A Trip Down Memory Lane

So I came across my old mp3 player from 2007 that has a ton of songs downloaded on it and I got it working! So I've been bringing it to work to listen to while I calm down at lunch and after school. I absolutely love it. There is something soothing about music and it also makes you feel so many emotions. I am really sentimental, so when I hear a song it reminds me of times in my life or people close to me.

These are some old school songs, but here are some I found on it:

Tim McGraw- Taylor Swift. This was way back when she first started and I would watch her reality on MTV when she was trying to make it big. Can you remember that?

Petey Pablo: Freak-A-Leak. Totally reminds me of Liesl and Hilary when we would go to parties and dance the night away! This used to be the ringtone on my phone.

Natasha Bedingfield: Unwritten. Back when I was obsessed with the Hills I would listen to this blasting in my car.

The Ataris: Boys of Summer. Reminds me of Kaycee when we would go DDR at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Beyonce: Irreplacable. Reminds me of when Michelle and I went to California and this song was constantly playing while we shopped with lindsey in the Fashion District. So fun.

Yellowcard: Way Away. Driving down the 101 from LA to San Diego. Awesome memory!

Jason Mraz: Remedy. Driving the backlots of Walt Disney World the summer I worked there and watching the fireworks from EPCOT in the sky.

Rob Thomas: Little Wonders. I just love that song!!!

Kanye West: Stronger. I would work out at the LVAC playing this while I was running. Such a good workout song.

Ingrid Michaelson: The Way I Am. Living at my dad's house while I would drive through the senior retirement home neighborhood.

Diamond Rio: Imagine That. Senior Year. High School.

Samantha Mumba: Gotta Tell You. Back when boy bands were big and girl bands too and when the girls and I would go to every concert imaginable.

Avril Lavigne: Complicated. Introducing the number one video on TRL.

12 Hours of El Paso

On Saturday, October 23, the crew set out to do a 12 hour relay mountain bike race in El Paso. Jonny, Kimball, Brad, Jared, Lisa, Paul, Mike and I showed up to race for five different teams. Jonny, Kimball, and Brad were on one team. Jared joined another four man team. Mike was on a Crazy Cat four man team. Lisa and I were on a four girl team. And Paul raced on a duo team.

Lots of racing!

Here is Brad warming up for a lap.

The most crazy part is trying to rest in between laps. I tried to chill but I got too ancy!! Here is Lisa and I waiting for our girls to come. Her team beat mine.
Still waiting!

Abel coming in and Jared taking off!

Mike getting ready to go out on his night ride. Night riding was so hard cause everything is two dimensional. I added like ten minutes on my time because of how sloppy I was!

Going out for my fastest lap. I was trying to hurry cause our team was losing.

You had to make the exchange in the tent and as soon as you called out your number, you took off!

Overall it was a very fun and exciting day. I wish we got more pictures!

Century Race in Las Vegas

Mike and Wayne decided to head over to Las Vegas and try out the Viva Bike Vegas Century ride (115 miles!) through the Las Vegas Valley. The cool thing is that this race included a ride across the new Hoover Dam bridge. Unfortunately, Mike and Wayne were too late to sign up so they couldn't do the bridge, but they did everything else!

The guys at the starting line in downtown Vegas.

At the starting line and sitting with all the "faster" roadies.

Here we go!


The banners and set up. The riders got steaks from Outback when they returned. Nice!

Mike and Wayne made some good time. The first fifty miles only took them three hours and they were able to complete the whole thing in about six hours. Considering Mike was on his mountain bike (with road wheels), we consider this a major accomplishment.

Congrats to you both!

A Quick Day With The Family

While Mike and Wayne did their century ride in Vegas, I had a whirlwind day with the family. It started out with Jen picking me up downtown and heading down to Henderson to meet with dad and the nephews to see Mike ride by.

We headed over to Mission Park and played for a little bit while we waited. We found this amazing slide and found out it was even better when you used Sarah's jacket to fly down.

But...there were some catastrophes.
But, it was fun.

The rest of the day consisted of passing off water and gatorades to the bikers, going to Dad's to play Sequence, shopping with Mom and Sarah, eating some amazing sushi, and having a late night chat with my dad at In and Out when he got off work.

Such a fun one day visit!

The Last Race-Road Apple Rally!

We drove up to Farmington, New Mexico for our last race of the season! It is a 30 mile course full of lots of downhill and really fun whoop-de-doos!

Kimball, Brad, Brent and his girls, Mike and I headed up for a day of perfect weather and friendly rivalry.

Here are the highlights:

I'm hiding in the gackle of people at the starting line. We ALL started together, including the Cat 1 and Pro riders.

We got in late the night before, but our hotel was awesome compared to the usual Super 8.

Kimball wanted to take a picture next to this sign. He got a big kick out of it!

The whole gang after the race!

Brent won second place in his category!

I won first place in my category, even though this was not my best race. I had to walk on some of the downhills because they were VERY steep. People were screaming as they were flying down them.

Michael got second place! And fifth overall! He worked so hard and it paid off!

Brad and I battled it out on the road for a while. It got to the point where we were neck and neck and were taunting eachother. Brad was yelling "You can't let me beat you Liz!". When I started to pass him, he screamed "I hate you!". I was screaming just because it was funny. Meanwhile, there is a girl with us racing too and she was giving us the funniest look. Poor girl.

I made it. Even though my legs were cramping really bad!

It was a really fun roadtrip too. Even though I was the only girl, it was really funny to hang out with the guys and hear the things they had to say. We all had so much fun!

Squash Blossom: The High Desert Screamer!

This race was way fun because we got Brad, Kimball, and Jonny to come along! We rode up Friday night and stayed at a sleazy Super 8, where some random Indian guy walked into Kimball's room at 3 in the morning, and then raced Saturday morning!

Here are the random highlights of the short, but fun trip:

The medals they gave you for winning!

The boys before the race. Such a nice day out! Couldn't have asked for better weather.
Michael in the hotel parking lot. (Notice our rental car since someone decided to slam into the Honda!)

Jonny got third place in his category! Right after the race with the whole crew!

The boys at the starting line.

Mike at the starting line checking his wheel. He rode up the road with the "cream of the crop" in his category. He was flying!!

Overall it was such a beautiful day and a VERY fun coarse. A favorite of Mike's. I liked it because after doing Horny Toad, it seemed so much easier and I was a lot more confident ont he technical parts. I was so proud of Brad cause his cassette screwed up, but he fixed it and went on and finished the race. Michael got seventh which was two steps up from last year (considering all the people ahead of him were from up north). I got second overall and first in my category! P.S. It felt good to beat the girl at Cedro who beat me there and Santa Fe. :)

Highlights of The Horny Toad Hustle

Horny Toad Hustle is a race on our own home court, the Dona Ana Mountains. We have been practicing really hard because we wanted to make sure we "claimed" our home turf!

These are a little out of order, but here are the highlights of the race!

Jared came and took third in Cat 3 19-29, even with a blown out knee! Brad and Jared raced too in their categories but we never got any pictures of them! Brad has a sweet video clip if I can get it uploaded.

Michael got a great time of 1 hour and 49 minutes and got fifth overall in a VERY hard category!
Here I am coming in after a VERY HOT race. I drank like six cups of water after coming in! I ended up getting second in 30-39 SPORT and third out of all of the girls!

Mike getting ready for the race. P.S. We truly believe that Starbucks oatmeal is the best breakfast before a race!

Overall: A very hot race. The road up to the top of the mountain is the hardest uphill ever, but so worth it when coming down off of it.

Smokin' Ray gave me a Border Patrol jersey to wear, so during the race I had some guys yelling that they were illegal and running into the bushes.

Another thing about this race is that it is so random. At one point a guy in a grimreaper outfit stands at the hardest technical part and watches you. When I went by, he goes "Liiiizzz Baaarrroow". I was freaking out wondering how he knew my name! Come to find out it was Pablo from Outdoor Adventures.

What a fun race!