Tuesday, November 15, 2005

My Girlfriend is Pregnant!!! aka a moment of hero worship.


I just read today that Marla Streb is pregnant!

For those of you who are not into mountain biking, Marla Streb (or “my girlfriend”, as my wife likes to call her) is only like the most amazing woman pro downhill racer ever!

In addition to all her titles (VeloNews lists nine NORBA downhill victories, two single-speed cross-country world titles and a World Cup downhill), she has written a book, "Downhill: The Life Story of a Gravity Goddess", and been featured riding down a bobsled track in the IMAX movie “Top Speed”.

To top it all off, she took place in the “Hell Ride” this year. “Hell Ride” was a contest with simple rules:

1. A guy and a girl won the chance to race in Hell Ride.
2. In Hell Ride, the two riders had to ride with Marla Streb and Mark Weir, and keep up.
3. The ride lasted for 12 hours, over 14,000 feet of climbing in sweltering heat.
4. If you kept up, you got to keep the bike. If not, no bike.

Her baby is due in April. Hell Ride was in August. You do the math, and realize how hardcore she is.

I entered the contest; even though I had no chance in hell of finishing, I wanted to meet Marla Streb (In a cruel twist of fate, she had been the featured speaker at the Michigan Mountain Bike Association annual meeting, just months before I joined that organization).

At any rate, as I wrap up my moment of hero worship, I want to extend a heartfelt congratulations to someone I consider one of the most amazing athletes today, and further boggle everyone’s minds by mentioning that Marla is planning on returning to racing next year as well.

Hard frickin’ core.

Link to news story
Link to Marla Streb’s blog
Link to Marla Streb’s site

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Congratulations. I wish you, Marla and little Marlarat every happiness.

And very special kudos to Mrs. Alpharat for being so open-minded.

You're truly paving the way for "alternative" families everywhere. Can't wait to see you all on Oprah.

tanagrame said...

She's hardcore, huh? I'd like to see her drink five pots of coffee while she's pregnant. Then, she'd be hardcore. Ok, that wasn't nice. THAT could actually be dangerous!