Courtenay Brown

OK here I am taking the race slightly more seriously than I was in that other photo...

"Sorry Ladies, we didn't get any lap cards for you so you're just going to have to pay attention."-Officials on the start line at Sea Otter, as large rain drops are starting to fall. Greeeeaaaat. Glad you take us so seriously..."These certainly weren't the 'scattered showers' that were advertised."-Hannah, after cancellation of the Sea Otter circuit race due to sub-50 degree hail/windstormness."Roman, what kind of jeans are those? Are they Sevens? Are they women's Sevens?!"-Devon, to Roman, not realizing that we had all already teased him about his fashion jeanwear."Hey, I'm fighting for Women's Rights!"-Felicia to the women's peloton, on the start line of the Santa ...

After today's race, a bunch of us went to Jamiel's rented beach house for his birthday barbecue and an hour or so of playtime at the beach.Team VAC, minus Sharon who went home to Denver already :(Token Beach/Sunset/Sky PhotoAnd here is my PERSONAL FAVOURITE EVER beach shenanigans photo. Health Net's own Roman Kilun displays ...

See?Photo of me at today's Santa Cruz Criterium courtesy of Steven Woo's flickr account.I was indeed waving, during the bike race, at Tracie and Holly!

Sea Otter.Always a massive effort in many ways. Driving to the event through one of two many-mile entrances with 6 thousand other bike-laden cars, parking, getting from parking through the vendor area over the bridge dodging the mountain bikers through the mud onto the racetrack, then the race itself where you go round and round and up and down 300 feet every 7 minutes, then scraping together some sort of cool down before changing clothes and schmoozing and gossiping with sponsors in the vendor area, all the while trying to stay with your teammates, then remembering where the car is and schlepping all the way back out of the event, oh yeah don't forget to give back your ...

Here I am being a moron in front of a camera again:The good news is Smartts seems to have joined me in moron-photo-land!Anyway, yesterday was Team Photo Day in the Marin Headlands. I was amazed that it came together - everyone made it there on time, no one forgot their helmets or bikes or clothes (although apparently we did have some requests to do a nude photo shoot)(boys. typical.), everyone remembered their lip gloss, and the sun came out.Afterwards we went to Sushi in the city, to a place I have been many times and always liked but ...

My mom told me that a childhood friend committed suicide last Tuesday, leaving behind his wife, two young children, parents, and a sister who was supposed to be getting married in a month but now might be postponing the wedding.He spent the day working on a construction site with his dad, then went home and put a gun to his head. The funeral was on Saturday.Poor Carter, to have felt so miserable and to have seen no other way out.I was stuck in my own misery of trivialities last week, now I don't even remember all the details of all the world's transgressions against me but for some reason everything just felt so ...

This is the third night in a row that I realize at almost-bedtime that I completely forgot about my taxes again. I have actually been productive today - trained, did laundry, cleaned up (why is this always on my to do list?!), packed stuff and cleaned bike for tomorrow's team photo shoot, had super important correspondence and conversation with super important friends about super important topics like boys and clothes and bike parts - I just spaced on the taxes part.And, I guess I picked a slightly inopportune time to re-sign-up for Netflix. Season 1 Disc 1 of Weeds arrived this afternoon and I am already on episode 4... Excuse for this one is I do lots of ...

Last Friday, after painting and lazing about all morning, I took myself and 3 of my bikes and a bunch of wheels and crap to the Freewheel so I could use their stands and tools and actually get some mechanic stuff done (with a little help secured via eyelash-batting and general Courtenay charm such as "Travis, do you have any special scissors that actually work back there?!"...).Anyway, as I was sitting there fiddling with a seatpost, my cell phone rang, and for some reason even though it was an unknown number AND I was totally busy AND in a public place, I answered it.It was a reporter from the San Jose Mercury News calling ...

My 19-year-old sister Sarah just got to New Zealand. One week ago she was in Bogota, Colombia, and in the interim week she was at home in Maryland doing a whole lot of nothing. I got lots of calls from my Mom, Sal, during this week... "Sweetie will you please call your sister and encourage her to clean her room and get organized? She is upstairs ignoring me, the little brat."I can totally picture it...Sal issuing orders: Sarah being oblivious/unresponsive:Anyway, I ...