Author: The Adventuring Heidi

Oh Rumble at 18 Road… thanks for proving to me for the second year in a row that you’re just not the race for me…

The positives:

• I had the fitness this year.  I was 3rd overall among all ages of Cat 2 women at the 5 mile mark
• I handle wet rocks with ease
• I handle greasy mud with ease
• My legs showed up and did everything I asked them to

The negatives:

• The entire 18 Road area turns into a thick peanut butter clay when wet
• Said peanut butter clay does not play nicely with rear derailleurs
• I sent my rear derailleur into the spokes at the 5 mile mark… you know, when I was in a podium spot
• I didn’t finish 😦

Haha, oh man… what a day.  It rained all night and it was still raining in the morning, problem #1!  Pre-ride on Friday was hot (80 degrees) and bone dry.  I managed to tie my race time last year with my pre-ride time which included stopping because I couldn’t breathe and giving a go or two on a techy feature, so that was promising. The two-track felt like a cow pasture and was in horrible condition, and I began doubting the idea to bring the Fate, but I was stuck with it.  Come race day… I was too busy chatting and got to my start with 10 seconds to spare.  Starting from the back row I swiftly moved up to the front area, and noticed it was my climbing fitness that helped with this.  The two track heading out was pretty greasy, but not too bad, it wasn’t really gumming up the bikes.  It wasn’t until the Prime Cut single track that the peanut butter started to come out and play.  The rocks were slippery, but I used this to my advantage to distance myself.  My bike started to make all sorts of sounds, but it wasn’t until the end of Prime Cut when we all hit a field of peanut butter that things got so gummed up the derailleur said “I’m out of here” and curled up into a little ball in my spokes.  I’m pretty sure I said a choice word, but like so many others that I passed, I turned around and starting pushing my bike back down the trail (it was wayyyy too heavy to try to carry).  It was weird.  Like… I was pissed that I couldn’t finish the race because I was doing well, but what happened happened and I accepted that.  I’ve never had a mechanical during a race, so I suppose it was a matter of time.  Luckily after a few miles I ran into my friend Pete and we headed to a gravel rode to hitched a ride back to the start.  2 others in my age group didn’t finish, and the finishers took 90 minutes to 2 hours… it’s normally a 55-60 minute race!  Funny enough, USAC isn’t listing the DNF’s, so it looks like not too many people came out to race.  Man, I don’t even get my DNF for Trying.

Year 2 at Rumble at 18 Road, and though I was actually racing well unlike last year, I’m getting a little discouraged about this race! It’s hard, because there’s very little USAC racing to choose from in this region, and I’m not a baller that can go to California or Texas or where ever for those sanctioned races.  Luckily I heard some good news about the push to bring national level racing and courses to Wyoming, so I’m hopeful that it’ll be easier to race USAC when I’m a Cat 1.  Luckily I think USAC takes pity on us in this area and considers non-sanctioned results when requesting an upgrade… because one out of my two local chances was gone with my derailleur!

The rain and lack of bike also meant I couldn’t stick around and ride a bit more at Kokopelli like I had planned 😦  Luckily Mellissa and Pete were awesome enough to loan me their hotel shower (ok ok, I demanded it :P) after we washed the bikes at the car wash, and then we headed out for some Hot Tomato.  And that was that… Now I get to be jealous of all my buddies that raced at a dry Ridgeline Rampage today down in Castle Rock…

Anthony got sent photos of my derailleur (which I think I “fixed,” aka it means I got my wheel moving again), and he thinks just the cage needs replaced.  The hanger is actually still intact.  And of course I need a new spoke, and who knows what else… the bike is very grouchy at the moment!

Good news is Gowdy is nearly all dry, so Grinder training can begin (and the Epic is the ride of choice for that anyway)!  In Two weeks I plan on doing RME Battle the Bear, and GASP!  I might go tubeless to avoid those goat heads, so here’s to hoping I have a good race in two weeks and break more PRs and that the Fate is all nice and happy again!

2014 continues to be the “road season that surprises me.”  I’ve never made any qualms about my lack of roadie-ness and that I’m just not strong on the pavement.  So hesitantly I signed up for the CSU Cobb Lake Circuit Race.  One option for me – women’s open (which is every category, including pro) at 46.8 miles.  I rarely ride more than 20-30 miles when I road ride.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I can count the number of 40 mile plus rides I’ve done on any type of bike on two hands.  So I didn’t even know how to approach this race in any other manner but survival.

My friend Gretchen just bought a new road bike and eagerly said she’d join me for this race.  She’s never raced before.  To use my beloved term “cray cray,”… well, Gretchen is cray cray.  I would’ve never chose this for my first road race, no way.  So cray cray Gretchen and I loaded up my car and turned south for the race.  Luckily gorgeous weather had settled in for the weekend, which meant I turned my attention to adding to my tan lines above anything else!

32 ladies came out to race, which I do believe is the biggest women’s field this particular race has seen.  Three professional gals came out, including Amanda Miller, along with a host of other cat 1/2’s.  Which is not the best thing being a bottom of the pack cat 4 type of racer.  I think mountain biking may be the only time I can get excited about lining up next to a pro.  For a road race it just makes me feel that much worse.  I joked with Gretchen and Deb and a few others about how we’ll all hang out in the back and have our own race.  But ugh… you know me.  Race mode cannot be turned off so when the whistle went, I went.  Lead pack.  Woo woo… for 5 miles that is.  At least I can say I hung with Amanda Miller for 5 miles, right?

So then begun my 41 mile ride by myself.  Which is fine.  I ride/train/race by myself 99% of the time.  I know how to handle wind by myself.  What’s new?  But this time it felt different and I actually managed to… well, race the race.  The circuit consisted of a curvy road through a gated community, and then a speedy downhill and straight away with a tailwind, onto 2 miles of washboard gravel, and up a climb back to the start.  Half bad, half good/fast.  It was a good combination!  I managed to pick off one other racer, so I never lost a position once the lead pack dropped me.  Little victories matter, I tell you!

I felt strong right up until the last (6th) lap begun.  Then my legs said WTF very loudly.  That final climb to the finish was killer… Also didn’t help the Men 4/5 had swarmed the finish/start line and wouldn’t move out of my damn way.  Which wasn’t as bad as getting lapped by the Men’s Pro/1/2 field (um, hi… knocking me off my bike and killing me is in no way going to make you win faster.  Collegiate race in Colorado is not the Tour de France, chill with the sketchy passing!), but still frustrating as I was trying to “sprint” to my solo finish, haha.

But yeah, I finished all 6 laps.  And I wasn’t last place (I finished 23rd thank you very much!).  I didn’t think I could hold that pace for as long as I did, so I’m amazed.  Hence the road season that keeps surprising.  Not like I’m good, I’m still bottom of the pack, but I’m not doing as badly as I think I would!  And as soon as it began, it’s pretty much over.  Mountain bike season start in 3 weeks, so that’s what will fill my weekends until August.  Not to mention that crits pretty much take over the road race calendar, and after today’s CSU Oval Crit, I have no desire to ever toe the lines for one of those again (at least now I have proof mountain bike racing is far saner and safer than crit racing, I’m not just talking out my butt on this one!).  Maybe the Koppenberg and Superior Mogul will make an appearance, but otherwise I’m sure it’s over.  It’s been fun, road racing, but time for the dirt!

(Gretchen had a good race, too!  She got pulled after 5 laps, but she was smiling and eager to do more races!  Go Gretchen!)

Oh, the CSU Oval Crit you say?  Sure, another bad idea brought to you by yours truly, Heidi.  Second lap all I see are bikes going through the air and girls everywhere.  I managed to avoid that by pure luck I believe.  So I decided to just drop myself and ride by myself wayyyyy off in the back (plus I was too slow to keep up, haha).  Until Tim our Friendly USAC Official made us all regroup. Ugh, back in the pack.  So we start doing neutral laps just to stay warm, and another girl gets taken out by a girl who decided to ride straight when everyone else was turning.  Seriously?!  So we FINALLY regroup for the second time to start the last 5 laps.  And like 3 near misses occur.  My conclusion?  That was my first and last crit.  End of story.  I survived, no crashes, but I don’t need that experience again because I really want that MTB Cat 1 upgrade this summer above racing crits.  Priorities, yo.  At least it was 70 degrees and gorgeous out and I got to meet up with some old teammates and friends.  Not all was lost!

(Apparently some are appalled about my hatred of crits and my negativity towards them.  Like I said, I have my racing priorities and goals, and they’re too important to be sacrificed by something inherently more risky for really little reward for me in the over all scheme.  Yes, I get that I could be injured in a mountain bike race between now and Nationals/Cat 1 upgrade time, or in a training road ride, but I can handle that risk as it’s directly doing something that is a step to get to the final goal.  Props to the racers that go back out weekend after weekend to crits.  Scary stuff, but it’s just not for me.  Much like mountain bike racing isn’t for most of them.  Got mad respect, but a strong personal dislike of crits… just how I see it!)

On a final note, I really am loving my SRAM Force 22 group set!  Definitely helps having harder gears to push, and the shifting is so smooth!  Definitely worth the upgrade me thinks!

As the freezing rain driven by decently crappy winds pelted my face, all I could think is “why the hell do I pay money to do this?!”

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so eager to hit the pre-register button for races, especially races held in the notoriously crappy weather months of March and April (and hell May, too).  But alas, I was registered for the CU Cycling Candelas Circuit Race, so I wasn’t about to let another $30 go to waste like happened with Frostbite.  I awoke in Cheyenne to several inches of snow and wind and cold temperatures, but reports that the race was still on (major props to the University of Colorado cycling team for their great communication about the event and conditions!  I wish all promoters were that consciousness of their racers!)

Started the drive down to Arvada, CO, and the weather wasn’t improving.  Pulled into the Candelas development and it was freezing rain/snow combo blowing sideways and the car said 28 degrees.  Roads were wet and I heard a male racer who had just finished talking about his brakes being frozen.  So what does this girl do?  Get her race number and pile on the clothes!  Felt like I was preparing for a winter cross race more than a road race.  I said screw it to warming up and just sat in my car until 15 minutes to go, when I rode over to the clubhouse that everyone was using as a warming hut and met up with the fellow 4 girls I’d be racing against in the Women 3/4 class.

I knew the race would be survival instead of going for a good result.  Right from the start I was dropped because my left pedal had iced up and I couldn’t clip in right away.  I sprinted and caught up with the group, only to spin off the back shortly into the climb.  This circuit race was mostly just one big hill repeat interval ride.  I was pretty impressed by the climb – Amber was not joking when she described it to me!  So I just tooled along, off the back.  I had my SRAM Force 22 group set installed last night onto the Ruby, and the gearing was noticeably harder than my old SRAM Apex (which was – blonde moment – not something I realized was going to happen when I got that group set, I was thinking 11 gears = easier granny one.  Not the case.  Ugh).

At the top of the hill we turned around and headed back down what would be an insanely awesome descent if it wasn’t wet.  I haven’t done really any descended at speed on wet roads, so I didn’t want to go too crazy.  I caught the 4th place girl at the bottom, but as we headed up for a second time she dropped me again.  So I pedaled up the hill, got to the top and realized I only had my granny gear.  Neither front or rear derailleur would budge.  Le sigh.  I unclipped my right foot and kicked at the rear derailleur (much to my worry… dammit, it’s brand new!) and managed to deice it enough to get a few harder gears.  Came to the turn around and realized I had frozen brakes.  Down the descent I granny pedaled.  4th place was off to the side trying to unthaw her drivetrain so I did manage to pass her.

Of course up the hill for the 3rd time she caught up and dropped me.  The whole race ideas of dropping out where in my head, and I tried hard to ignore my wet, frozen toes, and absolutely numb rear end.  I mean, who does this stuff?  My Garmin was reading 27 degrees, I heard the wind chill made it about 10 degrees, and it was sleeting.  I actually had a reason to wear my lobster claws… in a race that wasn’t cyclocross.  That’s not a good sign.  My bike was a frozen pile of muddy ice with only one working gear (that thankful/unthankfully was the easiest) and not really any brakes.  But I still pedaled up, and spun at like a cadence of 200 in my granny gear to the turn around and back down.  I had to coast the whole way, trying to make myself as small as possible against the icy headwind with no gear that could turn and sustain the 20-30mph speeds.  The Men 4/5 leaders had lapped me, so all I could hope for is that I’d be pulled and not sent on a 4th lap.  I rounded the corner into the finishing stretch, and someone told me to keep up with my smile.  I wasn’t smiling because I was necessarily happy, but more because I couldn’t believe sane people actually come out and do this stuff.  We’re all cray cray in the head…

And then it was over.  I finished down a lap, but I finished.  I coasted to a stop, jamming my foot into the curb to stop me from running into the officials.  I loudly announced I had a frost bit butt and headed to my car.  I felt relief as I started the car and turned on the seat warmers and frantically started stripping out of my soaking wet tights, legs warmers, jersey, jacket, base layer, cap, Buff, shoe covers, gloves, and shoes.

Today was about not giving up.  I could’ve woke up this morning, saw the snow in Cheyenne and went back to bed.  But I didn’t.  I could’ve turned around when I pulled into Candelas and saw the wet roads and sleet.  But I didn’t.  I could’ve called it quits after the girls dropped me soon into the race.  But I didn’t.  I surely could’ve coasted back to the car with no gears and brakes after the second lap.  But I didn’t.  I could’ve resisted announcing to Tim the USA Cycling official that my butt was frozen.  But I… didn’t do that.  LOL.  Life is such a mental game.  The mind gives up far before our bodies do.  And my mind is the biggest hurdle I face on the bike.  Just look at my bilat workouts on the trainer.  Look at the failed Laramie Enduro attempt.  My body wasn’t toast, aside from the achy knee.  But my mind, well, it was over it.

Could I have had a better result today?  Of course.  Having no hard gears to push on the descent cost me time and let my competitors get away from me.  You can’t prevent mechanical issues, especially when it involves half an inch of ice coating everything.  I wasn’t the first nor last person who came up short because of a frozen bike today.  But other than that, I am completely satisfied on how today went.  I resisted taking the easy road and just giving up.  At this moment in time, that means more to me than what is listed on my USAC results list.  This season NEEDS to be about savoring the moments, savoring the pain, pushing their the pain, and appreciating every moment that I am able to pin on a race number, tear myself apart on a bicycle, and live to say “why do I pay money for this again?  When’s the next race?!”  If I don’t have that… well, it’s not going to be a pretty season.

AKA the Carter Lake Road Race.  AKA the first road race of the season.  AKA here’s to racing until next January.

I can’t ignore a road race practically in my “backyard” and on an awesome course that I am familiar with riding, and have been wanting to attack since my ill-fated group ride in November 2012 that left me feeling like the slowest non-roadie in the world.  So begun the obsessive weather.com checking and hoping that the weather would hold out for an unusually early start to the road season in a climate where winter lasts until May.

On the race numbers went, and after a mile long warmup that consisted of me chasing and drafting off my teammates, I lined up.  It was nice to hear people joking about not going all out like in cyclocross, and hearing others say it was their first race.  I still feel like such a noob at road events, so it’s nice to know I’m not alone and that for the most part people are friendly in the Senior Women 4 (SW4) category.

My biggest concerns was hanging with the peloton until the switchback climbs to conserve energy on the gradual climb leading up to them.  But pack riding scares the crap out of me… a friend gave me pointers, saying to stick to the left side which means I’d have an out even if it was a centerline violation, and to be patient.  Needless to say, I heeded the advice and had a very good peloton experience!  I found myself fluidly moving through the pack forward and backward, but never off the end!  I had a few close calls with cones, but escaped unharmed, and heck, I even went around corners just fine!  Whew, maybe somehow I figured this stuff out?! (I think ‘cross helped a lot.)

We stayed together as a field of 30 until the switchback climbs and then it was on.  I had switched the wheels on my Ruby to Mavic Ksyrium Elites, which are a lot lighter and aero than my stock wheels, and I’m not sure if it was them or the training or excitement or both, but those switchbacks just few by!  I happily spun a few gears down from granny at a high cadence seated and made a lot of passes.  I felt strong and the legs felt good, and I was already celebrating nailing the biggest climb of the 17-mile race, which was my goal.  I even switched back into the big ring before the top and prepared to nail the high speed sprint across the Carter Lake dams.  I found myself closing the gap on a few girls and we rotated through working together.  We reeled in another two girls to add to our group.  Shawn, my favoritest race photog in the world, was yelling at me “close the gap!!” which made me smile because I would’ve never thought I’d ever be closing any gap in a road race!

We stayed together as a group or 6 or 8 until the big steep descent off the north side of the lake.  Now y’all, I’m a scaredy cat descender on the road, and it’s only lately that I’ve tried to exhibit some confidence (going back to 42 bars from 38 also helped with bike control).  The winds were surprisingly calm for this time of year, so I knew that wind shouldn’t factor in.  The descent does curve and has grades of like -15%, and the corners were what were scaring me but I finally let off the brakes and let the bike do what it wanted.  I didn’t want to lose ground because of nerves on a hill, so I ignored my Garmin and tried to breathe calmly.  (I ended up topping out at 47mph!)

The group was splintered at this point so once again I gave chase and closed the gap on two girls on the Pole Hill descent.  I ended up just kinda flying past them, and came into the corner to turn onto the Hog’s Back kinda hot.  Take about understeer if I was driving a race car, LOL!  I managed to not cross any center lines and set off on the torturous gradual climb up the Hog’s Back.  Amber from The Cyclist Lawyer Team finally came up to my side and said we should work together to stay ahead of the girls behind us, and we took turns doing pulls.  Amber from Primal Racing caught us right before the feed zone.  Which is where I decided to fail at grabbing a bottle twice.  I just wanted a new bottle, darn it!  That failure aside, I worked to catch the Ambers before we dropped over the crest of the hill.

And what the heck, I could see the tents of the finish!  The end was sooner than I was expecting!  It was a downhill so we were flying, and I (stupidly) jumped in the front and then realized that those two were drafting off me, making me use my energy coming to the final sprint.  I tried to shake them, but my legs were screaming, so I channeled the Jensie and kept repeating “SHUT UP LEGS” in my head over and over and over.  I’ve had fairly good success with final sprints in past races, but those were usually mountain bike/cross races where people aren’t necessarily sprinters at all (and you’re not coming in super high speed on a downhill finish with no gears left to go harder).  We flew past the 1 kilometer sign and I was pegged.  Amber from Primal started coming around and I was like “oh hell no” and just forced the legs to keep going.

Her and I crossed the finish line at 34mph according to my Garmin, and I won the sprint by 0.08 seconds (or a few inches of a bike wheel according to people who saw it).  WHEW!  What a damn good race!  High fives all around amongst the Ambers and I and I celebrated what I felt like was my first true road race effort.  I went out there with the intention of racing it, not hanging in the back to avoid the pack.  And dammit, I raced it!  I finished 13th out of 30.  Sure beats that DNF I had at Deer Trail last spring!

So I learned…
1) Good wheels are worth it.  Way worth it.  That climb felt effortless.
2) Training actually works.  My coach may be trying to kill me, but the races at least won’t kill me as much
3) Don’t go for the water bottles, it’s not worth it
4) Trust the peloton.  Nobody really has a death wish.
5) Wear shoe covers when it’s 40 degrees.  Numb feet for half a race sucks.
6) Short road races are my thing.  No way would’ve this awesomeness happened if it was 40 miles long.  Which makes crits all that more intriguing to try.

Garmin stats:
1) Average speed 18.1mph
2) Max speed 47.2mph
3) Average heart rate 177
4) Max heart rate 199 (happened at the finish line)
5) Total time: 53:55.34
6) Estimated average power: 209 (sure felt like it, as that is a bit above my FTP)

Next up is the Frostbite Time Trial next weekend.