I still maintain this blog!

After a cold, harsh, looong winter here in Europe, I think Spring is finally coming around. Last week, we had a high of 70 one day, but after a few days of warmer temps and sunshine, the clouds and rain have rolled back into Bavaria. The long days of darkness, insanity from inside workouts and freezing temps are soon but a memory..

There have been some recent changes to the race calendar. The big one that sux is that Finale Ligure (italia) is pretty much out. We thought we had two other teammates, but then they were not able to commit and and we were not able to find suitable replacements. We wanted to go into the race with some confidence and competitiveness, oh well, maybe next year. First race up for me is the Munich city bike marathon, 80 something km of fun, in about 3 weeks or so, but before that, we are going to spend a week in Spain on the beaches near Barcelona for a little bit of rest and relaxation after a cold ass fraking winter in the Oberplatz. Justin say's he's manning the beer tent at munich, he did this race last year and said it was pretty good, minus a few eff-ups by the race router peoples, but hopefully I will be luckier than him this year!

Im looking forward to dusting off the cobwebs in my lungs and pushing it in the saddle again this year. I have been consistent in my training, thanks to the Vilseck army gym on post (they have spinning bikes at your leisure and I can even clip in with my sidi's). I've been doing the core thing Justin prescribed and lifting weights. I have had trouble dropping 10lbs I need to lose, but the good ol German diet (beer, meat, more beer) probably are to blame. Justin and I are also planning out a possible 24 hour duo or even (gasp!) solo by moi. What the hell, like I havent suffered enough giving birth, lets add some more torture to the body...hahahhahahah (sarcatic)

My mountain bike is currently under contruction as I await the new '10 Fox fork that is on its way to me! Justin has changed out, cleaned up parts and now I am considering a new saddle, but not sure what to get yet, it has to be pretty, functional and kind to the girly parts...Oh, and so, so excited!!!!!>>>> Fox Racing shox has sponsored me in their grassroots, so new fork!! Pretty excited to represent and get that baby mounted! Im excited to test out the new fit technology and get a review up here. That sexy white piece of hardware is gonna look bitchin' on the Kona hardtail. Still have the singlespeed conversion on the race bike and not sure if Im gonna change back, but probably will at some point.

Im also sticking with Velo Bella again this year. I have been with this team now since 2004 and have met so many awesome ladies and dudes. I stick with the mission of this team to "encourage a healthy and active lifestyle through cycling and laughter. We inspire women to get out and ride a bike, race a bike, and to eventually grow the pool of talent and have a lot of fun along the way". I have had so much fun along the way and hope to keep it rolling, and maybe bring and inspire some new talent into the crazy, fun world of belladom!

Anywayz, Im off to rock the farmroads on my cross bike. Mud facials, sandblasted legs, muddy ass crak, its all in a days work for Angie K., but isnt it about the ride in the first place???

...pics to come in the next few days. Happy spring to all!!

The life

Things are progressing along nicely so far. My knees are getting better, there is some slight pain still, but it is definitely getting better. I am able to spin at high intensity and get out of the saddle, so that is a good sign.

Justin just signed us up as a duo for the 12 hours in kulsheim in July (whitesnakes "here i go" is the song that plays on there home page..cool!) but the big mutha is the 24 hour race in Finale Ligure, Italy May 22. Im super excited for this race, but we are kinda freakng out cuz we still need two people for our 4 man team. We are going to take a week off and go to Italy, explore, as this is on the italian med. and we've never been that way before. Aside from recupping from a 24 hr race, I plan on tanning and laying on the beach as much as possible! Yes, this has gotta be the life.

I have my season training plan in hand, as Justin is coaching 6 athletes, including me, and Im really excited to have this structure. He took me to the gym last week and showed me a bunch of core work exercises that showed me how weak my "core" really was. I have been doing my own core work, but it was not as freaking hard as his stuff. I guess I was being too easy on little ol meself....

So, I am downloading Guns n roses greatest hits to my ipod right now, I need some new music besides all this techno garbage Ive been listening to for a long time. Back to the grit, back to the sweat, back to training hard. Cant wait for the season to begin.

First race for me is Munich City Marathon in April. Yep its coming upon me, 80km of lungbustin', leg shreddin' madness. I wanna be ready!! Im working on it! ....Yep, this is the life!

Absent

Rural Bayern:
Gav getting ready to tear it up:
Justin showing Gavin how to ride:
I've been absent from the blogging world for a while. Life just gets busy sometimes.

Happy New Year to everyone. Wow, how time flies. As you know, I caught the flu, and somehow it really disrupted the normalcy of life. It took me a while to get back to feeling normal. I couldnt work out, all I could do was rest. I got tired so easily. My first ride back, I pushed a little too hard, and once that heart rate went up, I started feeling dizzy, and just crappy, so it took a while to feel good again.

I now feel like Im back to normal, except for the fact that it is very probable that I tore some ligament (mcl) on both knees. I went skiing and got hooked up in the Tbars, it was probably really funny to watch, but that hurt like hell. This is the first time I have officially "told" anyone about it because I just dont want to admit that something so stupid could've jeopardized my whole race season. Im not bummed too bad because I really think it's going to be okay. Anyway, just when you start rolling, feeling strong, something stupid goes wrong. This is where you can either get pissed or you just roll with it. I choose to roll.

Tonite Im going to the gym and I'm going to spin with a little resistance on the spin bikes. I think that it needs to be spinned out. I have taken a lot of days off, and Im getting antsy not doing anything. I have to be active. It is hard for me to do nothing.

So, T bars...They suck. I have never used them, I've been spoilt, moving here from a ski town, we nver used those. But they probably arent that complicated, I just made them complicated. hahahahhaah!!!!!!

me "modeling" (geeking) my new team jersey for '10:
Bavaria has been cold, snowy, and cold. The sun has not made an apperance in some time, but on the upside, it is still light around 4:30, which is awesome, the days are on track to get longer. Cant wait for summer!!!!

Next week we are going to Prague. One of my favorite cities in the world. We were planning on going to Tabor for the cx worlds, but I think we just might chill in Prague and enjoy the ambiance of such a great city.

Bavarian sunset
Anyway, hope life is good for all!!

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