though the list of things i loathe is short...it does exist

at the top we have managerial accounting. will this ever end? i mean, will this ever end with my sanity and self-confidence intact?

in other news, more lozano butts spotted. this one of my dad at a big loop rodeo near silverton, oregon. the man throws a pretty loop.

Superweek Races 1-3

also titled: "my aegis is bombproof but my skin is not"
superweek race #1. lame lame lame but in a good part of chicago (blue island) and a great neighborhood. i got 13th in a sprint finish. some girl decided to ride into my front wheel while i was minding my own business at the front of the pack (sound familiar?). in my groundward trajectory, i had to use the girl next to me like a garbage-can lid on a sledding hill. i think she got the worst of it. my aegis was just fine (needed some adjustments by jose the sram genie in the pit), and my injuries look much much worse than they feel. cases in point (sorry that my naked hiney is in one, but there was no other way to illustrate the fact that my left hip looks like a supernova):

superweek race #2. fun crit in bensenville, near o'hare. different course than last year. i decided with 19 laps to go that this pack riding was lame and went solo for about 6 laps. i was joined by a very very nice girl named ambre from florida, and we tried to make the race interesting. in the end, it was brought back and i sprinted to a shameful 17th place.
superweek race #3. one of my favorites. alpine valley near east troy, wisconsin. an 80k (such lame shortness!) circuit race with a few punchy hills. much much fun! i helped kelly benjamin win the field sprint last year for 2nd. this year i was only helping myself. after doing my part to shatter the field on the repeated climbs, i ended up 7th in a bunch finish. very very fun race. i will definitely do it again every chance i get!
and here is bear. my favorite host dog. we stayed in a chic suburb of chicago (barrington hills) with a very very nice family (cathy and bill bishop). they rocked. bear was freakin awesome. see? he loves me.

Back in the Midwest sans brakes

and doing some track racing. what fun! i got 2nd in the scratch race, blew the win-n-out, and won the points race. making some cash was cool, too! and i got to see my u.va buddies saul and michele yeaton! they are in minneapolis for the summer while saul interns at target. which begs the question: do target employees get a discount on the already-low $1-spot prices? just curious...me, making it look good. check out my cool (borrowed) giordana bike.

next up: 3 superweek races in illinois and wisconsin. the primes will be dairy products and sausages. i am now a sprinter.

In addition to nice white pumps, a girl should not live without the following:

1. doughnuts before an accounting exam. here i am explaining that the maple bar, apple fritter, and "chocolate feather boa" are all pour moi.

2. world-famous burgers at 2 a.m. while wearing heels.3. a hero on the basketball court. i got to ride with this guy on tuesday morning. he was the ultimate 6th man. in my college ball-playing days, detty's name was often brought up as an example of classy perfection. i had many a moment of near-falling-off-bike adoration during my ride on account of the greatness pedaling beside me.

4. really cute and sweet bike racer boys who need to be adopted and fed cookies and dinner when at all possible. lang (on the left) is one such kid. he is funny, smart, cute, fast, and a helluva catch. he will kill me when he finds his photo on my blog (lang, send me another one), but hey, i'm just lookin out for my homeboy.

5. a quote to live by from a favorite author:

“Every single one of us at birth is given an emotional acre all our own. You get one, your awful Uncle Phil gets one, I get one, Tricia Nixon gets one, everyone gets one. And as long as you don’t hurt anyone, you really get to do with your acre as you please. You can plant fruit trees o flowers or alphabetized rows of vegetables, or nothing at all. If you want you acre to look like a giant garage sale, or an auto-wrecking yard, that’s what you get to do with it. there’s a fence around your acre, though, with a gate, and if people keep coming onto your land and sliming it or trying to get you to do what they think is right, you get to ask them to leave. And they have to go, because this is your acre.”
-Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

The best $50 ever spent

forget the little black dress. never underestimate the power of white pumps. thank you, bcbg.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

oh, and happy birthday, america!

(for those of you who think i would do something as lame as post pictures of myself on my blog every day: notice the american flag on the barn behind me. i love this country!)

My Aegis is perfect

or, rather, any bicycle is perfect. i was reminded of this fact after a mega-stressful day. a day during which i sobbed on the phone not only to my parents but to two of my best friends. the misery knew no bounds...all because of m-fing accounting 117. i am developing a loathing for the class.

so i escaped around 6, and headed out for 3 hours of bliss on my bike. i rode up hill after hill after hill, seeing nary a car (8 total). i rode past willow lake and whiskey springs, up fish lake road to highway 140. then i turned around and kept the throttle on. the sun was setting, my wattage was kickin, my heart rate telling me it's ready to tear it up during july. i was listening to ray lamontagne on the shuffle (thanks, kat, for introducing me to his music), and as "jolene" wound down, i sat up in the night air, feeling the moon rise at my back, and let the wind take me home. look mom, no worries and no hands.

this place (southern oregon) is so magical. so serene. so unspoiled. i am saddened by its economic strife. by the limited opportunities for its native sons to carve out a living among its hills. by the paving over of its fertile soil to make way for another parking lot to hold the throngs flocking to the big box low-price leader.

but rather than just bitch and moan, i think we can do something about it. something small...yet every little bit helps. stay tuned...

yet another illustration of the beauty of my home state: the scene below is looking off the deck of our house, after an evening rainstorm. magnifique, no?

peace