2010 recaps:

The first was the gym where I taught Kickboxing in Omaha.  I was in college at the time, and was getting into martial arts, TaeKwonDo, JuJitsu, yes even the Billy Blanks videos.  I loved teaching kickboxing and in fact was teaching about 6 classes/week.  My supervisor said they needed more Spinning instructors at the gym and asked me to attend the Spin certification.  This was 1999 and I thought it was nuts that people would want to sit on a stationary bike and workout.  Nevertheless, I wanted to help out so I got certified and began teaching spin classes there.  I used words like "criterium" as though I knew what they meant.  We did things like "jumps" in class because that's what I'd been taught to do.  I bought a pair of "clip in" shoes to use on the spin bikes.  The whole things seemed silly to me, but the class members were fun and patient with me as I adjusted to lycra. 

Shown here with my Dad in jerseys I had designed for gym spin members:

The second was in 2002.  My parents lived in Chicago and I was out visiting them that August.  My mom was an executive for the US Postal Service and this was during the time that Lance and the Posties were dominating the cycling scene (not that I knew this, since I paid no attention to bike racing).  The USPS had a VIP tent set up at Downers Grove (the US Criterium national championships) where they entertained their biggest postal clients, and my mom had secured VIP passes for my dad and I to sit there and watch the bike racing, while meeting the postal team, getting their autographs.  Shown here with fasties:

The whole thing was pretty interesting to me, but the true moment of reckoning came during the women's pro/1/2 event -watching those women tear up that course, and watching Tina Pic win convincingly.  It caught my attention.  I said "I can do that" and vowed to return next year with a bike.  (Which I did in 2003, 2004, and in 2005 raced in the pro/1/2 event as a new CAT 2 . . . but I digress).

The third happened in late 2003.  I had done my first criterium in August 2003 and a few other races and was starting to figure things out as a new CAT 4.  I raced a 1/2 ironman in the Ozarks  (Shown here at start of triathlon):

 . . . and then decided to race the final criterium of the season the next day (as you might imagine, doing anything the day after a 1/2 ironman isn't smart, but something compelled me to drive to Lincoln for the bike race).  It was there that I met my now-husband, Rob.  On my way to register for the race, I dropped my race license and he picked it up.  Weeks later we were dating and doing lots of bike riding together.  Rob had a lot more cycling experience than I did, and he began to reach me the sport.  I was in my final year of law school and was focused on my professional aspirations after law school.  But cycling became a really big part of my life (as did Rob! we were married in 2005!).

Fast forward to 2010 and I've been racing my bike for 7 years now.  I upgraded to a CAT 1 in 2008 (something I never thought possible!) and I started a women's team that has become a very successful organization (again - something I never imagined I'd be doing!).

So -that's how I became a bike racer.

3-8-10: yesterday was my first "race" of the season.  I use the term race loosely, because it was a time trial and also because I only had one competitor.  Nevertheless, I wanted to start the year off with a victory so I was actually a bit nervous.  The good news is, after some serious finagling, I finally have my TT bike set up perfectly which includes a seat I can actually stand to sit on during the race.  I'd won this event the past 2 years under similar circumstances (hardly any women show up) so it was fun to go 3 years straight. 

3-6-10: this weekend was supposed to be spent in NorCal with teammates Liza and Amy, racing the Crit and RR in Merced, CA.  The race entry closed on Wednesday -at which point the weather showed 70% rain out there and warm and sunny here in Denver.  thanks to SW airlines for making it really easy to bail on air reservations, I made the call Wednesday afternoon that it wasn't worth traveling to race in the rain when i'd get great sunny temps for training here.  So of course, by the time Friday rolled around, weather in Norcal was looking warm and sunny, so hindsight I should have gone out there.  So then I thought I'd race the collegiate women's open crit at DU today but when I woke to nice warm sunny skies I opted for some good hours in the saddle and not racing.  While I was training, Liza and Amy raced the Merco crit (Amy took 23rd and Liza unfortunately crashed), and at the DU crit, teammate Linsey took the VICTORY with Kasey's help (she ended in 5th).  I couldn't be prouder of our team right now, I LOVE these early races when everyone is so hungry for it!!!  makes it so exciting to look ahead to what we'll accomplish this season. 

3-4-10: this is so awesome!

Second Chances: TV Producer Turns Olympic Hopeful

By Barbara Safani

Lisa Fisco's life changed after her husband left her and their three young children. She went back to work full-time as a TV producer while she struggled through a brutal divorce that led to depression and a 100-plus pound weight gain. Seven years after her divorce, her children decided to move in with their father.

Fisco was devastated. "I wanted to do something that would take my mind away from missing my kids," she says.

So, she enrolled in a course in entrepreneurship at UCLA. The professor's first assignment was to remember your childhood dreams; he believed that most people, sometime in their life, always go back to what they loved as a child.

And that's when the idea to train as a weightlifter came to Fisco. "I knew I was passionate about sports, the Olympics, and weightlifting in general," she says. "At an early age, I would lift weights with my father just for fun. Athletics came easy to me as a child and I was always strong and could lift more than my uncles when we would compete at home."

So Fisco contacted a U.S. Olympic weightlifting coach and said, "how would you like to transform a totally out-of-shape, 47-year-old mom into a competitive weightlifter with goals for Olympic gold?" He responded to her the same day: "You bet; when do you want to start?"

After walking away from her producer position and more than two years of training, Fisco has gained tremendous support from friends and family. People at the gym frequently approach her to let her know she is an inspiration to them.

Of course, not everyone understood her dream at the beginning. Fisco jokes that when one of her sons first heard of her ambitions he commented, "Mom, you might as well have told me that you were going out for the NFL!" But she reminded him that the more he didn't support her, the more fuel that would add to her fire to prove him wrong.

And it looks like that fire is still burring, because Fisco has her eye set on a spot on the 2012 Olympic weightlifting team. If she makes the cut, she will be 52 -- the oldest woman to ever compete in the event.

In between her grueling training schedule, Fisco is vetting opportunities for book deals, endorsements, sponsorships, licensing agreements, and speaking engagements. She recently landed her first sponsorship with Dotfit, an online fitness, performance, and weight loss program.

Through these promotional opportunities, Fisco hopes to inspire women of all ages, but particularly baby boomers. "There are a number of women approaching 50 or just over 50 that are stuck in a rut. I want to talk to women to remind them there can be life after 50. It is never too late to reinvent yourself,' she notes, adding, "Being so busy with kids, work, and life in general, I forgot about my own passions and desires. Once I allowed myself to explore them again, my life changed forever."

Fisco's advice to others contemplating pursuing their career passion or dreams? "Procrastination is the biggest killer of dreams; it is so important to live in the moment. Be the best you can be today, because winning (in whatever you do) will come tomorrow. Many of life's barriers and obstacles come from within. But once those barriers are broken, we realize the biggest barriers are our own beliefs."

3-2-10: at the beginning of this year, I really fully rededicated myself to training and got the go-ahead from work to increase training time so long as my work was getting done.  Since that decision in early January, I've really been struggling trying to figure out how to put full time training together with full time working.  These 2 things consume just about every moment of my time, which makes building in recovery time and additional sleep quite a challenge (not to mention necessities like buying groceries! Plus there's our team to run!)  Needless to say, my house has grown increasingly messier and I've had to ask my husband to handle a lot more of the day to day minutia but I am finding my rhythm. 

I have learned that planning ahead is crucial; my days are mapped out with extensive detail to be sure I can fit it all in.  Because I usually ride mid-day from work, I leave the house in the morning with about 5 bags of stuff - breakfast, lunch, snacks, clothes, bike, bike stuff . . . with all of those things I have to remember to bring along, there have been days I've forgotten to pack a crucial piece of riding gear, such as a sports bra or jacket . . . those days I've had to improvise or reschedule my ride.  There have been small obstacles like people parking in one of the 2 spots in the garage where I can get my bike out of my car ;)  There have been weather-related obstacles, like having a 4 hour ride planned only to wake up to snow (like the last 4 Sundays!!!).  It seems like work stress is always highest on the days I've done my hard intervals so I am literally mentally and physically beat down by the end of those days and it takes me extra time to hit the reset button. 

All of these little setbacks have required me to try new approaches, new ways of minimizing stress, I've learned not to stress over things I can't control because I simply don't have that energy to spare for things I can't change.  I've also had to learn to temper my frustrations when something pops up that disrupts my schedule for the day.  The bottom line is you simply can't control every variable, but what I can do is try to work my absolute hardest each and every time I am able to train.  Luckily for me, these frustrations were happening during the 2010 winter Olympics and I was reminded by those athletes that "everyone faces challenges; what defines you is how you overcome them."

2-28-10: yesterday we had a blast doing a guided sunset snowmobile tour.  The company is called Aspen Canyon, it's just north of Silverthorne.  I highly recommend the company, their sleds and equipment were great, as were the guides and the overall experience!  Rob and I had a great time up there, it was only 1:30 drive from Golden (if you're a race car driver like me) and the tour was 2 hours on the snowmobiles.  Well worth the drive!

2-24-10: today i packed my bike stuff, cold weather gear stuff, riding stuff, all of my stuff that i could possibly need to do a lunch ride.  Except I forgot a sports bra.  UGH!!   Luckily there is a spot across the street where I could buy one.  Small setback but I overcame it!! 

2-23-10: trying to recover from a hard training session by putting my work clothes back on and sitting at a desk with my feet on the floor and legs pooling just wasn't working well for me.  So I got creative.  Baggy pants/long skirts allow me to fit compression tights on underneath and I am making a point when I can to elevate my feet so my legs are level.  Yes being a working athlete has its challenges, but yes, it's possible to make adjustments to work it all out.

2-15-10: as I've really buckled down on training and getting more serious about my cycling goals, one of the hardest things for me lately is learning how and where to cut out "fluff" from my day so that I can free up time for more training hours.  What is essential and nonessential?  At what point can a person become too time-budgeted (ie driving like a maniac to minimize car time)?  I am really struggling to figure out the best way to reconcile my life demands with my definite need for more saddle hours.  It's a fine line I'm learning.  While I don't want to be the person that freaks out when something unexpected shakes up my precise schedule, I also don't want to continue allowing "time suckers" items to steal training hours.  to be continued . . .

2-13-10: become a fan of our team on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/TREADSCOMDFT-womens-cycling-team/356939074912?ref=ts 

2-10-10: my teammate Liza is already racing!!  http://dftwomen.blogspot.com/2010/02/cherry-pie-criterium-2710.html

meanwhile . . . i'm down and out this week with a trip to houston -turned -airplane caught stomach bug.  so i've reached my target race weight a few months early ;) 

2-6-10: on our Christmas trip my cousin Jessica asked me "so megan -- 2012, we gonna see you in the games or what??"  to which I replied "no, those days are over, i'm just a working stiff now . . ." and as soon as i'd said it, i found myself wondering, "have i just admitted out loud that i've thrown in the towel on my dream?"  much has transpired in the few weeks since that christmas conversation, not the least of which is that i've been given permission to work hard at training and racing so that i can pursue my dreams while also pursuing my legal career goals.  i'm still gonna be a full-time attorney, but that's not a bad thing when i have the opportunity to ride my bike more.  i believe this means that exciting things are ahead . . .

2-4-10: our law firm's new website is up and running and we've just added a lot more content: www.moriarty.com.

1-31-2010: i thought it'd be fun to do a very nontraditional ride for our team weekend so i rented out the boulder velodrome and got the team out on the track -for most of them, it was their first time!  here are two videos of the event:

1-29-2010:  We are hoping this is the first (and second) of many media plugs our team receives this season!!!

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/01/industry-news/treads-comdft-womens-team-targets-nrc_103240

http://www.podiuminsight.com/2010/01/29/treads-comdft-builds-on-2009-successes/
 

you need only google us to find us everywhere on the world wide web ;) 

1-28-2010: looking forward to this weekend as the team will be in town and we'll kick things off with some team bonding at the Boulder Velodrome followed by our big launch party, featuring sponsors, teammates meeting and team photos with all of our sweet sponsor schwag.  The weekend will bring a lot of work and running around like a maniac for me -so many small details to make it go off without a hitch.  But it will be SO worth it to wine and dine our team and our amazing sponsors.  Look for photos from the event to be posted next week! 

1-19-2010: enjoyed rideable temps this past weekend and just finished out a tough 4-day block of training.  I am getting over this awful sinus infection I've been battling, plus our super-sweet 2010 team clothing arrived.  The culmination of new threads, feeling better and nice weather led to me getting my mojo back - I am hungry for riding and training hard again!  (There was a brief stint this winter when I wondered if I had lost my love, but not to fear, it is BACK!).  Check out the new TREADS.COM outfits (this is the cool new thermal jacket!):

1-7-2010: so I logged my first trainer workout of the year on the trainer last night.  It was a week ago that I'd done an 80 miler in the sweet warm temps of Maui -and yet last night, I found myself in our cold, dark unfinished basement, cranking out some hard efforts on the trainer.  Eyes focused on HRM and PT alternating back and forth, ears full of techno from the ipod.  No TV, no training partner.  Just me and the numbers on the PT -which don't lie.  I nailed the workout -didn't cheat one little bit.  And when I was done and stretching afterwards, I felt pumped.  Pumped for the season, pumped for my hunger for racing which returns more and more by the day.  Stoked that if I can muster up the nerve to conquer a workout in my basement, I can handle much worse out on the roads. 

1-4-2010: happy new year!  We spent the holidays in Maui and had a fantastic time, seeing the island, doing lots of riding and swimming and just generally enjoying the sunshine and laid-back atmosphere.  It has been hard to re-adjust to the cold temps and snow in Colorado since we returned; we are ready for spring to arrive that's for sure!

12-13-09: yesterday we had a busy day, with spin class, a snow hike (intended to be snow shoe-ing, but not quite enough deep snow) and then a trip to the Zoo for Christmas light viewing.  The zoo was really cool featuring LOTS of lights and chances to see some animals.  

11-30-09: Reminder!!  Our 2nd "Thursday Night Cycling college" is this Thursday night, December 3rd and the topic is BALANCE: how to train hard, have a job, have a life - a topic especially relevant at this hectic time of year!  Hope you can attend -please RSVP to treads.

11-10-09: i've made a breakthrough on my sideaches while running.  The past 6 weeks or so, I've been doing yoga or pilates 5x/week, really focusing on core strength.  Ta-DA!  No more sideaches, I can run pain free again.  Rob thinks I had weak intra-abdominal muscles that were cramping on runs due to weakness.  Now that I've got some core strength, it doesn't happen anymore.  Well whatever the reason, I'm pumped to have running back as a viable option for the days it's too cold for riding.  So - if you get sideaches when you run, try starting with core work and see what happens!

10-24-09: today was my 3rd CX race of the season and my first-ever MUDDY cx race.  I assumed it would be nice and dry, but apparently Castle Rock got more snow than Denver did, so it was still melty-slushy- aka muddy by the time our category to took the course (as in, standing water in 2 ditches, several inches deep-uck).  I started out dead last (I still don't feel comfortable with my skills and don't want to get in anyone's way) and really struggled to manipulate the muddy sections and the standing water/muddy drops into the uphills.  I've never ridden in mud, which makes me a very poor mud rider (duh).  As the race went on, I started getting the hang of it - realizing you have to control the front wheel less and let it find its own path, and not focus so much on "your line" as you do on pedaling through the messy thick mud to keep moving.  There was a downhill mud path, slightly off-camber.  I struggled with that but by the 4th lap had mastered it - amazing how the learning curve shortens on each lap.  I felt my handling skills improved more in that 45 minute race than they have over years of road cycling.  And truth be told, it was pretty fun to ride in the mud.  Not fun was the cleanup afterwards, what a PAIN in the butt:

10-20-09: I love this protein powder!  (They also make a great women's multi-vitamin!)  

10-19-09: I survived my second CX race of the season yesterday.  It was literally down the road from our house in Golden and the weather was amazing - 80 and sunny!  Rob and I raced at the same time (he can race 45+ now, even though he hasn't even turned 44 yet - this CX racing age stuff is wacky) but it's nice to go at the same time because we can cheer for each other out on the course and then we are both done and it doesn't take the entire day.  We both made it without crashing and, while we both started dead last in our categories, we moved up a few spots by passing people during the race.  I actually started to feel I was getting the hang of it (gasp!  CX racing IS fun, who knew!).  It was a tricky course with this sketchy wooden staircase built into a mud hill and 2 really steep berms (sp?) we had to climb up - tough.  Lots of sand too, so I got my share of running action in.  It really was a good time - they'll be doing another race on that course in a few weeks so we'll have a chance to try again and see if we can improve.  Oh - Alison Dunlap came and smashed our women's field.  She did NOT lap me though, which I was pretty proud of!

10-12-09: so the cold and snow this last weekend made riding outdoors an unlikely choice.  I can't handle it under 32 degrees, my fingers freeze and then it's all over.  so I went running.  more like a shuffle than a jog, given that it's been over a year since i last tried to run.  Sure enough - same painful side stitch, same spot, same circumstances (starts after about 10-15 minutes and makes running unbearable).  I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this?  I come from a running background, 4 marathons and 4 years of high school track.  But the more into cycling I got, the more this side pain grew when I'd try to run.  I can't figure it out -but would appreciate feedback since I'll never be able to do an Ironman unless i can get this under control!

9-27-09: this weekend I got way WAY out of my comfort zone.  Saturday was my 3rd or 4th ever cross race (first of this season), on my brand new 2009 Cannondale CX frame (1/2 pound lighter than my trek frame was!).  Gorgeous weather and teammates Susan and Mo joined me at the line for the suffer fest.  I'm told that's one of the hardest race courses in the schedule, which is a huge relief because it was HARD.  Several of the climbs were freaking steep and I was cursing myself for running a road crank instead of a compact crank (that's on the to-do list).  I started off dead last on purpose, so as to be sure I didn't interfere with those riders that are actually competent at the sport.  I eventually passed a couple people, including Mo who was feeling terrible and couldn't breathe.  Susan passed me with a lap to go, which was AWESOME since this was her first race back following her crash/elbow surgery back in June.  it's so good to have her back out there.  Rob also raced and had some bad luck on the climb which included bashing his knee on the underside of his handlebars, so his knee is hurting badly now.  But we both finished and I think we may actually race CX again.  It's soooo hard. 

Today I went mountain biking on an "easy" trail - yeah right they are never easy for me.  We did Waterton Canyon and the scenery was pretty awesome, when I could actually peel my eyes off the trail and look around.  Susan lent me her full susp MTB which made things much more enjoyable (versus my rigid steel frame junker bike!).  We enjoyed the warm temps and the gang was very patient with my slowness and freaked-outness.  I do think i'd come to really love it so I need to work on getting a "squishy" bike as they call them.  It was a good weekend of parking the road bike and trying new things.   I found both days to be mentally challenging which made for a great distraction from the stresses of "real life."  Hoping the sunshine sticks around awhile longer into the fall so I can do more weekends like this one! 

9-20-09: our first-ever mandatory SW4 skills clinic went GREAT yesterday!  Tucker and Chris from Peak to Peak took our gals under their wings and lined up an entire day of riding and skills drills to get these gals more comfortable on their bikes, which will hopefully translate into safer racing at the CAT 4 level!  The clinic included our 2010 SW4 members as well as a few of our CAT 3s that stopped by.  Sandy even came down from Glenwood to participate!  It was a great way for the team to bond heading into the off-season and to kick off their 2010 season as a group.  Thanks to everyone that participated and to Tucker and Chris for sharing the day with our team!  Lots of photos are posted on facebook. 

9-14-09: Last week Dad crushed the South Dakota Senior games, taking 3 gold medals- PLUS he beat the 20K state record he set last year by over 2 minutes!!