Week #7: 50 Shades of Red

Once again, another week of winter training has been knocked out. Spring is just around the corner, and soon I will have race reports to write again. I'm glad that I decided to keep up a weekly chronicle over the winter, because I really feel like it's kept me motivated.

And last week my motivation got tested. You see, after years of hermit-like training, I have suddenly developed an aversion to riding alone. It's fine for an hour or so after work, but on the weekends I want company. I had an obligation for Sunday, so I rearranged things so that I could do my big Death March training ride for the week on my partner's normal day off, Friday. Unfortunately, that fell through and I got pretty cranky about having to train alone for the second weekend in a row. Like, inside my head there was a Teen Mom cast member yelling at her baby daddy. Of course, no one would want to watch a show called 32-year-old mom, because there would be significantly less drama. I could at least recognize that this race is my metaphorical baby, and mine alone, so it's my responsibility to take care it. After a bit of pouting, I went out and did the route from last year's race, which was 53 miles, and finished not terribly far behind the time of last year's winning co-ed team, all on my own.

What?!! No red carpet at the Shamrock Cycles NAHBS Preview Party?

The upside to getting the big ride of the week done on Friday was that it made the weekend's workload pretty light. I actually woke up Saturday morning feeling trashed from the Thursday weights/Friday long ride combo, so I rested during the day and partied in the evening. Of course, "partied" is pretty relative for me, but since I've been locked into training mode the last couple of months, (Didn't I make a New Year's resolution about that?) the opportunity to go up to Indianapolis for a viewing party of Shamrock Cycles' North American Handmade Bicycle Show show bikes could be considered a huge night out. It was very refreshing to dress up in clothes that were neither office or workout wear, including super tall turquoise platform wedges, drink a couple of beers, and see friends that I haven't seen since the end of cyclocross.

Hoping the outdoor light would show off the color.

Finally, I'll confess to the "obligation" that kept me from riding on Sunday. I had the opportunity to be a model for a makeover photo shoot at the salon where I get my nails done. (Yes, bike girl gets manicures.) The deal was that I had to let a hairstylist that I barely knew do whatever she wanted to my hair without question. (Sounds like a less badly written version of 50 Shades of Grey.) I've secretly always wanted to do this, so when the opportunity arose, I struggled over committing to losing a perfectly good Sunday, but ultimately decided it was worth it to fulfill a longtime fantasy.

The result? No mohawk as everyone was predicting, but a shorter, assymetical bob to replace the grown-out regular bob I had already. No big deal. However, she got more interesting with the color. She dyed it a few shades darker brown than normal, and bleached out some pieces underneath. Then she went back in and dyed the bleached pieces bright red. It's hard to tell a huge difference in the picture above, but it's kind of awesome when the bright pieces peek out from the bottom.