Ned

If you're ever looking for something to do in Boulder...jump the Ned bus! Or may be we shouldn't let the best kept secret out.

There's nothing like a good trail ride to get you out of that hole you've been in...

(and yes, he did fall into this pit!)

and make you feel like the king of the world!

Watch out...just give her 10 years!

Weekend Getaways...

A shot of the Slate River Valley as seen from the good 'ol Gas Cafe. For those of you who don't know, they sizzle up a mean egg sandwich. Maybe too much of a gut-bomb pre-race, but perfect before a long epic on some of the sweet CB trails!

Crested Butte Beauties

Kristina killin' it!

Megan muscling the climb!

Dell digging deep!

Jen super jammin'


Fun times, fun times. CB is always awesome. Thanks to Jeff, Kristina's hubby, for taking some action shots of us this weekend. Dell finished up 2nd behind strong arm, Katie Compton who was running a fast set-up...a 29er with skinny knobbies...it was so speedy speedy, and pretty cool looking too.

Park City

The weekend pretty much rocked...Jen's 2nd place in Super D warmed her up for a 14th in the XC! And Kristina's 20th in the XC proved that things are coming along just as she planned...for me, it was one of those days that the wheels seem to be more square than round, a fair reminder of how delicate the balance of life can be. Sometimes that darn scale tips just a little and throws you all out of wack. Results may slide, but life is always there. Seems like I battle this every season...it's by choice, I guess I like juggling or tight rope walking or just shooting myself in the foot!

The problem is that racing is quite addicting and I couldn't allow myself to sit this one out. I knew that after traveling home from Europe, I'd need to turn on overdrive to catch up and get ahead of everything in order to leave again Thursday. With work and training, the only thing I'd allow myself to cut back on was sleep. Wrong choice! Lesson learned...again!

Ahh, well. No excuse, it happens to every racer, and those are the choices we make. It is my choice to do whatever it is I'm doing to "shoot myself in the foot"...but there's just too much out there! Often this is what makes or breaks the path we're on. I'll be honest, I was really close to cracking and pulling the plug this weekend, but turned on some music and was reminded that 'to everything turn turn there is a season turn turn'....that's just the way life goes.

If only we had 36 hours in a day :)

A shout out

Kelly Magelky...our teammate pictured here in the middle of Megan and Jen. He is always working hard and was up in North Dakota this past weekend racing in a 12hour race. He is preparing for 24hour World's Solo! We call him the "Thug" We miss you Kelly B Thug!!



Stay tuned for updates on the latest race. Kristina, Megan and Jen went to the 4th NORBA also this past weekend at Deer Valley. Megan has some pictures from that one. My camera is out of commision for now. I fried the fuse trying to charge it in Switzerland! Turns out 240 volts really are too much for a 100 volt camera! Huh:)

Jen's musings

Despite the rain that fell today, Megan and I ventured up to Ned to breathe in some fresh air and rejuvinate from a whole days' worth of travel. It was so necessary to get up in the forest and into the cleanliness it so simply provides. It was crisp and the singletrack was perfectly tacky and there was silence. Silence except for exhalations...it has been a few weeks since we have ridden at altitude and that was just the right cure for the 11 hours of just plane sitting.


It is funny how traveling halfway around the world makes you realize the beauty of what is usually in the place we tend to overlook and the place that is so special. Home. Riding in Ned today, it became clear that it doesn't matter what place you finish in a World Cup or how many stinking UCI points you have...what matters is understanding the importance of believing in your own self worth and in believing in your family and friends and the strength that comes from simply pulling up to the start line and giving greatness a chance.


Some days you go super Schnell (like Rad Ross) intriguing and wetting desire's palate to go faster and to become the best.

Some days you go slow...begging for fitness to come forth from fatigue. A fighter will contend another day and face the challenge of another race. Our character is developed through the glory of each victory and also through the bummers of each defeat. It is how we react to either that exemplify greatness. Winning and losing alone do not define the heart and soul. Accepting graciously a triumph and reacting positively to a loss reveals the core of the contender.







Here are a few shots from the chalet in Champerey.
Now that we are home. These photos remind us of how lucky we were to have been able to travel to such an amazing place. How cool is life...the smells, the views, the animals, the people, the land...everything is fantastique!


Old churches always make a town more beautiful

The hills are alive...!!



Yeah, it was a real bummer that we had to stay here for the World Cup:) It had a kitchen, comfy beds, a little shed to park our steel steeds, and...a washing machine to clean our dirty chamois...imagine life without such pleasures...

all done

So we made it through the day!
All happy with how we did...an experience under our belts!

Possom's can :)


Our home for the past few days

Tomorrow we race...
It's a good course, a bit technical. Slick roots, a few steep drops and rain has started to fall.
Could be interesting - sure to be fun! Yahhooo!

The last leg

We just finished packing up and are about to head down to Champery for the last leg of our Euro trip. The past few days have flown by and as we try to slow them from passing, the nerves are building and we're at the point where we want to just have Saturday arrive and race!

Below is where we'll be staying tonight through Sunday, I can't imagine this little piece of heaven has wireless so we'll bid the blog farewell for now.


Before doing so, we really wanted to thank everyone who has been supportive in helping us along the way. Our family here and there, our fabulous friends and wonderful sponsors! Being over here has given Jen & Megan a taste of European racing, they've have definitely caught the "virus" called cycling. The spark can be seen in Dell's eyes again too.

Heading to a World Cup is a bit daunting. Although Dell knows how it is done, she's aiming for a top 25, this is Megan & Jen's first Euro race...so it'll be a great learning experience.

As Dell says, goals are to be a struggle to attain, yet are attainable...and that journey is what this is all about.

BMC headquaters!

More on Swiss land!


Our visit to the BMC factory was fantastique!

Wall of Fame:

As we stepped into the factory, we were greeted first by a picture of a few friendly & familar faces. Here's the BMC American road team and a couple CO folk pounding the pavement.

Then we were greeted by Markus and Stefan who gave us a tour around the assembly floor, checking out frames galore. Markus was very friendly making us feel at ease and gave us the run down of how BMC began, where it is now and where they are headed.

Before lunch we were lucky enough to join a couple of the staff for a mountain bike ride on the surrounding trails. Jen and Megan were VERY impressed with all of our guides, Stefan (#1 & #2), Daniel and Markus as well as all of the swiss hospitality in general. It was such a great group of people and a truly great company.

We drove away from the BMC factory inspired and kitted out for our next race, the World Cup in Champery (ahh!). It was great to see how much passion the BMC company has towards cycling and their bikes. It rejuvinated us and inspired future dreams.

Before leaving, Megan snapped a pic of Dell marking her territory as she lusted after one of the new four stroke 01' carbon hardtails.

Basel

We pulled into Basel late Monday afternoon. Knowing that Jen's family's house was about 2miles from the city zentrum (center) we headed there first. Somehow, those two miles took us 1.5 hours. After a few wrong turns onto one-way tram lines, a few stumbles into pedestrian malls, and two or three funny "do you know where..." interactions in the strange swiss german dialect we finally made it only thanks to mapquest and the wireless signal we picked up outside someone's house!

We had a great traditional dinner that Jean-Pierre and Elly prepared. Fresh cheese from the Alps, and delicious hand-picked cherries to top the meal off right.
Then a special thanks to our tour guide, Adrian who showed us the city life!

Off to explore Basel for the night


Over the river... here's one of the first bridges over the Rhine river. Originally constructed in the 13 centrury. For some reason it still seems weird to us that the river flows North, to the North Sea and not down!! All rivers flow down south right? ha



Then out for a wild and crazy night ;) What do you think really happens at at crazy sexy center anyways? Things that make you go hmmm...

Ha! We finally caught Dell cherry picking!

Germany

Ahhh! Too much cheese for the likes of this little belly:) You really have to be a master of moderation when entering into the land of the cow! It is so good...but consumer beware...it can quickly take you down! That's how I felt halfway through the Ned UCI race.


Here is a shot from Offenburg, Germany. Dell raced the 2nd World Cup in this cute town. It is really amazing how all of these countries can be so close together and yet be so different in culture, language and style. I have enjoyed being here very much.

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Well, here we are...all three of us had to buy Birkenstocks. They are so cheap here! It was a no-brainer:)

Oss, NED UCI race

Men's start

After a week of enjoying french cheese, belgium chocolate and everything Europe has to offer, it was time to switch to race mode. Not always the easiest thing to do.
Sunday morning we woke up early, ate a bit too much Kwak (a European yogurt like spread), threw back a few cafes and were off to the race course less 500 meters away. Not sure what to expect from a "mountain" bike race in the flat lands of Holland, we followed the annoucer's Dutch voice to the start line.

Completely oblivious as to what was actually being said, we watched as women started to roll to the line, about 50 starts total. Then out of the blue, English! Our names...so we rolled to the line. Then what we think was the count down...1min or was that 2min or perhaps 30 seconds? Finally a horn, and we were off!

It's fair to say that we were rather surprised by the hilly punches the Dutch threw our way! The course was relentless, it started on a fast motor cross course, then wound its way up and down a valley wall, giving punch after punch.

Dell rocked it, finished third. Megan ended up 14th and just this one time, the Kwak or perhaps the cheese got the better of Jen's belly.


Dell counting her winnings!

on the road again...

After leaving Paris, staying in Ghent, Belgium...taking a wee bit of a detour, we made it to Oss, Holland!



spun the legs out a bit. What's amazingly clear here, is that bicycling is such a cultural staple. Couples out for an afternoon cruise or workers racing to the job, bikes are absolutely everywhere! The train station at Ghent honeslty had 1000s of bikes parked at it. a sight to see!



Tonight we're at the race hotel. It's a bit funny, we have no idea as to what to expect out of the race, no idea who will be here, or how our legs will feel...but, ah well, we'll see.

We love Paris in the spring time!

Ahh, Paris. Oui, Oui. (wee wee)! It is so much fun to be in France and to eat in France too! It is a good thing we are pedaling throughout the trip as the fromage-blanc, the nutella and the fantastically delicious bread seem to be the increasing staple of our daily diet.


Here are Jen and Megan riding towards the castle of Versailles, just west of Paris. Little did we know that when we set out for some training today our tracks would stumble upon this little European gem! The epic battle of Versailles must have also been quite beautiful:)




The Arc De Triomphe. We shall Triumph! Hopefully this will be some inspiration in the upcoming races this week...we head to Belgium tomorrow to compete in some UCI events in the flatlands.



Bikes are cool! This was taken at our host house near Paris. Megan's wonderful family, Jean-Marie, Laura, Clotilde and Jacques are very loving and gracious. We have been so comfortable in their home and we appreciate them sharing thier lives with us.


Megan's rendition of the Louvre. It is such a cool museum and I am continually amazed at the antiquity of the buildings, the artwork, and the traditions of this famously fantastic city. If only walking through it wasn't so hard!!! Ha:) Walking is difficult after you ride your bike everywhere...