Courtenay Brown

This is left over from Visalia... but I really needed the visual for this story so I waited until today to post it.Anyway: us VAC girls have all been racing for a good 4 or more years. That's a lot of number pinning, believe me. Nevertheless, our fearless leader Lisa seems to have had some fears that we were not going to be able to figure out number pinning for the Visalia criterium. On Sunday morning we all went out for a ride before the race, and came home to find this:Whoa, complete with a diagram and everything...Being ...

OMG I am ready to go to the race a half hour early! So, I have time to post another blog. How exciting.I mentioned the kitty here the other day. Here is Stanley:There is a second kitty, Stella, who we don't see as much because she is a feral cat. But she is gorgeous and is slowly getting used to all our loud tramping around.

I got my laptop back! At like 10 p.m. last night, so not in time for picture-posting yesterday, but still: yay! I got my laptop back!Really quick. Here are our new kits:Here Sharon and I are making fun of each other in our new kits:Now it's time to get ready for the Redlans Prologue... I am excited about it. Short hard flat-then-uphill effort, it's going to be great. I am practicing optimist skills garnered in Visalia:...

... bad idea. Super bad idea. Especially if you want the girl to be nice to you.I was being nice when I loaned it out. I was also being nice when it wasn't ready to be returned to me at the appointed driving-by-on-my-way-to-Redlands time on Monday. "Sure, we can do the exchange tomorrow, since it's an hour between our host houses I can just drive and meet you halfway!"Then, I got a hands-on reminder of how ridiculous afternoon traffic is in the greater L.A. area. So we postponed the computer exchange until today, Wednesday, when laptop-borrower would be coming in to Redlands for the race weekend anyway, preferably early so that I could maintain at least ...

Please accept my HUGEST apologies for being so incomunicado over the last two days... Lack of blog updates has hurt me more than you, trust me. I feel so removed.My laptop is still out on loan so I am borrowing my host sister's computer.So, no photos till later today when I can download them onto my own computer.Anyway, enough with the logistical excuses. On to recent occurances...1. I love Redlands! The race starts tomorrow and ends Sunday, so we'll see how long I feel this way, but it's a really nice town, the mountain views are beautiful, and the people are great.1.a. Sharon loves it here too. Massage ...

I sat down at our host house computer to type a nice blog. But a very nice kitty, Stanley, just jumped in my lap to say hi.So I am going to play with the nice kitty instead.I still don't have my laptop anyway, so maybe it's just as well that I wait because when I get my laptop out of its hostage situation I will be able to post photos!

I'm on Martina's computer because I gave mine away for a couple days. I don't know HOW I will survive without it - risks of both severe withdrawal and severe pummeling by teammates who are annoyed at my constant plaintive "can I please borrow your laptop for a minute? please?? i will be nice! promise!!" requests.Anyway.I know I keep using Martina's quotes but she really does have the best ones. Tonight we were at the dinner table here in Visalia with our awesome hosts. Our host mom, Susan, is a cyclist, but her husband Terry is not. He was outnumbered however, and we talked about cycling for a while. Long while. (Imagine that, us yammering away...)...

Us gals are here in Visalia racing the Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic this weekend. Try saying that 3 times fast. Anyway, as usual, get a gaggle of bubbly girls together and you have some funny moments...Martina, to our director Lisa Hunt: Lisa, am I ever going to be as popular as you?Lisa: No. But I was talking to Matt Willinger today and we agreed that if I put you in the middle of the Sahara Desert you would still find someone to talk to!I took a photo of them under our tent at the TT yesterday but it was not a very flattering shot so I am afraid of what might ...

I am not the world's best driver. Ask pretty much ANYone. Here's a sampling of choice quotes heard from my passenger seats over the past couple of weeks:"Red light. Red light! RED!""OK, left turn here. Um. The other left.""Why is that guy honking at us? Did you leave your house keys on top of the car again?"And my personal favourite:"Good job Court, you're almost going the speed limit!"Anyway, surprise surprise, no one took me up on my offer of a ride to Visalia. So I hit the road alone this afternoon, armed with Google Maps directions, my reggae playlist, and my new favourite bad-for-my-teeth-and-bones caffeinated carbonated beverage, ...

I have spent the past few Sunday late afternoons/evenings driving back to the Bay Area from the Central Valley. It's a beautiful route. Green velvet hills beg to be touched. But I painted them instead.Maybe I will throw in a cow later. And some windmills.