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!

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.

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!

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.