Thursday, June 28, 2012

A message from the eye of the storm!

Hello, gentle readers!

It's been a while since I've sat down to write a blog post. I suppose I was taking an unintentional break, and I actually wasn't sure I was going to continue writing this blog. But I think all the time of things I'd like to continue sharing with you, and I've gotten SO MANY lovely emails encouraging me to continue to write that what the heck, here we go again.

spring cleaning of the boys room led to this interesting collection of treasures...
I'll probably do that thing where I throw up five or six of the blog posts that I owe you in the next few days, and then settle back in to once a week through the summer season. Thanks so much for your patience while I rested and got the summer season sorted.

So heres a quick update of life since tryouts, and when its warranted, I'll expand on some of these as bigger posts.

Laying around on the ranch with the boys for all of May and June was post tryout recovery...
In a nutshell, Things are awesome! We went to North Carolina with POC to learn to Kite Surf, and it was an amazing week on the outer banks which I feel really fortunate to have participated in. I have lots of incredible pictures and it was just awesome to get to play with so many talented athletes that POC supports.

When we got home, I spent a couple of weeks playing with my kids and laying around on the lawn. Ethan started a bikram practice, which is really helping him with some behavior issues he was facing. That was a bizarre parenting decision that I'm excited to share with you.

I applied for a scholarship to the Bikram teacher training which takes place in September, so stay tuned, they only give one a year and results come out July 15. My fingers are crossed, my spine is strong, my body is healthy and my kids are behaving thanks to this awesome yoga method, I would love love love to become a teacher and be able to incorporate this method into my travel coaching.

Made the switch from skiing to riding, got the bikes out and put the skis away for now!
Then, Aspen Summer Words happened, and I had submitted a ten page sample of a novel I've been working on for a decade but haven't shown to anyone. I was hoping for some feedback, and instead, I was asked to submit the full manuscript to two agencies by the end of July. They are excited and interested and I'm thrilled! (but oh my god, I better get writing.)

Ethan, back on track, enjoying rebuilding and retiring a robot arm.
Luckily, I have had some good fortune in my massage career. I gave a massage to the owner of A spa magazine, and he was really happy with the work. right after that happened, things started falling into place, and I picked up two new clients for whom I am building a private massage space in their home. This is a super fun project, and I'm so grateful because the work allowed me to put Ethan in mountain biking camp and Bodhi in Theater Aspen's summer camp. It also allowed me to buy myself a laptop so I don't have to try to finish this novel on my iPad!!

The amazing Kurt builds up my new 29" Giant Anthem xc bike. Yes, I'm going to pedal this year.
Right after that, our Bike Park opened, and it was time to ride! I've been riding Kurt's old road bike, but haven't had a chance to get out and get dirty. The boys have been working hard on the trials, and Gravity Logic finished the Valhalla trail. It's got 55 jumps on it now! I rode it for the first time on Thursday and raced on it on Friday night! It's incredible.

Ethan blessing out after his fifth Bikram class
My DH bike is down right now with a severe case of chain guide itis, so I raced on Kurt's xc bike. (uh, scary.). Thanks to my amazing sister, I'm kitted out in a new Leatt DBX Pro neck brace to protect my internal bling, and my neck felt okay.

Opening day action on our new features in the Fruit Bowl!
I had been worried about how my neck would feel in it's first trip to the DH park since the two level cervical spinal fusion in September, but thanks to hard work, yoga, good food and the awesome support of friends and family, it's healthy and strong. It was sore, but it's gotten used to the jouncing. Now, after riding for a week, it feels really good.

Downhill mountain biking certification course at Winter Park
I headed over to Winter Park last week for a DH mtb certification course by Terra Method, the guys who certify all the Whister pros, and I passed the L1 DH Mtb certification. Yay! It's official! I worked hard on my flat land cornering and snap and bump turns, which was thrilling!

Mike, from Terra Method in Whister, teaches us all about trail repair.
We came back to a very busy bike park and got right back to work. The dirt has been incredibly lose as it hasn't rained here in weeks, but that's doing nothing but improving my riding. It's a great mental performance coaching opportunity, too.

Right off the bat, we've been lucky enough to have full clinics of eager riders who surprise themselves every day with their ability to ride in lose dirt on a big, fun, squishy bike. We are doing it! People are stoked and coming back for more!

Pedal on! Ethan and Bodhi ride the rio grande trail in Aspen.
Today, I had the good fortune to ride with some magazines that are touring Aspen, and meet some amazing and adventurous writers! I spent the morning with an Australian Womens Magazine and the afternoon with a fitness magazine. We had a great time hiking and riding hard. keep your eyes peeled for some fun articles and video that will come out of it!

Tomorrow is the second DH race of the season, and now that my DH bike is running again, I've learned a ton from the cert course, and we got some RAIN today, and m neck feels awesome, Im super stoked to see just how fast I can ride that course! It's a long long ride, nearly 3 miles and descending 4000 vertical feet.

Summer at Snowmass is proving to be very very exciting, and I am just amazed when I look around at my life. Working for the Skico is amazing, my kids are so happy and excited to be in camp! The program at the treehouse is really just awesome. Today, they took tennis lessons and went swimming at the Snowmass Club. I mean, really. That's just awesome.

That's for reading and stay tuned, there's lots coming!

Lots of love and wishing you all a happy and healthy summer!

Kate

 

Friday, June 1, 2012

Ride Alone (Or I'm a total Badass, in my own mind.)

I like to ride alone because I feel like a fucking rockstar even if I'm only going two miles an hour.
there's no one in front of me that I'm worried i'm keeping
and no one behind me that i worry wishes i was faster
i'm blazing along at i don't know how fast
because i don't have a computer
or a heart rate monitor
or a map for that matter
but I'm a badass because i'm spinning and spinning my legs and they feel so good
and i can feel my thighs
like the Hulk, getting huge,
ripping out of my shorts
and I think, that was the hill?
and my lungs are burning and my heart is exploding
and it doesn't matter that I'm in my mountain biking shoes
because I'm still scared of my clipless pedals
but i'm an animal none the less
and i can listen to my chick music
Brandi Carslile sings about loss in my right ear
and I pedal past the construction guys
and the river
and there's some huge hill i'm gonna have to climb back up
but for now i hunker over my handlebars
and i remember when I got my first Schwinn 10 speed
with curled handlebars
it was red and white
and I could ride all the way down
and pedal so fast when I was ten
and today i can pedal even faster
down hill i'm pushing the bike faster than gravity is pulling us and heres a corner
that i decide not to be afraid of and i lean in
and it doesn't matter that I'm on my boyfriend's old steel commuter bike
because when I'm descending I hear the sound of the wheels spinning up
and the bugs are pitting my skin
and I'm hoping they aren't bees
and I'm alternating between little spikes of fear
that i'll hit gravel
or a gust of wind will yank me off this ridiculous machine
i must be going 40 miles an hour
(and that's the beauty of no computer, in my mind... i'm flying)
and total grinning freedom
but not grinning too big
because then the bugs get in your mouth and that's kind of gross
and it totally takes my mind off of my awesome form
and I get a little bit wobbly while I'm wondering if it went actually in my mouth
or if I spit it out in time.
And my saddle bag is flapping in the breeze
while I discover that I LIKE to pedal my bike down hill on the pavement
because I know there's not going to be a big jump or a tree
or a hard corner
and so I can change gears
which I'm still figuring out how to do
(the big leaver means big effort and makes it easier on a big... wait...)
but today i got it right
and I was in the big gear
and clicking up to the other big gear
as i went screaming down the long winding hill out of Ashcroft at
a bazillion miles an hour
Johnny Cash in my right ear
I must have looked like the total badass that I felt like
because I got whistled at by the construction guy as I went speeding by
and not the big fat one either
the hot guy that looks like a surfer who drives the red truck
not that I noticed,
i was going too damn fast
fenders wobbling slightly
mountain biking shorts torn on my thigh
wheel getting faster and faster and faster
the sound of the bicycle
a song I'm learning each part of