Category: Race Report

From a skinsuit to multiple layers in a matter of a week… winter struck, but that meant one thing: awesome cyclocross conditions!  For some reason I like racing in the cold, snow, and ice.  It requires a different skill set and finesse that typical grassy, dry dirt, whatever cross courses don’t.  So I layered up and headed out to Mile High Urban CX Chaos (MUCCY) on the 16th to try my hand at the conditions.  MUCCY is held near downtown Denver on an urban construction site, so the course is pretty much as far as you can get away from the manicured grass courses that are typical.  Think gravel piles, mountains of dirt, rock gardens, numerous “barriers that look to be foundation cement, barriers made of rocks and tires, etc.

I felt like this race would be my best hope for a good result in an otherwise unspectacular season.  I headed out for a pre-ride and it didn’t take me long to get a little hesitant.  I was wearing my Specialized Sub Zero lobster claw mittens, and I was quickly discovering my braking ability sucked in the mittens. But I dealt with the constant in and out of steep drainage ditches and cornering ok.  Then came the Hill of Death.  Pretty much vertical “run” up (more like mountaineering scramble) to a top of a massive dirt pile, followed by a nearly vertical “hold on for dear life” descent.  I looked over the edge and decided there was no way I could do that with my mittens on, so I took off the mittens, leaving just my thin liners and gave it a go…

Whew, made it…

Nearly everyone after the pre-ride had decided that if there was a course to hurt us this year, it was this course.  I had my fears, but I trusted my skills, though you can’t predict what will happen around you in a cross race.

I took a second row line up on the snow packed ice in the Women’s B category.  If I was smart, I would’ve squeezed in the front row, but I guess I’m conditioned to not aim for the front.  From the start I was passing people, very unusual!  People were taking the first lap and corners slow, which was a good thing, as I think we were all feeling out the course conditions (it was about 20 degrees but the sunshine was melting unshaded areas so the course was rapidly changing).  I did a lot more running on the first lap than I wanted to because of traffic.  Including the Hill of Death, which is decidedly far scarier to walk down than ride down, but I couldn’t ride it without running over people in front of me.

I felt confident in the first lap and got into a rhythm.  I passed one girl, which made me smile because I haven’t had that chance too often this year!  The second lap I rode all the ins and outs of the drainage ditch flawlessly!  The sand pits were thawing so alas I couldn’t stay on the bike for the sand, but I felt ok with the running I had to do.  I realized that if I rode a mountain bike I wouldn’t have to come off the bike nearly as much for a lot of the “barriers” and course obstacles.  I had been passed by a gal on a mountain bike in my first lap, and I was envious!  Probably the only course of the year where a mountain bike was a clear advantage!

On the second lap I caught Gayle, who was having leg warmer vs. bike issues.  We cat-and-moused until I got around her for the rest of the second lap.  On the start/finish straight for the third and final lap she whizzed past me as we went into the corners on the pavement (you could tell who races and who doesn’t race crits in this moment… hint, I’m the one who doesn’t race crits and doesn’t like to corner around other people).  I stuck to her wheel as we entered the snowy grassy ditch, determined to not give this one up, and I knew Nina was coming up behind us as well.  I got around Gayle again in the ditches and held them off through the sand and long pipe barrier section (completely rideable on a mountain bike… dammit).  Nailed the Hill of Death again and just kept pushing myself to stay in front.  On the second lap I had chosen some different lines which had caused me to fumble here and there, so I told myself to stick to the lines I knew worked, and it paid off… as I entered the final pavement (well, snow covered pavement!) corner and straight, I had a big gap, but I still pushed to make sure it would stick in case I went down randomly.

Holy crap, I placed 7th out of 23!  NOT LAST PLACE.  TOP TEN.  BOO-YAH.

I stared at the results list longer than most people trying to comprehend that I was 7th, not 23rd.

Thank goodness for courses that favor a mountain biker, along with some nice winter conditions!  A nice highlight for my 2014 cyclocross season 😀  My earlier hesitation about the course had disappeared, and I really enjoyed it during the race and didn’t find it nearly as scary as I did during my pre-ride.

I ran 35psi in my tires at the race, and didn’t have issues with pinch flats in the rock garden, or when I rode over two of the rock obstacle barrier things, so that was reassuring that maybe, just maybe I could start running a slightly lower tire pressure (40psi is my standard).  I also had great traction on a very steep climb on each lap.

Woohoo, yay for MUCCY!

At least I can say I have a plan for the last four races of the 2014 cyclocross season:  High fives and drink beer.

CycloX Sienna Lake had a pretty awesome course.  The main feature is two drops down into a drainage ditch… very easy for anyone that spends some time on a mountain bike, daunting for anyone who, well… doesn’t.  The hardest part for me was reminding myself of the lack of suspension and brakes that work/can be finessed, otherwise I love the crap out of course features like this!  Otherwise… well, it was a typical cross race for me… say goodbye to the rest of the Cat 3 women halfway through the first lap, and work my way back to socialize with the Cat 4 women in the 20-30th places.

There was a guy halfway through each lap that was demanding high fives, which was awesome.  Even awesomer (ha!) was the line of about 10 or so children on a straight back stretch before the first ditch drop that were lined up to get high fives.  Seriously, beyond cool!  I saw the couple of ladies ahead of me skip them, so damn if I didn’t slow down and go to the edge to give each one of them high five!  It made me smile to see their enthusiasm and happiness.  Screw the fact I was on the way to another almost-embarrassing last place finish – I made children and myself smile!

Last lap High Five Guy was yelling out about beer, so all through that lap I couldn’t wait to get to him to claim beer.  Out of breathe I muttered I was 31 and grabbed the can of Pabst Blue Ribbon that had a couple of sips left and eagerly chugged it down to quench my thirst.  I got props for “double sipping” before tossing the can to drop into the second ditch drop.  Damn, I’m such a cyclocrosser now 😀

I actually didn’t end up in last place, Jenny had a mechanical (or so I think, she was carrying her bike) and there were a few DNF’s so I was 24th out of 27 or so.  Not good enough for BRAC Cross Cup points, but meh.  I got high fives and beer.  At this point, that’s about as winning as I’ll get!  Four races are left for me this season, so it’s all about shenanigans at this point!

Well, it sure took damn long enough!  FINALLY.  Finally I put all the pieces together for a cyclocross race this year.  I finally felt worthy of my Cat 3 status, finally felt like I raced, finally felt there mentally, and finally ran the 5280 stairs!

I was excited to race again at Valmont, even though the Boulder Cup there in September almost made me end my ‘cross season after hitting a very very very very very low spot.  The weather has been crazy beautiful for this time of year – it was sunny and 70 degrees for the race!  I honestly felt a bit too hot!  They were using a more “traditional” type of Valmont course – so that meant super high speed, lots of pure power sections, and also technical features that lend well to my mountain bike skills.  It was very similar to the CycloX course last year, along with Nationals, which were two races I did well at.

During staging I realized Catherine Pendrel was there, as an added bonus!  I also realized how much of a XCO fan girl I must be, because it seemed like no one else noticed (or cared) that the current XC MTB World Champ was amongst us (she was racing open, and left our 3/4 staging, haha.  though it would’ve been fun to race against her!).  I had a 3rd row call up, no big surprise.  My start was ok, but I didn’t go too crazy because there’s a long climb shortly after the start.

First lap I never lost contact with someone in front of me.  And I got to the dreaded 5280 Stairs, and for the first time in my life, I ran those damn things!  All of them!  I’ve always been able to sprint the Belgian Stairs at Valmont, but the 5280 Stairs have always been a curse.  Not today 😀  I apparently woke up in beast mode!

Second and third laps continued to go well, and yep, I still was running the 5280!  I knew Maureen was coming up behind me, but I was managing to hold her off, especially in the more technical or rough sections.  I was feeling really strong, and proud of my cornering and staying off the brakes.  And hey, I was clearing the table top jumps on the fast descent!  Woohoo!

On the fourth lap Maureen caught my wheel on the long start/finish stretch and passed me on the climb.  I stuck with her well, and ran half way up the 5280 stairs, and then I had to walk.  I was tired and I knew even if I somehow got past her on the run up she’d come around again on the longer straight aways.  Needless to say, she did manage to gap me by the end of the lap, and I do believe finished 9 seconds ahead of me.  So I “won” last place again, but by the closet margin to date!  There were actually 4 or 5 of us within a minute of each other, and I finished 4 minutes off the winner, which is a considerably smaller gap than previous races!

As I was coming into the finishing straight I heard a pack of cat 4 girls behind me (only two had caught me this race up until that point) and I did the most insane sprint of my life!  Seriously, totally wish I had a power meter for that!  I was lifting my front wheel I was mashing so hard… I crossed the line solo and at about 24 mph.  Woohoo!  Seriously, not sure where this beast mode came from for this race, but I was loving it!

Funny enough, it was my best race of the season, and there were no photographers… so there’s no photos of this epicness 😦

Compared to last year’s CycloX Valmont, I averaged over 1mph faster and my lap times were a minute or more faster.  Wow!  OK, I needed this race.  Finally I could compare to last year and see how much I’ve improved, and I finally had a great race in SW3.  Oh Valmont, thanks for tickling my soul and making up for the horrid day of the Boulder Cup!

Now I’m feeling a bit better going into the final races of the season… I have 3 races left on my “CycloX 5-Pack,” so I’ll be at Interlocken this weekend, make an appearance at the Cheyenne Cross on Sunday, take Halloween weekend off due to my BFF’s wedding at DISNEY WORLD!!!, then CycloX Sierra Lake, Mile High Urban Cross Chaos, CycloX Louisville, regional championships, and state championships.  Whew… it’s winding down!

I think I just may like cyclocross again.  Mildly.

Xilinx is one of my favorite courses except for all the pavement, but it’s definitely not a course that plays well to my strengths, because even on the parts that do work for me, I’m behind other riders that are brake happy.  But I think it’s a pretty course, and it winds through some trees, and this year it had a good 50 foot or longer stretch of mucky muddy water… woohoo, mud pit!!

It was another hot race (disadvantage to a September start for cross).  Pretty sure I had the last call up or so.  My start was good, was in the front-ish of the long pavement stretch, then people started acting like crazy roadies.  I almost got taken out by a junior racer who was in our category, which luckily I had quick enough reflexes to grab the brakes as she swerved into my front wheel.  I kinda backed off at this point.  I’m scared of death of wrecking on pavement, and besides, I’d be finishing near the back anyway.  Once on top we drop down into the trees and there’s “drop.”  I use the term “drop” VERY loosely, as it’s not by any means a drop in the mountain biking world.  This is always a frustrating part for me because everyone goes so sssslllllloooooooowwwwwwww off of it.  Then it’s some single track-ish stuff through the trees and over a bridge with some roots, and then up to some barriers, drops down some more bumpy roots, and then back out on the pavement.  This stretch is about the only part I am super good at, but like I said, it’s impossible with other riders around to really haul butt through it.  I’m pretty sure I was already last by all of this.  Whatever, I wanted to have fun!

After some more hellish pavement you’re back on the grass/dirt for some quick corners and a very fast descent (if you keep off the brakes).  Then it was a bit of peanut butter and then the glorious mud pit!  Super long, and also very deep, I’d give it a good foot in parts, with some holes in it that sunk you further in.  Oh man did I have the smile on my face!  If only the whole course was the mud pit… then I might’ve done well!

Then it’s a lot of curvy corner stuff out in the grass.  Fun, but it’s a pure power section which isn’t my strength off the mountain bike (so weird how I’m a power rider on the mountain bike, but not during cyclocross).  The last bit turns back to some peanut butter for some of the most awkward barriers in the world (can’t come into them with any sort of speed) and back up through the start/finish. I did pass another gal in my category, and realized Maureen was behind us so I wasn’t last.  Huh.  Weird.

Third lap I took a hot dog hand up from Malcolm at the top of the first barriers.  Quite fun trying to figure out how to shove the hot dog in my mouth while Malcolm pushed me along.  I always wanted a hot dog hand up, so one ‘cross dream come true!  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best of ideas… I rode nearly half a lap with a half chewed soggy hot dog in my mouth, and then when I did get it swallowed my stomach cramped up.  Booo.

So unlike in 2013, I did all 4 laps, and wasn’t pulled so I’m 4/4 for full races this year, which is nice.  Maureen caught me about halfway through the last lap, and unfortunately on the fast downhill I got stuck behind two Cat 4 girls who were taking things a whee bit too slow (there’s a rock slab that sticks up like 2 inches, and I think everyone was taking it slow.  Me, well I tried to catch as much air off of it as I could!).  I tried to be patient, and got around one in the peanut butter mud again, and another in the sloshy mud pit when she fell over.  By then Maureen had way too big of a gap so I just survived until the finish.  On the finishing pavement stretch I actually stood up and sprinted.

Woohoo, 18th place!  And I was all muddy!  And I had a hot dog!

Someone told me “Ugh, the 4’s are so much funner, I feel bad for you.”  I agree.  Too uber serious in 3’s.  Oh wellllllll.  My lap times this year were slower than last year’s, surprisingly – granted there was no mud pit last year.  But I think I just didn’t care for this race.  Honey badger just didn’t care.

I was super thirsty so I raided the Clif tent for lemon-lime hydration mix, which was awesome by the way.  Then I had a photographer who is doing a before/after project take my after photo.  Suzie was also racing so I sat down to catch her SW Open race – her first race as a Cat 1, woo woo!  After she was done we attempted to scrub down the bikes and ourselves and sat in the shade and watched the open men.  It was a pretty good day!  I think I can still like this cyclocross stuff…

2014 cyclocross season is here!!!

I love cyclocross because it’s like a crazy family reunion of your closest, kooky, fun, crazy relatives that figuratively live far away that you don’t get to see any other time of year.  I really haven’t seen Nick or Malcolm in nearly a year, and there they were heckling me every lap!  And since cyclocross is super chill, you add new members to your family every race, and the family grows and grows… then you go 9 months without seeing each other until September and the family reunion starts all over again!  Then you’re racing having them yelling at you that you don’t look like you’re racing, and you’re getting big hugs afterward, and drinking beer, and heckling Jeremy Powers.  Life is good when it’s cyclocross season!

So I was really nervous about the start of the season.  Initially I was super excited to be upgraded to cat 3 because  of my cat 1 MTB upgrade, then I really realized I’d be finishing dead last in every race.  This year was a turning point in where I built more endurance in the 1.5-2 hour range which helped for road and mountain biking, but I did stray far from all out, 40 minute long efforts – which is exactly what cyclocross would be.  I arrived early, which was good because I picked up some goat heads during the COTN Kick Off Party group ride the day before, and my front tire was flat.  I changed out the tube, and checked my rear and it was down to 20psi from 50, but I couldn’t find anything stuck in the tire.  I’m super bad at changing a rear tube (aka I can’t figure out how to get my rear wheel off… I’m a noob), so I pumped it up and I didn’t hear any hissing.  I rode up, got my number, rode back and struggled to figure out how to pin my number onto my skinsuit.  My normal “landmarks” were missing since there’s no rear pockets.  I winged it, put the suit on, took it off, and repinned it.  First world issues…

Now that I was dressed I took the pit bike up, and discovered that riding and pushing another bike at the same time is sketchy and is not easy.  I ended up walking it through the parking out.  Ran into Deb and Terri, woohoo!  Jumped in for a pre-ride, and though the course was slightly different (and not snowy and icy) than December, it was familiar.  I really like the course at Rhyolite Park, I find it to be very “mountain bikey” with fast descents and corners.  There’s also minimal grass, which I love because I HATE GRASS.  There was even the mud bog, which was decently deep and did a good job mudding up my bike before the race even started.  After the pre ride I went back to the car and checked my rear tire, and it had dropped 10 psi so this time I aired it up to about 55psi, thinking if I just had a bunch of air in it, I could maybe survive the race without a bike swap.

Soon it was time to line up.  The SW3 group didn’t have a big field size – just 10 – compared to the 25 or so SW4 women.  I had the last call up, go me (my USAC ranking tanked when I upgraded, go figure… otherwise I would’ve had first or second call up in SW4).  The start was crazy fast, which again is something I haven’t had to deal with all year because I’ve been learning to start slow so I stop doing my “win the holeshot, finish 25th” thing.  The girl to my left threw an elbow and I was like “wahhhh big girl racing sucks.”  I was actually pretty disheartened when I watched the other 9 girls pedal away from me.  But I tried, and didn’t allow more than a few seconds build between me and the next place.  The first time through the mud bog Katie crashed so I got around her, and another girl was having mechanic issues or something so briefly I wasn’t last.  That didn’t last too long, as Elizabeth came around me on the finishing stretch and overtook me.

Second lap through before the big run up (which I walked… I should’ve tried riding it!  I didn’t realize this until I watched the pro men ride it and realized that I probably could’ve done it) Malcolm yelled to me that it didn’t look like I was racing.  I yelled back that grass sucks.  (Grass section leads up to run up).  I still was keeping 9th place in my sights, so I realized that I was actually racing, and it wasn’t a complete blow out ass kicking quite yet.  The first two laps felt like hell and my body didn’t know what to do, but the third lap I seemed to be falling into a rhythm.  I rode the sand just so I could yell at Shawn to take my photo (I do it all for the race photos…), and I took a different line through the mud bog which caused a huge splash – yay another good photo!  I was laughing and having fun. Last December I took a photo of Georgia Gould on her way to her state pro title and it was used by the Fort Collins newspaper and I printed it out and framed it for my bike room… every time I rode that corner today I broke out into a huge smile because I remembered that photo.  So really I was smiling a lot!  Cross is fun!

Last lap pretty soon after the line I put myself on Elizabeth’s wheel going into the grass.  A spectator yelled “Yeah, go get her, attack!” and I did.  She gapped me slightly on the grass but we came into the run up together and dammit, I RAN that damn hill!  I didn’t look back, and just kept going!  I had been caught by the two leaders of SW4 on this lap, but I was also lapping the back of SW4, and wasn’t anywhere close to being lapped by SW3, so I was happy.  I knew what had happened in December when I wrecked which allowed me to lose 11th place on this course, so I focused on being smooth and keeping the tires on the ground.  I pranced through the sand pit, singing “I’m running in the sand, I’m running in the sand” and flailing my arms around.  Yeah, I never said I was normal.  Terri laughed so it was all good!  Got to the mud pit, took my normal line which sent a glob of mud up and onto my cheek.  Bo and some other spectators complimented me on the mud face and I laughed some more.  I was truly having fun!  Soon it was all over!  I rounded the last corner and these guys were staring so I asked if I had something on my face, LOL!  Shawn was at the finish line snapping photos, and I had to resist posting up just to be a nerd.

9th place (aka second from last) in 39 minutes 17 seconds!  First cat 3 race done and done!

OK, now I know it wasn’t snowy and icy, but I did 4 laps today 2:20 faster than I did 3 laps in December.  Course conditions of course came into play, but some also has to be increased fitness and especially endurance!  I really felt like I was kinda getting a groove later in the race, which wasn’t the case last year.  Oh, and if you take my time, I would’ve been 3rd in SW4… whoa.  I know you can’t exactly compare like that, but in a way you can  and it at least tells me that I might’ve been in the right category in SW3 after all, and I just have to gain more cross-specific fitness and sharpen my skills (you don’t even wanna see me “hop” barriers right now… it’s pathetic) over this season.  I guess I’m just fighting “well, this is how I was last year” thoughts, and really I shouldn’t do that because I actually trained for this year and a lot of my mountain bike skills like cornering have improved which has carried over.  Gosh, Heidi, just deal with it, you’re a cat 3, and you belong there!

I hung around for the pro races and had a beer with my ‘cross family and then headed home.  Whew, it’s finally here!  Next up are the big big UCI Boulder races next weekend, which I unfortunately race at 7:30am and 8am for so those will be early mornings.  Boulder Reservoir didn’t treat me so well last year, and I am finding the 40t chain ring to be too big, so we’ll see how it all goes.  Sunday’s race will be at Valmont, which is my favorite course!

(Post will be updated with photos as I get them, as for now, it’s a lot of pretty text!)

I kind  of wanted to race on the way to and from Nationals just to race in different areas and keep the legs going, so I found the FORC Side Thrill Ride happening at Sunderbruch Park in Davenport, IA on July 13th.  The weather was touch and go, with the area receiving a lot of rain, but luckily the race happened with a 2 hour delay.  After a miserable night with bugs and tons of rain at my campsite, I was more than ready to get up and get the race going and get on my way across the country.

Due the the weather I didn’t get any sort of pre-riding in, so I decided to just race blind and see what happens.  Sometimes I think this is an advantage as I don’t have time to create hang ups in certain parts (like that damn rock at nationals…) and I can’t stress about something on course.  It’s also a disadvantage because I don’t know what’s coming up.  I had already decided that I wouldn’t ride at full race pace, as I needed to keep my body and “back up” bike in one piece for the big show in Pennsylvania.  So I showed up, ate a baked potato from Wendy’s – my appetite had been crap so far on the trip and I pretty much had to force myself to eat.  I drank a TON of water beforehand, trying to hydrate for the humidity.  It was a decent day, not too hot, and not too sweltering, but course it still affects me.  I noticed in warm up I had a hard time elevating my heart rate even during sprint efforts.  Definitely weird racing at almost seal level, and I’m not sure my body knew what to do.

There were 4 ladies in the cat 2 race.  I didn’t know anything about them and they didn’t know anything about me.  Kinda nice, as I had no pre-expectations built in.  I told them all I was aiming for 4th place.  Hell, I didn’t know how it would go!  The start was on some grass that reminded me a lot of cyclocross.  I hung on the wheel of Marta and let her take the lead.  It was an ok pace, through the curves in the grass but once we hit the pavement climb to Kickapoo Up, I was struggling to remain patient.  She went into granny gear for Kickapoo Up and I was still in my big ring and in a way harder gear rearing to go.  So when Kickapoo Up kicked us out to cross the path and disappear into the single track I took the passing opportunity and never looked back!

The course was mostly tight and curvy single track through the trees, with occasional log ramps and a few drops.  There was a tricky stepped switchback that was still greasy from the rain that I handled ‘cross style, and the course marshall told me I was the fastest through that all day!  Woohoo, go me!  There were a lot of steep, punchy climbs and some were still very slippery so it became a scramble up them, sometimes sliding down (I needed my toe spikes in my shoes apparently).  I was going fast, but felt comfortable and at just a casually fast pace.  I noticed my heart rate was in the 180s, but I didn’t feel out of breath at all!  That’s when I realized this is what doping must feel like… I mean, that sounds terrible.  But I was just GO GO GO and my body was happy.  I knew I still very much had my high altitude blood cell levels going on, and I was just in total beast mode.  Apparently I need to train/live at 7000 feet, and only race at sea level.  Haha.

About half way through where the course doubles back on itself a course marshall let me know I had well over a minute.  So I settled in and just enjoyed the course.  I loved how many course marshals and spectators there were in the trees, playing music, cheering, etc!  I’m not use to that at races so it made it a lot of fun!  I’m glad I chose to ride my Specialized Fate, as the course wasn’t too bumpy (just rooty), and the punchy climbs called for a hard tail.

I used only a bottle, and had good success with hydrating while racing with my Osmo.  I came through for my second lap, and finally could play in the grass corners and also take long drinks.  I still felt amazing, though I did allow myself to slow considerably since I knew I had a very large cushion.  The rear derailleur on the Fate was clicking and misbehaving so I wanted to keep the bike in one piece as well.  I rode more of the log ramps and drops since I knew how slippery they would be.  Towards the end I nailed a group of punchy climbs into a rock drop that I ran the first lap.  I hauled butt down Kickapoo Down, going off the small drop (there’s a flat go around for it, but what fun is that!), and had to gather myself and remain upright when I came into a corner a little too hot.  Crossed the finish line with a big smile!

1:38:15 was my official time.  I had a 6.5 minute cushion over 2nd place… whoa!  It felt amazing to have a dominating performance for once in cat 2!

I won both Cat 2 Women Overall and my 30-39 age group!  What was even better is the awards were super unique and handmade out of chunks of wood!  Always better than a generic medal in my opinion!  I had to take off early before awards so I could make it to my campsite in Indiana before dark unfortunately 😦

Fun race, very fun course, great spectators!  It was all well run!  I’d definitely attend another FORC race if I was in the area!  I ended up skipping racing in Chicago on the way home from Nationals (just tired and eager to get home), so I’m glad I got at least one midwest race in during my trip.

I came, I raced, I conquered those damn rocks!

I talked in my last blog post about how Nationals this year for me was mostly about racing myself and just worrying about putting in a good effort against myself.  I think the strategy worked out!  I stayed rubber side down, I rode a heck of a lot more than I even imagine I could, and I slid in under 2 hours total, which surprised me!

The weather this year was way different than last year, luckily!  I felt good going into the race, though I was annoyed to discovered on my way to the bathroom in the lodge that my start got pushed back 48 minutes.  I wish I would’ve known this the night before (just another annoying thing USAC did this week… ’nuff said) as I could’ve slept in longer and also I wouldn’t have been so quick to eat breakfast.  Darn.  So I spun, hung out at the car, spun, hung out at the car.  I was busy chatting up Kim and her husband as they looked for their results and realized I had to pee at the “one minute to staging warning.”  HAHA.  Made my way through the gazillion male cat 2’s to my ladies.  Amy was back from last year – luckily as a 40 year old 😛  I finally met Robin, who I had followed on Instagram for some time.  We all stood around in the sun for what felt like an eternity.  They did call ups, which was neat.  I had second call up (surprising considering the lack of USAC races I have done this year!), and got to ride to the starting line as they said my name, team, town, yadda yadda.  There were only 4 of us ladies in cat 2 30-39.

The start was stupid fast… which well… is something I haven’t had all year!  I’ve spent all year training my sprinter self to start slow, and crap, there goes Robin like she’s being chased by a rabid dog.  Robin, Philicia, and I had a sizable gap going on the single track, with Robin up by herself.  On that damn first single track climb where I rode into the bushes last year my rear wheel spun and I had to walk. What the hell… what the hell?!  I jumped back on, and an annoying spectator told me to stop rolling my wrists under.  I just really hate unsolicited advice, especially while I’m racing. My rolled under wrists and I caught Philicia’s rear wheel rather quickly and I decided to just sit in and see what happens.  So we rode together through the forest, over the rocks.  On the first yucky climb that is a 50/50 split of me actually trying to ride it I made the mistake of following Philicia’s line, and she had to come off and walk, which meant I had to.  I passed her walking and took over 2nd place.  I hurried to the top, cyclocross mounted and powered my way over the flats.  I’m probably what some would consider a “power rider,” so I used the old narrow gauge mining roads to put down some speed on a course that doesn’t favor a power rider whatsoever.

I realized that the course is a lot harder at race pace when you’re cross eyed and redlined.  It took a lot more concentration than my practice runs had.  I continued to feel strong on the gravel and grass climbs to the summit, and I didn’t see Philicia behind me.  I skipped the summit water table (I had a Camelbak anyway) and headed down the single track for the damn Bear Creek rocks and roots.  I worked my way around the rocks cautiously.  I knew there was no hope in the world of catching Robin unless she had some sort of catatrosphic mechanical or wreck (though I did briefly think about how I thought that last year and then Alyssa vanished out of thin air giving Amy and I the top two spots), so I just wanted to ride safely for myself.  I didn’t know what to expect of Philicia… from USAC I knew she had raced pro years ago (!!!???) so who knew what tricks she’d have.  I nailed all the bridge crossings and the mud root pit which I called a “filthy whore” over and over until I got through it (hahahaha).  I went up and over a huge log ramp thingy that I walked last year, and felt good, but had the feeling Philicia was behind me.  She was, dammit!

I got my front wheel off my line on a rocky descent down onto the Bridge That Heidi Will Never Be Able to Ride Because It Sucks, and bobbled and had to stop, which allowed Philicia to pass me.  Since I was close to said bridge, I just ran it as I knew I’d waste more time trying to get on it and ride than running.  Philicia took off into the sunset.  OK, I was in 3rd.  I could handle that.  Now I was on the “10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain” rock garden switchback segment.  I dabbed a few times but rode it strong (missed my goal for the segment on Strava by only 2 seconds!), even clearing all the switchbacks for the first time.  At the top I went to switch back into my big chain ring (I baby chain ringed it for this segment only, otherwise no granny gear this year!) and my chain decided it wanted to lodge itself between my wheel and cassette.  It took about a minute for me to get it yanked out and back into place, and this kinda solidified Philicia getting away from me I think.  I passed a guy who was on his 2nd flat of the race, so I was thankful all I was having was chain issues!

Oh, the heckle pit.  Time to drop down into it… Down the first descent… riding smoothly.  Saw the final rock, stopped.  Effing rock!  It’s all mental!  Get back on and start up the steep descent and my left heel goes under my rear triangle and my shoe jams into my wheel.  WHAT THE HELL?!  By then a heckler took to too much heckling (seriously dude, where was your bike?  Why weren’t you racing?  See ya at high altitude sometime, I’ll have a word or two for you then), and I debated getting off and punching him.  But I continued on, clearing some rocky drop things.  Almost went OTB by a photog but bailed in time.  He got me while I was still on the bike, haha.  Which is great, the photo shows how messed up the line I was taking was:

I continued down the descending switchbacks and realized that last year I had walked from the top of the heckle pit all the way down beyond the last descending switchback… and this year I was still riding!  I was riding stuff I didn’t even ride in practice!  So I had a huge smile, and I had two separate spectators tell me I was only the second person to come through this section smiling!  Woohoo!  I feel like I had a ton to smile about!!  I got in a good rhythm and just rode those damn rocks like I had been riding these trails my entire life.  I finished up all the rocks and roots at the bottom (though I had taken to getting my handlebars stuck on every tree possible… time for shorter handlebars), and headed through for a second lap.

For the second lap I went back and forth with a few cat 2 20-29 women.  It was good motivation to keep pedaling, as that second lap was downright killer.  I was tired, nothing more nothing less.  I was hydrated, so that was on track.  Just pooped was all!  I knew I was riding a lot slower, and I started to get messier on the rocks.  Also, the phantom severe pain that comes and goes in my left big toe started in, in the worse way ever!  I tried to ignore it, but sometimes it took all I had to keep my foot clipped in and still pedaling.  (This is after I had been battling a pebble in my right shoe the entire race… princess and the pea action going on hardcore!) The second time around in the segment of percentages was a hot mess as the girls in front of me couldn’t ride stuff, so until I got around them I had to walk, which sucked because that portion really is about just going at a good rhythm.  Once I was around them I cleaned it nicely.  The heckle pit was nearly gone, just two (nicer) guys, and once again I couldn’t ride down that final rock.  Down the descending switchbacks was a mess as well, as my mojo was gone.  I knew it was all about staying upright on the bike and foregoing any mechanicals, I’d be in 3rd place!  Coming out of the woods onto the gravel was an amazing feeling…

Then…

USA Cycling ruined the feeling.

Sigh.

There’s nothing like riding and finishing underneath a national championship arch banner.  And they took that from me (and quite a few other competitors). Due to THEM moving the cat 2 start later, it ran into the junior’s short track start.  And since juniors rule everything (no, I’m not bitter… well, yes I am.  I’m 30, I don’t have as many years left in me!), they gated off the finish and I finished down away from the crowds, away from the announcer, away from everything by the ski patrol lodge to a grouchy official going “you’re done.”  Wow.  Thanks USAC, that was worth the 4000 mile drive.  So that was my anticlimactic finish to what I felt like was one of my stronger races this year, despite all the messiness on the second lap.

1 hour 59 minutes 16 seconds!

Whoa, under 2 hours!  I didn’t think I’d pull that off!  9 minutes off second (Philicia), who was 9 minutes off first (Robin, of course!), and I was 36 minutes ahead of the 4th place finisher (rawr, go me).  Definitely not the murdering or clobbering I was expecting, and I thought my effort was good for someone who does not ride this terrain ever (unless I do Headquarters repeats in the rain, haha).  Given another week or two on Bear Creek, and I know I would’ve cut even more time off… but that’s the beauty of nationals, it’s very rarely everyone’s home court advantage… can I put a bid in for a nationals at Gowdy, though?  Haha

Philicia and I hung around forever waiting for results, and finally I decided to just go get cleaned up and get food.  I took off to Wawa for a 10″ hoagie (which I quickly devoured!) and spent time with the Sauchon Valley bike team folks, who my friend Kim is on.  Realized USAC was messing up results all over the place (like DNF-ing people that they personally pulled), so I ran to make sure I was properly placed.  I was.  Whew!

I came, I raced, I conquered my own personal race 😀  So much better than last year, and dare I admit that I started to grow to like the course?!  Sure, not my cup of daily tea, but it’s ok once a year or so!

I’m happy I went with my ’13 Specialized Epic Expert as my bike of course.  I had briefly considered my hard tail, and I’m so glad I didn’t.  Sure, definitely would’ve given me an advantage on the climbing, but bouncing around those rocks would’ve been too much. The Epic did great on it’s second go-round of PA rocks, and aside from the one chain issue it didn’t miss a beat!  I am missing the back cover of my right hand shifter now…

I am super excited that nationals moves to Bend, OR for the next two years… it’s only about a 15 hour drive, and from what I can gather from photos, the terrain and rocks are much closer to what we have here in Wyoming so it’ll be a bit easier of a learning curve!  And hello to riding at elevation again!  The downfall is I know this year was quite possibly the last year I’ll be on a nationals podium for a long, long, long time.  Cat 1 is going to be an ass kicking and painful learning experience.  It took me about a half an hour of staring at the upgrade request before I could submit it.  As much as I want to be Cat 3 in cross, I’m not sure I’m going to exactly enjoy Cat 1 mountain biking.  Then I remember all the higher level non sanctioned races I do and how I still have a good time, so hopefully it all works out!  It’ll be nice to finally race for a Stars n Stripes jersey and National Champion title, too (cat 2 and cat 3 are not considered national championship classes)!

Thank you Bear Creek for the last two years, and the nice scar I’ll have my shin from practice last Tuesday!  I’ll miss you a tiny bit, but not enough to come visit 😛

The quick and dirty lowdown on the US Cup:

1. Puking while racing sucks
2. Heart rate of 200 beats per minutes that you can’t slow down while racing sucks
3. 93 degree weather while racing sucks
4. I magically became a fast descender over night that can huck my bike off big drops (and I mean big “cross country” drops)
5. 2nd place had 14 minutes on me, whoops
6. Pulpit Rock is my least favorite mountain bike course… even the Rumble at 18 Road course has it beat
7. Shivering 4 minutes into the race is a bad omen
8. I survived
9. Not only did I survive, but I closed a good 30-40 second gap in the first lap to take over 3rd place with my new gnarly descending skills
10. I survived to 3rd place, got a sweet trophy and a state championship medal!

Seriously, that pretty much sums it up.  The WORSE race EVER.  Sliding in the Fruita mud and taking out expensive bike parts was funner than this.  Cracking ribs at the Gowdy Grinder was funner than this.  Racing in 10 degree weather at Altitude Adjustment Cross was definitely funner than this.

The Colorado Springs US Cup was the final in the series.  It’s a pretty big UCI race for the pros, and for us amateurs it served as the Colorado State XC MTB Championships.  I decided to “pre-ride” the course by watching the pro women’s race on Saturday on the live steaming, which made the course seem flat, non-technical, and fast.  It wasn’t really any of those things once I actually rode it, oops.  I knew it was going to be a hot one (mid 90s), so I settled for racing with the evil Camelbak and made sure to load up with my Osmo pre-hydration stuff and Endurolytes and that stuff.  I did a practice lap with Suzie and immediately I was feeling the heat even at 10am.  My practice lap went horrible, to the point I managed to wedge my chain between the cassette and rear wheel AND the baby chain ring and the frame.  I still don’t know what caused that to happen.  I was drenched in sweat and already wanting to get in the car to drive home.

We lined up at 10:30am under the huge archway (it felt soooo pro!).  There were 4 of us in Cat 2 women, and I already knew one would beat me because she always does, and the other two I didn’t know.  We went off with the Cat 1 and Cat 3’s all in one group.  Immediately my body just said no.  Which sucked, because my legs were fine.  But my heart hates heat, and when it gets to 195bpm and just stays there even when I try to recover, I just can’t put anything out.  The Cat 2’s left me in the dust, but I managed to grab Marie’s wheel, who is a crazy fast Cat 1, on the pavement climb and some of the dirt two track.  The course has the consistently of baby powder, which means crappy traction.  We made our way up to the first big climb, which is impossible to ride, unless you’re Catherine Pendrel (I saw a photo of her still riding it near the top), which I’m not.  We all came off our bikes and started the steep push to the top.  This is when I started to shake with chills and goosebumps.  GREATTTTTT.  About 4 minutes in or so, and I was already feeling the heat exhaustion/stroke crap.

The part up top was a mess to deal with in the pack.  Girls were walking nearly all the technical climbs, and I was at nearly 200bpm just trying to survive.  I caught a glance of the 3rd place gal in Cat 2, Erin going down the steep, techy descent that has three drops that I normally would never try to ride because I have “Career&Mortgage-itis” and she didn’t seem to be going as fast as I could expect.  So I just bombed down.  Scary, yes… but then I realized there’s no reason why I can’t ride things like that.  I flew down that descent and closed up the gap.  The course turned back to a climb coming through feed zone 1, so Erin quickly sped away as I struggled to get the legs to do anything.  The small recovery I got on the descent didn’t do much as my heart decided once again to just go to max.  The course enters an area with about 4 or so punchy steep climbs that normally I would be able to climb if I wasn’t red-lined and if I wasn’t wading through baby powder, so off the bike I came.  I was feeling pretty dejected at this moment, and I started to get queasy under the non-relenting sun (no shade whatsoever on this course…).  I tried to drink down water when I could.  By now I knew Erin had a good 30-40 seconds, if not more, on me.

Luckily it turns to a descent with rideable climbs (to a point) after this, so I made up ground on the downhills.  There’s one last punch before feed zone 2 and the finish where I finally caught Erin again.  I stayed on her rear wheel until the feed zone, and then I made my move and zipped around.  I knew she was climbing way better than me, so I figure I had to put in the distance on the flats and downhills while I could to remain in 3rd place.  By the start of the 2nd lap I just started regurgitating any water I tried to drink, fun times!

Erin caught me at the base of the steep hike-up hill.  The course marshal at the top asked me if I was OK and urged me to stop if I had to.  I wanted to, oh so bad.  But every race I have those “oh just stop and take a DNF” moments so I didn’t pay much attention, although I know I was really physically out of the game, not mentally.  Mentally I was pissed I wasn’t able to do what my legs wanted me to do, and that I was riding way worse than I really can ride.  I got to the top, and committed to riding all the tech climbs, which I did, including a steep sandy punch.  I was pleased to finally see that I was able to live up to at least a few of my mountain biking abilities.  I hit the descent again, and coming through feed zone 1 I saw I had a very good gap on Erin, so I worked as much as my body would allow to keep it.  In the Land of Punchy Climbs I Couldn’t Ride, Sarah a single speeder caught me.  I thought I was being lapped, honestly, but she was just behind me the whole time.  She eventually got around me on the last punchy climb that I could almost make it to the top, but not quite (story of my day).  I didn’t see Erin anywhere behind me, but I didn’t take any chances and pushed the descents.

Came through the start/finish, and puked back up a drink of my Osmo I took in.  I came through for my third lap.  I had a motorcycle police officer behind me on the pavement climb and I joked to a pre-rider that he was going to pull me over for going so slow.  Same torturous stuff, yadda yadda.  Suzie’s man, Cody, handed me up cold water in the feed zone to dump on myself, which was heavenly.  I still wasn’t seeing Erin, so I felt confident that I just had to ride smartly and finish.  Really I just wanted to survive my embarrassingly slow race.  In the Land of Punchy Climbs I was caught by the Cat 1 junior girls and lapped, which is always a nice feeling, haha.  I came through the start/finish for my final 4th lap, and saw Erin off on the side, so I realized that she DNF’d and that I really, seriously, just had to survive to make it to the podium!

The final hike-up the big climb sucked.  I had to take several breaks on the way up, and the course marshal poured cold water down my back.  I sat at the top with my head on my handlebars for about 20 seconds just trying to control my heart rate.  By now the Cat 1’s were lapping me.  Marie caught me, and she didn’t know she was in 2nd place, so she was hollering that she was getting her butt kicked.  I got another bottle of ice water from Cody in the feed zone and gave myself a shower with it.  So I was a hot, heat exhausted, soggy mess with my jersey unzipped and flapping in the breeze and mud everywhere.  Super sexy sight!  Suzie caught me in Land of Punchy Climbs.  I rode pass some spectators and assured them I was racing, just going super slow.  That finish lap was just about one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen as I rolled through it at 1 hour 41 minutes 48.71 seconds.

14 minutes slower than 2nd place…. definitely not my best race… actually, just might be one of my worse races ever.  It was just so frustrating, as my legs felt good and wanted to go go go and I just couldn’t.  The heat was just that killer for me!  (Garmin read 93 degrees average during my race) And it wasn’t just the heat, there was absolutely no shade.  At least, for example, in PA on the nationals course it’s all shaded so at least the sun isn’t broiling you alive!  The course was a lot tougher than they made it sound, which frustrated me more as I knew I could ride a lot of those punchy climbs but just couldn’t this day.

Suzie, Marie, and I went for a cool down spin, and since finally my heart rate dropped away from max, I felt good… it was no granny gear spin (well, at least not for me), and my legs responded.  That just frustrated me even more, as I wish I could’ve done that during my race!!

The thing I wanna see most is the photos from the pro photog that was on the drops during the descent… I’m being impatient!  Never mind I looked like a hot mess (even my number plate was ripped off on one corner and dangling) and had a pain face!

I’m not sure I learned much from this race… I just can’t tolerate heat.  and I’m not sure there’s much I can do about that short of racing in a cooling vest.  However, this does make the need of a hand up of ice on my second lap at nationals that much more important!  I’m glad I worked hard on the 1st lap to close what I thought was an impossible gap, too!

And once again, the time of year is here for the Laramie Mountain Bike Series!

I did skip a couple of race reports because I didn’t have a whole lot to say, but I’ll tie up loose ends… I raced at the Wyoming State Games in Casper on June 15th.  The race had been postponed to a day I didn’t work so I figured “why not?” and made the drive up!  It was a low key race that took place on trails and single track at some parks in Casper.  Very much a power course with one steep climb up an old paved road, and haulin’ descents.  The other lady signed up for Expert Women seemingly didn’t race the whole expert race, so I rode the 15.7mile race pretty much to a solo win in Expert Women.  Horrible 30mph headwinds going out, flying coming back on the loop.  Not too bad of a race, I hope they can up participation numbers in future years!  I did qualify for the 2015 State Games of America in Lincoln, NE, which is neat!  It’ll definitely be something to keep in mind when planning next year’s race calendar.

In between races I was riding one afternoon on the Cheyenne Greenway, heading home after a ride on some of the northern Cheyenne county roads where I was in a head on collision on a blind corner coming out of a tunnel.  I was smacked off my road bike, and it banged up my left arm and hip pretty well.  What the heck is up with this summer, and getting hurt?!  Luckily the road bike made it out ok, except for a shifting issue that occurs only in one specific gear.  It was just an unfortunate accident, and I just hope the other party involved learned to take it a little easier on those corners, or at least don’t ride down the wrong side.  And I’ve learned to be scared as heck of the Greenway!

June 17th marked the first race of the Laramie Mountain Bike Series.  I placed 3rd in Advanced Women on the Epic, the first time racing on that bike this year!  Unfortunately the whole race was kinda bland for myself, and I ended up kicking myself for not racing Open as I felt too fresh at the end of the race and knew I could’ve done a longer course.  I handled the technical climb up the Summit loops really well, only dabbing for a second once, so that was a proud moment!  I felt like I descended the technical parts well, and was oh so thankful to be on the Epic!  I was also proud of myself because I used a strange concept called race tactics and didn’t blast off at the start like I was sprinting for my life!  It was the slowest start of my life, and I actually sat up a bit and started humming, waiting for someone else to make the first move!  Ali ended up jumping out, and I got her rear wheel and we flew up the campground climb together.  It was good because I didn’t blow myself up for all the climbing that the start had!  If I can only keep myself in check on starts through cyclocross season, I think I might end my “1st place to 20th place” streak 🙂

Which leads back to where it all began 2 years ago… race #2 in the Laramie Mountain Bike Series!

I wasn’t feeling quite all ok the day of the race – I didn’t sleep or transition well from my 4 days on night shift leading up to it and was exhausted by the time early afternoon hit race day.  The skies also didn’t look good, with raining starting in Cheyenne.  Grudgingly, we made the journey over the hill to Happy Jack.  I was on the fence about upgrading to Open Women, just for the longer miles and to just get to the point of “well, these are the fast girls, and this is the highest category, deal with it,” but was also hesitant about whether or not I was moving up way too soon, getting too eager just to be at the highest level.  Even getting on the bike to go register I was still thinking, until I saw the all too familiar blue and white of a Luna kit!  Georgia Gould came out to race at our humble local series!!!!  I immediately said hi and blurted out some incomprehensible “OK, now I HAVE to race open because you’re here!”  Like that makes sense?  Super fast pro plus super slow me somehow equals racing open?  I digress….

So I was stupidly giddy that I quickly rushed over to claim my pink number plate signifying I was in open.  Jim and I set out to warm up and I think I said about 20 times “Georgia’s racing tonight!”  Granted, she was racing open men, so not even in my class, but we all started at the same time, so for about all of 5 seconds I got to claim I was racing an Olympic medalist, as she quickly sped out of sight with all the fast men soon after that 5 second mark.

The course was 18 miles… two long loops of Meadow, UW loop, Lower UW, Middle Aspen, Aspen, Haunted Forest, Old Happy Jack Rd, Pole Creek, Blackjack, Adler, and the Bypass; follow by one short loop of Meadow, UW Loop, Lower UW, Blackjack, Adler, Bypass.

The first long loop I had placed myself in 3rd out of us 4 gals racing through the beginning climbs and Lower UW.  Doro caught me on Middle Aspen.  She’s an insane descender and I was riding kinda conservatively (though I destroyed my PRs on Middle Aspen!), so she sped off out of sight as I carefully picked my way through the deep ruts and eroded roots.  We turned and begun to climb up Aspen which instantly made me think of Bear Creek in PA as it was muddy, moist, roots, and rocky!  It was a tough, technical climb but I solidly made it up and got myself back on Doro’s rear wheel..  She quickly left me on the Haunted Forest descent, and I recaught her on the double track grind up to the start of Pole Creek.  There were about 5 or so creek crossings – deep ones at that – that added to the fun of the night, and I’m happy I doused the Fate’s chain with WD40 Bike Wet Lube!  By the time I hit Pole Creek I had distanced myself from Doro a bit, but I kept hammering.  Travis and some of the guys of Rock On Wheels ended up behind me, and I somehow managed to jam my pedal into a stump which catapulted me up and then back, which rammed the nose of my seat into areas things should never be rammed into… all the guys collectively freaked out and hunched over I laughed that at least I was female!  The guys got around me, but I continued on.  I flew up Pole Creek, knocking about a 1 minute off my PR.  The climb up Blackjack I bobbled which allowed Doro to come back into sight.  She was on my rear wheel on Bypass when I managed to ride off the edge of the small skinny bridge, smacking into the cross tie which luckily my 29″ wheel rolled over, despite the impact.  I gathered myself, and headed up through the start/finish.  I had a 5 second lead!

Second long lap started, and I managed to put Doro out of my sight on the climb, but she flew past me on Lower UW like I was standing still.  That would be the last I would see of her 😦  On Middle Aspen my seat bag managed to rattle loose and was flopping around on one piece of velcro.  The climb up Aspen didn’t go so well, and I ended up in a conga line of advanced men racers walking up it.  I decided to finally stop and fix my seat bag, and continue on.  My energy was sapped, and I realized I complete idiot for not bringing any nutrition with me.  The difference between racing a typical 13-15 mile course and racing 18 miles was becoming very clear very fast.  I suffered through Pole Creek and Blackjack and came through the start/finish to start my final short loop.  My friend Nichole even commented that I didn’t look too happy as I came through the second time.  It had started raining during my second loop, and during one of the creek crossings I had completely soaked my left foot so it was squishing every pedal stroke.  My gloves where soaked.  I can definitely say I wasn’t having a lot of fun.

During the campground hill climb I caught Travis, who was also really suffering.  I wasn’t expecting that to happen!  The good thing is the moisture helped pack down the sand and dirt, and I felt faster on the descents (though Strava proved this wrong, haha).  Once I got to the top of Upper UW I knew it was mostly descended back to the start which was good.  All I wanted at this point was to not get lapped by Georgia, and so far that plan was working out!  I came up the punch to the parking lot, and did a little sprint and crossed the finish line in 1 hour 49 minutes and change.  I think that was a good 4-5 minutes off of Doro, and 12 off of Sara, who won on her single speed.  I sat up in exhaustion and rolled through the finish with my hands off the bars (but NOT in the air, haha), which was the first time I’ve ever pulled that off.  I was cooked!

I quickly ran to change out of my soggy kit and gear, and enjoyed some adult beverages.  The downside to racing the longer course is all the beef hamburgers were gone, so I had to have a veggie burger.  Needless to say, black beans and I don’t get along so the beer and potato chips had to tie me over.

Overall, I was pleased with this race.  Sure, I’m totally not competitive in open women.  Can I use the excuse I was racing beginner and sliding on my head a mere 2 years earlier?!  But it went well and I don’t feel like it was a blow out where I was so off the back it was embarrassing, nor was I the last one off the course (and I even beat some advanced men who raced on the same course!).  Had things gone better on the second lap on Aspen I think I could’ve had a smaller gap between Doro and I, and if I had brought a gel or some chews that definitely could’ve helped as well with the post-14 mile bonk.  This is part of the reason I wanted to go to Open, as I need to get use to longer distances and times and get the kinks worked out now versus next year in my first Cat 1 races.  The LMBS races are a great place to work out kinks it seems!  Riding in the rain on soggy trails was also a good refresher on riding wet roots for Nationals which is coming up sooner than I was thinking!  So in Open I shall remain, especially since I want a pink number plate, haha!  Plus it’s kinda cool being amongst the Big Girls, and being in the top class!

I’m glad I chose to ride my Specialized Fate this race, as the technical stuff was limited (unlike the week before which ran a lot chunkier course where the full suspension definitely helped on descents) and there was a lot of climbing involved.  Just wish my Awesome Straps would hurry up and arrive so I can do away with that seat bag that likes to come un-Velcro’d on bumpy descents!

Unfortunately I cannot make it to Race #3 as I have to work since I head out to Nationals later that week.  But hopefully I am at the last 3 races of the LMBS!  This weekend I’m racing at the US Cup in Colorado Springs, which will be an excruciating hot (95+ degrees) and long (19 miles) effort for hopefully a good result for USAC rankings.  And then the pinnacle of my summer/season/year begins, and I turn east towards PA, with a pit stop to race in Iowa before returning to conquering the technical descents of Bear Creek, which I am going to FORCE myself to ride, dammit!