7/5/10 - We leave for Pennsylvania in the morning. Payton races the Junior Track Nationals on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The track is a 333 instead of the 250 Payton and use to, but she has been riding well and shouldn't have a problem adjusting. The plan it to arrive and build the bike on Tuesday to give Payton a chance to practice on Wednesday.
7/4/10 - Payton and Troy drove back from Kansas, ate dinner, and then headed to Suzie's to watch the fireworks.
7/3/10 - The weather didn't cooperate for the final track practice before nationals. Troy and Payton when to Gunnar's to pick up the bike and then headed to Kansas to drop of Shadow and Dash.
7/2/10 - Another early morning to head to Gunnar's house prior to practice. It was a short day with only 2 hours on the bike. Payton decided to hang at Gunnar's house the rest of the day. After arrive home it was pork and rice and an early trip to bed.
7/1/10 - Rest Day. Payton lounged around the house and played Call of Duty - Modern Warfare online with Gunnar.
6/30/10 - Payton got up early and headed to Gunnar's house before practice. The morning was spent on the velodrome. Instead of returning to the track, they decided to do a 2 hour road ride in the afternoon. Payton had to borrow Suzie's road bike since she left her bike at the house.
6/29/10 - The day started with a dental cleaning but cycling practice was rained out. Because the weather didn't clear, Payton did a workout on the rollers.
6/28/10 - Rest Day
6/27/10 - Payton slept in and headed to the velodrome at noon. After a 2 hour practice, they brought out the starting gates so the kids could practice before nationals. Payton got to see many of the other kids she normally races against and heard stories about the Far East from Imari.
6/26/10 - In a change from the typical, Payton went to the velodrome for practice on a Saturday.
6/25/10 - Bad weather blew and the races were cancelled.
6/24/10 - Rest Day
6/22/10 - Payton headed to Gunnar's house at 7AM to start the two day practice routine. Payton will work out at the velodrome during the day and spend the night with Suzie. Wednesday will be another long day of 2 velodrome workouts and some plyometrics thrown in for fun.
6/21/10 - Today is the start of another training week. This will be an easy day and then two hard days in a row.
6/20/10 - Payton attended the Mad Duck ride and then headed to the Superdrome for track practice.
6/19/10 - Payton caught a ride to Gunnar's house with Troy to go on a easy ride with a few sprints with Gunnar. After riding 2 hours the two knuckleheads decided they were hungry and went to Outback Steak house for lunch. On the way home we headed to the Duck to see what was happing in the world for Grapevine cycling.
6/18/10 - Friday's are long training days. After a morning and afternoon practice, Payton pinned on her number for some track racing. They had a combined women's field and Payton rode strong and smart to earn a 2nd place overall finish.
6/15/10 - Payton headed to Gunnar's house early to resume the summer track schedule. She will practice from 10 until noon and then motorpace for 2 hours. The rest of the day will be spent relaxing at Suzie's. Tomorrow morning it is back to the track for more practice.
6/14/10 - Payton didn't have school and didn't have any training scheduled. She relaxed at the house all day and then headed to Hannah's to go swimming at 4:30. After a fun evening in the pool she headed home at 9:30 to get ready for an early start for track practice.
6/13/10 - Another typical Sunday. Payton had cinnamon rolls for breakfast then headed to the velodrome for a couple hours of practice.
6/12/10 - Payton's training was scheduled to be a couple hours of easy riding. She was unable to get out with everyone else in the house being sick. she settled for a roller ride.
6/11/10 - Payton is back from DC and back to the Superdrome for practice and racing. She spent the day hanging with Gunnar and then returned for fun racing. The goal was to keep the races short so they everyone could make it to the downtown night crits if they wanted to.
6/10/10 - Payton flew in from DC around 9:30PM. She had fun and is ready to get back to riding.
6/7/10 - It was an early morning to catch a flight to our nation's capital. Payton is spending 4 fun filled days on the 8th grade trip to Washington DC.
6/6/10 - Tomorrow is the big DC trip so the evening was spent packing bags and cleaning out the closet. Earlier in the day Payton wend to the Superdrome and trained from noon until 4:00. The temperature started at 89 and rose to 95 by the end of practice.
6/5/10 - After a lazy morning of doing nothing Payton headed to the Superdrome for a little training. Since there wasn't any racing, Doug opened up the track for Ian, Gunnar, and Payton to train.
6/4/10 - Today was the last day of school. After wrapping up her Grapevine Middle School career, Payton headed to Six Flags for an afternoon and evening with her friends.
6/3/10 - Back to Mercury Track practice for a little more running. After a series of 300m sprints they ran 100 and 50 meter sprints to improve their speed.
6/2/10 - Another cold has Payton taking the evening off.
6/1/10 - Tonight was another track meet with the Mercury Track club. Tonight's events were the 400 and 4x100.
5/29/10 - Payton raced the Women's 4 field at the Gary Glickman Crit. Similar to last weekend, it was hot with temperatures in the mid-90s. Payton rode the first 30 minutes strong but we miscalculated her food intake. She didn't have any gels with her on the bike and started to fade with 15 minutes left. She was a lap up with two other girls but couldn't continue to stay on their wheels. She held on to finished in 3rd still a lap up on the rest of the field.
5/28/10 - Payton had her 8th grade dance tonight. She got all dolled up and had a good time with her friends. The dance must have been held in Vegas because the girl isn't talking.
5/27/10 - Another ceremony at Grapevine Middle School. This was the 8th Grade Celebration. The gave out a bunch of academic awards and talked entirely too long.
5/26/10 - Tonight was the Washington DC student /parent meeting. We got the itinerary and it appears there are going to be some early mornings and long days. The best part is there is a workbook that Payton gets to fill out and then a follow up online class for high school credit.
5/25/10 - Payton went to her first track meet with Mercury Track Club. She ran the 100, 200, and 4x400 relay. This was a big change from the mile she ran at GMS.
5/24/10 - Payton got a haircut and then went to track practice. This is the last tune up before her first track meet with the club.
5/23/10 - Today was another day of racing at the Superdrome. The format was a flying 200 followed by match sprinting. Payton wasn't happy with her 200 time, but for not planning on doing any match sprint training until the end of July she did okay. Having a flying start puts her at a disadvantage with the smaller gear, but she is still working on getting her leg speed back. She match sprinted Lori from Austin and rode a technically good race. She was in the right position coming out of turn 4 but was just a little short on speed to hold out for the win. The next race Lori took advantage of Payton's small gear and took off from the start to force Payton to try and hang onto her wheel. She held in for the first 3 laps, but her legs started slowing out of 2 turn on the final lap.
5/22/10 - Racing didn't start until late afternoon, so it was a lazy morning. Payton was racing in the Women's 3 field. The promoters combined the W3 with the P12 the first 1/3, combined all the women the second 1/3, and raced the W3 and W4 together the final race.
5/21/10 - No training or racing tonight. Payton went to her awards banquet at school. She received award for outstanding cross country runner and for the Heart of a Pony. No idea what the second award is for, but it was one of four special awards they give out.
5/20/10 - Payton had her farewell choir concert at school.
5/19/10 - Payton had a afterschool event with friends. We eventually all met up at Baja around dinner time.
5/18/10 - Tonight was the final game of the inaugural season of soccer at Grapevine Middle. They went into halftime down 2-0 but fought back to tie it up 2-2. A late goal by the other team broke the tie and GMS's momentum. The girls fought to the end and put together a few more scoring opportunities but they all came up empty.
5/17/10 - Back to Mercury Track Practice for another fun night of speed work. After a mile warmup they tested how far they could run in 50 seconds. In addition to the normal crunches and situps the night ended with 4x100 practice.
5/16/10 - The sun came out at around 11 and velodrome practice started at noon. It was the first really hot day of the year. After two hours of junior practice they motorpaced for 2 more.
5/15/10 - The weather didn't look promising in the morning so everyone slept in. Payton spent the evening at the American Airlines center for the Nickelback concert.
The highlight of Grandma's house.
Payton and her cousin Alex
5/10/10 - After a long weekend of traveling, Payton jumped right back into the Monday routine. It was school, soccer, and then Mercury Track Practice. Jerry put it too them tonight and Payton came home a beat down.
Welcome Home Shadow!!
Kansas dogs in Texas.
5/9/10 - After lunch with the family, we were back on the road to Texas
5/8/10 - The day started with a trip to Ruby's house to see how she was doing. This was followed by a trip to Wichita to do a little shopping. After dinner Payton, Alex, and Toni went to Ruby's to spend the night.
5/7/10 - ROAD TRIP!! We loaded up around 6PM, threw the weiner dog in the car and headed north to Belle Plaine Kansas to see Payton's Great Grandmother Ruby.
5/6/10 - Grapevine / Southlake Soccer Game. Nothing good to talk about.
5/5/10 - It was the first hot day of practice for 2010. Payton was caught off guard by the heat, but an adjustment in the fluids intake will resolve that issue. Jerry was putting it to them, again.
5/4/10 - The GMS soccer team played great. They were winning by 1 goal when some loud and wrong parents upset the officials. Their ignorance was paid back by the other team getting award a penalty kick on a soft foul with 1:30 left to pay. The other team tied it up and the score did not change through the remainder of the game.
*note* If you are a fat, loud, woman that has no idea what the hell you are talking about or the rules of soccer, shut up. You aren't helping.
5/3/10 - The foot is better and Payton was back to the normal routine of after school soccer and Mercury Track practice. Nothing exciting to report.
5/2/10 - It was an easy day for Payton. No early morning ride. Just a easy workout at the velodrome.
5/1/10 - Today was a slow morning of sleeping in and relaxing. We packed up the Dodge and headed to the Superdrome for motor pacing at 1:00. On the way home we stopped for a smoothie and hit the home theater chairs for a lazy evening.
4/30/10 - The schedule showed racing at the Superdrome for tonight. Payton had some friends getting together for a surprise birthday party, so the schedule was scraped and Payton got to be a overly dramatic 14 year old girl tonight. She even put on a dress.
4/29/10 - Rest Day
4/28/10 - Tonight was a tough night at the Superdrome. Payton followed the program and was happy when it was over.
4/27/10 - The foot still isn't painfree, so there was no running. Payton did core work and lounges at Mercury Track practice.
4/26/10 - It was a hectic day. Payton skipped GMS soccer practice to go to the doctor to get the pain in her foot checked out. The doctor told her no running for a week. It was a rush from the Doctor's office to Mercury track practice to do a whole bunch of core work.
4/25/10 - Today was the second day of racing at the Matrix Crit. A few of the faces changed but it was pretty much the same race as the day before. Following the race, we traveled directly to Frisco. Stopped to eat lunch and then headed to the Superdrome for some training.
4/24/10 - The Matrix Crit started today. The Women's race started at 7AM which translates to a 4:30AM wake up call. We decided to race the Junior's race instead. The field combined all juniors from 10 to 18 that always means a stretched out race with multiple lapped riders. Payton was the best placed of all the female riders and somewhere n the middle of the boys in her age group. Following the race, we headed home for a little break and then went to Frisco for motor pacing. The evening was concluded with a family viewing of Avatar.
4/23/10 - Rest Day
4/22/10 - Following school it was off to Mercury Track practice. Payton has a little pain in her foot, so rather than take chances Coach Jerry found alternate activities . Some of the highlights were 2100 crunches and enough push-ups Payton landed face down when her arms failed. Following practice it was off to the store for new running shoes and shorts.
4/21/10 After soccer practice, Payton made a brief stop by the Mad Duck to eat her sandwich before heading to the Superdrome. Payton joined the rest of the gang for the open riding session for a workout.
4/20/10 Grapevine Middle had their second game of the season. They played much better than the first game and seem to be working more as a team. The game ended in a 0-0 tie.
4/19/10 Payton went to soccer practice after school. After soccer, she went to practice with the Mercury Track Club in Coppell. She had an intense workout but enjoyed it.
4/18/10 Yet another day of rain in the DFW area so Payton had a roller workout indoors.
4/17/10 The weekend of racing and soccer activities were cancelled due to rain. With the sudden free time, Mean Girl found new activities to keep her occupied. Shopping and the salon…We hit the mall to find the perfect dresses, shoes, and accessories for the 8th grade Formal and Athletics Banquet. After a pick me-up of a pretzel and Coke, Payton had a manicure and a pedicure. Now, that was a workout!!!
4/14/10 - In preparation for racing Friday and Saturday night, the scheduled was shifted so Payton would have an off day on Thursday. Following afterschool soccer practice we headed to Coppell North for Mercury Track Practice. It was a fun ride in the truck including granola bars and Pedialyte. The track workout was tough but there are definite signs of improvement in Payton's form. The short choppy stride is getting longer, smoother, and the arms are moving. If the weather holds next Monday, some photos will be added.
4/13/10 - Tonight was the first soccer game for Grapevine Middle School. The team had moments of good play but overall there were too many blunders to have a chance of winning. Many of the girls have been away from soccer for a few years. The defense forgot how to use offsides to make the field longer, the mids couldn't get the ball into space for the forwards to run onto. Some of the girls made some great individual plays but until the team starts to play better together it will be a long season. Payton played as a defensive midfielder and forced the ball away from the goal. The other team just consistently was able to get numbers on GMS and make the extra pass to give a clear look at goal.
4/12/10 - Another hard day of training. After school Payton had soccer practice and then went to Mercury Track practice. It was a hard night but still a lot of fun because her new pals Olivia and Payton were there to train with her. Coach Jerry did a bit of carrying-on but had the kids captivated and inspired by his antics.
4/11/10 - Today was an easy morning of lounging with Mom and eating cinnamon rolls. P-Kiddy went to the Superdrome for practice at noon. After returning home she got ready for a mommy / daughter night out at the Bon Jovi concert.
4/10/10 - The morning started with what was supposed to be an easy ride out of Mad Duck. Matt showed up, so the speed increased by a couple MPH. Instead of the scenic route through the park and a nice ride down to Grapevine Lake, we turned further into Southlake and found some hills to climb. After we made it back to the shop, we washed the road bike and grabbed the track bike for a little motor pacing at the Superdrome. Suzie brought the nasty stick and hit the kids with it over and over again. All of gang looked whooped. We left a little early from motor pacing and made a run to Keller for a soccer game. Payton got a smoothie from Smoothie King to fuel up for a hard 90 minutes. Upon returning home to the Mean Girl Racing Complex we watched few TV shows and then Payton was off to bed.
4/9/10 - Tonight was Payton's first race at the Superdrome for the 2010 season. Similar to what happens at roller derby, Payton was dubbed "P Kiddy". She was fighting allergies but still wanted to race. She decided to skip the junior races and only race in the Women's 123 field. It was going to be a challenging night since Payton was the only junior and the only Cat 3 registered this night.
The first race went well and she rode strong into 3rd place behind Suzie (former World Champion) and Erin (17, Cat 2). Payton was feeling worse after the effort of the first race and tried to eat and drink a little to settle her stomach. She road into a steady 3rd place but wasn't challenging for second.
The final race combined the Women's 123 field with the Men's 123 field. This race was going to be the toughest of the night. Payton was racing against the fastest men and women at the races. She was also the only rider in the field with a restricted gear. She was running a little under a 79 gear inches and most men had a 92 or higher inch gear. Payton fought to stay in the group when they formed into a train and waited to start attacking. When the men attacked, Payton didn't have enough gear to keep in but she spun her legs as fast as she could to keep her pace high. She showed her racing knowledge by getting up track and letting the elite men race below her. When the field came around Payton jumped and accelerated to get back in the pack. She took full advantage of the draft and rode as fast if not faster than she ever has in a race. She continued to turn herself inside out and stayed in for the remainder of the race. This race proved to the men she belonged on the track with them and earned the respect of the entire men's field. She will be back in action next Friday for Superdrome Point Series Race #3, followed by the Sprints on Saturday. If she has her legs, she will race the W123 field plus the Men's 3 field.
4/7/10 - The Lawrence trip has been cancelled. Their is a bridge out on the course and Velotek decided it was best to just cancel the event this year.
4/6/10 - It was another Tuesday in the standard routine. Payton went to school, came home and ate, and then went to soccer practice. After practice we made a short stop at Mad Duck to see all the DORBA people talking about how to make trail maintenance more difficult than the rest of the country. Nothing exciting happened at the house other than Payton and Troy watched bad You Tube videos of Bon Jovi to get ready for the weekend. Tomorrow night will be an easy night. Instead of going to the Velodrome, Payton is going to sing the National Anthem at the Rangers Game.
4/7/10 - The second day at Mercury Track Club was a little harder than the first. The core exercises were cut in 1/2 but the running was increased in both speed and reps. More girls were there and Payton seemed to still fit in. She had fun and is looking forward to returning on Thursday.
4/4/10 - Today was a much better day at the races. Everything went smooth and Payton was prepared for an on time start. The field was smaller than yesterday but they had the same field combinations. The race quickly split and a lead group of 3 got away. Payton stayed up front and had no problem staying with the front group. It was her, another lady, and a boy. They stayed away the entire race setting up a sprint for chasing the win. To complicate things, there were two groups represented in the break. The other lady didn't know if Payton was racing in the women's or junior's field. Had they know they were in different fields, Payton and the other girl could have worked together to drop the boy when he was struggling mid-race, but a little cat and mouse let him catch back on. On the last lap, the other girl launched an attack. It wasn't strong enough to stick but gave the boy a launching pad for a counter attack. Coming out of the last turn, Payton was sitting third and had to get around the other lady to chase the junior boy. She came up about 1/2 of a bike length short of winning but made a great charge moving into second. Had she launched a little sooner she would have caught him, but had we played different numbers we also would have won the lottery. Overall a good day and great learning experience for Payton.
4/3/10 - The day started off rough with cooler temperatures than forecasted. After a few hiccups we made it to the race and checked in. Payton ate and started to warm up only to find out the start had been delayed 50 minutes for a truck on the course. We didn't adjust well to the time change and Payton didn't get an adequate warm up. To make things worse, she was over dressed at the start. The group combined Junior and Women's fields. This always creates chaos due to the vast differences in skill and speed. Payton stayed up front for the first few laps but checked up in one of the hairpin turns and slide to the back. At that point the accordion began and it was a slippery slope until the gaps formed. She rode out the race in the middle of the field with no chance of bridging back up to the leaders. It was another refresher course in road racing.
4/01/10 - After school Payton ran with the Mercury Track team at Coppell North JHS tonight. She had a lot of fun but the workout was harder than the track workouts at Grapevine Middle. She met a couple girls she ran against at the meets and seemed to hit it off. She quickly earned the nickname P3 since she is the third Payton, and one of the others was also named after Walter Payton. The coaches initial impression is to move her from the 1600M to the 800M but have her still do the 4x400M, add the 400M then possibly add the 200M. She will probably have Friday off due to rainy weather and return to action with a race Saturday morning. It should be a relaxing day with no school.
3/30/10 - Tonight was the zone meet for track. Payton ran a 6:07 mile and finished 6th. It was a windy night but she was within 3 seconds of her personal best of 6:04. She didn't have results from the long jump but has issues with her mark on the first two jumps. She got of clean on the third attempt. We will have the rest of the event results tomorrow.
Tomorrow is also the start of the school soccer team. She doesn't have much information other than she has practice that will start after school and end later. They won't have uniforms, instead they are going with the "Cutters" look of white shirts, black shorts, and white socks. If you are unsure what the "Cutters" look is, add "Breaking Away" to your Netflix queue. After soccer practice we are headed to the Superdrome for a track workout.
3/28/10 - Another day without bike racing started with the Coffee Ride from Mad Duck. It was Troy's second day and we had nasty winds and cooler temperatures. For a while Payton rode with us, then she decided it was for her to abandon her parents. After the ride Payton had a soccer game. Same results as yesterday but they looked better.
3/27/10 - There was no racing today but that worked out well because it was Payton's first soccer game. Similar to last year half the team was new players. Almost all the teams they play against have been together for a long time and have very little turnover, so it makes it tough. There were moments when they put a few passes together but they haven't developed their rhythm yet. They played hard and fought tough wind conditions. We don't know the final score because we stopped counting. They play again tomorrow.
3/25/10 - Tonight was the last regular season track meet. Next week is the regional meet. Payton ran her normal events and finished 2nd in the mile and the team finished 4th in the relay. The temperature significantly fell as the sun went down and the race was much colder than a few weeks ago or practice this week. Payton continues to chase after a 6 minute mile. The race next Tuesday should be about 20 degrees warmer at race time giving her the best chance at reaching her goal.
3/24/10 - We made an attempt to go to the Superdrome for a workout. Payton completed a warm up and 2 standing starts before the rain shut it down. The weather should make a turn for the better soon and things will become more productive.
3/23/10 - The weather was nice and the fields were dry, so soccer practice was on. After about 30 minutes of skills work, the team scrimmaged the boys team until the top of the hour. Then as some of the boys left to go home, they redistributed teams and played for another 1/2 hour.
3/22/10 - Happy Birthday Mean Mom!! Troy turned another year older and since most people are too polite to ask, we will just say she turned exactly 39 years old.
3/21/10 - Day 2 of Fayetteville was dry but still cold. Payton raced at 11:40 with a combined juniors field. Gunnar and Sebastian got off the front at the hotspot but the rest of the pack stayed together until about 1 km to go. The finish was uphill into a headwind, so it wasn't a fun finish. The overall positions didn't shift. After the race we went to the bus for a late lunch and then packed up for the ride home. The wind was so strong the entire ride home that one of the bike racks finished the ride bent.
3/20/10 – Day 1 Fayetteville Stage Race in Fayetteville Texas. Somebody forgot to tell Texas it isn’t supposed to be cold in March this far south. After a race in the rain at Denton a few weeks ago, Payton said she would never race in the rain again. The day started with storms that came with lightning, hail, and strong winds. Payton’s road race start time was delayed by an hour. When they finally did go to the start line, the rain was coming down harder than earlier, the wind picked up, and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. The raced didn’t go well, but Payton kept pedaling and finished. Her bike handling skills continue to improve and she remained upright. She also had the right tire selection and pressure and didn’t have any flat problems. We probably went a little too conservative on the tire pressure and cost her some speed. It’s a lesson learned for the next time we are in this situation. One change will be a new set of rain race wheels. Mad Duck is building a stupid light clincher set of wheels for her green Victoria tires. This will allow here to run her normal pressure and maintain good handling in the rain.
The site might change the name to Elle Matador Racing. On the way back to the Bus to warm up, Payton came face to face with an escaped bull. As Payton rode closer, the bull backed up and started lining her up. Payton didn’t care that she just raced, she didn’t care that she was cold, she didn’t care that her legs were already burning, Elle Matador dropped the hammer and sprinted as if she was being chased by a bull.
After an afternoon of trying to warm up in Suzie’s RV, they got dressed for the TT. The rain broke but the temperatures continued to fall and the wind kept getting stronger. After Payton finished roll out, Christian Helmig came by to send her off. Christian rode to a victory in the Pro field earlier in the day. It was great for Payton to see some support from the team. Things were so good at the start line. The guy holding the bikes was having a terrible time keeping the people upright with the cross wind at the starting line. We watched multiple girls fall while waiting for their launch signal. Most of the Women 4 riders choose to start with 1 foot on the ground. When the juniors started lining up, none of them were able to get locked in prior to starting. The good news is the playing field remained level because this guy never got any better. Payton rode strong and finished 3rd. Gunner won and Sebastian came in second. With Suzie’s kids going 1, 2, & 3 it was a fun dinner.
After dinner, we went back to the bus to have a birthday cake for Troy. She turns older on Monday. I am too much of a gentleman to say she was turning exactly 39.
3/19/10 – Travel Day. The day started early with dropping Gretchen off at Love Field for a 7:30 flight. From there we went to Suzie’s house to load Payton’s stuff in the RV. This is the last we will see of the girl until race day. In a last minute change of plans, Campy is road tripping with us. There was no room at the Weiner Dog Hotel with this being the second weekend of Spring Break.
3/18/10 – Payton went to the Superdrome for another workout. After the fun was done, she headed to the mall with Gretchen. It was pizza for dinner and then a whole lot of packing for the Fayetteville Stage race.
Bonus Photo - This is where it all started, the original sighting of the Mean Girl.
3/13/10 - Today was the second and third race of the season. They were on the same course as last week but the weather was much better. There was still a little wind. Payton went off first with the Women's 4 group. There were 15 registered and 13 made the start. Payton rode smart and stayed toward the front.
With about 3 laps to go, Kayla had a team mate attack the field. As the other riders didn't work efficiently to bring her back, Kayla just waited. After enough energy was expended, Kayla made her jump across the gap. Payton and another lady created separation between them and 5th place. As they came out of the final turn, Payton got out of the saddle and started her sprint toward the line. The other lady tried to respond but couldn't match her acceleration and Payton coasted to third place.
In the second race, Payton was in the High School Women's field. They combined this field with the Boys High School B group. As always when this happens, the first couple laps are chaos. The fields mix together and if you get positioned properly, you are able to catch a free ride from the boys group. Payton got hung up in the pack and caught behind a few people that are scared to ride their bike and brake through the flat corners. Each corner they create a gap that has to be closed to stay in with the group. Payton's team mate Megan made the selection and stayed in with Kayla. The two of them worked with the boys the remainder of the race until Megan out sprinted Kayla for the win by about 6". Payton was caught out for the first couple laps but then settled in and started catching and passing riders one by one. She eventually finished 3rd, a lap up on the 4th place girl and the rest of the girls field.
After a hard morning of racing it was off to the Duck. Payton had to get measured for a new track bike. She wasn't happy about the stop because it interfered with her mall time. We all went to dinner at Medieval Times and had a fun night.
3/12/10 - Payton's friend Gretchen came in town for Spring Break. They hung out and made a trip to the mall.
3/11/10 - Payton had a track meet at Cross Timbers. She competed in the long jump, triple jump, mile, and 4x400. She placed 2nd in the mile.
3/10/10 - After the typical day at school, Payton went to the Superdrome for a track workout. She is starting to get back into the routine.
3/9/10 - The schedule was set up for soccer practice after school, but the rains over the weekend has left the field unplayable and practice was cancelled.
3/7/10 - The rain they predicted showed up and didn't let up through the entire race. Payton is still getting back into the race routine and had a good showing for her first day back. Some fit issues were identified during the ride, so a few adjustments will be made to the bike and hopefully we will be one step closer to dialled in. Payton did get to see some friends she hasn't seen in a while and in GS Tenzing fashion, there were plenty of cakes to be had. We brought home a white cake with sprinkles on top.
Racing Telemetry
Speed (Blue)
Heart rate (Red)
We will be back on the same course next Saturday but the groups will be split. Payton will race the Women's 4 and High School classes.
Photo From the Vault
Troy and Campy ...taken when Campy arrived at the Mean Girl Complex. Look at his eyes, you know he is plotting and up to no good.
3/6/10 - Today was the last tune up before Payton's first race on Sunday. After making a few adjustments such as adding a new stem and seat post, she needed to shake out the bike. After putting in some hard efforts, she decided to lower the seat a little. The weather is looking sketchy, so we prepared the rain wheels just in case. Payton doesn't race until 1:30 so she has plenty of time to sleep in and relax in the morning. Tomorrow will be a tough day at the races, for some reason they grouped all the women together. So Payton will be racing in a field that has first time riders lined up next to professionals. Since it is a crit course, Payton will use it for training similar to the Wednesday night Exxon ride. She will get to the front and hang in as long as possible. If she gets dropped, she will work with whoever is off the back with her. When the group comes back around she jumps back in and repeats the process. This will give her some hard effort intervals and an opportunity to race with some of her team mates. The good news is that even if she is lapped, she will work for her team mates towards the end of the race to hopefully help Metro get the win.
3/5/10 - The results are in. Payton took first in the long jump. She finished 4th in the mile and 3rd in the 4x400 relay. Payton showed Coppell West the nasty and threw down a personal best 6:09 in the mile and stomped a personal best 13'10" on the long jump. Making her watch Carl Lewis vides appeared to help. Next we will have her watch Carl sing the National Anthem to improve her performance in Choir. Overall it was a really good night
3/4/10 - Payton ran in her second track meet. Tonight she competed in the long jump, triple jump, 1600m and 4x400m. Overall it was a good night. Final results will be posted tomorrow. Photos are posted in the galleries as well as at www.meangirlphotography.com. The latter provides an option to purchase photos.
3/3/10 - After a late track practice Payton needed to finish work on her History project. No training tonight
3/2/10 - Today was a typical Tuesday. Payton went to school, got picked up at 4:30, picked up dinner on the way home, ate, changed for soccer and then went to practice from 6-7.
2/28/10 – Payton decided to sleep in today and skip the Mad Duck ride. She went to track practice at noon and worked out for 2 hours. She returns to racing on March 7th with the Denton crits.
2/27/10 – Today was a long day on the bike. The morning started with a ride out of Mad Duck over the rolling hills in Roanoke. After rushing to get back to the shop, she headed up to Plano for motor pacing.
02/25/10 - Launch of the new photography business. Specializing in high school sports, cycling, and anything else where the client has money.
2/25/10 – Tonight was Payton’s first track meet. She competed in the long jump, 1600m, and 4x400 relay. The long jump is one of the first events of the meet and the 1600m and relay are the last two. This requires Payton to run a mile, rest during the boy’s mile then immediately run the anchor leg of the relay. Payton might have gone out a little too strong on the first 800 meters of the mile. She was running just off Molly from Southlake Carroll’s and one other girls shoulder before dropping off the pace a little. She still managed to finish 4th with a large gap on the 5th runner and rest of the pack. With what she learned from tonight’s race, she should be able to run a strong 3rd with the possibility of sprinting for a 2nd. With her winter cycling training, Payton is carrying too much muscle to have anything for Molly.
After her brief rest, she was able to run a strong anchor leg a secure a 3rd place for the team. By the time Payton got the stick the 1st place team had about a 50 meter gap on her team. Payton really had to run hard because 4th and 5th place were trying to get around her.
2/21/10 – After a great day to be outside yesterday, the rain rolled in around 3AM last night. The morning rides were cancelled and it look as if the sun was going to be out long enough to dry things for an afternoon ride on the roads. Scattered rain clouds stayed in the area and it never stayed dry. Payton was back on the rollers for another workout. She is getting more comfortable on this each day and now gets on and off without the use of a hand hold. Payton has her first track practice after school on Monday but she won’t be required to show up an hour early during track season.
2/20/10 – Training was in full swing today. The weather cooperated and was in the 60s so the day wasn’t wasted. The morning started with the 9:00AM ride from Mad Duck. Payton went 43 miles at a fast pace. There was some wind but the route twists to alternate between tailwind and headwind. Payton hung with Lyle and they had a good ride. Then it was off to East Plano to motor pace with Suzie. Payton made four 4 mile efforts each of which finishes with a downhill sprint.
2/19/10 – Having secured her spot on the track team on Thursday, Payton didn’t need to stay as late after school. We headed over to Run On to get new spikes for her track shoes. A quick stop at the grocery store and we headed to the house for Taco Night. Payton took the night off from training in anticipation of a tough day of riding on Saturday.
2/18/10 – Cross country is over and now it’s off to track tryouts. Because they are not practicing, Payton was able to sleep in and go to school at the standard time. After school, Payton qualified to run the 1.5 mile and do the long jump. They limit the kids to either the mile or 1.5 mile. They are not allowed to run both in a single meet. Payton ended the evening with an hour long high cadence roller workout.
2/17/10 – Today was the Meet of Champions for cross country. Payton qualified for the meet last week and was running against the top 70+ cross country runners in the area. Payton and Bailey were the only 8th grade representatives from Grapevine Middle School and they made a great showing. Both girls were on the school’s basketball team and went into school an hour early to practice cross country part time. They both ran a strong race and were together going into the last 180 degree turn. Payton was a little quicker with her kick and finished 17th overall. Bailey sprinted around 2 girls to move up to 24th in the last 50 meters.
After returning home, Payton did a 1:15 cycling workout on her rollers.
2/16/10 – As one season is about to end, today was the first practice for spring soccer. About ¾ of last fall’s team registered for spring and the rest of the roster is filled with new girls. One of the girls returned from a few seasons ago. The weather still hasn’t broke and it was a cold at practice. During a fun scrimmage game a few of the girls already started to click with their passing and teamwork. Coach Don has returned for another season and hopefully can leverage some of the momentum the team picked up at the end of last season.
2/14/10 – The snow has mostly melted but the fog rolled in. It was too dangerous to train on the roads so it was back inside to the rollers. After a morning workout the family headed to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Payton spent the afternoon at a movie and the evening lounging around the house watching the Olympics.
2/13/10 – The snow is melting quickly and the drains on the road can’t keep up. Today’s workout was moved indoors to the rollers. Payton did an interval workout based on her heart rate zones. This is the first time she has used her heart rate for training.
2/12/10 – Record snowfall in Texas cancelled school and any riding outdoors. Training moved to her rollers. She is getting more comfortable riding them and enjoys them more than the trainer.
2/11/10 – The snow has started and school was shutdown a few hours early. They cancelled all after school activities. Payton stayed at home and took the night off. The snow on the roads in Texas isn’t the problem; it’s the Texans on the roads when it snows. The best bet is to stay at home and watch the carnage from the house.
2/10/10 – Payton went to school early for the 8th grade vs. 7th grade basketball scrimmage. After a day of learning, Payton finally got a chance to race at a cross country meet. Payton ran well and qualified for the Zone Meet. The cross country training shall continue.
2/9/10 – Training was derailed by a choir event after school. They contest was held at Colleyville Heritage High School. That is where Payton will be headed next fall.
2/7/10 – Today was the first day back on the velodrome. The weather didn’t cooperate but the rain held off long enough to get the practice in. Payton wore all the cold weather stuff she owns and was able to keep warm. Troy wasn’t so lucky and had a cold day in the infield.
2/6/10 – Today training agenda was race simulation. Payton went off with the fast ride from Mad Duck. The ride started out tough because the group got split by traffic while leaving the parking lot. Payton and Austin chased until they got back on. Payton trained close to her limit for the first 30 minutes. After the group broke apart, Payton and Austin doubled back to meet up with the 10:30 ride. This goes around the west side of the lake and through the rolling hills on the way to Roanoke. The total training day was 46 miles.
After she finished training, she had Starbucks and then headed straight to the shower. Within minutes, plans were made to put on too much make up, wear clothes that are too tight, and hang out with her friend Melissa. The hanging out turned into a sleep over, so she will probably suffer her first day back on the Velodrome.
The track bike is prepped and bag packed in anticipation of returning to the Superdrome. The weather isn't looking great, but this will probably be the last good day for a while. It will be dry but in the 40s.
2/5/10 – It was another early day to go to cross country practice before school. After a long day of learning and basketball practice afterwards, she headed home to take a shower. The cycling kit and bag were prepared for Saturday’s ride then it was off to the mall with Melissa.
2/4/10 – Payton’s team didn’t have a game tonight, but Payton still went to support her friends. After the game she headed home, ate, did homework, and went to bed.
2/3/10 - The rain stuck around and the cross country meet was cancelled. Payton hung out at the Duck until Troy picked her up to head home.
2/2/10- It was a typical day of training and school. Payton headed into school an hour early for cross country practice. Then she stayed an hour late for the second ½ of basketball practice. Upon arriving at home, she took a shower, ate, texted friends, and fell asleep.
2/1/10 – It was an early morning to make cross country practice. After school she had basketball practice. She tried to line up riding with the Monday night group, but the combination of rain and cold discouraged everyone and nobody went.
1/31/10 - Today Payton went riding with Suzie, AJ, Ian, and Gunnar. AJ was nice enough to pick up and drop Payton off. It was a cold day so Payton packed all her gear so she could stay warm. It wasn’t a hard day on the bike but they did a few sprints mixed with a lot of laughing.
1/30/10 – After a long night at the birthday party, it was new shoe day. Payton got a new set of spikes for track. She fell asleep shortly after returning home. Woke up to eat and went back to bed.
1/29/10 – After school Payton ate and got ready for a sleep over birthday party.
1/27/10 – After last week’s rain out, they finally got to run cross country. Payton finished 6th and is starting to get more comfortable with the 1 ½ distance. The race was the first time she had to run on a muddy course. A lot of kids lost their shoes in the mud and some were left crying.
1/26/10 – Today’s training was postponed to allow time for a school project. As always, class work comes first.
1/24/10 – The weather report looked promising for the Coffee Ride, however they forgot to mention the wind. On the way to the shop all the flags were parallel to the group and snapping in the wind. The ride went off at 9 and it was a whoopin' every time we turned into the wind. For some reason, we never seemed to get the wind behind us. Payton did her best to hide behind the wide bodies and keep out of the wind. The coffee was good as always. The company was fun. Overall it was still a fun day on the bike.
1/21/10 – Tonight was another night of basketball. They switched the order of the games, so Payton is now the late game. The 5 weeks off for Christmas break were apparent in the way the team played. Payton played strong on defence and did a good job bringing the ball down the court. They continue to have problems finishing the play after they set up the offense.
1/20/10 – Today was supposed to be the second cross country meet in Keller. After the team and parents made the trip to the meet, it was cancelled for fear of tornado and thunderstorms. Nothing materialized but better safe than sorry. This gave Payton a little extra time with her mother at the hospital before she had to head home to get some sleep for school. Everything looked good for the Mean Mother but the doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation.
1/19/10 – There was no school, but Payton had a basketball practice. Payton rode her bike to Mad Duck and they gave her a ride to practice.
1/18/10 - MLK Day.
1/17/10 - The second day of riding went better. No mechanicals and the kids went about 62 miles.
1/16/10 – Today was long ride day with Suzie. The morning started overcast with the threat of rain. The roads still had wet spots from the rain the night before. They rolled out at about 9:30. Gunner picked up a stubborn flat that they couldn’t get repaired on the road, so they called in the Sag Wagon. After Gunnar was taken care of the ride continued. We all the waiting for Gunnar’s assistance to arrive, the ride was shortened to 42 miles.
Everyone returned to Suzie’s for a pasta dinner and second birthday celebration for Payton. The kids had a lot of fun running around and unwinding after a hard morning of riding. This is the first time in a long time the entire crew was back together. Tomorrow they intend to roll out for another long ride. The forecast looks like 45 at the start warming up close to 60 by the time they finish.
1/15/10 – The Mean Girl is now a little bit older. Today was her 14th birthday. They had their last day of finals for the semester so it was only a ½ day. The basketball team had a team building exercise at the rock climbing gym. From watching the previous games, they would have been better served by a team building exercise at the how to play basketball gym. After the event, Payton headed home, got cleaned up and ready to head to the Duck.
Payton made out okay with her gifts. Her grandmother got her a pair of Uggs I don’t understand. She got to make a trip to Eyes Nouveau to pick out her new reading glasses. We ate cake at the duck and then gave her the presents. In addition to the reading glasses, she got a pair of Oakleys in the custom colors she wanted and her prescription. She will no longer need to wear contacts when she rides. The next envelope had a wonderful card from her parents and a little money to put in the bottom of her pocket. This combined with the check from her St. Louis Grandmother established a nice hunk of change in her pocket. Her big gift was a trip to Los Angeles to go to the USC Soccer Camp this summer following Track Nationals.
1/14/10 – Payton didn’t have the best start to the day. The dog was acting up, she was under performing, and mama wasn’t having it. There was a short but effective family meeting and things turned around quickly.
1/11/10- Payton flew home from the weekend. She had some free time so they spent it shopping. Overall it was a fun trip and Payton learned a lot about racing cross. Now it’s time to get back into the normal training routine.
1/10/10 – Today was the last day of racing. Payton is still racing in a combined field with the Men’s A, so it broke up quickly. She didn’t worry too much about her overall placing considering she was the only junior there. She focused more on doing every lap better than the last. Things will get easier when she is on a proper cross bike. The Mad Duck Duckworks is back to the drawing board working out the details. We aren’t sure of the shape of the final product, but it will be a no compromise machine.
1/9/10 – Today was the second day of racing in Florida. The women were combined with the Men’s A field. Payton is still having fun.
Everyone loves the airport security line.
1/8/09 – The day started with a 4AM wake up to catch a 6AM flight to put her in Florida early enough to build her bike and make a few warm up laps. The information is scarce, but we do know she had a hot dog for dinner and is having a lot of fun.
1/7/09 – School was delayed 2 hours therefore there were no after school activities. She was excited to hear that the Spelling Bee was rescheduled for another day. There is more time for her to study!!! Payton came home on the bus and finished packing for her trip to Florida.
1/6/09 – After school Payton ran in her first cross country meet of the season. It was extremely cold for Texas, so nobody was happy. She finished 8th and was the top finisher from Grapevine Middle. This is a good result considering how little she trains for running.
1/5/09 – After school Payton got a ride on the Mad Duck express and hung out at the bike shop until Troy picked her up on the way home. She was tired from getting back into the regular school routine and fell asleep early...
1/4/09 – School is back in session. So, we go back to cross-country practice in the morning and basketball practice after school...
After mom picked her up from basketball practice, she headed to the Monday night ride with Austin. The cold weather kept most people away, so they headed back home and rode on the trainers. The movie selection was “The Hangover”
1/3/10 – With temperatures in the 30s, Payton opted out of riding today, instead she went with her mother to lift weights. Then it was off to the bookstore for some magazines and some Starbucks. The mountain bike was packed in a borrowed Mad Duck Cyclery travel case. Payton is on the first flight to Florida Friday morning to go racing in Daytona Beach. She has 3 races and will fly home the following Monday.
1/2/10 – With the stadium stairs training complete, today was the first day of motor pacing. The workout was cut short when the scooter battery started to get low. After the workout, she had the usual post-workout drink, hot chocolate from Starbucks.
12/29/09 – Payton decided to do her work out on the rollers. She set them up in the doorway so she could still see the TV.
12/28/09 – The temperatures continue to be in the 30s, so Payton did her workout with Little Chris on the trainer. In between texting, they bonded with the usual "kid talk."
12/27/09 – Got up relatively early (9:00) to spend some of the Barnes and Noble gift cards. Payton came home with two new books.
Today was the last day of stadium workouts. Motorpacing starts next weekend. It warmed up a little but was still a cold day for Texas, so Payton got some hot chocolate on the way home.
12/26/09 – Payton lounged and then spent the afternoon at Main Street. It has bowling and other overpriced games.
12/25/09 – The big hit of Christmas was the Kindle reader. Payton downloaded and read a book. She also got a bunch of clothes and book gift cards. While she wasn’t reading, she played against Troy on Wii Sports Resort. The two girls are so competitive they made quite the ruckus. The evening ended with Payton going to see Avatar with a friend.
12/24/09 – Today consisted of doing a whole bunch of nothing. The incoming "snow storm" pretty much put a halt to normal activities in Big D.
12/23/09 – The weather was 60 degrees on December 23rd. There was no choice but to go outside and ride. Payton met up with Big T and Austin and took out the Yeti. After a couple hours of mountain biking, they loaded the car just as the rain hit. The timing couldn’t have been better. Overall it was a great day of riding with only a few falls.
12/22/09 – The morning started with a trip to the dentist for a cleaning. The dentist was happy with the improvement of Payton’s brushing. This might be a side effect of the discovery of boys and the multiple showers and wardrobe changes that come with it. Training was canceled to attend the Mean Dad’s birthday celebration at Mad Duck. Payton and the Mean Mom got dad the best birthday gift ever. We call them the Golden Slippers...
The birthday celebration was followed by Pizza at Pauly’s and relaxing at home watching KU basketball.
12/21/09 – Today was the first day of Christmas vacation. Payton lounged around the house with her wiener dog, Campy until Austin picked her up to take her to the Exxon ride. The ride went well and Payton had a lot of fun before coming home to hang out with her wiener dog.
12/20/09 – Payton decided to take the morning off from the coffee ride. The temperatures didn’t warm up until noon, so it would have been miserably cold. After lunch, she headed to Plano to run stadium stairs with Suzie.
12/18/09 – Today was Payton’s last day of school until January. After school, training had to be put on hold for some family fun. After a brief stop at the Duckblind, Payton selected the Christmas tree. Then the Mean Girl and Mean Mom headed to Target to get some decorations. Finally the tree was trimmed and the girls watched a Christmas movie on pay-per-view. The weather looks to be cold in the morning, so tomorrow’s ride will probably be pushed to the afternoon.
While the girls were relaxing and watching the movie, arrangements were made for Payton to attend the bike race weekend in Daytona Beach Florida January 8 – 11. Paula and Shannon are picking her up from the Orlando airport and putting her up for the weekend. Since this is a cross race, Payton will be taking her Yeti. Regardless of the race outcome, it should be a fun road trip.
12/17/09 – Tonight Payton played basketball against Coppell North. The team lost, but Payton played good defense and was solid brining the ball up to set up the offense. Because of tonight’s game, and the start of Christmas Break, there is no cross country practice in the morning and only a ½ day of school.
12/16/09 – Payton was given the option of riding the virtual trainer at Mad Duck or doing the Exxon ride with Austin. She decided to do the Exxon ride and did some higher speed riding. The temperature kept a lot of people away, but Payton was prepared with her cold weather gear.
12/15/09 – The day started with cross country practice. After school basketball practice went to 4:30, then Payton headed to Mad Duck to wait for her mom to pick her up. She didn’t do any riding but had a good time hanging out.
12/14/09 – The morning starts as usual with cross country before school. After school was basketball practice until 4:45 and then a rush to get ready for the small chain ring Exxon ride with Austin and the team. The trip included a stop at Starbucks both on the way to the ride and the way back home. The wind was tough but it was still nice to be out on the bike.
12/13/09 – Training was derailed by a choir concert at the Great Wolf Lodge. The coffee ride and stadium stairs training will have to wait until next weekend.
12/12/09 – The cold weather was still hanging around but Payton had her cold weather gear for her ride with Suzie. They were out for about 3 hours at a moderate pace. Payton felt fine, but a few of the other kids weren’t as prepared and slowed as the temperature dropped.
12/11/09 - The morning started with cross country practice followed by school. After last night’s game, Payton didn’t have the long basketball practice after school and headed to the shop at 3:30. After a Quiznos sandwich and hanging out for a bit, everyone headed home to relax.
12/10/09 – Cross country in the morning, school all day, then a long night of basketball games. The team still lost but is improving. They were only down by 1 point when time expired.
12/09/09 – The day started with cross country practice. Basketball practice after school lasted until 4:45, and then it was off to Mad Duck to ride the trainer. Payton received plenty of encouragement from the guys in the shop as she rode some hills.
12/5/09 – The day started by sleeping in. The temperature was too cold to enjoy riding. Payton and Gabby went to the mall to do a little shopping. After Gabby went home, Payton and Troy went to the mall to do a little shopping. Both Payton and Troy came home with stuff for themselves while I (Chris) was sent to buy toilet paper. So we all got something nice today. Later in the evening, we had family moving night. We saw The Blind Side. It was a good movie and showed how rewarding doing something for someone else while wanting nothing in return could be. Upon our return home, we prepped the cold weather gear and are looking forward to the Coffee Ride in the morning. Payton plans on riding with the fast group this time.
Hopefully The Blind Side was more than just movie night and Payton now understands how lucky we are to have the things we do even though we don’t have everything we want and probably want ever get most of these things. We’re going to be okay because having my best friend and Payton’s mother healthy is all we will ever need. This past year put a lot of things in perspective for all of us, and now we see we can do better for those around us that haven’t been as lucky as we have.
12/4/09 – Today was another fun day. Payton ran cross country in the morning and since they played last night, they didn’t stay the extra hour for basketball. We went to the duck for a little while and then Payton went and hung out with Gabby. Eventually they made their way to our place and Payton had her first sleep over at the TX apt.
12/3/09 – Cross country practice started today. Payton now goes into school an hour early and runs since she is playing basketball after school. Today was their game and she didn’t get home until after 9, so there was no cycling workout.
12/2/09 – The first cross country practice was postponed until Thursday. So Payton has 1 more day of sleeping in late. After school she had basketball practice and then went to the Duck for a trainer workout. The new trainers Clarence got in are so quiet, it was hard to tell if she was working or just spinning.
11/29/09 – The day started with the coffee ride. The early morning good weather had everyone feeling fast, so the pace was higher than normal. The group was working well together, so Payton sat in and cruised through the ride. This was followed with a quick bike exchange and trip to the Superdrome for the final practice until February. The first 30 minutes were nice but the clouds blew in and dropped the temperature about 15 degrees followed by rain. The practice was cut short and training was adjusted to a 5 mile run. Following the run, we returned home for Steak Night.
This next week will transition into more base miles and power workouts in the gym and on the bleachers. Cross country practice starts on Wednesday mornings, so Payton’s wake up time will be moved from 6:30 to 5:30 to allow her to practice CC before school and continue to play basketball after school.
11/28/09 – The Joe C ride was canceled due to a mechanical, so Payton rode with the Mad Duck group. She got off the front with another rider after the turnaround point and took the long way home. She added about 4 extra miles to the ride but it was still an easy day on the bike.
11/27/09 – After a lazy morning of doing nothing, Payton went to the Superdrome for track practice. There were a few new faces and the training included three 20 lap (3.1 mile) efforts in a race format. It was a fun night so Payton stayed in her warm up gear and worked on her spin.
11/26/09 – Spent the afternoon having Thanksgiving dinner with Suzie and her family. It was a wonderful meal and great company.
11/25/09 – The day started with weight training and was followed by a 40 mile ride with Ian, Sebastian, and Suzie. When we got home, Payton has decided to continue cleaning up her pit of a room. When she got to the bottom of the pile, we realized she needed to replace her bed sheets. After a stop at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target, the project is almost complete. It is hard to believe it is the same room and she is the same girl. I don’t know what happened, but the daily routine now includes makeup, perfume, and fancy hair care products. The Mean Girl can’t pass a mirror without stopping to look. This needs to be broken up quick, fast, and in a hurry. Focus will be placed on finding her inner thug.
11/24/09 – Another day off from school. Rather than wasting the day lying around the house watching TV, the Mean Girl decided to clean up her room. She might have received a little encouragement from the Mean Mom. This project was interrupted with a trip to the Superdrome for training. The temperature dropped when the sun when down, but her bag was packed with the necessary cold weather gear. After practice, Payton went home with Suzie so she could train with the group again in the morning.
More from the Mean Girl Archives
Where it all began...
Payton's first ride on the new bike a few years later.
Payton's first crash on the new bike a few feet later.
Ouch!!
While you're laying around the house getting soft and flabby, Payton is focused and dedicated. Prepare for a whole new nasty for 2010.
The cost of cycling isn't cheap. The whole family pitches in. Forget what you've heard, pimpin' aint easy.
Here's a rare glimpse into the driving force behind Mean Girl Racing. Enjoy a photo of the lady that became the very first Mean Girl rider. The very beautiful and strong Dr. Troy Thomas. Don’t let her size fool you, she is small but powerful. Most of all, she is “practically perfect in every way” and loved by the whole Mean Girl and Mad Duck family. Stay strong, we still have 2/3 of our lives left to live.
11/22/09 – Today was a full day of training and then a little fun with friends. The day started with the Mad Duck coffee ride. Payton rode with Big T and enjoyed the nice weather. That was followed by a workout on the track. This required a little more effort but was still a lot easier than the workouts this past summer. Then training took a turn and the intensity increased. The stadium stairs and track workout left her feeling beat down.
Following the workout, we stopped at the beauty supply store to get a hair straightener and some high dollar shampoo and conditioner plus some stuff you put on after the conditioner but before using the hair dryer.
The evening ended with going to a movie with friends.
11/21/09 – Payton decided to take the day off from riding and slept in. Then it was a trip to the Peyton Thomas Salon for a haircut and highlights. The Metro kickoff party for the 2010 season was held at Metro VW. It looks like it is going to be a good year. The women’s team picked up some strong riders including an older junior Megan Babb. Payton is going to have a great opportunity to learn from the older girls in preparation for moving up in 2011.
11/20/09 – Everything has been fixed and prepped for the weekend. Big T replaced the broken spoke and glued a new tire on the rim. Tim G had an Easton TKO track bar that might fit better than the Deda bars Payton was running. I have been unable to find anyone that carries these bars and they don’t show up on the Easton website, but they appear to fit a little better. After we swapped the bar, the excess behind her hands was removed. Sorry Tim, but your hands are probably too big to use these bars anymore. It looks like they just became a permanent part of Payton’s track rig. Thanks for supporting junior cycling.
Uncle Joe cancelled the Saturday ride out of the Frisco Bikemart, so we got Payton a hair appointment at 11. The original plan was to get the appointment at 12 so she could make the beginner wobblers ride, but there was no opening at the Peyton Thomas hair salon. After Payton gets her hair did, the Metro team meeting is at 3PM. It will be nice to see the team again. Sunday will be the coffee ride, track practice, and stadium stairs routine. Then she gets to start her week off from school for Thanksgiving recess. We are thinking she can spend the day at the Duckblind and ride the Tacx trainer during the week when Clarence doesn’t have her working for free.
11/15/09 – Today went as planned. Payton went to the Coffee Ride at 9. A spoke on her rear wheel popped, so she got a wheel from a domestique and left them for dead. She ate some donut holes at the coffee shop before riding back to Mad Duck. The rear wheel was left with Gary to get the spoke replaced and the car was loaded for the trip to Frisco. After a couple hours of track practice, Payton went to the stadium to run bleachers. The high school stadiums in Texas are a lot bigger than most parts of the country, so running bleachers isn’t a joke. After the workouts were complete, everyone headed to Suzie’s house for dinner.
11/14/09 – Training is back in session. Rode 57 windy miles with Joe C and the juniors from FCC. Stopped at Burger Fixins for lunch, got a smoothie, and went to the Duck. Tomorrow will be the coffee ride in the morning, track practice mid-day, stadium stairs, late afternoon, and dinner with Suzie and Tim.
11/07/09 - The new site has been uploaded. There is still work to be completed on the photos and technical page. They should be completed in the next few days.
11/04/09 - The newest prospect. Maximilian VonDavis and his wonderful wife Rachel.
11/1/09 - Training is on-going, but the webpage updates will be sporadic the next couple of weeks. There are other things that need to be addressed first. The Mean Girl Racing site development team's ship is taking on water and listing. We found the problem and are well on the way to getting it righted and back underway.
We look forward to the return of our normal update frequency. Stay tuned for the start of another exciting year with Mean Girl Racing.
** NEWS FLASH **
Maximilian VonDavis it’s time to rejoice, soon you will be assimilated into the unstoppable machine called “Mean Girl Racing.” Now is the time to practice your tempo riding and bottle fetching skills.
10/24/09 - The offseason is over and Payton is back to training. Today started with a soccer game, then a quick trip to the Superdrome. Jeff LaBauve hosted a sprint clinic teaching an introduction and tactics for match sprinting. After the clinic, Payton went with Suzie for more tactical lessons and cross training. She plans on a morning workout and then Youth Practice on Sunday.
The Yeti mountain bike project was completed and sized yesterday. Payton is now set to go fast on the dirt.
10/11/09 – The age based road race went worse than the skill based race on Saturday. It was cold, raining and slick. Payton tried to stay toward the front to keep out of trouble, but one bone headed move by another rider left her on the floor. This boy got nervous in a corner and hit the brakes. When riding in a pack, that leaves nowhere for the other riders to go. Fortunately the wet roads let her slide out and not suffer too much injury. Other than a little scrape on her hip and a sore thumb, she was undamaged. Kyle saw the crash and tried to get the group to sit up and let the down riders rejoin. The bone head decided to show his great sportsmanship by attacking after stacking up the other riders. This forced Kyle and the rest to start chasing again. Regardless of today’s outcome, it was a still very good race season.
Time to go back to the weightroom!!!
Now Payton is going into the offseason to do a little mountain biking and start preparing for her first full year racing in the Women’s field on the road.
10/11/09 – Today was the skill based State Road Race Championships in Copperas Cove Texas. Payton is still trying to get over the flu and not riding her best. To make things worse, the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler than just a few days ago. There was a lot of crashing throughout the different fields but Payton stayed upright. Other than that, there was nothing exciting to report. Here is one from the Mean Girl Racing Vault.
10/8/09 - Feeling better, still a cough.
Payton received her Track upgrade today. She is now a Category 3 track racer. Although she has enough road points between her junior and women’s races, we decided to delay requesting a road upgrade until she has more time racing in the women’s fields.
10/7/09 - Sick Day #3 - things are looking better
10/6/09 - Sick Day #2
10/5/09 - Sick Day #1
10/4/09 – Payton traveled to Copperas Cove, Texas to pre-ride the State Road Race course with some of the Metro Team. It rained the entire 3 ½ hour trip, but the weather broke long enough for them to ride. They hit a few spots of rain, but nothing too concerning. Payton had the rain tires on the bike, so she had plenty of grip on the wet roads. After the 3 ½ hour drive home, Payton was ready for bed.
This is the new company formed by Nathan, Shannon, and Paula in Florida. They are hosting cyclng clinics and events. This might be that fun winter cycling vacation you've been deaming of, or possibly a safe place to get away from the Mean Girl and her wrath.
10/3/09 – Today was the first day Payton slept in since school started. She didn’t have anything to do until her soccer game at noon. After a hard fought 2 – 2 tie, Payton went to buy a Halloween costume. The rain moved in and cancelled the races at the velodrome. It was movie night instead.
Payton's friends, Imari Miller leading Danny Parks (GS Tenzing)
10/2/09 – After school, Payton went to the Superdrome for youth track practice. She decided to race the Friday night races and rode well. They combined the Women’s field with the Men’s 4 and 35+ Men’s 4. They are a sketchy group and Payton rode smart and stayed out of trouble. On one of the races they had a paceline working well. Payton came to the front when some dumbass that hadn’t pulled all race decided it was a good time to attack. The problem was he didn’t have enough strength to get his attack off the front. Instead he stalled directly right of Payton, boxing her in on the bottom of the track. Nobody knows what this jackass was thinking by boxing in a 13 year old gear on a restricted gear, giving her nowhere to go as she is fading. Luckily Rob Strange an experienced rider was behind Payton and remained calm, then made a smart and clean pass to get around her while leaving her room. The only good part of the race was Imari Miller (age 13, photo above) dropping the jackass so easily on the final lap he had time to look back at him as he crossed the line.
9/26/09 – Today Payton raced in the Women’s category. She finished 5th in a field of 17 at the Denton Downtown Crit. Payton was with the lead pack but couldn’t match the acceleration of the other girls on the uphill finish. The pack had worked well together and had a lap on most of the field. It was still a great beginning in her primary category for next year and should help build some momentum through the winter training months. To make things even better, she won an intermediate sprint and brought home a triple chocolate cake that tastes amazing. After a two hour break, she raced again in the junior field. A few of the fast boys decided to race juniors today and they were on the rivet from the start. The effort she exerted in the Women’s field was apparent early in the second race and she didn’t have the pop in her legs she normally does. Rather than pull out, she settled in and picked up some training miles.
The Redondo Crit is tomorrow and she is looking to ride two races and then play a soccer game. The first race is at 8:00AM and then she gets a 90 minute break before racing again. There is a 45 minute transfer to the soccer field and she should have 1 ½ hours prior to warming up for soccer.
9/23/09 – After finishing school, Payton was off to Rockwall to go to her last Cross Fit Class. Tomorrow we are back to the gym to get strong and maybe riding roller to get smooth before bed.
Training for the 2010 season is now underway. There will be no more Mr. Nice Girl. She is returning to her original cycling approach of riding angry. This combined with amped up training will take Mean to the next level. Be prepared for her hate and anger to be taken out on anything that crosses her path. There will be no free rides and no empathy for the week or failing.
9/22/09 - Soccer practice was cancelled so there was time to re-fit the TT bike at Mad Duck. Skinny legs lowered the seat but everything else looked good. The evening was completed with a trip to Michael’s to get some supplies for her history project.
9/21/09 - Payton attended her 3rd Cross-Fit session. There wasn't much time left for anything else, so she sent a few text messages and went to bed.
9/20/09 – Day 2 of the Cotton Patch Classic was the downtown crit. The course was mostly flat but had two mild climbs over a bridge. They combined fields with the Junior Open class, so the pace was high. The group stayed together for about the first third of the race, and then the junior open guys started accelerating and created gaps in the field. Payton found herself in no man’s land so she settled in and rode tempo. She picked up a prime along the way and we are now proud owners of one of the ugliest saddle bags ever produced. When the race ended, Payton was riding in 5th.
9/19/09 – Day 1 of the Cotton Patch Classic started with waking up at 4:30 and hitting the road by 5:00. After a 73 mile drive we arrived at the venue. Registration was easy but they required two numbers. Payton doesn’t have much room on her back and even less on the sides, but we managed to squeeze them on. The first race was the road race. The course had a few rollers but was mostly flat. Payton was the only girl in the field but that is how it usually is. Payton rode to a 6th place finish outsprinting positions 7 though 9. After a long day of killing time, she finally started her time trial at 6:15 PM. Payton moved up with a 5th place, only missing 4th by four seconds. After waiting for the results to be posted, we got back on the road for the 73 mile trip back home. We arrived at about 9:15PM and don’t have to wake up until around 6:30 for us to make her 9:45 crit start in the morning.
9/16/09 – After a long day at school, Payton went to her second Cross Fit session. It was challenging but didn’t break her. Campy is starting to adjust to living at the Mean Girl Racing Compound.
9/15/09 – It’s still raining, so that means more time on the trainer.
9/14/09 – The Mean Dad was in Denver for business, so the trip to the gym was cancelled. The rain continues and forced Mean Girl to move the Mean training program indoors to the trainer. The transition to rollers is just around the corner.
9/13/09 – With all the rain, Campy was a little cold. The problem was solved with a quick trip to Petsmart.
9/12/09 – Campy arrived at the house today, that doesn’t stop the training. Mean Girl did a 2 hour interval workout and then returned to pampering Campy.
9/11/09 – The rain finally arrived so track practice and racing were cancelled. This required the training to be moved indoors. Tonight’s workout was trainer intervals. Payton went to sleep early in anticipation of the arrival of Campy in the morning.
9/10/09 – There was no riding tonight but Payton headed back to the gym to pump some iron. I guess she saw a cute boy because she threw an extra 5 pounds on each side of the bar for every exercise.
9/9/09 – The track was closed for maintenance so the evening was spent on the Mad Duck Wednesday Night Worlds. Everyone was cruising having a good time until the turn around. Payton decided she had enough of James and brought the hammer. She sprinted up the hill away from the lake and wasn’t seen again until we arrived back at the shop.
9/8/09 – Tonight was the second soccer practice. This was the final tune up before Saturday’s game. Coach Don and Bill are both back and keeping the practices fun. The team is made up of girls from Grapevine and Southlake and all seem to get along well. I guess since they only had a HS football scrimmage and don’t play each other during the season; things should continue to go well.
9/7/09 – Payton was starting to feel the effects of a cold or flu. She took the morning off from riding but went to work in the gym. Without being prompted, she increased the weight on every exercise and pushed herself harder than ever before. In a few months, this girl will be ready to “Pump you up!”
9/6/09 – It was a lazy morning of lounging and eating cinnamon rolls. About mid day Payton headed to the Superdrome to work out. Joe Crenshaw was filling in for Suzie, so they got to experience a new method and new advice. All the kids are hard headed, so they probably didn’t gain anything from the experience.
9/5/09 – Early morning trip to now where Texas to look at a little rat dog dachshund. He will be ready to come home in about a week. With the loss of Angelica earlier this year, we had a lonely dog. The new dog, “Campy” will be Shadow’s new buddy. That will leave Sweet Pea and Dash together.
Once we were back to Grapevine, it was time to go to work. Payton went riding with Gunnar and Rick. Somehow they managed to squeeze a movie and hanging out doing nothing into the deal.
9/4/09 – Friday night was back to the school time routine. Payton was picked up from school at 3:30, got a Quiznos sandwich, ate and changed clothes at the Duck Blind, then traveled to Frisco to train at the Superdrome. Joe Crenshaw was the guest coach and taught some new training tools to help break things up a bit. This late in the season, the kids are backing down the effort and mostly staying in their warm up gear. They will eventually roll into the winter power training phase and start the run for nationals over again.
9/3/09 – Today was an easy day on the bike. Payton spun for an hour before we headed to the gym to lift some weights. With track practice starting about an hour after school gets out, the bike has been staged at the Duckblind and the travel bag and cooler are packed.
9/1/09 – Today was the first day back to soccer. The team has a lot of new faces but the same great attitude. This should be another great season.
8/31/09 - Rode the Irving ride. It was a slow night with everyone recovering from the HHH. Payton did a little work at the front but not enought to elevate her heartrate.
8/30/09 – Today was the Hotter ’n Hell crit. Payton sprinted and picked up a prime, but finished 4th. They combined the fields and a boy that raced in the other division the day before blended in with one of the other groups and they lost track of him. Payton raced the first ¾ of the race with the boys that ended up finishing second and third. When the higher division riders came around to lap them, Payton missed the jump to get on their wheel. She held the gap for another 4 or 5 laps and started to close it down with 3 laps to go. It might have been bad luck, bad timing or just bad living, because the upper division came around again right before the bell lap and the 2nd and 3rd rider were able to catch a draft and open the gap back up. Realizing she didn’t have enough time or energy to close the gap in the last lap she marked the 5th place finisher to insure she didn’t lose that position. On the homestretch, she sprinted and easily held her position. When they tallied the points for the omnium, she was tied for second. In most races, the road race would have been weighted heavier, but HHH decided to use the criterium as the tie breaker moving her to third place.
8/29/09 – Payton raced her first Hotter ’n Hell road race in Wichita Falls Texas. The race was uneventful until the final stretch where there was a field sprint for the finish. Payton wasn’t well positioned going into the sprint, but she dropped the hammer passing a few riders for a third place finish. She missed 2nd by about ½ a bike and was about a second behind 1st.
8/28/09 – Travel day. Packed up the Metro VW trailer and headed to Wichita Falls. After checking into the hotel, we headed to the Expo to pick up the race packet and watch the pro race. In the Men’s race Metro got a rider off the front, but wasn’t able to make it stick. In the woman’s race, Lauren finished 2nd with a strong sprint.
8/24/09 - Today was the first day of 8th grade. After school was the Irving Bible Church ride. Payton rode to the ride with Austin and then rode with Big T.
8/23/09 – The day started with the Coffee Ride. After about 28 miles of social riding, we made a quick bike change and headed to the Superdrome for 2 hours of track practice.
8/22/09 – It was an early start so Payton could go mountain biking with Big T. After a few hours on the trail she stopped at Mad Duck to clean her mom’s bike before brining it home. Then it was an afternoon of back-to-school shopping.
8/20/09 – After lounging at the house all day, Payton made her way to Mad Duck to go mountain biking with Big T. After a slow start, she got into the flow and had a good day on the bike.
8/19/09 – Payton is back to the track for morning practice. After a hard workout, they headed back to Suzie’s to lounge at the pool. At 4:00 it’s time to crank it back up at the track. Practice lasted until 6:00 and then she was on the road to the Duck Blind to see the gang. After a steak dinner, it was time to prep the mountain bike equipment for a ride on Thursday, then off to bed.
8/18/09- Another early morning to go to the track. We were out the door at 6:30 and in Plano at 7:05. Suzie picked her up at 8:00 and off to the track they went. After the morning practice, the afternoon is spent hanging out and relaxing. In the evening, Payton raced the Plano crit. The men decided to crank up the speed in the field, so Payton worked with Christina for most of the ride. After the racing was complete, she headed to Suzie’s to spend the night.
8/17/09 – Most of the day was spent lounging in front of the TV. At 6:30 she rode the Irving Bible Church ride. It was a little over 25 miles at a moderate pace.
8/16/09 – Back on the track from noon until 2. It was a little windy, but not too bad. After practice Payton hung out in Plano with Gunner and his family.
8/15/09 – Payton did her back to school clothes shopping during the day and went to the roller derby in the evening. That’s right the roller derby.
8/14/09 – There was no track practice due to rain. It was another fun filled evening hanging out at the Duck Blind.
8/13/09 – Today was Payton’s second mountain bike practice. She rode with “Skinny Legs” Clarence and “Big T”. After she stopped doing her mountain bike shuffle and started riding, she did well. It was good to see her return to Mad Duck without any additional bruises or scrapes.
8/12/09 Payton returned to the summer schedule of track practice on Tuesday morning, Tuesday night crit, Wednesday morning track practice and Wednesday afternoon track practice. In between practices, she hangs with Suzie and the gang. She will only have a couple more weeks of this schedule until school starts. Tomorrow we register for 8th grade!
8/10/09 Payton rode the Monday Irving Bible Church ride. It has been awhile since she has been on this ride.
8/9/09 – Today was a much tougher day than yesterday. With 30 minutes of practice and a borrowed bike, Payton raced her first mountain bike race. The course was probably the most technical course she will see all series. To everyone's suprise, once again she was the only girl in her category, so she raced with the boys. The positive news is she didn’t quit and finished. The not so positive news is she hasn’t had enough practice to be technically proficient on a mountain bike and it took a longer than the other riders to work through the course. For the short term, she will continue to use her mother’s mountain bike, but eventually we will have something pieced together from the guys at Mad Duck. Then she will be able to get the bike dialed in and become comfortable on it. Overall, it was a fun way to spend Sunday afternoon. Her next mountain bike race isn’t until the end of September, so after a little more time on the trails, there should be a different ending to the story.
The next three weeks will be used to prepare for the Hotter’n Hell races in Wichita Falls. She will be doing the road race and crit. When given the choice of riding the rally with her loving family or racing by herself, she chose racing. Hearing that decision hurt a little, but we haven’t stopped loving her.
8/8/09 – Business as usual. Payton, Gunnar, and Noah all won their categories in the time trial. The competition was small so other than comparing times, these State Championship Jerseys could have just been mailed to Dallas. The times between these kids served as more of a benchmark for how they are riding. Imari and Danny rode strong also for the Tenzing team. Tenzing was without a doubt the strongest team in the event. It was a show of power from the DFW area. The big excitement was the use of a starting gate. This is something that wasn’t available at nationals, so all the kids got to feel official when they started. It probably slowed most of the kids down because they are use to exploding out of a standing start and not coasting down a ramp.
Upon return to Grapevine, Payton surrendered her jersey to Clarence at Mad Duck. http://madducksports.com/. It is just a matter of days, if not hours until Clarence puts it on and starts living his fantasy to be a champion. She had promised one of her previous jersey’s to the shop but hasn’t received it yet. Now the debate starts, to see if it is worth making the trip to the road championships in a attempt to sweep the jerseys. As late as it is in the year, it will probably conflict with school and her other social events, so it would have to be a quick down and back trip if we go. It is somewhere on the other side of Waco.
Tomorrow is the first mountain race. The kids don’t have a lot preregistered in any single category but there are enough signed up so it should be fun. Hopefully more will do race day registration and fill out some of the spaces.
8/7/09 – ROAD TRIP!! Payton, Troy, Gunnar and Lourdes are off to San Antonio. Tomorrow is the State Time Trial. The caravan will return to Dallas Saturday night to prepare for the first mountain bike race of the season on Sunday.
8/6/09 – The first practice mountain bike ride went well except for the very end. There was a small fall that resulted in a scraped up elbow and small bruise on the hip. Overall, she did much better than expected. All systems are go for the race on Sunday.
8/5/09 – After riding to the shop to compete in the Mad Duck Wednesday Night Worlds, a severe storm started to blow into town. The ride was called off and plans made for a ride home. As soon as the ride was cancelled, the storm split and the course remained dry. To make things worse, the storm dropped the temperature about 20 degrees so it would have been a nice ride.
8/4/09 – The bikes have returned from Oregon. The trailer pulled in around 7PM. Everything was unloaded and taken in to get prepared for the next group of races.
8/3/09 – Rest Day
8/2/09 – Today was a long day of flying. Payton went to the airport early to allow the team van to return to the races prior to the start. After a connection in Denver, Payton arrived home around 5PM.
8/1/09 – Road Nationals are over for Payton. There is one more day of racing on Sunday but it is for the older kids. Payton didn’t get the results she was looking for, but also didn’t train for road racing this year. Her goal was to do well at track nationals and she did. Next year we will probably look at a more balanced approach to the disciplines. Overall this has been a really good week. She flew by herself from Texas to Oregon, including a plane change at SFO. She was able to survive the week in the house full bike racers. She was also upright for all the races. She arrived too late to adjust to the altitude but still rode competitively. Big T said she showed she belonged in the race. That pretty good for only racing a year. It shows all the hard work she has put into training. The good news is she has one more year in this age category and she saw where she needs to be next year. If she doesn’t make it, it won’t be from a lack of effort. Now she gets a little down time before next weekend. She is racing the State Time Trial on Saturday in San Antonio and her first mountain bike race on Sunday. There isn’t any hard training before that. She just needs to learn to ride a mountain bike this week. We are setting up Troy’s pink Yeti for her to use. Matt from Mad Duck is going to give her the crash course on being fast in the dirt. The only thing Troy could teach her is how to hit trees, rocks, and animals just trying to mind their own business.
7/29/09 – No racing for Payton. She worked the feed zone for Gonzo and Dahlheim. Dahlheim finished 10th after making the winning break early in the race. After their racing was complete, Payton went riding with Austin and Kyle then relaxed watching TV.
7/28/09 – First day of racing is the road race. She rode strong and finished 14th. Apparently, she would catch up to them on the flats and drift back on the inclines. This is a great result considering this if the first time riding at altitude and riding up “real” hills. She finished 3 minutes behind the leaders. Depending on next year’s altitude and elevation changes, we might need to arrive a little earlier to allow for her body to adjust. The next race is the time trial on Friday.
7/27/09 – 6AM flight to Oregon for Road Nationals. She made a quick stop in San Francisco, changed planes and safely landed in Redmond. Big T was there to pick her up and take her to the host house and packet pick-up. The first race is on Tuesday.
7/24/09 – After the 2 hour junior practice, Payton raced at the Superdrome. With the hot summer, the adult turnout has been low. Therefore they combined some of the fields. Payton raced with the juniors, Cat 4, and 35+ Cat 4. With a flight to nationals booked for Monday, the plan was to ride smart and stay out of trouble. In the second race, Payton showed some great bike handling by avoiding being crashed by a sloppy riding boy that couldn’t hold his line and kept swerving out of the sprinter’s lane towards her. She had to brake and go up track twice. By this point, the group had a gap and there was no coming back. The third race was fast. McKinney Velo put a rider off the front and controlled the field. The juniors couldn’t do anything but settle in and ride. Payton and Gunnar worked together taking alternate pulls to maintain their speed. The night ended without incident and we packed up and headed home.
7/23/09 – Rest Day
7/22/09 – It was another typical Tuesday/Wednesday schedule. Payton was dropped off at Gunnar’s at about 7:20AM Tuesday. She spent the day practicing and hanging out with the usual gang, spent the night with Suzie, and practiced some more on Wednesday.
7/19/09 – Payton trained from noon to two at the Superdrome. The late afternoon and evening was spent shopping for some new clothes. To everyone’s surprise, Payton bought a skirt.
7/18/09 – It was Clarence’s birthday, so we hung out at Mad Duck. There was nothing exciting to report.
7/15/09 – Motor pacing at the track in the morning, swimming in the afternoon, then track practice in the evening. Payton got a little sunburned hanging at the pool but it looks funnier than it does painful. Travel plans for Oregon have been finalized, entry fees paid, the girl is official for road Nationals in Oregon July 28 to August 2. She is racing the road, time trial, and crit race.
7/14/09 – Back to work. Today was track practice from 10 - 12, hanging out with Nick during the day, then motor pacing on the TT bike. No more Tuesday night crits until after road nationals. Dinner was at On the Border before spending the night at Suzie’s.
7/13/09 – After a long weekend, today was an easy day. She rode an easy hour on the training, texting Gunnar the entire time.
7/12/09 The temperature has hit 104 in TX today. Track practice has been cut short as it tends to get much hotter on the track surface and they are out there in mid-day. One of the team members was starting to get sick so it was cut short for all...since it is the last hard week for Payton before Road Nats, she will finish her workout in the air conditioned comfort of the apartment on the trainer.
7/11/09 – Payton rode two races today. The junior races started at 2:45. The temperature was hovering around 102 or 103. She rode smart and finished third. Imari and Danny Parks finished 1st and 2nd. The two boys had also raced the Men’s 4 race and I think both finished top 10 with Danny finishing 4th. This is the first race where Payton actually received a trophy. It was in a bubble wrap bag and I think she liked popping the bubble more than receiving the trophy. She has stacks of generic medals but the trophy was a nice change.
After about an hour break, she rode the Women’s 4 race. She was the only junior in the field. The temperature had to have risen a couple degrees because it was miserably hot. One of the girls suffered from heat exhaustion and a few others quit. Payton hung in and rode to the finish. It got to the point where the home stretch was lined with people splashing water on any girl that asked for it. This was Payton’s first race of getting splashed with water to help keep her cool. I don’t think she liked it at the time, but it allowed her to keep turning the pedals.
7/10/09 – Friday means one thing, afternoon practice and TRACK RACING!!! It was Africa hot so there wasn’t a lot of participation. Payton raced with the women and finished 2nd behind Suzie. At some point you would think a former World Champion would get bored beating up on small kids and old men, but she hasn’t slowed a bit.
Tomorrow will be another big day. Early-ish trip to the bike shop to check fit. And then two crit races with about an hour rest in-between. She races the junior race at 2:45 and the Women’s race at 4:35.
Sunday is the World Famous Coffee ride at 8:00AM and then 2 – 3 hours of practice on the velodrome starting at noon.
The trip to Oregon has been planned. Payton is flying out on July 27 and returning on August 2nd. Big T is picking her up from the airport and she is shacking with the team at their host house. She has three races during her stay.
7/28 – Road National Championships
7/31 – Time Trial National Championships
8/1 – Crit National Championships.
We have no expectations for results and just want her to have fun riding her bike.
7/7/09 – We are back in Grapevine and back to the normal routine. Payton went to the Velodrome at 9:30 this morning for practice then raced the Tuesday night crit. She is spending the night at Suzie’s so she can motorpace in the morning.
Her arms have started healing and she doesn’t have much elbow pain. The scrapes on her knees are still oozing a little, so we redressed them and hopefully they will be good for the weekend.
7/6/09 We took a quick trip to California Adventure before heading to LAX and back to Big D and the hot, muggy air. Hopefully, Track Nationals will be here next year and we won't be traveling as far.
7/5/09 Payton enjoyed a much earned day off at Disneyland with bandages and all...
7/4/09 - Junior Track Nationals are over and not a day too soon. Things started well but our luck didn’t hold.
Thursday was the first day of racing. Payton finished 3rd in the 500M Time Trial. The two girls that beat her were a year older and 50 pounds heavier. Without being specific, the majority of the extra weight was carried in the back, a little below the belt, and slightly above the hamstrings.
Friday was a tough day. The morning session was the team sprint. Payton rode with Erin. Payton took the first 250 meters off the start like she was shot out of a cannon. The problem was Erin didn’t start as quickly and had to try and close a gap. This put them at a disadvantage when it came to riding the second leg. Unfortunately with Erin currently training in Oregon, they never had time to practice. The evening session didn’t get any better. In the 4 km scratch race Payton was racing the perfect race. Coming through turns 3 and 4 anticipating the bell for the final lap it all went bad. There was a slower rider at the bottom about to be put a lap down. The top of the pack was surging to get a good jump off the wall. Payton was sitting 2nd or 3rd wheel for the acceleration. The bottom was forced to come up, the top was pinching down, it all met in the middle. All the top riders got caught up in the crash. Payton slammed the banking, got ran over, and then slide lifeless to the bottom of the track. The doctor was to her immediately and was able to talk to her. After a few minutes they got her back to her feet, pointed the bike towards the track and Payton was ready to continue racing. After about ½ a peddle stroke this was shut down and Payton retired from this race.
Saturday was an early morning for testing at the track to see if Payton could race. After a quick medical exam and Payton lying directly to the doctor, she was cleared to go. She was still having a lot of pain and was unable to pull the bars for a strong sprint. She also had bruises and scrapes on both legs. She hung in the first part of the race and was able to pick up some points. As the race wore on, she started to feel the pain in her arm and lack of juice in her legs and struggled to stay in with the pack. She hung until the end of the race and salvaged a 5th place. She picked up some help from Olivia (Houston) to pace her back to the group. This was enough to keep her in 5th place overall. This is a great accomplishment because she had to score the points in 2 races while the other girls had 3. She was charging on the second race and would have finished no worse than third had she stayed up, but that’s racing.
The goal is to relax for a few days and travel back to Texas on Monday. The next possibility of racing will be track racing at the Superdrome on Friday and a crit on Saturday. We are finalizing the plans for road nationals at the end of the month.
7/02/09 - Day 1 of racing is in the books. Payton rode well and won the bronze medal in the 500 meter time trial. The girls in first place and second place deserved to be there. They are sprinting at the next level. The next 2 days are more towards endurance type races. This should shift the balance and allow other kids to be competitive. Tomorrow starts with a fun race with Payton and Erin participating in the team sprint. The evening session has her 4k Scratch race.
Photos will be posted once we return to Dallas.
6/29/09 – Not much to report. Payton has been taking it easy in preparations for Track Nationals. We fly out to LA Tuesday evening and racing starts on Thursday. This past week had the normal track practices and Tuesday night crit. Saturday was hair cut day and Payton got her mop fixed up at the Peyton Thomas Salon in Southlake. Payton did ride the Mad Duck Coffee Ride on Sunday and got to see her dad bring the hammer and easily coast to a victory after a devastating attack on the final hill. Clarence was nowhere to be found and was a beaten man when he finally made it. Tonight was the Irving ride followed by sandwiches at Quiznos with Big T. The Metro team surprised her by dropped off a long sleeve skin suit to use this weekend. She also got an additional short sleeve jersey. Austin is dropping off her personalized team travel bag in the morning. It’s only a matter of time before she will be eating Nutella.
6/20/09 - Day 2 of the TX State Track Championships started early with a 7:30 arrival at the velodrome. The racing started at 9:00AM. Houston delivered us another hot, humid, and sunny day at the concrete velodrome. Everyone was looking for a spot of shade...The racing started off with the Team Sprints. Payton and Christina raced in a Team Sprint against Madeline and Olivia from Houston. The girls from the Superdrome came out on top. The next race for the morning session was the 4K points race. The girls stayed together until the prime lap. Payton went out for the prime lap and kept on going until the end. Christina finished up in 2nd place. For the remainer of the morning session, the kids hung out in the shade playing cards and supporting the rest of the team members. We finally broke about 12:30ish. We went back to the bus to eat lunch and straight to the hotel to nap. Ok, mom napped more than the girl.
After my rude awakening from the nap, we were back at the track at 4:15 for the evening session. Payton only had one race tonight. However, after warming up we discovered yet another wheel issue, a flat tire. The good news is that it happened off the track and not on the track. So, after yet another wheel change (thanks Tim) Payton was good to go. Payton did not post her fastest 500M time because she had to pass the girl that started on the opposite side of the track, but it was good enough to win for tonight. The long day ended with awards ceremonies and food of course in the bus. Back at the hotel around 10:30PM...A long day for the girl and the pack mule!
6-19-09 – Texas State Track Races, Houston Road Trip Day 1. Payton won the 1k scratch race. This was the first stage of the omnium and her only event for the night. She has three races on Saturday, including the team sprint. The morning race is a 4K points race and the evening race is a 500M time trial. Payton doesn’t feel she rode her best tonight and intends to ride stronger tomorrow. There was slight wheel confusion. The original intent was to race on the Campy Pista and use the Easton TKO as backup. At race time, the decision was made to change over to the Easton. There was a slight problem, one of the axle bolts had fallen off. The resolution was running a Corima disc on back. Thanks to a little handy work by Tim Goodwin, the mechanical issue has been addressed and Payton will be racing Easton front and rear in the morning. After a night of racing the kids went back to Suzie's "bus" and had spaghetti before heading back to the hotel.
6-18-09 – Rest and pack for Houston.
6-17-09 – Today was the last practice before Houston. Track in the morning, weights, swimming, and track in the evening. This swimming thing is starting to become a trend.
6-16-09 - Today started at 6AM with us loading up both bikes and going to Gunnar’s house. From there, they went to the Superdrome for a workout. While the rest of the junior racing world is working out an getting stronger and faster, these two monkeys decided to take time off for a little swimming. After that, they were off to the races!!! The Tuesday night crit shook a few people off the pace in the first couple laps. Payton and Gunnar didn’t survive the accelerations but continued to work. Payton eventually sprinted to bridge up to Gunner who was suffering. She pulled for about 2 laps letting Gunner get his wind back. Payton continued to work and finished the race strong. Tonight is sleep over night at Suzie and early morning track practice. A little weight work and then back to the Superdrome for a little more track.
We are so proud of the progress she has made since last year in not only her performance on the bike, but also her behavior when she is off the bike. The next big event is regional’s in Houston. Payton is going to get a second jersey (still not the one she wants). I have amended the instructions from last year. Payton is expected to make every attempt to destroy the field. Just winning isn’t good enough at this event. Payton will be racing Ricky Bobby style, you’re first or you’re last. Maybe after this whooping the people of Houston will treat us a little nicer.
6/14/09 – Track practice from 10AM – 2PM. After a little rest and dinner, Payton was back to the gym to lift some weights. Earlier, Dad dominated the coffee ride and is back in the hunt for the Coffee Ride World Championship.
6/13/09 – Rest day – Mom and Dad drove stupid far to ride the Dr. Pepper Rally in Dublin, TX.
6/12/09 – Back to work. Two track practices with weights and swimming in-between. No racing, so it was an early night.
6/11/09 - Rest day.
6/10/09 – Today was two sessions at the track with a workout in-between. The morning session added a little excitement with the first day or motor pacing. After the track practice it was time to come home for a little rest.
6/9/09 - Payton practiced track in the morning, got a filling at the dentist, and then raced at the Tuesday night crit. All the consecutive days of riding started to show at the crit. After the race, she at steak at Texas Land and Cattle then spent the night at Suzie's.
6/8/09 - Payton rode the Monday Irving Bible Church ride. She would have rather stayed home. She was tired and sore...But she is 13 and also enjoying her first day of summer vacation!
6/7/09 -Track practice started earlier than usual (9:30AM) so they could fit it all in before Erin's going away for the summer party. With Nationals coming up, training comes before fun. Or at least it is just as important...
6/6/09 - Payton won her second State Championship Jersey at the Age Based State Crit in Austin today. She will be going for number #3 at the Track Championships in Houston June 19 - 20.
5/31/09 - Day two of Tulsa Tough. The criterium was held at Riverside in Downtown. It was yet another hot and sunny day in Tulsa. Parking was about 1.5 miles from the start of the race. So pack mule, aka mom, lugged everything to the start and arrived well after someone used it as a "warm-up" for the race. The course was quite different from the day before. It had a steep descent with a right hand turn at the bottom. Almost every other race had several crashes in this spot. In fact, the medical tent was set up with the hay bales in front of it and had a big red cross on it. This is where the crash happened immediately prior to the junior race. The junior race escaped any crashes. However, Cameron from Team Power Train did take the curve "wide", hop the curb, go down the sidewalk for quite a ways before appearing back on the course. The official results were the same as the first day, but to everyone it appeared Payton had lapped the boy they listed as the winner earlier in the race. Since she was ahead of the lead pack when they finished, she went around an another lap, the boy in second was behind the lead pack when the leaders finished, so the officials pulled him off. The results were protested but the officials weren't paying enough attention to know what really happened. We left before the Hill Party since it had been a long, hot weekend but next year it's on...
5/30/09 – First day of Tulsa Tough. Troy and Payton loaded up and left at 5AM to make her 12:40 start. The criterium was in downtown Tulsa. It was hot and not a stitch of shade could be found. The announcer said the heat index was reaching 118 degrees. As usual, there were no other girls, so Payton raced the boys. The race had a different mix of kids from TX, MO, KS, and OK. She held her own and finished 2nd. The winner was able to hang in with the older kids a little longer and got a gap. Prior to starting, some other boys asked if she wanted to work with them. The problem was they got blown out the back of the pack too fast, so Payton was on her own most of the race. The results they posted initially were incorrect. However after protesting, they were corrected. After her race we hung around to watch some of the other races, buy some local t-shirts, and pick up some free schwag...
5/29/09 – Tonight is the typical Friday...Payton was picked up from school, got a sandwich from Quiznos and changed to her cycling clothes at Mad Duck. We then went to track practice and raced the Superdrome Point Series after practice. At 13 years old, Payton is restricted on the size gear she can use, so her go go is limited. The first two races went as expected. Suzie and Erin controlled the race and then sprinted for 1st and 2nd. Payton finished third. In the final race, Suzie and Erin started marking each other. Payton seized the opportunity and attacked. Neither of the other girls wanted to pull the other back to the front, so they continued their cat and mouse game. Payton stayed on the gas and stretched the lead to about ¾ of a lap. Suzie and Erin responded and closed it down to about a ¼ of a lap and then resumed marking each other. Payton stayed on the gas and stretched it back to a ½ lap. When the bell rang for the final lap, Payton jumped out of the saddle and made a huge acceleration. She stood for 125 of the last 250 meters then sat down, settled in, and tried to maintain her speed. The effort worked and Payton got her first win in the Women’s division.
5/28/09 – The decision has been made. Payton is going to race Tulsa Tough. She is still going to race Friday at the Superdrome. So it looks like a late night at Frisco on Friday and an early departure for Tulsa on Saturday.
5/27/09 – Track Practice. After a long weekend of racing, tonight was an easy workout. She never changed out of her warm up gear.
5/26/09 – Rest Day
5/25/09 – Today was the third and final day of racing for the Memorial Day Weekend. The Texas Skill-Based Criterium Championships were held in the Fort Worth Cultural District. The course was challenging and it was hot outside…It was also sweet revenge for Payton after yesterday’s race when she was outsprinted at the end of the race. Payton raced the Women’s Cat 4 at 2:45. It was her first Cat 4 race on the road. She did a great job of staying with the group and held with them until the last 10 minutes of a 45 min race. After a short recovery, Payton raced in the Junior 10-14 at 4:45. She dropped Christian after working with him for a bit and went on to ride alone the remainder of the race and finish 4th. Ahead of both Christian and Kyle from yesterday…
5/24/09 – The few rain clouds stayed away from Frisco so we could have a good day of racing. The day started off with track practice at the velodrome. Payton is getting faster at changing her own gears. After a couple of hours on the veledrome, we moved over to the GS Tenzing Criterium. Luckily, we didn’t have to go too far as it was held on the Collin County College Campus (where the velodrome is located). Payton worked with the usual suspects of Gunnar and Nick for awhile. They were unable to drop Christian Bergh from Team Hotel San Jose. Nick and Gunnar accelerated off the front leaving Christian and Payton to work together. Kyle ended up catching back on to both of them. When it came time to sprint for the finish, Kyle and Christian outsprinted Payton. However, Payton still did a great job.
5/23/09 – Today was the Gary Glickman Memorial Criterium in Richardson. The rains stayed away for a muggy, overcast day. The course had some rolling terrain and fast roads. Payton worked with Kyle from Houston during the race. Payton finished strong with good results for the first day of racing for the long holiday weekend.
5/22/09 – Unfortunately, Payton missed track practice and the Friday night races due to her final choir concert of the year.
5/20/09 – Wednesday track practice went long tonight. It lasted until 8:00 instead of the usual 7:30. Today was the first day Payton changed gears on her track bike by herself.
5/19/09 - Tonight was the crit race in Plano. The first ½ of the race went well. There was a big acceleration in the field by some of the adult men causing the field to stretch. There is nothing like proving your dominance by destroying the C race. Eventually some riders lost contact and Payton was with this group. She formed up with 3 other girls and they worked together as a group to keep their pace as high as possible to prevent the field from catching them. Unfortunately the 4 women were unable to match the pace of the 30-40 men chasing them down. There was one guy that got drilled early in the race but seemed to get his second wind while the women started to lap him. He jumped in and started riding with a smile. When the main field came around they all tried to jump back in to the pack. One of the girls was able to hang until the final lap, but she was shelled by the final acceleration to the line.
5/17/09 – Clear skies and warm weather meant track practice was still on! Suzie was out of town so her husband Tim led the workout. It was a hard 4 hours but they all survived. At the end of practice they did six 500 meter standing starts. Although it was late in the practice, they all started bringing their times down.
5/16/09 – The rain has shut everything down and lead to the cancellation of the remainder of the Soccer tournament. Hopefully the weather will pass tonight and we will be able to ride on Sunday.
5/15/09 – Today was day 2 of Soccerfest. The girls lost 0-2 in a very physical game. The other team was loaded with a bunch of big girls, both wide and tall. This was probably the most banging around the team did all season, but they never backed down.
5/14/09 – Tonight was the first day of Soccerfest. This is the final tournament of the soccer season. Things started well with a 3-0 victory. Payton played tough at midfield and on defense. She did get a couple long shots at the net, but the defense was able to block them. This is an amazing result since the team is a combination of 13 and 14 year old girls playing up in the U15 division.
5/10/09 - Sunday as usual. Payton had track practice from noon until around 3:30PM. Suzie took it easy on them since it was Mother's Day. Following practice we went to dinner at Outback.
5/9/09 - Payton decided to skip the bicycle rally this morning and save it all for the Sprints at the Velodrome. The races started at 6PM but the rain rolled in around 7PM. Payton didn't get a chance to race prior to the rain delay. The new race date hasn't been set yet.
5/8/09 - The Grapevine Middle Athletics Award ceremony was held tonight. Payton received the award for Outstanding 7th Grade Cross Country runner.
5/6/09 - Track practice after school today was from 4:30 until 7:30. Payton had a workout with the youth group until 6:00 and then stayed with Nick, Gunnar, and Ian to work with Suzie until 7:30.
5/4/09 - With the ever present threat of rain it seems these days, Payton and Austin hit the trainer for a workout inside today while watching a movie.
5/3/09 - Today was a long day at the track. Payton came away with a few scrapes and bruises. After working in the power phase for weeks the group has moved to the speed phase of their workouts. During the workout, Payton fell down the track either from going too slow or just that moment of not paying attention. The legs were saved from harm by the knee warmers but the arms and face had a little damage.
5/2/09 – Another rainy day. Today’s workout consisted of a day of lounging and watching TV and an hour of intervals on the trainer. Hopefully the weather will clear by tomorrow and the track will be open. The plan is for 5 hours of riding, 2 hours of fun followed by 2 – 3 hours of work.
5/1/09 – Friday night track practice followed by the SPS races. Payton raced both juniors and Women’s Open. Both fields were stacked with some strong riders but Payton stayed towards the front on every race.
In the junior races, Graham Smith (Tulsa World, 14) pretty much dominated the races even though he is on the same restricted gear as Payton. Ian (Frisco Cycling, 17, no gear restriction) could hang with him but Graham was the strongest rider this night. On the second race, he closed about a 50 meter lead in the last 250 meters of the race to out sprint Ian for the victory. Josiah (13) and Jacob White (17, Tulsa World) who also raced the VeloTek in Kansas, did some exceptional team work in support of Graham. It was a fun night of racing to watch. Unfortunately, the GS Tenzing boys were not in attendance. It was also nice to see a new girl (Megan, Lone Star, 17) at the track races; hopefully she will be back in the future.
The women’s field was combined into a single field. Cristin Walker (current U23 National Champion, 21) was in town from Houston and Suzie (multiple times World Champion, too old to ask her age) also raced. They pretty much rode away from everyone for first and second. Erin Popovich finished third overall. Payton finished 5th in the first race and with the pack in the second race. She raced brilliantly in the third race and finished 3rd with a gap on the field. These were exceptional results considering she was the only woman racer with restricted gearing.
4/30/09 – Rest day.
4/29/09 – No track practice. While the rest of North Texas had sun and lovely weather until about 8PM, the Superdrome had its own personal rain cloud extending just over the velodrome and parking lot.
4/28/09 – Tuesday night crits in Plano. There is nothing spectacular to report. Strong winds and a fast field treated the junior racers bad. Clarisa touched wheels and went down but appeared to be okay with only a few scrapes. She hopes to be riding again by the Sunday practice.
4/27/09 – Monday night ride at the Irving Bible Church ride. The threat of bad weather kept the group small.
4-26-09 The third stage of the race was held at Perry Lake and was a 28.3 road race. It was a very windy day and the storms were moving in quickly. The course was yet again a reminder for those unfamiliar with the area that all of Kansas is not flat...Payton and the boy in second place in the GC rode together until the last hill before the finish. She then started to outclimb him to the finish. Two of the other boys in her age group ended up dropping out of the road race that day. We packed up the car and headed home. It wasn't long before we were in the car and driving down the road before it started pouring...