What a bunch of hotties! ;)

We had our super cute/silly/slightly inappropriate (words that ironically describe our team shenanigans as a whole!) team pics taken about a month ago and we had a blast doing it (if you can't tell just by looking!;) Here it is, PCIM photoshoot...our craziness caught on film!

This one is actually my favorite...even though it looks like I'm totally checking out Kelsey...okay okay I was!;)

Not sure whose hand that is up in the middle...or what it was planning on doing!

There is just something painfully awkward about posing for pictures is spandex...

The awkward spandex pose gets even better when helmets and glasses are added!

"One of these things is not like the other...one of these things just doesn't belong!" (I'll give you a hint it starts with a T - ends in a ayler and slightly resembles a GIANT!! )

Thats a little better...Ruby made the shot!:)

Yay Northwave...allll for the sponsors!

Yes, we were in fact told to "flex" our calf muscles...Nisie and PB couldn't help but checkout the definish'...afterall PB was the sexy calf contest runner up!! I on the other hand lost in the first round! ;)

Ummmm...me and Kelsey are quite close! ;) "Salmon!!"

Awwweee PB! :)

I freakin love this girl!! Kooreman makes me laugh so hard I about pee my pants every time I see her!

Alisha the rockstar!! I'm hoping a little bit of her awesomeness will rub off on me!

Jillian our little junior rockstar!

Jillians little sister Jenna...future champ!

Ummmm...

Unfortunately KK didn't send us her individual pic or Nisie's!!:( However I saved the very best for last!!

THE FLYING V FORMATION!!

Yes that did actually happen!!!! What are team pics without the flying V!! Haha this was Kooreman's idea (couldn't have guessed that!!), as you could see we were supposed to have our serious "hard core" faces on...hah I obviously found that impossible!! I'm not sure how they all kept straight faces while posing, hair done, in spandex, in a V formation for goodness sake!! All things hilarious! I heard rumors that team Skullcandy is picking up the fly V formation at their next team photoshoot! I think the Tease might have to fight off "Sir falls a lot" for the top spot at the point of the V...

Like I said, we are silly and inappropriate (tee hehe) at times...but I wouldn't want it any other way!! I love my team, they have all become my very best friends!:)

14 days is a long long time...

14 days is a long time no matter how I look at it, seeing as I tend to be a here and now kind of person! So 14 days off of the bike is just pure torture! In August I decided to get a cycling coach because I have some rather large dreams that go along with my bike and I was pretty sure that following them could no longer involve the statement, "meh I'll just ride another hour easy today...recovery!" So I went through September with an actual day to day training plan, I was loving it...like my good friend/teammate/pro triathlete Kelsey Kooreman would say..."Hooray for super-fitness!!" However the party ended late September when my coach dropped two HUGE bombs!! Bomb #1: (and I quote) "I would prefer that you NOT do cyclocross this year because of risk of injury (this may have been good advice since one of matt's friends went down over a barrier this weekend at a cross race and broke his collar bone in 3 places...ouch!!) and more importantly so you can build a larger aerobic base." What....no cross...no more 45 minute pain cave, dirty, bloody, barrier hoping, lung exploding, muddy hill running, endo after endo, adrenaline driven races!! Sad Sad Sadness!! The first race was this weekend, I went out to cheer for Matty Matt and the Tease! It happened to be on my favorite course...I was a bit bummed I wasn't racing but it was still a blast to watch!

Matt gettin paid by Sly Fox!

The Tease gettin paid...or just showing some leg!;)

Barrier action!

Matt's winning pose!! :)

Bomb #2: Not long after I was informed that cross was no longer a winter option, good ole coach Corey informed me that after the Harvest Moon crit I had to take a two week break. TWO WEEKS...with NO cycling! In an attempt to maintain sanity I emailed him to ask if I could run...the thought of going back to my trail running roots made me a little excited. The dream was crushed when I was told that the first week had to be complete rest, no running, no weights, NOTHING!! Sheesh! I realize I probably sound nuts, I admit I am a little bit on the crazy side but cycling makes me happy, it is what I look forward to the very most in a day...14 days without it was going to be a long road.


I lasted 5 whole days before I broke the "first week do nothing" rule and went trail running up Millcreek Canyon. I couldn't stand it anymore...mainly because I tend to eat a lot (and I mean A LOT) of food and I was doing absolutely nothing to burn any of it besides sit on my butt in class and at work! So the day after the first mountain snow of the year I headed up Millcreek Canyon to one of my old favorite trail running routes: Desolation trail!


I started slow just a lite jog, however after the first 500 meters I was already huffing, puffing, and coming to a very obvious realization...Just because you can ride a bike for hours, does not mean you can run well...or even a little bit well...or really at all...Haha! Last summer all I did was trail run and I loved it!! I used to run up that trail, back down, and then back up again!! I am a bit stubborn and at first I was determined to run the trail without stopping...however five minutes in when I thought my lungs were gonna explode I decided to just slow down...ten minutes after that when I realized I could probably walk faster than I was "jogging" (you know the "jog" where you are basically going at the pace of a slow walk but moving your arms like you are jogging...not quite sure who I was trying to fool with that!) I decided that stopping every so often would be the only way I'd make it...I'll admit the ego was a little bruised! However all of that stop and go made for some great photos!








Of course during my off weeks, Matt and his family had to make the most ridiculously good food!! Last night at Matt's parents we ate green chile burgers, chile relleno, and the best enchiladas you can imagine. Then Matt and I went home to make Z bread for friends/family and of course ended up eating an entire loaf ourselves!! Sheesh do we have any will-power at all...the easy answer is Heck NO we don't! Working out or not, I will never complain about getting to eat delicious food like that!! (Unfortunately I only have one stolen pic of the green chile burger!;) I honestly can't describe in words how GOOD this burger is...and I mean G-O-O-D!!!!! The recipe must be shared and tried so click here! And make it, you wont regret it, you'll prob eat two, or three...I'd eat 4 it's really that good!!


Another dose of yummy/fattening foods came this week in my culinary chemistry class! We made 4 different kinds of bread: French, Focaccia, banana, and soda bread! I love bread!! Especially Focaccia...who wouldn't like bread that is made with massive amount of olive oil!! Lets just say I ate half the pan in class, along with half my french bread, two pieces of banana bread, and a small sliver of soda bread (Only a small sliver because I didn't like it! Which is rare!) Yep Oink and Oink are the only two words that could describe me that day!!



I'm on day 9 now...just 5 more to go! The good news is I am actually allowed to cross train this week (minus today which is still supposed to be an OFF day. What I am taking a day off from I'm not quite sure!) The rest of the week I get to do stability exercises and cross training of some kind, then it is back on the bike! Pheeewwww!

Hurt Locker #2 (Lotoja 09!)

Obviously my blog has been getting a bit neglected since school started...priorities are no fun at all! However, I also realized that my blogs usually end up being ridiculously long with me rambling on and on...sometimes my OCD and attention to detail gets the best of me! So from here on out I'm testing out my new method of short & sweet blogs (Most likely I will still tend to be overly picture happy), which I am pledging here and now to keep updated!:) So here is the first of my short and sweet attempts:

Lotoja 2009!

After the previous hurt locker (followed by the 1000 suckers/tramatize me for life race) my excitement about riding 206 miles had decreased slightly. However I was really excited about the trip in general because of the super awesome support crew I had coming along with me! I wish I could even begin to explain how much thought and effort my Mom had put into getting me, as well as the support crew, prepared for this 206 miles of fun...she had done everything, including months and months of blog stalking, in order to find out what I should eat, wear, medication I should take...not to mention discovering a few dozen lotoja horror stories of blacking out or getting hypothermia (the year of the infamous snotoja!) All that is just to say that my Mom is amazing! The rest of my support crew consisted of my incredible aunt Susan who lives in Idaho, and my super cute sister Lindsey who was the official driver/lotoja photographer! They even went so far as to make matching "Team Tayler" shirts, I loved it! Unfortunately they wouldn't let me take a picture of the three of them wearing them so here is what I've got:

My Mom practiced the mussette hand off technique for weeks...just kidding but that is just how good she is! ;)

Packing up the pockets!

This picture was taken to prove that my Mom does in fact have a "crafty" gene in here...even if it is a small one!:)

Screenin Up!:)

My aunt totally free-handed the lotoja trademark biker...thats talent!

Thanks for pushin my bike along aunt Sue!

The race started early (as all ridiculously long ones do) but I was thankful that it was not nearly as cold as it was at the start of Tour de Park City. It went along like all long races do...pace line pace line pace line...stop to pee...pace line pace line. That is until we reached the Montpelier feed zone. I stopped for 30 seconds at most, I had to stop because it was a left handed feed zone and my bike handling skills are equivilent to that of a small child! Cute little #3 from the Tease family has skills far superior to mine with tricks like one handed riding and no feet, that is just pure craziness!;) Sometime in that 30 seconds a group of 5 or 6 girls took off and were nowhere to be found, until the QOM climb where I caught all but 1...the girl who ended up winning.

The scene of the crime...30 seconds is a long time in a bike race...I guess

Matty Matt riding through the feed zone!

The race from the top of the climb on was a little bit of everything...me TT'ing on my own doing everything I could to try and catch the girl ahead (but never even coming close to seeing her), working with a group of 3, then a group of 5, then a group of 6...randomly girls kept getting back on, usually admitting they had been working with guys or paced back on by a relative (I thought it was really admirable of them to tell the group how they got back on, rather than hide it, I was really impressed). Something happened to my knee around mile 80 or 90 and I had shooting pain for miles until tears took over and I asked Jamie for Ibuprofin (Did I mention how much I cried during this race...hah I'm ridiculous!) This was honestly a life saver, I was thinking of stopping so I wouldn't do anymore damage but the meds kicked in and I felt ten time better...Thank you SO much Jamie!! 206 miles was more mentally draining for me than physically and I have never been so happy to see a 5K marker! We sprinted out the finish, most of us with the pure motivation just to get it over with and get off the bloody bike! I was so happy to see my support crew at the end. They had a few mishaps along the road, by no fault of there own, and I had missed seeing there happy smiling faces, but having them there at the finish meant the world to me!

SO happy to be done!:)

Thanks Mom!:)

We got to stay at a really nice hotel in Jackson (a beautiful town!) with nice soft beds, which I fell into as quickly as possible after the race and dinner...only to be woken up the pleasent sound of BANG BANG BANG..."get out of the building!!" (at 12:30 AM I might add) The parking lot in front of the hotel was quickly packed with a large number of exhausted cyclists and two bus loads of older folks on some kind of tour. For being such a small and extremely popular town it sure took the fireman a good long time to arrive...all to find that some awesome individual had decided to build a campfire in their room! It made for an interesting adventure but I sure was happy to get back in bed!

Don't mind the deer in the headlights look!

Thanks Tease for taking the podium pics, and thanks to the Sepulveda family for getting some good shots of the finish!:) And a big thanks to the Parry family for setting up all of the reservations!:)

One last thing (I promise:), Support Crew: I really want you to know how happy I was to have you all there with me! I know it may not have gone exactly as you planned, and that there was a lot of stress and running here and there along the way, but having you there to support me meant the world to me! Thank you for all that you guys put into this!! I love you! :)

Okay, so maybe I'm not so good at the short and sweet blog method....I'll work on it!;)

The Hurt Locker!!

Tour de Park City was the weekend before last and all I can really say is my goodness that was painful!! I learned what it really means to be in the hurt locker! Don't get me wrong, I love to ride my bike, it's my Passion. However, when you get to mile 80 and realize not only that you are not half way, but worse that you haven't even hit the climbs yet...you pretty much just want to do this... However, I waited till I crossed the line to get off...and instead of throwing my bike, I leaned over it and cried a little! Seth was there to capture that painfully satisfying moment!

The race start was set for 6:30 am, of course a painfully long race has to begin painfully early! They combined the Pro 1-2-3 women with the Cat 4's and Masters 35+ so our field ended up being pretty big. I was freezing (teeth chattering and all) for the first hour and a half! I found myself looking forward to hills or inclines of any kind just to get my heart rate up in the attempt to warm up a little! It warmed up once we hit the chalk creek route and just kept warming up. This is a slight problem when your bike handling skills are slim to none and you have arm warmers on...as you can see above they stayed on till the finish (saved me from sun burned arms, but left me with a lovely mid-glove-sleeve tan line on each arm:) ). The race got a bit interesting around the second or third feed zone. As a group we had decided to ride by, grab the musette bags, and keep riding a mile or so down the road, then stop to pee in Wyoming where we were less likely to get in trouble for a mass road side pee. Unlike the men, we can't pee right off our bikes (while still in motion), and when we stop to pee it doesn't just look like we are facing the other way enjoying the scenery...it is an epic scene probably described by passers by as nothing short of a mass mooning! So that was the plan, however as we passed the feed zone and continued down the road I noticed that all of the ski utah girls were missing! I pulled to the side of the field asking each girl if they'd seen where the ski utah girls went...not one person in a group of about 25 had seen where they disappeared to. At that point I was MAD, attacking at a feed zone is pretty messed up, however I know the ski utah girls fairly well now and they are all very nice and very respectful riders who I didn't think would ever do that...needless to say I was confused! So I started riding like I was chasing, at one point we got to a spot in the road where you could see about a mile ahead and a mile behind and they were nowhere to be seen!! Either they TT'ed like crazy and were way ahead or something went very wrong and they were way behind!! The confusion continued. At the next feedzone I asked if any of the volunteers had seen any ski utah girls...I continued this at the next couple feed zones and no one had seen them so once I hit mile 100 I figured they had to be behind us. Then I felt bad because I wasn't sure what had happened to them, and I was afraid they would think we left them on purpose.

Right after the Ski Utah disappearance...which explains my grumpy face!

Ohhh there they are...couple miles behind us. After the race they told me they flatted and that the people at the feed zones kept telling them we were asking about them. So we were racing like we were chasing...and they were actually chasing...lots of confusion, sorry about that Ski Utah! :)

Anyway back to the racing...we got to our first climb somewhere around mile 100, my booty was already on fire and I was thinking holy crap 70 more miles, with two climbs thrown in...again this scene came to mind. Once we were climbing we got moving at a pretty good pace and whittled the field down to three, Inge, Stephanie, and I. The first climb is the reverse of the high uintah road race so we went over the other side of bald mountain.

Pain face!

When we got to the feed zone at the top of Bald Mountain I was beyond happy...until I realized we still had 50 miles and one more climb, ouch!! We did get to descend for awhile and I was so tired I threw my usual caution to the wind and didn't even touch the brakes! (That's right Tease...NO brakes!!;) ) It felt like descent, flat, descent, flat, descent, flat, forever until we reached Kamas. I had a little bit of false excitement because we only had 15 more miles to go...then we rounded a corner onto the highway and saw the ten mile climb we had ahead. Half way up the climb it levels out and tricks you into thinking you are done, until you go another mile and realize there is still more climbing to go. At this point Stephanie and I had dropped Inge on the first climb by standing and accelerating, so we were pretty pooped when we saw that final climb...she spoke for both of us when she saw it saying, "OH F*$@!!" With four letter words running through our heads and out our mouths we reached the top and enjoyed a small descent to the frontage road. This I will call the frontage road from HELL because I swear it never ended! I had 163 miles on my computer when we hit the frontage road, so I was just thinking 7 miles, I can do just 7 more miles. But 7 painful miles came and went and we were still going!! Apparently the race is really 172.6 miles. I thought that last 2.6 miles was gonna kill me. We finally reached the parking lot where the finish was, a flagger pointed us right and then there were two tight turns. I wanted so badly just to be done so I cut hard on those turns and sprinted with everything I had left (which wasn't much) and crossed the line. I remember thinking, "All I want to do is get off my bike and cry" the entire time we were climbing out of Kamas...so that's exactly what I did! Tears of pure and painful excitement! My Mom, Ernie, and cute Sister were all there to cheer me on...and to pick me up off the ground once I sat down and couldn't stand back up!;) Thank for being there guys, and thanks to ernie for toting my bike around while I sat there dazed and extremely confused for about an hour and a half! We had a brief scuffle with the always ornery as hell officials who claimed me and Stephanie tied...um excuse me I wouldn't call a 20-30 yard gap a tie (which we had on camera...but they wouldn't even look at it because that is not "official" haha) They ended up fixing it after a little back and forth, it kind of takes the excitement out of taking 1st when you have to fight with the officials to prove that you actually did. Poor Matt flatted twice in his race and ended up having to ride 100 miles all alone, I can't even imagine!! All in all it was a pretty incredible experience, I've never wanted to get off my bike more in my life, but I've never been so glad that I didn't. Thanks for all the support Mom, Ernie, Sister, and Matt, I love you all!! :)

Races, Ranches, and the Best Birthday EVER! :)

So I got a bit behind on my blogging (I've actual had to do work at work lately...what's up with that?) so the blog I posted a few days ago was from my vacation about a month ago and this blog is catching up on the fun events for the rest of JULY, my favorite month of the year!:) There are several reasons it's my favorite: #1 I love love love summer and July is smack dab in the middle. #2 I have always loved the 4th and the 24th of July...I still love fireworks as much as I did when I was just little! #3 During K-12 it was the only month where you did not have to go to school even one day, in college June is like that too, so June has moved up on my list of favorites! And last but not least #4 My Birthday!:) This year I had one of the greatest birthdays I have ever had thanks to Coach Matt, his incredible family and friends, and my incredible family and friends!:) But before I can chat about that I gotta recap on the last few races!:)

Porcupine Hill Climb: Hill climb? What hill climb?? As hard as I have tried to shove that one from my memory bank and forget it ever happened...it really did happen. All I can really say is I felt like I was riding up a mountain with a 500 lb backpack on. I was pooped right from the get go, no joke, first three pedal strokes and I knew it was going to be a long climb...zero energy, terrible finish. I think I ate a little too much on vacation and definitely did not ride/climb enough. Like I said...Hill climb? What Hill climb?

Capitol Reef Stage Race: Here is where the fun starts! The stage race was over Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th with the time trial and circuit race on Friday and the road race Saturday.

Matt and I had planned to do the race and then head to his brothers ranch (just 1 hour or so from where we were racing) to stay for a few days with his Fam! When I registered for the

race I noticed there were only 3 other Pro 1-2-3 women...not exactly the best field so I was crossing my fingers that more girls would register...at this point I was still needing my Cat 2 upgrade points so I could go to U23 Nationals (turns out I got my upgrade but couldn't afford the trip :( I'm still pretty bummed). We planned to head out Thursday afternoon but by the time we got all our errands done it was midnight and we still had a 3 hour drive. We were both exhausted so most of the drive is a blur for me, but I was so terrified Matt would fall asleep at the wheel (killing us and our 6 bikes on top of the car!) that I just stayed up randomly talking (even singing at one point...I figured that'd keep him up for sure!) and just bugging Matt to death, all in the attempt to keep us both awake! We finally got to Torrey Utah around 3:00 am, unpacked the car, and were sleeping by 3:30, and up again to TT at 6:30...not the best race strategy ever, but we ended up okay!:) Our field size stayed at a whopping 4 girls...and then actually dropped to 3 when one of the girls decided to race with the Cat 3 men...bummer for us! When we got to the TT I saw the girls in my field and was even more excited when I noticed that one of them was a pro on the Specialized womens team. So our field was 3 in size including one pro. My upgrade points were looking slim to none but I was still pretty excited to race because I love stage races and it was beautiful there! My TT didn't start off so well, I did what I think every cyclist does at least once and MISSED my start time! Not by enough for them to completely skip me but just enough for me to have an extra 10 seconds added to my time. I was happy to at least keep the pro in my sights the whole time, and even happier that she beat me by only 13 seconds (if I hadn't missed my start it would have only been 3 seconds hah I'm a dummy!) The rest of the race went pretty much the same (they ended up mixing us with the Cat 4 and Masters women so we weren't so lonely), she sprinted early on the circuit race and beat me by a couple seconds, and in the road race I sticked with her in the sprint but she beat me by half a wheel at the line! Three 2nd place finishes and a 2nd place overall GC in a field of 3 doesn't feel all that great but I still had fun!:)

Matt and Seth look thrilled huh! :)

Dinner at "The Patio"...8 or so kids, 6 hungry cyclist, and two very patient wives...Our waitress pretty much hated us!

Then it was time to head to Triggers ranch! :) (I may have stolen some pics from The Tease's blog...Thanks Tease, I'll repay you somehow...maybe I'll even let you taunt me up another mountain bike trail sometime!;) )

Courtesy of The Tease's blog...Trigger and Regi don't have many neighbors!:)

We headed to the ranch late Saturday afternoon with Seth, Megan, and their cute kids and stayed until Tuesday. As Matt says, in those few days I had a whole lot of FIRSTS!!

First #1: I met Matt's brother Adam (aka Trigger) for the first time. This was also the first time I have ever met a true working cowboy!:) Him and his wife Angie (aka Regi) are hilarious, they were so much fun! Like the rest of the Bradley family they have two of the most adorable little kids EVER! (I'm not sure what the Bradley secret is but all of the kids in that family are ridiculous cute...if you need proof visit The Tease's blog...or any of his other brother's families blogs for that matter!) Cassman is a little cowboy (well when I asked him if he was a little cowboy he said NO I'm a BIG cowboy!!:) So cute!!) and he spends the majority of his time running around in nothing but his cowboy boots or cowboying it up with his Dad! Their daughter Remmy is about 1 years old and she is adorable! Her and baby Georgia had a few battles over the weekend...not sure the world is big enough for two babies that cute!

Trigger the next country music star...seriously he's good!

Regi with Seth and Megan's kidlets

Cassman, the BIG cowboy! :)

First #2: Learned to drive a stick shift for the first time...and drove the 3.5 hour drive home in it...with 6 bikes on top of it...no pressure at all really!

My terror face!

Driving the Sa-UU-ve mobile for the first time...with my entire life on top!

First #3: Witnessed my first "Bug Battle Royale!" Red ants are MEAN!!

On the other side of that fence is a giant red ant hill that Trigger was intentionally stirring up (to make the ants even more mad of course!) and dumping other innocent bugs into the death chamber! No matter the size of the bug, the red ants always won (with Trigger on their team ripping the legs off of the competitors of course!;) )

Yep, even scorpions have a hard time defending themselves against the red ants!

First #4: Rode a horse for the first time! I'm not gonna lie I was terrified at first, but loved it!!

Cowboy Matt and I :)

7 hours in the saddle with Trigger, cowboy Matt, Daly the dog, and a hole bunch of cows...Good times! :)

First #5: Herded cattle for the first time! With the help of Trigger, Cowboy Matt (don't let Matt's city vibes fool you, he is a damn good cowboy!:) ), and Daly the dog! That dog is amazing!

"Go cows, go....ummm that way" Gotta work on my cowboy lingo!

First #6: Castrated a calf...yep you heard right, I cut the balls right out of it! Again with the help of Trigger and Cowboy Matt!;)

This scene is very similar to my calf castrating experience, however add me kneeling on the calfs neck...then getting scared by the Mom and running away, leaving Trigger and Cowboy Matt to deal with the squirming calf...then coming back to "fray the balls off" as Trigger said. The rubber band method is for sissies!

First #7: Ate Kipper snacks...kind of! ;) I had the brilliant technique of draining the water slash accidently dumping them on the ground...Tee HeHe!:)

Whoops! :)

You know they're nasty when a dog wont even eat them!

Till Trigger made her...then she actually liked them!

And had lots of other fun adventures!:)

I'd like to see you make the simple act of eating a chip that dang cute!!

Kiddies on the horses!

The drive from the Baker ranch to their home was gorgeous!

So I have to say that I have the very best friends and family I could ever ask for. My birthday this year was really great and I can't say thank you enough for everything everyone did for me. My birthday surprises actually started on Thursday when Matt pulled up to the house to pick me up with a shinny new mountain bike on his car! I thought he must be taking it somewhere to someone on one of his errands so I said, "Hey Matt, what's that on top of the car?" he responded with, "What? I don't know what you are talking about?" I continued to question him and he continued to act silly until he finally said, "bike, plus birthday, equals...." then he just looked at me and smiled!! I was in a little bit of shock, HE GOT ME A BIKE! For my Birthday!!!! That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me and I still don't feel like I've thanked him enough!! I love it!! We named her Flossie (Well my Mom did with the help of my aunt Sue! hehe) So she joins the family of Ruby, Stella, Pinky, and recently named CX bike Roxy!:) Yes, I now have 5 bikes (one of which is for sell...sorry pinky!) and I'm loving every minute of it!!:)

Meet Flossie!:)

Like I stated in previous Adventures...Me on a mountain bike usually turns into this...Me walking the mountain bike! Me and Flossie have a lot of work to do! :)

My actual birthday was on Monday, which was also the day that I rode a horse, herded cattle, castrated a calf, and kinda ate kipper snacks for the very first time!! Who wouldn't want to be a cowgirl for a day on their birthday?!?! I spent 7 hours riding around with Trigger and Cowboy Matt, herding cattle and just loving it!! Best birthday ever!! Trigger and Regi even made me a pineapple upside down birthday cake!:) I own the Bradley family a huge THANK YOU for a great birthday!:)

Mmmmm....cake! :)

A few days after we got back Cait invited Matt, Leti, and I over to her cute new house for dinner. She made some delicious ravioli and the best salad I have ever eaten! We even had artichokes (or art-tee-chokes as Cait says :) ) for an appetizer! So yummy!! Leti brought a cake for my birthday and they got me some really thoughtful presents (one of which was a pile of different chocolate bars, what girl doesn't want pounds of chocolate for their birthday!!:) ). They are the two sweetest girls I have ever met, I'm not sure I even deserve such great friends but I am sure glad to have them in my life now!! Thanks Cait and Leti, you guys are amazing!! :)

Getting fooled by a trick candle!! :)

Then it was time for the family fun!! First we had a little BBQ with my Dad's side of the fam. My sister made this ridiculously delicious raspberry cheesecake!! She is quite the little chef (totally makes up for my complete lack of cooking abilities!:) ) Thanks for the cake sister, you're the best!!

Tasted even better than it looked!

Then we had a little party by my sisters pool with my Mom's side of the fam! My Mom and sister worked away in the kitchen chefing up some delicious shish-kabobs! Good work on the grill Ernie, they were DANG good!! And again my sister made a delicious red velvet cake, which I ate a giant piece of...and then ate half the ice cream carton myself!;) My step brother Cody, step sister Megan, and her boyfriend CJ came, along with my Grampy and Granny! It was good times!

Sheesh...you know you are getting old when you cake looks like a small bon fire!!

Thanks for everything everyone, I love you all times ten!!:)

Good times in McCall! :)

When you tell someone you are going on vacation, the obvious question that follows is, "where to?" Responding with an enthusiastic, "McCall Idaho!" tends to get the response of a puzzled and somewhat confused, "ohhh," first of all because many people have never heard of McCall and second because most people envision sandy ocean beaches, private islands, and hott scuba instructors (okay maybe that's just me;) ) when they hear the word vacation, none of which come to mind when hearing your destination is Idaho. However, McCall Idaho blows all those stereotypes and assumptions to pieces, it is a BLAST!! What could be better than having a cabin right on a beautiful lake with your entire family, boating/wake boarding/tubing/and just relaxing in the sun for a week straight, eating great food, and riding your bike in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! Its hard to really explain how much fun it is, so I'll use pictures! :) (Sorry this is gonna be a bit of a long post...what am I saying all my post are long!:)

The Cabin! :) We stayed at a different cabin this year than we have in the past (this was our 4th or 5th family McCall trip :) ) and it was good times! :)

Our compound...justtttt kiddding these were the GIANT cabins next to us!

This was our super cute cabin!:) Slept all 20 or so of us!

Payette Lake!:)

The McCall Family Olympics 2009! :)

Category #1 the high jump!

Category #2 The Dive! (My Mom got extra points for her graceful preparatory pose!:) )

But who needs extra points with a dive like that!! WINNER!! :)

Category #3 Chair diving!! A McCall Classic!! :)

Cody's technique was more of a tip-over than a dive!

Category #4 Tricky Tricks! Ernie won with this beautiful cartwheel into the water!

Category #5 Cannonball contest!

He may way a lot less then his Dad but DANG that boy can make a huge splash!!

Father-Son synchronized front flips!!

Wake Boarding!! :) On none other than the pink force!!

Yep...the water was pretty dang cold!!

Ernie's got his game face on!

Cody has a pretty dang fast learning curve, passed me up in just a matter of days...and on my pink board!! ;)

Ouch!! We both had our fair share of whip-outs...I may have hit the water so hard one time that I revisited breakfast!

Tubin it up!! :)

Cody showin off his skilllz!!

These two are the dare devils of the family! ;)

Ouch, Rylee looks a bit dazed and confused!;)

Believe it or not that is my Mom and Steve out there on that tube...I was so proud!!!! My Mom NEVER gets in the water but she was livin it up this trip!! :)

Steve got dumped after getting a little over confidant with a "no hands look at me" maneuver!

Yep just like that!! Easily done when the boat isn't moving!;)

I love this picture, My Mom is just lovin it...Steve looks a bit nervous!

Kayak time!!

Ernie and Cody back from their ride

Me and Mom showing the boys how it is really done! :)

Yep, we are just that good!

Game time! :)

Every other year I have been the poker champ...this year not so much! ;)

Pictionary with the fam was hilarious!

Grandma: "I'm going to draw a little...rock."

My cute little granny had trouble not talking about what she was drawing, when she said she was going to draw a little rock, she literally meant that her card said LITTLE ROCK on it! I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard! In this picture she is drawing a UFO, something she was very nervous about drawing, and as you can see, she couldn't help but tell us about it!:) Haha I love her!

Girlies a Golfin!! :) The guys were there too but we made sure to steer clear of men in golf mode! Since the men in my family tend to like golfing, and like men of all families get a little bit too into it, us girlies knew that going in our own silly/goofy/playing just for the laughs of it group would be the best idea!:)

Mel and Sue in the cart...my Mom turned out to be a much more aggressive driver than Mel! ;)

My Mom Teeing off...wow what form! :)

Sports involving hand-eye coordination always make it shockingly clear why I stick to pedaling a bike!

Nice drive Mel!

Sue showing us how it is done! :)

"Where'd it go, did you see where it went....Found it!" Not a common theme at all, we're pro!

Here is where the aggressive driver part comes in! My Mom loved to drive the cart full speed (a whopping ten miles an hour if you're lucky!) up to the next tees and slam on the breaks! Haha it made a fabulous sound and even left some skid marks!! The aggression got a little out of hand on the last hole when we were driving around picking up our stray golf balls (we played Best Ball so we used the best shot and picked up the others) I was leaning out of the cart grabbing the balls off the ground, but I missed the very last one. Without consultation of any kind my Mom cranked the wheel of the cart throwing me out of the cart and into a very defensive tuck and role!! I have the grass stain on my shorts to prove it!! This just so happened to be on the hole right next to the club house where people sit out side and eat...we were spreading the laughter I'm sure. Most people probably thought we were intoxicated, I mean golfing is a serious sport right, who intentionally throws their own daughter out of a moving golf cart during such a solemn event...Sher Swensen sure does!! We laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants!!

Bike Rides!! :) The thing I love almost the very most about this vacation is the fact that I get to bring my bike along with me! There is no such thing as a bad route anywhere around there, I went on a few different routes, even ended up on dirt once, and still every ride was amazingly beautiful!! I was loving it!

How could you not love riding right next to a beautiful lake!!

Yeah so I'm not so good at the whole self portrait slash get the pretty background in technique of picture taking, this was my best effort! haha

Miscellaneous Family fun!:)

My Grampy's signature pose! Illustrates why we call him Big Dan!:)

Ernie Face!! :)

Camstar the fish!! :)

Camstar was the first one in the lake the night we got there, I was loving it!! He made the trip ten times more fun!

The famous McCall ice cream spot, it was delicious!! :)

Heck yeah we invited John Lennon!

Sue, Mom, and my silly sister!:)

Uncle Steve never goes anywhere without his "first aid kit" Natty Light in a zip lock is the cure all, haven't you heard?

My proudest Mommy daughter moment EVER!! This was the first time in my 20 years of life that I had ever seen my Mom JUMP into cold water!! I was in shock, and very proud!! :)

Family Photo-shoot Gehrke style!! ;) Our family is not big on formal group shots, so we mix it up a bit! No make up necessary, wear whatever you want, and pose however you want! Although we did attempt to do one good one for Granny...attempt being the key word!

The Attempt! Don't we look happy! ;)

My Fam Damily! Yep posing normal and smiling normal was not an option! :)

My Cute Mom and Cute Aunties!

Granny and Grampy! Love them!

Our final Hoorah on the 4th of July!

How sweet is that...BBQ right to you on the lake!

Cruising around on the pontoon!

Watching my grampy dance to the oldies on the radio! He gets a little nervous on our regular boats (I think Ernie scared the you-know-what right out of him last time we were up in McCall by cranking it up to a whopping 30 or 35 mph!;) Tee hehe) so cruising around on a pontoon that creeps along at about the speed Big Dan drives is a highlight for him!!

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, riding out on the boat at night to watch the fireworks go off over the lake!! So much fun!:)

Good times at McCall always come to an end WAY too fast! I'm crossing my fingers that we get to go again!:)

High Uintas...Brrrr!

This weekend was the High Uintas stage race and it was super chilly!! I was pretty excited for this race because I love stage races, and the road race stage went 80 miles from Kamas to Evanston and had a pretty good climb (which for some odd reason I like!:) ) There was some pretty dark clouds hovering over Kamas at the start line and I was really hoping the rain would hold off #1 Because it would be freezing, and #2 Because there was a very steep and very long descent after the climb and going 45+ miles an hour (or in Tiff P's case 60 mph, she is a ridiculously fast descender!!) down a hill on my bike is scary enough without adding water! (Pretend you didn't read that Mom, I never go over 20 mph on my bike I swear!;) ) The first 15-20 miles of the races was pretty mellow with just a few minor rollers. We even decided as a group to stop for a pee break, which I'm sure the passers by thought was hilarious, 11 girls squatting (completely out in the open by the way) on the side of the road, had to have been an interesting site! I'm just waiting to see our booties posted online somewhere, you never quite know where the L'Autobus is lurking. We hit the Provo river falls where the big climb began and Brianne from Ski Utah immediately attacked taking Carmen (a international pro female cyclist on Colaveta, she was talking on the rollers about how she has been racing in Europe lately...not intimidating at all!) and Tiff Pezzulo (she is from Utah but mainly does NRC races) with her. I took off after them, the Colaveta girl climbing like a maniac dropping Tiff and Brianne fairly quickly. I passed Brianne and Tiff and was trying to bridge up to the Colaveta girl. I looked behind and noticed most of the group had dropped back except Lori, Alison, and Tiff hanging on to the back. Lori told me to slow up because if I dropped them I'd have a 40 mile descent to ride all alone, I struggled with what to do because I really wanted to catch Colaveta but that'd be taking a big risk because if I didn't catch her I could burn out before the top of the climb and then be alone for 40 miles or if I did she'd probably drop me on the descent anyway and I'd be back where I was with the chase group. So I did what Lori told me to and sat up a bit. We dropped Tiff at one of the feed zones but I knew that wasn't the last time we'd see her, she was an incredible descender, and by incredible I mean FAST as hell!! My Mom and Ernie were there to support me at the feed zones, they did a fabulous job getting me food and water and braved the coldness!:) After we hit the last feed zone there was a little more climbing and then the steep descent (that I was dreading just a tiny bit, I know I'm a little backwards but I would so much rather go up a mountain than down one!;) I'm getting better though, baby steps!) Lori was the best descender out of the 3 of us so she led us out and my goal was just to stick on her wheel no matter how scared I was, fast fast fast! I was a little nervous because the roads were a little wet from the on and off rain showers. I can't imagine how scared I'd be if I was racing in the down pour that poor Matt's group got stuck in! I was just waiting for Tiff P to come cruising past us and sure enough at the end of the steepest descent there she was! She sped by us going at least 10 mph faster (I'm totally not exaggerating), she was going so fast none of us could even think of catching her wheel, and before we knew it she was completely out of site (seemed like a matter of seconds really, yeah she is fast!) From then on I was focused on getting third, I knew Colaveta was long gone and that Tiff would be hard to catch even if we worked together because she was so fast on the descent. The last twenty miles were a little brutal but we were lucky enough to get a killer tail wind (which I hear never happens!) and the rain held out until we had just 5 miles to go. Our group of three came down to a rainy and very wet sprint and I took third with Tiff and Colaveta girl in 1st and 2nd (Thanks for standing in the rain to cheer me at the line Mom and Ernie!:) ) Poor Matt's race didn't go so well, it started raining hard on them early in the race and he suffered through it all the way up and over the climb before it was too much to handle. There were tons of people with hypothermia and most of his field had to pull out because of the conditions, bummer!:( I'm glad he was hypothermia free though! :) I stayed in Evanston with teammate Chantel and her husband Aaron because the Time Trial and Crit were in Evanston the next day. We had the cyclist Lasagna special at one of the local restaurants, good times! ;)

We woke up bright and early for the time trial. The officials screwed up my finishing time for the road race so I ended up having to go off very first in the time trial (they usually order it backwards so if you took first place in the race the day before you go very last in the time trial) I should have gone third to last but instead had to go first which is a bummer. I like to be able to see the people in front of me because it gives me motivation to catch them!:) My start time was 7:48, and it was rainy and freezing!! The time trial started off a bit rough because when we got there we realized Aaron and Chantel's timing chips were still on there road bikes back at the hotel so Aaron had to leave super fast to grab those before their start. I had left my TT helmut in Aaron's car and was terrified he wouldn't get back before my start. Matt came and set up my trainer so I could warm up under the tent (thanks coach:) ). Then there was a strange sting of random craziness all up until 30 seconds before my start time. When I was warming up my bike fell of the trainer, scratching my disc wheel a bit, I ran down get my TT helmet from Aaron when I saw him pull up and barely caught him before he drove away, put my bike down to grab the helmet and noticed that my front tire was flat (with 2 minutes to go before my start time! S@&%!!) I booked it back up the muddy road to grab an extra wheel from Matt, thank goodness he has so many, ran back down, put it on, and ran up to the start line just as they were calling my name. I got clipped in and ready to go as they held up my bike, then I dropped my bike computer while they were doing the 30 second count down!! Lets just say my adrenaline was REALLY pumping as I finally got clipped in again and set as they counted down 5-4-3-2-1 GO! Heading out there was a big nasty headwind and I was feeling a little slow but I knew that going out was the hard part and that I would be able to recover coming back so I pretty much went out with everything I had! I got to the turn around and was happy that I couldn't even see the girls that started after anywhere in sight! Going back was fabulous, mostly downhill, tailwind, and the thought that it was more than half over, all good things!:) Matt's start time was 8:07 so he passed me going out and said "Go, go, go!" :) I finished and ran back to the car to change because I was in a soaking wet full body skin suit, not only is that unflattering but dang cold!! The bad thing about time trials is that you never quite know how you did until you see the results, which usually takes a few hours! We went to check them out a bit later after going back to the hotel, eating some waffles, and getting warm! I took 3rd once again, which I was thrilled with because the Pro Colaveta girl took first with Tiff 2nd (who is pretty known for her excellent TT skills!) and then me!:) Matt took 2nd!!:) Only 3 tiny seconds from first place (I blame those three seconds on the helmet, he accidentally left his TT helmet home!)

Another highlight of the TT was getting to show off Matt and I's new BFF necklaces! Yep that's right, heart shaped necklaces with the words BEST and FRIEND engraved right in! We just wanted to put the minds of ever tried and true L'Autobus follower at ease. We are working on finding a three way necklace, possibly involving the word FOREVER to be given to Clinger, the third member of our infamous triangle! I'll keep you posted! ;)

I've got the BEST, Matt's got the FRIEND :)

The crits were scheduled for later that afternoon however there was some iffy stuff going on. Since the weather had been so crazy they decided that only the road race and TT would count for the overall GC and that the crit would just be for kicks, and wouldn't happen at all if the roads were even a tiny bit wet. All this confusion sent about half girls from out field home, so it looked like our crit would consist of Chantel, Me, Colaveta girl, Tiff, and Lori! We scrambled a bit trying to figure out if it was gonna rain or not, then suited up at the last minute and headed to the start line, where we were SO happy to see that 2 Ski Utah girls that had made a U-turn on the freeway to come back and race!:) The crit was 8 laps with a bit of a climb each lap. The pro Colaveta girl attacked quick with me and Tiff quickly getting on her wheel. I think she expected Tiff to stick with her but not me and she wasn't too happy about it! I stuck with them in their break for about 2 laps but my severe lack of cornering skills was creating some big gaps for me to close. Colaveta was taking advantage of this because she had seen how poorly I corned before she attacked and was now drilling it into the corners to drop me, which worked!:( I was a little frustrated because I felt like I could have stuck with them if I was better at cornering, that is something that I need LOTS of practice with! Once they dropped me I sat up to catch back on to the main group and road with them till the end which was a group sprint with me and teammate Chantel coming across the line together 3rd and 4th!:)

PCIM! :)

Matt had some fun in his crit and came across the line with his arms raised, unfortunately my camera is slow and snapped the pic right as he took them down! Darn! ;)

Matt and teammate Dave leading the pack!

After the races they have there usual beer and pizza awards party, which also involves a sexy calf contest! Chan and I volunteered to be female judges for the men's category. We narrowed it down to the final two: Dave Harward and Ali Goulet. After an encore involving Dave "stripping" and Ali pouring beer on his calf we declared Ali the winner #1 because he poured beer on his calf and #2 he's got a baby, $50 can buy a lot of diapers!;)

Ali's first flex!

The winning strategy!

Then it was time for the girls!! Lori literally dragged Chantel and I up there, which was humiliating on so many levels for me: I have terrible calf muscles, and am SO dang shy, especially in front of crowds, so standing up in front of a room full of people, flexing my non existent calf muscles was nothing short of terrifying! Chan and Lori were the crowd favorites, however Lori stacked the judges with her husband (2nd place runner up in the men's category and wanna be stripper) Dave Harward, so she pulled out the win over Teamie Chantel!

Lori workin the judges!

Chantel is almost as shy as me!

The final decision!

Chan was robbed! ;)

Then it was award time. Sadly Colaveta girl and Tiff left early so I had to stand on the podium alone, but I'd rather be up there alone than not at all so I was pretty happy!:)

Even though it was super cold it was a great race and a really fun weekend!:)

PS: Sorry about the long blogs, I'll learn how to shorten them sooner or later! ;)