the breakaway cats.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I slowly read this in pieces as I juggled a few other books through out May and June. It was interesting reading this while going through a global pandemic and racial injustices happening in the US. Although The Grapes of Wrath isn’t about race, I feel like there were themes that played out in this story from the 1930s that were still playing out today. The hardest one to swallow was the theme of man’s inhumanity to man. So often, Steinbeck pointed to the fact that the Joad’s (or migrant worker in general) suffering wasn’t due to bad weather, inability or motivation to work but due to their fellow man. There were several instances in the book where people in powerful positions refused to see their own privilege. A chapter that sticks out to me had a discussion between a worker and land owner on how the farmer gets relief from the government but that relief doesn’t make it to migrant worker. “We pay sales tax and gas tax and tobacco tax,” this little guy says. An he says, “Farmers get four cents a cotton pound from the government - ain’t that relief?” An he says, “Railroads and shipping companies draw subsidies - ain’t that relief?” "They’re doing stuff go to be done,” the deputy says. “Well,” the little guy says, “how’d your goddamn crops get picked if it wasn’t for us?" While I enjoyed this read, it was a heavy time to read a heavy book. 

Piecing me Together by Renee Watson: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was our book club pick for July, and it was a refreshing read. It’s a young adult book so it was nice to be able to pick it up and just breeze through pages. This book was about a black high schooler from Portland and the difficulties she faced from the “opportunity” of getting into a mostly white, private school. While I feel like the book was unrealistic in how perfectly things would play out, it was refreshing to read a hopeful story on race, and the struggles she faced and the outcomes that came out of the hard conversations she had. It was interesting reading this at the same time as going through Me & White Supremacy, as this book hit on some of the same topics. A big one was on white saviorism - the belief that people white people have an obligation to “save” BIPOC from their supposed inferiority and helplessness. And how often times even though it is well meaning, it leads to “fixing” a problem from the white person’s perspective without listening to and partnering with the people they intend to help. So in the end, it isn’t truly a “fix” for the community in need. An example from the book was how the mentorship program Jade was in focused on giving the girls wealthy, cultural life experiences when what they really wanted was help understanding basic life skills like how to save money and have a budget, or how to run a small business. If you’re looking for an easy, feel good read on race, this book is for you!

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(⭐️/2)

It took me a couple of months to read this book, because it had a lot of hard pills to swallow. This book is setup almost like a workbook, where each day there is a small section to read and 5-6 journaling prompts at the end. Being completely honest, just the title of this book felt a little extreme for me but I’m glad I picked it up and dug in. If you’re like me, there will probably be lot of things that are really hard to read. And a lot of the journalling prompts that were uncomfortable and hard to answer. I found myself starting on some subjects in an argument with the book. This kind of self reflect is really challenging, but extremely important. Here are some things I’ve learned from this experience:-Sometimes I’m going to make mistakes when I talk about race. That’s ok. Be ready to listen and be ready to say I’m sorry. -There is a lot that I don’t know about race (I’ve added quite a few books to my to-read list this year to learn more!).-White feminism is a thing, and I’m guilty of it. Saad referenced a ton of black feminist leaders that I’d love to learn more about. (Kimberle Crenshaw, Audre Lorde, Bell Hooks, Alice Walker, Angela Davis) If you are open to the work, I’d highly recommend this book. 

Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay by Phoebe Robinson: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Here’s a quick little write up on what I read in May & June! Enjoy!

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book follows the lives of twelve different characters (mostly women, black, and British) and shares stories of their life. What career choices looked like, what family and love looked like and so many other aspects of life. Each character has a chapter telling their story, but that character often times shows up in other chapters. I loved seeing characters popping up in other chapters and seeing how much their life experiences shaped who they were later in life. I thought that aspect was such a cool part about this book. I loved keeping track of the characters and how their stories overlapped. I enjoyed that so much, I created a character map to visualize the character connections (see second photo). 

  I give this one a solid 4.0 stars. I loved the writing and it was easy to jump in to this book and sit for a while. 

  The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a book club book for May. The Word for Woman is Wilderness was described as a gripping feminist reimagining of “Into the Wild”. I feel like that description kind of works, but actually sells the book short. The main character, Erin, is a British woman in her 20s wanting to experience solitude and take a solo trip to explore Alaska. There were lots of aspects of Erin that really resonated with a younger version of myself, but then a lot of other aspects that low key drove me up the wall. Her hunt for experiencing true solitude and proving that women too can hack it frustrated me at times but also in the same way that sections of “Into the Wild” and “Walden” frustrated me. 

  I gave this four stars, if I’m being honest it’s maybe a 3.75 star in my book rather than a solid four. I choose that rating because there’s a lot of science-y rants that she goes off on that I could’ve done with out. But all in all, a great book that I’d recommend to my adventure seeking independent women friends.

  We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a book club book for June, and the only book that I finished in June. I feel like I spent so much of June reading and reflecting but only finished one book. This is the only book I’ve read by Coates, and after finishing “We Were Eight Years in Power”, I plan to read more. This was a compilation of essays written by Coates during the Obama presidency. My favorite essay, or the one that impacted be the greatest was “The Case for Reparations.” Which you can find on The Atlantic if you’re interested in a taste of the book. I loved Coates eloquent writing style, even though this book took me a bit longer to read due to needing look up different historical events and vocabulary. While I feel like I learned so much from this book, I feel like I’ve added to my list of things I need to learn more about (mass incarceration and the Federal Housing Administration to name a couple.) 

I decided I’m going to try something out and write a little blurb here to summarize what I’ve read the last month instead of individually post each time I’ve finished a book. Writing isn’t my forte, but i’m trying to exercise that muscle more regularly so that maybe with practice, it’ll get better! And now that I’ve greatly lowered your expectations, heres a summary of what I read in April: 

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner: ⭐️ 

I picked this book up because it’s been sitting on my shelf since I was in college and the library is closed! This book was challenging for me to get through. And at the end of it, had me really questioning what was the point?? Time was really hard to keep track of during this book, so I made a family tree and tried to create my own timeline with notes to make sense of the plot. Another big issue I had is that none of the characters were likable. There was no one that held my attention so that I cared what happened to them. Would not recommend.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez: ⭐️⭐️ 

This book was also challenging for me to get through. There were small story lines of the book that I did enjoy, but at then end I didn’t understand how they all worked together or what was the point. I’m not sure why ‘Love in the time of Cholera’ was chosen as the title as the disease was barely present in the book. I read this for a book club I'm in and it felt reassuring that everyone else had a similar experience with it! 

  Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

This is the first book I’ve read by Gladwell and it likely won’t be my last. This book digs into our interactions with strangers and how often they go wrong. It digs into different scenarios of deception and how often we blow past all of the red flags because our default is trust. Some of those exercises left me feeling a bit hopeless in how to tell when people are lying or taking advantage of you. Like what’s the point of reading all of these stories of people being taken advantage of if I’m not learning anything?! I feel like the quote below best summarizes the book: 

“To assume the best about another is the trait that has created modern society. Those occasions when our trusting nature gets violated are tragic. But the alternative - to abandon trust as a defense against predation and acceptation - is worse."

And I think that is true. To live your life assuming the worst in everyone and that everyone is out to cheat and take advantage of you is worse. You will more often get it wrong than right. 

  “We think we can easily see into the hearts of others based on the flimsiest of clues. We jump at the chance to judge strangers. We would never do that to ourselves, of course. We are nuanced and complex and enigmatic. The the stranger is easy.  If I can convince you of one thing in this book, let it be this: Strangers are not easy."

It’s February 2020. It’s raining in Seattle. It’s grey as all get out. I’m on the way to the airport with my number one bun and we’re getting on a plane to go to New Zealand for two weeks. The mission was to race Trans New Zealand, chill under the sun, bikepack the Old Ghost Road, hang with friends in Wanaka, and drink lots of beer. 

We pay too much money for checking our bikes with us (F*ck you, United). 

We get to New Zealand and all of our stuff made it. 

We start racing Trans NZ and it is AWESOME. Quick side note, Trans NZ is a six day enduro mountain bike race and you can find more information about it here:  https://www.transnz.com/ . As it usually goes with any mission, things don’t go exactly to plan. Spoiler alert, I didn’t finish Trans NZ. I crashed hard at the end of day 3 and broke my collarbone. It wasn’t a technical trail. It was just one of those days where you’re feeling great, you’re riding super well and the idea that you can crash doesn’t seem like a real thing. 

I’m going to spend a minute crying about it because let’s be honest it was a huge bummer. OMG IT WAS SUCH A BUMMER TO BREAK MY COLLARBONE! What the heckkkkkkkkk. How could I be so stupid?!?!? Ok. Accidents happen, I can’t unbreak my collarbone for the time being so let's move on.  

Kelly finished Trans NZ and we rearranged the amount of time we were going to spend out on the West Coast. Kelly did the Old Ghost road in two days and I did some hiking. We had a bomb airbnb on the coast and we spent more time in Wanaka than we originally planned. Always spend more time in Wanaka. 

Obviously I really wish that I hadn’t broken myself, but big picture the trip was still really amazing. And I’d rather choose to focus on the positive things instead of the things that bum me out. I got to heckle racers during the last days of racing, I saw some incredible birds, and got to be outside in the sun. Also big picture, there is always going to be another race. My collarbone will heal. I’m going to get to ride my mountain bike again. We can go back and ride the old ghost road.  

I guess what I’m trying to say is keep your eyes on the big picture. And when you’re looking at that big picture, life is still pretty tight. 

 Enjoy the video. Most of the footage was taken by me, the riding at the end of the video is my husband, Kelly. There are few more words and photos on my Shimano Gravel alliance page here: https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/information/news/flowy-trail-and-broken-bones--trans-nz-enduro-with-mallory-nowel.html

For Cinco de Malnow 2018 (my 31st birthday), we explored the Olympic Adventure Trail. We took two days for our adventure, one day exploring the OAT and then other riding a mix of pavement and trail to make our way back to the car. We chose to stay the night a the Lake Crescent Lodge, but you could very easily do this same route and plan on camping and cooking all your food. 

Routes for each day:

Day 1 - https://www.strava.com/activities/1554055234

Day 2 - https://www.strava.com/activities/1555710037

Although the OAT is described as a mountain bike trail, we each used cyclocross or gravel bikes on this trip and did just fine. Since we weren’t camping, we were able to pack light. Most ladies were using some kind of saddle bag and handlebar bag.

Bikpacking.com was a great resource for route planning and did a great write up of the route. Here is a link to their write up: http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/olympic-adventure-route/

To celebrate entering my 30s, I wanted to go on a bike adventure with my gal pals. The goal was to do a brevet style adventure beginning and ending at my house. I love the idea of leaving your front door for a big adventure.

That’s exactly what we did. In two days, we rode 176 miles. We didn’t repeat any roads and we took two ferries. We kept it light weight and only carried a change of clothes and snacks with us.  

Not a bad way to turn 30 if you ask me :)

Route:

Day 1: https://www.strava.com/activities/974372509

Day 2: https://www.strava.com/activities/976100983

 Video:

INDEPENDENCE VALLEY ROAD RACE

EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, MALLORY NOWELS STOKE LEVEL: MEDIUM

In the race flyer, this course was described as “one of the most anticipated spring classics in the Northwest.” The course is a 20 mile loop with a little bit of everything. There are two “shorter” climbs, some rollers, and a long stretch through the valley. With two climbs per lap and a long section of flat in the valley, we knew we’d be either working our asses off to stay attached on the climbs or (more likely) working our asses off trying to chase back on during the valley section. To summarize: get ready to go hard, and then go harder.

There was a solid mix of Oregon and Washington racers in attendance this Saturday. Twenty-three women showed up to race in the CAT ½/3 field.

Since I’ve upgraded to CAT 3, I’ve really struggled with pushing through the discomfort during a race. Here’s the thing, I love working hard. In training, the tough workouts during the week where I just feel completely shattered at the end are my favorite workouts. But for some reason when I’m actually racing, I really struggle mentally with pushing through that discomfort. So a big goal of mine this Saturday was to push through that discomfort until I truly couldn’t go any harder.

I tried to section it off as 6 4-4.5 minute intervals. My strategy was to think of each climb as a 4-4.5 minute interval and then try and get as much rest as possible between each effort. For the first two climbs, the strategy totally worked! I was beyond stoked to find myself attached to the pack at the finish of lap one. When we approached the first climb of lap 2 (Mental Interval #3), I was motivated and ready to go for interval #3. Turns out I didn’t have the legs to hold on to the pack for that third climb, but I got dropped because of my climbing abilities, not because I wasn’t mentally in the game trying my hardest. Anyway, I made it about ¾ of the way up the climb before getting shelled. I had a buddy, Emily Ball (Hagens Berman - EY Society) with me at the top of the climb. We worked to catch Megan and then the three of us worked together to finish the race.

I chatted with a few of the girls post-race to hear how the rest of the race went. Lap 3 had an attack up the first climb by Cara Machacek (KR) and once the pack caught her, Heidi Franz (KR) followed up with a counter attack with Anghard Porteous (Bicycle Attorney) following. Looks like there was a chase group of five a couple minutes behind and then a second chase group of six a couple minutes behind chase group #1. Piecing the story together with the results, there was a sprint for 1-2 and 3-4 while 5-7 rolled in solo. Chase group #2 also had a sprint finish securing places 8-13. The rest of the pack more or less came in solo. In summary, everyone worked their asses off trying to stay attached on the climbs or worked their asses of trying to chase back on. WAY TO HUSTLE, ladies. Here’s how the women’s podium shaped up:

1 - Anghard Porteous (Bicycle Attorney) 2 - Heidi Franz (Keller Rohrback Cycling) 3 - Nicole Pressprich (Audi)

SEQUIM #2

EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, JACKIE LOGAN, MALLORY NOWELS STOKE LEVEL: LOW

The TSH ladies came out for round two of racing at Sequim with a new plan and hopes for trying out some new dance moves during Saturday’s race. The squad left Seattle praying that the magic doppler would rule in their favor and give us some sunshine during the race. We got the sunshine, but we also got some wind. LOTS OF WIND. Please reference the weather graph below (taken from www.wunderground.com) to get a good understanding of the winds we experienced during the race.

Needless to say, the stoke level was low. I think I lasted about 20 minute of the race and decided to pull the plug. My desire to race in those conditions overpowered my desire to race so I pulled the plug and rode into the parking lot after one lap. I was happy to find another teammate waiting for me in the car :).

So I’m not sure how the race actually went, but it sounded tough! Once again, KR pulled out an impressive victory with HEIDI FREAKIN FRANZ TTing at least a lap (??) by herself finishing 3 minutes and 53 seconds in front of the pack. OH MY. Way to go, friend. Cara Machacek (KR) rode herself to second place in a solo break, finishing 23 seconds in front of the pack (3:30 behind Heidi). Ivy Audrain (Hagens Berman-Supermint) won the field sprint, landing her in third place for the day. Megan and I got to watch the ladies finish, it was so cool getting to watch the sprint unfold and cheer for Jackie as she finished!! NICE WORK ALL AROUND, LADIES.

SEQUIM #2 PODIUM: 1 - Heidi Franz (Keller Rohrback Cycling) 2 - Cara Machacek (Keller Rohrback Cycling) 3 - Ivy Audrain (Hagens Berman-Supermint)

SEQUIM #1

EVENT: ROAD RACE HEROES: MEGAN FAY, JACKIE LOGAN, MALLORY NOWELS, ANA-MARIA POPP STOKE LEVEL: HIGH

Sequim #1 (Tour de Dung #1) was the first road race of the season for the TSH Ladies and we came out with a full squad. As a CAT 3 squad in a 1 / 2 / 3 field, we have our work cut out for us if we want to be competitive. Let’s talk about what I think we did well: We covered attacks! We spent time at the front! We got organized and formed a lead out train for the finish! I think we each have ideas about how we’d like to improve things for next week, but as a whole I’m STOKED about how things went. ALSO!!! I realized this was my first road race as a 3 where I’ve finished with the pack and haven’t gotten dropped. WHAT A HUGE IMPROVEMENT!

It’s so exciting to feel like you’re improving and gives hope that someday soon that we can approach road racing as an aggressive team rather than a reactive team.

Here’s what the podium looked like: 1 - Heidi Franz (Keller Rohrback Cycling) 2 - Hillary King (Garage Racing) 3 - Ivy Audrain (Hagens Berman-Supermint)

I think everyone who raced Saturday would say that KR dominated the race. They raced hard, attacked aggressively, AND DID YOU SEE THE LEAD OUT TRAIN?!? Hats off to you, ladies. Congrats on your win.