Visit from the In-Laws...

This past weekend Andy and I got a visit from his mom and step-dad, Elaine and Al.

They got into town on Saturday afternoon. While Andy was working, I was able to show them downtown and the riverwalk along the TN river that cuts through the center of Chattanooga. After that, I headed to work and Andy, Elaine, and Al all headed back to our rental house for some dinner and a visit.

The next morning (Sunday) Andy and I headed to rural Georgia for Andy's first road bike race of the 2009 season. Since he is just starting out, he had to enter into Category 5 for this race. There are 5 categories (1-5) in addition to a masters category in road bike racing. You start off in 5 and have to move your way up by winning races or completing a certain amount of races. Andy was going to enter into the TT on Saturday morning, but a) he doesn't have a full ready to go TT bike and b) he would have been late to work if he would have done it. Anyway...he finished the Chattanooga Georgia Cup Road Race Cat. 5 in second place! If he would have done the TT it would have been a stellar overall finish, but oh well. Next time ;-)

http://www.georgiacup.com/

Andy just got word that he got his advance and is now a Cat. 4. Hopefully, by the end of the season, he will be Cat. 3. :) So proud of you baby.

...back to the visit :) Elaine and Al were able to get to the race to see Andy finish and get some great pictures. When we get those from Elaine, I will post them.

After the race, Andy headed back to Chattanooga for work; and Elaine, Al, and I headed to the Chickamauga Battlefield in GA. We got our civil war history lesson for the day. I passed out in the car ride back home and got ready for work.

Elaine and Al came into work Sunday night for some dinner at Hennen's. I think they had a wonderful dinner...and the service wasn't bad either ;-)

Monday I had to work a double. Grrrr. So it was Andy's day to hang with his mom and Al. They drove to see the house we hopefully are going to buy (still waiting to hear about financing) and drove to Lookout Mountain and did some sightseeing in the Sequatchie Valley.

Tuesday morning we headed to my favorite breakfast spot, Aretha Frankenstein's. Best pancakes EVER!!! If anyone comes for a visit...we are going there. Be prepared to be satisfied and eat your weight in pancakes. Yummmmmmm.

http://www.arethas.com/

After breakfast, we headed to the Georgia Winery in GA and sampled some wines. Yeah drinking on my day off! The winery was fun, but they grow sweet thick skinned Georgia Muscadine grapes. Consequently, sweet wine. Andy and I found 2 bottles we liked, but not a type of wine we usually go for. I was thinking, this wine would be perfect for my mom. ;-)

http://www.georgiawines.com/

We drove to Raccoon Mountain and went to the visitor's center at TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) and got some information about the reservoir and the hydroelectric power they produce on the top of Raccoon Mountain.

http://www.tva.gov/sites/raccoonmt.htm

Yup...this is the same "top of the mountain" I rode my bike up in the 70 mile bike ride I did a couple of weeks ago. We were able to show them some of the mountain bike trails we have ridden on too. We also drove down the 20 minute steep climb Andy and I did. I think Elaine and Al were surprised at how steep the road was and how long it was too ;-)

After sightseeing, we went to pick up Jacqueline, Andy's cousin, for dinner. We went to the Curry Pot on the far east side of town. Great Indian food. We loved it. Got a ton of food for very little.

After dinner, it was time to say good bye. I was really choked up and tried not to cry. It was a good visit and it was so nice to see family. I have been away for only 6 weeks, while Andy hasn't seen anyone from home since November 7th!

POST visit: I did a 50 mile bike ride with a really cool group on Wednesday morning. My legs are thrashed...yeah! Then I went to work. Work is going well. I am feeling more and more confident about the menu and computer. Things there are looking good.

Training is sporadic at best. MIM (Memphis in May) is just around the corner and I am getting nervous. To add to the nervousness...one of the ladies I ride with on Wednesday was asking me a lot about trialthon and my training. She is an adventure racer and roadie. Hmmm why the interest? Come to find out...they (a couple of ladies on her road team) are rooting for me to "crush some of the local competition." I asked her not to tell me any of their names...too much pressure for this gal from IL with hardly any training under her belt this season. The Scenic City tri on April 26th could be very interesting. I have done well at Sullivan in the past, but there was not the "usual" competition that was at the mid season races. Hard to judge how things will turn out...

Right now we are in the middle of getting financing on a beautiful home in the woods in north Soddy Daisy. Hopefully by the weekend we will have some good news to post/call about.

I guess that is all for now, catch up with you all later.

Heather

Climbing in a gym...

It has been very very very rainy down here this week. We are in a flood warning until Sunday at 4 pm! Yikes. Consequently, there has been a lot of yoga and indoor training, if anything at all this week.

On Friday night the owners of the new climbing gym in town came into Hennen's. I got to wait on them. :) The name of their gym is Urban Rocks Gym.

http://www.urbanrocksgym.com/

The owners are really nice and gave me a free day pass to go climb. So on this rainy Saturday afternoon Kevin and I headed to the gym...post yoga. Andy had to work, and his finger is still too sore to climb on. :(

The gym was really cool. Lots of boulder problems, good routes, and a lot of space to hang out. The staff was really nice too. Kevin and I wanted to climb on lead rope, so we had to get belay checked on lead. I was more nervous about climbing lead than belaying on lead. Kevin was first to climb and I belayed. I passed. Whew. I went next and got pumped on an easy 10 at the third clip! Ugh. I am so soft. Gotta climb more. Kevin passed. We scoped stuff out and found a 5.8 for me and a 5.10 for Kevin to warm up on. I did it, but was super uber pumped.

After Kevin's climb, we went onto bouldering. I did a handful of V0 and V1, I tried 2 -- V3 and got spit off before I even needed a spotter. Gotta climb more. Kevin did well. We were both pretty pumped at the end of the day. I showered at the Trek store (yup they got a shower), and headed into work.

Not that I enjoy gym climbing over outdoor climbing, but when you don't have "real" rock as an option...a good gym will put a smile on your face. :)))))))))

Thanks Urban Rocks for making my Saturday afternoon more than sitting on the couch.

Later,
Heather

Another new blog to check out...

For those of you interested in following rock climbing...check out Brad Weaver's blog.

http://b-weaver.blogspot.com/

This kid is sick wicked strong. He and I started climbing roughly about the same time. I bet you can guess from his blog, who is wicked strong and who can appreciate those who are wicked strong.

;-)

Heather

MMMMM Humble Pie...

After my 70 mile ride up a mountain last week I was feeling pretty good about climbing and riding in the southeast.

Well...I got served up a large piece of humble pie this weekend. Andy is so awesome he found me a chick to ride with down here before I even arrived in the dirty south. I met her at the Trek open house and switched phone numbers/e-mails. We decided to go out an a relatively moderate ride. It is called the Red Bank Loop. Roughly about 35 miles with out the mountain portion.

Meghan is really nice and relatively new to triathlon. She is on a road bike for now but wants to buy a Kuota from Andy's shop. So driving to our meeting point, I thought..."Wicked. New tri girl. After my ride this past Wednesday, I should be able to hang on if not pull her for some of this ride."

We headed out from the shop and into the wind. Yup. That is right. WIND. The mountains do not block the wind. What actually happens is you get a head wind ALL THE TIME! The mountains turn the wind into continual head wind. We had a head wind on the way out and on the way in. Oh well. So much for eluding my ultra nemesis.

To sum up the ride...I a) tried to stick to her wheel as best I could b) tried to climb as best I could and c) not give up. Well one out of three aren't too bad. ;-)

Meghan dropped me like a bad habit. She was really nice and waited for me when I got too far behind and said how much fun she had riding with me. I really appreciated her company and encouragement. Now I know the Red Bank Loop and could probably do it on my own next time.

I hope that over the next couple of weeks, I get faster and smarter on these hills. Well gotta go run off some of this humble pie before work tonight.

later taters, Heather

PS-Andy posted the pictures and map on the previous blog...go check it out.

Best bike ride EVER!

Not that the "Tour De Taverns" wasn't awesome, but the ride that I did this week solidified our reasons for moving to the south...

It was a beautiful cool crisp sunny spring morning on Wednesday. We met at the Trek bike shop (Andy's shop) at 2 North Shore on Manufacturer's Row at 8:45 am. Andy had just finished putting my road bike together. BTW...I finally named her! The Felt AC1 is now named Beatrice. :) Anyway, back to business...there was a group of about 7 of us. Pretty good for a middle of the week ride.

I was really nervous. This was my first time on a road bike/tri bike on the road since Ironman (way back in November). The first ride of the season is always a little trepidatious for me. Over the winter I have forgotten how to steer, worried about turning, finding my balance, etc. For those of you not familiar with the "first ride of the season" jitters, sitting on a stationary bike all winter does not hone your bike handling skills. If anything, it hinders them.

We headed out of town through down town Chattanooga heading south. Riding through downtown at 9 am was interesting. Lots of traffic and new terrain. I got over the jitters pretty quick. I jumped onto someones wheel and we were off! We did about 70 miles, 2 states, and 1 mountain. I am pretty stoked about that for my first ride.

It was a beautiful ride. I had never seen back country like that. Georgia is gorgeous! Not sure I want to live there...lots of meth labs on our route ;-) but it is an awesome bike ride. We were chased by only a couple dogs. The worst dogs on the route were the little dogs. Man those Georgia pups are fast and M-E-A-N. We skirted around Look Out Mountain and Sand Mountain and headed straight up Raccoon Mountain in Tennessee. Andy and I have driven up Raccoon Mountain to go mountain biking at the top, but I have not had the opportunity to ride up the mountain. Andy and the group reassured me I would be fine and we would all regroup at the top. At this point I think we were about 50 miles into our ride. Climbing a mountain on tired legs is interesting to say the least. At the base Andy told me we were going to be climbing for 20 minutes straight. I thought he was kidding until we were about 5 minutes into the climb. He was NOT kidding. It really did take that long! Holy crap. I climbed a mountain on my bike. When we got to the top I felt like a million bucks (on the inside), physically--I felt like hamburger.

I discovered why climbing a mountain on your bike is so much fun...the decent is killer! It was so much fun coasting down. I didn't have a computer on my bike, which I am glad for. If I knew how fast we were going, I might have tapped my brakes more. :) Andy said later we were going over 45 mph at times. I have only done that once in Madison. I went 47 mph on a down hill on the IM course. Keep in mind that was for less than 1 minute and during my training season. This was much longer of a decent and my first ride of the season. Very exhilarating.


All in all, a great ride. I took Thursday off from training and am glad for it. My hamstrings were really tight going into the ride (from Yoga and running) and now they have loosened up. I am sore in areas I wasn't before and am ready to really start MIM training. May be a little too late, but who cares? If I get to ride courses like the one I just did, I will be happy with anything I accomplish in Memphis.




Take care all, Heather

New blog spot to check out...

http://trekchattanooga.blogspot.com/

There is a wicked pic of me if you scroll down...rock on!

Heather

Fun times in Chatty...

Things are going well down here in the dirty south.

I finished my training at Hennen's. This week I have been on my own and earning money...YEAH! Like I mentioned before, the food really sells itself. I think management likes me and believes I can do what I set out to do. The computer is getting easier and the staff has been really helpful and answering all my questions. :) I think I am really going to like it there. So next time y'all come for a visit, come in for a bite to eat and have a drink.

ww.hennens.net

I joined The Rush (it is a workout facility here in the Chatt area). They have a pool, treadmills, stationary bikes, yoga/Pilate's classes, free weights, and weight machines. Very cool place. Not too expensive.

http://www.therush247.com/

Andy had his "true" open house at the Trek store last night. They opened in November (the day after Thanksgiving), but this was their true "Hi Y'all!" to Chattanooga this spring. All the reps Tyler, Mike, and Andy use were there with a ton of schwag! There was beer, wine, and catered food. I was amazed how many people showed up. It was a great night. I think the community has noticed what a great job these guys have done in a short period of time. I am really proud of Andy. Congrats babe. ;-)

http://trekstorechattanooga.com/

Now that I have a) a job b) a place to workout on a regular basis and c) a small group of friends (thanks to Andy) I feel like I actually live here. It just struck me that I actually moved. I am not living in Bloomington IL anymore. Wow. It really happened. I have started a new life in a new city. Crazy.

I miss the ability to see my friends and family in IL, but I think that is the only thing. I thought I would have been terribly homesick, but I am not. Sure I miss my friends and family, like I said before, but I am really happy here in Tennessee. I feel like I am home. It is a good feeling. I don't know what else to say...

Happy trails all.

Heather