It's finally Winter

Well, I new it would happen, it is a bitter sweet thing for me. I love the snow but I hate it! Time for the rollers, but time to unpack the skinny skies! I can't believe it's been over a month again, I am not sure where the time goes. I had such good ambition to be a good blogger!
Here is a picture outside our house...

It just kept snowing and snowing and snowing! I didn't think it was ever going to stop. It was really amazing! The schools closed, everyone was excited and I was NOT! No school means I can't work and I don't get paid!
Here's Ben and I, he did a great job shoveling, something I don't really love to do!

Just think only a week ago, this is what Durango looked like. This was not good for December, but I liked it for cross racing. I am definitely a fair weather cross racer. We (Teal and I) had a great battle for the last race and we wrapped up the cross series. Perfect timing because the next day it started snowing and didn't stop for two days! Thanks Dave Hagen for putting on such an awesome cross series for us Durangoens! All your hard work is much appreciated!

Cross and Halloween!

I did my first cross race of the season! It was really fun and hard. Forgot how much it hurts! Here are some pictures Ben took. I didn't take any of him because it was so cold (night race) and I had to head home. So next race I will get some pictures of him and put them up!

Halloween!!!!

We had a great time. Ben dress up as a transvestite for Luca salon competition. He didn't win, but he won in our minds. The person who won shouldn't have, it was a girl and the costume wasn't even that good. It was rigged! The did a great job on Ben's makeup and we did a great job on Ben's cloths. Thanks for everyone that helped!

I hope to get more pictures soon. So I will post them when I get them.

Fall in Durango!

It has been so beautiful in Durango this fall. Ben and I went riding in the Gulch and had a wonderful ride. The views were beautiful! I still can't get over how nice it is in Durango! For some reason I don't think it's been this nice in October for a long, long time. Here are some pictures from our ride.

Participated in my first cross race today. Again the weather was awesome. I rode the mt bike bc I don't have a cross bike yet. But I was happy to ride it because the course was more suited for a mt bike than a cross bike. Well, for me. There were some pretty fast guys that raced on cross bikes.

Start of the race, I was hanging out in back.

Me around the fire pit. Good thing I didn't mess this part of the course up. I would have ended up in the fire! It was so nice out this morning that it felt so hot around this turn!

Look I was going so fast!

Ben was such a good boyfriend and hung out taking pictures while I races even though he had his own training. He took this awesome picture of Adam Snyder. He got third today behind Todd Wells (1st) and Chad Wells (2nd) and no relation.

trying to be good...

Ok, I am posting again!!!! On a trip, no, literally I am on a trip to Colo Springs, Boulder, and Denver....

I headed up to Colorado Springs to meet my coach, Corey Hart, on Saturday. I can't believe how cold it is up here!!!! The day I drove up it was gorgeous, clear blue sky, 60+ and as soon as I got over La Vita (not sure if that is spelled correctly) it was 23 degrees at the bottom! Total inversion. I have never seen anything like it before...everything was frozen and iced over. Come to find out they had an ice storm. Didn't know that happened in Colorado...I have never seen it happen. Well, I guess it does. So the rest of the drive was cold and gray. I got to the Springs and it didn't change, cold and I didn't leave the house unless I had to. I did have a great time there though; ate good food, drank good wine, saw good friends....

So I left today to head up to Boulder. The weather was much better today, more "normal" for October! Not much to report on. Just thought the crazy weather was worth to mention. Hopefully I will take some pictures tomorrow. I got spoiled with Ben's new camera and don't want to use my "old" one anymore!

Ben stayed home to be good and go to class. I miss him and wish he could have came with. Next time I guess.

This is a cool tree I saw hiking with my mom before I left on my little trip.



My mom taking pictures, much better than me. She got some incredible shots that day. I will have to upload them when I get back. She is really amazing...

Fall in Durango!

I think fall in Durango is my favorite season, it is so beautiful. Here are some pictures of this past weekend mt biking in the high country. Sorry pictures are out of order, left overs from my concussion.

Me at the top of Purgatory (aka DMR).

Haviland Lake, Ben and I had a picnic here. What a wonderful view!

Man that water was cold! Ben didn't even get in it...he doesn't like water so much.

Ben as he is dropping me.

Me trying to take "artsy" photo

Breath taking views! All day!

Ben and I after the ride. We (or I) survived and no crashes!

My new bike! Thanks Ben!

Wild life in Durango...

Pictures and stuff...

I think I should start uploading all the picture in large! Can you see me??!!?? Yes I went mountain biking. Ok, I should back up... I know I haven't blogged in a long, long time. But you see, there is this thing called Facebook and it has taken over. But I realize that not everyone has facebook so I am going to start (well hopefully) blogging again. So I have been racing my bike a lot! Did some stage races in the US and went back to Europe to race La Route De France. After La Route I came back and needed a break from the road so my wonderful boyfriend took me out on the mt bike. We had better luck this year! No "tests of our relationship"...and we even did a high country ride. Take a look....

First time this year on the trails...tearing it up! I even dropped Ben, then I discovered he stopped to pump up his tire! But I will take it!

Hi country ride. It was so beautiful up there!

Again, me catching some mad air...ok, that never happened. But I didn't crash!

Ben on the high country ride. He was recovering from his head injury and still kicked my butt! How can he go so fast!?! I really need to practice more...but sadly I don't think that's the problem!

Is this face directly related to his head injury...well, no I think it's a suffer face bc I put the hurt on that day in the Gulch. I rode so hard I had to get off the bike and sit down. And then later that day Ben called it his "recovery day." WTF that was such a hard day of training I had to take the next day off! This mt bike stuff is really hard!

And then....I had to join Colavita at the Gateway Cup Crits and CRASHED big time. I think this has to be the worse crash for me ever. And I have had a few! I crashed into the barriers going about 30mph head first. NOT GOOD!

This is my arm...stitches...4 inside and 6 outside. OUCH!!!! This actually doesn't hurt as bad as it looks. My head hurts the most. Well, it's getting better ever day. I am on day five so head aches are at a minimum, but man does my neck hurt. Going to go see the magical Dr. Frank on Monday! Hopefully he can give me some relief!

So it's the end of the season officially! I am excited to take some time off. Maybe go to some races with Ben and be his support! Maybe take a real vacation at some point, oh and start work. So if you are a teacher for Durango School District and need a sub, let me know! I am available.

Oh! and the BIG NEWS! I signed with Colavita again for next season! Very Excited!

What I am doing...

This is my host housing family in Tulsa for the races Tulsa Tough. They were some tough racing but Colavita did great as a team, we really worked well together and got on the podium 2 of the 3 days! Thanks Ostrem's for having us. You guys were awesome!

Me, Kathy, Scott, Jen and the kids Justin and Annika.

Yeah! I got my first NRC podium. Shelley Olds (1st), Me (2nd), and Jennifer Mcrae (3rd).

Lance Armstrong's Bike shop...seems like this is where I have spent most of my time in Austin. A little strange, but this is where my teammate Shontell works...so really not that weird.

Well, this is weird! I guess I am a stocker...this is Lance's home. Shontell took me by and I had to stop and take pictures. It wasn't planned, but a little funny. :)

Then I still need to report about Iron Horse Crit. I WON!!! Again for the second time!!! It was really fun...good competition. I didn't think I could pull it off. I was in a break with a really good sprinter Tiffany Pezzulo and she really made me earn that win.

My mom and I after the race.

My new teammate Tiffany Cromwell. She was so awesome and helped me get into that break, couldn't have done it without her! Thanks Tiff.

Me and my break partners, thanks mom for the good picts.

Me before the break happened.

It's official...

Over the past month I have been up to A LOT! As you know from my previous blog I was released from Michela Fanini and back to the states from Europe. Though I do miss Europe, racing, and my friends. I don't miss the team stuff, so I would say it was the best decision. I have been back in Durango only a little more than a week and it feels good to me "home" and seeing my friends and family.

So I wont keep you on the edge anymore about "It's official".... actually several things!

1. I am officially living at my parents house until August. It's really not that bad, they are great and fun to be around. Plus with racing I am almost never there.

2. It's officially summer in Durango...hit a high of 90 yesterday.

3. It's official that The Steaming Bean in Durango changed owner ship and I think Durango Coffee might have some competition....

Ok, just teasing you (well all that stuff is true) but I will get to the real news....

4. I am officially Carmen M Small again!
Now I just have to change everything. It feels good, but it's such a hassle to change your name...maybe that is why I put it off for so long. ;)

5. I am officially a team member of Colavita Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light!
I am totally excited about joining this team! I had such a great time with them racing at the SE crits and can't wait to race again!

I will try to be better about pictures...this weekend we have the Iron Horse in Durango. I am not doing the RR but I will race the crit. Try to get some good picts from that. And Durango is beautiful so I will try to be better and get some stuff up.

Well, I am officially released from Michela Fanini and very happy to be back in the states. I have thought long and hard about what I wanted to blog about next and have decided just to move on to bigger and better things.

I had been home for no more than a couple of days and got a call from Tina Pic (races for Colavita) and got an invite to guest ride for there team for the SE crit series. So I joined them and have been racing with them for about a week. I have been really lazy about pictures, but here are a few podium picts....

We have been on the podium everyday...with a few wins and hopefully more to come. We have two more races...one tonight and the last race tomorrow. I had forgotten how much I love to race my bike. What a better way to come home...racing with a wonderful team and killing myself every race so they can do there jobs!!!! I LOVE IT!!!

What can I say

Well, I haven't blogged anything because I really have nothing nice to say... My mom always told me if I didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Well, maybe that is not always true because I do speak my mind most of the time and really don't hold back (something I picked up from my dad). I guess you will have to wait for all the stuff I can't really say at this moment. BUT.....

Ok, this is how it went...

1. Oh f$#%, this girl next to me is doing an endo her bike...

2. Oh shit, her bike is going to hit me!!!!

3. Wow, that was really close....

4. I have to close this gap!!!

5. Oh, my foot is out of the pedal...

6. Hurry...hurry....hurry...clip back in

7. What the heck...what's going on, I can't clip in

8. Oh F@#* !!! my cleat is broken in half!!!!

9. Oh shit, my radio doesn't work and I can't say anything!!!!

10. Find teammate tell her to tell the DS what is going on....pedal with one leg until the car gets to me and I get in...wow...this sucks!!!! Would much rather be in the race than in the car. Oh well, what can you do, at least I don't have road rash!

What a cleat should look like.....

What my cleat looked like...

What have I been up to?

Well, a lot actually...

I have been really busy it seems and have not forgotten about my blog, just got put to the back burner. Our team had a first race in Switzerland. I forgot how pretty it is there. Switzerland is a wonderful place....but no wonderful muesli because we were close to the Italian boarder, so they like there dolce and cappuccino.

After that we had our team camp #2 and team presentation. I have discovered these tasty little pocket coffees to keep me going. I needed them for the team presentation, 6 hrs of eating, talking to people, and taking pictures was very hard...especially when the day before we were in our kits for 5 hrs taking pictures.

Next very exciting thing was getting to see BEN!!! He came over for some races and to see me! :)

It was such a wonderful time. We rode bikes of course, went to Florence, went to races, had wonderful dinners, and hung out! I was so great getting to see him!

Florence is beautiful place, if you come to Italy it's a must see! I can't wait to go back and do some shopping!

We walked all over looking at the spectacular sculptures, building, and artwork. We had a great dinner and then headed back to Lucca.

Florence is beautiful place, if you come to Italy it's a must see! I can't wait to go back and do some shopping!

This is my new friend Gino, he has been keeping me company. Thanks Ben!

Ben at his race in Italy, it was a tough day having to start in the last row with 100+ men starting. But I had a great day of training while he raced and then finished off watching him come in and thinking..."wow, glad I am not that dirty, think I will stick to road racing!"

First World Cup is coming up this weekend. I hope to have a good report for you. Lucca is getting warm and not so much rain. (well, I probably just jinx us, oops)