Monday, December 23, 2013

Happy Winter Solstice

There have been some big bumps in the road in my life lately. In addition to these bumps, I also struggle with every Michigan winter. With shorter days and colder temps, it is harder and harder for me to get on my bike. I know the options out there for getting outside, but in short, I really miss those warm summer days that I can hop on my bike and just ride. There is no place on earth I would rather be than in Traverse City in the summer. But the winter, another story. Snow came kind of early and lots of it, and I have had some downright shitty days and weeks.

Indoor Torture Chamber
After a few months of introspection, taking a break from training, racing, blogging, and just communicating with most people in general, I can say that these were only bumps and not blocks in my road. We just celebrated the longest night of the year and now we are graced with the gift of a bit more sunlight every day. And likewise, every day gets a little bit easier for me. 

Recently I dusted off my bike, and started doing some Sufferfest training videos that I downloaded a few years ago but didn't ever really use. I have a great new set up to train indoors, and started exploring what these videos were all about.

Initially I thought, well, it will be a start but it won't *really* be training. Until I did the video, "Local Hero". Yeah. I was wrong. Let's just say this is what I looked like before the workout....





And after 1.5 hours of suffering later:

Yikes! As I was warming up I looked at the video status bar and noticed that it said 1:27:00 left. I thought, well, ok, that is long for a cycling video but probably just a bunch of easy stuff. It is a good thing I didn't know what was coming, as I may not have stuck to it. After warming up it had me do three 6 minute pyramids, with the intensity going up for three minutes and then down again for three. Then I did 5 three minute hard efforts simulating crit racing. This brought me to about an hour, and I thought the rest should be a piece of cake. Wrong again, as I then had to do 4 two minute sprint efforts. 

So yeah, it was hard. I did suffer. A lot. But I had fun. It felt great to get my heart rate back up again. My quads were screaming but I could feel my legs waking back up. I had some great music to listen to while I was pedaling. I was watching the snow come down outside my window and saw how beautiful winter can be. 

I ran across this saying yesterday...

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is the future.
Today is your life. Live it. 

Here's to brighter days ahead and living every moment in the meantime.  

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Gaslight Crits

I wrapped up my road cycling season last weekend at the Delta Subaru Gaslight Crit in Grand Rapids, MI. It is put on by one of my favorite teams, Real Women Tri, in one of my favorite cities. I knew I would get to see lots of familiar faces and meet up with some old friends. I had a lot going on in the previous week leading to this, so I did not have any big expectations, but still hoped that I might end it with a bang. After racing in Elk Grove, one of the women there recommended that I start racing with the men to get more experience riding harder than hell as well as riding in a big group. So, before I could put too much thought into it, I registered for the women's 1,2,3 race as well as the Master's Men 35 and up. Susan Donnelly also traveled from Traverse City with me and raced the women's cat 4 race.

We arrived early Saturday after staying with friends in GR and got Sue ready for her race. While she raced, I warmed up for mine. The field was decent, with 17 women, and at a time of year
And we are off!
where everyone is pretty much in shape and pretty fast. My first race started at 10:40, and as I learned, position is everything and lined up front and center and ready to race. We took off pretty fast and right off the bat there is a 90 degree left turn. This was my first race on my new 404 Zipp wheels, and wow, it felt much different cornering on them. It took me about half the race to acclimate to the new wheels. For some reason, this first corner was the hardest for me, mainly due to the higher speed that we went into it compared to the other corners. There was another 90 degree turn, a straight away that had a full head wind, then a very sharp left turn, up a hill, followed by one more left turn. It was a fun course.
I don't know why I am smiling, I hated that turn

I made sure to stay near the front of the pack, followed a few attacks, ignored a few attacks, and
I wish this was a picture of the finish. I am in a much
better position than where I actually finished.
even attacked myself twice. I felt that I stayed active in the race and felt great physically. On the last lap, I unfortunately got stuck behind a wheel on the straightaway and watched the race move around me like a river around a stone and after I broke free I desperately tried to make up my position. At this point the girls were moving pretty fast and I couldn't get back to the front. I caught a few girls and passed them, but ended up 11th out of 17. I was disappointed that I didn't race smarter on that last lap and felt I really could have done better this time.

I rested up in the afternoon and got ready for the Master's race, which was at 3:00 pm. It was a field of 45 men, and I lined up wondering just how this was going to go. I daydreamed about me hanging in there for the whole race, and just how awesome that would be. I lined up and got in position in the second row of guys, and worried a little about that first corner. At the start, the guys took off full throttle and I jumped as well. If I thought we were fast into that corner in the women's race, it was nothing compared to the guys. I could not help tapping my brakes, due to my nervousness, but didn't do too bad the first lap. I hung in the middle, and on the straightaway I focused on the wheel in front of me and told myself not to let it go. The guys were starting to crowd in on both sides and I kept telling myself to not give it up. The very sharp left turn up the hill came up, and I took that too slow, but still stood up and pedaled and kept my position in the middle. Coming into that first left turn again, even faster this time, I touched my brakes again and got another gap. I stood up and sprinted to close it. I was moving farther and farther back, and on the third lap around on the straightaway I lost contact with the last wheel and got dropped. It was insane how fast they were going. I knew I was just going to be motorpacing, but with the turns it made it so much more difficult.
One of these things is not like the other...

I had all kinds of people rooting for me and telling me not to give up, so kept riding hard and kept my heart rate up. After awhile, the main field lapped me and I jumped in to just race and see how long I could hold on again. On one lap I was pushed over into the curb on that first left turn and I touched my brakes again, harder this time, and a man in an orange jersey rode past me and muttered the word "bitch" as he went by. This really ticked me off and I wish I would have gotten his race number. This just really showed what a pig he is.  "Watch it, move it, watch your line." Any of those would have been appropriate comments, maybe. Anyway, I think I lasted another two to three laps. Exhausted, I fell off of the back again on the straightaway. On this lap I got pulled from the race.

Racing with the guys did feel a whole lot like Tour of Elk Grove, and although I may have not had the best wheel or lines in that race, I am sure that it wasn't the worst and the more I race, the better I will get. It may be awhile before I can finish with the guys, but I think it could be possible. I have come a long way this season, and I am really looking forward to racing next season with what I have learned. I am looking forward to doing some social riding in the next month and not having to follow a training schedule for the first time in 8 months. Vacation!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Tour of Elk Grove, Day 2

After the time trial on Saturday, Sarah and I headed back to her friends home to stay the night. We unloaded our gear, and had some dinner, and got ready for sleep. I was going to race two races on Saturday, the amateur Women's Open race at 8:30 am and the Pro race at 1:00.  I was sitting at the
table in the kitchen when I noticed a pile of road racing magazines. I looked at the cover of one, and it had as a headline, "Alison Powers is Tulsa's Toughest." I looked inside and saw another article about Shelly Olds. Both of these women were racing this weekend. I started panicking a little, and wondered what the hell I was doing racing against these women. Sarah tried to help by telling me that it is just a race like any other race. I didn't believe her though. I laid in bed that night, completely wired. Eventually I fell asleep about 1 a.m. Got up bright and early at 5:00 a.m. to go race.

I headed out after getting some much needed coffee. It was very quiet in Elk Grove at 7:30. It
helped calm my nerves a little. I was looking forward to this race because I wanted more practice cornering before riding with the big girls. The plan was to try not to work and mainly use this race as a warm up. There were nine girls at the start line and I didn't know any of them. The race was 50 minutes long, and we went off at a conservative pace. The corners were fun, nothing too scary. There were a few $25 primes which I didn't go for, and then I heard one called out for $50. I decided to win this one, and did my best to be second in line around the final corner and then sprinted around and got the prime pretty easily. I was happy that I made a little money. The race kept moving along, and I only pulled for one or two laps and then it came down to a bunch sprint. I was right there, but still only came in 5th place. I think my sprint improved a little, but still didn't have enough punch to beat the other girls. I also didn't want to kill myself to win this one. I did get $40 for 5th place, so it made coming out worth it.

I went and had some lunch and then spread out a blanket to take a nap before the 1:00 race. I slept next to my van on a patch of grass in someone's front lawn. I think I can sleep just about anywhere. Sarah arrived and we got ready, warmed up a little, and headed over to sign in for the race. We lined up and the mass of women racing was huge. A field of 65 women. I had never raced with this big of a crowd before. I was very afraid of causing a crash and being that newbie that just took out the whole Tibco team. I also wondered how I might get home if I ended up in the hospital, since I drove myself there. What else do people think about while they are lined up at the start line?

Girls from Colavita waiting to pre-ride the course
Team Tibco is nicely lined up
They did call ups of the TT winners and for the NRC leaders.  I was honestly just so excited to be there. Finally they started the race and we were off. I was able to clip into my pedals quickly and grabbed a wheel. We had a 180 degree turn right away, and I was towards the back. The smell of burning carbon filled the air as everyone slammed on their brakes, then stood up and sprinted. Next was a right turn, not too bad. Then another 180, straight away into a head wind, then another 180, then a right turn back to the finish line. We had 14 laps for a total of 51 miles to race that day. It was fairly warm and sunny. As we kept going through the slow down, turn, stand up, sprint to 30 mph I was getting more and more at my limit. I was bouncing off
the back, wasting massive amounts of energy bridging the gap to the wheel in front of me. My lunch started coming up in my throat, and at about 40 minutes I sat up. There was no way I could keep doing that for 2 hours. I initially thought that they would pull me from the race, but they didn't. If I kept riding and finished within the time cut I could race the next day, so I kept plugging away.

Line of team cars following the race
I was getting lots of cheers from the crowd to hang in there as I rode alone. It was getting harder to ride, as I became aware of some pretty bad pain in my shoulders and in my feet. I then heard someone call out to go catch Sarah, she was just ahead. I did see another rider ahead, so I made my way up to her. It's much better to have someone to ride with! It ended up being Sarah, and we shared the work and helped each other out as we both had moments of intense struggle. I was near tears at times due to the pain I was feeling. I ran out of water and was getting more fatigued. I shut my brain off, and did not think other than to tell myself to just keep pedaling. I became unaware of time, and just focused on doing what I needed at that moment to finish this race. We had one lap to go and Sarah was also out of water and began cramping up. She was really hurting that last lap. We made it though, and crossed the finish line together. We made the time cut and "lived to die another day" as Sarah said.

As soon as I finished I got off the course and looked for water. I almost pushed people down to make my way to a water cooler, and as I came back to reality my body was pretty mad at me. I started shaking and was overcome with emotion. I couldn't believe that I finished that race. I could barely move my left arm as my shoulder hurt so badly. I made my way to the first aid tent to get some ice on it. Riding alone is way harder than being with the group, and I may have tried to stay on longer if I realized I would be riding for another 1.5 hours by myself basically. I was proud that I finished, it was a huge accomplishment, although a humbling one.

While I was in the pack, it was one of the most fun and exciting experiences I have ever had racing. It made my determination to get faster and learn how to race in a big group like that even stronger. In the meantime, I headed back to rest some more and gear up to race on Sunday.


Monday, August 5, 2013

Tour of Elk Grove, Prologue TT

I have had a great summer of racing. So much racing that I have let the yard go, the dog has been ignored, and I am losing my gourmet cooking skills. But it's only summer for about two weeks in Michigan so I need to race and ride while I can! I recently made the plunge and requested an upgrade so I am now a Category 2 racer. This enabled me to race Tour of Elk Grove, which my friend Sarah encouraged me to try as well as my coach Chris Fisher. Nothing like just jumping right in! It is a very prestigious race where the top women's teams and pro's come to duke it out and it has a huge payout for the winners. I was just hoping at best to hang with a very large group of the best girls in the country that are racing now.

I was terrified as well as completely excited to go and try this out. A new, huge challenge. There are three races in this stage race, the Prologue TT, and two circuit races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I also signed up for the women's amateur open crit on Saturday morning. Why the heck not, right? Get as many races in a weekend that I can.

I left in the early hours and headed down for the TT at 4:30 Chicago time. Which I forgot is 5:30 our time. I got there pretty early, somehow missed that this being a big deal and a big race that there is a meeting that everyone is supposed to attend and pick up their numbers. I panicked as I was not on the start list, but was able to get it worked out in time, and started at 4:29. I would be the first to go off. I realized I have a lot to learn but Sarah was there to help.

The time trial is only 4.5 miles, since it is a prologue, which is about 10 minutes of riding as hard as you are physically able. I brought my bike in to check it in and make sure it met USA cycling rules, and the seat was too far forward and tilted up too high. Made some adjustments and I was good to go. I sat in the staging area, hoping my legs would feel ok. I had been battling a nasty cold that still was lingering and I had not been on my bike as much as I would have liked going into this. I was the most hopeful about this race of any though, as I have been doing well this year at time trials.

It was something to see the women from Pro-Optum and Tibco walking around, with their team cars and support team. Must be awesome to have that support! Myself, I parked on a side street, got dressed in my van, and warmed up with Sarah by my side on our trainers. It was nice to have company at least!

Anyway, I got on the ramp, they counted down and I was off. It was a nice, flat course and I just gave it all I had. Maybe a little too much at the beginning, because my legs were screaming when I was about 3 minutes in and when I could have been going over 30 mph on a slight downhill with a tailwind I could barely muster high 20s. I took a right turn, and my legs were adapting and I was able to tell myself to push my legs harder and they responded. 180 degree turn, into a headwind, and I buckled down and started feeling better. I had two more turns, and came into the finish, mouth completely dried out, swung off the course, and lost my lunch. A father and son walked by and looked a little disturbed, but hey, these things are normal if you are racing. It ain't always pretty.

Sarah finished up, and we headed off to get some rest. Later I saw the results and I was 50th out of 64 women, with a time of 10:50, 1:31 behind Alison Powers who won, average speed 24.5 mph. I was pleased with that, but as always....thinking I could have done just a bit better. Here are the results. And here is my Strava of the ride.

I don't have many pictures as I was here with Sarah, who was also racing and my phone battery died on Friday. But here is a great picture of me with Meredith Miller, who was racing her retirement race, it was a great honor to be with her this weekend! I will have more posts about the later, more exciting races that happened this weekend. It was an awesome experience that I will remember forever.


Friday, August 2, 2013

Chi-town Here I Come!

After a great season of racing, it's not over yet as I got my cat 2 upgrade and am heading to race Tour of Elk Grove this weekend. Soooo excited!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Where have all the Cat 1/2's gone? And Tour de Mont Pleasant...

This year has been a strange year for women's racing in Michigan. There are a lot of strong women who haven't been racing that usually do. I miss them a lot, in a weird sadistic way, but because they made the races exciting. I was usually off of the back by the end, but it was a hard work out, challenging, and left me wanting to train harder so I could just be able to stay in the pack and finish with everyone. Cyclists crave suffering. Yes, we are a strange crowd.  This year there have been just a few Cat 1/2 women at the races, with the majority of the field being Cat 3. The races have felt a lot like the Cat 4 races did. We Cat 3s need the Cat 1/2's out there to show us how it's done. I hope they are able to get to more races this season. Since there really aren't that many women who race in Michigan, I actually do know where most of the Cat 1/2 women are, and honestly what we really need is just more women who want to race!
Women's 1/2/3 start

Anyway, I raced Mt Pleasant last weekend (I only did the RR, my son was in a play and I had to miss the TT and Crit). They moved the race this year from downtown and out to the casino. This was my second road race and it went much the same as Frankenmuth...pretty flat, with people trying to attack and get away, but yet not able to. The whole pack chases down each attack, even when it's their own team mate out there. I did chase down one attack, but otherwise sat in and watched the riders. The pace was steady, not too slow but not much faster than a good Sunday group ride. I chatted casually with a few of the girls, commented on the weather, the scenery, the races so far this season. 

Then I felt like what the hell, so here we are again, just riding to the finish line and sprinting again. Which to me feels almost like a toss of the dice as to who will win. Coming into the last few miles I decided to try and attack, and see what happened. I went out as hard as I could, stood up for what seemed like forever, and looked back and there was virtually almost no gap. Settled back in, took a break for awhile, and attacked again. Joann Cranson was out with me and we tried to stay away together, but got reeled in again. 

At least this got the pace up, and as we entered the road before the last turn, we were going pretty fast and we were pretty close together. My heart was racing,  we were going about 24 miles an hour, someone's handlebars were bumping my ass on the left, and the person on my right was equally as close. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, I started to slide back my position to get some room and when we came into the corner everyone was in front of me. I looked up and there was the whole pack on a one lane road one kilometer from the finish. 

Shit. I noticed that no one was over the white line on the right, so I edged back and went over to shoulder of the road, and having no one to draft off of, pushed it and moved to the front. We were probably going about 25 mph here, and I was neck and neck with the front line of women, when at about 200 meters to go they kicked in their final big push and I had no more to give. I saw the woman next to me stand up and and and...I couldn't. I watched them all ride on by. 

Everyone else pretty much finished up where they came into the corner as there was no room to go around anyone in the sprint. It would have been nice if they could have at least opened up two lanes for the finish. I missed the old start/finish in downtown Mt. Pleasant. 

So, no big podium at this race, but at least I experimented a bit and tried something new. Thanks to  Mt. Pleasant Chamber of Commerce for continuing to put on a great weekend of racing! My vote is to move the road race back to downtown or find a way to open two lanes for the finish. :) And thanks to Kim and Dave for letting me carpool with them!
Women's 1/2/3 results

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Crash number 437

This is from me trying to be cool. I should know better by now. Bella looks worried for my sanity.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Das Tour de Frankenmuth 2013

This was my third year racing Frankenmuth, and my first year racing in the women's cat 1/2/3 race. I like this race since it is flat, and seems like a good opener for the road season. It was my first road race of the year. Sue Donnelly, a Hagerty cat 4 racer traveled with me and we went down the night before and stayed in a hotel. I heard of many hard core racers leaving from 2:30 and 3:30 in the morning from the Traverse City area to get to the 8:00 start time. Yeah, not for me.

The weather at 8:00 a.m. was brisk, although the sun was shining and it was not too cold. No rain! It was raining pretty steadily at the start last year. There were about a dozen hot air balloons in the sky, making for a colorful and festive start. Frankenmuth  may be the best race to bring a family, since there is the Zehnder's Splash Village for the kids, a dog show, hot air balloons, among  other things to do in the town. It reminds me of Mackinac City. The race goes right through the town and there are multiple laps which makes it nice for spectators. My poor kids have often come to a race in the middle of nowhere just to see me for 10 seconds at the finish. They stayed home this weekend because they had their own exciting plans.

But anyway...we lined up for the start and had a field of 16 women. There were about 4 Cat 1/2
Great morning for a race!
riders and 12 Cat 3 riders. We took off, and settled in pretty quick. A few women tried to attack early, but everything got reeled in pretty quick. It is pretty hard to get away on this course. Very few would work at the front so the race putzed along for three laps. I think we were going as slow as 13 mph at one point. Our average speed was 18 mph for the race. We had to stop the race twice and start again because we got off course once and there was an accident at the finish and they didn't want us coming through until it was cleared out.

We came into the final lap with only one dropped rider, and I thought I would try to stay out in front for the last mile to get a good position, and maybe even attack. My legs were not there for me though, and when we came into the last corner I was 3rd, but I wasn't able to corner like I needed to and lost my position. I pushed as hard as I could but couldn't regain them before the finish line. I came in 10th overall, 5th for Cat 3 women. Amy Stauffer, Dori Leib, and Sarah Demerly got the podium finish.

Sue Donnelly's cat 4 race had a crash and Sue almost went down so she had a sketchy two laps. The men's cat 4 race had a crash at the finish also. There are some pretty large fields so this is not uncommon! I am happy to have finished rubber side down, and am ready to take a few things I learned from this race on to the next one.

Thanks for being a great host Frankenmuth!!!!

Gavin, the Great and Powerful

3rd place finish at Conquer the Village
Gavin has been going non-stop this year with participating on the Breakers Swim Team, earning a part in the Three Musketeers with the Old Town Playhouse, and on top of it all he figured he would do a mountain bike race. I missed it, as I was downstate doing a road race, but word on the street is that he did awesome. Conquer the Village was a race in Traverse City to benefit Hickory Hills. Gavin is only 12, and didn't want to do the kids loop that was less than a mile, so he signed up for beginner men ages 15-19. He got third place! When I got home he was full of stories about his race, which included falling on every lap of the three laps he did of the race. I am so proud of his determination!  Here is a clip of his finish that you need to see, because, as Gavin says..."THIS is how you finish a race!"
 

Thanks to Grandma Nancy for taking the video and pictures!

Monday, May 27, 2013

Arcadia Grit and Gravel 2013

I was originally scheduled for the West Michigan Stage Race the weekend of Arcadia Grit and Gravel, but WMSR was cancelled. That was a really fun race last year, and I was looking forward to the time trial, so I was disappointed. I decided to do a local mountain bike race instead. Arcadia has a beautiful, fast, flowy trail that I have ridden a few times and love. I registered for Elite women, and despite knowing I am not great at single track...there were some miles of gravel road that I thought might be my saving grace, so I thought I would give it a try.

The weather was great the morning of, and there were some great ladies there racing. Sue Stephens and Erin Vicary were there from team GRIT, Lauri Brockmiller my teammate from Hagerty, Chelsea Strate from Einstein, and Kati Krikke from Freewheelers.  All great racers!

We started along with the Elite Men and in the first mile or so we had paved road and the pace was easy. We turned onto the first gravel road that had a few hills off the bat and the race was on. Lauri took off and I saw Sue go as well. I slowly made some progress on the hill and came out on the top behind Lauri, Sue, and Kati. I could see Sue up the road and asked Kati if she wanted to work together to try to catch her. We took turns pulling and I wondered how we could get by her without her catching on. I didn't time it very well, and when we caught her there was a turn with a descent and I thought that it was now or never. I thought since I am bigger I might be able to drop her here but she just tucked in behind me and took the ride down the hill. I think I topped out at 38 mph down that hill. :)

I let Sue work and we eventually caught up to Lauri and rode together for awhile. We had another long, gradual climb on the gravel road and stayed together. We took a left on the flats again and were cruising down the gravel roads pretty fast, with Sue out front. I was third in line when it seemed to me that Sue slammed on her brakes and then Lauri reacted, and then I had less time to react. I didn't realize there was a turn coming up, I didn't hear any call out for it, and from where I was couldn't see any signage. I thought someone's tire may have even blown. Needless to say it was pretty sketchy with an almost crash along with some words. Sue took off on her bike with Lauri following hot on her tail. I entered the single track determined to hang on as long as I could. 

Lauri had a great race and came in second for Hagerty.
Sue and Erin came in 1st and 3rd.
It wasn't long before they were out of sight and I was riding alone. Some expert men started coming through, then Kati Krikke, and my timing was off again and I wasn't riding smooth. I started pulling over to let others go by- pretty much the entire race. The woods were beautiful with Trillium in bloom, but all I felt was irritation and frustration. One by one all of the women passed me. After the 10 miles of single track I finally emptied out into the gravel roads again and took off. I was able to take back one position before the finish. 

What I did like about this race was that it was smaller and more intimate than a lot of races I have done. Sitting and enjoying a beer after with lots of friends from Traverse City was great. You can't get a much more beautiful venue than Arcadia either. 

It has been said Nora is better at
 singletrack than me. Could be true!
I decided I need to get a lot better riding single track before I race it again. We went back to Arcadia today to ride as a family, and to enjoy the trillium at a slower pace. Gavin and Russ went off on their own, and I rode with Nora on the short Chestnut Loop. Nora is a force, and I am sure she is going to be a great rider someday!

Thanks to Endoman Productions for a great race!


Monday, May 13, 2013

Mud, Sweat, and Beers 2013

This race report is a bit late due to life just being crazy lately. I started a new job and both of the kids are busy with their spring activities so there hasn't been a lot of down time. Leave it to the weather to turn back to winter like conditions this weekend to give us some though! Last Tuesday was my first Tuesday Night Ride and I remember joking about how the good weather was just too good to be true. Well, it was apparently as we saw snow here on May 11 and May 12. Sometimes I really hate living in Michigan. But anyway...

Heading up to the first climb
The weather was perfect for MSB 2013 and while we had some strong women sitting out the race this year, there was still plenty of good competition left. This was the first year they split the elite/pro and expert class and I decided to give the elite/pro class a try. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?  This race starts off hard with a big hill right off the bat. Out the gate I did ok, and didn't get left in the dust of all the women heading out. I have had some pretty bad starts so I was pleased so far. Winding through the trail heading into Willpower Hill I started dropping back further and at the top of the hill I was the last woman up. The hill spits out onto a flat subdivision for two miles before hitting the trails again, so here I hit it as hard as I could. By the time I hit the woods I was back into third position. Lauri Brockmiller and Bridget Widrig were out of sight by this time and I never saw them again.

Into the woods Kati Krikke and Erin Disterheft were close behind me and eventually Kati and Erin passed me heading into the single track by the Headwaters trail. I knew I would be in trouble here,
Chelsea chasing me down

since single track is not a strength of mine. Hanging on by a thread, I rode it worse than normal and lost them. I kept plugging along hard, never letting up and never having much of a recovery. I remember looking at my Garmin and I was only halfway done- on mile 10 of 20. I was really struggling and felt like giving up! Some of the route was very new, rugged, bumpy track that I just crawled over.   A lot of the area was recently logged and it looked like a bomb went off into the woods. It is so sad to see a previously beautiful area of the woods decimated like that.

Chelsea Strate passed me during the gnarly stuff. I fell once and just started doing worse and worse. Thinking I was not doing so hot in this race I stopped to give a racer some cartridges to air up his flat tire. I was fifth or sixth by this point. I hit the open VASA trail again and put on the gas. It felt great to be out of the slow crap (can you tell I didn't like that section?) and I caught on a few groups of guys riding and made up some good time. Ahhh, nice open fast trail! I passed Chelsea again and had a good draft for awhile before I lost the guys on the next section of single track.


Finish! Thanks to Jody Hofstra for the pictures!
Finally heading into the end of the race, I came down the hill relieved to be done. Going down the hill sideways through a sand pit landed me not so gracefully over my handlebars. I got back up and finished up the race through the big mud puddle. After chatting with Lauri and Bridget I saw Kati and went to congratulate her. She informed me that they had taken a wrong turn in the course and just finished, which put me in third. A major bummer for them, as they had raced a good race. I got lost at least two times myself last year in this race so I know how it feels! Bridget had also taken a wrong turn and that put her in second, when she had been in the lead as well.

Luck is a big factor in bike racing, that is for sure. And although I had a decent outcome in this race, I don't feel that it was a great race for me overall. But, It was nice to have a sweep of Hagerty colors on the podium. Good job to everyone! It was a tough race for sure. Thanks to Mt. Holiday and the volunteers that run MSB. The race was a blast and the after party is always a good time!  I know a ton of hard work goes into these events and it doesn't go unnoticed! Thanks for bringing such a good race to Northern Michigan.



Monday, April 29, 2013

The Great Escape- NC 2013

I had a great week in North Carolina mountain biking with my friend, Kim Thomas. While riding some pretty cool trails I would think about what I might write about in my blog, only to come back each night so exhausted that I was about as functional as a toddler past bedtime. Finally, after settling back into the routine at home, I have some time to blog about it. It's impossible to cover all the fun I had, but here are some things I learned whilst there.

Start of Women's Tandem Road Race
1. Para-lympians are very awesome people. I watched the UCI Para Cycling Open in Greenville, South Carolina (great recap here) with Kim and met some athletes that made a lasting impression on me. The race is open to anyone with defined disabilities such as blind or visually impaired, cerebral palsy, amputees, and wheelchair athletes. Some rode tandems as a stoker, handcycles which they propelled with their arms, or adapted bicycles which would allow them to shift and brake with one hand. The athletes competed against others who have the same type of disability. I was humbled by their level of commitment and I hope someday that I have half of the talent and ability that they have. The World Championships are happening on the same course next year, which will be some awesome racing to watch. Kudos to Mackenzie Woodring who pilots a tandem and had an awesome road race-she was on a solo break and working with her stoker, Kara for almost half of the race on a windy, technical course. It was impressive to watch!

2. You can have too much downhill. Kim was an awesome guide, she had ridden many of the trails before and had maps, food, water, and a camelpack that produced almost anything you
Kim Thomas, Guide Extraordinaire
needed. She is part Dora the Explorer, part Harry Potter. One run that sticks out is the Greens Lick descent at Bent Creek that she promised was a blast. Greens Lick was an almost 2 mile descent over rock gardens, drops, roots, gravel, and berms. I love speed, but I rode this down with my brakes on the whole time, and by the end my hands and feet were killing me from standing, holding on with a death grip, and muscling through this stuff. Did we do it again? You bet we did. :) My average speed was about 12 mph, and I felt like I was just FLYING down this hill. The top woman on Strava did it at 16 mph, the top guy 22. That is insane. 

3. Don't get in Kim's way when she is hungry. We spent more time in the saddle this week than I ever have in my life, about 5-6 hours a day. Strava reports that I did about 20,000 feet of climbing and almost 200 miles of trails. After one six hour day, Kim proclaimed that she is starving, and we stopped at a great authentic Mexican place for dinner. Two fisted took on a new meaning as I watched Kim out of the corner of my eye rake in the tortilla chips.  I didn't dare reach in for one until we (she) was on our second basket. Lots of riding does make food taste SO good though, doesn't it?

4. Always, always, always protect your phone. I wish I had a picture to demonstrate this spectacular fall-but other matters pressed us to act quickly and not take a picture. That is, my phone was under water. There was a small creek with some large stones placed across it as a bridge. The stones were not smoothly placed, and there was a gap of about 5 inches between the middle of them. Kim advised me to go through the middle of the gap. This is probably one of my
This is not the small creek I fell in-this is a big river
that I did NOT fall in. Really.
bigger fears- squeezing my tires through things like this, and instead of looking ahead like I am supposed too, I stared right at the gap in the rocks and so my tire hit the side of the rock and did not roll through, toppling me over to the right, and upside down into a creek. My bike was on top of me, and as I was laughing and calling for Kim's help to pull my bike off of me I was worried about my phone since I had just replaced it under warranty. I am pretty attached to my phone, and it did get wet, but it dried out and functioned fine, thankfully! I made sure to wrap it in plastic thereafter. There might not be a large body of water for miles, but leave it to me to fall into a tiny creek in the middle of nowhere. I got away with just some bruises on my back, but that fall did make me more wary when I was riding.

5. XX1 is shifting for dummies, perfect for me. This is the first go with the new 1x11 drivetrain, and it was awesome. The first day out there was some cable stretching, but once it was adjusted it ran perfectly. I was able to crawl up climbs with ease as well as put the speed on when I needed. Didn't have to worry about cross-chain issues, and let me think about other things like what line to take more and less about what gear to ride in.

Rat Snake!
6. The mountains are full of life.  After a looooong, dreary winter, it was great to see green grass, green leaves, flowering bushes, butterflies...anything with life. Sometimes we saw a little TOO
much life, as there was a 3 foot black rat snake on the trail one day. Kim was riding ahead going down a hill and was screaming something I couldn't make out. I slowed down though, and came up on this big ass snake on the trail. I stopped because I didn't know if it would lunge up and bite me as I went by, and I threw a stick at it to get it to move off the trail. It didn't budge. I got off my bike and  began to move into the woods and go around and then he decided to move the other way. He was moving pretty slowly and didn't seem to care too much about me, so that was good! On our last day we rode some pretty technical trails in Pisgah, which felt more remote and it was the first time I wondered about bears...luckily we did not run across any.
Willow TT, thanks to Scott Kroske for the photo!

7. There's always time to squeeze in one more race. As much as I hated to leave the warm weather and mountains, I had heard weather up north was getting better, so that made it easier. I also really missed my family and needed to get back to work so it was time to head back. But first, on Saturday there was the Willow Time Trial, the first Michigan Bicycling Racing Association Series race. I stopped on the drive back with Kim and she was going to ride tandem with Mackenzie. I was worried about how my legs would do after the long week of riding and then sitting in the car for 12 hours, but turns out they were fine as I got first in my age group, second overall woman. Getting on a TT bike after mountain biking all week felt pretty weird! But I have to say I love the TT races. It is awesome to go so fast on a bike. I think I'm hooked!

8. You can not ride your bike too much! Just had to say again that I had a great time, it was one of my best vacations ever. Thanks again to Kim who invited me and showed me some great trails. She is one non-stop girl that I could barely keep up with, on and off the bike. I can't wait to go back!








Monday, April 15, 2013

My First "First" at Fisk Knob

I made the jump a few weeks ago and bought a real TT bike (Cervelo P2), and so, I need to race lots of time trials and justify my purchase. The first TT of the year is Fisk Knob, north of Grand Rapids in Cedar Springs. It's a race known historically for bad weather due to being held so early in spring. Weather has been pretty brutal, no doubt, but we Hagerati do not let that bother us. Susan Donnelly, Jake Ellis, and I left early in the morning, driving through snow covered roads and fog to race. The forecast had snow and rain in it, but as we got closer we actually saw the sun rise and some blue sky. An owl even flew by as we were driving, that is always cool to see! It was still cold though, about 39 degrees, but warmer than my last race at Barry that was 29 degrees.
Pretty awesome helmet, thanks Kim Thomas!

We got there pretty early, even before registration opened. It gave us time to preview the course though, so it was good. I really do not like rushing around before a race so being early is always ok with me. Driving over the course I realized that it was a lot hillier than I imagined it would be. I had only taken out my new bike once on the road, and it wasn't over any hills, so I was a bit intimidated. When you are in the aero bars, you don't have quick access to the brakes. I was also a bit worried about my bike set up. I had been tweaking it and tweaking it but it wasn't still feeling quite right. I was ready though to just give it my best and see what happened.

I warmed up quickly, not feeling the cold at all, and was getting excited to race. We lined up and we had 5 category 3 women racing. I have raced all these fine women before, and they are all great people and great racers. We were sent off 30 seconds apart, one at a time, and the best part of a time trial is that it is just you against the clock. No strategy, no technical skills, just go as fast as you can. It's often called the "race of truth."
At the start line

Well, the start is on a big downhill, so it was time to just go for it and I sunk down into the aero bars and started pedaling and going faster and faster. It was such a blast! No fear at all here, just the rush of wind and speed-better than any roller coaster. I was going 38 mph at the bottom, and that is from a stand still at the top of the hill. Pretty awesome. A long, slow rise to the first turn, and I just kept hammering it, but feeling controlled at the same time. The rest of the course was a few more rollers before a flat section at the turn around. The rollers were fun and I did my best to go as fast as I could going down them, and was finding myself spinning out of my highest gear. Kind of cool to think I could have gone even faster if I had a bigger gear!
Top of the hill and finished!

I was amazed to find that I was passing people. I started realizing that this may be a good day for me! Everything was clicking just right. A unique feeling, indeed, but very awesome when it happens. The last climb back up that starting hill was brutal. I gave it everything I had to just keep pedaling as hard as I could and not pay attention to my quads that were screaming. Gasping at the top of the hill, I was done, and pleased with my ride.  Not too much later, it started snowing pretty hard. Sooo happy that it wasn't snowing during my race!

1st place Cat 3 women
After results came in it was clear that we had a mini-van full of winners. I placed first for the first time in a race. Sue got 2nd in her category of Master's women, and would have came in second in cat 4 women as well. Jake got second in Cat 3 men. Craig Webb and Steve Andries also from Hagerty won their categories. We were all pretty happy and deemed the day a success as well as a lot of fun. I haven't spent a lot of time with Jake before, and I have to say, he really knows his stuff. If you need any advice regarding anything race or training related, I would go visit him at Brick Wheels.
Sue Donnelly 2nd place Master's
Jake Ellis 2nd Place cat 3 men










Thanks to all the volunteers who shivered in the cold to help and the people at 42-85 who took this race that was in danger of not being held and making it a success. Thanks to Keith Conway and Brigit for taking pictures! And thanks also to Chris Fisher, my coach who has helped me get through this never ending winter. Full results are here.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

XX1. Will it be worth it?

I just got a major upgrade on my mountain bike and will be running a 1x11 set up this year. If you look closely it looks like it it's glowing, and it should be. It was raining buckets when I picked it up from Einstein cycles and there is still snow on the trails so I haven't had a chance to ride it yet. I don't know if I can handle getting it dirty. In 10 days I'm heading to North Carolina to ride some trails, really excited to try her out!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Meet Cervelo P2

I finally brought home my new TT bike from the bike shop. I took it out on Tuesday. She is very fast but still needs some tweaking...now if only the damn snow would melt and it would warm up.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Barry Roubaix Killer Gravel Road Race 2013

I signed up for Barry back when winter was still fresh, and seemed like a season that may be over before we know it. Feeling strong and ready for a big challenge I signed up for the 62 mile race. We were pretty spoiled last year with the abnormal warm up, and had lots of riding in before March was over. Not so this year as everyone knows. I did get one long ride in a few weeks ago, about 50 miles. My shoulder and back were killing me by 40 miles and I decided I would back it down to the 36 mile race. I am back in physical therapy for my shoulder so hopefully I will get this thing kicked for good.

3000 racers line up
The conditions for the race were predicted to be very sloppy, so I opted to take my mountain bike for the race. This set up is also easier on my shoulder so I was happy with this option. Friday night I got packed up to go, and Rich from the City Bike Team and I left in the wee morning hours on Saturday. We made good time and had lots of time to get ready for the race. Stepping out of the car the cold bit pretty hard, and I wondered at the sanity of racing in 29 degree weather. Despite the cold, I was still looking forward to doing a new race and testing out the legs early on in the season.

Once we headed down to the start line, I was amazed at the amount of people that were lined up. It was impressive. I heard the announcer say that this race is just a few years old and started with just a few hundred people. Today there were about 3000 people racing. I really wonder at what makes certain events like this just take off. There are lots of great bike races, in much warmer weather, that don't have nearly as many people racing.

Photo by Rudy Malmquist
Our wave lined up, and we were off. I was in the second row, and a gap started to open up and I was quick to make sure to jump on the wheel of the leaders. We rode neutrally out for awhile, no one wanting to pull too hard off of the front. There were a few women leaping ahead and some squawking from others as they had crossed the yellow line in the road to do so. No one really took these ladies seriously until Marie Dersham went in front. I heard the murmurs throughout the pack..."there goes Marie..." It made me smile, since that is an awesome reputation to have.  I know Marie is a very strong racer so I jumped on her wheel, and a group of about 6 of us were off the front and rode together for about 30 minutes or so. The dirt roads got icier, and it was getting harder to navigate them and stick together as we were coming up on earlier waves.  Picking a good line was critical, and at one point I went to the left to pass and almost got swept off the road when I hit a rut and a good patch of ice. I eased out of it and regained control, but was off the back. I
could still see Marie and the group ahead though, so thought I could still catch back on. Then there was a rider down in the middle of the road and we all had to slow down. I hit the same icy rut the downed rider did and almost went down, but was able to recover. I think all those slippery fat bike races helped me a lot with some icy bike handling skills.

Now I couldn't see Marie's group at all, but there was one woman riding on a cross bike near me and we rode together for awhile. Then we hit pavement and she just took off on those skinny tires and I didn't see her again. I was a lone woman riding among lots of guys for quite awhile, when I heard another woman coming up behind me. She was on a mission and was riding hard and motivated me to kick it back up again. I didn't know what to make of her as she was climbing hills and using her whole body to rock back and forth, had a bright pink shirt on, and didn't fit into any category in my mind. Later I learned that she was riding a single speed, which I didn't even consider at the time because why would anyone do such a silly thing? Now I am in awe, as she beat me up some of those hills, and beat me to the finish line. That is kick ass.

photo by www.juliemcgrawphotography.com
Coming across the finish line.

At about mile 29 single speed girl (Rebecca) asked me where we were at, I told her, and she hung back for a moment. I knew she was probably fueling up for the last stretch and about a mile later she took off like a rocket. I stayed with her, determined not to get dropped. It was a great challenge. My heart rate was gearing up to 180 and I kept telling myself to not quit and to hang in there since we were close to being done. I wasn't able to catch her and she beat me to the finish line by about 20 to 30 seconds. She did a great job, and I was happy with myself for not giving up.

My legs felt decent throughout the race. Hills are usually my nemesis, and I felt that even if I may have been slower than others on the climbs I wasn't burning out and dying on them. I am happy that it was icy versus muddy-that would have been a much tougher race. It was pretty cold, and my feet were pretty frozen. I was grateful during the race that I didn't do the 62.

When I came in to check my results it said I was 11th in my division. I was a little bummed, and confused as I didn't think that many women were ahead of me. I didn't stick around for podiums, and later I saw Kati Krikke who told me I got 4th. That made me feel better! Podium went to 5th place so I got a medal and won some shoe inserts. Rich had a good race himself and was happy (except for the fact that I beat his time once again, ha!).  We drove the long ride back home, glad that it was over. I went to bed at 8:00 and slept solidly until 6, I was pretty exhausted!

Barry Roubaix was a great, well run race. Kudos to everyone who volunteered and helped run such an awesome race! Now, on to Fisk Knob TT, just 3 weeks away!