Riding and Smiling...

Two things made me smile on this morning's 30 miler. After finishing my second tempo piece, I slowed up right near the Attack Duck. I have no idea what it means, why it's there but think whoever put it there has my sense of humor. Every time I do this route, I laugh when I see it.

Second thing: waved to a guy on 225. Got a happy bicycle bell "DING!" in return. :-D

Riding The Tsunami

For me, cyclocross is the absolute best kind of racing. I love it and my entire training this year is focused on having a kick-ass cross season with a top ten finish in my age group race at Nationals in KC this year. This also has me thinking about retiring the Surly as a pit bike and replacing it with something a little lighter and snappier. Given my size it's somewhat difficult to find a stock bike that fits well. Sure, I can futz around with stem length, etc but all that jury-rigging means a trade-off in handling, power, and just plain comfort.

So I'm contemplating going custom and if you're going to go custom, why not go the best? Thanks to a friend at Seven, I've been picking their brains and trying to decide between the Tsunami and the Mudhoney (can you buy a bike just because you like the name?) And they've gone totally above and beyond and managed to get a bike for me a week or so test ride. Sweet! They totally rock.

Today was my first ride on it. Despite the fact that the top tube is too long for me, it was still a total blast to ride. Decided a 20 mile ride on dirt would make the bike feel right at home so I headed out the Battle Road Trail to Concord Center then back on what I call the Slug Trail. First impression, the bike felt super light and FAST. I think part of that is because most of my trail riding lately has been on my full suspension mtb. I'd forgotten how quick and nimble a cross bike is on trails. Pretty much felt effortless to fly on the hard packed dirt of the Battle Road trail. Once I got to Concord, I punched it on the rockier Slug Trail. It handled the rocks and roots on that trail smoothly and despite it not being the right size for me, still a piece of cake to handle. I think I had one of those rides where I'm smiling so much I need a toothpick at the end to get all the bugs out of my teeth. ;-) Wow. It'll be a privilege to race one of these machines this fall. Look out, Nemesis!

Along the route back, saw an odd rock in the middle of the trail. Looked slicker than the other rocks (kind of wet?) so I decided to avoid it. Didn't want to crash a bike that wasn't mine, after all. Took a closer look and discovered it wasn't a rock at all. Sunday I was racing a deer, today a turtle. :)

Racing Bambi

Sunday was another Root 66 Series Race - this one in Putney, VT. I've only been to Putney once before and that was to watch S do a 70 road race that pretty much destroyed her. Let's just say I don't have pleasant memories of Putney (still have to do that epic cross race that's held there) so I registered for the race with much trepidation.

Google Maps said Putney was a 2.5 hr drive from my home. Apparently Google and I drive vastly different speeds. Up at 4am, on the road by 5, and zipping along a deserted Rt. 2, I made it to Putney by 7am. As I crossed the border from MA to VT, my thoughts turned to snowboarding and snow - things I usually associated with the Green Mountain state- so I checked the outdoor thermometer in my car. OMG! 39! It was a beautiful, blue sky morning so I was hoping the sun would warm things up, along with burning off the fog hanging in the valleys.

Since I was there so early, I had ample time to do a leisurely pre-ride of the course. Got the bike ready, had ALL my gear this time since I packed the car the night before, checked with the organizers about which way the course started and headed out. Super nice morning to be out in the woods - cool enough to discourage the bugs, quiet except for the birds and me. The sun wasn't totally over the surrounding hills yet so the dense foliage made it pretty dark which reminded me of getting lost in the Fells with the Luna Chix. And that in turn reminded me of my Luna Chick buddy who wouldn't be riding that day. I reminded myself how lucky I was to simply be able to ride, remembered what it was like to be in her situation and thought I would have to ride hard enough for two of us - today's race would be for her.

This was probably my most favorite course I've done this year (ok, ever, since I've only been mountain biking a year.). The race started in an open, grassy field going slighly uphill with a before it entered the woods onto a short single-track section that swooped down, leveled out and popped up a short, steep climb. A left turn at the top dumped you out on a wide, rolling xc ski trail that then turned into the first real single track. The next sections were mixes of rolling xc ski trails, single track and just a blast. No crazy rock gardens, not too incredibly rooty, no stream crossings (actually, I did miss those!), a few logs to ride over, and LOTS of hills. As I finished the first climb and headed down, I saw a deer ahead. She saw me, turned, and headed running down the trail but only fast enough to stay just a bit ahead of me. I swear, that doe was racing me! As I reached the bottom of the hill and slowed down, she stopped, looked at me and took off - white tail bobbing through the woods. :)

Back to the course, did I mention the hills? One even known as Heartbreak. There were three tough hills, one super long climb that I couldn't figure out if I should walk or ride. It seemed I went the same speed no matter which option I chose so I figured I'd be best doing whatever took the least amount of energy. Best thing about climbing though are the downhills. They were fun, fast, with some ruts and off-camber rocks to avoid. One big berm which was totally killer at high speed, a big grassy hill that reminded me of the hills in CA (no cows, though). The last hill was Cemetery Hill up to the finish line. Ow.

As for my race, my plan was to get the hole shot and go. Just go. Ride as hard and fast as possible. They did the usual wave starts and we started last behind the juniors. The whistle went off, I rode as hard across the grass as possible since I hate it so much , hit the woods in first and just flew down the single track making sure to carry enough speed for the short, steep uphill on the other side. Never saw a another woman after the start. Caught 4 junior riders and 3 50+ men riders (always makes me feel good to catch those guys who have a 2 min head start on us).

Second race in a row where I didn't fall! The hills killed me but simultaneously felt great (if that makes any sense). Lap times were around 36 min. My technique is improving, especially descending and that really helped on this course.

1st Place beginner women overall
1st Place beginner woman 35+
Still have the leader's jersey :)

Running From The Storm

Since yesterday was the Summer Solstice, Dave and I thought we'd take advantage of the extra daylight and sail around the harbor islands, enjoying the latest sunset of the year. Unfortunately, Boston is in its typical summer weather pattern of late day/early evening building of clouds and thunderstorms. Last night was no exception.

Checked the radar at the sailing center before heading out and it looked like we'd be ok. The storms appeared to be moving north of us. We rigged the sails, ticked off items on our mental checklist, and headed out. As soon as we were far enough out, we headed into the wind, cut the engine and raised the sails. Uh. "What's up with that jib?" asks Dave. "It looks weird." Hmmmm.. "Yeah, it looks weird for a jib because it's not a jib. That's a genoa.", I say. "And we don't have the sheets rigged right for it. Besides, there's too much wind for the genoa."

The only way I can tell the difference between the sails when they're folded is by side by side comparison. He had simply handed me the sail from below deck, I rigged it and we didn't realize until we raised it that ooops, wrong sail. So I got the fun job of going out on the bow, taking down the genoa, stowing it below, bringing up the jib, rigging it, tying on the sheets and getting it going while Dave held us steady and tried not to dump me in the harbor. Finally, success and we were off sailing.

During all this, the storm clouds continued to build but still seemed far off. The wind really picked up and soon we were doing about 7 kts out of the harbor. Took us 45 min to cover what took 2 hours the other afternoon in light wind. Zoom! Then, the wind just died. Zip. Nada. We joked about the calm before the storm. The weather gods took that comment as an opportunity to mock us and sent bolts of lightening over Logan Airport and grumbled with thunder at us. Dave and I looked at each other with the same wide-eyes, both thinking, uh oh...what do we do? Hide behind Spectacle Island, of course. Fortunately, the wind picked up at that point and we set our course to the channel behind Spectacle. The clouds continued to look threatening, the wind continued to be a steady 10 kts or so, gusting to 15. As we came around Spectacle, the wind totally died again. We watched a rainbow appear over Long Island, bobbed around on the glassy sea, waiting for more wind. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Ok, pull down the jib. Start the motor. ~sigh

And what happens as soon as we get into the harbor? Wind picks up again like crazy. The Solings were out racing and zig zagging across the harbor with some nice speed. Too bad the wind was right out of the west and in the direction we were headed. Grrrr...... Also made folding up not one, but two sails, all that more interesting once we docked.


Whatever. Just so happy to be out on the water. Great evening. And check out the chart below for a graphical pic of what our wind profile looked like last evening.

Blowing Off Meetings

Gotta love Massachusetts. My friend Dave had today off due to Bunker Hill Day. And since it was 80, sunny and just plain damn delicious outside (and he was planning on sailing), I decided I needed to honor Bunker Hill Day as well and join him. Blew off four meetings, one expense report and a round of bug fixes. It'll all still be there tomorrow. Enjoyed a fantastic day on the water.

The Merlin Gets New Shoes

How often do you find a decent 650c wheelset on sale for 50% off? Almost never. The Merlin's current wheels (deliciously light Rolfs) while awesome are about 6 years old now. Picked up these Mavic Ksyrium Elites at Performance. I think I'm one of 5 people out there who actually ride 650's so I'm sure Performance was just dying to get rid of them. I took the opportunity to put a 11-21 cassette on these - should team up quite nicely with my compact crank set.

Took them for a short ride today. People always say wheels can make a big difference on how a bike feels/ride. Felt the same to me. Perhaps I'm just not perceptive enough.

Martini says, "Right!"

Today I was supposed to be riding the 136.3 mile Harpoon Brewery to Brewery Ride. Due to a variety of reasons (tired from travel, haven't spent a weekend home in a long time, no friends who would ride with me - poor me!) I bailed on the ride. I think it must have been the right decision because I didn't have that usual feeling of "I'm a lazy slacker" or the all day craving to be out there on the course. And it was an absolutely perfect day for it - bright blue sky, 75 degrees, no humidity and little wind. 100% glorious riding weather. ~sigh... Ok, perhaps there is a tidbit of me disappointed that I didn't do it. Next year.

So not to be a total loser, I did get S and PFFC to commit to doing a 50 miler (was going to be a 70 miler but PFFC had to head north for her nephew's graduation). It became my action item to plan the route mostly because if I left it up to them, we'd be doing the same ol' loop we always do. Much to their credit, they didn't whine about having to do something new. The route that I chose came from the Charles River Wheelmen site. Bless their cycling-trained hearts, these guys and girls go out there, scout new routes, mark them, post cue sheets on their site, etc. Wonderful cycling resource here in the metro Boston area. Usually, we head northwest of Boston. This time, I chose to head a little more south - almost directly west of the city to Sudbury, Wayland, Weston, Concord, Lincoln, etc. While I thought it was pretty, S and PFFC weren't too impressed (geez guys, branch out already!). I have to admit our favorite part about the ride, though, were the route markers. The cue sheets said they looked like coat hangers without the hook. To us (and our derelict minds) they looked more like upside-down martini glasses. And so this created 50 miles of someone shouting when they saw a marker indicating a turn, "Martini says Right!" or "Martini says Left!" And now I really can't get that out of my head - I'm even saying it while driving.

So it ended up being a fun ride. Stopped at Whole Foods along the route for some ice coffee. More coffee and half a hekla at Peets as a reward. There's definitely something to be said for keeping it fun. A ride with goals simply set to be only caffeine, pastry, ice cream and enjoying a beautiful day outside is a super refreshing break from all the structured training and racing. Martini says, "Drink!" ;-)

Things You DO (and Do NOT) Want To Hear...

The plan for this morning was a ride with the guys but it turned out to be just me and The Columbian which is always just fine with me. It's always an entertaining ride with a conversation that makes the miles fly by. Today's highlights:

Good To Hear:
"Yeah, I can tell you're in much better shape this year. Your ass looks HARD! Can I touch it?"
"NO!"

Bad To Hear:
"Careful, Darling, twisty, steep downhill. Don't biff it!"

Good coffee and muffin, too!

Smashing Cupcake

Haven't posted in a while. Traveling for work will do that to you. As usual, I timed my trip to coincide with an event on the west coast. This time is was the Muddy Buddy to be held on Sunday in San Jose. TCB and I had been planning this for an entire year since I had to pull out at the last minute and left her searching for a new teammate. This year was going to be different. We had the Gary Fisher Cake (a.k.a. "The Cupcake" since it's a size small) she bought especially for last year's Muddy Buddy. We (well, she) ran hills, we rode hills, we designed cool post-race T-shirts. WE WERE GOING TO KICK BUTT!!!

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Seattle. Didn't travel with a bike so resorted to running around Greenlake. Thought about doing THE WALL up Queen Anne but given that I have been focusing on cycling and hadn't actually run in months, I figured Greenlake was a safer idea. Felt like a plodder. Wonder how long it'll take me to get back to my 7:15 min/mile pace...

Flew down to San Jose Tuesday night. The real reason for my trip - my product was going GM on Friday and it's way easier for me to manage my team from the west coast than the east. So while I was incredibly busy with that and hustling between the SJ and SF offices, I was more focused on preparations for the race on Sunday. But Friday came, we hit our deadline with 43 minutes to spare, and popped the cork on some champagne. Couldn't wait to do that Sunday after our race.

Finally, it was Saturday. TCB picked me up that morning and we headed off on our race errands.

• Buy matching outfits to compete in.
• Pick up race number at REI
• Swap out clipless pedals for pedals with toe-clips (have to ride in trail shoes - can't run in cycling shoes)
• Fix rubbing rear brake
• Lube chain
• Eat chicken panini and drink margaritas (Muddy Buddy traditional lunch)
  

We took a detour to see TCB's new house. Totally awesome and right in the midst of some of the premiere cycling routes in the area (if not the country). Thankfully, the house comes with a huge garage. Now I just need a bike to store there!

Dinner time rolled around. We carbo loaded on pasta, did a mental checklist of gear to pack that night, discussed strategy (like who would pick up the coffee in the morning) and what time she'd pick me up. She dropped me off at the hotel in SJ and headed home.

I started getting my gear ready (pack the helmet this time!!!!!) and organizing all my crap. About 15-20 minutes later, TCB calls to remind me of one last thing. While chatting with her, I suddenly hear, "SCREEEEEEACH!!!!!!!!!" Then silence, then a string of expletives that even would have made her sister blush. "F*&^%$!" "Oh, F(*&^^%$!!!!!!!!!!" And other stuff I can't even abbreviate here. I didn't hear any crashing noises so I didn't think she hit another car. I couldn't get her to tell me what happened. Just more swearing, starting to cry and my mind goes off in the worst possible direction - she's hurt or she's hit a person or dog. Finally, she calms down and her first type-able words are, "I don't think we're doing the Muddy Buddy."

Turns out that after a long day of driving around with the bike but not actually riding it she forgot it was on rack on top of the car. Plus, I distracted her on the phone. And oh yeah, apparently she's Mario Andretti when pulling into the garage. So yes, she pulled the one thing that every cyclist hopes they never do and yet seem to do at least once in their cycling career - she had the bike on the car rack, driven into the garage and now had it wedged between the car and the underside of the garage door. Uh oh. I was SO relieved to hear that nothing serious had happened, heard her start to laugh and I couldn't stop laughing. Told her to call me back and try to get the bike off the car and give me a damage report.

Ten minutes later she calls back. Can't get it off the car alone, no one else is home, neighbors are out, HELP! I tell her I'd love to be there but I dropped off my rental at Hertz earlier that day and I figured they were closed now so I was hosed. "TAKE A TAXI!" Oh, yeah. Didn't think of that. Be there in 20 minutes. ;-)

As I walked down the driveway, I saw the sport wagon half in the garage, the Cupcake twisted and smashed with the handlebars stuck under the garage door and the Yakima rack bent into a "L". Ouch. (There are no pictures of the incident to protect the reputation of those involved. ;-) With me standing in the car and pushing the garage door up and TCB holding on to Cupcake, we managed to free it and start checking for damage. First obstacle, rear wheel wouldn't spin but wait...hey, it's just the chain that fell off. Ok...fixed that. Checked out the shift levers and while the the "Idiot Indicators" were sheared off in the accident, the levers worked great. Hmmmm....maybe we'll be riding after all. Throw on the front wheel (this was a front fork mount rack) and it's rubbing a bit but hey, no biggie. It's looking like we may be able to ride! We turn our attention to the car - except for a small scratch on the rails, it was absolutely fine. The bike carrier/tray was trashed and the garage door was dented and slightly off the track but appeared easily fixable. I was just about to do my "We're Still Doing The Muddy Buddy" happy dance when TCB grabbed the bike by the stem and the fork moved in an entirely different and unnatural direction. Ewwwwww....not good. Perhaps the headset was trashed, or the fork, or both. Sadness. Didn't think we should risk bombing down trails on a bike that was suspect. Wah!!!!!!

So instead of racing the next day, we did a fantastic trail run, hung out at the pool and brought Cupcake to the shop. They pointed out one more thing we didn't notice. The frame was cracked right where the top tube was welded to the head tube. It was toast. Kaput. Done. Flat-lined. Destined for the heap. Trashed. With much sadness, we rolled it out of the shop and into the sport wagon for it's final ride home.

There's always next year. Or maybe LA in November. :)

BTW, I managed to take home a part of Cupcake. It's the Idiot Indicator from the rear derailleur shift lever that was sheared off. RIP Cupcake. :(

Just One Of Those Days

Sunday was one of those days that makes you believe that there's some higher power out there thinking he/she/it's going to have a little fun and it just happens to be your turn to be the object of their amusement.

The plan: head down to CT for a 9am mtb race (Channel Three XC Race). S was going to head down with me so I told Luna Chick (one of the ones who got us lost in the Fells a few weeks ago) we couldn't carpool.

Reality: Alarm triggers at 5am, roll out of bed, down some coffee and cereal and start getting my gear ready. S decided that her ankle really was hurting too much and it wouldn't be wise to stress it further in a race so she bows out to workout at home and do some chores/errands.

Pack up the car and head out. About 5 min from home, I realize I never put the pump in the car. (PITA #1). Return back home, pick up pump. On the road again. Usually, while driving to a race, I'm fired up, bopping to some tunes, and on the edge of my seat. This time, I was pretty low key - figured I was just tired and shouldn't have had that Mike's at Marta's the night before.

The weather has been a little unstable over the past few days. On my 90 min drive to the race, I saw blue sky, sun, drizzle, low clouds and just as I'm getting off on my exit, the sky opens and dumps so hard we're all going 30 mph and can't see. (PITA #2).

Next, apparently the gods have been playing with Google Maps. The directions I had had me turning right onto a non-existent street (PITA #3). I drove around in circles in the CT backwoods for a half hour until I finally found someone out for the morning walk and who fortunately could direct me to where the race was located.

I arrived at the race, found Luna Chick and chatted as we got our bikes ready. Pumped up the tires and shocks, donned shoes and then started searching for my helmet bag which besides my helmet, contains my gloves and glasses. Not in the back of the Fat Ass, must have left it in the front. Nope, not there either. Behind the seat? Nope. F*&^%$#@! Left it at home. (PITA #4)

Ok, well, let's at least tape on the GU so assuming I find a helmet, I'm good to go. Black electrical tape is also in helmet bag. ~sigh. But, Luna Chick to the rescue with some duct tape! Yay! I pull off a strip and use my teeth to rip it. Somehow, it sticks to my lips and when I rip it off, I draw blood. (PITA #5). Un-f(*&^!-believable.

Here's where the gods stopped playing with me (somewhat) and my luck changed. Headed to registration anyway thinking I could bum a helmet from someone. Chris, the race director, didn't have any spares but since he would be racing Expert hours later, he offered me his. It was way too big but if I left my sorry excuse for a ponytail in, it snugged up the helmet just enough. I also had to really shorten the straps so now I truly looked like a dork with a huge amount of excess straps hanging down.

By this time, it was 8:30 which meant no time really to pre-ride the course or warm up. Went out 10 min worth on the course and 10 back. Roll up to the start line - this time not muddy but still bloody from my encounter with the duct tape. The other girls also admired my combination of mtb and paintball bruises on my legs. Wasn't sure whether to say, "Bite me!" or "I'll rip your legs off so quit picking on mine." :)

Anyway, oh, yeah, the race. There were about a dozen of us at the start, 5 or so in my division but only one woman who I thought I'd need to worry about. "Pinky" had won my first mtb race and seemed to be in decent shape. She was starting in the front row, I was in the second directly behind and not worried since there was a good amount of trail to catch and pass the other riders. Sure enough, the whistle goes off, and it's Pinky off the front, followed by a 19-34 year old rider and about 5 riders then me. Slowly, I picked off the 5 riders, the younger girl passed Pinky (never to be seen again - we were dusted) and I was on Pinky's wheel. Coming to the first bridge she took a bad line, hit the bridge hard and endo'ed. Ouch. I passed her. She then passed me on the next big uphill. I passed her on the downhill (fascinating to see the battle between hardtail and FS in action). We traded places all through the race. This course was way hillier than any I've done so far - at least 3 big climbs, two of which I couldn't do even in the granny. And riding with sweaty hands and no gloves really made life exciting. ;-)

By the end of the first lap, we were still riding together and here's where I made my first tactical mistake. I ripped the GU off the handlebars thinking I was in the feedzone but I wasn't - ended up trying to eat GU, drink some water and climb a hill at the same time. This broke up my rhythm just enough to slow me down and allow Pinky to get a lead that I couldn't make up. She ended up beating me by 30 sec or so.

The good: I rode really well. First race that I didn't fall or add to my bruise collection. I rode everything except the two very large downed trees. There were lots of roots, rocks, short climbs, steep descents (one I handled so well the marshall was applauding, yelling "SO SMOOOOOTH!!!"). I rode a couple of tricky bridges that had either logs or rocks leading up to them, 8" planks across water, all kinds of fun stuff. I loved the feeling of riding the off camber section fast, feeling/hearing the shocks working hard, the bike doing what I tell it and just feeling more confident on the bike - I've learned how to use the sliding rear wheel on turns rather than freaking out or fighting it. Really loved the course. And I'm thinking I want to do sport and be out there for one more lap.

Lessons learned: Make sure all the gear is in the car, don't trust Google Maps/MapQuest/etc., don't get duct tape stuck on lips (or if it's already too late, remove gently). Oh yeah, pre-ride the course if at all possible. And try a little bit harder. 30 sec isn't all that much.

Final result: 3rd woman overall, 2nd in age group