Celebratory Ride With The Boys

Yesterday, The Columbian sent email to the usual suspects about a ride this morning to celebrate my championship finish at Mt. Snow. So today's ride felt a little like what it must be like to ride the final stage of the Tour de France into Paris. Nice, easy pace behind with my five domestiques ;-). Gorgeous morning. My kind of weather - sunny, hot, humid. Love it. We kept the pace relatively tame, even for me. Stopped in Concord for iced coffee and a bagel. Absolutely wonderful way to start the day. Only other thing I needed was a glass of champagne.

Riding with the guys is also entertaining as well - fun watching them try to catch big air over speed bumps. Can't say in all my thousands of miles ridden with women I've ever seen that before. At least they didn't biff it.

Riding With The Girls

This year, NEBC set up a Tuesday night women's ride. It's open to all woman who want to learn or work on riding skills. Kathy and Catherine have done a great job organizing it, getting it up and running, etc. I haven't been able to attend very regularly due to late afternoon/evening work meetings, but every time I've joined in, it's been great. So cool to see women improving, having fun, and some even getting the racing bug. And hey, now it's even in Bicycling Magazine.

US MTB National Championships

We headed up to Mt. Snow Thursday morning aiming to pre-ride the course later that afternoon. As we approached closer and closer to West Dover, the skies got darker and darker. By the time we pulled into the parking lot, there was a decent, steady drizzle falling. Since the course would be closed from 8-7pm the next day, our only chance to pre-ride would be that afternoon or super early Friday morning. So despite the rain, we headed out on the course.

Wow – I’ve heard lots of things about Mt. Snow’s XC course and it lived up to all of it. Technical, wet, rocky, rooty, hilly killer course. It’s a 5 mile course laid out in a north and south loop. The start is a very slight uphill dirt road that then turns up the mountain, zigs and zags a bit on fireroad, still up, up (past the first feed zone) then goes left off the ski slope into the first wooded section. There you start the descent down on rocky, rooty single track, across a couple of small streams, pop out onto a ski slope and head straight down toward the start where you’d then head back out the opposite direction up a LONG climb to the south loop. The climb starts out gradual but after a level bit through the woods turns straight UP the mountain. Steep, mud, roots, rocks. I can’t imagine anyone being able to ride it (especially in the muddy condition) and sure enough even the pro-women were doing the hike-a-bike through that section. Lots more up, up, up until you’ve hit about mile 3 and then you start heading down through the most difficult trails I’ve ever ridden. Mostly single track, rocks, roots, stairs, 4 foot drops over roots, you name it, it was there. After about 1.5 miles of that gnarly single track, you finally pop out down a ski slope and onto a fire road, through a tunnel, past the Grand Summit Hotel, small gradual climb until a nice downhill to the finish line.

So imagine seeing it for the first time during a two hour deluge. Yes, it dumped rain on us the entire time we were out there. The climbs were made tougher by the dirt that was now inches of mud. The technical downhill sections were pretty much impossible since choosing a line was a total crap shoot. The puddles and mud hid the holes, rocks and roots. And all the rain made everything slick as snot. We kept telling ourselves if we could ride it in these conditions we could do even better when (if?) it dried out by our race on Saturday morning. We spent a few hours out there slipping, sliding, trying to figure out lines, etc. At one point on one of the more sketchier downhill sections, we ran into an expert woman rider we know who was also off her bike, walking (made us feel good) and saying how it was pretty much impossible to ride in these conditions. As we were discussing this particular section (two trees in the middle of lots of rocks – go left, between or right of the trees?) two guys come flying down the hill and chose to go between the two trees. That line looked good on the surface but under the mud was a slick web of roots. The first guy went down hard, second guy was able to stop. First guy was ok. We all decided the left line was best after that. ;-)

Friday we spent watching the men semi-pro, and women’s pro races. All the lap counts were reduced by 1 lap given the conditions of the course. For the men’s semi-pro, the gradual fire road climb between the two loops was so muddy that mostly all the guys were off their bikes. By the time the pro women’s race (3 laps instead of 4) went off at 2pm, it was much drier given the sun and breeze. Amazing race to watch. Mary McConneloug led out from the start and never gave it up. I think she ended up beating Georgia Gould by 90 sec or so. Wow. So cool to watch those guys ride.

Saturday was blue skies and breezy for our race. It had rained a bit overnight so the course got a bit of extra moisture on it. Lovely. Earlier that morning, the expert men and women races were held and their lap counts were reduced by one so expert women ended up with having to do only 2 laps. Beginners were scheduled to do 2 so we were wondering if they would cut us to 1. But no, they kept us to 2 laps which I figured would be to my advantage anyway since lately I’ve been relying on my fitness and not my technical skills. My goals were to: 1) finish 2) not get hurt. My strategy was to basically push hard on all the rideable climbs and put lots of distance between me and my competitors since I knew the downhill sections would be super difficult.

Our wave rolled up to the start, and the announcer introduced us each by name.(!) I was shocked when he mentioned along with my name that I was ranked #2 in the country. (Who was he talking about? ;-) Yes, I had discovered a few weeks ago I was the ranked as the #13 Women Beginner, then moved up to #5 but I guess my win last week moved me up to #2. Oh geez…nothing like a little more pressure at the start of the race. I can’t begin to describe how cool it was to stand at the start line as the clock ticked down, fans banging on the walls lining the course and being super excited to just start riding.

Race went off as planned. I rode up the entire hill of the north loop (found out later that all of the others in my division walked parts of it). I hit the first wooded section in first, and couldn’t believe the mud. It was like biking though a giant vat of peanut butter. Slipping, sliding, and off the bike for my first fall. And of course, in front a big group of spectators who had hiked up to watch the carnage. I was glad I did not disappoint in putting on a good show for them. ;-) I was so happy when I survived the first wooded section that when I popped out on the ski slope for the downhill, I almost endo’d as I flew down and hit a trench (nice recovery). Whew. The entire first lap was made difficult as I was spending a lot of time avoiding the juniors. Especially on the hike-a-bike mud steep uphill section and the downhill sections. I started catching women from the two age groups below mine as well. Toward the end of the first lap, in the absolute worst section of downhill rocks, I had probably my worst fall (hard enough to brake my plastic number plate), I lost my chain and thought I had broken my left shift lever. I spent 2-3 minutes getting the lever unjammed and getting the chain back on. Finished the first lap in 1 hr 20 min. (that’s almost as long as any mtb race I had previously done). Oddly, though, I pretty much felt ok as I headed out for lap #2. True to form, I rode that lap much better (and faster) than the first. With no juniors and very few other riders to avoid, I was able to set my own cadence and just ride. I could spin better up the climbs and was much smoother on the technical downhill sections. Finished the race in 2hr 39 min. 1st place for Beginner Women 40+ and I later realized would have been good enough for a 6th place finish in the Expert Women 45+ .

Coolest part - S doing her first 2 lap mtb race ever crushes the competition for 2nd place. How cool is it to be 1 and 2 on the podium together! Gold and silver medals. Yeah.

Beginner and sport categories aren’t awarded National Championship stars and stripes jerseys but they do get the blue stripes and red stars jerseys. So I have a very cool, new blue stripe jersey.

Hell's Divas

Today was the Pat's Peak XC MTB race in Henniker, NH. Uffff. One should be leery of bike races at ski resorts that have the word "peak" in them. 5 miles long, 847 vertical feet of climbing. Doesn't really sound like much. Tell that to my burning lungs.

The race was also part of the Pat's Peak MTB Festival. So while we arrived there in lots of time to pre-ride the course, we couldn't because the crazies doing the 24 hour race were still out there. Wow. Can't imagine doing that solo. But I can imagine doing it as part of a four person team. If you're reading this and want to do such a thing, let me know. I'm game. Anyway, ate our pre-race pbj's, hung out and talked to the downhill guys a bit about what their races were like, their bikes, etc. The idea of just going down sounds enormously appealing until I look at the body armor, bikes with 8" of travel, and some of the air these guys get on the course. I'd be the one coming down the course with their brakes on fire and setting new speed records for slowest decent humanly possible. ;-) Wussy downhill girl, for sure.

Since we were there so early and couldn't pre-ride, it gave me lots of time to fix my flat rear tire. Headed to the start line a little before 9 and knew it was going to be a hot one. Received lots of instructions from the officials - mostly warnings about water bars on the downhills. We'd be doing two laps and again following the 50+ men's division. The fields were pretty small. I suspect a lot of people were at Pedro's MTB Festival. Fine with me, though.

So the course: The start was up the grassy ski slope. Then some single track through the woods. Cross a ski slope, more single track, lots of climbing up ski trails, more climbing on single track (yay! shade!) Up..up...up...down...across...up...up...across...down...then a nice twisty single track section down the mountain. That part was super fun. Spectators who were supporting the 24 hr folks also had a great sense of humor and set up the "Teeter-Totter of Death" and "Ramp of Doom" which also added a bit of fun to the course.

As for my race, I thought I was going to spontaneously combust on some of the uphills. I'm sure the color of my face matched the red of my NEBC jersey perfectly. Stopped at the water stations for water to pour on my head. I rode most of the course by myself - leaving most of the women behind on the the first uphill. The second lap, I slowed a bit thinking I shouldn't kill myself before Mt. Snow. Thought I heard a women's voice behind me but thought, "Eh...far enough behind...probably one of the 24 hr riders." Yeah. Sure. Tell that to my sorry slow butt when she passed me 300 yds from the finish. Stayed on her tail and tried to get back in front but was blocked by the narrow trail. F*&^%%$!!! Couldn't see her number so I didn't know if she was in my race. She wasn't. We crossed the line together. Never should have let her get that close, though. Stupid.

All in all, it was the toughest race I did this season due to the climbing and the heat. Good warm up for Mt. Snow, though. I know that will be tougher. Still - looking forward to it.

Results: 1st place Beginner Woman 35+
Still have the leader's jersey
And now, I'm officially a Hell's Diva - got the t-shirt as proof for winning.

And yes, S won the First Timer's division! Pretty soon she'll be moving up to my division. Which means I better get to the sport division soon!

Flats

What is it with me and flat tires this week? Thursday morning I headed out to do a 32 mile ride. Right smack in the middle of a great downhill around 25 miles into my ride, I hear, "PING! Pshttttt!" and feel that dreaded let down rear flat tire feeling. "Crap!" I said as I passed a jogger heading the opposite direction. I think he thought I had Tourette's.


Then Friday I head down to CT to pick up the newly fixed Bobtail. The guys at New Country BMW were super nice. Had a hard time walking past the new 328xi Sports Wagons in the showroom. Didn't help that the service guy was whispering, "Trade in...trade in..." in my ear. Soon, I'm sure but not quite yet. Anyway, since I was in CT figured it would be a perfect excuse to drop in on mom and dad, hang out, get some good pasta and give my dad his belated Father's Day present (bad daughter - very late.) Later that evening, we decided to head out to walk off our dinner. As we walked up the driveway, my mom looks at my car and says, "Uh oh. You have a flat!" Yep. Sure was. Flat, flat, flat.

The next day, dad and I take it to the station. Turns out to be a faulty valve. Got it fixed and headed back up to Beantown, hoping I'd have enough time to get a short ride in. Rushed home, threw on shorts and a jersey. Out to the garage, grab the Merlin, pump up the front tire, move to the rear tire. And yep, it was flat. While I was at it, I checked out Rocket. And of course, it's rear tire was also soft. Someone is trying to tell me something.

Bobtail Sadness

Yesterday we headed to northwest CT for the Winstead Woods MTB race. It's not that far as the crow flies but given that there aren't any highways that lead directly to it from Boston, we were up at 4:15am for a 2.5 hr drive. It was a hazy, hot and humid northeast morning. The roads were empty. No getting lost, no bad weather, no wheels falling off the car, no excitement. We saved that for after the race. ;-)

S decided she was going to race this weekend and would be tackling the First Timer division. We registered, got the bikes ready and headed off to pre-ride the 5 mile course (1 lap for her division, 2 for mine). The start was in the parking lot - a short (50 yd) asphalt uphill with a right turn onto a ball field. From there it hit a the dirt into a rock garden which once I figured out the line was nicely able to ride. Out of the rock garden into a short, steep hill with a right hand turn onto a downhill fireroad. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Not really. Heavily rutted from water and dirt bikes - the kind with motors. ;-) In addition, lots of loose rocks and gravel. I didn't mind it all that much but could appreciate the difficulty in a race where visibility could be limited by other riders in front. (And sure enough, in one of the later races, two guys crashed in that section and headed to the hospital for some stitches. Hope they're doing ok.) The rest of the course featured some nice single-track, a long uphill climb on a surface like previously described downhill fireroad (hated that bit). Then a nice downhill section, some more ATV roads, some more single track (that was eventually eliminated from the course by the officials) and then it opened up into what I call a "Sound of Music Hill". Basically, wide open hill with long grass with a path mowed in the middle. So you climbed out of the woods up the grassy hill and then descended down more grass. On the descent there were lots of triple down arrows. I kept waiting for the descent to steepen or some hidden holes in the grass but nothing. I started to forget about the signs, picked up speed and was about to re-enter the woods. Whoa! Jammed on the brakes hard as the trail turned steeply down into the woods, with a left hand turn and some gnarly rocks. I'm sure some riders tasted bark on that one. Ick. So this next section was a fairly steep downhill through the woods. I rode it pretty tentatively in the pre-ride but did better in the race. Popped out of the woods into the athletic field and a grass sprint to the finish line. My impression was: definitely not my favorite course. Not too technical and yet hard in some spots. Not the worst I've done either.

S was funny about the pre-ride. She took one look at that ugly first fireroad and said, "Nuh huh. Ain't happening." and rode back to the car and worried for an hour while I finished up the lap. I was really hoping she wouldn't bail. And she didn't. :)

We headed to the start line. As usual, we were starting behind all the guys and juniors. More fun for me, I've decided. Definitely wanted to be first into the rock garden because I just knew that was going to cause problems. Really didn't want to get stuck behind someone there and then have to deal with passing on the rutted fireroad. Way too dangerous. So punched it at the whistle, first onto the dirt, rode the rock garden (yay!) and didn't see another woman on the trail for the rest of the race. Passed a bunch of juniors and 3 of the guys in the 50+ division. I rode hard (hr was over 90% the entire race) and fairly well. Fell twice - one was so quick I have no idea what happened. The other I clicked out my right foot but a rock leaned my bike left. Couldn't get the left foot out in time. Slo-mo tip over. Arghh. No wonder I still ride beginners.

At the end of the race, I headed back to the car (a.k.a Bobtail) and saw S's bike already on the rack and she was changed out of her bike clothes. I thought, "She either quit the race or did really well." She did really well. First place! Podium, baby! Yeah! I also finished first and kept the leader's jersey. Happy dances all around.

So we were stoked. Got our medals and schwag (another cool new jersey!), packed up the Bobtail and headed home. Our plan - get home by 1pm, take a shower, hang out on the couch and watch the Tour, eat some delicious dinner. Ah...if only....

We stopped a few miles away from the race for some DD iced coffee. Then decided sandwiches would be nice so picked up some panini at Panera. While sitting in the car with it running, AC on, eating our celebratory lunch and getting juiced on more caffeine, I noticed the bobtail's temperature gauge pegged in the red. Uh oh. As soon as I said, "We better drive to cool down the engine.", we heard a loud POP followed by a huge cloud of steam rising from the hood. ~sigh

Looked under the hood. Nothing obviously wrong. Called the guy with all the answers (a.k.a. Dad) who suggested trying again after it cooled but doubted it would help. We did. It didn't. Pulled off Rt. 44 into a strip mall parking lot. We set up camp in a shady grassy area and killed time for 3 hours while AAA came to tow the car to Hartford and our friend PFFC, who went totally above and beyond the call of friendship duty and drove from Somerville to pick us up. And unfortunately, she had to deal with weekend traffic and road construction making the drive even longer than it had to be. I fell asleep in the back seat on the drive home. Woke up on the Mass Pike with the downpour from hell in progress. At least that got the mud off the bikes.

So my 10 year old car is apparently on its last tires. Totally love that car (almost as much as the MINI). A blast to drive and now with its bike rack and stickers, it's a totally rockin' bike mobile. I just hope it lasts through cross season.

Turning 45

What's the most fun way to celebrate turning 45? That was the question S kept asking me all last week. My first idea was to head to the north shore with our kayaks, paddle out the Essex over to the front side of Crane Beach. A quick check of the tides, though showed that nature would be making our lives difficult - the timing of the tides was the worst possible. Scratch that option. Ok, how about sailing to some of hahbah islands? Weather was looking a little chilly to be out on the water. Not to mention the serious risk of S turning green out there. Not such a good idea.Only one thing left to do - long bike ride!

This weekend also happens to be the Fitchburg Longsjo bike races and Sunday was the downtown criterium. We picked that as our destination. The plan - ride out there, take a shower at the firestation, leave our bikes there, watch the races, then take the commuter rail home. Saturday night, PFFC came over for dinner, we pulled out the maps and planned our route.

The weather was almost ideal for cycling. Sunny, cool, but an annoying headwind. Can't have everything, I suppose. Started out wishing I had my knee warmers but after a few miles was peeling off the arm warmers as the sun started heating things up. The route we planned turned out to be great. Quiet roads, nice pavement and some fun hills as we neared Fitchburg. Only made one wrong turn but ended up on some nice roads because of it. "Meant to do that!" ;-)

The fire station in town was offering showers to the riders and racers so we took full advantage. The guys there were super nice offering us ice cold drinks, a perfect place to store the bikes, and even were sure to tell us where the extra toilet paper and soap for the ladies room/shower were. Even got to hang out in one of their lounge chairs watching tv while waiting for everyone to finish up.


I really enjoyed watching the races. I haven't done many crits and it was super interesting to see how much positions changed on every lap. I love XC mtb racing but I really do miss the tactics, strategy and boost you get from racing with teammates. Observing the races with S and PFFC, I also realized just how little real race time I've had. We were spectating from one of the tight corners. As the pack goes by there's lots of noise - riders yelling to one another, wheels running over loose manholes, the steady hum of the tires and chains. And then I heard one loud scrape. "What was that?" "Scraping pedal." says S. "Can't believe that guy scraped his pedal and didn't fall!" says PFFC. Apparently, they've been in that position way more than me. Second nature for them to recognize the sound. Me - clueless.

After watching the women's Pro/1/2 field race, we headed to the train station to catch our ride back. Found out they were running the special bike car on the route (typically it goes to the north shore on weekends). Who knew the MBTA was so with it and actually has a car outfitted to carry a bunch of bikes? I was so incredulous I had to take a bunch of pictures. And of course, we started planning our next ride to take advantage of the train. Next ride - Newburyport.













Finished up the day with presents, pizza and champagne. I like 45.