Author: The Adventuring Heidi

ALIENS!!  *motions hands like the guy on History Channel*

Seriously, aliens are awesome.  Mountain bike trails built around alien crash sites are even awesome-r!

Anyways, I’ll start from the beginning… since racing didn’t begin until Sunday, we were not in a rush to get out of town on Friday, as much as vacation was calling to us.  I enjoyed a non-frantic pace of packing up the last of what we needed and headed to the Bicycle Station for last minute tubes and to get my TT bike’s aero bars fixed since I decided to yank them out of whack trying to shift into my big chain ring (lession learned:  pulling harder won’t make it shift.  nothing will make it shift, stay in the big ring and deal with it).  Car loaded up, goodbye kisses for Sammie, and we hit the road about 11:15am

Luckily I found a route that could forgo the interstate highway system once we arrived in Denver.  Nothing against I-25, but I had no interest in driving through boring southern Colorado on it!  We cut off onto Highway 285, which wound us up through the mountains, dumping us in the high Rocky Mountain valleys.  Absolutely gorgeous!  We oddly enough found ourselves in South Park, which we eagerly checked into on Foursquare. Soon we were in Buena Vista, surrounded by 14ers, and I giddly pointed out all the road signs that marked all the different peaks.  It reminded me that Matt and I really need to try to summit a 14er sometime this summer… life can’t always be about the bike!

A few more mountain passes later, and we were by the Great Sand Dunes National Park, heading towards Durango on 160.  We goofed off at a rest area for a little while, stretching out our legs from the long drive.  Once again we were back in the mountains, climbing up over Wolf Creek Pass, which tops out at 11,000 feet.  Matt had an empty 2-liter Mountain Dew bottle, which he opened and then sealed at the peak so we could see how crunched down it would get as we dropped in elevation.  Sometimes it’s the simplest things in life, eh?

After stumbling upon “Canada Laughs” on Sirius XM (a Canadian comedy station), we rolled into Durango and jumped on the 550 that would take us into Farmington, NM, which would be our home for 5 nights.  Hotel prices were just a wee bit too insane in Durango for the weekend, and we’re partial to La Quinta anyway, so New Mexico it would be!  Upon rolling through Aztec I noticed the small diner that I ate at probably 20 years ago, where a little boy went around and stole all the salt and pepper shakers off the tables.  The damnest things I remember, right?

We found our La Quinta, and hauled the bikes and luggage into the room just about sunset, so it was indeed about a 9 hour drive with stops.  475 miles according to the google map print out I had.  Yeesh, sorry Mr. Fozzy.

Since it was Matt’s birthday weekend, I agreed to Red Lobster for dinner.  Ya’ll, I do NOT like seafood, fish, anything from water… so this was quite the compromised!  I found a half decent chicken breast and alfredo on the menu, so I can’t really complain.  Matt happily dug into his shrimp combo plate .

The next morning we slept in slightly and enjoyed our free breakfast at the hotel.  Our big plans was riding the Alien Run trails, and then sightseeing at the Aztec ruins and Four Corners.

Alien Run.  AMAZING.  Sometimes it can take a lot to impress me when it comes to trails, since I live in such an epic trail-heavy area of the west.  Needless to say, Alien Run did not disappoint and I rank it up there with some of the best stuff I have ridden!  We easily found the trailhead using the hand drawn map off the website, and enjoyed the fact it was not crowded with cars like Gowdy is on summer weekends.  What’s super awesome is that the Aztec Library commissioned mountain bikers to make this trail so they could hold a fundraiser race on it, and therefore it’s the only trail I’ve been on that cyclists have the right of way and do not have to yield for hikers.  Not that I still wouldn’t yield, I just enjoyed this sort of signage.  Made me feel important 😛

So about the aliens… supposedly in the late 1940s an alien spacecraft crashed here with humanoid bodies inside.  The US Government came in disguised as oil field workers and removed the debris.  What’s left now is a plaque marking the area (that we managed to ride right past and not see…) and higher than normal levels of radiation (supposedly… I did not test this out with a Gieger counter, LOL).  How cool, right?  The trail builders really play up the alien theme with the signage, and even on the slickrock the way is marked with little green alien heads.

We took off on the one way trail that runs counterclockwise, unsure of if we would do the 10 mile or 19 mile loop.  I had my reservations about high miles since we raced the next day.  I was soon smiling and swooping through the desert terrain, and it took only about two minutes before I declared this one of the best trails we have ridden.  The singletrack winds through the trees and sage, and there are no long, sustained climbs.  There are slick rock portions.  I found everything to be easily rideable except a narrow drop off part with exposure.  The only negative is that the trail was quite sandy in portions, which slows your speed and if you’re me, makes you do a flying belly flop into sage.

There is a well marked 5 mile cutoff loop, which we passed by and continued up the trail.  There is 9 miles of newer built singletrack called the Outer Limits that comprises the 19 mile loop, which we started up.  I wasn’t too happy, as it was loose rocks and nothing really amazing.  After a few miles we turned around and returned to the main Alien Run trail to finish it out.  This is when I took my impress flying belly flop into sage, landing flat on my belly with arms outstretch, face in the sand.  Whoops!  I somehow cut up my right butt cheek while doing this, which I noticed after I saw the blood on my kit.

We weren’t ready to call it quits after 10 miles, so we started down the trail again, this time cutting off at the 5 mile loop marker.

I have read reviews where people complain that you can’t enjoy the trail or scenery due to all the noise and sights from fracking rigs that dot the landscape.  I beg to differ on this.  Sure, when you’re right next to the rig, which happens only once or twice, it’s loud.  But otherwise I do not think they ruined my experience at all!  I’ve never been around fracking rigs before, so it’s not like I’m “use” to them or anything as well.  Just don’t let them discourage you from checking out these trails, as it’s really not that big of a deal!

There is a slick rock playground called the Black Hole that we didn’t get to try out.  The trail system is ranked intermediate to expert.  I consider myself intermediate, and I had no issue riding this trail at all!  The drops were good enough that I was willing to ride them, if that says anything at all, and there’s only about 2 major ones I can recall, all occurring in the slick rock sections.

We made our way back to the car to find the parking lot empty except for two guys from Wyoming.  Go figure!  It was back to the hotel for a shower, and then on for the rest of our adventures, which I will write about very soon!

So I’m trying to think about how to write this race report.  The race itself was great.  The resulting aftermath with timing/organization was not so great…

Matt and I registered for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic mountain bike and time trial races back in December, so it was a long planned event.  We figured we’d turn Memorial Weekend into a mini-vacation, staying in New Mexico and squeezing in time for exploring (which will all be happily described in an upcoming blog post once I finish photos!!!! 😀 ).

First up was the MBS Mountain Bike race on May 27th.  I entered Cat 3 (as expected, especially in December), which would be a 6-7 mile long race, or one lap.  We showed up in the morning, readied our bikes and found the starting line in downtown Durango, which was intermixed with the criterium course.  Whole layout was pretty darn cool.  Matt went off at 8:30 with the Cat 3 Men, and I was first to line up for the Cat 3 Women’s race.

I was joined by Tricia, who was inquiring if she got added to the Cat 2 race like she wanted.  That immediately made my stomach turn.  For awhile it was just 3 of us, then some other women straggled in.  Definitely not the field that I had counted up on the website the night before (which painstakingly involved hovering over every single entry in the MTB race and see what their class was!).

Start went off, and Tricia and I leaped out front.  First part of the race was on pavement to get to the trails.  I tucked in behind her rear wheel, as anytime I can feel like a super awesome roadie is a good time!  We were going about 25-27mph up this pavement, so it really did feel like a road race!  We got to the trails, and Tricia immediately jumped off her bike to start walking.  I made it about a foot up the loose, powdery dirt and also had to bail.  OK, cool, insane climb.  Duathlon involving hiking once again!  Once again I had one of those eery moments where I realized no one was catching and passing Tricia and I, similar to what I felt at the Gowdy Grinder.  We hiked up back and forth on some switchbacks until the grade of the trail was actually rideable.  Lots and lots of climbing, and I was stuck to Tricia’s wheel.

First descent and Tricia zipped off, since I am still a scaredy-cat descender for some reason.  Course marshalls warned us about slow moving men racers, which was nice.  I definitely liked how all the course marshalls cheered us on!  We descended a little ways and then had another tideous climb back up the mountain (the course is up the mountain that Fort Lewis College sits on, and around the college, and then back down the mountain, in simple terms).  Tricia bumbled on the climb, and I was able to take over first, with Liz not too far behind me.  There was some sketchy washed out parts, and tons of exposure, so I found myself saying “Don’t look over there!” a lot!

Soon the course crested and there was zippy singletrack.  Fun, and I was still leading.  Then came the most bizarre stuff I have ever seen on a cross country course.  Literally a maze in the trees out of stupidly powdered dirt that made you dizzy instantly.  I fumbled on a switchback in the soft dirt, and Tricia and Liz were able to jump around me.  OK, so there went winning the race.  Liz pointed out that someone should be taping us, because of all the sound effects Tricia, Liz, and I were making, LOL! I was dazed by this whatever you wanna call it course, and relieved when I finally got back on the singletrack for the big descent back into town.  Tricia and Liz are fast descenders, so I lost sight of them,and had the trail to myself, which was nice, though I had no idea how close anybody was behind me.

I found the descent to be “east coast-ish” with roots and trees and rocks.  Good practice for PA maybe, no?  After fully utilizing the capabilities of my brakes, I was back on pavement and screaming towards the finish.  But wait, first there was an obstacle course!  Because who doesn’t like those in a middle of a cross country race?  I don’t mind technical courses, but damn, I’m not a trick rider.  I think this was more for public amusement than the racers.  I turned it into cyclocross with the amount of time I spent dismounting and hoisting my bike over stuff.  Which was a lot.  A LOT.  I can’t bunny hop over stuff (OH NOES) so all the log piles I had to get off the bike.  I rode one foot of the skinny before just riding off of it, haha.  I did however make it out alive on the teeter-totter.  These obstacles seemed to drag on forever.  Ugh.  Finnnalllyyyy they were all done and I was sprinting towards the finish.

Tricia, Liz, and I hung out at the finish a bit, reliving the race.  Turns out I apparently rode way more of the obstacles than Liz did.  Go me.  We wondered when awards would be, and that’s when Tricia pointed out that we all won prize money.  Oh snap, I’m a pro now, winning money!!!

Matt and I went to see when awards would be, and found out that they do not do awards, and just mail checks.  No one could tell me how much my check would be, or if I would even get one.  I was told to “look on the website.”    Some results were posted, but were really odd, and random people stated that it would take awhile for results to come out.  Disclaimer:  I am VERY VERY VERY VERY spoiled by RME and Laramie Series races were timing is instant, and results are uploaded like within an hour, even in the mountains, so I had a hard time digesting that even 1-2 hours after my race there were no results…

Since results still appeared to be wonky (9 hour finish times, Matt missing…), we hung out with Specialized and demo’d their new Turbo bike, and walked around the vendor area.  We decided to grab some pizza at the Fired Up Pizzeria (totally blows Hot Tomato out of the water for Colorado pizza places!!).

Matt noticed that the results had finished posting to the website (which is where another person told us to look, apparently that’s the default answer), but both him and I were missing.  Since I was in a podium, and therefore money winning spot, I admit I got a little panicked.  After finishing up our meal, we made our way over to the timing tent since no one else seemed to have any answers about anything (a lot of “Go talk to those people over there,” who then would go “We have no idea.”)  The timing lady looked up our bib numbers and frankly stated “you were disqualified for racing in the wrong category.  We were concerned about this when you were at the starting line, as it wasn’t your proper category.  You’re Cat 2.”  OK, first off, why wasn’t something said AT THE STARTING LINE?  That just seemed odd.  Second off, I NEVER registered for Cat 2, why would I have done that?  I had the email receipts saying Cat 3 for both Matt and I (thank goodness for smartphones), and also the IHBC website shows Cat 3 when you hover over our names.  The timing lady honestly didn’t really seem to care, and just said I had to find a race director.  I seriously wanted to cry at this point.

Matt and I started wandering towards a vague tent that in which was suppose to hold a “race director,” when another volunteer chased us down and pointed us to a race director, who was apparently already getting an earful about us from the timing people.  (Yes, I can get frustrated, but we did pay out $100 each to race this weekend not including gas, hotel, food, etc, and it’s upsetting to find out we were DQ’d for nothing on our part…)  I showed the guy my phone with the email, and he spent about 10 minutes with the timing people.  Finally he walked back, saying the results were fixed, and that I should be seeing a check in the mail with my prize money.  Shook some hands and was off.  OK, so they made right… we think.  We’re actually unsure Matt’s result will get added in, but thankfully for the Garmin file we can figure out where he was (7th).  The results on the website still are not fixed, so I’m worried there will be an angry girl from Arizona mad she won’t be getting prize money…

We were kind of disillusioned after this, and I looked at Matt and stated “I’m not doing the time trial tomorrow.”  Matt agreed, pointing out that racing and then an 8 hour drive would not do us any favors.  So the TT was out.  We wanted to do Mesa Verde, but then realized it wouldn’t really work due to drive time… dammit!

Will we be returning to the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic next year?  I say highly unlikely.  The course was nothing I was too fond of (singletrack and climbing was fine, just not the maze and obstacles – just not my cup of tea, and not really worth the 8 hour drive), and there are so many other races to choose from over Memorial Weekend that I don’t want to commit to this one again.  The organization, timing, results, etc definitely don’t add to to it.  I’m super pleased that I placed well in a Colorado race on trails I’ve never been on, and especially pleased at how well I climbed, so it definitely wasn’t all negative!

HOLY CRAP I WON THE RACE!

I’m not sure I really need to write more of a race report than that!  I’m honestly still in shock and confused about how I won.  I raced in Intermediate Women against women that scared the crap out of me last summer at the Laramie series.  I was racing against the girl that always beat me in the Laramie races.  Hell, I wasn’t racing beginner.  So how why huh… it’s still processing in my head.

So back to the start… I originally registered in the beginner’s class, then I realized I wanted to race for longer than 25 minutes and longer than 3.5 miles.  So I bumped myself up to the Intermediate Women, and figured I’d give it my best shot.  I practiced the technical parts that give me trouble on the course, and wished for the best.  With 18 registrants, I hesitantly decided on a goal of a Top 10 finish.

The course ended up having a few changes that I overlooked on the tiny course map.  We would start on two-track equestrian trail, cutting out about 1/3 of the technical Stone Temple Circuit singletrack.  And instead of Ignouramus, we would have to hike a bike 2%.  I found out about 2% the night before, and was kinda freaked out because I had never been on the trail.  I did about a mile of warm up on the two-track start, and my legs felt strong.  Unfortunately, it was super windy, and it was cold.  So I knew I would be battling wind.

Amy and I were too busy chatting and made it to the start about a minute or so before line up.  I positioned myself in the second row.  Start went off and soon I was at the front on the first climb.  Not unusual, I’ve been there before just to have the entire field fly past me 30 seconds later (ahem, Battle the Bear, Rumble at 18 Road, hell my first ever race in Laramie last summer…).  Oddly enough, it didn’t happen.  Ok, cool.  I kept it in a granny gear, and hunkered down against the wind and just spun.  A 1st City Cycling Team girl (Gretchen), passed me, and I ducked behind to draft roadie style, knowing it was saving some energy in the terrible wind.  Didn’t last for long as I got impatient and retook the lead. Sam, a fellow Fort Folly, took my lead and I glued myself to her back wheel, and we hit the singletrack on Stone Temple Circuit.  I was damn happy to be second onto the singletrack, as passing chances are super rare.

This is when I discovered that riding Stone Temple Circuit with a huge group of people sucks.  What I can easily clear by myself becomes a traffic jam when noobs or those unfamiliar with the trail stop/fall/whatever.  I was getting annoyed.  Gretchen, Sam, and myself separated ourselves as the lead women’s pack, and we were battling the stragglers of the Intermediate Men class.  One guy couldn’t power over a tiny dirt hill, log jagging the rest of us.  I jumped off my bike and sprinted past him, just to get hung up on the next technical feature because I wasn’t clipped in and didn’t have enough speed.  I was in 1st, and dammit I wanted to stay there!

Bobbles and stops aside due to other racers, I held my lead on the descent of STC.  I really was in awe, and yelled to Suzie as I passed her “I’m in first, and I don’t know why!”  I came into the start/finish area, momentarily confused by all the cones, and sprinted back up to speed.  I prepared myself mentally that I would probably get caught on the second, longer lap, but as long as I maintained a podium spot I would be happy.  I honestly questioned my stamina and technical prowess I would need on 2%.

Strangely enough, I found myself without someone on my wheel going onto STC.  I continued to catch and pass the Intermediate Men racers, this time with a little better luck.  Only anger moment happened when a guy bobbled on a 5″ high rock and just stood in the middle of the trail as I was flying down.  I started yelling “Move please…move… MOVE MOVE MOVE” followed by a sweet “Thank you!”  LOL.  Just was hard, as I was trying to widened my lead, and this guy was apparently unaware that some people were still racing a race.  OK, now I know how other racers feel when they zip around me and get frustrated.  I definitely won’t get as offended now the next time someone yells at me “that’s the 1st place guy ahead of us, move out of my way!”

I reached the cut off to Ignouramus/2%/Rock ‘n Roller.  Evan let me know I was the first women through.  Powered up the climb and leaped off the bike for my hiking section (what is this, a dualathlon?).  A guy racer praised me, saying he would love to have my climbing stamina!  Likewise, I would like to have his downhill skills, but I’ll take what I have!  After getting my bike pedal stuck on a rock and yanking the bike until it came loose, instead of being a rational person and lifting it up, I was off of 2% and cruising on Rock N Roller.  I heard Gretchen not too far behind, so I knew she had made up some time.  Rock N Roller is sketchy and loose, so it was hard for me to really haul through the corners.  Not to mention the wind was there again.  Gretchen was on my rear wheel as we jumped off to the hike the “overlook” portion (seriously, there’s a “go around” for this… why didn’t race promoters use it?).  I jumped back on and pedaled like crazy, relieved no one was in front of me for the technical downhill of Ignouramus to STC.

Final corner of STC to the downhill, down home stretch I heard Gretchen say behind me “OK girl, this is it!”  I knew she couldn’t pass me on the single track, so I played it safe, not wanting to crash out.  Up and over the cattle gate, 90 degree turn (argh) and there was the finish oh so close.  I stood up and sprinted, giving it everything I had.  Cross the finish line, and pumped my fist in the air like I’ve always wanted to do.

I HAD WON.

By one second 😀

Gretchen and I immediately hugged and congratulated each other.  Awesome race, awesome competition.  Sam rolled in at 3rd place.  Someone thanked me for not entering beginner.  And the whole time I was like OMG OMG OMG.

I talked to Dewey (he told me “nice bike” but not to tell anyone he said that, whoops!), and he said it’s time to race advance.  I kindly reminded him the LMBS is still a combined intermediate/advance women’s class 😛  We laughed about how last year to the day I hesitantly rode off road for the first time, scared and timid and now I just won my category at the Gowdy Grinder.  Someone else joked that I sandbagged intermediate and I’m like….nooooo.  Haha.  I had no idea!  Maybe it’s the 750 miles I’ve pedaled since January 1st, or the bike, or the fact these are my home trails… I dunno, I still don’t know the answer.  Wendy says it’s because I’m good on a bike.  I still don’t believe that one!  I will admit to being a great climber, though!

If anything, this race and win was a massive confidence boost!  It’s nice to have a win that was actually a win, and not a default/easy one like Ridgeline Rampage.  The field was 15 strong, so that is 14 other women I beat!  It also makes me feel a lot better going into the LMBS in June, and hopeful for future races!

On May 15, 2012 I walked into the Pedal House in Laramie with Matt.  I slapped down what I felt was an absurd amount of money on a shiny silver and pink mountain bike.  I rode it around the block, shaky and unsteady from 14 years of not touching a bike.  My quads burned.  I was uncertain.  The shop owner asked me how it felt and I answer “umm, alright?”  I didn’t know what a bike should feel like.  It honestly felt like scary hell.

Matt and I took our new purchases to the Laramie Greenbelt.  I think I made it about a quarter of a mile before my legs wanted to give up, and I couldn’t catch my breath.  I think we did about 4 very slow miles before heading home.  The next night I started crying when I couldn’t pedal up the gentle incline on the Greenbelt.  How was I ever suppose to get good at this whole bike riding thing, especially compared to Matt who had two years of being a roadie behind him?

What I didn’t know at the time is how much that “absurd” purchase would end up changing my life.  I lost 20 pounds, that’s the obvious.  What’s more important is that I feel and look healthier at my today’s weight of 145 pounds than I did in my “skinny college girl days” when I weighed 130 pounds.  I’m toned, and have scary quad muscles, and barely anymore love handles.  While others around me hop from one diet fad to another, all while sitting on the couch and complaining about not being toned, I picked up a bicycle and just pedaled.  By doing this I alienated many of my “close” friends, who deemed my new hobby childish and a waste of time and money.  “Why would anybody spend $1100 on a bicycle?  That’s a child’s activity.”  That was actually said to me.

As other friends faded away, I’ve been blessed with making many other friends through cycling.  In November I connected with the Fort Follies, a women’s cycling club in Fort Collins.  I love the fact I have other girls in my life who are cycling nuts just like me!  Matt and I also could share a passion, and as I became better I also became funner to ride with (bless Matt’s heart for putting up with my putzing along in my earlier days!).

I’ve noticed other aspects of my life have changed, too.  I still eat rather unhealthy (I strongly believe carbs are complete meal – yum, potatoes!), but am acutely aware to add in more fruits and veggies, and I seek out organic/unprocessed foods when I can.  I can actually down an energy gel with minimal gagging these days too.  And weird green veggie fruit smoothies?  Yeah, I have the stomach for those, too!

I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned comes from not giving up.  I tend to give up on things when I don’t get the instant results I want.  Hence the 400whp Nissan Sentra in the drive way with the dead battery that hasn’t been driven in years.  It didn’t instantly run a 12 second quarter mile  on the drag strip, so I gave up on it.   I think this is the most surprising thing it comes to me with the bike.  I don’t win many races, and I haven’t instantly become a pro mountain biker, and yet I still do it.  I’ve learned to refocus my goals, and set real, obtainable ones instead of just aiming straight for lofty ones that need the baby steps completed before getting there.  So instead of saying “I want to win the 20 mile race” I say “I want to finish the 20 mile race.”  So far it’s working and I haven’t stomped away and sworn off bikes forever (though the Deer Trail Road Race made me want to never enter another road race!).

This is quite the rambling blog entry.  But it’s quite the anniversary to celebrate.  Buying that mountain bike (which I oddly enough posted up for sale yesterday) was perhaps one of the best things that could’ve happened to me.

Man, check out those sweet tan lines!

Ok ok, down to business… my BFF Kim is coming to visit in just a few weeks, and being the run-nut that she is, she found *us* a trail run 5k to do in Westminster.  Matt jumped on the idea, and ran out to buy running shoes.  I’m a girl, what can I say, so all the pretty, bright running shoes caught my eye so I figured “what the heck” and picked some up for myself since I will be “running” (I use that term so lightly) the 5k as well.

So I suited up my new fancy minimalist running shoes (the high tech speak regarding running shoes is like a foreign language to me!), and my $6 running shorts from Walmart, and Matt and I headed out to run a mile loop around our neighborhood.  1/4 mile in and I was dying.  IT HURT.  My calfs protested, my lungs protested, and my stomach started cramping.  My whole body was doing one big WTF.  I kept up my “running” pace (it was equal to Matt’s walking pace…) for about 3/4 of a mile, then walked a bit.  Made the final effort to run down the alley back to the house.  Yeahhhh, ouch.

I can get on a bike and ride 70 miles, yet I can’t run a mile.  Funny how that works!

It’s seriously been about 15 years since I’ve truly ran.  Not the type of running I do down the hallways of the hospital to an urgent situation.  I mean running.  Which is sort of sad, as I was a pretty darn good hurdler and sprinter in my younger days, but it all sort of fell off when I got lazy.  I still have my concerns about picking up running, as I have such finicky knees.  Luckily I have a huge fear of water and can’t really swim, so I can’t morph into a triathlete…

Will be I be running a whole 5k in two weeks?  Hell no.  But at least I have the shoes to give it a good waddling try.  And hell, I suppose it’s another way to burn some calories, especially in my time crunched evenings after work!

OK, I promise this is the last race report for two weeks, LOL.  So on May 5th I did the Battle the Bear in Lakewood, CO at Bear Creek Lake Regional Park.  I decided to be a big girl and step up to the 20 mile XC race.  Sure, winning is fun, and especially rather easy in the Half XC categories of RME, but it’s that whole mental battle of “do I go for the wins in the categories I know I can win in, or actually challenge myself in the higher category and probably lose badly?”

The thing with RME is that they don’t separate it into categories like beginner, sport, expert.  There’s pro, and then the age groups.  So in a XC race you can have Cat3, 2, 1, and pros all riding together.  That’s the big challenge I think.  Then again, I’ve never really run into a “fair” system of categorizing a racer at a bike race (especially USAC ones), so maybe RME is doing things right by just age grouping it.  Heck, I’ll take that!

The drive down proved amusing.  I super hydrated before leaving the house, so about Fort Collins my bladder was about to burst.  I decided to pull off to the rest area off of Prospect.  Well, as I went to turn on the road there were two sheriff’s deputies with guns drawn in the middle of the road, and another one tackling a guy as he got out of a stopped car.  Needless to say, my pee plans were definitely halted as I couldn’t get to the rest stop and wasn’t about to stick around that situation, however curious it might have been.  So got back on I-25, exited Harmony thinking the gas station was an easy pull in.  Nope, and I found myself on the wrong side of a concrete barrier.  Got onto I-25 AGAIN, and went to Johnstown since I knew there was a Loaf N Jug that was easy to get to.  Figured I was reaching the toileting finishing line when I opened the restroom door to find a line 3 deep.  WHAT THE HECK.  I nervously waited in line, hoping I could hold the 4 liters of water and glass of grapefruit juice in.  Finally I got to a toilet.  Ugh.

I got to the park about an hour or so before race time.  It was cloudy and overcast, with temperatures hovering in the 50s.  Definitely a base layer type of day, as I hate a cold upper body.  I ran into my friend I befriended at Ridgeline Rampage, which was quite nice as I had someone to talk to.  Got my number plate, ate my PB&J and half-ripened pear, and peed a few times.  I’ve come to realize that the past 4 weekends have involved Port-a-Potties.  Not sure that is something to write home about…

So I was lining up and on my way.  The loop started with a dirt road climb to spread everyone out.  I was pleased with how I started.  The course was some very speedy double and singletrack, with 3 or 4 climbs to kill all speed.  All the climbs were followed by fast descents, however.  Which I suck at.  I’m sure I’m a joy to be behind in a race on a descent, LOL!  Mt. Carbon is the longest of the climbs, but I found it to be not that bad since it sort of undulates as it climbs, so you can shift out of granny gear every once in awhile.  I was stuck to the rear wheel of another gal in my age group (and who was wearing a purple jersey… purple jerseys are out to get me this year!) for the entire first lap.  I didn’t really know where I was in my field, except I knew I wasn’t in the lead pack.  Either way, I was happy to be stuck to this girl, as she broke the wind for me and gave me motivation.

The first 10 mile lap flew by, literally.  I think it took me all of 50 minutes to complete!  The second lap started, and I passed Purple Jersey Gal and led her for a few miles before she caught me on another climb.  On the descent she flew away from me, and I found myself alone, nearly getting run over by the Half-Marathon men (some of which need to learn some courtesy skills when it comes to passing…).  My legs were protesting a bit more, but I found myself feeling surprisingly good considering the effort I was pushing and the miles.  On the Mt. Carbon descent I saw Yann finally, so I could yell out “Creeper in the trees!” even though this time he was in a bunch of yucca.  I finally let off the brakes and let ‘er rip, hitting 27mph.

Pro MTBer Rebecca Gross passed me, and told me good work on the strong effort.  Kinda nice to hear 🙂  I like the friendly pros, though I’m always way too nervous to talk to them because I’m still kind of awestruck by them all.  Just nice she took the time to give me some words of encouragement!

Soon the miles clicked down and I was in the last mile or two of the race.  One more muddy splash down through the creek crossing (gotta remember to close my mouth for things like that…) and I forced my legs to put down the power to get to the finish.  Came through the pits and under the big RME finish line sign and I was done.

1 hour 43 minutes.  20.3 miles.

Woohoo!  I did it, I finished my first race over 11 miles!  I ended up placing 6th in my age category, and was indeed NOT last place.  So that’s always a plus!  Sure, I felt a twinge of disappointed that I wasn’t getting some shiny cardboard plaque award this week, but I think I’ll come to realize I won a lot more by pushing myself to do something bigger than just staying where I’m comfortable.  (Funny thing is if I had done the 10 mile race I would’ve won it overall, and beat the girl in my age group based on my first lap’s time.  Oh wellllll…)

So now that I’ve raced 1/3 of a Laramie Enduro, I think I’m going to try to do longer races the rest of the summer.  One of the first things I did was get home and emailed and asked to be bumped up to Intermediate for the Gowdy Grinder.  I was going to do beginner, which is a single lap of Stone Temple Circuit for 3.5 miles.  Racing that little is really of no use to me I realized, so I’m going to do the 8 mile intermediate, which is a STC loop, then STC to Ignoramus (ugh hate that trail…) to Rock N Roller.  Probably won’t come near to winning, but at least it’s a bit longer!  And now that Beti Bike Bash went unsanctioned, I might enter the Sport category and race a bit longer than my Cat 3 license would allow me (yes, I promise I’ll become Cat 2 after Nationals!).  And of course I’m thinking I’ll return for another RME event, the PV Cycle Derby and do the 22 mile XC race.  Oh boy, I’ve become a big girl!

Becoming a big girl also ushered in my very first flat tire.  Driving home I hit Fort Collins and noticed my bike flapping around in the roof rack, and that the front tire was completely flat.  Luckily I had to stop and exchange kits with Amy, so I put my bike in the fork mount rack and found one goathead in my tire.  Found another small thorn at home.  I guess the warnings at Battle the Bear were right, and I was just lucky it didn’t go flat during the race.  Took 4 tire levers and my dad to get the tire off so I could change the tube, so I am VERY lucky I flatted after the race.  But the Epic’s all fixed back up, and enjoying her two week break before the Grinder.  Nearly 1800 miles on a bikes without a flat…

The rest of the weekend I’ve been terribly lazy.  I was going to ride today, but it’s been thundering and raining off and on so I decided the couch is a better place to be.  The weather is suppose to be gorgeous the next 10 days, so the road bike is coming up to work with me, so at least I can get in some short after work rides this week.  I’m hoping Curt Gowdy dries out this week so next week I can practice the Grinder course, especially Ignoramus and Rock N Roller, which I haven’t ridden that much.  And hopefully I’ll have something to post about besides another darn race report in the meantime…

I feel like my blog is going to turn into nothing but race reports at the rate I’m going… and I don’t necessarily want that!  Needless to say, I raced twice last weekend, and race again tomorrow and I can’t go without saying a little bit of something, right?

So last Saturday on the 27th I raced in the Ridgeline Rampage race, which kicks off the Rocky Mountain Endurance series.  I entered the 10-mile “Half XC” category as the course has a ton of climbing and I’m still increasing my mountain biking distances.  I was racing “sight unseen” which had me a bit uneasy as I would have no idea what to anticipate.  I actually think it worked to my benefit as I didn’t have time to stew over something coming up on the course, like I did in Fruita with Chutes & Ladders.

Turns out only 3 ladies showed up to race the Half XC category.  OK, cool.  Podium for me!  That made me quite happy actually.  I led the group out on the pavement, and in turn was the first to hit the singletrack which meant in turn I was the first to have to start passing all the Half XC men racers.  And boy did I pass a lot.  Then I started passing women in the XC category.  WTF?!

I was owning people on the climbs, but getting caught on the downhills.  Loose gravel and super tight switchbacks made me play it easy.  First serious switchback I panicked and jumped off the bike, letting my competition pass me.  She was a lot stronger on the downhills, so I’m guessing she would’ve caught me eventually.  I was alright, though.  I was proud, as I carefully cleared the rest of the switchbacks for the rest of the course without a dab!

Soon there was this INSANE long climb out of nowhere.  No joking, there were XC and Half-Marathon men passed out and puking on the sides, and about 5-8 XC women walking up it.  Granny gear it was, and I sat and spun the whole thing at a mighty 4.4mph.  It sucked, but I couldn’t have been happier about passing all those hike-a-bikers, knowing that  6 months ago I would’ve been in their shoes as well.  Soon I had gapped the walking ladies, and was riding mostly by myself, except for an occasional lady or guy I’d catch and pass.  The course crested way above Castle Rock, and all below me were identical little McMansions spread out.  Without thinking I burst into the “Little Boxes” song that is the theme for the TV show “Weeds.”  Seriously, I totally felt like I was in Agrestic!

8.7 miles in I dropped my chain off my front chain ring.  Calmly I stopped and put it back on, and continued on.  Luckily no one caught and passed me during this time, so I’m sure I lost a minute or two from the leader in my category.  Before I knew it the 10 miles was up and I was back on the pavement for the final sprint to the finish.  I went into roadie mode and pegged it, which led to the announcer saying something smart ass about how he couldn’t understand how I had so much left in for me for that kind of finish.  I call it Finish Line Motivation 🙂

I crossed under the big finish line sign and grabbed a water bottle from neutral support and downed it.  It was a hot day, well over 70 and I couldn’t swallow my Clif Shot drink mix that was in my bottle… it was just too sugary and hot for me, so I did the whole race without any hydration – not to mention the course was so curvy that there was really no time for me to drink before the next switchback would appear!

There it is, my first race win!  Granted, I won my age category by default of being the only 30-39 racer, but I’m still pleased as I raced a race and didn’t just sit back!  I was 2nd overall in women’s Half XC.  Finally good results!  I was mostly excited by the fact I would’ve been 4th place in the men’s race, and definitely not last if I would’ve done the full 20 mile XC.  Sometimes I surprise myself 🙂  The best thing was the feeling I felt after all the climbs.  Climbing use to make me cry and throw little kid fits, and I took that and made it one of my strengths by forcing myself to take climbing routes.  That says a lot I think 🙂  Anyways, I skipped out on the podium ceremony, and just grabbed my award and headed home since it was a long drive and I was sunburned, hungry, and exhausted and felt no need to stand on the sketchy wooden blocks and put my arms in the air all awkwardly.

The next day was the Deer Trail Road Race.  What possessed me to sign up for a 43 mile road race in the middle of freakin’ nowhere on an 80 degree day at the beginning of allergy season is beyond me.  Seriously… gotta think things through better!  Dehydrated, grouchy, sunburned, and definitely not adjusted to riding in 80 degree temperatures, I knew it was going to be bad before it even started.  My body didn’t want to cooperate, I wasn’t in it mentally, and some evil purple-weed flower stuff that smells like vomit threw me into 3 asthma-like attacks (I don’t have asthma, I’m only guessing what I experienced is what they must feel like) on the bike.  15.5 miles in I called it quits.  My first DNF.  I hung out with Wendy and took photos of Shareen and Matt.  Luckily Matt had a kick ass race in SM5!  I’ve decided that when it comes to pavement and skinny tire riding, I’m a time trialist and “excel” at stuff at 25 miles or under.  I’ve learned my lesson on road races of longer distances…

So in light of my experiences at the Ridgeline Rampage, I decided to give the next RME race – Battle the Bear –  a go this weekend.  It was suppose to be today, but snow once again postponed it to tomorrow.  BUT… I’ve decided to step it up and take the challenge of the XC category and race 20 miles.  The course is fast and non-technical, so I know the 20 miles will go a lot faster than it does at, for example, Gowdy.  Still nervous to challenge myself at that distance, but it has to happen at some point as the Laramie Enduro is getting closer and closer, and I gotta learn to do 20 miles if I want to finish 70 miles!

My mountain bike race for today was postponed to save the trails from the tires of several hundred racers, so I randomly registered for the Weld County Road Race.  Not too positive about how it would go, I figured it would at least be a forced 25 mile training ride that I probably otherwise would not do.  I haven’t touched my road bike in weeks in favor of riding on dirt, so I was worried.  All I can say is…

I HAD A FREAKING BLAST!

Seriously, I was giddy for hours afterwards!  It was seriously that fun!

The start was a neutral roll out, and it had me frazzled.  I can’t stand riding in large groups, let alone sketchy large groups with 41+ gals just going where ever.  I tried to stick with my teammate Shareen, but figured it would be better to hang back.  The course included a 1-mile long stretch of gravel road, and the neutral roll out included this.  OK, no offense roadies, but dirt, mud, and washboard is NOT going to hurt you!  This was the most stressful part for me, as the mountain biker in me just wanted to peg it and have fun, and there were girls slamming on the brakes over tiny washboard holes and swerving around mud.  Sigh.

Once we made it through the dirt the course turned 90 degrees right and the race started.  The lead peloton took off like crazy and I did my best for about 20 seconds and then just dropped back.  Oh well!  I was feeling going, and easily cruising fast.  Literally maybe a mile or so up the road was a massive wreck that occurred in said lead peloton that I couldn’t hang with, and I let out a huge sigh of a relief that I wasn’t part of it.  My biggest fear is crashing on pavement, which is why I will never do a crit, so I’m glad I got to avoid the whole mess.  Some gals were able to hop back on their bike, but one girl was pretty bloodied up and crying in the middle of the road.  The nurse inside of me wanted to stop, but I knew the race had to go on and race officials were there at her side and EMS was on the way.

In the drops I went, and I started playing cat and mouse with two other girls.  One finally asked if I wanted to work together with them, and I agreed though I quite didn’t know how it was all suppose to work – such as how long we would each pull and what not (I’m not up to par with roadie sign language, so I had no idea shaking your left elbow means you wanna stop leading, haha).  What I quickly discovered is I could out climb them on hills, so on every climb would I have to jump out of the line to keep up my momentum, and then usually could lead on the downhills a bit too.  This put a huge smile on my face as I always feel I struggle with climbing but yet it was my shining skill today at the race!

When working together you definitely feel the difference in effort, so I was pleased I could “team” up with some fellow riders and have fun!  I continued to surprise myself by taking some corners at a decent speed (over 20mph… hey, it’s a big deal for me!), and hanging quite well with the pack.  We would pick up and drop off occasional riders.  We picked up another girl with a few miles left on the first lap.

First lap over, we flew down the pavement (I managed to drink from my bottle and return it to its cage unharmed) and turned again onto the dirt.  Finally without a pack of crazed roadies who are scared of dirt (seriously people, this is where you wanna fall, if you must crash!), I had the time of my life!  I looked down once and saw I was doing about 26mph on the bumpy, muddy gravel road and my smile just got that much bigger.  One girl rode on the left side of the road, which I thought we weren’t suppose to do (and I wasn’t about to try it and get DQ’d), so I was kinda “stuck” behind one of the other girls I was with.  We turned on the asphalt again got up to speed.

One girl that was with us dropped us on dirt section (the one riding on the left), and soon two of us dropped another girl.  There was a super fast chick that the girl I was with encouraged me to catch and stick to her wheel.  I offered to pull her for a bit, and she said to go ahead and try to catch that girl, and worse comes to worse she’d just catch up to me.  So with that I zoomed off, and did the rest of the race alone.  I never did catch the super fast girl, but I did pass one or two other racers from other classes, so that made me pretty happy!  I’m pretty sure I had a smile on my face (which I turned into a pissed off serious look around photographers, haha), and even yelled a big thank you to the highway patrolman controlling traffic at an intersection.  Weirdly enough I caught me singing “Better Dig Two” by The Band Perry… I have NO idea why I get random country songs stuck in my head during races, but it cracks me up!

The last few miles my legs began to protest and I protested right back with a solid “SHUT UP LEGS!”  My speeds were not as high as the first lap, but I was keeping ahead of the girls I dropped.  Finally the last hill was in sight, and I powered up it, which left me thinking that it wasn’t the last hill as it wasn’t as bad as I remember the first time, and then I saw the finish line and mustered up the energy to put forth a good finish effort.

WHEW, finished!  25 miles done, with an average speed of nearly 18mph.  First road race in the books!  I survived, with a great big smile, and without getting crashed into!  The girl who dropped me on the dirt section and I cruised back to the parking/registration area, and had a nice chat.  I love meeting fellow girl cyclists, it’s awesome!  It was her first road race as well, and I think she only had me by maybe 20 seconds at the most!

I finished in 28th Place out of 39, so I’m super happy!  I set a goal of Top 30, not really knowing where it would play out, and look at that, I met it!  I am feeling super confident about my climbing abilities now, which I know comes in part of the mountain biking.  Shareen was laughing at how giddy I was, and that made me even happier.  After a terrible race last weekend, finishing last, and some ensuing drama later ons, I need this more than anything to get me motivated to continue racing!  I’m still not a fan of peloton riding (definitely prefer smaller groups of 4 or so), and that still worries me about future road races, but I am looking forward to next weekend’s Deer Trail Road Race, which will be a much longer effort (38 miles).  25 miles is my sweet spot, as it’s my usual road ride length, so we’ll see!

I wanna give a shout out to McDonald’s… see, I love Egg McMuffins and that meal is my typical pre ride meal.  However, I hate the yellow powdery yoke.  Well wouldn’t you know when I rode through the drive thru this morning there was the answer to my breakfast cycling racing prayers – an egg white-only sandwich called the Egg White Delight McMuffin!  It’s a new offering, and I sure hope it’s permanent as it kicked butt and I definitely felt adequately fueled.  Heck, it has protein, sodium, and carbs – what more can you need?!  Say what you want, I know it’s disgusting fast food, but it definitely set off my day in the right way!

My 2012 Specialized Ruby Apex Compact performed marvelously, and I got some compliments on the pinkness of it!  Miss Ruby told me that she thinks she needs to be ridden on gravel more often, and she sees why Serenity the Mountain Bike like dirt!  😛  Big thanks to Wendy at the Bicycle Station for the endless fits we’ve done with the bike – I think it’s finally feeling good!

Hopefully more photos will come as photographers upload them… I just was so excited to write this race report I had to do it right this second.  !!!!! *bounces around*  Coming up is the postponed Ridgeline Rampage on April 27th, followed by the Deer Trail Road Race on the 28th.  Double-header next weekend!

I ❤ road racing. 

Well, finally the race was here – the one I had been planning since last fall.  I’m still digesting how I feel about this race.  I can’t say I’m overly elated about how things went down, but everyone keeps telling me I should be happy with how things went down.  I’m just on the edge…

Matt and I arrived in Fruita on Friday, and immediately went out to the venue – the trails at 18 Road – to pre-ride the course.  It was a super sunny and hot day, which had it’s own way of messing with me.  Going from riding in 40 degree weather to 70 degree weather does weird things to a body!  Though I was completely spastic on the ride (6 hours in a car does that to a person!), I felt OK and had a sort of game plan in my head.  My only concern was the fact my heartrate would hit 190 and just stay there, and I couldn’t recover.  I could actually feel pain in my heart muscle, ugh.

Satisfied with gaining at least a basic knowledge of the trails, we headed back to our hotel, which nicely enough had a jacuzzi tub (yay for being La Quinta Elite members!).  A bike may or may not have been washed in said tub.  That is all I’ll say!  We cleaned up and headed out to find some dinner.  Walking down the sidewalk I heard a “Heidi!” and saw my friend Reanna from Fort Follies, and fellow Wind Chill Cycling teammate Amy!  So awesome to run into friends like this!  I bought some socks at Over the Edge of a T-rex riding a mountain bike, and then we headed to the Hot Tomato, which is a Fruita food staple.  Very very very good pizza and breadsticks!  I usually hate non-commercial pizza (living in New Jersey was hell for me pizza wise…), but holy crap Hot Tomato was good!

Alarm went off at an uncomfortable 5:45am on Saturday morning.  We quickly readied ourselves and grabbed breakfast in the hotel lobby, and then off to the venue.  Which is stupidly dusty.  Beyond dusty.  But more on that later.  We discovered that they added another mile to the race course, adding in a start loop.  I wasn’t quite amused by this.  Sure, a mile isn’t a lot, but it can be a lot, you know?  We pre-rode the start loop as our warmup and then prepared to stage, as Matt had an earlier start time than I did.

I discovered that I apparently look very young.  A sweet girl in the 15-16 category (prolly cat 1… all those kids are too damn fast!) asked if I was in her category, which I had to laugh about and told her she deserved a hug for thinking I was that young!  So enough I was staging for my race, the women’s Cat 3 30-39.  Suddenly I knew I was going to lose horribly bad.  I dunno, just an icky feeling.

Whistle went off and I clipped in rather well and was sitting in 3rd place on the start loop.  I came off the big hill and heard the announcer say my name, which was a little strange – just not use to that at races!  I just hammered down, tried to focus on my breathing.  There was a girl in my class in a purple jersey, and I was determined to not let her pass me.  All this time I thought I was still sitting in 3rd, but was really 4th.  But thinking I was in a podium spot was good enough motivation.

The first part of singletrack was stupidly sandy, and I ended up washing out at a decent speed.  I swear I was only on the ground for a second before jumping back up and pedaling like crazy.  Purple Jersey Gal had caught up to me, which was NOT allowed, dammit!  Soon I became a bit more frazzled as the Cat 1 Junior boys caught us and were zipping all around.  Soon the Prime Cut ascent began and it took everything at times to keep pedaling, and I’d just concentrate at one pedal stroke at the time.  Amusingly enough, Toby Keith’s “Made in America” song randomly popped into my head at one point during a climb and I was randomly singing “There’s nothing that he can’t fix with WD40 and a Craftsman wrench…”  Yeahhhhhh… at least it wasn’t Jason Aldean’s “1994”, right?

I was going a good job at holding off Purple Jersey Gal when I hit the bottom of Chutes & Ladders, which I’ve officially deemed the stupidest trail in existence.  Seriously, no need for climbs that steep.  The world will not suffer if those climbs disappeared!  I didn’t even attempt the first one, instead I painstakingly started to walk.  My calves started cramping with every step.  I ended up walking all the stupid vertical climbs, maybe 4-5 in total.  So did Purple Jersey Gal, luckily.  But soon she was right on my rear wheel, and I sneakingly knew that when the moment came she would leave me in her dust.

Alas, that moment came on the last technical climb, where I got off my line and was stopped by a huge boulder.  That was the last I saw of Purple Jersey Gal until the finish line.  Ugh.  I had also run over cactus with my front wheel, which flung up into my face.  Now I was downright paranoid my tires were going flat, just as I got to the super speedy downhill singletrack! UGHHHH

So I played it easy… asked a course marshal if my tires were flat and he said only my rear looked a little flat (turns out it was fine).  3 miles to the finish, and I gave up.  Screw it, I was in last place, and as long as I crossed the finish line I would qualify for Nationals, so why risk wrecking?  I was pretty downtrodden at this point.  I smiled at spectators, who usually yelled something back about “yay, keep smiling, this is so fun!  You’re doing so good!” which started to feel like mocking as I was last place!  But it was awesome to see how supportive the spectators were, definitely not something I had seen at the time trial or my Laramie MTB races last summer.  Everyone seemed to have encouraging things to yell and cowbells.  Yay for glorious cowbells!

The finish was a super fast downhill (I think I was going at a decent 22mph… Matt reported he was going 31!), with a 90 degree turn.  I slammed the brakes on, determined not to wreck in front of everyone, and turned towards the finish, which was met with something along the lines of “Here comes Heidi Gurov from Spradley Barr Wind…” I stopped listening.  Still creeped about my name being announced!  I turned off the course and ran into Purple Jersey Gal, whose name is really Christy.  I congratulated her.  She’s actually pretty badass as she finished up chemo for breast cancer not too long ago!

Soon Matt and Suzie wandered over, fresh off of both of their 1st place finishes.  Found my results, discovered my 5th Place and the fact that there was a DNF girl, which I guess means I wasn’t last?  Hmm.

So yeah, that was my Rumble at 18 Road.  Qualified to Nationals in July, but not completely happy.  I dunno, it just felt so off.  And I’m sorry, and maybe I’m spoiled by Gowdy being in my back yard, but for the life of me I’m still trying to see what the hoopla about the 18 Road trails is about???  Desert is awesome, I get that, I’m a desert lover!  But otherwise the trails themselves, meaning Prime Cut and Chutes & Ladders just didn’t ring out anything special to me.  And the DUST!  OMG!  Mr. Fozzy looked like he just did a rallycross event, instead of just being parked at a bike race!  Once again, Gowdy is my home trail system so I think it comes down to me being a spoiled brat.  I still had fun, and it was fun hanging out with Suzie and just being in Fruita in general.  Just not overly thrilled about the race.  Or the dust.  Bad for lungs!

For the record, my tires were fine for the race after the cactus murdering.  However, my front tire went flat 24 hours later on the bike rack and the valve stem was broken.  Still trying to figure that one out…

After awards we headed out towards Moab for more riding and camping!  We attempted a ride of Pipe Dream, but we were both worn out.  So we spun out the legs on the 4×4 road Pipeline, and headed back into town to meet up with Reanna and Amy.  After a very fulfilling dinner at Moab Brewery, where I had a bacon cheeseburger, fries, coleslaw, and about 10 pickles we set out towards Arches National Park, which is where we would be camping for the night.  A blustery cold front was blowing in, so our campsite greeted us with hurricane winds.  Not really sure what we should do, Matt decided to block the wind with Mr. Fozzy and put our tent under a tree, and Reanna and Amy used barren desert trees to try to block the wind from theirs.  Since it was so nasty we all pretty much set up camp and retired to our tents for the night.

Soon it rained, which lulled me off to sleep.  The campsite was beautiful and spacious!  So fortunate I was able to book a site in Arches, and the $20 was a whole lot nicer than the hotel prices!  The morning greeted us with clear blue skies.  The storm had blown through, leaving nice weather in its wake!

Matt and I packed up and headed out of town, stopping at the Klondike Bluffs trails to get some more Moab riding in before the long drive home.  We rode DKG and Dino Flow, doing about an 9 mile ride before calling it quits.  Definitely like the trails in that system, and will have to come back later and spend some more time there!  And so began the long drive home… stopping in Grand Junction to feast at Famous Dave’s before heading up over I-70.  Luckily the roads were not too bad and we rolled into home about 9pm, with a screaming bengal greeting us at the door.  Woke up Monday morning to a foot of snow… sigh.

So that was the big Fruita/Moab race weekend!  Got some awesome cyclist tan line action going on, had a fairly decent race (I just gotta keep telling myself that…), Matt won his first ever mountain bike race, and we camped in a hurricane in the desert with friends!  Eventually I’ll start training and actually stop being lazy…

You better have a snow shovel ready!

Over a foot of snow up here in Douglas, which has me conveniently stranded here until the roads open so I can get home.  Weird to think I’ll be in 80 degree Moab in 4 days…