Life in Fast Forward

Oh, hello there. I guess it's time for another update! Since I last wrote:

Cross Season I had a fabulous time racing cyclocross last fall. I still say this is the most fun you can have on a bike. I ended up third in the overall, and won my first race. Nothing like having a plan and executing!

  Suffering at APU.

On my way to the win on a cold evening at Kincaid.
Taiwan In February, I decided to head to Asia for Chinese New Year. I got to meet my nephew, Zachary, and just relax for 10 days in warm weather. We ate lots of delicious food, traveled to Tainan, and played many games of crazy eights. It was a great trip. too bad there is not still a direct flight from Anchorage to Taipei.

  Being Aunt Laura.

  With Andrew, Maggie, and Zachary.
Ski Racing I missed out on a few of the Anchorage Cups this year; however, I did do the Hickok in the rain, and another bitter cold Pias. Both were great fun! Then the tour produced some sparklingly fast times, and I'll take my 2:36 PR, yes I will. The Oosik was another brilliant Talkeetna day, that included several hours of cranking the double-pole, crashing on the Kanady's couch (again), and drinking at the Fairview. A weekend not to be missed!


  Touring Anchorage.

  Another Beautiful Oosik Day in Talkeetna.
California A small miracle occurred allowing my group of high school girlfriends to all come together in Sonoma for a long weekend at the end of April. It was great to bike, drink wine, enjoy 90 degree temperatures, play on the beach, and laugh, a lot. On the way down I also spent a lovely and relaxing couple of days in Vancouver and Washougal with the family.

  In our Best Bridesmaids Outfits with Kelly, the Bride-to-Be.

  Lovely Ladies Cruising Wine Country.
Graduation I wrapped up my degree this term and got my hood as a master of the universe. I am glad to be done. That is an understatement.

  My Cohort in Counselor Education: Jessica and Elaine.
Triathlons This year I decided that if one triathlon was fun, maybe two would be better! The first of the season was the Gold Nugget, where I managed to sneak in to third. The weather was bitter cold, about 32F at the start. Then I came second in the pouring rain at Eagle River. I guess inclement weather suits me.

  Snow on the Ground for the GNT, May 19th.

  Sporting New Duds for Eagle River.

  Where's My Other Glove? Oh, Right, Down My Shirt.
Life with no plans, everything planned? Now what? Good question. I am applying for a few jobs, and keeping my mind open. I'm enjoying friends, training, and family in the meantime. Also, I'm growing a little rooftop garden and still working full time at AMH. Life is busy, and most importantly, life is good. Until next time,

Eight Months in a Nutshell

Wow. I'm behind in my blogging life. Let's do a highlight wrap-up of the last eight months.
1. Tour of Anchorage - The now infamous moosing, resulted in a total restart of the women's race halfway through Spencer, and some really slow overall times. I guess that makes for a good excuse. I was still pleased with my sixth place, and with hanging with the leaders (despite having my pole yanked off by a master blaster at 12k) until almost Westchester.
  Coming off of Spencer Loop early in the race. 2. Oosik - Love this race! The weather was glorious, the trails were amazing, and it's hard to argue about a one lap 50km classic race. I have never been so trashed after a race in my life, but it was a satisfying kind of destroyed. Talkeetna is a great little town as well. I will be doing this race again next year.
  I really am having fun !   49.7km down, almost home, and not a second too soon. 3. School - I have cranked through two terms since I last posted. They were a mixed bag to put it mildly. I had a professor in the spring that I just loved. He was the kind of educator that made me want to get my PhD in education research and work towards improving systems. But before I do that, I think I'll have to figure out the systems in the ASD with my feet on the ground.
4. Bike Racing - I have been doing a smattering of races, when my school and work schedule allows. I got a Niner Air9 this year, and I love mountain biking! I have a ways to go in terms of my technical riding, but it's a blast. In addition to quite a bit of mountain racing, I raced one triathlon (more on the schedule for next summer), several road races, and soon it will be cross season.
  Finishing the Gold Nugget Triathlon, 21st place this year   Cranking away in the Fireweed.    This mountain biking business is dirty. 5. Dimond - I started my practicum and internship at Dimond High School two weeks ago. Right now I'm in the stage where I don't know what the heck I'm doing, but I'm so happy to finally be working and seeing what it is all about.
6. Sailing - I got the opportunity to do a couple of trips in the last few weeks, and they have helped to just rejuvenate my spirit. I know that smacks of hippy mumbo-jumbo, but sometimes you just need the wide open space of the water and the fresh air. We spent a long weekend with Aunt Patti and Leslie, getting in a little fishing, beach walking, sun, torrential rain, and some farkeling. Then I got to help Randy and Judy break in their new Catalina 36, Xena, which had to have been one of the most glorious weekends of the year. We tandemed a bit with my parents on Raven, who had jettisoned me from their boat, as it was full of Biczyskos & Johnsons (seven people and princess Nellie = a full boat). Last week Dad and I took a mid-week jaunt to Seward. The two days were perfectly sunny, and the wind was always at our back everywhere we went.
  Whale blubber, Xena, and Raven at Sunny Cove.   Randy grilling at Bulldog-- it doesn't get much better than this!   Hiking to the overlook to Eldorado Narrows at Halibut Cove on Fox Island.   A perfect day.    I'm the captain now!!! 7. Zachary - Last, but certainly not least, I became an Aunt on June 21st. Zachary Chen Gardner was born to Maggie and Andrew in Taipei, weighing in at a whopping 9.0 lbs. He's wonderfully healthy and has a full head of black hair that tends to stand straight up. I can't wait to meet him.
  Look at all that hair ! Cutest nephew ever.

The Apartment

At the point when I realized it was going to be the next Tour of Anchorage (of the skiing variety) before I got around to posting again, I figured I had better get my act together. This is a pictorial post that I have been meaning to do for quite some time. This highlights the work I did this summer, with the help of my entire family (especially Pops), to get the apartment ready to be livable again.

Living Room Before

Living Room After

More Living Room

Living Room Continued

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Kitchen Continued

My Room Before

My Room After

A Different View of My Room

Spare Bedroom Before

Spare Bedroom After

Spare Bedroom including Washer & Dryer

Tropical Themed Bathroom (you don't even want to see the before...)

Tour of Anchorage

Somehow summer zipped by and school starts again next week. I can't say that I have been up to too terribly much. Andrew came and visited for two weeks. This time was highlighted by hiking Lost Lakes and going on a three day sailing trip. I also forced Dad and Andrew into slave labor in order to help complete the renovation of the AMH apartment. A blog post describing that project with pictures is to follow.

A highlight of August was the biking Tour of Anchorage. Again, bike racing continues to be an experience for me. Racing five times in four days, including three races in 20 hours was challenging as well. However, bike racing, unlike ski racing, is not an all-out all the time kind of event. The group races are cagey and you spend large parts of the race spinning and biding your time.

A short 5 mile time trial prologue on the first night.

Friday night was a 32 mile road race, where I broke away after around 21 miles and then crashed on the final corner, but got up to limp in for the sport win.

Saturday morning we rode up Rabbit Creek from Potter and finished at the Upper Huffman trailhead-- a real lung buster.

Looking fast, but going slowly on Saturday afternoon at the Portage TT.

The final day was an 80 minute (plus a lap) crit on the new MLK boulevard. I won both bonus sprints and the final. I guess it's time to move up to expert!

Back to the Grind

I just finished spending the entire week in intensive classes. Whew, what a week! It was both physically and emotionally draining. We did three solid days of counseling, where we were either the counselors or the clients, and I can say I feel very connected to my classmates. The last two days were spent with a specialist in suicide and eating disorders-- very important, but very tough stuff.

Other than that, I've been bike racing. It really is a huge learning curve. Everything is new and exciting: first time trial, first road race, first hill climb, and so on. I'm realizing how much I don't know, and how much experience I just don't have. It really is refreshing to show up at a race and go as hard as I can and have no real expectations for myself, except to leave it all out there.

The next few weeks should be extraordinarily hectic, as I have to now wrap up a semesters worth of work to close out the summer term. At least there's lots of daylight, as I won't be getting much sleep!

A nice day for a Moose Run time trial.

I also did my first triathlon!

Almost finished, 43rd place.

Freedom to Play

School is over for a few weeks, and I have been able to enjoy a little of my free time (apart from the fact that I haven't moved from the couch today, as I am currently sick). Last weekend I headed up to Puritan Creek with some friends to see if any of us could remember how to climb after a long winter of skiing. Some of us seemed a little less rusty than others, I was definitely one of the "others". The weather started out promising, but deteriorated to hale, rain, and snow with temperatures in the 30s!

Paul photographs Jason as he starts up a 5.9 trad route.

Britta gives a friendly belay.

A view from the base of the crag.

Paul heads towards the 5.10c rope eater roof.