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!;)