Go to the Source – choleforsman.missingsaddle.com

Short track was no less frustrating for me. I crashed myself in the second lap, lost and jammed my chain, and wound up dead last. I chased really hard for a number of laps, caught the top-10, and settled into a rhythm. Then Katie Compton lapped me, and I buried myself to move up before I got pulled. But I didn’t get pulled. Despite the fact that there were no more than 12 women on course at that point (the rest getting pulled), the officials messed the results up and had me finishing in 20th. In fact, I finished in 9th place. I’d like to set that record straight.

On a positive note from the race weekend, team Tokyo Joe’s & Co had the best host housing accommodations one could hope for. Huge thanks to the Tanner’s for the cozy house, wonderful meals, and great company. It was also a highlight to have my parents, Miriam, and Nicole come up to the race and make some noise for me.

Euro World Cup #2

Val di Sole was sunny, dusty, and the course had climbs too steep for my gearing and corners too sharp for my big wheels. Well, not quite. It was a hard course, agonizingly short hard climbs followed by shorter steep descents and 180 corners up another wall. I made do with my gearing and big wheels, and maybe went faster on account (I certainly would have used any bail-out gears I had). I finished 41st out of 100+ starters. During the race I had no clue if I was top-30 or top-80, there’s too much mayhem to really have any clue what’s going on. I just pedal and enjoy the ride.

New home

TJ and I are now (town)homeowners in Tucson, AZ. We jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of the first time home buyers tax credit and interest rates around 5%. Now we’re stuck in Tucson for quite a while and we’re thrilled about having a semi-permanent home in one of the best cities for biking in the country. Currently, I’m trying to identify some of the flora in our courtyards (front and back). I think we have 5 different varieties of succulents in our yard, 2 mesquite trees (one with thorns, one without), 1 nandina (or Heavenly Bamboo) bush, 2 Mexican Birds of Paradise plants, mint, lots of vines, an ugly juniper-ish thing (which unfortunately didn’t die over the summer), and 2 or 3 unknown plants. We also have a lot of dirt and rocks in our yard. Luckily, the yard is very low-maintenance and looks pretty. I am hoping that nothing dies on my watch (my plants need to be very resilient).

New job (Intership #2)

For my last semester, and last requirement in my program, I have a six-credit internship to complete. Just this past week things have fallen in place and I’ve wound up with a paid internship, working on a project I’m very excited about (but may also kick my butt). I’ve been hired by UA Parking & Transportation as a Student Office Assistant, but my time will will be spent working on CABPNP (Campus Area Bicycle & Pedestrian Network Plan). CABPNP will take more than a semester to complete, and the report may be completed by an independent contracting firm in the end, but the final product will provide a sort of roadmap for meeting certain goals related to bike and pedestrian use on and around campus (within a 5-mile radius). The goals relate to bike/ped traffic flow, updating facilities, revising design standards, increasing education and encouragement efforts, and providing an implementation plan for recommendations. I’ll be a part of the committee involved with the study and it seems my work may involve data collection, research, and writing. Anyway, this is a pretty exciting opportunity to be involved with the creation of a document that will help guide future infrastructure projects, policies, and programs relating to bicycle & pedestrian use around campus.

The BAC

I am now sworn to, “protect our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That’s a lot of responsibility. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that… Anyway, I am now an official representative for council office Ward 4 on the Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee. This was a somewhat unexpected arrangement, but I’m happy to be a part of the committee and hope that my multiple bike community hats will come in handy (racer, commuter, race promoter, UA Cycling Club ex-treasurer, secretary and vice-president, former TDOT employee, and current PTS employee–whew!). The meetings are entertaining and always open to the public!

Sis

Shannon has been exploring the world, and has traveled to Turkey, Jordan, Isreal, Egypt, and is now in Shanghai, China with my Dad. The two of them are beginning a two-month journey from the headwaters of the Mekong to the delta in Viet Nam, along the way they’ll be photographing hydroelectric projects along the river. I guess this trip is the beginning of a joint photo-journalism project for the two of them. Hopefully they will stay out of trouble.

TJ

The stud just won Ore to Shore, one of the triple-crown races of the Midwest. He pointed out to me that, “the win is worth about 3 mortgage payments.” Oh my. I think TJ has now pulled in more dough than me bike racing this year. I need to catch up…

He’ll be joining me back in Tucson for the next week and a half. Then he’ll be off doing his own adventure in Europe for two months. He’s going to be a research subject in the French Alps in a study related to altitude training for elite cyclists. Maybe he’ll start blogging again in Europe…make it at least two posts in a year.

I am guessing my Mom may be the only one to make it through this post. Over 800 words and only 1 picture–I think I just broke every rule in blogworld. Well thanks for checking in!

Go to the Source – choleforsman.missingsaddle.com

But, I’ve traveled more than anyone else I know my age and I don’t hesitate at taking on a difficult task. There are weeks that, in retrospect, I don’t believe I made it through without throwing in the towel. I’m truly thankful for all my opportunities and for everyone who’s given me encouragement and believed that I can do something great in academics, professionally, or on the bike. Now the question keeps popping up about what’s coming next in my life. I’ve started to tell people that I’m going to race bikes. Part of my rationale is, “I’ve made it this far so why give up now?” Or, “I wonder what I can do if I live, train, eat, and sleep like a professional athlete.” Or simply, “I love riding bikes.”

So, I’m going to consider this semester as my transition into professional athleteism (sorry, I think I made that one up). I won’t be racing (probably not true) or following a training plan, but I want to improve my overall fitness to a ‘fit’ point. Currently, I’m fearful of hurting myself if I do a cartwheel. Yoga, weights, jogs (closer to slogging), early bedtime, stretching, etc. So let that be Goal #1. My second goal is to get my sh*t together in the cyber world and start taking social media seriously! I neglect my Facebook profile, and inbox (so sorry if I didn’t respond to a message), and don’t even know what to do with my Twitter account. These things need to change. And I’m officially going on the books to announce I’m going to launch a website, which Shannon will help design and build. (She’s currently in Shanghai, China with my Dad. They are getting ready to set off for the headwaters of the Mekong for a two-month journey down the river visiting and photographing hydroelectric projects. So, the website project will start in November.) For the final goal, I want to be an advocate for slow biking–commuting, errands, joy-rides, and social rides. I want to help legitimize cycling as a form transportation. I want to make it my transportation as much as possible, and luckily, I live in a beautiful bike-friendly community.

With that, I’m going to introduce my slow bike. This bike is almost #1 on my list of all-time favorites:

Make: Gary Fisher
Model: Simple City 3
Year: ’09

That’s it for now. Thanks for checking in!

Go to the Source – choleforsman.missingsaddle.com

Please change your saved link!

The new address is www.sonyalooney.com and click Blog!!!

New posts today!

Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com

Please change your saved link!

The new address is www.sonyalooney.com and click Blog!!!

New posts today!

Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com