As writers and (basically) people, we all have weaknesses and distractions. Those things that we love almost as much as creating—and destroying—worlds, that sometimes cannot be ignored, no matter how many times we motivate ourselves through ample application of self-shaming if we fail to accomplish 3,000 words before going to bed. For some, that distraction is yoga or working out; for others, our favorite TV show; and for others, reading a good book sometimes proves more compelling than writing one.Then there's another set of writers whom I'll call "the freakish July crowd." We are the rabble that sit in front of the NBC Sports stream for 4 – 6 hours every single day for three weeks straight in the middle of summer to see the carnival of quads and sods racing around France. Oh, we know we're wrong to waste our time in this fashion, but we can't help it. It's an addiction, an obsession, a geek-cum-athlete-fest so extreme and titillating that our habituated, slavish minds are incapable of resisting it.But we are adults, right? We can control our habits and our actions. We don't require an intervention to ensure we've adequately performed meaningful, if minimal, human functions for the day. We are in control of our actions and emotions, dammit, not the peloton. And not, dear gawd, the General Classification time gaps.Still, there is no denying those distractions tear at us. And if we wish to continue touting ourselves as writers, we must justify our behavior strategize ways to work those distractions to our advantage.For me, it's as simple as using my obsession with cycling, both watching races and spinning my own pedals, as research. Believe me when I tell you there is no better case study for researching deep, primal suffering than the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, or Vuelta a España. And, yunno, given that my preferred genres all delve deeply into humanity's psychological and physical pain caves (military SF, horror, dark urban fantasy), I write about plenty of suffering. I need to be able to look into those grills of gritted teeth on the Col de Tourmalet, the eyes oozing agony on the team time trials, and the bloody, stripped-to-the-bone flesh on the Alp de Huez to accurately portray the depth of pain and misery people are capable of dropping into. Those hours I'm glued like Honey Stinger gels to teeth to the grand tours are not just to pass the time; they are essential to developing as a writer. Research. No good book can be written without it.What strategies do you employ to manage your distractions and keep your writing momentum?
Clear Indicators That You May Be a Bit of a Cyclenaut
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0W__FNIGwA]We all have our peccadilloes; some people have too many cats, some people eat only white food. But I think most people agree, one of the strangest groups out there has to be roadies. In my annual homage to the Tour de France, which begins June 30th, here are a few reasons why "normal" people think roadies are weird.
On group rides, we think to ourselves things like, "wow, that guy has a nice set of cranks," or "that woman has one sexy saddle," and we're not referring to their bikes.
We feel naked in "normal" clothes because they don't cling like our cycling shorts.
No one can sit down in our offices because our bikes are leaning against the chairs. It's not like we're going to leave our babies outside.
Instead of things in our houses being fixed with duct tape, they are simply wrapped with old tubes.
During most rides, we clearly hear Phil and Paul in your head as they narrate our progress and prompt us to unpack our suitcases of courage.
Instead of an extra shirt in our gear bags, we have extra sets of arm and leg warmers.
We don't have friends. We have training partners (and this applies to all endurance athletes).
When faced with tough choices, we ask ourselves, "What would Lance do?"
We LIKE ice baths.
We have more cycling apps on our smart phones than we have numbers in our contact lists.
We find nothing strange about having around twenty things from which to drink out of in our kitchens, only two of which aren't bike bottles.
It seems perfectly reasonable to eat a pint of strawberry ice cream for breakfast on long ride days.
We consider it a personal insult when we are passed.
We find two-tone skin very appealing.
Our senses of propriety and taste are deeply wounded when we see handlebar tape that clashes with a paint job.
Full carbon makes us salivate.
We test different positions on downhills to see if we can bend the rules of physics to increase our terminal velocity.
Squirrels and other darting rodents terrify us.
We can eat three pints of strawberry ice cream after a ride and still be at a calorie deficit.
Our snot rockets could seriously injure small children.
We plan vacation schedules around the Giro and Le Tour.
We automatically call out "on your left" when passing other shoppers at the grocery store. (via wejazz)
When we compliment someone on their flashy jersey and they say, "bright colors make you faster," we take some time to seriously consider the possibility.
We don't think this or this or this are too high a price to pay for a good ride.
We no longer crack a grin at the brand names "Syn Lube" and "DZ Nuts." Lubing properly is, after all, serious business.
We can barely lift a bowling ball with our upper-body strength, but we could easily lift a Mini Cooper and its Sumo wrestling driver with the strength in our quads alone.
We buy or rent houses based largely on the length and quality of our bike commute to work.
We even shave your arms.
Strawberry ice cream.
We have a pet named "Cadence."
There are always empty Gu packets in our washing machines. (via wejazz)
Dan Wuori (@dwuori on Twitter) cracks us up.
We find ways to work exciting anecdotes about today's stage of whatever race into EVERY conversation. Thus, we're left to spend a lot of time talking to ourselves.
We buy new bikes instead of replacing our dead kitchen stoves. Whatever, we still have our barbequeuers.
We wanted to name our firstborn "Thor." (You know who you are :))
We hate gravel with the intensity most people reserve for brutal dictators or the guy who buys the last box of Honey Stingers.
Our partners have learned to preface simple requests of us after a long day of riding with "if you're not too tired..."
We read pedaltowardsdeath to be reminded of our mortality.
Our bike trainers have their own rooms.
And then of course, there are the Rules. (Thanks to wejazz for telling me about these.) Any and all who understand the above, feel free to add your own!**Just a heads up: I'll be doing a promotional free giveaway of my novel Contract of Defiance for Kindle and Kindle app owners on July 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Swing by Amazon to get your free copy!
File Under Awesome
Earlier this month, this bike commuter was legally riding across a bridge in Bethlehem, PA when he was struck from behind by a vehicle. The vehicle tried to flee. However, a city bus driver witnessed the crime and used the bus to cut off the fleeing driver, and waited for the police to arrive. It was all caught on the city's traffic camera. A link to the full story is on the YouTube page. The cyclist was not seriously injured. Love it when people think quickly and band together to help each other out, especially when it involves keeping bikers safe. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7AVC1YCcO0&w=480&h=360]
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Skirt Sports: Show Me The Money!
 |
| Image attribution: http://www.skylinecrossfit.com/ |
I have wrestled and strained; tossed and tussled; agonized and grappled; even done the unthinkable—asked others what they thought—about how to approach the subject I'm about to cover.
That's right, gentle reader, I'm about to get all feminist and political and antagonistic and argumentative and...well, none of those actually. Okay, not much. I AM pissed, but I've opted for keeping it civil and brief-ish. What has me all riled up this time? It's the damn world of sports and how much inequity there is in when it comes to girls vs boys and women athletes getting paid for being awesome.
Did you know that not one, but two time female world cycling champion, Giorgia Bronzini, was only paid 3’833 euros for her championship title last year? And that the Manx Missile (also voted the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year out of a list that included a total of ZERO women finalists), was paid 7’667 euros, twice as much? [Source: Page thirty-four of the UCI 2011 Competition Guide.] And let's be clear; he's won the title only once. A heinously obvious case of pay inequality in the sport of professional cycling.
Let me go back to the SPOTY issue for a moment. Naturally, there was loud outcry among women who know a thing or two about sports (despite the stereotype that women don't know a football from a tennis racket) at the complete lack of acknowledgment of women's inclusion in the 2011 list of finalists. It's as if the panel of judges for this award are going out of their way to turn a blind eye to women's contributions to sports. Is this because women are less masterful at their chosen sport? Do women just have less “personality” than men?
 |
| Photo Credit: Adrian Valenzuela |
Let's play devil's advocate for a moment and take a look at one woman-based sport, say, Roller Derby. I mean, of all the sports women play, doesn't Roller Derby exemplify everything that is bland and boring about women athletes? Doesn't it? Er, right. No one with eyesight and half a brain could claim Roller Derby as a sport and the players who do it lack personality. Pffft. Come on SPOTY judges, you really have no excuse for this kind of discrimination. (Especially in a year that saw the first ever Derby World Cup.)
And then, of course, there was the issue of the International Amateur Boxing Association wanting to require women boxers to don more appropriate attire for the sport.
Like skirts.
Yes. Skirts.
And you thought boxing was about agility, strength, and strategy. Silly boxing fans.
All right, so I'm holding back from a grossly expulsive rant here, but I just hafta ask: WTF is it with the sports world? Are women such a threat to the traditionally male realm of physical athleticism that some loosely organized and nefarious consortium of Male Privilege Saviors are doing everything in their power to just make women go away by perpetuating low pay and sponsorships, outright dismissal, and ridiculous rules about attire? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there an entire culture of voyeurism based solely on turning the female body into an object of the male gaze? What could be better than super-fit chicks in spandex?
I don't have the time or stable enough blood pressure to look for similar disparities in other sports, but no doubt they are there. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light uses the ambitions and talents of women athletes as fuel. Just take a look at Rebecca Rusch and all she has achieved, not least of which is the SRAM Gold Rusch tour. And a hearty cheer of respect to SRAM for sponsoring it.
As sports fans, it's up to us to look at the reasons why we watch our sport of choice, and make a conscious decision to put as much energy into and pay as much attention to women's teams as men's. In a perfect world, an athlete would be appreciated for their athleticism, and sports organizations would pay athletes based on their performance, not their gender. But because, like politics, it's all about money, if there's no one watching women, then there's no attention to and thus no profit for the big companies that sponsor athletes, events, and prizes.
Regardless, women athletes will continue using their bodies as playgrounds for the sports they love. Bullshit pay disparities and active disdain from sports organizations are no match for full-on guts, glory, and pain, and women eat that shit like Clif Bars.
Further reading: http://espn.go.com/espnw/athletes-life/8520645/riding-pros-vicious-cycle-professional-female-cyclists
And another fantastic article on being female while cycling from Jen See: http://the-toast.net/2013/07/22/on-the-bike/![]()
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
All I ever needed to know about human nature, I learned from riding my bike
The rules of human perception seem to be as follows:
Perception of Cyclists:
While I am riding, if you are slower, a pedestrian, a child, a pet, or a badly maintained road, you are an impediment to the freedom and purity that is cycling and a total waste of space and/or oxygen.
Perception of Vehicle Drivers:
While I am driving, if you are smaller; slower; a cyclist; a deer; squirrel, or raccoon; or any other animate or inanimate object, you are an impediment to the entitlement of all like me who choose to display their detachment from reality by bludgeoning into a salsa-like pulp said impediments in much the same way a rampaging Hun on cocaine with a one-ton-plus steel projectile would.
Perception of Pedestrians:
What? There are other objects in the universe that move at a greater velocity than me as I casually stroll into your path? You must be kidding.At least, this is what I perceive on my bike commute to work.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Winter Distance Series: Rudolph's Revenge 5K Results
Just a quick race update. The race was Saturday, and it went surprisingly well for someone who has barely run in the last few months. The weather was, as expected, a nice balmy 25 degrees (what doesn't kill you...). My toes weren't present for any of the run, having decided to take a quick jaunt to somewhere lacking any and all sensation. But it turns out, I didn't really need them. I didn't anticipate the competitive streak that erupted at the sounding gun (LIES!) and did my first mile in about 7:20.The one thing that you'll see in a 5K that you won't see in longer races is drunken frat-boy types who started imbibing early in the a.m. so as to be plenty fueled for the run. There were three on this particular day. They shouted and skipped around like mentally challenged, er, frat boys, for awhile, making asses of themselves and probably irritating the hell out of many of the other runners.I settled in behind them at the beginning of mile two in order to take advantage of the free entertainment but then passed by when they started to flag. A blue-shirted woman went by me at about a mile and a half, which set off teeth-gritting frustration. So after going around the frat boys, I held onto her footsteps for the last mile. She and I hit the last hill at the same time and I kicked into high gear, completely leaving her behind. Yes, I enjoyed it.I finished 77th overall out of 661 runners; 21st of 396 in my gender; and 7th out of 76 in my division. My compadres, the Torpedo and the Cruiser, seemed equally happy with their times. We drove the hour back home and were treated to biscuits, gravy, scrambled eggs, and bacon by Mr. Universally Talented who slaved all morning, thus ensuring that we had to run at least another ten miles if we planned on equaling out the calories in-to-out ratio. Instead, we opted for a long and promising day of perfecting our between-race slacking techniques.The next race is actually only five miles, not the 10K I thought it was, on January 21st. Perhaps I'll attempt another straight-from-the-couch run, and see if I can PR with that strategy. Or maybe I'll be smart, perhaps even run and interval or two before then.
 |
|
| Snapshot of the other races I've kept track of. This is Athlinks, a pretty decent online tracking tool. |
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Run, Slacker, Run
I didn’t come to enjoy running naturally. It was forced on me in my teens by angry store clerks trying to chase down my punk shoplifting thug-butt (eventually, I learned the hard way that this “pursuit” was something I should probably discontinue).Let me back up. I did run a fair bit as a little girl, with that same joyous abandon most kids experience. Until one day, my dad, who was a world class track athlete and coach, challenged me to a race. Naturally, he didn’t let me win, preferring to teach me to get tough through experiencing bitter disappointment (still trying to puzzle out that lesson). But he did pass on some, er, dubious, advice: during a race, run as hard as you can and keep running, even if it hurts. As seven-year-olds are some of the wisest people on the planet, me being no exception, I thought to myself, “Are you smoking crack, dear father of mine? Why would I intentionally do something that hurts?” Okay, granted, I didn’t really know what crack was, but you get the idea. Hence, my dearth of running until my teens when not paying for cigarettes and Doritos was more appealing than, well, paying for them, and I undertook my short-lived grocery store sprinting career.After giving up the shoplifting and the smoking, I kept running when I had to, but I never really got that sense of pleasure from it that hardcore runners tell you about. Still, I had some of the greatest running mixed tape compilations for my Walkman ever made (for anyone reading this who was born after 1990, a Walkman was a small, portable tape player that preceded iPods and Zunes. What’s that? What’s a tape? Uh, nevermind...).So why do I run now? A person with my woefully short attention span can't be limited to just one physical activity, and I need something to supplement roadbiking. I choose running because it is much less dangerous than mountainbiking, a sport that requires both balance and the ability to think while moving at speeds that exceed 30mph, all the while dodging killer rocks and roots, stumps and fence posts, cacti and branches, and...you get the idea. I’m enough of a hazard
(see photo) to myself on two legs; add speed and an elevated center of gravity, combined with all of the “gifts” of Mother Nature, and I’m pretty much a rolling corpse on a mountain bike.The other reason, however, is more sublime. I’ve never been fast, but somewhere along the line, I learned to enjoy the consistent rhythm of running. Apparently my endorphin glands finally hit a growth spurt when I quit sky diving and my adrenalin glands withered. Human-powered sports, including roadbiking, backpacking, and rockclimbing, have always felt right to me, and running fosters such an epic sense of freedom and resiliency. Getting somewhere under your own steam and having the time and opportunity to enjoy the sights and sounds as you go is truly one of the best feelings you can't buy in stores. It’s not unlike writing a book or a short story; there is a lot of suffering and self-doubt as you move along the continuum towards the end, but when you get there, you feel like shouting for joy and hugging a complete stranger, even if they smell kinda bad. Endorphins, baby, blame the endorphins.Which all leads to the reason for this post. I hadn’t planned on blogging again until next year, but suddenly this winter, I found myself questioning my toughness (damn you, dear father). You see, it’s frickin’ cold here. COLD, and I’d all but quit running. As an illustration, I ran the Continental Divide Trail Run in Steamboat Springs in August—sixteen miles of suffering through some of themost gorgeous scenery to ever behold—and have run a grand total of twenty or so miles since. Yep. In my defense, I have the most wicked new bike trainer ever, which has been getting some extreme use, so it’s not as if I’ve been a total slacker.But I couldn’t do it; I couldn’t live with being confined to the indoors due to the potential for a little tiny bit of frostbite. I mean c’mon, if Beck Weathers could lose most of both arms and feet, and his nose to the cold, what’s losing feeling in my hands for a few hours? So I convinced a couple of friends—I’ll call them the Cruiser and the Torpedo—to come suffer in the frigid temps with me during the Littleton Winter Distance Series. I’ll post summaries ofthese races as they occur.Plus, I needed some more t-shirts. First race is December 17th, so I better go run.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
USA Pro Cycling Challenge Turns Simple Girl Into Blithering Fan-girl
 |
| The Boss |
Holy Awesome Cycling Race, what a week it’s been! Since last Sunday, Colorado has turned into one of the finest cycling destinations in the world. The new USA Pro Cycling Challenge (aka the Sandwich Race) has drawn two of the finest things about sports to this little mountain state: some of the greatest athletes in the world and even more of the greatest fans in the world. Sure, some people get a little out of control and tend to piss off the riders, but these guys are not without their defenses. Watch this video carefully as Team Radio Shack rider comes over Swan Mountain during Stage 5.
Us simple Rocky Mountain High-ers were favored by the appearance of such greats as this year’s winner of Le Tour de France, Cadel Evans, whose massive jaw was also invited despite the team having to reserve it it’s own seat on the international flight over; second and third place runners up of the Tour, Andy and Fränk Schleck, aka the Wonder Twins, aka Frandy; Jens Voigt, the hardest man in cycling; and of course, Levi Leipheimer, he of the diminutive stature but massive mountain-, time trial-, and overall road-crushing skills. Team Garmin-Cervelo knocked it out of the park with their fantastic team strategy, and many other amazing riders displayed their grit, endurance, and pure ferocity in the blistering heat and altitude that is a Colorado summer.
Needless to say, I had to extend my own deadline for allowed cycle race watching this year just to catch this inaugural event. The race’s details can all be found at any cycling site you choose, but the real highlight--I think anyone who was there can agree--was seeing part of this race in person.
A few pics to commemorate the occasion (mostly taken by Mr. Universally Talented and Prepared, as not only did three of my camera batteries die, but also my iPhone).
 |
| Undie Guy: A Fan |
 |
|
| Gobernacion's Alejandro Ramirez |
 |
| Le Peloton |
 |
| Levi and Peloton |
 |
| HTC's Lachlan Norris |
 |
|
| HTC's Peter Velits |
 |
| BMC's Hincapie and Brookwalter and Peloton |
 |
| Rabobank's Ten Dam |
 |
|
| My nerdy signs |
And for the icing on the cake, I leave you with the best cycling fan video ever made.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn0FF1KwL4I]
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
It's Only a Problem if it Kills You
That's become my mantra while running through this devilishly hot summer. Ninety degrees in the shade and seven miles to work makes a girl a bit cranky. Except it doesn't. I kinda like it. In fact, I look forward to it a couple of times a week the way a crack baby looks forward to another rock. There's clearly something wrong with me.
And there's something else. The thing that may epitomize my running problem. You know it's weird when you start looking forward to getting a new piece of gear that when wearing it, makes you look as if you're a ninety year old woman who is suffering from a mad case of gravity overkill in the chest area.
Yup, the Ultimate Direction Wasp Hydration Pack has that stylish feature, and more! Now I'll be able to run longer and farther before total collapse, and with the handy pockets located just below my boobs, I won't even have to stop to dig out my GU packages or cyanide capsules when it becomes clear that suicide is a better option than the back part of a 20 mile out and back.
Now if I could just figure out how to install an air-conditioner in the thing, I'll be set for the rest of the season.
UPDATE: Well, the bodacious bota bag arrived in the mail yesterday, and wouldn't you know it: it's too large. Curses to my smaller frame! Even with all the straps tightened to the max, the shoulders still sagged and the front pockets stuck out so far that my arms hit them when they swing. Sooooo...back it goes. The saving grace is that it is indeed an awesome design, AND they make a smaller version for us little 'uns.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Tips for World Traveling #5: France
Driving tours are often exciting and interesting, allowing travelers to see an entire country in just a short time. In a history-filled and beautiful place like France, this can be many people's dream come true. However, France goes above and beyond the simple and quaint countryside scenery and castles. They also provide a moving road targets for motorists to smash into barbed wire fences and hard tarmac. You know, just to keep things fun. Or at least, that's what some idiotic drivers for the media that are covering the Tour de France seem to think.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWT8yeHGA0U][youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9ah5cFVfI]Disgraceful. Unbelievably, in both crashes, all three riders got back on their bikes and finished the stages. Talk about tough.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
What is yellow, green, and polka-dot all over?*
Yes, it’s the great and magnificent Philippe Gilbert, champion cyclist of Belgium, and today also of the Tour de France. Bravo on your amazing performance today Monsieur Gilbert.That’s right dear readers, it is July, the month I officially excuse myself from a self-imposed limit of only a couple of hours per week of television (without this limit, I would be able to recite you all the main events and storylines of Dexter, Heroes, The Walking Dead, Lost, and Breaking Bad. I would not, however, have clean laundry, a job, or any muscle fiber beyond what is necessary to click buttons on the remote and carry popcorn from the kitchen to the couch).I estimate I will spend at least sixty-five hours glued to the idiot box this month watching the world’s most amazing (male) athletes perform feats of monumental courage, strength, and athleticism in spectacular France. This does not include the untold extra hours before and after each day's viewage that I will spend reading news about what happened in each stage, why it happened, predictions about what will happen in the following stages, and obsessively reading and sending tweets with the same fanatical compulsion my dog has when vacuuming up rabbit pellets whenever he thinks we’re not looking. Whatever. I watch the Tour for inspiration, which is a requirement for a healthy soul. And because I have ridiculous bike envy.There are two kinds of people in the world: those who give a flying boomerang at a running kangaroo about the Tour, and those who don’t. I’m quite certain I’ve already lost those who don’t. So, for the remaining readers of today’s post, don’t worry. I’m not going to bore you with a recap of the first stage, because I know you too were up at 5 a.m. and watched it yourself. Instead, I’ll just share a few of my favorite online resources and twitter tags. Oh yeah, it’s gonna be a great tour!!!Wait, do kangaroos run?Anyway.OnlineTo watch it streaming live on the ‘net for $29.95:http://tourdefrance.nbcsports.com/news/Places to watch it live streaming for free:http://www.cyclingfans.com/live_race_coverageThis is a great site out of Boulder. If you love snarky and irreverent, you will love these folks. Also on Twitter and Facebook.http://chamoisnews.com/Good list of this year’s teams:http://www.letour.com/2011/TDF/RIDERS/us/partants.htmlAussie network cycling site:http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/Girls and Cycling:http://fuckyeahgirlsandcycling.tumblr.com/And of course:http://velonews.competitor.com/www.cyclingnews.comwww.velonation.comTwitter Tags#tourdefrance (where I spend most of my waking hours)#tdf#letour#tour#(any team)#(any rider)#cycling#procycling#iamacyclingnut(whew! that’s enough tags for one race)Feel free to give me a shout too @tammysalyer.So friends, I’d love to hear your hopes, predictions, thoughts on Contador and the doping issue, and anything else Tour related. Think Lance will show up for a “cameo” appearance and spend a day hanging with the Radioshack crew? Will Levi amaze or disappoint? Now that Vinokourav is out of Contador’s shadow, how hungry do you think he is for a win? Do Wiggins and Cadel have much of a chance? Oh, the drama! The excitement! The tight spandex!I'll leave you with one of the greatest Tour moments of all time.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr89ku-K2WU]*For those who aren't cycling geeks, yellow, green and polka-dot refer to different colored jerseys competitors win each day for points totals in different categories. The yellow jersey, or Maillot Jaune, is awarded to the racer with the best overall time. The green jersey goes to whoever has the most sprint points. And the polka-dot jersey goes to the racer who has the highest number of points in the mountain climbs.
File Under Masochism
Do you know what's even more awesome than one giant ass cramp? That's right! TWO giant ass cramps, a matching set to be precise. Gluteus Maximi sans blood or oxygen equals Gluteus Graniti. Imagine, if you will, the feeling of a tiny sadist hanging onto your thighs and hammering a red hot icepick directly into your lateral ass cheeks with every step. Sounds fun, right?This is the experience I often have when running on roads, especially if it's more than five miles. Naturally, because I know it's going to happen, I never hesitate to sign up for a "fun" run when time permits. This weekend I happened to be staying at the swankest resort in Colorado Spring, Casa de la Parents, and heard there was a 10 mile race happening in Garden of the Gods. "Self," I said to myself, because that's what I call me. "You haven't run more than a few miles a week in a month or so. This is the perfect opportunity to take in some stellar scenery and give yourself the chance to recall exactly what it feels like to have your legs feel like they're about to be ripped from their sockets. Sweet!"So up I rose at 5:30am to the rolling feeling of nausea that happens when one is out of bed before their body has given them permission, downed a GU (which added an interesting twist to the nausea, but I'll spare you those details), and off my race supporters and I went. It was a perfect day. Perfect. High-40s, sun up, light breeze. Maybe 1500 runners were gathered at Memorial Park in Manitou Springs creating what satellite imagery might first mistake for an explosion at a rainbow-colored spandex factory. One thing that can be said about runners, we are a stylish bunch, and we love our synth fabs (doesn't that sound like a Rotersand song?).Manitou Springs is another one of Colorado's hidden gems. It's like a Deadwood, South Dakota but with happy people (sorry Deadwood, the series HBO made of you has forever tainted my impression). It also seems to be the place people with tattoos gather when the homogeneity of straight-laced Colorado Springs has become too oppressive. Needless to say, I'm right at home there. The race itself turned out to be somewhat of an art run due to this inked population, and instead of chasing jerseys, I spent the morning chasing blobs of blue and black to try and discern whether a particular image was a tiger, a Dead Kennedys album cover, or a rose. This type of event gives the term "chasing the dragon" a whole new meaning.The race was actually going quite wonderfully until a long downhill on mile 8. Pushing down the hill at a 6:20 pace was apparently more than my less-than-enthusiastic glutes were going to tolerate. First the right one seized, and like any good runner, instead of slowing I began the mantra "relax, don't do it, when you wanna clench to it" in my head, hoping it would give up and realize that it's complaints were no match for my indomitable willpower to catch that guy who passed me on the uphill. I was indeed winning this battle, until cheek number two went on red alert. In many ways, this balanced misery is better. You can more easily attain systematic lurching when both your ass cheeks have turned into flesh bombs of agony.
 |
| Hill of Doom |
Still, there's only so far you can stagger before your legs threaten to spill you senselessly to the ground in protest. I veered over for a 30-second stretching session that alleviated the worst of the booty inferno and allowed me to almostsprint into the finish. At one hour and thirty-one minutes, my time wasn't quite what I was hoping, but the whole escapade served to reinforce what I believe has become my most firmly held belief: Roads suck. Trails rule.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Runnin' Down A Dream
 |
| At the start line |
This weekend marked both my and Jer's first official half marathon. Although I've run 13+ miles before, I never "got the t-shirt," and when a friend from here in Colorado told me about the Gemini Desert Rats Trailrunning Festival in Fruita, Colorado, I figured it was time.Have I mentioned that Colorado has spoiled me? There is absolutely no shortage of natural features here in which to totally destroy yourself in the pursuit of an endorphin rush. And yeah, we here at the Salyer-Sullenger casa equate suffering with fun. That being said, there still was no suffering in this weekend's race; it was pure fun from mile one. Even the 2000 foot climb on rocks the consistency of jagged dragon's scales brought an element of enjoyment (especially when passing other people). The best part is the half marathon was actually a half marathon plus two miles. And every minute was sweet.If you haven't seen the trails in western Colorado, you're missing out. They are pure bliss. Every mountain biker I know has already discovered this nirvana, but I had yet to experience it. Trail running makes road running seem like self-flagellation--they just don't compare. Both Jer and I are already laying in plans for next year (perhaps a 25 miler instead of the half...).But the real hero of the weekend was our friend who pushed himself through 50 miles of running in twelve hours. We're talking over 8000 feet of elevation change. And 50 miles of running. Witnessing the kind of mental and physical endurance some people have really helps one put into perspective how anything is truly possible if you are determined enough. It's truly inspiring. Did I mention that it was 50 miles of running?Along those same lines, I watched the movie 127 Hours this weekend, another illustration of how indomitable a person's will can be if they want something bad enough. Danny Boyle pulled off yet another intriguing film (and a whole lot better than Slumdog Millionaire, though he still hasn't topped 28 Days Later, in my opinion). In reality, running 50 miles and cutting off your own arm are really about the same thing--wanting to live a full life.So here's to a full life! What are the things that bring you joy and make you feel like you're living up to the potential you were meant for?
 |
| At the finish line |
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
40, 65, Whatever
One of my relatively few flaws (besides my overwhelming humbleness) is my lack of patience. This often manifests in adventures that I intend to be of a certain time/distance/level of hardness, but which turn out to be more than I bargained for. You see, I'd much rather be doing something fun than planning something fun.
This personal challenge came to the forefront yesterday when I decided a moderate afternoon road ride was in order. After a cursory look on Google Earth and a quick estimate of the mileage, I had my route planned. Just a quickie up and down through some windy mountain roads, probably no more than 40 miles. Sixty-five miles and five hours later, I finally dragged my carcass back up the condo's stairs and fell to the ground in rapturous joy at Jer's feet for having already made an extra cheesy pizza. If he had not, there's a strong possibility that I might have eaten my own arm.
I had planned on taking a good leisurely ride documented by lots of pics. But when the two hour mark hit and I still wasn't at the turn that I knew was only within the first 1/4 of the overall route, I realized I'd better pick up the pace or possibly perish (please forgive the alliterative rambling; I just couldn't help it.) Here are the few I managed to take with my trusty iPhone.
 |
| S. St. Vrain Rd. 15 miles of uphill |
 |
| Pre-road rage |
 |
||||
| High country |
The overall profile.
http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/44540009
Not so bad from this perspective. I have to say, I wasn't really suffering as much as this guy looks like he was:
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Viva Las Weekend!
Grrr...it's been a week. Insert as many expletives before the word week as you feel you may need. I'd say there should be at least three, and maybe up to six. First off, my manuscript got rejected. OK, I can deal, and in fact was expecting it, but combined with the mental anxiety I put myself through in relation to my job and other life issues, it was really a bee-yotch to get rejected. The pic to the right here sort of says it all.
The good news is that it's Friday and have almost the entire next week off. I get to focus on finishing up a short story for a zombie anthology I've been putting together, and maybe get some more editing done on my second novel. Should get in a 20 mile run sometime between now and next Friday for the excellent, long lasting endorphin high. And have I mentioned the beauty of ice baths? Oh yes, they are like manna to extremely tired muscles. I used to be too wussy to jump in cold water, but now I crave it the way a fish craves water.
In other news, this website has jumped to the top of my chart today: http://www.webook.com/home. It allows you to upload the first page of anything you're working on and get ranked by thousands of random readers (there's a small fee to get your own work ranked, but you can read and rank what's already there for free to you heart's content!). It's like a feedback engine, and, if your work is really like, it will rise in rankings and potentially garner you a personal audience, possibly even an agent. Awesome! The agent who rejected my manuscript is the one who brought this site to my attention, so, suffice it to say, it wasn't a total loss.
Tomorrow I'm having a short little scifi story I wrote critiqued by my local writing group, aka http://www.meetup.com/Boulderwriters/, who are an awesome assembly of local wordophiles. My nerves will be tested, my palms will be sweaty, my smile may be strained, but I'm really excited, nonetheless.
Now it's time to kick back, relax, and enjoy a nice mind-candy action film: the Losers. Does anyone else enjoy the works of Idris Elba as much as I?
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Why I Don't (Dare) Mountain Bike
As proof of my inability to move at speed without damage, I offer these photos from a trail run last weekend. Still picking dirt out of my hand and the bruises are beginning to turn yellow.
 |
| The shirt may be ruined. |
 |
| Elbows make an excellent sliding surface. |
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Imogene Training Plan
Here is what the next several weeks look like for Jer and I in terms of training up to the Imogene Pass run. Looks kinda scary and kinda exciting when I visualize it in this way. We'll probably swap out a few of the 10+ runs for slightly shorter trail runs, but overall, this is what the plan is.
Here's an image of the route I created in Google Earth. It may not be 100% accurate, but it's pretty close.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
BolderBoulder 10K Results
The BolderBoulder was hands down the best 10K I've been part of, in terms of the overall mood of the crowd, the events taking place all around, and the course. This year, this race may be the biggest foot race in the US in terms of entrants, and I've heard, the 5th largest in the world. Once they have all the finishers, they'll know for sure. How cool is that? Over 50,000 people were out there running! Waves left the start about every 4 minutes for approximately two hours. It ended at a big stadium (Folsom Stadium), and the majority of the participants stayed after their race for the Memorial Day celebration events. The pros ran last, and what a sight to see. The women's winner may have set a course record at 29 minutes and change. The Kenyans and Ethiopians have truly amazing running teams. After the pros, they had a set of skydivers jumping with flags for all four military branches and the US flag, then a 21 gun salute, honoring a couple of WWII vets who were present (two gents who survived the Battle of the Bulge, and one of the is the man who started Leanin' Tree cards), the usual patriotic songs, and a F-14 flyover from the Colorado (I think) National Guard. Pretty dang cool.I've run maybe 1/2 a dozen "official" 10Ks and a handful of 5ks, mostly in Eugene and North Carolina, so it was a new experience to do it at altitude. Given that we've lived here for a little over a month now, I have to say I really didn't notice it. The weather was perfect, about 65 degrees, and the course was windy with a bit of rolling hills. Because of the hills, mostly, this wasn't my personal record at 51:29, but not too bad either. Here're my overall stats.
- overall place: 5974
- division: F35
- division place:56 out of 631
- gender place:1367 out of 26011
- mile 1:0:08:31.77
- mile 2:0:08:21.92
- mile 3:0:08:36.57
- mile 4: 0:08:10.65
- mile 5: 0:07:59.00
- mile 6: 0:08:04.40
- net time: 0:51:29.57
- pace: 8:18 (based on net tim
- 5,974, out of 53,000 plus runners? I'll take it. 56th out of 631 in my division? Sure! 1,367th out of 26,011 females? Pretty cool. Looks like the Imogene Pass training is paying off. I'm thinking it's a good thing I didn't grab one of those Miller High Lifes some of the spectators were handing out at mile 4 or I would have been yacking up the last hill. I didn't push as hard as I wanted to thanks to the fact that I've been drinking water with Nuun tablets and they are really not agreeing with me. Going to have to find some other electrolyte replacement method.
- Now for a nap.Then some serious vegging on some Memorial Day movies. Something with explosions seems appropriate.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Lyons Kayak Park and the Locals
Enjoyed my first paddle here in sunny, summery Colorado (actually, I've been down the Gunnison that runs into Grand Junction once years ago on a raft, but that doesn't really count). I forgot to take my camera, as usual. About 20 miles north of Boulder is the small, yet surprisingly thriving on this Memorial Day weekend, community of Lyons, Colorado. It's a cute little town that reminds me of a lower elevation Deadwood without the distinction of being the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickock. Rolling through town is the lovely meandering S. St. Vrain river, what, in Oregon terms, would be known as a creek. It's high water right now, and with the creeking season here in Colorado being about four weeks long, it was the time to get up there. The section called a "kayak park" is really just a 1/4 mile section near a town park that has about four features on it that are mildly interesting. There was one excellent glassy wave that you could literally front surf on until the water drains from the creek, but it wasn't much for cartwheeling or doing anything that requires pop. Still, a terrific spot for just getting in the water and relaxing. The other features were all pourovers in the vein of the small stuff on Oregon's N. Umpqua, below Pinball rapid, or the Lower North Fork of the Middle Fork Willamette. There's a nicer pourover with enough of an off-width to create a wave about a 1/2 below the end of the kayak park, which appears to be where the locals really go.We were passed by a posse of C-1ers while we played at the upper glassy wave, and caught up with them down at the good wave at the end. They were all a bunch of happy-go-lucky man-child types who consider class 5 in an open boat a fun day on the river. Super nice people. They even let me shuttle with them AND gave me the passenger seat when they headed back to the put in (about four miles upstream of the kayak park) so I wouldn't have to stuff myself in the back with six other smelly, wet gents, dropping me at my truck. Something tells me they rarely see a girl on the river, probably their insistence on getting my number so they could invite me on some future trips. All good, all good.The exciting part of the day was the fact that some picnickers found a dead man on the banks of the river at the take out a few hours earlier. The C-1ers were there when the paramedics and cops came. Fortunately, they removed the corpse before we came down. I'm not sure that's the kind of scenery I look for when I'm on the river. Besides the dead man, I was somewhat disheartened by the general presence of human rubbish (the trash kind, not the body kind) that filled some of the bigger eddies. Kinda sad to see, and doesn't do a lot for making me feel comfortable when I get that unexpected mouthful during a particularly rough window shade. Ce sera, I guess.On another note, I submitted another short story, in the horror genre, for publication to Pseudopod today. Tomorrow is the BolderBoulder 10K run. Wish me luck on both.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Road Ride
Had a great road ride yesterday with Mr. Universally Talented. Winds were gusting up to 30mph, but it was in the mid-80s and, WTF, we're on the Front Range. If we can't handle a little wind we may as well go back to Oregon, right? We did about 26 miles with 1700ft elevation gain. That may not sound like much, but 1200ft were in the span of about 4 miles, so it felt like ALOT! I was just grateful not to have another viewing of the breakfast burrito I had eaten earlier in the morning. The great thing about this part of the mountains is that the wind is always blowing from the west, and sometimes also from the south. So, as long as you start your ride heading into the mountains and end it heading towards the flats, you'll have a kickass tailwind. Which we did. We managed a span of about 8 miles doing between 30-35 mph. It was suh-weet!