Wednesday Night Youth Development Ride

Wednesday nights through July kids ages 10 and up can join in a guided road ride with Hagerty Team member Frank Tafelsky and myself and any other Hagerty members that come and volunteer their time for the ride. We meet on the TART trail near the Cherrybend Animal Hospital and ride about 10-20 miles depending on the skill levels of riders. Kids aged 10-13 need to have a parent attend with them for safety reasons. Introductory group riding skills are covered as well as riding safely on the road. Come join us! Email me if you have any questions.

Kolo TC

In case you have missed it, Kolo TC is a great blog for those who like to pedal. Last month, Kolo TC author Cody Sovis did an interview with me-A Few Good Questions with Melissa Ryba. Cody has interviews with Michigan racers periodically on his site as well as the latest local and international racing news, recaps, and bike reviews. Check it out if you haven't already!

Currently I am taking some time away from the bike as I am desperately trying to recover from an ongoing shoulder and back pain issue. I was spotted out on a trail running yesterday, as I try to keep up some fitness while giving my shoulder some time to heal. I appreciate that there are runners out there who really enjoy the sport, but I have to say that in my view, it pales in comparison to flying down a hill on a bike.  Or even slowly crawling up one. Hopefully I will be back soon!

Over the Hill...

Women's Cat 1/2/3 Field in Mt. Pleasant

What a difference a week can make. Living in Michigan can be really annoying some days. The weekend of the West Branch Classic was cold-hovering around 50 degrees, windy, and rainy. The following Sunday the Mt. Pleasant Road Race was a scorcher, sunny, again windy, and in the 90s. I had planned on racing all three of the Mt. Pleasant events, but my sister was in the hospital, and I was taking of my nephews. I didn't feel quite right leaving Russ home with four kids all weekend, so I opted to just ride the road race on Sunday. We had a strong showing of Hagerty women at this race, with 6 of us represented in the Cat 1/2/3 race. Lauri and Susan were doing well in the omnium, so it was our job to protect them and try to get them on the podium. We all worked hard and eventually Bridgett got away in a break with about 6 riders. The race picked up to try to bridge the gap and bring the rest of the racers up to the break, and that is when I was done. I had worked a lot at the front and attacked twice and my legs were not able to attack again. A few others were dropped as well, so I at least had two people to ride back to town with. It was still a very long 20 miles, and I don't think I could have been much more miserable. I drank a bottle of water on the ride down, and had three bottles with me, and it still wasn't enough. I was getting chills from getting dehydrated and the only thing to look at was flat farmland. I really don't know what is worse, riding in cold rain or the hot sun. I made it to the finish though and I came in 12th overall in a field of about 25 and 4th for cat 3 women. Susan made it to the podium with a strong 2nd place finish. 

My biggest victory over the last few weeks and perhaps my whole cycling experience is....I MADE IT UP SMOKEY! With the group. Didn't get dropped. Mark the date, it was June 5 on the fateful Tuesday Night Ride that I made it up Smokey Hollow, to the lighthouse, and all the way out to 7 hills. I did get dropped there, but that is ok. I made it farther than I ever have, and hopefully one of these days I will make the whole ride. But just the fact that I made it that far was so exciting, that I was shouting for joy at the top and probably everyone around me thought I was a bit crazy. It really felt awesome though, and I can't even think of a finish in a race that felt like as big of an accomplishment as this. 

The following Tuesday was windy again and I have had just about enough of riding in the wind, so I finally took the number plate off of my mountain bike from the Mud, Sweat, and Beers race and revisited the woods. It felt great to be back mountain biking again! It's been nice having a few Saturdays at home and relaxing after four busy weekends of racing. Nothing is on the calendar right now for races, I will see what happens in the next few weeks. Thanks for reading!

Against the wind...

If anything, cycling is a very humbling sport. You can feel great and ride strong one day, and fall flat the next day. Heck, you can even feel great on a single ride for a solid 30 minutes, and then find yourself suddenly riding solo, against the wind, wondering why the heck you (I) ever even thought this sport was so great to begin with.

Jane Van Hof, Katie Whidden, and myself at the finish. 

I had a good weekend in Frankenmuth, riding a road race with some really fun women. We made the best of the cold, rainy conditions and had a great race. I enjoyed myself, and took home 3rd in that final race as a Cat 4. For a race recap, click here. Taking the plunge I requested to upgrade to Cat 3 and it was approved. Tuesday Night Ride, I decided to hit the A group again, and see how long I could hang with them. It was very windy, and a very fast pace out to Smokey Hollow. I did well and was in front of the group for the ride out there. When ole Smokey came up, though, I realized I had nothing left to climb that hill at the pace everyone was hitting. Well, this being no stranger to me, I headed out to regroup with them. Shortly after regrouping, I was dropped again on the long, gradual climb just past the lighthouse. I pedaled my ass off trying to catch back on, but knew I had a snowball's chance in hell as I was riding into a headwind. I lost sight of them after the Eimen Rd climb. After they crested the hill, they were long gone. I look around and see no one ahead of me or behind me and I am out pretty far. There is a strong headwind beating down on me and I launched into a huge pity party for myself. I was swearing up a storm and talking out loud to myself. I just did NOT want to ride all the way back home alone. Again. Just as I wiped the last tear away and told myself to harden the f up, I came upon a rider who had a flat tire, and who was just finishing up fixing it. I skidded to a stop, relieved to have at least one person to help ride back, and shortly after two others came up who were behind me. Now we were four, and I was grinning ear to ear. We had a great ride into town, fighting the wind together like cyclists do. 

Onto West Branch Road Race. It was again cold and rainy. I was nervous about doing a 44 mile hilly course as my first Cat 3 race. I had Bridget with me again, who is a great climber. I set out to do what I could to help her. I was feeling preetty good. Then I wasn't. I couldn't climb those hills the way the others were and got dropped at mile 13. There were just ahead, so I didn't give up and tried again to catch back on.  Chasing being too familiar, I decided to pretend for awhile that I had attacked, and was going as hard as I could to win. Not able to fool myself for very long, I kept chasing as I had them in sight until the long climb right before the finish line. They attacked on that climb, and set up to go around for the next loop. As I rolled through, I tossed around the idea if I should quit or do the next lap alone. Nate Shuff from the Hagerty U-25 team was also dropped as he was having knee issues, so we decided to at least rally each other for the last loop. I figured it was at the least a good training ride, if not a good life lesson to finish what you start. So, almost deja-vu like, there I was again, far out without anyone to ride back with in the wind. This time there was no one for me to draft off of though, so I did harden up and battled it out alone. I am proud to say Bridget did awesome and got 1st place. I had plenty of time to think during those 22 miles and was trying to send her winning vibes from where I was. I think it may have worked! Great job Bridget! One other woman dropped out of the race,  and we didn't have a big field to start with, so I ended up with 5th. 

Next weekend is Mt. Pleasant, a nice, flat course. If it isn't rainy or windy I don't think I will know how to ride.