Blowing Up At Landmine

Wah! This was my last mtb race of the season (~sniff ~sniff) and the last one I'd be doing in the beginner division. My goals: 1) finish so I received enough points to win the series 2) don't get hurt and screw up my cross season 3) ride more of the technical stuff

The course was fairly flat, 4 wooden bridges, numerous logs and a few killer rock gardens which reminded me of Mt. Snow except they weren't muddy or on a 20% incline/decline. ;-) Unlike all the previous races, this course would be one 11 mile loop which meant no pre-ride on the day of the race so I decided to pre-ride on Saturday to check it out, see what Wompy State Park was like and just get back on my mt bike. Saturday was HOT and humid, I rode around noon, didn't eat lunch and pretty much set myself up for a bonk-fest. The course was super dry and dusty and on the first small downhill section with left turn I skidded out and went down hard on my left side. Hmmmmm....wrong tires? Have my skills really degraded in 3 weeks off? Was I simply spacing out? Similarly, on a small downhill section with tight left turn that went onto the bridge, I went in a little hot, couldn't hold the line I wanted and yes, flew off the bridge (3-4 ft drop into branches, brambles, weeds). As I went off the bridge I thought, "This is going to hurt." but oddly enough it wasn't so bad. One gi-normous bruise on my thigh, a few scratches, a 4" diameter stick through my rear wheel (no broken spokes!) and fortunately, no witnesses. ;-) The last 3 miles or so, I was entering the bonk zone - wasn't sure where I was in the woods, couldn't wait to be done, and pretty much walked through the rocky sections since I didn't think being so tired and handling technical stuff was wise. Was so happy to get back to the car and probably at least 5 lbs lighter given how much I had sweat out there. :(

Race day I was still feeling pretty tired but kept telling myself all I had to do was ride conservatively, finish, get enough points and win the '07 season series. Funny how all that flies out the window when the whistle blows. One thing I have learned is that it's really important for me to be out front. I don't ride as well in back of others (something I need to work on next year). The first mile was flat, fast and not technical. I wanted to be out front after that section. Three younger women flew out off the front and I let them go. Then one woman from my age group who was also super fast flew by and I let her go. At the end of that first mile section, I started running into the 55+ men and juniors. The juniors were really good about yielding on the trail where there was space but I think the older guys really weren't happy about getting "girled". Really super frustrating as I was going way slower than I knew I was capable was and felt my lead just melting away.

For about 1/2 the course, I fought for second place with another woman. We were pretty well matched and traded back and forth between 2nd and 3rd perhaps 3 or 4 times. The last time she passed me I was pretty wiped but thought I still had a chance if I didn't make any mistakes and so that's what I drilled in my head. No mistakes, ride EVERYTHING and if you need to get off, use your 'cross skills to get back on fast. Amazing what you can ride when you tell yourself that. That helped me catch up to her, had to jump off in a uphill rock garden but at the top of the hill did perhaps my best 'cross mount ever and took the lead back. Now I knew I just needed to push it and not wipe out. The pre-ride helped here as I remembered there was one large log, then flat and fast twisties to the grass and then finish. I thought that if could ride the log (way bigger than any I'd done before) and then sprint, I had second. If I endo'ed on the log, race over. Push...push...push...where's the log? where's the log? holy $^%$# it's bigger than I remember....hope that dirt's tasty in case I bite it big time... popped the front wheel...chainring hits the log...pedal...over! And still upright! Such a rush of adrenaline that I was still riding that I had a good sprint for the 1/4 mile to the finish. Took 2nd by 6-8 seconds or so. :) Won the race series for the season. More importantly, really improved my bike skills this season. Stuff that scared me silly in the spring is totally doable now (with a little guts and much trepidation). Looking forward to taking it to the next level next season.

I'm off for two weeks now - but when I return, it's full throttle on 'cross (Amesbury should be my first 'cross race of the season. So psyched!)

Hey! What Was That?!?!

It's always an adventure. Always.

Today, S and I were on the road bright and early at 6am. Typical pre-race morning - we threw the bikes on the car, grabbed giant to-go cups of coffee and settled in to watch the sun rise. Beautiful, crisp, clear morning and we had the road all to ourselves for the most part. Only other cars cruising out on the Mass Pike were wackos like us or those with a super long drive to visit mom. About 30 min into our drive, cruising in the middle lane around 80mph, I hear a THUMP that most definitely was NOT coming from the stereo. "Hey! What the f*&^&% was that?!?!" Instinctively, I check the rear view mirror and much to my shock and horror, I see one mtb wheel bounce off the hatch, hop a few times in middle lane, and just keep rolling down the pike. Eventually, it crosses to the high speed lane and flops down next to the jersey barrier. Immediately, we pulled over to breakdown turned and looked at each other, eyes WIDE, "What do we do?!?!?!" The other thoughts going through my mind were, "Whose wheel was it?!?!" quickly followed by, "If it's mine, will hers work on my bike?" While S called the Staties, I opened the sunroof and saw my wheel sitting there safe and sound. The trooper on the line said they'd send someone to help out and while we waited I watched the wheel in the rearview mirror, mentally steering approaching vehicles away from it. I was certain it was going to be smashed to bits, or worse yet, hurt someone. Within five minutes, a trooper arrived and after briefly chatting with us, flicked on his lights and siren, drove backward, crossed three lanes of traffic and retrieved the wheel. Inspecting it upon return, it looked practically perfect - just a tiny scratch on the skewer handle. Rather than throwing it back on the rack, we threw it in the backseat, safely on suicide watch (S was certain that the wheel threw itself off the car in despair since she wasn't planning on racing.)

The race got off to the same kind of start. Arrived early enough to pre-ride the course but should have asked which direction it went as I ended up missing the first part of the course. Then there was the fact that I found myself somewhere in the middle of the woods, no idea how close I was to the Start/Finish and less than 30 min to the start. Oh, yeah, and I took a swim in the mud pit as well during the pre-ride along with a few good falls. The overall result: I arrived at the start line slightly out of breath, muddy and bloody. I'm not sure if that intimidates the other riders or if they look at me, think "LOSER!" and decide to ride no where near me.

As we're waiting for the start, one of the riders mentions the first part of the course (missed in the pre-ride) and the wet roots (Hate roots. Just hate them!). Uh, oh. Quick shuffling of goals: #1) get the hole shot or close to it. REALLY didn't want to be in the back of the pack with tons of riders down in front. The red head who won the 19-34 division at Farmington was in the pack. I knew she was a good rider - fast and fluid over even the more technical stuff. Figured she'd go for the hole shot so I decided I'd jump on her wheel and hang there as long as possible.

Whistle goes off, she jumps out front, and as planned I'm right on her wheel, second into the woods. I keep telling myself to floor it over the roots, keep up my speed and momentum and DON'T THINK, let the bike find the line, don't force it. And it totally worked. Skimmed right over the dreaded roots and while I was dusted by the red head, I seemed to have put quite a serious distance between me and the rest of the pack.

I rode the rest of the race pretty much on my own. Early in the first lap I had one nasty fall, lost the chain and ended up getting passed by two women. Every time through the deep mud pit, I fell, one of the falls being a spectacular endo. My bike and I looked like we'd been dipped in chocolate. Delicious! Toward the end of the first lap, I was feeling pretty tired and actually began to doubt whether doing a second lap was wise.
Headed out on the 2nd lap. Ate my GU in the feed zone which was followed by a swoopy up and down, fast section of the course and I was totally revitalized. Rode the second lap better than the first (seems to be the norm with me.) With 10 minutes to go, I jammed my middle ring with a chunk of wood and the rear derailleur was so coated in muck it wasn't shifting too well either. Between that and the fact that my rear tire was flat (didn't notice until I returned to the car at the end), I felt pretty slow going into the finish.

I really enjoyed the course. Slightly less rocky than Glocester, more stream crossings, more mud and I really liked all the practice on the roots. I feel like I'm riding better and stronger.



Final result: 1st in Beginner Women 35+, 4th overall. Oh, yeah, and I captured the Series Leader Jersey!

Trading One Form of Torture For Another

This has been a very difficult week. First, my project at work is on the slippery slope to falling behind schedule - we have zombie bugs that won't die, a serial number fiasco and way more work to do than we'll ever fit into the time remaining before we ship. That's meant late nights and working weekends as we attempt to claw our way to an on-time release. On top of that, S has been traveling all week which leaves all the domestic duties to me. Usually, that's not enough to even make me blink but this week I've barely had enough time at home to buy groceries let alone finish the yard cleanup work that I had planned. I'm feeling pulled in way SO many different directions (does drawn and quartered seem a more appropriate term?) that my brain just won't shut off.

With all that going on, I was SO looking forward to today's race if only to push all that swirling brain stuff out and just focus on feeling my legs and lungs burn and keeping myself upright on the trails. Trade one from of torture for another. ;-)

The torture of the week was the Glocester Grind in Rhode Island. Lately, the weather has been pretty ideal New England spring happiness. Today, it more matched my mood: 40-ish, grey skies, passing showers, and a gusty wind. Blech. Arrived early enough to pre-ride half of the 5 mile course (we'd be doing two laps). WAY different than last week - a bunch of stream crossing, areas I started calling "Rock Gardens", lots of mud sections, and aluminum bridges that I was sure I was going to slide right off given the wet conditions and end up even more soaked laying in the streams underneath. Hmmmm....this should be interesting. Taped my GU to the stem (this will be an important detail later) and I was ready to roll.

Goals for this race: 1) Don't get hurt 2) Get a better start 3) Finish 4) Learn more about mtn biking.

There were 12 or so Beginner Women lined up at the start and again, we would roll about 1 min behind the 50+ men's division. I punched it at the the whistle and was third going into the woods. Probably could have been first or second but wasn't riding aggressively enough (put on list for next race's goals). Without going through a blow by blow account of the ride, let's just say I stopped counting how many times I fell on that first lap. Some of it was caused by other riders but more frequently is was me just slipping in mud, bouncing on rocks, sliding on wet roots. Almost endo'ed in one huge, water-filled hole that I believe was bottomless. And despite all that, it totally rocked! (no pun intended). With all that falling, I was still ahead of most women, and behind at least three. Started targeting them and picking them off.

Here's where an amusing (for others, perhaps) thing occurred. Sometime during that "Lap o'Crashes" I managed to fall on the top tube/stem (I think it was the Endo That Almost Was). Ouchie! For those of you reading closely, you may remember that that was where my GU was taped. So, yes, unbeknownst to me, the GU exploded all over my shorts and bike. It wasn't until I tried to figure out why my fingers where sticking to the bars like a gecko that I realized it. That was also the time I started getting hungry. Great...this race is going to be 1.5 hrs and I have no GU. Not happy. Thought goes through my mind, "Would it be bad if I stopped to lick the GU off my bike?"

By the end of the first lap, I was the 2nd woman, making progress against the leader but could never quite get there. I was starting to pick up some of the men (7 total by the end). It became a game of "Pick a jersey and catch 'em". Around the end of the first lap, I passed one of the men and while I was quicker than him on the dirt, he was better technically. I yielded the trail to him and then followed his wheel. Wow! Best way to learn. He encouraged me through some of the gnarlier sections and somehow things just clicked. Got more relaxed, more confident and it showed on the second lap where didn't crash at all. Nice!

Finished the race, changed and then checked the results. 1st Place, Baby! (ok, in my age group but 2nd woman overall) Yeah! Sweet! Happy Dance!

I think I managed to accomplish all my goals but that depends on your definition of hurt. Mine, BTW, is "season impacting injury" so the gash below doesn't count but it makes me feel like a real mountain biker!

A Bunch of Firsts

Early last week, one of my teammates brought a mountain bike race, The Root 66 Series Fat Tire Classic, to my attention. I had mentioned to my team earlier that I wanted to do more racing on trails than roads this year. She remembered my comment and given that this race was supposed to be a good one for newbies, I decided to go.

My race was at 9am and about a 1.5 hr drive from home so I was on the road pretty early. Nice to have the Pike to myself and other like minded individuals - saw a lot of road bikes headed to the Palmer race, a few mountain bikes, and a bunch of white water kayaks (wonder what kayak event was going on...). The sun broke out by the time I hit I-84 with lots of fog hanging out low in valleys of CT hill country.

Usually when I arrive at a bike race (road race/crit but not cross) I feel sick to my stomach, a little shakey, a lot nervous. I pulled into the parking lot and despite it being my first mtb race ever, I felt fine - lots of exciting energy but no feeling of needing to puke in the parking lot (that would come later.) My goals for the race were 1) not get hurt 2) be a sponge and learn as much as possible from where does my number go (on my bike not me), what's a mtb race start like (just like cross) to what does a mtb course look like (probably not very much like we rode today). I started my sponge-like behavior as soon as I parked the car. Two friendly guys were parked next to me so I started picking their brain - had they done the course before? Did it rain much last night down there? How often to you check the pressure on your shocks? All this mtb mechanical stuff is so new to me.

I headed over to registration to pick up my number. Apparently, they gave my number to someone else(!!) I wasn't happy. Didn't want some random to be riding as me. To try to make me feel better, they gave me a "good" number, 1000, which I suppose has a nice, cosmic ring to it but when the dudes in the parking lot saw it they commented, "Wow! You must really be old!" Nice. Gotta love it. I'm going to rip your &^%$$ legs off.

Tried to figure out how to put the number on the bike. I'm more accustomed to struggling to pin the damn thing on my jersey so this was a lot easier. Throw that in the plus column for mtb races. I still had about 40 min before my race so I decided I'd ride as much as the course as possible to get a preview. Slight uphill start from a wide field to a fire road. Then, down a fairly steep hill with a bunch of roots at the top and hard left turn on the bottom. I thought this might be the first place the pack would break up. Next, was the first section of single track, twisting and turning around trees and coming up to "THE LOG". I rode up to it. Uh. Wondered if I could ride it. Decided, no time like the present to practice so backed up, headed toward THE LOG and....stopped right before it. Why break a collarbone in practice? Just then I saw a group of two guys ride up. Decided I'd just watch and sure enough then just popped the front wheel up and rode right over. I hung out and watched a bunch of others and they did the same thing. Next, two girls rode up and did exactly as I did. We were all a bunch of wussy girls. ;-) In retrospect, it didn't matter in the race but it's clear I need to build my mtb skills. All told, the course was two laps of a 5 mile course. A lot of fire roads with 4-5 twisty, single track sections mixed in, a few short hills, a couple of logs to ride over and nothing seriously technical.

Back at the start, I gathered with a bunch of other beginner riders. They sent the guys off first, different age groups divided by a minute. The women, about 20 of us, would all start together. When the whistle went off, I was psyched instead of nervous. The strategy would be to go for the hole shot but I tried to remind myself I was there to learn and I wasn't going to learn anything at the front (probably not the brightest idea). I was probably 6 or so riders back as we left the fire road for the first big downhill. Heart's pounding, legs pumping and all I hear is lots of shifting and none of that squealing, braking noise that I typically hear in cross races thanks to disc brakes. That led into the first section of single track where a rider went down in front of me on a wet root. Crap. Crap. Crap. No room to get around her. Losing time on the leaders...CRAP! Same rider went down on THE LOG. After finally getting around her at that log, picked up the pace and tried to catch the leaders. Never managed to catch them but did pick off three or so women and A LOT (about 10? Lost count) men in the 50+ group that started a minute before us.

I put my head down and rode like I meant it. My HR was pegged above 90% the whole time. I rode every single hill, passing the walking dudes, nailed all the tight twisty turns, accelerated out of each one of them and basically just loved the whole damn thing. Rocket still doesn't have a computer on it so I had no idea of the distance on my first lap but knew that last year's finishers had a time around 1 hour 10 min. Imagine my surprise around 25 min when I saw I was rolling around back to the start! SWEET! Faster than I expected! And now that I knew the entire course, felt like I could push it even more. 3/4 of the way through the second lap, my legs were really burning and I started the "Wheezing Breathing" that I usually only hear during cross season. And then, a small taste of - how to put this delicately - vomit. Please, please, please, DO NOT MAKE ME STOP TO PUKE!!!!! Pushed the thought aside, replaced it with "DO NOT LET ANYONE CATCH YOU! 60 MORE SECONDS! JET!"

Done. Finished. First mountain bike race complete. Check it off the list. I loved it. That was fun. Gotta do it again. Back to the car to change and decided to checked the results before leaving. I was shocked to find myself 2nd. Nice thing about mtb races - they do age group awards! Got a silver medal and some bike tools. :)


The List of Firsts:

1. First mountain bike race
2. Rocket's first race
3. First time on the podium for cycling (2nd place, baby!)
4. First time I received a medal for cycling (silver)
5. First time I received prizes for cycling (bike tools)
   

That Was Fun! Let's Do It Again!

Friday morning was a gorgeous, sunny but chilly morning and I was scheduled to do a ride with the boys from work. Normally, this doesn't worry me but given it was the day before a race, hammering with them would not be a "good thing". So I stated my case as soon as we were all gathered, "Need to be back by 9am. Need to keep it easy." And they actually obliged! (Since they were being so accommodating, I should have probably asked them to keep the snot rockets to a minimum. Next time.) It ended up being a great ride. I pretty much hung on the back, loosened up my legs, took a few pulls and the Columbian forced me to sprint one of the hills (standing - I was reprimanded when I attempted to sit 7/8ths of the way up!). Perfect way to start a Friday and a nice 22 mile warm up for Turtle Pond.

Race morning was even nicer than Friday. My race was scheduled for 1:30pm with temps forecasted in upper 60's. OMG! We're talking shorts, short sleeves and NO F*&^% BOOTIES! I even had to put on sunscreen. It's finally spring here in the northeast, folks!

The course was an 11.4 mile loop that my division would do three times. As the elevation chart shows it was pretty rolling with one major hill (1.5 km long). All day Friday and Friday night, I was a total headcase. Would I get dropped right at the gun? Would I suffer alone for 35 miles? Would I finish? The latter was all I really had control over so that became my overall goal: 1) Don't Get Hurt 2) Finish 3) Stretch Goal: stay with main pack for 1 lap.

We had 5 members of my team in the race - we're all at different levels in our training right now so it didn't really make sense to put together a team strategy. We all lined up at the start, wished eachother good luck and then the gun went off.Somehow, I found myself leading the pack out(!!!!) How did this happen?!? S told me I should stay toward the front (BUT NOT AT THE FRONT) and try my best not to get dropped on that first hill - that was the key - even if it meant coughing up a lung. There was a small downhill before the killer hill started. I pedaled easy, tried not to panic, watched to see if anyone would pick up the pace. Nooooo...no one did. As we hit the hill, I shifted to the little ring and &^%$#@$%^ dropped the stupid chain!!!! How is this possible? Now, that's not the end of the world but it was enough distraction that it totally threw me off my plan and pace. I did manage to pedal it back on but in the interim, I was swallowed up by the pack like the borg and then spit out toward the back. Yuk.

As we reached the top of the hill, I watched the main pack put the hammer down and accelerate off. I found myself in the chase pack of about 12 riders and here's where it got entertaining. There were 3-4 riders up front taking pulls. After each pull, the rider would drop back into the paceline 3-4 riders back instead of heading further back. I sure as hell wasn't going to work my way past all the other riders between me and them so I just hung back. After 5-6 miles of this, those riders were starting to get a little annoyed and there were some words being thrown around about being not taking a pull. I sat back, enjoyed the show, appreciated the distraction, and zipped along effortlessly at 26 mph. :-) Finally, those up front got the hint, dropped a little further back and others stepped up to take their turn leading the group.

Finally, it got to be my turn. I still have this nasty habit of having an adrenline kick when I'm leading the paceline. I'm in the front and thinking, "I gotta ride well! I don't want them to think I'm lame! I don't want the pack to swallow me up!" I put my head down and ride. Periodically, I check over my shoulder and see a rider behind me. I pull for 5 minutes, then slightly tired, I motion for the woman behind me to take her turn and I move over to the left. I check behind to see how many riders I have to wait for before I get back in the line and ....there's NO ONE THERE! OMG! What did I do? I tell the woman in front of me that somehow (gee, I wonder how) we manage to drop the rest of the pack. Uh oh.

We continue on and one rider catches us. For the rest of the race, that's how it stayed. The three of us taking 5 min pulls and resting for 10. As the three of us headed up Oak Hill for the second lap, it dawned on us all that even though there were three laps, we'd be doing Oak Hill FOUR times. The course started before the hill and the finish was at the top. It was interesting to see all three of us come to that same realization almost simultaneously as we tried our best to conquer gravity. (S and PFFC who came to cheer said they didn't even like walking that hill let alone ride it)

The two women I rode with totally rocked! We worked well together and we all finished the race strong. Still haven't seen the official results but I judge we were about midway in the field. Super cool!

Winner - Best Story Told At Race: For some strange reason, there was a port-o-john set up almost precisely at the finish line. A little girl goes into use it, her dad standing outside, just as one of the packs was coming to the finish. "Dad! Dad! Can you hold open the door while I go so I can watch the riders cross the line?!?!?! Please!?!?!?" (Dad said no.) Totally cracked me up.