MissingSaddle » Chole Forsman

A few pics and things.

Chole Forsman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:06:47 +0000

What a great weekend of racing, camping, and driving. Saturday was the High Desert Screamer in Gallup, NM which we followed up with the Mt. Graham Hill Climb near Safford, AZ. The riding in Gallup did not disappoint–30+ miles of singletrack. The following day I broke the Cat 2 record on Mt. Graham and won a hand-painted ceramic pony, plus there were cookies and subs for all the racers afterwards–one of the many things that made the weekend. Even the local press wrote a story on the race. So here’s the U of A mountain bike team and everyone who toughed out almost 1,000 miles of driving over the weekend:

Currently, we’re leading the “A” category points in the SWCCC (that is, the Southwest Collegiate Cycling Conference) which means we are on our way to qualifying our team for Nationals.

Other news? TJ is now back in Tucson and our little guesthouse is overflowing with bikes! We’ve got 2 in the living room, 1 in the bedroom, 2 in the office, 1 in the laundry room, 4+ in the shed, and my commuter in the courtyard. He had a pretty busy extended weekend as well: 1 wedding (Congrats John and Nora!), 2 cyclocross races, 2,000 miles of driving, and a visit with my parents. He also delivered a CD of pictures my Dad took in Canberra–so I’ll post those in a few days with a tardy race recap.

Some more pictures from the weekend:

Go to the Source – choleforsman.missingsaddle.com

A little weekend trip…

Chole Forsman — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:40:34 +0000

Instead of descending on Las Vegas for the Interbike spectacle, I’ve been getting ready for a little weekend trip:

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Point D: 3:00pm Friday departure
Point B: 31 mile MTB Race
Point C: 26 mile hill climb

The Saturday mountain bike race is an important race to qualify the U of A for Collegiate Nats. I’ve also heard rumors that we may encounter some of the worlds finest single track in Gallup. It’s amazing what can be found in some unlikely places. The 26-mile hill climb (AZ State Champs!) is just for fun. Sometimes I wonder why I do this…

Go to the Source – choleforsman.missingsaddle.com

Chole Forsman — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:44:34 +0000

One week ago there was a horrific accident on a Saturday morning group ride in Tucson. A woman drove her car through a pack of ten cyclists, hitting 8 of them. Miraculously, no one was killed. That’s the first question I had when I heard the news. One of the riders is still in the hospital following a surgery to repair a shattered femur, I believe.

What are the consequences when a driver acts recklessly, sending four human beings to the hospital with serious and potentially life-threatening injuries, all of whom were over the age of 50? You get an improper passing citation. All of the riders were in their right, law abiding, and riding on a remote, flat, straight, road at 6:00am. It was light by the time the accident occurred, and they all had blinky lights on their bikes anyway.

I don’t think the driver should be allowed to drive anytime soon, and I hope she thinks about what happened every single time she gets behind the wheel of a car. I hope somebody gives her a bike, a helmet, some road safety lessons, driver’s ed, and a year or two, and then maybe the privilege of driving again.

Her ‘improper passing’ risked 10 human lives and has inflicted life-lasting injuries, and a horrific life-changing experience for all of them. I’m disappointed in the local media for initially not reporting the accident, and then underplaying its severity. I’m disappointed in the ’slap on the wrist’ they handed the driver. But most importantly, everyone survived and I wish them all a thorough recovery.

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MTB World’s, Fall Semester, New ‘Guest’House

Chole Forsman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:42:14 +0000

Tomorrow I start my trek to Australia for the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. With a 4:30am wakeup, a wonderful TJ to drive me to the airport, a bike box that weighs 1.5 pounds over that 50lb allowance, no suitcase but a carry-on, and 2 textbooks tucked inside, I’m ready!

It’s been a whirlwind of a week. My last blog post feels like eons ago. Each year I love the transition from summer to fall as much as I enjoy transitioning from finals week to full-time bike racer. It brings some much needed structure to my life and Tucson during the Monsoons is one of the most beautiful places anywhere. It’s also at this time when I get to juggle starting five classes and preparing for the most important race of my season.

I’ll post a few pictures of the new place. It’s 550 square feet in one of Tucson finest neighborhoods. We only had a couple feet of counter space so TJ and I decided to build a kitchen cart to squeeze between the fridge and the hallway. Well, we discovered such a small construction project is harder than it sounds. It’s been fun battling the mosquitoes and heat out in the courtyard!

If you want the Subaru, make me an offer! Only 200,000+ miles, 2 hubcaps, and body damage all around!

Go to the Source – choleforsman.missingsaddle.com

Race Weekend #4

Chole Forsman — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:25:40 +0000

Four race weekends down, and I seem to improve a bit after each one. Yesterday I finished 9th in the cross-country and finished up the weekend with an 8th in short track. Colt from CyclingDirt.org has put together a good race recap. I’m pleased that I’m riding well enough to make it into the race footage! All-in-all a solid race with no mishaps or crashes. I faded a bit in the last two laps and watched as Amanda Sin caught, and then handily dropped me on the last lap. I’m starting to feel at home riding over roots and through mud puddles but I still prefer dust to mud.

So what’s next? Another race weekend in Windham, NY. In the meantime, I’ll spend the next week in Vermont with Catharine and Zeph and then drive to New York on Thursday. Sorry I still don’t have much in the way of pictures as my camera has been zipped up in my backpack for most the trip. Here’s a picture of ‘the office’ where I update my blog (maybe even this single occasion). I caught Catharine just the moment before she smiled for the picture.

So what do I do between race weekends? I’ve been training Wednesdays and Thursdays, reading before breakfast, eating pancakes, doing recovery rides, restocking the refrigerator, reading, cooking, hunting for wifi, using up my phone minutes talking to TJ, watching movies, and working on getting the UA Cycling Club in business this Fall Semester. I just finished up these couple books and am only updating my blog in the brief lull before the next round of reading:

- The Cycling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities
-The Omnivore’s Dilema: A Natural History of Four Meals

Both books are worth a thorough read, and even the book review by David Byrne.

Take care!

Go to the Source – choleforsman.missingsaddle.com