It hurts so good!

This week was spring break for the kids, and we stayed in town this year. The weather wasn't as nice this week as it has been, but that's what indoor training's for! We are in our final weeks at Brockmiller Elite Endurance, and it seems the closer to the end we get, the more we are getting tortured. The numbers in our class have dwindled, as others were perhaps spring breaking somewhere warm and tropical, but the three of us left were determined and showed up ready for work.

I am not a morning person. That's pretty well established, so just getting to the gym in the morning is a feat in itself. Knowing that I am getting up just to go sit on an indoor trainer and stare at the numbers on the computer isn't very motivating either. I usually stumble in, either just on time or a few minutes late, adjust my bike, get my heart rate monitor on, and will eventually glance over at the dry erase board to see what the workout is. I'm still not usually convinced that I am better off here, rather than tucked into my nice, warm bed. Once I get on my bike and start warming up I eventually wake up and get with the program. Previous grumblings and complaints forgotten, I get focused and make the most of the time I have on the bike. 

On Thursday, it was probably one of the hardest workouts I have done since starting with Lauri over a year ago. Two minutes going as hard as we can go, at over 110 rpm, with two minutes recovery, repeated 9 times. By the 7th or 8th interval, I was starting to feel teary, a little nauseous, and was having a hard time recovering. My legs were turning to jello. I had to dig way down deep, into the reserve that I save for special occasions. Once in awhile, when I am racing hard or really struggling along in a ride, I reflect on how this pain is almost up there with childbirth. I had a home water birth with my daughter, Nora, and at times I am digging into the same reserves I needed to get through that. Since I lived through that experience to be able to tell it again with a smile on my face, then anything else seems attainable. Now, I am being a bit dramatic, because it really wasn't THAT bad. Although, this is exactly what most women say about childbirth after our brains make us forget how bad it really was. At any rate, I suffered appropriately, accomplished the workout, and promptly returned to bed as soon as I could. It literally took me most of the day to recover from this ride, my legs were toast and I avoided the stairs in my home at all costs.

I have to say that I do appreciate how much I have improved since being coached by Lauri. She has helped me grow immensely in this sport, and I know I wouldn't have nearly the same results without her assistance. Thanks Lauri!

Permagrin! :)

Two bad cases of Permagrin.

Anyone spotted in Northern Michigan in the last week, especially those sporting spandex, has been wearing a permagrin. This comes from a week's worth of temperatures in the 70s and 80s, extremely rare in the month of March, as we all know. In March, I normally just have to get through one day at a time, impatiently and miserably waiting for spring. This March I am the lucky recipient of some faint biker tan lines and even a bit of sunburn on my face, and I didn't even have to leave my town to do it. It was an awesome week for road riding. I was able to squeak in a 50 mile ride on Wednesday in Leelanau County with a small group of riders. Seemed too good to be true! More warm riding again on Saturday, when the Lady Hags went out for their first team bike ride of the season. We headed out on the peninsula, a tail wind pushing us right along at a great pace. After the lighthouse and back into town we had quite a headwind, but it was warm and didn't deter any smiles from our faces. On Sunday, I rode in the Vasa-Burg-Vasa ride, a warm up for the Barry-Roubaix next weekend. I am not doing the race, but thought I would take my mountain bike out on the gravel roads and see how I fared. It was pretty awesome! I wasn't sure how my bike would do, as it still hasn't recovered fully from the derailer banging up at the mountain bike park. Part is on order and I just took my chances and headed out with her. She shifted great though, and I was comfortable on my mountain bike among all the cross-bikes. There was a mix of pavement and gravel roads, and some of the gravel roads were really soft and sandy, and I was happy to have some wider tires to get through it. The majority of the riders were male, with 4 Hagerty women riding. When all that testosterone gets together, inevitably the hammer gets brought down. I am happy to report that I held my own, with the help of some confusion of where we were supposed to go at times that slowed things down enough that I was able to get a bit of recovery in right when I needed it the most. Finished strong with a fine splattering of mud on me. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning. Afterwards, my son, Gavin, who is 11, is just getting into road riding and I had promised we could go for a ride when I got back. Not to be swayed by my tough morning ride, we headed out and took a nice easy ride on the Leelanau TART trail. Imagine my surprise (and pride!) when we got back later that day and he tells me, "I want to ride my bike a lot more." That's my boy! :)  I hope everyone was able to get some time away from work and responsibilities to enjoy this rare weather. 

fear overcome. mostly.

Chicago Skyline

Last Friday I hit the road with two fellow female cyclists to go to Ray's MTB Park for Women's Weekend in Milwaukee.  We left before sunrise, managed to get through Chicago traffic, as well as various bike rack dilemmas in order to ride with a women's only crowd with some awesome coaches. Once we arrived I realized that I lost that screw cap and spring thingy that holds the spindle and the front tire on, so I went over to the one of the resident bike mechanics and a replacement one was quickly found. Such a little item, so very necessary.  I then got suited up with additional elbow and knee pads, which I was oh so thankful for later. Time to ride around and warm up! Ray's is located inside of an old Menards store, so there is plenty of room for a lot of bike pathways (cross country loops), pump tracks, ladder sections, jump sections, foam pit, etc. As I cruised through the park, and only on cement at this point, I looked around and wondered how I might actually get the courage to do some of the obstacles they had in the park. I passed a simple log obstacle and shuddered a little. Single track has never been a strong suit of mine, which is one reason why I wanted to come. I was hoping to gain some confidence with my technical skills on the bike.

Leigh coaching at  Women's Weekend

Leigh Donavan, 1995 World Mountain Bike Champion, 2001 World Cup Mountain Bike Champion, and 9x National Mountain Bike Champion was there to share her expertise. She has great energy and a great enthusiasm for bringing more women into this sport. She started off the day with a big welcome and an explanation of events. We then split up among the 7 or 8 women coaches on hand by experience levels and spread throughout the park.  I started out with the beginners, but after realizing that yes, I know not to use my front brake when going down a hill among a few other things I thought I would venture out to some of the beginning ladders in the park. 

Each ladder path had a different challenge. Some had large rocks to go over, logs, rock gardens, teeter totters, skinny pieces of wood to balance and ride down, and sharp turns. I rode down a few of the easiest ladder runs without much problem. Then I felt the need to start taking some risks, although I didn't feel I was ready to roll over a big rock that was a foot off the cement floor just yet. I cruised through the cross country track a few times, which is a lot of fun with some quick downhills and uphills and a few obstacles along the way. It brings you up to the second floor where you ride along an elevated platform at times with wooden railings to keep you from falling down below. 

I made my way over to the pump track and observed some women for awhile. This is the first time I had seen a pump track, and it looked like a blast as well as terrifying at the same time. There were a few little hills to "pump" over and then a steep berm that looked nearly vertical to me to ride around to the next set of hills. You aren't supposed to pedal, but just push and pull (pump) your bike in a way over the hills to gain momentum. I watched one woman who had never done it go out but she didn't commit (rule #1 learned ALWAYS COMMIT) and she slipped down the berm since she didn't have enough speed. I watched and watched and grew more anxious at the thought of trying it. The fear was there, and I hated it. Finally I just went for it, heart pounding like crazy. I went over the first hills easy enough, made it to the first berm but had to pedal a few times to keep my speed up. Next set of hills and I start looking straight at the berm and felt myself slowing. The coach on the floor began yelling, "Look ahead! Look ahead!" and I realized what I was doing and forced myself to look down the track and it felt like my bike began to move on its own again. Relief, I made it through the second berm.  (Rule #2 learned LOOK PAST your obstacle). More hills and I pushed it harder to get my speed around the third berm and made sure to look past the berm down the track. Went better! One more berm to go and I landed back on the platform. Whew! I had made it and most of all I had beat my fear. That felt awesome. Knowing that I could do it I tried it a few more times, having more fun and feeling more confident each time. 

Over and over throughout the weekend, this scenario played out. I grew frustrated and angry with myself and the level of fear I had to complete some of these ladder runs. I'm no stranger to crashes, but the thought of crashing on wood and cement was awful.  I would work myself up, then finally go do it, and realize, "Thats it? That wasn't so hard!"  By the end of the first day, I was happy that I got past this and was able to hopefully develop some great new skills to use on the trail. 

Day two I got to ride more and the park was open to the public. No more coaches (although a few were there riding), just a chance to ride and practice the skills I learned. I was more confident, but yet had the biggest crash of the weekend. After going over a rock my tire veered left and hit the platform just right and my front tire got stuck and I endo'd. (Rule #3 learned, HOLD YOUR LINE!). A vision of grace as always, I was sprawled upside down with my bike on top of me and my water bottle dripping on my head. A lounge full of people was directly next to me I managed to push my bike off of me, right myself, and walk away like I meant to do that. I had one other crash on a twisty turny track with a little narrow bridge that I attempted to go over. I slipped off and fell to the right with a pretty loud smack, since my hard shelled knee pad hit the wood, and of course, next to a lounge full of spectators. (Go back to Rule # 2, LOOK PAST your obstacle). With a loud, "I'm OK!", smiling and nodding, I got up and noticed my derailer was bent. Saving me yet again, I meet with the mechanics, who were able to fix it enough to get me by for the rest of the day. Thanks so much to the staff at Ray's, Ray, Leigh and all the coaches, and all the women who came and made this weekend so awesome. Yeah, I fell a few times, and it was stressful, but it was worth the drive, because I was riding a bike! And I can't wait until enough snow melts and trees get cleared out of the way of our bike trails to try out my new skillz. :) 

And if you have nothing better to do, you can watch me conquer the pump track. It is much less dramatic that described above, and this movie must be in slo mo, because I swear I was ripping up that track.