Merry (Almost) Christmas!

Hey there :) I just wanted to write this to say I have finally started riding again! It's not a lot, and I have to work very hard to ride slow enough to keep my heart rate low enough but I still love it!

For anyone wondering, I've gone to Dallas 2 different times now for a week of doctors, testing, and treatment. We have made some progress on my POTS/dysautonomia in terms of improving my heart and therefore my ability to get out of bed and do stuff. I also found out i am gluten intolerant, so I am exploring a whole new world of food. Overall I am feeling quite better on medicine (florinef!) and exploring bio-feedback treatment. I was able to successfully finish out the semester at school which was great.

So right now I am just waiting to see a geneticist to confirm my doctors suspicions of a condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Hyper-mobility type. This is a collagen related disorder, so it can cause problems and symptoms everywhere in your body.

So thats all I suppose, hope everyone has a merry christmas and a healthy new year!!!

It's Going

It's been awhile since i've written on here, and a lot has happened. I feel like this blog is a good way to keep friends and family updated on my condition. I wish i could be telling you about my latest race, but I am still off the bike almost completely. I ride my single speed to class everyday (expect it already snowed here! so not sure how much longer thats gonna last haha) but I am experiencing pretty bad exercise intolerance, and going to class, and a little bit of physical therapy is still too much for me, so no training. Since i've gotten back to Durango, my condition hasn't changed much. Lately i've been in a much better mood at least :) It seems like I'm going to every doctor in Durango, but the downside of a really small town is that no one can really help me. So i'll travel out of state soon to a hospital specializing in Dysautonomia, and hopefully finally get a definitive diagnosis so I can figure out a treatment that works! I've also been diagnosed with Esinophillic Gastritis, and am currently on an elimination diet and my gastrointestinal issues are slowly improving! So no more wheat, diary, eggs, soy, corn, nuts, seafood, citrus, acidic vegetables, or nightshades. It sure makes grocery shopping simple :) and i've been experimenting with baking and made a bean, rice, spice cake that was awesome! 

So it's been a really rough semester so far, and i'm just fighting to stay in school, but I'm still so happy to be here and am enjoying all my classes. Hope everyone is doing well :) And again if anyone has knowledge about these conditions, or any good allergen free recipes i'd love to hear from you!

Just A Little Health Update

Hey everyone!!!! :)
It has been a most eventful summer, just not quite in the way I was hoping. I've been on this crazy health roller coaster for the past few years now, and after getting mono in June and ending up in Texas I was really struggling with my heart. A chance appointment to the neurologist finally gave us some answers. They measured my resting heart rate laying down (106) and after standing up (150) and based on this and my purple legs, she diagnosed me with Dysautonomia. We probably spent 3 hours going through my entire medical history and it could explain everything! Basically, my autonomic nervous system which controls all your involuntary bodily functions (heart, circulation, breathing, digestion, etc.) doesn't work correctly and it leads to a lot of complex symptoms and issues. I most likely had never been diagnosed because it is fairly unknown, and being an athlete my entire life kept the symptoms relatively at bay. Especially since the veins in my legs don't always remember to contract and send the blood back to your heart, and my leg muscles are able to compensate. So I just have to keep riding my bike! We don't know yet what caused this, but extensive testing should reveal that in the next few months.

So the main reason for posting all this is I would love for anyone who has any knowledge of Dysautonomia or a similar disorder to let me know! I am on facebook if you don't have my number.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying their last few weeks of summer! I am heading back to Durango in 4 days! I can't wait and I'm really hoping i'll be able to ride soon :) And GOOD LUCK to everyone headed to Switzerland for the World Championships! They definitely have an amazing team this year :)

i hate mono

Well, it seems I just can't catch a break this season. I'm trying to stay positive (really! haha) it's just unbelievably frustrating to bounce back again and again from injuries and sickness only to be knocked down over and over. But since I am out for the rest of the season it looks like, I am going to take this time to really rest, recover, and rediscover my love for the sport :)

A little recap of my recent adventure: I began feeling bad with an especially sore throat a week before moving back to Colorado. Driving up with my family I began to feel extremely sick, and after I got all moved into my summer house we decided to go to the doctor. My resting heart rate was extremely high and I was constantly dizzy and to make a long story short I spent four days going between the ER and specialists with concerns from a throat abscess to a blood clot in my lungs and it was miserable. In the end turns out I have mono and strep, and my body was just under a lot of stress. I am doing so so much better, even though I am back in Texas and not riding at all right now, but my brother is finding ways to keep me entertained :)

I admit I am still incredibly bummed, but there are many seasons to come and this is by no means the end.

Just wanted to say...

In order to be a successful bike racer, it takes more then just being able to ride your bike faster then everyone else. Yes that is a major part of it, but to get there you often need help. Today I realized just how truly grateful I am to have such amazing support from the people around me. So I thought they deserved a little shout-out for everything they have done.

Cycling requires a lot. Intense training schedules, bikes (that work!), helmets, shoes, glasses, gloves, feeds... the list of expenses goes on and on. And until I win the lottery, I am extremely grateful to have the support, both financially and in many other ways, from my parents, coaches, teams, sponsors, and shops. Without you this would not be possible.

A few years back when I started racing Cat 1 Jr. women, I wanted to begin doing bigger and better races, and to avoid leaving the financial burden solely on my parents, I set out to find a new local team. I joined up with Sugar Cycles a (fairly) local shop and sponsored team. I was the only junior and one of only a few women, but I fit right in. Over the years the team, and especially friend and manager Kyle Davenport have done so many amazing things for me. From setting me up with a new sweet pink race bike, to helping me out when I called hysterically my first weekend at college because my shock died, and now giving me a job at the shop whenever i'm home, they are amazing people and have helped me so much. So thank you.

I've had a couple coaches and I know personally how much they can motivate me and push me to be a better, faster racer. They do more then just outline the best training plan, they support me, encourage me, teach me to learn from failure, and so much more. Without you to guide me I often become lost in the complex world of this sport. I recently started with a local Durango coach, Kricket Lewis and so far it has been fantastic, and I know she will be able to help me get where I want to go.

Finally, my parents. Who started me on a bike, dragged me to my first race, forced me off the couch to ride my bike even when thats the last thing I wanted to do at that moment. Who stood in the feed zone for hours waiting for me to come through. Who drive me across the country for a single race. Who believed in me even when I didn't. I couldn't have done it without you.


So to all those people who invest themselves in my race performance as much as I do, and will do whatever they can to help me achieve my goals, I can not thank you enough.

Mellow Johnny's!

Yes, I realize it has been well over a week now since I raced in Dripping Springs, and it's only a short report, but hey better nothing right?

Race day was hot and windy. Exactly as I suspected it would be. I'm still struggling with my health, and recovering from my latest crash which means my training has been pretty low key, and I didn't have high expectations for my race preformance. We started off with 11 women, and I sat mid field for the first lap, struggling a lot with the heat, yo-yo ing with a few riders on a lot of the technical sections. The course was super fun and technical, but with little topography. A very stereotypical West Texas course. There were many many big rock step-ups and drop-off, tight sandy switchbacks. and rock gardens everywhere. I really enjoyed it, but was wishing there was some big climb where I could take advantage of my mountain training and now superior aclimated lungs haha. My second lap was much faster, and as my body adapted to the heat I fell into a good rhythm and slowly picked off the other racers. I came across the line in second, which was an awesome way to start off my mountain biking season :) It was also significant because it was my first race out of the junior category, which was a bit sad, but now I am excited to see where I can go this season!!!

Right now I am at home and training in Cypress, also working full days at Sugar Cycles and trying to enjoy summer as much as I can, but I really miss everyone from college! This might be the first time ever I can't wait for summer to be over haha :)

Roadies

Guess what... it's my last week of school!!! And as weird as it is that my first year of college is over, I am looking forward to a good summer of racing bikes :)

This weekend we are ending our collegiate road season (my first road season ever) and even though i've had to sit out of a lot of races (i'll explain in a minute) I have learned a ton about road racing and had lots of fun. But I'm more then ready to race my mountain bike at the Mellow Johnny's Classic Pro XCT in 2 weeks. Yay!!!

So as most of you know i've had a pretty rough year so far. I was finally finally finally diagnosed with 4 ulcers in my stomach in late March and as soon as I started treatment I felt way better then I had in months. But then I had a reaction to my medication and spent a few days really sick. So I got some new meds and was feeling good until I started feeling bad on one of our race weekends and some strange symptoms put me in the ER where they said I had a kidney infection. So I got that taken care of just in time to have my first big crash of the year coming down front hill. I walked away with road rash on all my limbs, four holes in my hip, and a rock stuck in my knee. So I am slowly healing and limping around campus. Needless to say my races haven't gone as well as I want them too, and as hard as I try to push through the pain I have had to sit out of a few. Don't worry I'll be back soon. But hey, it's better then last year right? I guess I just have bad luck or something... :)

So other then my epic fail of a season the FLC team has done remarkably well with wins every weekend, and in every category and type of race. We are definitely set up well to rock nationals in May! There are some great detailed race reports from each weekend on the team website (it's over on the side of the page) if anyones interested in how everyone's doing. And here are some pictures :)

Hill climb time trial in Golden

Racing a crit

Cheering for our teammates

I guess that's all for now... I will be sure to post a good race report after MJ's. I'm hoping i'll be able to kick some butt since I'm coming down from altitude the day before ;) except it'll probably be 110 degrees and I'm still used to the nice cool colorado climate. Oh Texas...

EPIC!

Quite a lot has been going on and I know I haven't kept up with my blog, so sorry! So first of all some big news... I have found an amazing local Durango team and coach who I will be racing for while i'm up here :) The Get Out Performance Team is a great team and organization that coaches and supports athletes in many different sports of all ages and Kricket Lewis, who I have been working closely with for a few weeks now has been great at kicking my butt back into gear as racing fast approaches! Their website is http://www.outbackadventure.org/getout-durango/ if you would like to know more :) 

Speaking of racing, I did my first ever road races last weekend as our collegiate road season kicked off. They were both crits, one in Boulder on Saturday and one in Laramie, Wyoming on Sunday. I had so much fun (but don't worry I am still and always will be a mountain biker at heart :) and it was great to get to travel and race with my team again. I honestly did not feel totally prepared for the weekend, since my early season training has been thrown off due to some health issues, which we now suspect is an ulcer in my stomach :( But some hard efforts these last couple weeks put me in a pretty good place fitness wise. 

In Boulder I felt great at the start and took turns with my 4 teammates at the front of an about 15 girl field. There were a few surges but no attacks got away at first and I was just sitting in trying to get used to the whole feel of road racing. About half way through the 30 min crit a crash took out about half the field, including 3 FLC girls (Lauren got a little scraped up but everyone was okay!) After they jumped back in Kaila attacked and Tilly, Brittany, and a CU girl went with her. I was sitting further back in the pack and couldn't get a wheel so I stayed in the pack to counter any attacks and slow down the field to give our girls the best chance to win. So after sitting up front for the rest of the race on the last lap the field attacked hard and I just didn't have it in me to stay with them. But they couldn't catch the break and Kaila took the win, with Tilly and Brit in the top four. I believe I rolled in 10th but I was happy to have helped my teammates get away since working with a team is not something I am used to in mountain biking. Everyone from FLC did great, with Griffin taking the C Men win, Ryan 2nd in B Men and Missy winning A Women! 

Saturday I was having some major stomach pains and just couldn't push hard because of it. I got dropped within the first couple laps and thankfully had another girl to work with and take turns pulling in the head wind. Our team did pretty well again with top places in all the races and Sarah winning the A Women. Overall a great experience for my first time racing on the road and I hope to improve over the collegiate season!

<3

So one more note, I finally finally finally got my new race bike!!! It is a Specialized Epic Expert Evo and I am loving it :) Got a bike fit tomorrow to get it dialed in and hopefully I will be riding it on the trails very soon!

Back in D-Town

Sooo, I finally caught the winter crud traveling around campus :( I guess one thing you have to get used to living in the dorms is sharing germs with everyone else. Yipee. Anyways, being off the bike for the past week has given me plenty of time to rest, study, and gripe about the noticeable lack of snow. (Even though it's nice to be able to ride outside in January, I seriously miss skiing!!!). My family back in Texas misses skiing probably a lot more then I do, seen by my dad's latest purchase, a Nordic Track.

Oh, and I also want to say congrats to my little bro who completed the Houston Half-Marathon yesterday in 1:43:25. Not to shabby squirt :)

Many of you know we recently said goodbye to FLC's head coach Matt Shriver, who took a job as a liaison for the Trek/Radio Shack team. So we now have two new coaches for road season this year, Chris McGovern and the women's coach, Jimmy Kight. (You can read all about them at http://cycling.fortlewis.edu/ which, by the way, is the official FLC team site where you can keep up with everything that is going on. I just realized I never put that up :) So far they have been awesome, setting up team training, individual coaching programs, and spin scans for every athlete among other things. I have no doubt they will lead us to great things this spring!

Speaking of road season, I do admit I am excited to try my first crit, however I'm still positive I will never be a true roadie. Mountain biking is just too much fun :) Our first race is coming up on March 19 (A race in Boulder, CO on Saturday and a race in Laramie, WY on Sunday. Can you say road trip?) which will be my first road race ever so I will let you know how that goes... Base training is going well, until this pesky cold came along, and I am still loving getting to ride in the mountains EVERY DAY :) haha I hope i never get tired of this place.

Happy New Year!!!

It's 2011 and it's gonna be a great year :) Some exciting changes may be on the horizon so i will keep you informed!

My brother Harry and  I in front of gorgeous Mt. Crested Butte

So far winter break has been going great, starting with some serious nordic cross-training in Crested Butte with the family. Only a few minor injuries were sustained. Those of you who know my family all know they are just as accident prone as me :)

We got back to Texas just in time to ring in the new year, and I am looking forward to getting some nice base training in this last week before I head back. Sources in Durango informed me it got down to -26 degrees today!!! And along with the multiple feet of snow they've gotten in the past few days it means that I will be putting in some quality trainer time. At least I have tons of awesome friends who will suffer along with me :)

Hope everyone has a great year in cycling and in everything else!