Dan, this one's for YOU!

Some of Lance's Tour Jerseys at the LIVESTRONG Foundation.

It's funny how busy I became once the mountain bike race season ended. I immediately jumped into training for cross, getting equipment ordered and dialed, working on sponsorship for next year, and packing my bags for the east coast. (A huge, special thanks to Nate (of course), to Peaked Sports and to Giant for helping me pull it all together!) Loading up the car with 5 bikes, husband, dog and provisions for the next 2.5 months after a night of being violently ill with food poisoning was a bit intense.

Let me back up and tell a few other tales.

A few weeks ago I got a call inviting me to travel with a few of my Kenda/Tomac teammates to Austin, TX to meet with some potential sponsors for 2010. We also had the chance to tour the Lance Armstrong Foundation's new building and let me tell ya...If I worked there I would probably still be happily working in the nonprofit world. They have no sick days, no vacation time, no office hours, no separate offices. Totally Lance's style: get your S*$t done, take time off when you need it and no questions asked. Totally rad working environment, plus the building is 100% LEED certified. We also visited his new bike shop, Mellow Johnny's, in downtown Austin. Super cool space for sure. In addition to an impressive collection of bikes (both new and vintage), it also has showers, lockers and free bike storage for anyone who commutes by bike into downtown Austin.
Funny story about this photo. I had just taken my seat on the plane to Austin and a nice gentleman passed to me a copy of a new magazine "Women's Cycling." He said "You looked like a cyclist. Enjoy " and quickly took his seat. I guess I can't hide the size of my quads, even in nice dress pants. Anyway, I read the entire magazine, was about to put it away into the back of the seat in front of me when I caught a glimpse of the back cover and there is a picture of ME on it! Small world. I tracked the guy down in the baggage claim area, told him that I was on the back cover of his magazine and we had a good laugh at the coincidence. He then told me he was on his way to a party for the magazine's opening at the Mellow Johnny's shop. Of course we had to go to that one!

So, check the magazine out. Carson Blume is a very talented photographer and cycling enthusiast. He has a great vision and has put together a beautiful publication : Women's Cycling Magazine.

The next part of the trip was incredibly surreal: a much shorter version of a very long story...I went mountain biking with George W. Bush on his ranch in Crawford, TX! Andy, Colin and I and and our team manager got a special invite to go up to Crawford and go on one of the most epic group rides I have ever been on. Why so epic? It rained 8 inches in the total 2 days before we got there so the conditions were gnarly, but then again even without the rain, riding for 3 hours with secret service tailing you in tricked out 4 wheelers and stopping for viewpoints in which the President tells you about "the time I brought Putin here" or "I also brought Tony Blair to this spot" was pretting flippin' rad.

Regardless of my political affiliation, riding with an ex-president was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. I had the opportunity to ride and speak with the President at length and found him to be an extremely gracious and nice man who was very proud of his ranch and all of the good work they have been doing out there. Oh yeah and he HAMMERS. Seriously, he gets after it on a bike and is pretty darn fit. He also has an incredible network of trails built on his property. He was nice enough to tour us around for hours and hours in really sloppy conditions telling story after story about the ranch, Cindy Sheehan and putting his secret service detail through the ringer. I could tell SO many stories about that day...if you want to hear them, I'll need your social security #, your credit history....kidding. Just kidding. Let's share a beer after the next cross race and I'll tell you the tales.

However, my favorite quote of the day had to have been when I overheard a Secret Service guy talking into his secret little radio saying "I can no longer cover the President. I am cramping."

Me, Mrs. Bush and Barney

I am working on getting some other photos of the team and me with Mr. President and will get those up when I can. It was SO muddy I couldn't ride with my iPhone. Here's a post ride shot one of the 2-wheeled Air Force One:

I know I say this all the time, but I promise to post more in the next few weeks. I have a 3 week break from school and have lots of exciting cross racing coming up. I have moved to the east coast until Thanksgiving to live the cross dream! I grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts and my parents still live here. So, I have moved the operation to New England for the fall so I can hit 2 UCI cross races every weekend within an hour or two from my parent's house. Unfortunately, even with the coolest race on the planet, Moose Cross down the street from my home in Idaho, there just isn't a competitive local cross scene for the ladies. So, instead flying every weekend with 2 bikes ($175 per bike EACH WAY) to get to a competitive UCI race, I have moved my show to the east coast to race on a budget. Mom's cooking, Crane's beach, free dog sitting for when I travel and all my childhood friends to hang out with doesn't hurt either :)