"uh.....what happened to the last eight months?" and training: the prelude

I have to admit I was a little bit shocked when I looked at my last entry and saw it was from April. What can I say, I do what I want. Life happens, work, play, sleep, drink beer, and eat and that about takes up most of my time. And now with the addition of another to our family, I have even less time......introducing Linka our four month old Aussie pup, she's pretty much the coolest dog ever. She even went to the fantastic 2009 cyclocross nationals in Bend this month and showed off her abilities to capture the attention of every person that happened to walk by her. She's the perfect dog for us, put her in the middle of a huge race with tons of people, bicycles, dogs, beer, and icy cold weather and she rocks out like the star she is! I mean seriously people, how many dogs do you know that wear a scarf, not to mention, a cyclocross nationals scarf and look as rockstar as she does? ok, maybe I'm a little biased, but so what? I'm allowed.
So cyclocross nationals, ummmm.......pretty much the best event I've been too EVER!!!! We had the most fantastic time in Bend, rented a house, parked the truck and didn't drive the whole time we were there, walked to the race venue, walked downtown, ate at a different brewery every night, drank tonsssss of good beer.....I think it might have been my own personal heaven. The race was packed, people from everywhere, cowbells, snow, mud, and a drummer group from Portland that kept my booty shaking the entire time. Not to mention, most of the race course was on Deschutes Brewery property and they had a massive heated beer tent, dog friendly of course. Also, there were events every night after the race, a bike art walk through downtown, two huge parties, the second of which we attended at the Deschutes Brewery Warehouse (I almost passed out when I walked in and saw pallets of beer stacked to the 30 foot high ceilings). The whole weekend was wicked fun and we have already decided that we will be returning next year without a doubt. But it doesn't end there my friends.
Our return to Bend will be the subject of my musings for the next 11 months, for we have decided to launch the brainchild of Mike & Erich in preparation for our participation in the festivities of the coming cyclocross nationals. We will begin training in a mere three days for possibly the greatest event of our lives thusfar. My personal goal: to increase my fitness, become a stronger rider, and decrease my weight to 160 lbs so that I can participate in the grueling "Athena Queen of the Universe" race at the Deschutes Brewery Warehouse party. The hardest part of the commitment will possibly be giving up drinking beer, kind of ironic when my goal is competing in a race at my favorite brewery.:) Anyhow, I'm sure it will be an interesting journey, for me especially. And I plan on documenting it in its entirety. Who knows maybe I'll publish a book when I'm done! Heehee, ok probably not. So I'm off, I only have three more days to party my pants off before training begins, and Erich's birthday is New Years Eve so I have some partying to do!:)