Ladies... Want to bike across the United States?  Tour the East or West Coast? Circle the big island of Hawaii? Ride  Alaska? This company offers so many different options, it's incredible.  

How awesome would it be to tour the coast of Italy?  Throw some cheese and crackers in the Bento Box and fill my aero bottle with Chardonnay.  Ciao baby!  (Hmm.. possibly a new racing strategy for the 70.3??)

Here's the link to the WomanTours website. 

They have a blog, too.   And, I noticed they're giving away some free subscriptions to Adventure Cyclist Magazine.  So, if you're interested, check it out. 

What does the trip price include? All lodging, most meals, van support, supportive leaders, maps, gratuities for restaurants. Not included are alcoholic beverages, personal expenses, cost of van shuttles to and from trip starting points, and airline tickets.

 It ALMOST makes me want to bike more.  Yeah, yeah... who are we kidding?   :)   

(And no, I am not affiliated or they did not contact me in any way shape or form to promote them.)

2010 Race Medals

So, I don't have any more races scheduled for the year, so I figured I'd review 2010.   What a year! 2009 was my first in triathlon and this year was one of some awesome accomplishments and one where I made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot about racing.

This year I competed in:
  - 3 Sprint-distance Triathlons
  - 3 Olympic-distance Triathlons
  - 3 Half Marathons
  - 2 Bicycle Rally's
  - 1 Adventure Race
  - 1 Half Ironman

1.  Supporting first -time races is good for the community and for our sport.

2.  Adventure racing is a heck of a lot of fun.

3.  If you want to race fast, you have to race smart. (And that means slowing down for sharp left turns)

4.  After finishing my first 70.3, I realized that I had the drive, the will  and the sincere desire to tackle a full Ironman.

5. Bike rally's are not to be feared. Personally, I felt they would be filled with a bunch of peloton-riding hard core cyclists.  But, everyone is so friendly and they didn't even laugh at my aero bars (at least not in front of me) And, rest stops every 10 miles... with cookies??  Seriously?  Made me question being a triathlete.

6. If the race you're going to ride / run in has hills... it's best to train on hills.  Trust me on this.

7.  No matter how far you are out of your league you feel in any race, you still belong there.  There is room for the person who finished first, just as much as there is for the person who finished last.  Don't let anyone tell or make you feel otherwise.  No one can take the experience away from you.

8.  Always double check the race signs.

9.  Bloggers are a great source of inspiration, motivation and experience!

10.  I can't wait for the 2011 season!!