About thefasteryoupedal

Hi! I'm Liz and I am a 38 year old teacher from Las Cruces, New Mexico. I'm also a fan of mountain biking, road biking, running, and traveling. I'm always up to try something new! This blog is for me to share ideas and also to receive new ideas!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Posted on October 28, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

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

Posted on October 28, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

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

Posted on October 15, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

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

Posted on October 15, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

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!

Posted on October 3, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

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!

Posted on September 26, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

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

Posted on September 26, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

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!

Dirt, Bruises, and Sport

Posted on September 12, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

The last race I did was Cedro Peak. During the race, I hit a huge boulder and well, my front tire flew off! I hit the ground really hard. I hurried and made sure all of my bones weren’t broken and threw my tire back on and took off.

I was riding sport, so I wanted to make sure none of the beginners would catch me because I had just decided last minute to switch to sport (which meant doing 15 miles instead of 6 miles). So I think my pride got the best of me when I decided to jump up without checking out my arm.

Well….this is what it looked like a few days later…

And well, I made it to the finish line! I did it in 1 hour and 50 minutes. I didn’t win, but I did beat three sport girls.

I’ll take it! Ha Ha

P.S. Horny Toad is coming up and it is so hard! I swear I’m going to fall again! I just pray to make it through without getting hurt. This one is 19 miles!

I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts!

Posted on September 12, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

Again, this like a month late, but I wanted to put these pictures on so bad! So I finally got the guts to go to the Whaley house in San Diego. I’ve been many times to the outside and it freaked me out, but finally Mike went with me inside. According to Ghost Hunters, it is one of the most haunted houses in America. They have done stories on it and even did a ghost hunter show on it.

When we went inside, it was night time. The tour guide gave us historical accounts as well as stories of things that have happened to visitors as they walk around. For example, a shost dog will lick your leg, a little girl will pull your hair, a brush of your hand by a little boy, etc. The whole time I had my arms folded and straight faced.

This room was the freakiest for me. The dolls in the window were the scariest things in the house!

Mike was so nuts. After we left, he wanted to go check out the cemetary where all the people were buried. I was so nervous cause it was really dark out. People always say when you see little circles in your pictures that they are called “orbs” or energy you get from ghosts. Not a huge believer in that, but there are some orbs in this picture.

I hate creepy portraits. This room really got to me. Look on the left hand side of the room. It looks like a shadow!

I was sitting in the back of the theatre while the tour guide was talking. Honestly, I didn’t feel freaked out at all during the tour. I think I mentally prepared myself not to be sensitive. BUT, at this point I kind of freaked myself out in this room and kept thinking someone was going to be sitting in this back corner.

I hate little carriages and they had marbles set up all ready to play with, just asking for the ghosts to play with them!

Overall, nothing happened. But it was fun to say we tried it out! 🙂

Signal Peak Challenge

Posted on September 12, 2010 by thefasteryoupedal

This was seriously like a month ago, but as you can tell, I am blogging everything at once to catch up on stuff going on around here.

First up, Signal Peak Challenge. Due to my crash in Cedro and the fact that I hadn’t been to church in almost a month, I decided to sit out on the race and head home to church. BUT, I did camp with the crew before heading back to Cruces.

We had a good time riding around, making SMORES, looking at the stars, and best of all, enjoying the great outdoors. Signal Peak is really pretty. We want to camp out there sometime!

This was Mike taking off on the starting line….boy this was a hard race!