my new blog

My new blog is located here:

www.strats.wordpress.com

another...

work in progress

under construction

I wasn't sure how to fix the formatting issues on my old blog design (which I really liked), so I decided just to start over. So the blog may be under construction for a few weeks.

Questions & marathon

Questions
I have a few questions for Wordpress users:

1. Is there an easy way to turn comments off in Wordpress?
2. Is there a way to password protect a Wordpress blog - without having to pay extra for customizing CSS?
3. Have recommendations/websites for good code for password protection if paying for the CSS customization is the only option?

Marathon
Props to all the marathoners yesterday who ran in crazy humidity/heat. The cyclists were out there representing....Margot, Angie, JT, and I even spotted a Cat6er. Even the newlywed Moses was there taking photos. I thought it was hot riding my bike around the course, so I have a lot of respect for those of you who ran.

Hudson CX Race

It's been a few years since I've done a cross race, so I figured I'd give the Hudson CX race a shot since Margot recently taught me some new dismounting skills. I thought the Hudson course was tough and I struggled, especially with the sand. I even had a half-ass crash on some easy part of the course, but I don't even remember what happened. I'm super bruised and sore today. I liked the part of the course that ran along/on the St. Croix river even though I didn't really have time to enjoy the scenery. After the race, everyone asked me if I had fun, and I wanted to answer "yes" (because those CX racers all love CX so much), but I just couldn't lie. I'm sure if I were better at CX I'd like it more, but for now, I just don't get excited about getting off of my bike during a race. In fact, I found myself thinking "I wish this were a crit" on multiple occasions. Props to my teammate AmyC who won the women's C division. I think I ended up 8th out of 10, but I'm not sure. Here's some video of my sub-par cross skills:



I shouldered my bike through the sand pit on the first lap, but I was too lazy/tired to do it on my second lap (see video) - then everybody was yelling "shoulder it", so I didn't make that mistake again:


p.s. Check out Lieselot's results from Worlds!!

the longest red light ever

So I was riding along the Minnehaha Creek bike path last night and as I stopped for a red light, this dude, who had been riding my ass for the past few blocks, rolls up behind me and starts talking to me:

Dude: wow, that's pretty nice...
Me (realizing he's checking out my bike, not me): yeah, I like it.
Dude: you must have a rich boyfriend....
Me (giving him the WTF look): huh?
Dude: ....to have a nice bike like that.
Me (giving him the I-want-to-punch-you-in-the-face look): actually, I bought this one myself.

He then went on to tell me how he wanted to get some "rims" like mine, and then asked me how many miles I've ridden this year. Luckily, I have no clue how many miles I've ridden, and I knew he didn't care anyway...guys like that only ask that question so you ask them how many miles they've ridden so that they're given the opportunity to one-up you. As expected, when the light turned green, he took off like a bat-outta-hell to show me how fast he was. His yellow neon jacket was a blur....I was so impressed.

neglected blog rebels

Apparently my blog was feeling so neglected that it decided to spice things up by reformatting itself. Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to fix it. So I think I should take this as a sign.

lunch time

Lunch time for the roofers working on our house yesterday - they brought their own microwave: