Merry Christmas

I heard this ruckus, sounded like a bad country western film with awful music, and then realized it was some carollers dressed in old fashioned clothes singing and playing tinny instruments. Tis the season for lots of merriment, drinking, and animals in santa suits.

What to do next....

2008 cx Nats is over. The gun went off and 5 minutes later, the fire that fueled me with hope, optimism, wonder and excitement for the past ~365 days flickered and went out with the bitter cold winds sucking the life out of my fingers and toes. As soon as the feeling came back midrace and I was able to refocus and continue on I realized it was too late. I only had a brief reprieve of that fire as it too had froze with my fingers. By time it thawed, the race had come to an unfulfilling end and now I still have this gnawing wonder and anticipation of the outcome that will be the long dance until cx nats next year.

The night before the storm, at CX Nats....

Judd went out to fetch some Kansas City BBQ and I'm taking a moment between bouts of reading and dozing on the couch to update the blog. Once again no pictures because as luck always has it, the moment I click to take the picture (this time of the podium with Amy D and another of Wes, the battery is too low to operate the camera - what the hell).

We lucked out with a smooth sailing flight (despite some wild bumps in the air halfway to KC and horrific experiences like Beth's and Arley's delay and layover nightmares). We saw the venue as we were landing at the airport. It was really neat to look out and see the huge tents and the twittering course tape and seeing the riders of the last race of the day on Thurs go around. The venue Tiffany Springs Park is convenient to the aiport and hotels. The course, a tiring grind of a power course, winds itself way up and up along a huge hillside.

The DCCoD, and Tom McD had VIP-like accomodations with tent, heaters, and equipment set up as the Mid-Atlantic headquarters for cx nationals. Huge thank you to all those that helped in the organizing and taking the burden to make everyone else comfortable. That will be a huge god send tomorrow as the balmy temps drop to frigid during the day on Sun.

The home away from home, the Mid-A resided at the Marriott Residence Inn and enjoyed happy hour Thurs and leftovers from the Louisville kids on Fri. Thanks to all racer moms everywhere that support juniors and make sure they (and friends and neighbors) are all well fed.

Mid-A notables finishes: Diane Grimm, Tracey Lea, Fred, Cuttney, Wes with medals in their events, Jeff B and Rob Lea as national champions. (Let me know if I missed any)

Velo Bella notables so far: Anna M with a bronze, and Amy D as U23 Nat Champ.

Although not on the podium there were many outstanding battles along the way including Kris A and Adam McG with gutsy races laying it all out there. Also great races by Gunnar, Randy, Shawn, Kelly, Judd, Zach, Sid, Sam, Betsy, Laurie, Liz, Heidi......


***********
My master's race was a humbling battle of self preservation as I forced myself to get my money's worth of riding on the course. The pre-ride 2 hours earlier was a slip and slide and left the bikes and me a muddy mess. In 2 hours the course completely changed and was completely rideable and tacky, so tacky that after the race the bike was still clean. Although I had hopes, and expectations, that I would be able to make it to a podium finish, my past 2 week Battle of the Lung had left me more tired and deflated than I anticipated. I rolled in for 16th in my field nearly a lap down. A heart breaking race but everything in stride it's been an up and down season anyway. Sunday is a new day and I'll have a great 2nd row start. Just need to bring the lungs and legs tomorrow.

Racing across the pond

Goodluck to Velo Bella teammate DD Winfield and to Laura Van Gilder racing for C3 in the cyclocross Worlcup event in Belgium this weekend. They have worked very hard and have proven they can race in all conditions and against tough competition here in the US. The world is their stage.

This will be a nice appetizer before Nationals, Christmas cx races in Europe, and Worlds! Goodluck! The Mid-Atlantic is cheering for you.

NC Grand Prix weekend

A few links to pics from Sunday:

Christina this one is for you. Barrier technique Notice my right elbow is in between the saddle and my body, not out and flailing - you get more lift this way.

The winning attack on Sun

Cycling News - Race coverage Day 2

Cycling News - Day 1


Pics of Judy, I love JD, Sexy Carharts, great food, good company,.......

Judy is the cutest dog ever. Unfortunately we didn't click the camera in time to get her fluffy floppy eared face, so no pics after all. She looked like a living stuffed animal. The most adorable doggie ever.

I "heart" JD = a great shirt for MegA. I knew I should have bought it when I saw it. I can't find it online now. (JD = John Deere but it was in really small print).

Who knew Carharts could be sexy. At a World of Clothing in Hendersonville my quest to buy ugly brown flannel lined pants great for womaning the pits for cx, also led me to my new fav jeans. I'll be sporting them regularly until I rip the pant leg on a chain ring or something.

Great food at West First Pizza part of the slowfood movement and made with organic ingredients. Homemade italian sausage and pasta - why can't the metro suburbs of DC have cool restaurants like that. We followed that up with some chocolates from the candy store in Hendersonville and cookies from The Fresh Market.

The MABRA contingent was disappointingly small, but not surprising given the local race in Leesburg, and the MAC race in Long Island on the same weekend. In NC, Jeremiah B won both days. The Alan team was there and with a great showing from Julie. New DC gal racing for Sorella raced on day 1. The Gallaghers came down and both did really well. Judd and I rounded out the rest of the local DC contingent (unless I'm missing some others).

In the conficting races - Christina B won both days in Long Island, very impressive. And Lindsey and Betsy won their races in Leesburg.

NJ wrap-up, now on to NC

Day 2 of USGP NJ- shorter course, a little more riding, but still a lot of running. I finished up the same as the day before. The Bellas did well again and DD won the most aggressive rider award. Congrats to DD and her tenacity. Alica got another podium in the juniors race.

Special thanks to the Styers, the super-family of the Mid-Atlantic cx scene. They get up before early to get to races to secure the best location for the team tent. They even go through the routine and stress of doing their own races and then turn around and support a whole slew of Bellas. Morgan ran a marathon back and forth to the bike wash and tended to us Bellas. Hil somehow manages to fine endless energy reserves to keep everyone happy and occupied including little Ethan who never complains and splashed around merrily in the puddles all weekend. Alicia is very supportive and helpful with getting us girls prepped. They really love all aspects of bike racing from participating to supporting racers.

Thanks to the Bella pit crew for helping us girls do our bike changes 2x a lap, Buck, Judd, Hilary, Morgan, and everyone else that had a hand in catching, scrubbing, pushing bikes this past muddy weekend. And thanks to Randy, Jay, Kelly, and the other voices for words of encouragement and pointers for/during the race.

The coolest part of the weekend was feeling the energy of the spectators during the elite men's race along the money pit - spectators were sticking dollar bills in the mud and racers would pick them up as they came through. It was really a great way to turn a miserable slogging mess into a fun time, at least for the spectators.

*****

On to Hendersonville NC this weekend. Read the archive posts for 2006 race adventures in NC. These are by far my favorite races in the US. Best course. Best promoter. Best setup. Best town. It's really a shame that more racers don't make the trip. Unfortunately with so many UCI conflicts in the US racers are left having to make challenging decisions as to which races to do.

NC registration www.pre-reg.com
Info: www.nccyclocross.com

Good luck to the Bellas and all the other racers going to Long Island.

***********

Arley I hope your pinky gets better soon.

USGP NJ Day 1

We wished for mud and we got it. I think too many wished for it though.

MUD! RUN! PUSH! SLIP! FALL! JUMP! RIDE! RUN!

CONGRATS to Randy Root and Fred Wittwer for winning their races. They dominated their respective fields. Kris Auer also had an awesome race in the elite masters finishing an impressive 3rd. Alicia was the only Bella on the podium with a 2nd in her race.

In the women's race the sun had come out and wind picked up but the course was trashed although once in a while the tires could squeeze the mud out of the way. Given the conditions we ran a lot of the course, more than I ever ran in a cx race before. It was a flat course so a lot of running, no hopping on the bike to coast downhills. I chose to push the bike through the mud rather than shoulder. I actually was able to pass and catch riders just by maintaining the same slow speed of running as opposed to the stop and starts of trying to ride through the mud. We did bike changes every time past the pits because it was faster than trying to ride the race line which was all mucked up. Judd and Randy and Jay were there every time waving their hands to direct me as I deliriously rode toward them trying to navigate other riders exchanging dirty bikes for clean ones.

The Bellas did great. DD was our top racer. Amy and Kathy did great. Anna and I endured the conditions and challenged each other the second half of the race and finished 16 and 17. The Styers were fabulous as always with their support and making the Kona tent like home.

After the race, washing away the mudd on my legs revealed all sorts of cuts and scrapes I don't even remember getting. Although I do remember laughing about a few slips here and there and falling through the course tape, tripping on others bikes, getting entangled with Amy Wallace after a hysterical bout of bike derby. Looking back, the experience was fun, but at the time, I so wanted to just stop running and pause for a moment to rest. I heard Patty B got a 30 sec penalty rest in the pit for riding through the pits without exchanging bikes. She didn't have a spare bike, but it was faster to go through the pits, albeit illegally...

Tomorrow is another day.

Just a quick update

I'm wired on caffeine and it's late. Good time to update the blog.

This weekend the circus brings us up to the USGP cyclocross event in NJ. Judd spent the past week building up the new Konas and gluing tubulars. We'll be ready for some mud at Mercer county park.

Last weekend was great to be back at Beacon and Highland Park. However with the UCI conflict of the Toronto races, not many New Englanders came down as years past. At Beacon, the rain made conditions a little treacherous and many riders found transitions between mud and pavement challenging as well as navigating around trees along the course (I'll leave it at that for my non-cx racing friends that fear cx is dangerous). I was delighted they didn't take us through the mini sandpit this year where I've been known to drag my bike like it's a kid on a leash. The beach on the other hand, this year I was almost able to ride the whole thing which was pretty exciting.

Highland Park was an experience like none other for me. I've never ridden on mud that is like tape. It was clean mud and didn't clog the tires. It was not deep mud and you didn't sink in it. It was just soooo slow. I actually avoided riding "the line" because it felt so slow. I had a great start and wanted to stay with the leaders as long as possible but definitely was feeling the previous day's race in the legs. Still had great results both days and was competitive and raced Arley and Patty. Jen M had a great race at HP. She too is enjoying the upswing of the 2nd half.

It was great to see Johnny and Mandy out for the weekend. They are the Mid-Atlantic's sexiest couple.

Eventhough cx is in full swing, my road team is already planning training rides. The shop CycleLife had a lovely opening night. It was great to see my roadie teammates. I look forward to our winter team rides after the cx season.

Fairhill and Rockburn

Fairhill MAC race on Saturday turned out to be quite a surprise ending.

Fairhill was a great course, hard and fast and tough to get a tactical advantage. I ended up sitting third wheel on Kristin (Human Zoom) and Arley (Hub) the whole race content to finally "be in the race" and at the front, after a frustrating first half of the cx season full of mechanicals, bad starts, and falls. Kristin pretty much led the whole race and attacked Arley any time she came around. I decided it wasn't my race to win or lose I was kind of along for the ride this one time. I heard the announcer mention during the race that the winner gets the same payout as the men. I'll admit I thought "that's cool, too bad it won't be me".

As we rode the laps I was trying to think if there was even anyplace I could attack and get away but the course was too fast to allow anyone to get far alone. It looked like it was going to be a three up sprint however with all the turns and the barriers within 1/4 mi to the finish, it was too hard to move around, so whoever was in the barns first was likely going to win, and at this rate it looked to be Kristin but possible Arley could outsprint her. The only card I had was the element of surprise.

On the last lap, the three of us had enough of a gap to stay top 3 to the end despite Jenn Maxwell having an awesome ride and closing in on us. As we were about to come up to the barns I thought if I attack and go as hard as I can for as far as I can, maybe I could be first, or second. If they catch me, I'm still third. Oh what the hell, let's try it. I attacked around a tree that had three lines in and one line out of the corner. Sitting third wheel I watched Kristin swing tight get thrown wide into the tape and loose dirt and spin her tires. Arley rode her usual line in the middle, I went way-wide and came in tight with my front wheel hitting the exit line first giving me a slight advantage. I then just had to haul-butt and go as hard as I could the next 400 yds. I rode as aggressively as my tires could manage. As I came around the loose gravel 180 to go into the barriers and prayed I'd not crash or get stalled out. I rode the corner clean and on through the barriers. One last loose 180 turn to the final road stretch and then I was home free, sprinting against the possibility of being caught.

I was excited for my first MAC win and proved to myself that sometimes it,s worth the risk to gamble, win or lose, than not gamble at all. And the pumpkin ale was a wonderful way to top it off.

Link to VeloNews article.

Congrats to Christina B for an impressive win and for doubling up.


Rockburn

Was impressed once again at the turn out for the cat 3/4 women's race, 31 I think. The elite women only had 12 or 15, still nearly twice as many as last year and years prior for some elite women's races. And thank you to whoever pointed out that we are all a field of middle-aged women. Arley isn't. (But the rest of us are I guess if you count 30s as middle aged). I was delighted to see Christine W and Kay Tui on cx bikes, and racing. I hope they continue to enjoy and find the learning and challenge of cx to be so rewarding they keep racing year after year. Congrats to Jean for her great race to 2nd in that field.

Without a trainer to warmup on, my warmup was 4 or 5 recon laps of the course at varying speeds. Before the B men, and before the elite men, and after, I rode 1-2 laps each time and would reride sections to determine alternate lines or best way through. On this course, at first I felt very confused as to where I was on the course, what came next, and how far to the finish or pit (mind you it's only a 2.5K long course probably). With all the obstacles, corners, varying terrain, and various challenges (such as remembering to stay way left around this corner because there's a huge hole) it's key to always know where you are and what is next. During the prerides I put together my final mental cues/landmarks for the race and what to do for each section (although I don't always do the action part as preplanned)(e.g. woods--go hard, sand--run; hill--attack; barriers/corners--first; finish--two lines).

At the start, I was going to take it easy since the first corner was sketcy and a lot of loose gravel. I totally surprised myself with having an incredible start. For the race Arley, Betsy, and I rode really hard and took turns through various sections, although Betsy did lead more. We came upon lapped traffic of juniors and B women which the officials had started to long after the elite women--so for the first time I can remember, we caught a whole bunch of riders, not just a few. A lot of it was just the speed that us three were riding the course.

It was a blast riding hard together and flowing through the course like we did. Some of the corners really get greasy at speed when you have only prerode them at half speed. I was bummed to see Arley wash out her front wheel in a sandy corner with just a lap to go. The three up battle on the last lap and a three fold sprint would have been really fun. On the last lap I was about to execute my attack however we were caught up with lapped riders and it would have been too dangerous to follow through with the plan. So I went to plan B which was to attack on the lowline in the off-camber just before the finishing stretch. I stuck hard with plan B despite the two other opportunities I knew I should have gone for: near the pits or over the barriers, but didn't. In the end, Plan B didn't work as Betsy rode a slightly lower line than her usual which essentially cut off my attack line. I had to settle for trying to come around her, which I just couldn't quite muster. It was a fun battle, nonetheless.

Karma sucks

Typical double race weekend in MABRA region. Hagerstown on Saturday and Kelley Acres on Sunday. Both days had great turnout - especially the B women. Hagerstown was a decent race for me despite crashing on the first lap. I was able to get my bike back together and fight my way back to third after battling Libby shoulder to shoulder for a while with Cheryl, Terri, and Liz closing in. Betsy took the win with style and Arley second.

Sunday at Kelley Acres (the pic is from the start of the race - thanks Jeff) was a great venue and interesting course. A lot of non-traditional cyclocross racers came out from the road scene to race while the others just watched out of fear of falling at slow speed on grass. It was basically a big party. Evelyn with the champagne and women's road series prize give-away in the center (thanks E - you're the best), the Ms. Frederick and Washington county tease-queens were there, and all our best friends from MABRA. The only thing missing was a hill-billy-banjo-band.

The course was fun and surprisingly fast despite the longer than usual climbs and more barriers than modern day cyclocross races. Walking the course made it seem harder and longer than it was. On the bike I really enjoyed the challenge of the course and felt great on the pre-ride and the first 20 seconds of the race. Here's a pic of Arley and I heading into the pile-o-logs-barriers at the start. That's pretty much the last thing I remembered until I saw the handlebars under my face on the logs...and then the realization that karma sucks.
....
I do believe in Karma after all. I meant no harm when I repeated the nickname given to a fellow teammate many years ago. However just the mere fact I told other people the story of the nickname I think has come to knock me off the bike. Perhaps I have finally broken this first lap curse and in so doing have learned to never call anyone an unapproved nickname ever again. This epiphany came to me as I got up from my spectacular faceplant on the log barriers at Kelly Acres on Sunday. And thus it is only fair that I will likely here other people repeat the nickname but at me, since I have crashed on the first lap of every cyclocross race this season. I'm wondering if that one was you-tube worthy.

Now off to OHIO.

Lilypons - pond = mud

I broke my own rule of preparedness. Despite handing out a list at a clinic of what to bring to a cx race, I completely forgot what to bring to Ed Sanders. Despite telling the other girls to always be preapred for anything because you never know when the weather will change....We left VA and it was cool and sunny. I only brought a skinsuit, jersey, shorts, helmet, shoes. The bare minimum for a cx race. Yeah it's a local race, so that was my lame excuse. Judd kindly packed our mud boots and then informed after we were 20min from home that it is raining in MD. WHAT? Rain? In the end it wasn't really that bad and it was muddy in some spots, but in general, we've endured worse (which was Evo cx at the pumpkin farm years ago) or maybe Hagerstown....hmmmm mud...

Okay so the pic is obviously not from Ed Sander's cx race - it's from Nittany cx last week - which already seems like so long ago.

The drive to Lilypons is one of our shortest of the season - other than the 5min race from my house in Dec. The Styers were already at the race and set up with the Velo Bella tent and gear. Morgan was grinning and excited about his race. Alicia was getting ready to start. Hilary was excited about getting her own Velo Bella cx frame. Ethan was preparing his podium boy look. They are one of the most supportive familes I've ever known, between racing, wrenching, cheering.

I headed out for a warmup and saw Bellas Nikki and Marisa pre-riding the course and with huge smiles as Nikki exclaimed how muddy it is. The Bellas did great. DD won, I rolled in for 4th, and in the women's 3/4 cx Nikki and Marisa both did awesome and had a decent sized beginner field (twice the size of the elite).

Next up is the Hagerstown Breast Cancer Awareness race and the Kelly Acres cx race, both local MABRA series races.

Eat your fruits and veggies, but not trees

Allergies. It seems everyone who moves to DC gets them. And it seems every year they get worse. Is anyone immune?

Growing up I used to make fun of my cousins who had to get allergy shots - thinking I was superior and more healthy. They all "out grew" their allergies and me on the other hand, grew into mine.

I was the outdoorsy kid playing in the woods, running through the bushes, eating dirt. My favorite spots to play - the backyard under the Birch tree where I'd write stories on the paper bark and sometimes make birchtree-tea, and the front yard where I'd collect the pretty fall colors from the Maple tree and suck on the ends of the leaves thinking they would taste like maple syrup. I loved trees.

Allergies. It all started on a fall bike ride in college....we stole some apples from an orchard and stuffed our jerseys full of them. One of the orchard people caught us and chased us down with her truck yelling at us to stop stealing her apples and that they were sprayed with poison. We didn't believe her. We did let most of the apples fall out of our jerseys but did keep a few. That afternoon while enjoying my golden delicious, I cursed the lady as my mouth started to itch and then blistered. Ever since then, I noticed anytime I ate apples, cherries, plums, nectarines - the same thing. I thought it was the pesticides they used and my body was just too sensitive to it.

Well I swore that pesticides were the issue and was so frustrated when my recent attempt at 5 a day fruit/veggie campaign turned into a failure when even organic fruits and veggies were making my throat itch. So with no fruits left to eat, I went to the allergist to confirm that I am indeed destined to have to eat a meat based diet (despite growing up as a pseudo-vegetarian).

It figures the doctor's never heard of someone having these issues despite me hearing the same issues from other people. Even the allergist reported that I'm not allergic to fruit. WHAT? However I did find out that I am allergic to something I didn't suspect. She told me I am allergic to trees! That didn't make any sense. Then she went on to explain that whenever I ate certain fruits - such as apples and cherries, my body thought I was eating birch tree. But I told her when I did eat birch tree as a kid I didn't have a reaction. She looked at me like I was crazy. Anyway, turns out it's more common than I realized, and fairly recently is the connection being made as a cross-pollen confusion in the body. Weird.

And it also turns out I'm allergic to nearly everything else too. Nice! I just thought it was normal to constantly have a runny nose and itchy throat and trouble breathing. Oh and to break out in hives after letting a cute little puppy lick you all over......

Here's a link to an article about Oral Allergy Syndrome.

I hope this gives other fruit suffers some temporary relief.

First Weekend of MAC

Sunday - long drive to Allentown for MAC opener, UCI C2. Was thrilled to see teammates Anna M back racing after breaking her leg at Bike Jam in May and DD back to racing after a year off - being a mom again. The MAC elite is a whole new field this year with some of the New England gals coming down and with the B women that have graduated to elite and some new faces to cx like Laura Van G. It was really exciting to see so many 'new riders' to the elite (or returning riders like Alicia H on Sun and Mandy L on Sat). The race was a great reminder of how intense cyclocross racing is - nothing like road races or mtn bike races - it really is its own thing. Cyclocross is go at anaerobic or VO2 and enjoy the few short 10sec recoveries for a total of 40+ minutes; and you have to be mentally alert the whole time or you'll wipe out overcooking a turn or kill your legs by not being in the right gear going up a short little rise. Oh yeah and if you blow your start it sucks having to try to get past people in tight corners that are bottlenecks within the first 300m of the race, but that is cyclocross. And don't forget to unclip before barriers and to lift you bike up all the way. And for peat sake - don't drag your bike through the sand.

In the elite women's race Mo took off from the gun and was gone from the field for a while until Anna, DD, and LVG were able to form a little group and battle on - ending with LVG catching Mo on the last lap, and DD taking 3rd, Anna 4th. Nikki T, Arley and I made up the second group and exchanged leads for a little bit before Arley, riding a terrific race looking smooth and strong, was able to put time into us and finished for 5th. Me 6th.

In the B women's race Christina B did fantastic and finished 2nd. Hilary and Alica and Morgan all raced too. Also making the long drive was Randy R joining Judd in the Elite Master's field.

Sunday - Charm City, 400+ pre-reg'd! No UCI, but the new classic of Mid-Atlantic - dare I say more so than Granogue? Maybe not yet. Another perfect day in Baltimore, hot as usual, tons of spectators, and food, and just all around fun to hang out. Judd and I got there in time to set up our chairs and sit by the course cheering on the first race of the day. No other sport can I think of going to sit and watch it all day under a shady tree in a pretty park and just purely enjoy it - almost like being at the beach.

Saw a whole bunch of new riders in the women's B field including first time cx racers and attendees of the women's DC CX clinic Trish, Mary Alex, Kathy and a few others all did great. Teammate Marisa, who loves cyclocross as much as I, was out there too looking strong and happy this year. The Carolina twins, all grown up, came up to race. The Coppi girls started out strong with Jean commanding lead for half the race before getting a flat, Lindsey was moving up and in great position when tackled by a tree branch getting caught in her gears, and Sioban was looking smooth out there too. But as it goes with cyclocross there is a little bit of bad luck that adds another element of fun to the endeavor. In the end Kristina A took the win and Christina B, overcame a challenging start and moved up through the whole field to another great finish.

Cyclocross may seem a little cliquey but it's really not - it's more like an extended family reunion. It was great to see all the Coppi guys, the Lea's, the Wittwer's, the Wiss guys, Anderson, Erler, Randy, Masse, Buchness, Huhn, Carlson, Hunter and on and on - guys I've "grown up with" on the racing circuit for the past 9years or guys I ride with occasionaly on the Tues/Thurs group rides. Out of the women, other than Tracey Lea, Anna M, and Tammy Ebersole, I think we are the only women that are still doing the MAC races after all these years. Back in the old days there was only 1 women's field and it was about 20 women, and I consistently was finishing in the back of the pack, second to last or so, and slowly started to get the hang of it over the years and still have sooo much to learn. I wonder what ever happened to some of those gals.

In the elite women's race at Charm City, we had more pre-reg'd than the men's elite. I love it when that happens. DD and LVG quickly set pace at the front and pulled away for their own duel. Beth Mason had a great start and was riding the best I've seen her ride until she got stuck with a flat at the worst time, Arley took third by opening up time in the corners on Nikki T and I on the flats. I must admit the past few years I had been riding in no man's land and have to learn how to battle and be more aggressive for position and for the better lines. After all it is bike racing and not a grass TT. But not so aggressive I lose control. A massive slide out on one of the corners set me out for a good bit of time allowing 2 riders to pass - including Heidi, who finished 6th, who was riding an awesome race - really strong, consistent, and smooth. It was nice to have the confident Heidi back. I finished the race in 7th. Sonja made her cx race on a cx bike debut - I sware she's gonna get hooked - watch out girls the C3 empire is a threat. And Terri and Liz made their elite race debut after killing the B fields last year. Mandy snook away from Johnny (who was racing in DC) to play with us gals on the bikes. She looked great and looked happy - I hope she felt the same after the dusty suffer fest that was today.

It was a nice start to the season and fun to see familiar faces again - faces we'll see every weekend until Christmas. Great job to everyone.

Thanks to Wendy for host-housing. And a shout out to my CycleLife gals who were hanging out with the pro-men and marshalling in DC.

Thanks to those of you that donated items for the Special Olympics Juniors Day out for next week. The Lea's were much appreciative.

Cyclocross season started at 1am!

It's here. I was giddy all weekend for the transition. My bags are already packed for this coming weekend MAC CX opener - Nittany CX and Charm City. Although the bikes are still in disarray and I'm a little outta shape compared to a few weeks ago and not even sure if I'm able to handle a 40min cx race right now.

This season will once again have Judd and I travelling the east coast. The focus is on east coast USGP and the MAC series and filling in with whatever UCI races are nearby (which may mean a 10hr drive). Will pick up a few local MABRA races here and there if not travelling. The new venue for us will be opting to go to OH this year rather than the old Gloucester, MA classic. And now that Hendersonville NC is UCI again (since last I heard) I'll get to make 3 weekends of 10 hour drives to races (with Louisville and Hendersonville being my 2 favorite double venues and towns by far).

It's a long season (but not in terms of time) so I'm planning to ease into it and not burn out or get sick in November. In general, I'm looking for a good time, and staying happy, not little Ms Negativity. Although I want good results, I'm going to try to not get too frustrated if things don't go my way. Instead I'm focusing on riding a smooth hard race rather than focusing on the final placing.

Thinking long term here - hoping to score a few good USGP races worthy of enough self confidence to venture to Europe in December and January to see how the other half race and use that experience to carry me on into 2009. At which point I'll be ready to join my ladies again for an awesome road season.

*****************
Hopefully this past weekend was the last HOT weekend of the year - a nice way to end the road season. I'll miss my teammates and friends who prefer the smooth pavement but it will be that time soon again come March.

I-95 Romance

It started out much to fast
with your front-end up my ....

I lovingly gazed upon you in my mirror
and wished you'd learn to drive or steer.

As you nearly hit me with your pass
you jackass!

It started out much to fast
but then sitting in traffic for miles, it now would last.

A little romance on the drive
I saw you give your friends a high-five.

With waving flags and empty beer can,
I could tell, you're a true football fan.

You made my heart pump with the beating of your base,
the sound of your hemi, and smell of your exhaust in my face.

Leaning out the window with out a care,
gently brushing the top of the sill was your armpit hair.

You smiled at me from across the lane
Surely you are in sane.

Before flipping the bird, I blew you a kiss,
this romance I sure will miss.

As you sped away and hurried past
I knew this romance would not last.

Scenic Page Valley

Another nice race held in scenic Page Valley with views of rolling farmland and happy frolicking cows enjoying mtn views of Massanutten and Shenandoah. Ahhhh vacation. The drive through Luray and beyond was a nice break from the traffic and pollution of northern VA. We stopped for sandwiches at Main Street deli in Luray just a few blocks up from the bike shop and then headed on to Camp Roosevelt on Massanutten. Our 'easy' hour long ride from camp had no traffic, no stop signs. We rode for a whole hour with no interuptions and we were able to do two decent climbs in that hour up to Edinburg and Edith gaps. Camp was nice and secluded. No smores because I ate all the marshmallows from last week's attempt for camp fire smores in Millersburg. No cracy wild people, but there was wildlife.The sound of a black bear rummaging in a garbage can had kept me up all night fearing for my life.

Morning arises and we got to the race an hour and half earlier than expected. A few folks were sleeping in their cars waiting for their race. The turnout for the race was disappointingly small despite it being a MABRA series event and also the VA state RR championship. Plenty of entertainment in between races with a bluegrass band, and some local crafts vendors selling baskets, honey, pottery and horse pictures. Although with feeding Judd's race and then getting ready for my own, I was only able to enjoy about 1 min of the music. They were all gone by time the race finished except the potter - smart because I used the prize money to buy a momento to remind me of lovely Page Valley.

The race - oh yes, that right I went there for a race. Depsite the 5 pre-regd riders, turned out we had about 12 women I think in the 1-3 race. Rachel Warner set early pace and Christine W then set pace on the early section of the first hill. The field split near the top of the hill and Rachel and Amity pulled Amanda, Ainhoa, and I around for most of the remaining 41 mile race. I didn't feel quite as much pizzazz as last time at this course a few weeks ago. I suffered a little more on the hills and the flats. Amity pulled us girls up the hills and on the flats despite it being her first race in a few months because of an injury. In the end our group of five were together at the finish and Amity and Amanda set early pace up the climb. Rachel attacked with about 300m to go and got the win. Ainhoa got me within a few feet of the finish line for 2nd. And third got me the VA cat 3 champ medal - whoo hoo. Christine rounded out the top 3 for the VA senior women.

Now what - two weekends with no racing......

CX season on the horizon

My goals for the season (set back in February) primarily focused on racing mtn bikes. I had no idea I would end up a roadie. Looking back I think it's really cool to say I've raced a "full road season" with a great bunch of teammates I love and against some swell girls in the MABRA. We are fortunate to have so many races in such a short drive and races for women of all levels instead of one race where you get pulled on lap 2 since you couldn't hang with the 'pros'. The road season is almost over and I'll admit, I'm already looking forward to next year, as are my teammates. But until then, I am determined to get each of them out on a cx bike or a mtn bike at least once in the "off season".

Now I'm looking forward to the cx season to see who's returning to the sport, what new teams will have emerged, what surprises are going to pop up on the stage, how much has the competition improved. After last season I wasn't sure I wanted to travel the whole East Coast again, but upon seeing the UCI calendar I'm once again excited about the races here in the Mid-Atlantic and possibly going back to NC, KY, of course New England. So much for not travelling much this fall. Perhaps a trip across country or a cross the world would be fun too. All this fun packed into 3 and 1/2 months - now that's a full season.

Next week I'll be dusting off the bikes, stretching the tubies, replacing the cables (well Judd will be) and will see if I can still remember how to do the Leprauchan leap....the first cyclocross practice begins on Wed in September at a park near you - you'll see adults riding through the grass on 'road bikes' carrying their bikes up stairs and over curbs and logs, and riding zig-zags down the little grassy hills. Oh just a few more weeks until the travelling circus resumes.

I'm not your Mamacita!

Regardless of race, age or whatever all men are "Dirty old men". I've finally come to accept that. It's almost somewhat amusing, cute, and at times pitiful but in an I-almost-feel-sorry-for-you kind of way, but guys are guys. Despite this realization, I'm still caught off guard when riding along the W&OD in my own little world and all of a sudden I hear someone yell something. "Ehhh Mamacita!" Yeah I'd prefer the calling out as opposed to a groping, and sometimes the yelling out is better than the creepy elevator eyes. The most amusing is when someones whips their head around and swerves on the bike into the other lane almost causing an accident. I really don't see what the big deal is. Keep it in your imagination guys and just accept that yeah chicks ride bikes too, get over it. And just because we are riding solo, doesn't mean we are riding a bike in order to pick up guys with "big calves". And guys, having an expensive bike doesn't prove to women that you have money - it just means you are selfish and spend money on your own stuff rather than your lady. And if we are riding slow it is not an invitation to strike up an awkward chat with your hopes that it leads to an invitation for a different kind of ride later.

New favorite race

Every once in a while a new race comes along that just makes you smile when you think back about it, eventhough you suffered through it. Last year Pleasant Valley in MD this year Page Valley in VA. Hats off to the promoters for starting new races. Both races have great courses, great course set up, locals enjoying the race as well.

Page Valley - nestled between Shenandoah Natl Park and Massanutten mtn had gorgeous mtn views like VT, and rolling farmland in the valley like upstate NY. The course was flat with some good tricky corners, two nice little grinding hills that wares down the competition, and some fun downhills.

A lot of people felt that their race was one lap too long as you could tell by the number of riders that finished compared to starting. It was hot and the hills take their toll. It was a race of attrition.

The women's age graded 30+ race, I think first time VA offered it, had a small field but many strong MABRA cat4s, even some gals frm MD. Although I've been racing for a while, most of the women in the race had been racing only a few months. It was really nice to see so many new women coming into the sport - of all ages.

No cash on the line. Just medals for the VA women. Racing for the sake of racing.

The race was off to a dreadfully slow start which was going to be miserable in the sun and heat if it remained so. It was frustrating watching the field attempt to pick up the pace to maybe 14mph on the flats but some riders refused to pull through and so the pace would slow to 10mph. Eventually things got going, someone has to make a sacrafice. Everyone says to not work, but if no one worked, where would we be.

Amy W from NCVC put in some great attacks and Lynn and the Artemis girls too to get the blood flowing and eventually the pace picked up as we completed lap 1 of 4ish. At the end of lap 1 I dropped my chain did a cyclocross dismount and put the chain back on, pedaled, dropped the chain again - trying my best to not pull a Christina Briseno and curse the Fword in front of the moto ref. I smiled and waved the wheel truck to go ahead and I struggled to put the darn chain back on two more times before continuing on. Got a lucky break when the field apparently took a wrong turn, and I caught back on.

The field finally got organized and got into a nice rotating paceline everyone sharing the workload and taking short pulls. The MABRA has a great bunch of cat4s this year and I was happy to finally meet and ride with some of them. The pace had picked up and the field had whittled out some riders. However it was the pace up the hill by Catharine and Ainhoa that caused the remaining field to split. We came up on the hill through the feedzone and I got dropped as my chain had another spell of falling off. This time with kids around I once again had to hold my tongue. And just smiled in my frustration as I was forced to start pedaling from a standstill at the steepest part of the hill. I put my head down and put my hands in the drops (which is rare) and TTd away after I crested the hill. I passed an Artemis girl and felt bad I wasn't able to give her a wheel to hang on to. I eventually caught up to Cat and Ainhoa and the three of us kept the pace going, each of us trying to do equal work.

On the last lap, we were all tired, thirsty, starting to cramp. We had over a minute gap but kept the pace steady. We went up the 2nd to last hill side-by-side (no one wanted to be behind me incase my chain fell off again). On the final climb we were still side by side. I kept fearing the chain would fall off so pedaled gingerly but strong and tried to pedal faster as Ainhoa powered by with a few meters to go but I wasn't able to spin the legs any quicker on that damn hill. Catharine finished right behind me. Amy from NCVC had an awesome finish for 4th.

Good lesson in adversity.

The finish was made sweeter with the Dr. Pepper from the little girls on the side of the road at the finish line, selling ice cold sodas and water for a $1.

It was a really great race and will go down as one of my favorites.

Speaking of favorites, favorite spectator was the old lady in her lawn chair smoking a cigarette and waving an American flag as the races went by. Love it.

Weekend recap

Saturday I joined a quarter of the Coppi team for a jaunt out Skyline Dr, usually a ride I reserve for September or March. The ride up Skyline was hot with 90deg temps, but there was a little shade and the breeze took some of the edge off. The views of the valleys below from the overlooks were nice until the haze started settling in around 11am or so. The Coppi's are a nice bunch of guys to ride with and always entertaining to hang out with. My favorite thing about riding Skyline is going to Jalisco, the only Mexican restaurant I know that serves tortilla chips and coleslaw. You gotta try it.

I was little disappointed for the postponement of the Coppi road race because the plan was to sort of peak this week for either MTB nationals or the MABRA rr. I felt like I was coming into form this week after having one of my best rides in a long time this past Tuesday on the Reston group ride. I love the days when you feel super strong and aggressive. It gives me something to look forward on all the other ordinary days. I don't get that many extraordinary days, but when they come I relish them.

Sunday was Hunny Bop crit. Diane M and Heidi livened up the crowd and provided entertaining commentary for the races as the announcers. Although we didn't come up with a win, I think we were pretty happy as a team. Sara was in nearly a 30K TT off the front of the field with HPC Kristy S., which took a lot of pressure off the rest of the field. Meanwhile the team did a great job at monitoring the field and we tried to be as positive as possible and not block or anything but there were a few times we found ourselves on the front and tried to maintain a pace at the front to cushion our teammate's break. Although it was so uncomfortably hot, half of our field had actually done the women's 40/50+ race a little while earlier. Many of MABRA's strongest riders were in that field. Hats off to those ladies. I felt for them as you could see some of their snap was gone and they weren't able to launch any attacks more than a 1,2 punch now and then which wasn't enough to do any significant damage to the remainder of the field or the break. So the riders were kind of outnumbered by our team.

In the end, Robin picked up a nice prime for a massage and dinner. Sara also got a prime and scored a very respectable and stellar 3rd. For the finish, the final wind-up was a really-difficult-to-hang-on-grit-your-teeth-pace set by Wendy followed by my dig up the little hill one final time to clear the way for Leslie's launch. As she went out, I made sure all was clear and then tucked in behind her to follow her in; 4th and 5th. Robin rounded out top 10 and Wendy rolled in with the rest of the field.

Is summer over yet?

Yeah it just started theoretically based on the calendar but I'm so looking forward to the fall. Although now that I've ridden offroad 4 times since March, I'll have to spend some time getting reacquainted to the feeling of wheels slipping a little and the getting over the scariness of grass and roots and gravel and get used to bumpy terrain instead of the smooth bike path WOD asphalt. What better way to start this period of readjustment than following Judd for an easy ride in my brandnew white, pretty Sidi road shoes. They are no longer white. They have scuff marks and grass stains from riding on the mtn bike trail around Lake Fairfax, and I don't mean the wide open cross-county trail. I'm talking the poison ivy and pricker bush covered deer trails that used to make nice running trails a few years ago before they became overrun with shady suspects and broken glass. But it was a good reminder as to how fluid I used to feel bombing down slick mossy asphalt paths of Reston, little bumpy roots and broken pavement, controlling the bike over slippy mushy mud and thick bumpy grass. Yeah I suck at it. Should really change the blog name to something else. I even walked down one of the "mtn bike hills" that I used to not fear - but to my credit I was riding on slick skinny road tires that I actually pumped up the other day so probably still have over 100psi in them, and I didn't want to break a spoke on the powertap wheel - yeah that was it.

LaDeDa

Summer days are for eating watermelon and sipping mojitos and, of course, the usual - racing.

Saturday was the MABRA crit championships in Hagerstown, MD. Imagine riding around a bunch of old mansions and having families out in their yard having picnics, sitting with lawnchairs near the side walk, or hanging out on the porch watching the race as if it were the 4th of July parade going through. There was even a fanatic who was awesome enough to hand out bottles of ice cold water after each race. It was really pleasant. After staying in Hagerstown for the ToWC stage race a few weeks ago, I was actually kind of disappointed there was a crit in Hagerstown thinking it would be the downtown area which seems really depressed and almost like a ghost town. In the end, it was like a hard stroll through a park. It was a pretty neighborhood and made me wish I could afford a house like that, and live near DC.

The women's races didn't have nearly as many racers as I anticipated. I guess the MABRA championships aren't a big deal as there were no HUB women and only Liz H from C3. And HPC only brought a handful. But later on I learned that vacation plans and other bigger races were on other peoples plans for the weekend. Nonetheless it was HPC, Kenda, and CycleLife that had the majority of team representation and Artemis, and a few other individual riders that rounded out the small field.

Amanda Watson from Artemis did an amazing amount of work on the front of the field. She's riding really strong. HPC as usual launched well coordinated and predictable attacks. We launched a few of our own as well. Jen Maxwell for Kenda also had another great race and it's obvious she prefers the fast paced races. For my own girls, Wendy, Leslie, and Robin were coming off a recovery week from Nationals which didn't leave the girls as stale as they feared. Leslie was well positioned and nearly won the sprint, leading from the final corner, before getting nipped by Sarah Caravella. The Robin I know is finally back and finding her racing legs - she was right back in March and April saying that July and August she'll be rocking again. Sara and Wendy were both the strong riders for the team and did a lot of work with some really strong pulls and chasing back late attacks during the last third of the race which left them a little piqued for the final wind up of the last 3 laps before the finish. But I think as a whole our team is coming together and everyone is finding their legs and starting to realize and believe in her strengths. I'm looking forward to the last 2 months of racing.

Reston, the Monaco of MABRA

The race turned out to be furiously fun and fast. The course was smooth and had flow. Lots of corners and lots of speed, it's like Monaco F1. It was really a lot of fun to race.

It was a small field that lined up since some ladies are out in OH doing the NRC race at Grandview (which I hear HPC Jen R took third on Saturday - whoo hooo) and my own teammates hit the road to go to Louisville KY for Master's Nationals. Sara and I contended with the rest of the field, which half was HPC.

The pace, not surprising, was fast from the start. Without a full team in force, we went with the conservative approach. Right away it was clear that HPC was going to set the pace as high as possible and attack after attack occurred. By the third lap, the field pretty much was single file for the rest of the race. I finally moved up and sat about 5th 6th wheel the whole race, well more like hung on. I wasn't sure who all was left behind or what was going on, I just started counting down the laps, glancing at the time, and then wondering which attacks would stick, which would come back.

With the race being hard and fast, and the weather hot, it was a gambling match to determine who had the legs to stick it, and who would come back a few corners later, or a lap or two. It seemed with every launch off the front, and with every chase, it was definitely wearing on those chasing and those attacking.

At about 2/3 of the way through the race, Lorena's 2nd or 3rd attack, was just about reeled back in when the Verducci rider blasted out of the field up the little hill past the wheel pit and it was likely she was going to make it across the divide. My heart sank because I was on the front, could see it happening, but I was tired from taking a turn on the front trying to push a hard steady pace to reel Lorena back. Sonja tried to answer and I tried to jump on Sonja's wheel but the Verducci slipstream evaporated and no one else came around.

There were several hard attempts to bring the two back, but there wasn't enough coordination among the remaining teams and HPC was quite successful at setting a comfortably hard pace that inconspicuosly protected the break or they'd successfully tire whoever was on the front by riding 2nd or 3rd wheel and slowing the pace back down once the rider tired. C3's Heidi Von T launched a massive effort that got the peleton's speed back up and reinvigorated the field. Also Coppi's Christian showed she's not afraid to mix it up with the other girls and took some impressively hard pulls on the front, not bad for a first year racer. During the remaining few laps though, teammate Sara motored to the front and her blistering pace caused a bunch of gals on the back to snap off the accordian as she strung out the field even further and cause gaps to open up between everyone.

Two laps to go, the pace was really fast. I had no idea we could ride these corners as fast as we were. I tapped my pedal on the pavement coming out of one of the turns and it was a little wakeup call to stay alert and not let the eyes roll back desite the friggin effort. I tried to stay latched onto the HPC train. Coming into the final turn Sonja started to move up but got caught up behind one of the HPC leadout riders pulling off. I got distracted with the hubbub since at the same time I was getting ready to jump on Sonja's wheel as she was about to come by. In the end Leslie G got the field sprint, followed by Sonja, and I threw the bike to eek out a 5th overall.

Christine W despite bad luck with a broken shifter rode the whole race with a 53-11! Only Christine could turn those gears on the whole course.

A bunch of us gals watched the remaining races while eating and drinking at Clyde's.

A local photographer, Ralph, came out to check out the race and snapped a few shots

"Good luck"

Yeah so I'm supposed to hold my cards close. Sometimes a little venting though can help one feel somewhat rational or sane as you reveal your crazy thought process to the world and then the readers confirm that you are actually quite the opposite of what you feel.....

*******

Just like how I hate it when people say "drive safe," or "don't break a leg," or other well wishes that imply the chance of impending doom; I hate the "good lucks" too.

While sitting at Starbucks eating an over-priced chicken-salad sandwich and mixing it with an iced mocha...(which I regretted later in the middle of doing hill repeats - yes I stopped my efforts after I nearly 'threw up in my mouth')....I was reading the Reston times which had a pic of Vic from Evolution, looking menacingly at the camera and appearing all badass while he stands with his bike in front of the fountain at Reston Town Center. It was a nice press-piece in hopes of drawing out some local spectators for the race this weekend. As I got up to leave, some random guy started to make small talk. I'll spare you the awkwardness of being hit on by this older guy and suffice it to say he wished me "good luck" on the race which I encouraged him to check out (only for him to support cycling and to eat at local restaurants, mind you). Anyway, his well wishing then got me paranoid.

So this weekend is, needless to say, a race where I'm hoping there are no voodoo dolls or "mal chance". Reston is the most technical, sketchiest, and yet the most exciting race of the season and it happens to be my local hometown race. So no pressure or anything, after all who doesn't want to win at their local race...god knows how long the win on the Lake Fairfax cyclocross course has continued to elude me. So there it is, yes I want to win the Reston grand prix.

At the same time while proclaiming my goal/hope/aspiration/dream for 'glory', I'm also admitting, I'm scared to death. Mind you, I'm always scared. I'm paranoid for christ sake and have issues with anxiety. But I'm no Heather Locklear and afterall, aren't we are all a little nervous, or at least wondering what the outcome will be. I get nervous before races - sometimes so nervous I feel so sick and think I shouldn't race (like at Pleasant Valley RR which I blogged about last year). For a big race, sometimes I start getting nervous a few days before--like on Tuesday for this upcoming Reston grand prix on Sunday.

What's there to be nervous about?....I have flashbacks of a certain rider who lined up and then ditched the race when rain drops fell, 1 minute before the whistle (smart move as it was a downpour and quite a few incidents). Well I also spectated the race and have seen some of the crashes, heard the stories, seen the bandaged wounds weeks later. I'm nervous because you never know what's going to happen before it happens. Of course Craig Clark is on my mind. And memories of Nicole Reinhart too. If I'm so nervous, then why do it? Well I've heard that sometimes the biggest reward only comes with the biggest risk....Hmmm must be some kind of reward. But you can't always go on skipping out on life because of fear.

So to rationalize outloud, yes I'm nervous. But yes I'm going to go to the start line. Yes I'm going to bring my "A" game. Yes I'm going to ride cautiously and call out riders that are unsafe (without sware words as we are advised from the Chicken), and admit outloud when I too do something stupid, if others call it. I'm going to enjoy the course because it's a good challenge and great opportunity to work on bike handling skills and maybe finally time a sprint correctly for a change or lead a teammate out ontime instead of a lap early. I'm going to be cool and calm, and not a freaking anxious wreck and take time to enjoy and accept the well wishings from the neighbors, friends, and coworkers that will likely show up. I'm going to stay positive from here on out and enjoy the adventure. (corny I know - but I what did I say in the beginning)

Attack of the Tomato Killers

One of my latest hobby flings is gardening--inspired by Anna M's eat local campaign and a lonely tomato plant. Not really sure what I was getting into, I decided to finally try a thumb at the lifelong goal of raising a plant. Besides being unable to kill a poisonous philodendron plant that I bought freshman year of college, all the other bonsai, cacti, mini roses, and various greeneries have come and quickly gone. Either my cat would eat them, or they'd just shrivel up on their own when I breathed on them. The philodendron I decided to end it's tormented life by tossing in the garbage after I saw my cat was nibbling on it. Although, out of nostalgia, I clipped it and still have a small branch of it. So basically, I'm not qualified to be a gardener and doing so, is pretty much plant torture, not nurture.

So I have this tomato plant. I put it in a bucket with some dirt. After a few weeks it started to grow a little. I was excited and kept giving reports to my friends. All my friends that have tomato plants though, now have little flowers or baby tomatoes. Not mine. My plant is like a giant weed and is about 5ft tall and scraggly. I thought they were only supposed to be like 3ft tall and bushy? Turns out I have a Super Marzano, which is basically a tomato giant. So instead of something easy and fun and a quick reward, I have this plant that is going to be 7ft tall and will need all sorts of support for it's future tomatoes if it even makes it that far. It's supposed to be really hardy though, so maybe there is hope.

After this weekend's race away, I was very upset to see that the wind had toppled and bent my scraggly scary fuzzy green beast and it looked nearly dead. What was worse is that if finally had a few yellow flowers too. I've restaked it and have tied the plant to the poll. It's really depressing because now it's all mangled and droopy.

I can't remember the plot, but I think the killer tomatoes attacked humans because of bad gardeners like me.

Hardly a day at the beach

I'm sure everyone in MABRA is complaining about how much TTs hurt in so many ways. This was my first 40K TT and third ride on the aero bike. The first two rides being more for "bike setup" which now I think needs to be completely redone. I would have been more aero on my road bike since I was not willing to endure, nor could comprehend that I was supposed to endure, the discomfort in certain areas when in the aero bars. Yeah I ended up riding on the wing like things next to the aero bars for pretty much the whole ride and was a sail catching the wind like on some of the boats I saw going by on the Choptank River after the race.

I didn't have a Powermeter to encourage me on and had no gauge of how slow I was going. I was too afraid to look at the watch I borrowed from Ilana. I could measure my speed only relative to how fast all the girls were passing me, which told me, yup I'm going pretty darn slow since they all seemed to be going so fast. I'd then count how long it took for them to disappear out of sight.

I am baffled though that people do TTs and that equipment hasn't changed enough yet to ease the physical pain caused by equipment. I did ask myself several times why people do these and why they say they love them. I think those that say they love TTs, beside masochistic tendencies and probably enjoyers of S&M, are most likely lying and using reverse psychology.

While eating crabcakes at Portside in Cambridge, after the race, I decided to turn the negativity around. I have decided to use reverse psychology too for a change and can put it all in positive light (it worked for me back in highschool cross-country with hills, time to give this old trick a whirl). "I love TTs." I will be telling myself this for months, until after the next 40K TT.

a weekend full of star envy and hot men

I love the CSC race ..... Strolling around the sidewalks of suburban chic Arlington enjoying views of tight asses and ripped muscles.....mmmmmm

I love cycling because there are SO many men, and most are hot. Although some have egos to match their thighs, they are still nice to look at. And you know it's not just the gals checking out the guys. You can hear the other guys commenting on so-and-so's hot ass, too.....

I got a crush on JP. Yes I know he's married and I wished him good luck for his daughter who was going to do the kids race.

Sounds like Robin had a good evening with hot men.

Urban adventures

I'm not much of a city gal, but I did enjoy my scenic urban adventures this past weekend.

Saturday was Bike Jam in Baltimore, only an hour drive north, but seems so far away on a map. The race was at Patterson Park, same place as cyclocross nationals in 2001, although the neighborhood area is much nicer now a days. There was no mud or rain to contend with as at cx nats that year. Instead it was a gorgeous day. There were a bunch of kids out doing the kids ride, and a bunch of riders doing the recreational event rides that were all part of the festival.

Did a double - and I think the next double I do will either be an espresso or a mixed drink. Ouch. Part of the hurt was not coming prepared with enough food/drink since I forgot about the down time in between the races, and it was getting hot.

In the W 3/4 race the team tried to set a nice hard pace from the start. Not many others would pull through and the pace would slow and crashes happen.

In the women's 1-3 race I was finally lining up for my first big road race. I felt like the awkward adolescent, not really sure how to fit in. I quickly drifted back and the thoughts running through my head were not that empowering, "...Oops, excuse me. Sure come on around, I'm just doing this for fun. Oh I'm sorry, am I in your way. Here let me move over and give you room to come around,..." I watched the laps count down, wondering how long I'd last, or when there would be a crash. Well crash there was. I was thankful to have survived and managed to avoid running over a head by forcing my bike into Sonja's leg, ensuring that I also missed her bike which could have turned into an expensive mess. The 12 girl pileup finally started coming undone and when I saw my Velo Bella cyclocross teammate limping away I started to lose it. I told myself to focus and there were constantly people asking if we were all okay. We got rolling again after a brief neutralized restart. And once again I just watched the laps count down. 10, 9, 8,...."I don't know if I can do this" and my tongue started dragging on my stem, and I took up the role as the caboose....4, 3, ... I think I can, I think I can... 2, crash, 1. Done.

I had to nix the plan to check out the Baltimore Map Festival eventhough it was only 3miles away at the Walter Art Museum. I was too worried that I'd get lost, not find parking, and would be too hungry to enjoy the exhibit. Only have until June 8th to get back up there to check it out.

Enjoyed talking with the New England gals that came down and talking about our preliminary travel plans for the upcoming cyclocross season.

***

Sunday's race in DC proved a challenge to figure out the best route to get to the race. The fast route (40min) was blocked by Rolling Thunder. Instead, I chose a circuitous route that would take me through Tenleytown, past the Cathedral, through Dupont Circle, through all sorts of lovely neighborhoods, and not so nice neighborhoods, industrial sections, and historical sections, until finally I hit the stadium, and go round and round until I find the actual entrance to the parking lot. It actually took me 30min longer to get to this "local" race than it did to get to the Baltimore race.

I got there just a little later than planned. I wish I could have seen the finish of the women's 40+ race. It sounded exciting.

In the women 1,2 race, HPC was great at controlling the race and leading out Lorena for primes and a grand win. Very cool. Very sad that Heidi G broke her wrist.

In the women's 3 race, Christina pulled everyone around. I could sympathize with her frustration. Sara tried to get away with with a few others a few times during the race, but no one wanted to work for a break it seemed or Christina wasn't in it and she'd bring it back. In the end it came down to a sprint and Sara set a great pace on the final lap. Robin needed one more wheel to have a fair run at the line, but unfortunately the leadout was sitting behind, not in front.

****
A few teammates ventured up to NJ for Sommerville. Sounded like a lot of crashes yet again. Teammates finished safe and sound.

Local article on Tour of Sommerville.


Next weekend - Murad road race and Hoo-Ha mtn bike race. I'm not even sure if my mtn bike works.

In transition

The So MD crit was another fun race. I almost chickened out because of the weather and the technical nature of the course which I thought wouldn't be a safe combo. Yeah I was scared. However after seeing the pics from Wilmington the day before, seeing the MABRA girls out there on the line and mixing it up with some really really fast women - that's scarey. So I got over my panic attack and headed out.

As it turned out, the So MD crit was a lot of fun. They were right that the course would be a test of your bike handling skills with 11 corners and some offcamber and some at funky angles - but it also was a test on your concentration skills as well. You had to be on, constantly, through every corner and out of every corner to get back on the pedals and looking ahead to the next turn. If you day dreamed for a second, you'd get gapped. And in the constant attacks, thank you Sonja, you couldn't be distracted by the weather, your rear wheel sliding across the wet pavement, the feeling in your legs (if there was any feeling left). It was pretty cool.


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Instead of adding a new mtn bike to the bike collection this year as planned, I ended up buying something I never thought I'd need - a TT bike. (the guy selling the bike referred to it as a tri bike). I'll probably use it like what, three times? In response, a teammate said something along the lines - "yeah so, does it matter?" Nah. Bikes are cool. I'm still looking for a commuter bike which - based on the number of days I've ridden to work, I'd probably use even less than a TT bike.

Fun race

I thought this "technical" course at Ft. Ritchie would be scarey to race, especially if it was raining. However the course was pretty safe - no road debris or potholes. There weren't really any major curbs or obstacles on the side to have to watch out for. There weren't any course narrowings that were dangerous. The course was wide open and we had plenty of room to move around. Some of the corners were even a little offcamber and quick which required you to think a little, pick your line, and ride it while diving around the corner in your drops, but there was plenty of room to stick whatever line you ended up on anyway.

It was a fun race - started a bit hard and fast, not surprising, but it settled after a few laps. Once the break with my teammate was set and clear, it was fun for us to move around the field and do whatever including tag on and try to disrupt flyers that threathened to bridge up.

Congrats to C3 for a great 1-2 finish.

******

Strategies have changed now that C3-Sollay has a full team. That makes four "full" (6+ riders) women's MABRA teams with HPC, C3-Sollay, Team CycleLife, and Kenda. It would be really fun if MABRA had a TTT event.


******
Sighting: Mandykins and her Cutie Boy at the race.

*******
Teammates Leslie and Sara and some HPC gals headed to Bear Mtn for Sunday's RR (brings back memories of collegiate racing).

Eavesdropping on space

After throwing all the crap back in the car after the races today I picked up my notebook with directions and tried to figure out my way back home. The biggest challenge for me is always the very first turn, after I get out of the parking lot. Unfortunately with a poor sense of direction and not knowing my left from my right, I tend to just go which ever way the majority of the traffic is heading or the person in front of me. This time I was following an equally directionally challenged driver.

Tired and delirious and really hungry after enduring the hours of baking sun and the crater filled moonscape they call the Poolesville RR the last thing I wanted was another adventure. We headed out on the roads and we came upon a bicycle parade with alien creatures of their own - and I don't mean the racer types. At first I felt sorry for these suckers whose brains were baking in their helmets and they appeared to be going so slow - but they were all smiling. And they came in all shapes and sizes and had all sorts of colors of jerseys and various types of two wheeled devices. I was kind of bothered because these damn "bicyclers" (which I used to snobbily scoff at because they aren't like us racer types they are more like just peddalers) were in the road, stopping traffic, and on top of that they were all smiling (and they all probably just road a lot further than I did too if they are doing some sort of epic charity ride). I couldn't help but smile too and realize that bicycling takes all kinds, why should I discount their appreciation and enjoyment from riding a bike - albeit slowly.

We drove further down the road and I was starting to wonder where the shopping center and restaurants were that I saw on the way to the race just before Poolesville. After about 15 minutes of not seeing another car, we pulled into a gravel parking lot and I thought - "Oh picnic, that will be fun - oh wait I don't have any food". Judd insisted we took a wrong turn while I was adamant we were just fine and that I had passed this gravel parking lot near a bridge (or one similar) on the way to the race.

If it wasn't for our wrong turn, we never would have realized that back in 1956 some guy had built an antenna array so powerful he could hear Jupiter! Bizzaro. I couldn't help but put on my foil cap to make sure that aliens couldn't eavesdrop on me.

We headed back the direction we just came from and drove for what felt like hours. We eventually saw another car with a bike on it, heading in the same direction we were headed this time. Thankfully it was my teammate Sara who was heading home and leading us back towards civilization.

Saving Pennsylvania

This weekend posed a challenge to the girl who formerly called her self "girloffroad".

I raced the Ephrata stage race in PA - on the road, rather than racing the Greenbriar mtn bike race in MD which I had done for years. Skipping the mtn bike race may have caused me to miss out on qualifying for MTB Nats at Mt. Snow this July. Granted, there will be another chance to qualify at the Hoo-Ha in June but that event is always a crapshoot anyway with weather, organizing, course design, voodoo. It does make me wonder why there are even qualifying races - especially since the MTB scene is not nearly as big as it used to be. And why aren't there qualifying races for Road and CX? I'm only a little bummed about possibly not doing MTB nats once again - I was hoping for an age group jersey and maybe being fast enough to "cat up" to race at the pro-level one day (but not as a pro).

I was happy my teammates decided to forego their travel plans and to send nearly a full team to Ephrata PA (pronounced F-rauta not E-frayta). We saw a few Amish and lots of scarey locals and unruly children roaming around. I was quite impressed with the very cool coffee shop in town and the nice pizza joint across the street. The bike race brought quite a few non-racer fans to cheer and yell and watch us all go round in circles on Sunday afternoon.

It was fun doing a stage race - mainly because you can race all weekend. The RR was super slow avg 13.2mph because of the wind - which made for one of the sketchiest races ever. Teammate Leslie made a break with a few others that eventually stuck. The following morning was the hardest thing I had ever done on a bike in a long time. I was expecting worse, and as the hill went up I kept thinking it was going to get steeper and how cruel it would be of the promoter to actually make us have to finish on the steepest part of the mtn - and as it was I rolled past the finish line unknowingly that I had just finished the 28minute or so lung busting effort - shattered my previous 30minute power average. The crit in the afternoon was fun at first. It's nice to have open road and you can rail the corners as hard and as fast as you want. After an early eager flyer to set a high pace - little did I realize as an unmarked rider - nobody cares if you go to the front or off the front - the pack will just do what the number one rider wants to do. We rode in circles until the last 100m.

The highlight of the weekend was Leslie getting selected for the Nature Valley Composite team based on her great results in all three events. Tres cool.

Driving home I was glad to be done with it, despite the fun. However I was quickly reminded of the adventures while shopping at Trader Joe's this week. I was pleased to see that they actually had "local" products and I even supported the PA economy by buying some tomatoes and mushrooms, from PA, and a dozen large eggs from Saunders, (probably picked by Amish child labor), an egg 'factory' we passed on the way back from the road race, out of Lititz PA (pronounced lit-its not li-tits).

Great pics at www.mlkimages.com.

David Avery

Jim Wilson

Dodging green blobs

I've been watching the radar now for the past two days trying to determine how big of a break will there be in the clouds to perhaps allow a ride or a walk.

Sunday for women's race at Carl Dolan we had the only 1 hr break with no rain, it seemed.

Today I'm looking at the radar, measuring how long it's taking for various blobs to move across the screen and trying to predict how much they'll follow the tract of the previous green blob. Just when I think there's an hour window when I can go out and ride, I realize now it's raining on one side of the house and not the other. Bizarre.

Looks like a nice day for the trainer and reruns of the great cycling classics...oh wait, I think it stopped raining again. Let me check the radar.

I think there's a 100% chance it's going to rain 50% of the time.

A week's worth of training...measured in donuts

I love the charts that come out during the Tour de France that compare the energy expenditure of a tour rider compared to how many Calories in various foods.

The past few weeks I've had this craving for Dunkin Donuts (and yes, I'll admit - I've gone and satisfied it too).

At first I thought it must be the memories of the cyclocross season - D&D in the morning (bagel and egg sandwich, OJ) and after the sunday cx races - for the 4 hour drive home (the #1 combo - coffee and two donuts, plus a stop at Starbucks at the MD rest areas).

But here it is March and I'm craving tons of crap food. I've been trying to figure out if I'm going crazy or if I have a tapeworm or what. I decided to check out WKO+ and plotted my kJ expenditure over the past year and half. Duhhhhh since I've been riding outside (since March) I've pretty much doubled or tripled my time on the bike. Add in some good hard rides/races and there it is - I've pretty much doubled my energy expenditure from what it was on average all fall and winter.

So instead of losing weight, I've been going to Dunkin Donuts. I don't think I've been gaining weight either.

Out of curiosity I plugged in some numbers and did my own comparison. Gotta love having a power meter.

On average, per week, I spend about 4,150kJ or about 991 kCal cycling (kCal = kJ/4.1868).

Ah ha! That's nearly equivalent to the #1 meal from Dunkin Donuts I get once a week lately (yes I admit it).

D&D #1 = medium coffee w/ skim and sugar (70 kCal)
1 double chocolate cake donut 340kCal
1 blueberry cake donut 290kCal
~700kCal

(I guess the occasional vending machine visit makes up the rest of the 290kCal)

Walkersville

Walkersville RR was my second longest ride of the year. So my goal going in to Saturday was literally to just finish with the group since I wasn't able to finish Jeff Cup the week before.

Luckily no rain on the parade, but the wind definitely hindered the race on top of the especially narrow roads. There wasn't a whole lot of room to pass or move around, and the wind was keeping the pace kinda slow. However despite the wind, we watched HPC launch their riders out into the wind to suffer and they would eventually drift back into the fold while my CycleLife teammates would try to keep the pace high.

Half way through the race the field split and for a moment, with two teammates from every team in there, Wendy and I thought that a winning break could come from this half of the field. It was really just a bunch of unorganized chaos and nothing happened. The rest of the field caught us and shut it down after 1/2 a lap or so. However something did happen and that was HPC inflicted another sufferfest onto one of their own. This time the strong willed Chris Kelly. The gap between her and the field kept creeping up slowly and despite some hard efforts, there wasn't enough commitment from the field to bring it back. On the last lap the moto ref said the gap was like 30-40 seconds or something. It was time to bring her back.

At about four miles to go - about the only place on the course where there's no headwind - I had gained a bunch of spots on the downhill and used the free acceleration up the little hill. I pushed a few hard pedal strokes over the top and then all of a sudden it was really quiet. I looked back and was kind of startled to see a gap. I decided to just go with it and see what happens.

Susan Matsen the Kelly rider who is really strong and not afraid to work joined me and said we were clear. Lorena HPC latched on to the back of us. I kept looking back and couldn't believe the field wasn't coming. We rode up on HPC's Chris Kelly and she had just enough energy to tag on as we passed by. Awesome I thought - we'll stay out for sure. However, four miles is a long ways to go and it's especially long when you have only 2 sets of legs doing the work. And as such the two HPC gals tactically refused to do a sinlge lick of work, not even a brief second on the front which clearly gave them the advantage for a 1,2 finish as us silly cat 3s pulled and pulled for the sake of not getting caught and having our work be all for nothing. We did survive and I ended up 4th out of the 4 and I think I lost a few brain cells in that last 10 minutes of near anearobic work. And funny that in the end, I wasn't all that excited about just finishing anymore. Ah there's so much to learn.

Teammate Leslie took the field sprint with a nice leadout from Wendy.

Don't be a Lucy!

Although there is nothing wrong with being a "Lucy", it doesn't really work in a competitive environment. Such is the life of an adorable and sweet greyhound dog I met in Louisville during the CX USGP. Her name is Lucy. She was the leanest strongest greyhound I met, but "she just didn't have the heart to race" and she ended up finishing nearly last in every race she did. And as the life of a greyhound goes - we all can imagine what her fate was to be. Meeting Lucy and seeing her disposition, but yet knowing that she probably was a fully capable doggie that could race well if SHE really wanted too - well I thought maybe I'm like Lucy. Maybe this racing thing isn't for me and I should just be a recreational rider who rides for fun - but riding isn't fun. Racing is fun - when you win. Well my inner mantra since October has been "Don't be a Lucy". I didn't post about this little story earlier because I was afraid of being called a Lucy from my competitor's support crews that were in the pits during the cx races.

Instead of being a Lucy, I was trying to tell myself to be a Lion. I even pulled out my little Nittany Lion emblem to give me that motivation - but inside I still felt like a Lucy. There is nothing wrong with being a Lucy, but it's not the temperament to have and to try to compete and win. Finally lying in bed the night before the Walkersville RR, trying to focus on some mental toughness training (so I'm not a Lucy anymore), it dawned on me...Why not be a Lucy and a Lion.

Now that I'm racing with a great team - Team CycleLife - I can't escape being a Lucy - as it's the name of one of our supporter's on our jersey. And I have no shame in being a Lucy, but I'm going to try to be a Lion too.

Adopt a greyhound.

East Coasters in Charge of USA Cycling

It's strange to hear about someone you know that all of a sudden becomes a "celebrity", or at least a star in our little world of cycling.

Hearing that Mark Abramson is now the president of USA Cycling.... But it's just Mark, the guy that kept the collegiate scene alive and fun with the ECCC. We can all look forward to the new energy he will bring to USA Cycling.

And our own Mid-Atlantic Jim Patton is on the board as well as.

And hearing that college friend Matt Cramer has moved from USA Cycling's head of Mtn Bike Development to the US Olympic Committee is really exciting to see.

Lowest TSS - can I really go that slow?

What a great way to spend easter - two days full of riding in DC/MD with the ladies. There were no chocolate marshmallow bunnies, peeps, or Reese's PB eggs in my easter basket. Just cliff blocks, gu, and cliff bars in my back pocket (and an almond butter sandwich too).

I never realized how fortunate the city dwellers are to have such great riding out their front door - it's scenic, rolling, and has some "technical stuff - like corners". I always thought living in the suburbs on the W&OD was to my advantage and the best way to get training in since I can ride out my front door and have access to a bike trail. I never considered that it is actually hindering the development of good riding skills since my weekday ride consist of going straight, riding in to the headwind, 1x180 degree turn, and cruising home feeling fast with a tail wind. You'd think I'd be a good time-trialist or something with training conditions like that.

Two days of nice long rides (for me) have taken their toll. The second day is always the worst, and sure enough the DOMS has set in. My hamstrings ached just from sitting on my chair at work.

Hopefully the two days of recovery rides yesterday and today will bring the legs back around. Today my poor heart and lungs were bored and ready for some intensity but the little leggies just couldn't put out yet. Personal record: Lowest TSS I've ever scored: Monday 2.9 for a 30min ride and while pedalling the whole time.

Looking forward to faster legs this weekend!

cycling for the masses

I love seeing all the new riders and usual suspects come out for the Tues/Thurs group rides by Reston Bike Club. Usually there's a pretty decent smattering of a few folks from most of the local teams represented in the various category rides. The A ride today was a nice size group of 18 or so. Oh but I was feeling it after taking nearly a week off of regular training thanks to the weather down south this past weekend.

It's exciting to track everyone's fitness through out the year at the these rides. It's nice to have them started up again. It's even better that we are a regular critical mass on the local roadways in NoVA.

Learning to Un-Learn

I just got back from "bicycle kindgergarten".

Yeah I'll admit, I'm a slow learner, but when it finally clicks, it's nearly impossible to forget it - unfortunately that applies to bad skills too. Ten years of trying to race a bike, I couldn't figure out why it seemed like I worked harder than anyone else in a race and would only finish just above midpack. And lately on MTB rides it seems my skills are just as bad, sometimes worse than when I raced beginner! Despite reading a few books and trying to take other people's advice I wasn't getting any better. After much online research, the only "cure" is to finally learn the basics of bike riding by attending one of Gene's Better Ride camps.

Thinking way way back, I realize I never learned the basics. The only thing I ever really sorta learned was balance, despite being a total clutz growing up. I was the last kid on the block to learn to ride a bike. I was eight and the bratty kid up the street promised me she wouldn't let go of the bike seat. All of sudden I learned the art of balance, out of fear, while I flew down the hill on the neighborhood street, screaming. I knew it would be worse to crash into the pavement so I hung on to the handlebars while the tears flew out of my eyes, dragging both heels. Even after learning how to ride a bike, I was too afraid to ride off curbs and I swore I'd never ever ride a 10 speed cause the tires were too skinny. So basically I wasn't one of those naturals. I had to work at it and learn to overcome those little fears. I guess I still have some learning to do...

There are some that are naturals and can for example play a piano without knowing anything about it, and there are those that supposedly taught themselves how to read. Everyone is different and for some reason I need to over analyze everything and break it down into tiny pieces. Gene did just that in his classes and his approach to teaching ends up accommodating every type of learning style. In the end we had a group of women of varying ages and abilities who after a few minutes, could accomplish the desired task of a wheelie, or a track stand, hopping large curbs, cornering like the cool downhillers in the videos, despite trying to do these things for months or years (as in my case). For me, the camp is basically just learning all the basic building blocks, to riding a bike "effortlessly".

I've come away with more patience and appreciation for the value of the basic skills, done right. Every other sport seems to focus on perfecting the fundamentals and, heck golfers have a whole channel dedicated to it, but for some reason bicycling really hasn't developed the same way. There's a few camps and clinics, but it's not really mainstream like it is in other sports. My training focus is now changed. To get faster, I'm going to start spending more time training skills (using the proper technique) to be more efficient rather than training for speed.

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!!!!!!!

Sorry to post this tempting picture - do you feel your mouth watering?

I look forward to Girl Scout Cookie Time...Oh, the sweet, crispy tastiness in each bite. You can't have just one (box that is).

Once Valentine's day has passed, I begin to wonder when some sucker parent at work will bring in their daughter's cookie-order form. Around March 1st, I start to make extra trips on my errands, passing-by all the grocery stores to see if the Girl Scouts have set up their tables yet. Finally when I can't take it anymore, I begin to inquire if there have been Girl Scout or Cookie sightings. And then one day, it happens. They are outside the grocery store. Finally, the sweet little crumbly cookie is mine.

Back in the days when I was a Girl Scout, I always wanted to be the biggest seller in my troop. I took notes and did my market research. I would scope out the neighborhood and then would hit the houses where the biggest kids or largest families lived first. Then I'd hit up the old ladies who couldn't resist saying no, they'd freeze the cookies and probaby already had several years worth already frozen when they ordered again. However there was one customer that was the most lucrative, and best at helping me reach my required box-sale goal so I could win that dorky little pink I Love Girl Scouts t-shirt or set of Girl Scouts USA pencils, it was me.

Support Girl Scouts and buy a box of cookies near you.