My grade: B+ (for great taste and energy) (the - is for the sticky glue tongue)

need to pimp it up!

Getting back out and riding a lot of road here in rural Bavaria. It is a great escape from the gym where I was holed up for most of the winter months. Although spring has come, its still pretty chilly here. We have not seen anything higher than 70 degrees yet, but most days it isnt even hitting 60, as we have had a lot of rain showers. I just cant wait for summer!
I have realized that my once cool and fashionable cycling clothing now needs some updatin'. The pic above is from the other day, I have a million velo bella jerseys and shorts sets from over the years, but my once cool pearl izumi long sleeve jersey has two gel stains that look like I blew snot or ass all over the arms and so it needs to be tossed, a cool nike longsleeve that is cool, but not stylish anymore, Justin's old knee warmers and leg warmers, just not doing it. The fleece team patagonia vest is nice, but not really for riding and that is what I am wearing above. I've been perusing the online boutiques. I love the pink arm and leg warmers and there are a plethora of cute jerseys and jackets. When I started cycling, there was no "women's specific" clothing. You just bought the xs mens stuff and dealt with it. I think it's cool there are sites out there like team estrogen and terry that cater to women. I love to shop and I love fashion, I just kinda neglected the cycling side of it cuz I hardly wear other stuff besides my team stuff. Im also diggin all the cool socks they have. Im a sockie. I looove cool socks. And I really dig the longer sock length, I still war euro shorties, but I like me a striped high anyday!! chek it>>
courtesy of sock guy:
The pentabike one is kin'a sexy too?

Anyway, to the point, I got these new Castelli shorts. They have the kiss chamois, its like your girly parts are being pampered or something, so I'm going to do a review on them here in a few days. I need to get some pics of them and my big booty in the saddle (that should be innersting)..but until then, my next post will be a review on cytomax..

Anywayzzz, I've been riding the cross bike and venturing out on the roads. There are hundreds of kilometers of paved paths if you would rather not ride on the road. I have been using those and the road, there are some awesome road climbs around here. I kinda think it's weird how all the trees still dont have any leaves on them. Its kinda ugly looking. Hopefully spring will catch up so it can get a little more perty 'round here...
Pics...
moonset, I took this right before the sunrise

finding spring

Finding spring has been quite the challenge. Every other day it's raining or cold, then cloudy and decent the next. I guess that's spring. Rylee searching for frogs:
Riding has been limited to the indoor trainer or spin bikes. I've been able to put in a lot of miles on a structured workout plan from coach Justin. Im getting antsy for singletrack or at least off road miles, but I still feel confident that I will fare okay, as most of us are all in the same boat.

rainy day riding:
Justin and I found this cool place on a lonely village road in the middle of somewhere. It's a cafe/biergarten that has a bike on it's sign, so one of these Sunday's we are gonna ride there and eat, and then ride some more.

new babies behind my house:
lonely village road, quiet, no cars and nice paved path, but a little wet..
In a little more than a week I will be in Spain, hopefully working on my tan, so between now and then I am upping the intensity so that I will be somewhat ready for Munich. We get back Saturday, race is on Sunday. Wonder how I will perform after a week off at the beach drinking sangria and eating tapas.....

p.s. I looove oreo double stuff cookies...(bad picture tho...but just to make a point : ))