I'm a Fixer Upper

Red Kite Racing hosts cycling races all year, but most of them take place on Sundays and, unfortunately, BART doesn't run early enough for us to make it to Pleasanton in time for the 8am starts.  The championship, however, is a *two-day* event where the Women's Cat 3/4 final falls on a Saturday *and* since BART has morning service starting at 5am on Saturdays...

Flash forward to September 5th at 5am.  We were wishing we had never even heard of cycling.  It was more like a race to the snooze button.  LOL

Billy and I were still rubbing the sleep out of our eyes when we got to the Fruitvale BART station and almost had side-by-side matching his-and-hers heart attacks because the BART station signs were displaying the wrong destination for the southbound train.  We breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief when doors opened to a Dublin/Pleasanton train.  Phew!

I'll admit that the start line for this race might've been the most intimidated I've felt on my bike to date.  All the biggest dogs in the pack were there donning team threads and looking pretty mean.  Then there was me in my short shorts and streamers (which I removed as a precaution - wah!).  Turns out that day I didn't even come close to breaking my top two times around this flat smooth one mile loop around the Clorox campus.

I was feeling pretty comfortable hanging on to the back of the pack for the first eight laps.  After a little break away, trying to get into the group another cyclist piped up to reprimand me.  She was like, "You cornered waaaaaay better that time."  Since what she said was actually super constructive and nice *and* she delivered it in a British accent it was actually kinda wonderful hearing from her!   I'll take what I can get!  Hehe.  However, for my next race I think I will install a comment box on my bike in the shape of a middle finger.  What do you think?

Thirty minutes into the race.  We've gone around in circles ten times....  No crashes.  No flats.  I wasn't dizzy, tired, or winded!  My legs were going, "Would you go already!?!!"  Oyoyoy.  A friend made her move to the front of the group, but I wasn't on her wheel.  In that moment I was 100% sure that if I wanted to have a chance at the top five I needed to be up there with her, but I just didn't go for it.  I was afraid if I moved from the back of the pack, I might not make it back in with enough time to corner safely.  Ugh!

I got 10th.  Here are the official results:
http://ontheday.net/2015/redkite_finale/women_cat34/results/

With 54 points overall I am actually 24th out of over 100 cyclists in the series even though I only raced twice.  So, that ain't bad, but better luck next year, right?!?!  Ahaha.  So, I guess I'm a bit of a fixer upper:

New Kicks

So.........  This year my right foot has been plagued with injury.  First, the achilles tendinitis in January, then this turf toe in April.  The injuries have led me to do web research on running mechanics, physical therapy, and............  gear!  Yay.  Getting me properly geared up to run has been a collaborative effort to say the least.  Haha!

On my birthday weekend, Uncle Richard was in town from Philly and Sarah invited us to all hang at her place.  So, on Friday we packed up Billy's panniers and rode bikes to Marin!  It was 90 degrees in Oakland and - I swear to God - subzero in SF, but we made it there safe and sound for a non-stop fun-filled weekend at Sarah and Dennis' place.  My Uncle Richard (who ran the Boston Marathon at 50 and has trained for and competed in plenty of other races) gave me a ton of good advice about running shoes and he even did a some research for me.

Well, not more then a few days later, the Moor's birthday gift arrived in the mail...   Of course, the first thing that came to mind was "Yayayay!  I can buy new running shoes!"  In a matter of days I was ordering these babies online.  I used the list Uncle Richard developed for me to try them all on at Road Runner Sports (they fit for new kicks).  So - here they are - the Mizuno Wave Inspire 11 and the Saucony Kinvara 5!

I feel faster just looking at them - hahaha - thanks, Marilyn and Bill!  The best mother-in-law and father-in-law on earth!

Lakeside Bump

The day after my 32nd birthday, I went on a ride with Billy to get the QOM (queen of the mountain) on the segment Lakeshore to Lakeside Bump in Oakland and it's finally displaying on strava.  Yay!

Because I've been nursing this turf toe I've been riding and swimming a lot more.  I'm getting faster!

Home Is Wherever I'm With You

Here is a cheesy slideshow of the precious time Billy and I spent together in France! *

Slideshow from Amy Moor on Vimeo.

* These photos were put in chronological order for the most part, so it's a total coincidence that this song weirdly corresponded to a bunch of the shots...  Also, I tried to use photos that we didn't already photobomb you with on facebook, but I was not entirely successful, so sorry for the dupes. 

For the best results, watch all the way through with your eyes glued to the screen.  For those of you who want a *real* challenge, try watching without blinking.  It's only five minutes!!  You can do it.  If you're new to this kinda thing, your goal is to stay in the room.  That's a super nerdy bikram yoga joke.  Haha!  :)

It's the Little Things

Thanks to my sister Sarah, we are staying a week in Paris before Billy returns to the United States.  Paris is amazing.  We're doing all the things I've always dreamed of doing here with Billy.  The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower??  Take it or leave it!  But waking up to this:

Being together again is just the best!

Castle Country

First things first!  The bike shop in Tours had a whole range of contraptions with two wheels.  After we wiped our drool off of the race bikes and asked about their rentals, they rolled out this lime green dream.  I couldn't stop laughing at the thought of Billy riding with upright handlebars and pedals with no clips...  Haha!  Seeing this clunker, at least, gave me hope that I might in a million years be able to keep up with him.  We laughed all the way home.  It was so good to be back on bikes with Billy.  I've seriously missed riding with him so much.

As soon as we got home we started planning day trips to the nearest castles to our east and west.  We spent the next three weeks exploring castle country on a beautiful bike route that spans from Nevers to Nantes.  The well-marked La Loire à Vêlo signs kept us pedaling in the correct general direction AND on the right route (for the most part - ha!).

Chenonceau is the one in the bottom right.

We narrowed our desired destinations down to lunch in Montlouis (round trip 30km/20mi), crepes and castle tour in Amboise (30km there only), Valentine's day lunch in Villandry (20km/13mi there only), and a half day to check out Chateau Chenonceau (heeding warnings about the hilliness of the route to Chenonceau we opted for the train).  Actually, Montlouis turned out to be the only place close enough to do a there-and-back (the only restraint being how long we could stay in the saddle if you know what I mean...).

Don't those seats look comfortable?!

Thankfully, all of these locations were conveniently served by the SNCF (a local train which is a cross between Amtrak and BART).  I was really amazed to discover that, apart from Villandry, train lines picked up five minutes walking from most of these castles and stopped service smack dab in the middle of beautiful downtown Tours.

Even though we took the train to Chenonceau, we still took our bikes with us that day and it's a good thing we did because our train back was delayed.  So, that evening, instead of freezing our butts off at the (outdoor) station, we made our way east past Chateau Chissay and went all the way to Mont Richard and back (another 20km/13mi).  So, just as a side note, yeah...  No banks in these parts.  Not even an ATM.  Do all those people bank in Tours?  Off shore accounts?  Shoe box under their bed?  We may never know.

Almost as awesome as being back on the bikes and taking trains through the scenic Loire River Valley were the looks we got when we told people that we have been riding our bikes to these places.  Haha!  Priceless.

Standing On The Shore

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you."  So, I thought of this, but then I googled it to make sure no one else had thought of it first and sure enough...  Dracula beat me to it!

Billy and I at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris

Being here in France to play volleyball has been a wonderful experience, but being away from Billy has been a practically unbearable sacrifice, making the last six months of my life so bittersweet...  

It has been exactly 180 days since I last saw Billy.  I'm excited to share everything about this place with the part of me that has been missing for so long.

January: American Film Appreciation Month

This month I was holed up at home in bed nursing two sprained ankles and a terrible cold that wouldn't quit.  On top of that, when I wasn't looking at my watch and calculating exactly how much time it was before Billy got here, I was trying to not go crazy by consciously distracting myself from how much time it was before Billy got here.  Oy!

Now, if you don't know me that well, this may come as news to you, but I am, admittedly, somewhat of a nitwit when it comes to common knowledge.  For example, I have been the butt of many a joke when conversations turn toward the cultural canon.  Vocabulary, books, band names, TV shows, actors, and movies that are considered common knowledge by my peers evidently inhabit a black hole in my brain.  References to media from my generation mostly go over my head.  And while my anti-climactic-explanation-eliciting blank stares were coquettish in my twenties, in my thirties, it turns out it's just embarrassing.

So, in January, I made a pact with myself.  I, Amy Moor, will use this month of forced rest and relaxation wisely and educate myself in the American entertainment industry.

I watched all the Star Wars, all the Die Hards, all the Lethal Weapons, all the Godfathers, and uhhh, every Johnny Depp movie from blockbuster to cult classic.  I watched Platoon, Stir Crazy, Blazing Saddles, Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, Man on the Moon, Magnolia, Steel Magnolias, Boogie Nights, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Til Dawn, Natural Born Killers, An Officer and a Gentlemen...  It did not take me long to start forming strong opinions about these films and the Hollywood professionals that inhabit them.  The big picture though is:  WOW!  The American film industry is awesome!  The rest of my revelations are blips on the radar compared to this one, but here is a small sample anyway:

1. I don't like Johnny Depp's work as much as I thought.
2. A New Hope is the best Star Wars.
3. Die Hard is way better than Lethal Weapon.
4. Uh...  the Godfather - who needs him??
5. Gene Wilder is my favorite actor of all time.
6. I need someone to expose me to the work of Richard Pryor because I still don't get why every contemporary comedian says he's the greatest.

Well, that's about it!  Just wanted to let you all know that I found a way to thrive in the midst of ankle-breaking pain, mind-blowing boredom, and soul-squashing sickness.  Thanks to my new friends in the tele.

Day 8 - Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

Happy anniversary to Billy - the most supportive, compassionate and loving person I know!!

Billy Means Business

My Rock

Ladies - when you find an unlimited source of love, support, and encouragement - hold on tight!  Billy's strong ideas about right and wrong, his work ethic, his humanity, and his crack-me-up-from-out-of-no-where sense of humor have been my secret light in the dark for years.