Quick Update
Okay, here is a quick update to satisfy the appetite of all my hungry blog fans, who are starving for another peek into the life of Rob and Lorena. Here is a peak into our delicious lives of late.

Work
Yes, that is Bill Clinton. Right here at the Potomac School. I don't even want to know how much money we forked out to have him come speak at our dedication day. I mean, he was a great speaker and all. He even inspired our students to work on starting the first school initiated NGO. All I'm saying is that perhaps we could have taken the school on a field trip to the Bahamas instead. We should have voted on this.

Play
A few highlights of the last several weeks:

• Poolesville road race: I got in a breakaway with one other rider from another team. Here's how the team tactics played out. There were a few attacks (riders who suddenly spring away from the main group, trying to get a lead), but the main group caught back up to them. A trick is to get teammates to launch consecutive attacks - once the group sprints to catch up, another teammate attacks again right away, and after a few of these in a row, generally the main group will be too tired to catch up right away, and *wha-la*, a breakaway forms. I launched an all out sprint right after the field caught up to my teammate Jen and her breakaway group. After a couple miles, another girl also broke away from the main group and joined me up ahead. We still had about 27 miles of racing left, so it was in both of our best interest to work together to keep our lead over the chasing field. We took turns "pulling" (riding into the wind and doing the hard work to go fast) and "drafting" (riding right behind another rider to decrease wind resistance, save energy, and get in a so-called rest for a few seconds before pulling again). Working together we were able to maintain our lead to the finish line. And our teammates, in back with the rest of the field, tried to get in the front and make it go slightly slower so they wouldn't catch us. This is called blocking. The really, really fun part about being in a breakaway like this is that you are working in alliance with someone you are ultimately competing against. So you never know when that person might launch a sudden attack and try to outsprint you. Well, I decided I wanted to try to get rid of her on a hill climb (my relative strength). One second we were taking our turns drafting, and the next, before she knew it, I was up ahead on an all-out sprint to beat her. The only problem with this is that we were still about 2 miles away from the finish, and once the hill climb leveled out, she caught up to me and got in my draft. Now, the rest of the racers were still way behind, so we didn't have to worry about them. So once she caught up, we slowed down to a crawl. Neither of us wanted to be in front to allow the other person a free draft to the finish, where they would then have more energy to sling around last second and win. So we poked along very, very slowly - just keeping an eye on each other's every move. Finally, my impatience got the best of me. The finish line was only a couple hundred meters ahead, and I jumped for it. She caught me in the last couple meters and won the race. Shoot! But that was one of the most fun races I've done - consuming both my legs and my brain.

Pic#1: Working together in our breakaway

Pic #2: HPC/List teammates before a race

• Amy's visit: Amy, Rob's sister, flew out for a few days. It was a lot of fun hanging out with her and Brittany, looking at wedding dresses and talking about all the details for Brit's upcoming wedding this summer. I would have pictures of this, too, if photographers would only place themselves strategically in my everyday life the way they do at my races.


• Mount Saint Mary Criterium: Two girls broke away early on in this race. Once it looked like it would stick, I also jumped the field, along with two more girls, to join the breakaway. The five of us worked together the rest of the race to stay in front of the main field, and it came to a sprint finish between us. I came in second. I'm not so hot at sprinting. But the good news is, I beat the girl who beat me in the sprint at the last race. And I got my upgrade to Cat 2. Yay!


• On The Rocks at French Creek: FUN mtn bike race. Camped out in Pennsylvania for this one. There's just something I love about camping. I have lots to say about this one, and most likely no one cares to read yet another stinking race report. But if so, I posted a blog about this on my mtn bike team website, www.dcmtb.com. I'm still nursing wounds from two crashes onto the rocks at this race.

You may wonder what Rob is up to. Clearly, this blog is all about me. Most people with blogs write about how cute their kids are, or what their families are up to, or current events, or whatever. Well, not me. If Rob gets around to posting any time again soon, perhaps you can hear all about him! But here's the skinny: He has gotten to take some trips to NY for work, and he loves those trips. He plays soccer, runs and bikes. And he is my number one supporter at my races, my personal soigneur. I'm still trying to convince him to take the job as my personal massage therapist, but he hasn't signed the contract yet. Not even for $500/hour!