Navigation | Category » Sonya Looney
Hello!!
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
Filed by Sonya Looney at August 13th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
Hello!!
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
Filed by Sonya Looney at August 13th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
Coming soon!! Sit tight!
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at August 10th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
I am here and I still can’t believe it. It feels like a dream. Tomorrow morning at 9 AM Europe time (or 1 AM in Boulder, CO), the gun will go off. I’ll be lined up next to the best marathon distance racers in the world, about to depart on a 107kM adventure of the body ,mind, and spirit, and most likely it will be in the rain. I hope my legs show up because my heart will be there, 1000%!
Yesterday, I rode the parts of the course I missed. It’s all very similar and at race pace will be very painful!
Plenty of gravel in the pain cave
Proof there is some fun singletrack on the course
Thanks to Lars, our mechanic, for taking great care of us. That is my lovely teammate – Sally Bigham.
Today, I met up with Krista and we did an hour spin on the last section of the course. It relaxed me to ride with someone I know, who is having similar experiences here in Germany.
Harvesting wheat… for beer, and for all the yummy bread.
My USA teammate, Krista. The irony of it? We both were born in New Mexico and we both graduated from UNM Electrical Engineering program for undergrad. Is there something in the water… or perhaps in the green chile? Her husband Todd has been a great support too!
I saw this outside someone’s house by the garbage. Whoaaa crazy! Jager bombs? 
The grocery store here is surprisingly HUGE. Like 3 stories and a moving sidewalk for your cart. A German man was watching me take this. I tried so hard to be discreet so I didn’t look like a stupid american, but I failed…and he laughed. 
THREE aisles of sweets. I will be returning next week to buy some fun stuff to bring home.
I was overly amused riding in Dave and Sally’s van. They are from the UK, so the steering wheel is on the left. Weird!!
I have spent most of my time in the hotel, doing it all right. I wake up, enjoy a german breakfast, get out on my bike (ride to the venue, ride parts of the course), come back and sit in bed or nap, eat dinner, then go to bed. This is something I’m not used to. I’m used to being constantly busy, constantly on the go and NO time to relax.
A few pre-race thoughts.
I am not nervous. The night before marathon nationals, I was a nervous wreck. For this race, I have no expectations. My only goal is to ride my hardest and hope with all my heart that my legs feel good. I have learned a tough lesson with jetlag, and it really effects your body for racing. The nervous system is still asleep. I hope mine is awake and ferocious. If I had a chance to redo it all, I’d come out even earlier. I know I am capable of doing really well, I want to do really well. I want more than anything to feel at my strongest pedaling up that first hill and charge through the race like Wonder Woman(haha) in my kit.
A tremendous THANK YOU to my sponsors, especially Ergon. I could not have done this amazing adventure without you. Thank you to my Topeak Ergon teammates here, and especially to Dirk(our team manager), Lars (team mechanic), and to Theresa and Werner (team physiotherapists) for all your hard work.
I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity in my life and am not taking one second of it for granted. I feel fortunate for all the wonderful support I have from my friends – it has been overwhelming to see that, especially on facebook. Wow! This experience something I will always have and always remember, regardless of the outcome tomorrow. Hard work does pay off. I will always know that I was selected and rode the World Championship representing my country in 2010.
Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s kick some ASS!
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at August 7th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
Alright. So at home, it’s 3 PM. Here in Germany, it’s 11 PM and I am wide awake, so I’ll make good use of my time before counting little Rotwilds (translation: Red Deer) instead of sheep to get to sleep.
I’m doing what all good little pros are supposed to do. Sit in bed wearing compression socks and drinking lots of water. I wonder how many days I can keep THAT up 
Today was my first full day in St. Wendel. I like this little town from what I’ve seen. The hardest part about racing here is NOT walking around all day long. I want to walk up and down a bunch of streets and snap photos of all the old, white buildings and go laugh at some of the Euro fashion shops, but I am attempting to conserve energy. My trip to Germany has been fun so far! I’m actually really lucky I came here back in May, because now I kind of understand how things work although my German could use some serious work! Simple things suddenly don’t become quite as simple… but I like a challenge. I’m extremely lucky because my team – Topeak Ergon, is based in Germany and I have the best people in the world supporting me, and setting an example for me (my European teammates are all top-notch, world class athletes, and it shows). I feel like a freshman entering high school again… inexperienced and maybe a little embarrassed around them. They are super nice, but this is my first time racing in Europe. Translation – amateur hour? But then I give myself the pep talk…the one that I appreciate from all my facebook/twitter supporters. “Sonya, you deserve to be here. You earned this. Believe in yourself.” Intimidation factor for me is admittedly higher than I’d like, but it’s exciting. It’s a whole new experience. Morale factor is high. I’m excited and extremely fortunate just to be here.
Back in May, I got to fully take in German culture meaning lots of pig eating, and sampling a variety of beers. Today, I realized I haven’t had a real German on this trip. I am not freely slurping one of my favorite beverages, but I decided that changing my ways just because it’s a world championship isn’t the way to go, so I finally enjoyed a German beer! and make it DARK (dunkel)
Just one though… and early in the evening and not right after a ride. See? I do have some tact.
Let me backtrack. This morning, I enjoyed another lovely german breakfast. The bread is so good…as is the jams, fruit, muesli, yogurt, and various meats and cheese. I normally don’t ride a lot before a big race, but I needed to inspect the course. The race is 2 different loops totaling 107K or 67 miles. A lot of it is road, doubletrack, or mowed fields but there is some little bits of singletrack to get my blood boiling with excitement. Short little bites of it. There is some climbing too… sharp, short little bites of that too…enough to zap your energy. Enough for you to say, “man, my legs feel like crap from something, and my heart rate is really low, and wow, I feel like shit today.”
Course profile.
I enjoyed the scenery today like I said I would. It was very Oregon-like. Lush, humid, mossy, and really muddy from the rain. I even had some company for half the ride – our team mechanic Larry who is FAST! zooooom!
Oregon has though banana slugs I posted a photo of a few weeks back. Germany has these bright orange slugs…everywhere. It’s kind of fun!
I didn’t enjoy how my body felt. I have found out that jetlag really takes a toll on the legs. I had zero power and could barely get my HR out of zone 2 or “riding along” heart rate, but the effort felt much harder, so I tried not to push too hard. Tomorrow is a new day. I drank a lot of water today, ate a lot of food, and laid in bed for the afternoon. Hopefully that will help because I know what my race beast looks like on a good day, I saw him last weekend on a training ride and he is mean and hungry. I want him to appear, foaming at the mouth on race day. Patience and faith that they will come around. Fingers crossed. If not, Sunday will be… not a great day. haha. They will feel better.
Pics from the pre-ride. I rode the 2nd lap of the course.
The wind generators hovering 100s of feet above the course are so cool and poetic.
and huge..that is a person up there.
Mowed bumpy fields….
Wheat. Wheat thins? 
Forest doubletrack.
Singletrack
Cornfields
Get it, Larry!
and muddy messes to clean up when the ride was over.
“your face is a muddy mess!” My face, I mean… Your face jokes, like “that’s what she said” jokes…do not get old. I probably rode too long today… 3.5 hours but if that doesn’t get the blood flowing in and out of my veins, I don’t know what will!
I met up with Krista and Todd Park. Krista is the other woman from the USA racing.
Teammates? shake and bake! Does that blow your mind?
I got my USA kit today. It means a lot to me to wear this kit. It’s something that every racer dreams of.
Tomorrow, our little crew will be joined by the rest of the team and support crew. I can’t wait! I’ve enjoyed hanging out with Lars, Sally, and Dave!
And a few from town right outside our hotel.
Off to bed. Schlafen. Sleep. G’night!
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at August 5th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
I arrived in St. Wendel in the early evening yesterday. Our mechanic, Larry, got my bike together in true pro fashion and I took a 1 hour spin on the course to move some blood through my legs after 2 days off, and a long plane flight. I definitely felt like I had “airplane legs.” Something I plan to rectify today!
Here a couple of quick pics I snapped. The course is mostly road/dirt road/double-track. That’s kind of a new thing for me as we are used to (and spoiled) with lots of singletrack in our races. That means one thing – it’s going to be FAST!
The scenery was great. I’m glad I’m pre-riding the course over the next 2 days so I can enjoy the scenery because I have a feeling I won’t be looking around much in the race with my tongue hanging out on my top tube, and my eyes crossed from the pain!
I love German breakfast. Speaking of, it’s time to go eat some German Frühstück!
I’ll get more pics up of the course later. I have a longer ride planned to get my body back on the riding program, and my head in the game. I still can’t believe it when I see arrows and signs saying, “Marathon World Championship.” I am really here.
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at August 4th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
Hello from Germany!
I left the USA on Monday, and arrived in Germany on Tuesday! I had a crazy week leading up to my departure, so sitting on the airplane for 9 hour was actually a relaxing and welcome experience. I had to move over the weekend as well, and have some nesting/unpacking to do when I get back. But for now, I can finally start focusing on one thing – the marathon world championships. I’m trying not to focus on it too much, because then I’ll get nervous. I focused a little too much on our marathon national championships, turned myself into a head case and couldn’t perform on race day. I’m hoping to NOT repeat that this weekend.
My first day in Germany nice. My Ergon family welcomed me and it was fun to return to the Ergon World HQ in Koblenz, Germany. We even had a picnic by the Rhine river.
and I got to enjoy Koblenz! It was fun to return here after visiting Koblenz for Ergon meetings back in May.
Coffee… very useful for jet lag.
You know you’re in Europe when the streets are narrow!
I’ve been anxiously watching the Colorado Trail Race that started on Monday… Check it out here Self supported, navigated, and 500 miles mostly on singletrack. I can’t think of anything much more epic. Good luck to my very brave friends, especially Jeff Kerkove, Eszter Horanyi, Cat Morrison, and Dave Harris.
Today, we will go to St. Wendel and I’ll get to start inspecting the course. I heard it’s a lot of fireroad which doesn’t really play to my strengths on the bike, but that’s ok! Go big or go home!
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at August 4th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
When some of my friends and I made a grand plan on July 4 to have a training weekend up in Steamboat, we were all pretty stoked. After all, what could be better than good times with friends, epic rides on alpine singletrack, and mountains? Not much.
My skis WILL touch down here this winter.
I got in a good little training block before starting the grand taper to Worlds. 3 days. 2 hour ride Friday, 6 hour ride Saturday, 5 hour ride Sunday… almost exclusively on singletrack, and all badass riders. 
The weekend can be summed up in photos.
Saturday, there was about 10 of us.
Um, dude. Your bike? Unicycle??? HOW?!?!?! And furthermore, how can I sell you Ergon grips if you don’t have a handlebar?
I was kicking myself for forgetting my helmet cam.
Pete’s communal meat stick. I swear when you bit into it, pockets of fat would seep out. haha
The wildflowers were off the hook.
Goobers.
Re group.
Guns Masticator.
By the time we got to this lake…I ran towards it lickety split and got in. Chamois and all. At least I took my helmet off.
Powder…. Pig.
The top.
Kelly Boniface is one of my favorite race buddies. We were working on our game face. She wins.
A looong sweet downhill. Butterflies in tummy.
Massive rewards after 6 hours in the saddle.
Sunday was a smaller group – myself, Dax Massey, Nate Bird, and Essam Welch
The trail was more “underground” style riding. Trail that was not buffed…but loose, technical, and with tons of fallen trees to hike up and over.
Sometimes hiking is part of an epic ride.
I was cursing my short legs.
The group taking in the view at the summit at aha – Summit Park.
Hey boys. These two (Dax and Nate) are racing duo at Trans Rockies in 2 weeks. Git ‘em.
Kids bday parties have pinatas and pin the tail on the donkey. Grown up parties have things like very sharp samurai swords.
Peoples’ bdays such as:
Birdie and…
Rob the Carni
in action.
Max. I want one.
Couldn’t think of a more beautiful night to end a weekend to remember.
Here is a secret…. my blog is going to have a new look very soon!
I took a couple days off after the epic weekend and headed to short track for my last one of the year. Unfortunately, my race ended pretty quickly. I was stoked that I rode right off the front of the race, but I guess I was a little too excited. I went down pretty hard in a corner and couldn’t pedal anymore. Very very bad timing before worlds. I admittedly was choking back tears of disappointment and frustration. I’m doing a bit of icing… I now have what looks like two kneecaps. Nothing major, but I don’t have many precious days left between now and worlds. It’s not a bad thing I have to rest, but I had some things I wanted to get done on the bike. Oh well. That was my first crash in a short track so I consider myself lucky.
Back to packing and moving…. and packing….
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at July 28th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
I definitely can say that I live my life instead of let it pass me by. I suck everything out of it I can, but that usually involves trying to cram everything in that you want to do.
Right now, I am cramming.
Cramming my belongings into boxes, and those boxes into my car, so I can cram them into my new apartment. Most of those boxes will remain unopened until probably the week of Aug 16.
Cramming my work into small packets called very efficient hours so I have time for everything else.
Cramming for my Anatomy and Physiology exam tomorrow, which I have been attempting to work at all along, but inevitably got behind with traveling to Oregon and choosing to get in a fun training block/vacation. (sorry Dr. P!) 
Cramming as many miles in on singletrack with friends as I can without tiring myself out.
Cramming all my stuff into a suitcase and bike box by Sunday for a week and a half to jetset off to Germany for WORLDS (!!!!!!!!) + extra. YESSSSSSSSSSS!
Cramming in as much time with people I care about.
Cramming in sleep, and maybe food in my face
Cramming in blogging……
and now back to cramming for my test. 
Busy? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at July 26th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
Based on what I’ve heard about the marathon course in St. Wendel, Germany, this will be my wheel set up for the Marathon World Championships. THANK YOU DT Swiss, Continental, Magura, and Stan’s for making this set up possible:
Details:
Wheel itself: Custom built XRC 330 CARBON rim, 190 Ceramic Hubs, DT Aerolite Spokes
Magura rotors: SL Rotor (and brakes)
Continental Tires: Front: X King (tire to be released to the public in 3 months) Rear: Race King Supersonic
Stan’s: latex sealant
Thank you to my wonderful sponsors. Light wheels are good tires are sooo important!
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at July 22nd, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
I couldn’t put my finger on the right word for this picture. On Saturday, I did a mellow ride on the 2nd loop of the Breck 100 course – a loop I remember well from last year.
I was keeping some of the racers company during the tough sections. Little French is one of the toughest sections of the race, and is also part of the Firecracker 50 course. It’s steep, loose, longer than you want it to be, and a high point. I turned around and I saw this guy.
He had probably been up since 4 AM, signed up for the Breck 100. He had also most likely been riding for about 7 hours at the time I took this picture (the race started at 6 AM)
If you think about it, looking at this picture provokes more than just thinking, “That guy is exhausted, probably a little demoralized, and maybe wondering how he can move forward.” To me, this scene was very poetic because we’ve all been there. Maybe on the bike, and certainly in life. He has a choice. Give up right there. Throw in the towel, say “I can’t do this.” Or option number two. Lift his head high, and take another step forward, and then another.
The definition of persevere: “to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly.” This is why I am an endurance racer. Continue steadfastly despite difficulty.
There are so many things in our life that make us want to give up, stop. To maybe even be afraid to move forward. Sometimes perseverance is the only thing that we have. We may be physically exhausted, emotionally exhausted, or feel trapped. Looking at this picture represents a very dramatic, genuine human emotion, and the fact that we do have a choice. The feeling of being down and out, but knowing you can still succeed.
Perseverance is what drives me in life. I will ALWAYS keep moving forward. How about you?
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at July 21st, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet
Click image
Go to the Source – sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com
Filed by Sonya Looney at July 19th, 2010 under MTB Blogs, Sonya Looney
No comments on this post yet