While the cycling news has been somewhat somber over this past season it is nice to know that the fans are alive, well and in great spirits. A year ago we came across Mandy, Daniele and Cara at the National Cyclocross Championships. Their infectious enthusiasm and zest for fun illuminated the whole event. These ‘girlies' are racers as well as race fans and they have promised to send us occasional stories and pictures from their adventures around the world of cycling. Here Mandy introduces “the 3 girlies”:

Mandy (L), Daniele (M) and Cara (R )	Mandy (L) and Cara (R) at CX Nats 2005 with Chris Horner

Getting to know us

Okay… while usually you get to know a new columnist/editorial concept when the muggilybugs at the top of the corporate ladder decide it's appropriate (i.e. the big January issue!), I'm bucking the trend.

Get to know me now. On an ordinary Thursday in December, before people rush off to deck their halls and untangle Christmas lights. Get to know me now. I have no halls to deck, and no sweet Douglas Fir awaiting heaps of presents at its feet. Yes, I live in my Acura, so the dashboard is the only deck-worthy item, and frankly it's at times hard to see over the glare of candles on my ‘mantle' so I abstain from said holiday tradition.

I'll give you a snippet of my life, with the promise of more to come as the New Year unfurls.

I live in my car. Oh wait, I already told you that. But it's an important fact. While things like co-worker costumes and morning commute drudgery highlight the lives of some I know, mine consists of something quite different. Like, for instance, that damn thing at the gas station. You pull up, get out of your car to fill up, and select method of payment (Credit). “Insert card quickly” it beeps at you. You insert the card as quickly as one can who does not possess fingers moonlighting as letter-openers. “Please remove card quickly” it admonishes you. Oh yeah?! What you gonna do about it? Jump out of your little digital voice-box and fight me? Deny my right to pay? Not likely. Though with my little weenie cyclist arms, I'd probably lose that battle anyway.

Yeah, that kinda stuff highlights my day. It's a different life, this existence on the fringes. I used to be all corporate and everything. I used to have an office, and a daily occasion to wear every one of my 57 pairs of high heels. I used to have a work email account monitored by the folks in IT, an extension, and the usual office drama like “someone used all the hazelnut coffee and didn't call to replace it!”

But, life changed and now I am a nomadic girl, looking down the barrel at 30, and trying to keep a smile on my face (though not too much of one…mind the crow's feet) while shyly hiding my few gray hairs under a bike helmet. My office/bike sits in my trunk (I stupidly sold my roof rack, thinking at the time it was wise to save on gas mileage. I am so silly!). And my possessions are portioned out in various bits of luggage strewn about the backseat. No late-night runs to the 7-11 with the entire team in the Acura for Mandy. Only room for one in there! I might as well get my mail through the window on the passenger's side, but it'd get a little drafty so I decide to let my BFF (Best Friends Forever) Cara do the honors from her civilized abode in Asheville, NC.

BGFs at CX Nats 2006 Mandy (L) and Cara (R)

Speaking of BFFs, I miss mine. I have two, mainly. The aforementioned Cara and Daniele, a resident of Austin, TX . Austin, the city where my love, Ivan Basso, pedaled his Trek bicycle on a fine December day after signing with the Uber-Disco team.

Sigh… Sorry, got lost in a moment, there. Dreaming of Ivan. Sigh…

Okay, I will write more soon and tell you of the adventures of the three girlies: Cara, Daniele and Mandy!

Wishing you Whirled Peas,

Mandy

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