Ford-Basis with two Top 5's, and a top Ten Finish!

Chrissy Ruiter took 5th place in the Road Race and 4th place in the Criterium at the Valley of the Sun stage race. These strong finishes held her in 8th place overall... check out the results and photos here.

Looks like a great year ahead for the Ford-Basis Women! :o)

Ford-Basis 8th at Valley of the Sun Time Trial

Chrissy Ruiter of Ford-Basis rolled over the wet pavement in Arizona yesterday afternoon at a blistering pace to finish 8th on the stage. See full results here.

Way to go Chrissy!

NC State Girls

I helped out Shannon Goff, the president of the NC State Women's Cycling team, with a practice criterium and time trialing session last night in centennial campus. It turned out great... the girls are all very new to cycling, but they are so enthusiastic and willing to learn that I know they are headed for a successful season!

We worked on cornering quickly through turns, and this was particularly helpful because we were riding on the race course for the NC State Collegiate Race Weekend the girls will be hosting in a few weeks. There's a few tricky turns on this course, and the more comfortable the girls get with these turns, the better, as it will give them a huge advantage over the other teams. They can take the fastest and safest line while saving energy... now that's the kind of riding I like!

Next, we worked on team time trialing. The girls split up into groups and we worked on a rotating paceline, so they could become familiar with how to pull off and then tuck back in during a team time trial race.

To wrap things up, we held a practice criterium race. 20 laps, all out, attack attack attack! I am pleased to say that these girls are ready and willing to race HARD... I like that kind of racing. None of the girls quit trying the whole time, and I was impressed by how strong they all are.

I look forward to continuing to work with such a great program. Shannon does an amazing job working with these girls. It's so hard to coordinate meetings and rides because everyone has classes, group work, home work, ect... the normal college things... and I just know they are going to have a great season this year. I look forward to watching them progress and dominate the ACCC!

A Weekend of Epic Riding

It's taken me a while to actually sit down and think about the rides I did this past weekend while visiting my parents in the foothills of North Carolina. I did two amazing rides- one with my friend, Deb Elliot, on Saturday, and the other solo in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains.

Saturday's ride was an enjoyable one... I always love riding with Deb. We have lots to talk about and she's great company, so the ride goes by fast. We set out to do the Brushy Mountain loop, which covers 80 miles of rolling to hilly terrain. There were a couple factors that made this ride epic. First of all, we thought it was going to be a 70 mile loop... so the last 10 miles were a bonus I guess you could say. ;o) And the second was the WIND. It was so windy that day... it ended up being a 5 hour blow-me-down ride. I had fun, none-the-less, and had a very satisfying dinner at Outback with my husband and my parents.

Sunday's ride is one I will never forget. Forecast: 37 degrees and raining. It's one of those rides that I look back and think about how stubborn I was to leave the house when the weather was that bad. And if you're not from North Carolina, or if you've never been to the Boone area, then you wouldn't understand just how crazy it was for me to go out and ride in that mess. (well, maybe you do, b/c it's pretty crazy to ride in that weather anywhere)

In the North Carolina mountains we get a lot of ice, slush, and some snow mixed in there a time or two. Sunday I was greeted with sleet three hours into my already soggy, COLD ride. Needless to say, when my leg warmers started freezing to my legs, the sleet was peircing my cheeks and I was so cold that I about started crying, I decided it was time to bobble home. (umm, b/c I could barely move at this point)

I managed to get off my bike and get into the house, but I was quite worried about getting in the shower. First of all, my hands were so froze that I couldn't really move them. It was hard for me to turn the doorknob to get into the house, so I didn't think I could undress myself to get in the shower. It took me a while to unzip my jacket and then peel off all my layers, but I eventually (after a lot of pain) got into the shower. The steam in the shower alone sent my hands in to a shock of pain. I cried uncontrollably in the shower for at least 10 minutes, and sobbing subsided thereafter. My hands hurt so bad that I didn't even realize that my toes were all blue, until I looked down and saw them in the shower.

After a really loooong, hot shower, I warmed up more with some hot tea and then my husband took me to a nice, cozy dinner at my favorite restaurant in Boone, Pepper's.

I'm happy that the weather this week has been much warmer in Holly Springs... it's been close to 70 degrees the past couple days! :o) Makes me really, really happy.

Hope all is well, 'til next time...

Our First Married Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Dinner - We made Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Lemon Sauted Asparagus. It was yummy!
And we had cookies for desert (each of us bought a big heart shaped cookie for the other, so we had two big ones to share!)

Headin to the Mountains

Hello,

Today I'm heading back to my parents' house in Drexel, NC. Joe and I are going to spend the weekend there, which we always enjoy. I love going home to see my parents, and I also get to see my good friend, Deb Elliot, manager of the DeFeet Women's Cycling Team.

I have a lot of climbing hours to log this weekend, and Deb has offered to accompany me on Saturday's ride... very nice of her to do!

I'm also looking forward to going to Magic Cycles in Boone to pick up my husband's old mountain bike. I dropped it off there before our wedding in October to have it revitalized and have never made it back up there to get it. hmmm... wonder what the storage fee will be on that one? ;o) haha

Welp, time to ride then hit the road!

Cara's Blog

This is my friend Cara's Blog... I love reading about all her antics!

Mmmm - Super Bowl!!!

Joe and I had some friends over for the Superbowl at our house. It was really funny b/c I realized coming home from my bike ride that evening that I didn't even know who was playing!! I quickly had to ask my friend Diana to fill me in, and between the two of us we figured out who was playing before we rolled up to the house. Whew! That was a close call. ;o)

Joe and I made tons of good food for our guests, as you can see from the picture. Everything was so good! Our friends all went home with plates full of goodies. :o) We sure know how to eat...

Now who won again??

Wild City- Chuck Meek's Blog

wild city

This is Chuck's Blog... a friend and cyclist in the Raleigh area.

TT Bike

This is our cool time trial bike

A Snowy Team Camp

Ford-Basis held a training camp in Ruidoso, New Mexico in early February. We had a great time, and the mountains were beautiful.