Kicking it at the cafe . . . can someone teach me how to keep my helmet on straight please?

Cruisin the trails by my lonesome

Oh yeah, this is why I don’t race mtb . . . cuz an 8 year old climbs faster than me. That’s what teammates are for, right?

Officially a good time off-roading. This dude kept trying to keep up with me (it’s not that hard on a mountain bike!) and making small talk. I guess I missed race reg. when I hopped on the trails today because he thought he and I were duking it out for the Nov. world champs. He’d pass me, I’d pass him, you know the obnoxious story. Finally we had to have a little talk that went like this: “I don’t want to be rude, but you need to either go in front of me or behind me.” Don’t want to break the poor guys heart - believe me I love the enthusiasm, but love a little less from the hookworm on my ride. Either way, getting to ride off road in the fall makes me feel like a million bucks.

Also got to celebrate Ann’s birthday party this weekend, do my laundry, go on an all-girls ride this weekend, and figure out how to post pictures in the nice-to-view-size (thanks CK!).

It’s a special on extreme hoarding.  Why am I so enthralled by this show?  Is it a bad sign that I get sucked into other peoples problems at 4:00 everyday?  Ok, it’s not everyday, but to be honest I would if I could.  The expert says its a psychological problem, don’t bother helping someone clean up, it won’t work.  I guess 6 million Americans have a hoarding problem.  Isn’t that about the same as the American population?  With these figures, I guess its a problem every American has.  I have a small hoarding problem: I save old tubes and promise myself I’m going to patch them.  Then I give up and use them for othe stuff.  Ideas for use of flat tubes with flats:

• The holidays are almost here - skip the ribbon and try a tube!
• Use them to help you stretch after a ride like a yoga thingy
• Carry it in your jersey pocket and pretend you didn’t know it was flat, then borrow a tube from your training partner.

Oprah’s over and I’ve got to walk to the grocery store.  Today’s a recovery but I’m already sick of it.  Me and recovery days have a love-hate relationship.  It’s not that I am one of those compulsive trainers.  No way.  But it’s just that there alot of aspects of training I enjoy, aside from the actual training.  Like kickin it at Royal, being outside, coasting on my bike.  All the good things.  But tonight is bike polo in Oakland so I gotta go and represent for the women out there.  East Bay girls, come out on the fixies and play at the Rockridge bart station 9:30 pm Thursday nights.

Before I go, I just have one question for Oprah: what’s so wrong with hoarding?  Really, is it that bad that she needs to dedicate an entire show to it?  I don’t think so, get off my back sister.  Lets look at the positive - it’s a form of recycling. 

One more last thing before I go . . . I just wanted to say that getting a new blog is alot of pressure.  I don’t feel like I am in my usual groove, so forgive my lack of sparkling blogging brilliance until I get into the swing of things again (wait, was that every there?).  It’s hard, I am an impulsive creature of habit . . . if thats possible.  I just gotta work these things out and then I will feel comfortable here.  Have a little patience for me and send a love-hate note someday.  Or tell me that you dream about pretty Camaro’s and sparkly kits and puppies. 

The world wide web is a dark dark place.  It’s like being stuck in the middle of outerspace with no lights, no direction.  And somehow you’ve got to create an actual place for yourself, something where there are little light bulbs and some directional sense.  Ok, now I really gotta go.

I feel like I could conquer the world.  So I’m back to get my roller skate pictures up and running here, even after a 3 hour ride today.  The magic of caffeine!

Speaking of Scorpios, this weekend is Ann’s birthday party.  I think she is turning 30 or something.  Ann is a frequent character on Garrett’s blog and she is a super switched on lady, the ring leader of the Umbrella Girls group of hotties. 

Roman ready to light it up on the roller rink.

My bro’s best friend Christophe

Of course I have to wear a tiara on my birthday.

A bunch of us and my dad muggin after skating

Coming in hot!

This is called “rexing” . . . it’s like the cool thing to do at the roller rink

Me and my parents.  I’m not a giant, but they don’t have any skates on

Laurel Green is possibly the worlds best skater-cyclists.  She can kick my ass on skates any day!

Matt and Holly.  Does he have on my tiara?

Dear Yellowbug Readers,
It is with mixed emotions that I tell you I am moving my blog to http://www.martinayellowbug.missingsaddle.com/. I am doing this to be part of the Missing Saddle community of cyclists and to help promote women’s cycling to a broader audience. Don’t worry, everything will work out just fine - promise.

I am sorry for the delay, you know how I am with change: reluctant. So please update your sidebar links, add my new url to your bookmarks, and have patience while I learn how to blog again.
Love,
Martina

Hey Missing Saddle! I’m new here, today is my first day on this blog! Things are going well, thank you Curtis for getting me all set up. Hopefully I can provide you with tons of entertainment, drama, and maybe even insight gossip.

Some of you might have followed me from my old blog at www.martinayellowbug.blogspot.com while others of you might be new. Here’s the low down: I make spelling and grammatical errors, I will write whatever junk is in my brain, and last week was my 26th birthday party at the roller rink. So after a phone call from an anonymous reader demanding that I post my pictures, here they are:

LIES LIES LIES. I have no f#@$%$^&$@ing clue how to use this Wordpress stuff. The pictures will have to wait until I get much smarter.

The good news is that I will call Curtis soon and figure this stuff out. Fashion tip #1 - hounds tooth is going big this year.