Nationals

We're heading off to nationals in Bend, OR tomorrow morning. Staying in the same condo as my teammate, Casey Braga, is probably going to be pretty entertaining but I'm even more looking forward to the racing. This will be my 4th year going to nationals and I'm really hoping to do well in my category, Junior Women 13-14.
Wish me luck!

Dahlonega Team Weekend

Team Colavita; will the fun times never end? I sure hope not.
Another weekend gone by with our fabulous team, this time in Dahlonega GA to work on our mountain climbing skills. As a true Floridian, my world of cycling pretty much consists of flat and fast so heading into the hills was a big change in terrain. But I was looking forward to it anyways.

The car ride up proved to be another epic one. Both Brandon Forman and Bradley Gordon outright stated that they were going to be in our car, no matter what, making for a very entertaining ride. There are two things that now common knowledge on our team that had the effect of making it so fun. One is that we have been campaigning for what seems almost forever to get Brandon to shave his legs like a normal cyclist. Illustrating the benefits and joys of cutting away that wild forest of hair that men like to cultivate on their legs. And two, it has become widely known the story of what I did to Casey Braga when he fell asleep in the car on the last trip to Dahlonega. Basically, every guy on the team is scared to death of me and my make up kit. So put those two together plus my mom driving and you’ve got yourself a three ring circus on wheels. After thoroughly disassembling our stow-and-go and finding a roll a duck tape, I resorted to trying to use it to pluck off Brandon’s leg hairs like body waxing. Then Brad pulled out his razor and after a bit of coaxing, began shaving his legs for him. Eventually Brandon started doing it himself and managed to get most of one leg de-hair-afied before the blade started to dull. Beginning on the next leg, it took almost an hour to completely finish, by which time there was a substantial pile of fur collected on the carpeting and seats.

Once we finally arrived at the hostel, around five in the afternoon, we waited for everyone else to arrive. My mom planned to meet Tracy and go to dinner in downtown Dahlonega (what there is of it) with them. Unfortunately it wasn’t until they arrived did we find out that they had already eaten dinner on the road. So taking Zoe with us, who needed things from the local Wal-Mart, we headed to Moes. After dinner went to Wally world to do all the shopping we needed for the weekend. My mom spent the time getting things for the pasta dinner Saturday night while Brad and Brandon, and Zoe and I ran around the store in search of other items. Filling up the shopping cart to the brim, we headed back to the hostel to where everyone else had arrived in our absence. That night was a little chaotic for me, trying to figure out where I was suppose to sleep but I ended up sharing a “girls” room with Zoe.

The following morning everyone headed to breakfast and then got kitted up to go ride. Our group left straight from the hostel and headed down the road for about a mile until we got to the three gap fifty loop. I didn’t really want to ride with the group on the first few gaps so I let myself fall back part way up Neels. Keeping my own pace the whole time up, Brandon and Tracy, who had also dropped, stayed in my sight the entire time, and with a little extra work at the top I was able to quickly catch them both. Grabbing a vest from the car before descending, I offered to ride down with Brandon who had never been down a mountain before and was considering riding in the car. Tracy led the way and we were soon at the base of Wolfpen Gap, where everyone else was waiting. We rode up just in time to hear them asking each other where JP and Jay went. I remembered thinking to myself “we’ve done just one gap and you’ve already lost two people!” After a bit of discussion they figured out that the two had probably missed the turn and continued down the mountain. Dean Warren promised to wait at the turn for the follow car that could go and look for them while the rest of us continued on. When I finally reached the top of the second gap, Wolfpen, I was again in sight of Tracy and Brandon. As we descended back into the valley our group was joined by Christian, Anselm and Jay, who had been found along with JP asking directions at the bottom of the mountain. At the end of Wolfpen, we met up with the rest of our group who was filling up on Gatorade and PB&Js in the gas station parking lot. After a little bit of our favorite skills trick we headed off to the final gap, Woody. Rolling through the countryside in a double pace line, I was surprised at the overall feeling of team spirit. I don’t mean that term as cheerleaders and that such, but more as a group of 11 junior riders, all wearing the same jersey and just chatting away as great friends who all love the sport of cycling.

From there we climbed Woody gap and then I enjoyed a fun descent where I tried to see how many people I could catch. Must have been kind of embarrassing for the guys to be passed by me but I still loving doing it anyways. Then it was just a quick climb back to the hostel and time for lunch. A couple of people had shown interest in climbing Brasstown Bald that afternoon so we jumped in the cars to drive over there. I had already done it once before and wasn’t extremely keen on doing it again so I just enjoyed the car ride and cheering for my teammates. Pulling to the side of the road half way up we stopped and encouraged Ian, Dean, Taylor and Christian in their long assent. While waiting at the summit for everyone to arrive, some motorcyclists drove up and told us that Mrs. Teather’s car had gotten stuck on the side of the road. Being with a ton of teenage guys has its advantages, all of whom jumped into my mom’s car as she drove down to help. Zoe and I waited at the top for their return and soon we saw the two vans come up. Once everyone was situated, we walked the final half mile to the observation tower. During this trip we got lucky, there wasn’t as much fog as last time and the view went for miles. It was amazing how much you could see from there, but I was also craving to just see the underside of my eyelids. Knowing there wasn’t an ounce of make up in the car; Ian was the first to nod off on the way back, Brad following shortly thereafter. I wasn’t sure but they tell me that I was out too for some time. Upon our return, the Gerbers announced that they were going for an easy hour and a half spin before dinner. I didn’t want waste myself for the next day so I chose to stay behind and help make dinner instead. I had already declared that I was going to be in charge of the salad, cutting, slicing, and chopping vegetables, with Zoe also there doing the same. Much to our surprise we even got Brad to wash and cut the broccoli and Brandon to stir the meat sauce. My mother was rather amused to see all of us bike racers in the kitchen making dinner without her, and I am very happy to say that nobody died of food poisoning either. After much of the pasta had been devoured there were some attempts at making a fire but the wood was too wet to keep it going for long. A few half melted s’mores were made but most just resorted to the pie and ready whip. Someone had the idea to play man hunt around the hostel for a while. I’ll admit it was pretty fun, though no one ever won and it resulted in a few bloody knees, and ankles. Saturday night I got the pullout couch to sleep on, and much to my delight, was quite comfortable, even with the thought of not being in a locked room and all pranks that could be done to me in my sleep.

The following morning I was awoken by Ashlyn to get up for breakfast. I was one of the early ones down but most of the team followed soon after, which the exception of only two, which I of course delighted in running down stairs to wake up. That day we were riding the rest of the gaps in the 6 gap century loop that we hadn’t done the previous day, Jacks, Unicoi, and Hogpen. Starting out as a group from Booger Hollow, I rode most of the way up Jacks with Tracy and then he, Brandon and I descended together to the base of Unicoi. From previous trips I had chosen this gap as my favorite of the weekend. Setting a steady pace from the beginning I was able to confine myself inside my head and spent most of the climb not entirely conscious of my surroundings and more relaxed. Reaching the top, I refilled my depleted water bottle and headed down Unicoi with Brad. It was almost like a roller coaster, gliding through the sweeping turns. I really felt “in my element,” completely in control the whole time, but exhilarated by the speed. Going through some corners at twice the “suggested” speed limit was great, until a blacked out Crown Victoria pulled up behind me. Oh geez! Well it’s okay; Brad was going even faster through the turns than I am. Eventually though, the car passed us and we made it to the bottom unscathed. There was only one more climb left in the day and in fact I was dreading every minute of it. Hogpen, 7 miles of just pure insanity.

Mile one: Well this isn’t too bad, but I’m going to reserve my energy, so just keep it easy.


Mile two: I’ve still got 5 more miles to go! What on earth was I thinking! But it is only seven miles total…



Mile three: Just got a quick downhill, I can do this… As the road turns upward once again.




Mile four: Well…It’s…Half…Over…





Mile five: I’ve got to stop and take a break. No, I can’t I’ve just got to keep going. But just a quick rest couldn’t hurt. Nope, I can’t get off my bike, going the whole way.


Mile six: Hey there’s my mom on the side of the road cheering for me. Do you think you could run beside me and fill up my bottle with Gatorade? There’s no way I’m putting my foot down now (one mile to go!)


Mile six point five: Where on earth is the top of this evil climb!?!

Mile 7: Whoa, made it to the top. Can I have a PB&J? I’m starving.

I could describe the climb in more words than this but you become one of few thoughts when going up Hogpen and there weren’t many interesting things that happened those seven miles. Descending was great fun though, once I was mildly recovered. Putting on rain jackets to protect from the cold, Jay, Brad and I headed down first. I watched my computer on the decent, waiting for the exact moment when I hit 50 mph. It came quicker than I expected, though I was in control of my speed the whole time. It was just fun to say that I had experienced going that fast on a bike. The entire weekend turned out to be a great experience as well. Perfect weather the entire time. The only time it rained was when we were just a few miles from the car at the end of Sunday’s ride. Thankfully we were still wearing our rain jackets from the descent and stayed dry. I’m really looking forward to another team weekend up in Dahlonega. Maybe not right away (give us time to recover!) but soon.