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Usually I’m excited for mountain bike race season to end because it means cyclocross starts… this year I was happy to see the end as I could stop with the endurance distance nonsense that had seemed like a good idea last winter.  2015 was an interesting year for mountain bike racing for me… It seemed to be either a high or low, but I learned a lot of lessons, better strategies for racing, and how to keep pushing.

• 20 races, which is a lot!  Not all were major to-dos, and some were

The highlight had to be how the Laramie Mountain Bike Series went for me this year.  Last year in 2014 I placed last in every open women’s race, usually a good 10-20+ minutes off the top 3 gals, so I had low expectations going into the series this year.  I’m always super nervous to race in Laramie since it’s home turf and worry about my results a bit more than most do for that reason.  The first race surprised the crap out of me when I placed 3rd just 1.5 minutes back from the fast girls I always figured I wouldn’t be able to keep up.  I turned around the following week and placed 2nd!  OK, maybe it was a fluke… I tend to get slower as the summer goes on (or does everyone else get faster??), so I was worried going into the LMBS before the Laramie Enduro that I wouldn’t do so hot, especially since it involved a lot of descending and always brings in some racers that are just in town for the Enduro.  Nope, once again 2nd!!  Going into the 5th race of the series I was actually just a few days out from the Leadville 100 and on my taper.  My coach told me to give it a good first lap, and then pull the plug… ha!  I was on FIRE that night, I totally forgot about tapering!  It’s amazing what training + a proper taper can do, and I flew that night, leading from the start and never looking back to win my very first LMBS with a lead of 8 minutes!  The final race of the series came two days after Leadville, and was harder on my physically, but I held on for a 3rd place finish in the 40 degree rainy weather.  I finished 2nd place overall in series points and won a total of $50 over the course of the series in payouts… it was $40 to race the entire series, so I broke even and then some 😀  Nothing beats the Laramie Mountain Bike Series, plain and simple!

 

 

 

 

Another fun time was the New Belgium short track races in Fort Collins.  These are low key races, but are a kick ass workout (and makes me miss cyclocross that much more!).  I had one win in Expert Women, and did it on my first race on my single speed to boot!

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo gave me a super early taste of mountain bike racing, where Naked Women’s Racing took 1st in the 4-person women’s class!  Awesome race, and I was so happy I pulled in 5 very consistent laps under my time goal!  And I am still proud of how the Laramie Enduro went and that I finally went back and finished that race, and pulled a mid pack result in Open Women to boot!  Glendo Trails Fest was a hoot even though the XC race ended up being a lot harder than I could imagine, and I learned I’m horrible at pump tracks.  And the Gunnison Half Growler… well, what a muddy fun time!

It wasn’t always smiles, though.  I had some big disappointments.  The Gowdy Grinder was one of the biggest ones that still pains me to this day.  I really wish I had stayed in Open Women instead of “scaring” myself down in Advanced Women.  It was just set off a domino of events that lead to a very bad race for me, and what I consider a truly embarrassing race result.  It’s the first time I’ve cried at a finish line (hopefully the last, unless it’s happy crying!).  Crashing myself out of 40 in the Fort wasn’t fun either, so I might be back to do that race again in the 20-mile version.  Ridgeline Rampage was a good lesson in pacing, and that my XCO race pace is not appropriate for my first 50 mile race.  I think my body is still trying to digest what happened to it over the 73 miles I did during the Leadville 100.  The Wyocity AMBC up in Casper came seven days after LT100, and my body was destroyed.  The race was held in freezing temperatures and I had not brought anything but a summer kit, which was the first challenge.  I was destroyed physically and mentally on a tough course with a lot of climbing, but held on to finish.  I was the only female in the cat 1 race, which is always harder because my mental toughness wears off when I’m racing against no one.  I wanted to quit after each lap, but held on, and surprisingly came in only 10 minutes after the last cat 1 male!

I’ve been on a two week “off season” since the AMBC where I was given the instructions to “just ride if you want to.”  It’s actually been weird going from many hours a week of training to unstructured nothingness, but I’m starting to feel refreshed and motivated again!  Since both my hardtail and full suspension mountain bikes are essentially broken in different ways (the Epic is still trashed from LT100 with cooked rear brakes, broken spoke, and shocks that need servicing like whoa, and the Fate needs new brake pads, brake bleed, and shifter cables/housings), I’ve been spending quality time on the rigid single speed, getting in rides at Gowdy and loving the simple life where the only option is to go hard or harder.  My single speed Crux also arrived, so I’ve been spending a whole lot of time not shifting!  My legs are hurting a bit, but it’s been fun!  I’m doing a weekday cyclocross race in Golden this coming week, otherwise it’s still a few weekends before I can start that season.  Definitely not as much planned for this year, and I’m finally smart enough to avoid racing at Boulder Reservoir so I can stop bitching about having to race there.

Of course I’ve already begun to think about 2016.  First idea that I’m really playing with is a go at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo in the SOLO female single speed category.  Yeah, solo and no gears… ha!  Damn the allure of the desert… I already have my team name thought of, so I can say I’m quite serious about this!  Other than that, I think my A race will be a return to competing at the National Championships, and give it a first and only go at a Cat 1 title before submitting the big scary upgrade request to a UCI pro mountain bike license!  Seeing that Nationals are back in the picture, so is Rumble at 18 Road and US Cup (if they’re held, of course!).  Other than that… I’m not sure what’s in store!  More awesomeness at the Laramie Mountain Bike Series for sure, the Gowdy Grinder, and hopefully some short track.  Due to Nationals, no Laramie Enduro is on my plate *as of right now*, and the LT100 will never be on my plate for decades to come, if ever again.  A lot of stuff will depend on work and mental state.  I don’t have every weekend off automatically anymore, so I have to balance which events are most important to me!

2016 is still a ways off, though, so for now it’s time to ride bikes, have fun, crash a little, and hope all this single speeding turns me into a beast!

Yesterday I set out to do four hours on the first part of the Laramie Enduro course.  Hoping for a smooth go at it as a kickoff to three days of endurance rides, I ended up getting lost for a good 30 minutes and doing a lot of unnecessary climbing while blindly following mountain bike tire tracks that were not going where I wanted to go.  I got frustrated at having to stop and fiddle with Google Maps to find my way.  Then I kinda realized it…

I’m caught up in a world of numbers and expectations.  This many hours without stopping.  Maintain this, do that, don’t stop here because it’ll mess up the segment time.  Keep focused on the numbers.  Pedal pedal pedal.  Go faster.  Try harder.  Don’t stop and take a deep breath and look around.

Yesterday I did just that – stopped and looked around.  The scenery was gorgeous.  The prairie is still green, uncharacteristic of this time of year.  The sky was deep blue, wildflowers were in bloom everywhere, and a cool gentle wind blew.  I don’t remember these views as I miserably raced the LE in 2013.  Too much pedal pedal pedal, keeping eyes focused on the trail up ahead.  Yesterday I looked up.  I let my speed slow and I pedaled at a steady pace that made it easy to breathe and just look around.  It’s been a crazy three years… going from not touching a bike for fourteen years to diving rather recklessly into competitive cycling.  Traveling, training, racing.  From the nervous newbie who had never ridden a mile without stopping toeing a line at a beginner race to lining up with my pro mountain biker hero behind me on the start line of an open/pro race in three short years.  My parents are right when they say that I don’t get into something unless I’m going to put 110% in and perfect it.

Dirt forest service roads leading essentially nowhere, just me and an overstuffed Camelback and my mountain bike.  And goodness, my phone to keep me from getting lost.  I stopped, checked the map, took photos, just stopped for a breather.  I live at a rather frantic pace and it’s been wearing me down the past few months… on the bike, off the bike, in a shitty career situation, in personal relationships.  With the countdown to the Leadville 100 rapidly approaching as summer slips away (ever the pessimist I am), the already frantic pace gets more frantic.  But holy crap, when did riding a bike become a full time job that I work a real full time for that drains money, energy, time, and life from me when I’m far too old and not talented enough to actually get paid to do it?

 

I churned out just shy of 34 miles in about four miles with twenty minutes of stop time.  Oh lordy, twenty whole minutes of stopped time?!  I mean, who cares that it involved almost T-boning a moose coming around a blind corner leading to a staring contest with the large beast as my heart pounded out of my chest and I thought about how much it’d hurt when it attacked me.  I had twenty minutes of stopped time, argh!

I use to always take photos on rides… road and mountain.  It rarely happens now.  I see stuff – cows, llamas, pretty sights – all the time, but never stop.  Must keep moving.  And I miss it.  When did riding a bike stop being about silly experiences and photos and just enjoying myself?  Yesterday I took photos.  I stopped and chatted with horseback riders that could not believe I was on a 30-odd mile ride on a mountain bike.  I forgot how much normal people find these mundane rides that do not impress anyone in the cycling world absolutely amazing.  I took a few selfies.  I stopped and caught my breathe on Headquarters as I cleaned the climb up perfectly for the first time, though at 3mph.  I stared at a moose staring at me.  I looked at wildflowers.  I looked at the mountains.  I felt blessed to live under these gorgeous Wyoming skies.

Life hasn’t been easy this year.  I struggle with the balance of this fledging semi-pro mountain bike racer thing and life and happiness.  But the past few weeks I’m working towards positive changes.  I’m leaving my current job position and returning to bedside clinical nursing… leaving a position I always thought would be my dream job that instead I only found to cause me a lot of stress and depression in my life.  I’m learning I need to balance my expectations and goals in cycling to maintain a desire to keep riding.  And dammit, I’m going to start stopping and taking more photos when I ride.  Especially of llamas.

I’m not sure how Leadville 100 will go on August 15th, or hell, even the Laramie Enduro on August 1st.  I know the unexpected that is out of my control could ruin the day, but I can’t let that ruin my life if it happens.  My self worth is not hinged on a single day on a mountain bike, nor is the summation of all my race results.  Have I trained enough or in the right way?  I don’t know.  But I’m slowly evolving into the mindset that I have the physical capability and strength to finish the race.  I’m finally figuring out my nutrition, I’m learning a pacing balance, and I’m finally getting excited!

One thing I promise myself:  when I make it to the top of Columbine Mine on that day at 12000+ feet, I will stop, dig out my phone, and I will take a photo.  🙂

 

 

Month five of 2015 down.  Most time duration and elevation gain in a month, so I continue to build on stuff, even though Wyoming got confused and had some Seattle-like weather for most of the month.  While I debated building an ark for the impending flooding and doom, the month ended with some hot, sunny weather.

May was a busy month jammed packed with a lot of things…

• Started off with my team’s charity event, Ride for Reading, where we donated and delivered a couple thousand books to an elementary school in Denver

• Afterwards my fabulous teammate, Brittany, and I headed up Mt. Falcon.  Reminded me a lot of east coast rocks, with lots of chunk terrain… anytime I can be reminded of PA while riding I get happy… however, Brittany’s definition of “the climbing is over!”  needs worked on!  😛  We did some 2000+ feet of climbing in 9 miles.  The fun started when a thunderstorm rolled through and we had to bomb the descent in the pounding rain and hail.  The lower part of the trail turned into a slip and slide, and I slide out and ended up covered in mud.  Fun times!

• First weekend in May included Koppenberg, where I was the first up the Koppenberg climb, and placed 5th overall.  I followed up with a 7th place finish at the Wheels of Thunder crit the following weekend in the cold rain.
• The weekend of May 16th & 17th I spent it down in Denver with my teammate Wendy.  On the 16th we did the VIDA MTB Clinic at Valmont Bike Clinic.  I wanted to do a clinic to gain more confidence on flying two wheels off the ground, off drops.  I didn’t do a whole write up on the clinic for the blog as I came away mostly disappointed because I was matched with a coach who had a personality that clearly didn’t mesh with mine, along with riding style and thoughts and opinions on cross country mountain biking that were polar opposites of my thoughts and opinions.  After a morning of struggling with a slammed seat and feeling completely disoriented on my bike, I put my seat back to my PROPER height, and was nailing table top jumps at the dirt jump park.  I went with Wendy to her afternoon group, which was working on basic technical skills.  I found a couple of rock drops at Valmont that I was soon flying off of.  The coach of Wendy’s group, though a downhiller, was amazing and said my technique was great, and I ended up going off the medium slopestyle jump confidently!  Now just gotta translate that to the drop on Stone Temple Circuit at Gowdy.  I did have a very scary and nasty fall off of a rock feature that knocked the wind out of myself when I took my seat to the stomach with all my body weight, but I got back up and rode the rocks.

• The 17th was the Superior Morgul Bismarck Road Race.  This is the course that was part of the Coors Classic (and is seen in American Flyers.  Cue cheesy 80s music).  It’s tough with a decent amount of climbing and included 3 trips up the “Wall.”  Another girl and I were first up the Wall, but I hung back and regrouped as I knew it wouldn’t be smart to go solo in the wind.  I nearly dropped off the back of the pack coming into the Wall the final time (the finish was at the top), but caught, and ended up placing 5th as I opened a gap on the climb!  Woohoo!  It was so painful… not sure I’ve ever really felt like I was going backwards pedaling as hard as I could in the granny gear before.  Definitely a surprise, as I wasn’t sure how I’d do in a road race that didn’t involve any dirt sections.

• New Belgium Brewing Short Track started in Fort Collins!  Oh man I love these races, and they served a purpose as my VO2 max workouts for the week.  First week I had a good gap in 1st place, and had a very hard over the bar crash as a lapped rider swerved into me.  Seriously one of the hardest crashes I’ve ever had, and it was on flat ground, funny!  I ended up in 2nd by a few inches, but it was still a good race!  The following race (damn rain kept interfering and two dates got canceled) I placed 2nd to my super awesome pro friend Suzie.  It was fun racing super hard again, and on my Fate.  I think I still prefer a hardtail over full suspension!  As bonus fun I got to ride Suzie’s Trek Superfly single speed, which I had been eying since last year due to the black/purple color scheme.  I took a lap of the course, and found single speed to definitely be interesting, but awesome as there’s no shifting to think about!  So I’ve decided to purchase the same bike 😀

• Following weekend I traveled to Crested Butte and Gunnison for the Half Growler.  Whew, what a crazy race, but I stayed smiling!  The Sunday after the race I went back to Gunnison and watched Wendy race the Meowler (32 mile MTB, 9.5 mile trail run duathlon), ate some lunch, and then headed back.  I willed myself onto the bike and rode Upper, Upper Upper, Whetstone Vista, and Tony’s trails… WOW!  What an AMAZING ride!  The weather played nice with a break in the rain/snow, and the trails were natural and chunky and rooty.  I was transferred back to my east coast rocks happy place (side note… who knew my happy place would be the rocks of Pennsylvania?!).  My legs were tired so I took the climbs easy, but I couldn’t get enough of the terrain.  I only turned back when daylight started to run out and because my cell phone died.  I had planned to ride again on those trails in the morning on Memorial Day, but was greeted with a few inches of snow and a pretty bad headache so I headed home.  But I am definitely returning to Crested Butte!

• The rain slowly began to break as the month wound down.  Maybe summer was coming after all?  I ended May with the Gowdy Grinder.  I’m still at a loss at how to process what was an incredibly disappointing race for me as I went from 1st to 6th in a matter of 10 minutes in advanced women.  Part me just cracking, part not being use to racing in heat (anything over 70 and my body hates me), part rear tire that hates keeping air in itself, part my technical skills not showing up, part possibly too hard of a pre ride the day before, and part a lot of pressure on myself to continue the podiuming streak at this race.  Luckily my parents were there at the finish line for hugs as I couldn’t help but to shed some tears at the immense disappointment.  I realized I should’ve trusted my skills and stayed in open women, which is what I originally registered for, as Mo Rocka and Albert’s Alley are definitely easier to handle without the brutal short lap of Stone Temple beforehand, and I shouldn’t have worried about the “real” pros in that category… I honestly think looking back I would’ve had a better race experience in open, which is the opposite of what I was thinking when I went to advanced.  I just can’t win… need to trust that initial instinct.  It’s really left me evaluating a lot about racing this year and training and why I do what I do.  We’ll see…

Training did kinda get messed up due to the weird weather, but seemed to have worked out OK.  Trails are finally drying out so I look forward to some long mountain bike miles at Happy Jack for some endurance, and hopefully long after work rides on the road – though now it’s thunderstorm season!  I’m looking forward to getting the single speed and opening up another avenue to experiment with and hopefully sharpen some of my mountain biking skills at the same time.  Time to just keeping moving forward…

 

 

Woohoo, big month!  Highest mile month since I’ve started riding, and my first time riding over 500 miles in a month!  Also my highest time and elevation gain month.  Go me!

Training continued to go alright, and I got in some big rides.  It’s the start of that in between season where the trainer can’t be put away quite yet, but I’m doing more outdoors, such as using certain mountain bike trails for interval repeats, which is actually pretty awesome!

I “only” raced twice, but it felt nice to not be racing a ton going into May, where I’m racing every weekend.  I had an insanely successful Boulder Roubaix that surprised me beyond belief when I placed 5th!  I also finished my first endurance mountain bike race, Ridgeline Rampage.  Definitely a mental challenge, but I pushed through and survived though I had some pretty bad back pain for 3 days following the race.

April training brings May races…

 

Flexibility.  The new way to describe my 2015 race season thus far!

I’m very detail oriented and a huge planner.  I like everything minutely figured out, usually months in advance in the case of bike races.  I like a schedule, and sticking to that schedule.

Ways 2015 is teaching me to just go with the flow:

• I got into the Leadville 100 on my first try ever.  Goodbye Pierre’s Hole 50 race in Grand Targhee, goodbye considering the Steamboat Stinger, and goodbye for training just around cross country events and racing.
• My “A” cross country race, the Nordic Valley ProXCT in Ogden, UT in May, was cancelled a month out.  Suddenly I was without the need to ever be in super fast XC race shape this year.  But I also felt relief of not having to be in super fast XC shape, surprisingly.  I quickly shrugged off negative feelings, and registered for a 60 mile gravel grinder up in Casper, the Rattlesnake Rally.  Lemons, lemonades, something to that effect.
• I decided against Rumble at 18 Road for the first time in my very short XC racing “career” just a couple of weeks ago.  Which was an awesome decision as this crazy winter storm going on closed I-70 and the promoters postponed the race due to mud today (taking a hint from last year’s mudfest, apparently).  That all worked out in the best way possible.
• I was all excited to give another road race a go after my surprisingly awesome results at last weekend’s Boulder Roubaix.  Naturally, Mother Nature this week has gone psycho, and the gravel portion of the Clasica de Rio Grande is unrideable (to most of roadie persuasion I’m guessing, I’d still try it 😛 ) so my race was canceled 24 hours out this morning.

Not so long ago, I’m pretty sure I’d be crying over all these changes to my race season and normal “routine.”  Now I just laugh. I feel like I’m doomed when it comes to racing a mountain bike this year, as the 10 day forecast is saying rain for next weekend’s Ridgeline Rampage.  HAHAHAHA.  Just laugh, Heidi, just laugh!  After all, it’s just racing bikes!

So I’m sitting here with a rare weekend to have this time of year:  no races.  I considered the Denver Fed Center crit, but decided to plan a long road ride with some teammates in Fort Collins.  If it ever stops raining.  This storm is just about the most bizarre storm I’ve seen… 6″ of snow in my lawn with heavy rain, thunder, and lightning going on in the present moment.  I’m literally confused when I look at the window and see rain with all the snow piled around.  However, I am LOVING this moisture… my lawn and berry garden really needed it, and naturally so does the mountains, reservoirs, etc.  Gowdy has been scary dry, so I’m hoping this helps calm down the dusty trails a bit!

But yes, rare weekend.  I’m almost lost at what to do… and of course unfortunately the weather puts a damper on just long fun rides until Sunday.  But it’s also refreshing knowing I can sleep in, get stuff around the house done, hang out, relax, and be off the roads, which are quite frightening right now (or closed).  Whew, this going with the flow and having the flexibility to adapt and change is nice.  I think I’ll stick with it 🙂

So this is, and always will be, an interesting debate in the cycling community… waving or acknowledging other cyclists when you’re out riding.

One of my favorite moments to this day on a bike was back in 2012 when I was struggling up LCR38 to Horsetooth Reservoir, some 50-odd miles into a torturous “A” pace group ride that was advertised as beginner friendly and no drop, and Georgia Gould passed me with a friendly “Hi!!” as she zoomed off by me.  I think my eyeballs about popped out of my head and I was almost too shocked to respond.  An Olympic medalist and mountain biking royalty took the time to acknowledge little me in a collection of random REI clothing wearing a helmet with a visor (gasp!) pushing 7mph up a road!

I’ve always been the waving or acknowledging type, and I think this is partly based on when I was a newbie and how cool it was to feel like I was part of “something.”  Like, whoa, they waved at me-type of something.  Everybody on a bike I make a point of waving at, or if I’m descending at a decent speed or otherwise need to keep my hands where they are I still nod, smile, or lift a few fingers.  My latest thing is waving to vehicles who take the time to wait out the 5 seconds or so for me to clear an intersection before they proceed.  I usually get smiles and waves back, and hey, maybe I changed the “cyclists are evil” perception a bit along the way.

However, apparently I am a minority.  Getting waves in Colorado is almost like pulling teeth sometimes, and it’s spreading to Cheyenne, where we’re already a pretty tiny cycling community (I will not even mention Seattle… not a single wave, just these weird deathly glares every time).  Heck, yesterday I got a blank stare back from someone I know and have ridden with.  I’ll admit, it irked me.  Seriously, just wave!  Yell hi!  Smile!  Cuss me out, throw something, do something!  We’re a small group, we should stick together…  (maybe I just need to buy a motorcycle??)

Aside from the horror of everyone failing to acknowledge me, I think it’s just part of being a welcoming member of the cycling community and being a good ambassador (along with not riding like a jackass, and you know, making an effort at those stop signs).  You could make a newbie’s day, as Georgia did in my case back in 2012.  People in full on team kits can be intimidating whether they’re a cat 5 or a pro – it all looks the same to people who aren’t in the know, so sometimes that mean mug look isn’t the most welcoming.  I use the Greenway here in Cheyenne a lot to connect to different roads, or on days when I just don’t want to deal with cars, so naturally I run into a lot of recreational cyclists, and I always make sure to slow and say hi.  I slow and ask people if they’re alright if they’re off on the side fiddling with their bikes, especially out mountain biking since it’s remote a lot of the times (I “rescued” a mom on a cruiser bike a few weeks ago who couldn’t get her chain back on and was getting ready to push the bike and trailer back home on the Greenway.. .made me feel happy that I could get her on her way again and that she could finish her ride with her family!).  Yeah, sure, there’s intervals and steady states and blah blah blah for training, but a couple of minutes isn’t going to kill anyone.  Neither does lifting up a hand for a wave, regardless of how many darn cyclists there are nowadays on the Front Range.

Being a good ambassador of the sport is something I’ve been acutely more in touch with since joining a bigger team with a rather pronounce logo stating NAKED on my kits that makes me, well, more rememberable.  So maybe my waving and smiles and hellos are in hyper mode, but at least no one can accuse me of being too pro to wave, right?

So what’s everyone’s thoughts… am I overboard with the waving expectations?  Do you wave or acknowledge other cyclists in some manner?

 

Three months down!

I missed this being my highest mileage month by 6 miles, whoops!  Which is kind of impressive, since my week in Seattle wasn’t high mileage and the week following I was knocked on my butt by some severe respiratory virus.  Of course, you see the difference in the amount of time, which hey, still isn’t too shabby at 31+ hours.

March was a struggle for me, I won’t lie.  I did have two good early starts to my “road race” season (I’ve never considered myself to have a road race season before this year… I’m doing a significant amount of road stuff this spring, however, when compared to previous years), and am super proud of my effort during the Oredigger Classic Hill Climb up Lookout Mountain.  Otherwise, my training wasn’t exactly on target.  I think I ended up feeling more tired than usual, and then I picked up that virus during my Seattle trip and that was the fork stuck into me saying, “you’re done!”

I managed to get out to Hewlett Gulch last weekend for a short mountain bike ride to test the lungs.  I had a good time, minus the one crash, and realized my technical skills aren’t as rusty as I thought.  Then Sunday, Jim and I climbed up to Estes Park – a ride we’ve been talking about foreverrrrr.  So fun to finally get it done!  I took it easy in order to not stress my body, and we battled a headwind descending which is always a buzzkill.  I followed up with a decent after work ride on Monday, and an amazing evening yesterday at Gowdy on the mountain bike.  Rode some trails that I haven’t done in a long time, and after about 10 miles run into some of my buddies so I chatted it up for awhile, and then did another 2.6 miles with them.

I’m struggling with mountain bike fitness.  The short punches of power and climbing just seem to do me in… but luckily there’s starva to compare my results and I’m actually kinda kicking butt.  I guess it’s true… it never gets easy, you just start going faster!

Unfortunately today I’m back to feeling really crappy and have developed a cough, so I wonder if I overdid the past few days.  My mental status isn’t the best… I’m feeling worn out and burned out.  A lot of little things that shouldn’t bother me have started pissing me off, and I’m finding myself really irritable.  And I’m looking at my race schedule and seeing what I can subtract… something that never really happens in March!  I already nixed Rumble at 18 Road for this year.  The cost + lack of exciting course + really no reason to do it did that race in.  Which is fine, because it opened up to two local options for me… the road race in Johnstown and the following weekend Ridgeline Rampage, which I’ve decided I will race the “marathon” 50 mile distance… in… wait for it… the pro category.  I’ve come to the realization that I’m racing pro/open in everything this year except the two USAC races I’ve entered due to my cat 1 license (and of course the races like Leadville where there are no categories, just age groupings), so I might as well just make it pro/open across the board in non-sanctioned races.  Screw it, go big!  At least I can’t bitch about sandbaggers when I’m in pro/open, ha!

But yeah… I’m trying to reign in some of my negative feelings.  I just don’t want to look back on 2015 and regret the things I missed out on because I was so married to a training schedule I couldn’t “cheat” a bit.  I want to climb a 14er by using my feet (I’ll do it on road bike in July), I want to go fishing in Flaming Gorge, I want to have some fun adventures.  One of the things that adds insult to injury to last year’s cyclocross season is how many fun fall mountain bike adventures I missed out on because I was dragging myself to races when the people who invited me were off for epic 30-50 mile adventures off in the mountains.  I don’t want to repeat that!  I don’t like how I’m feeling so burned out before I’ve even started racing, so I’m partially in panic mode and partially in a “I give up mode.”  I want the bike to be a happy place, not another job I go to after my day job.  I want to smile and whoop and holler at races at the joy of just being able to race my bike.

So here’s to April is a happier place for me on and off the bike.  Flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and the trails are scary dry, so there’s hope!

No way I could take an 8 day work trip to Seattle and not ride, right?  I mean, middle of training, beginning of race season, eating out for every meal, and my mental health… all depends on riding a darn bike!

So I rounded up a rental road bike from the Bicycle Repair Shop in downtown, and made some rough route plans using Strava and Google.  I kinda freaked out once I arrived in Seattle and was walking down to the shop and realized downtown Seattle was a lot like… any major city downtown.  Crazy traffic with murderous drivers.  Eek.

I picked up “my” 2015 Giant Defy 1, added my pedals and Garmin mount and nervously headed out into the scary streets of Seattle.  The shop is located on Alaskan Way, so I made my way north and ended up on the bike path.  Whew.  Still alive.  The weather was sunny and I saw a nice view of Mt. Rainier.  I rode up a bit and then turned around and then nervously entered downtown traffic.  I struggled because I had a bag with my street clothes and shoes in it (from my walk to the bike shop) and it kept swinging around in front of me.  But wouldn’t you know, I survived and made it back to my hotel in one piece!

Tuesday was rainy so I donned my new Showers Pass rain jacket and threw on my Columbia capris which are water repellent over my bibs and headed north on the bike path to Magnolia and Discovery Park.  Took a wrong turn at a marina and realized that all I really needed to do was follow the signage that they have set up bikes.  I eventually made my way to Discovery Park, which I found kinda creepy as it’s quiet and abandoned looking, and I’m sure I did one of the fastest uphill sprints ever to get out of the creepy trees I found my way into.  Rode my way back down Magnolia and back via the bike path.

Wednesday was my big day to conquer my fear of bridges over water and ride the I-90 floating bridge over to Mercer Island.  After conquering Chinatown at the start of rush hour (an experience in its own right), I found my way to the bike path that heads to the bridge.  I made it across the bridge with some fierce concentration on the road in front of my tire to avoid the water of Lake Washington to my left and found myself safely on Mercer Island.  Mercer Way is a pretty enjoyable ride, about 10.5 miles of curves and punchy climbs without any stop signs or stop lights.  It winds it’s way through the temperate rainforest and big lakefront homes.  Once I looped around once I turned around and went back the way I came, to make it about a 33 mile ride once I got back to my hotel.  It was a gorgeous day which made it that much better!

I took Thursday off from the bike to explore downtown a bit with some newfound friends.  After walking through Pike Place Market, I made my way to the Gum Wall in Post Alley, which was my top thing to do in Seattle aside from riding across the I-90 floating bridge.  Nothing like an alley filled with chewed gum, right?

Friday was rainy and dreary.  Not a good day on the bike… I was forced off the street by a car and chose to hit the pavement on the curb side (alternative was a car… I’ll take the curb!).  The wreck shook me up, and after several days of dealing with the horrid drivers of Seattle, I was broke.  Done and done.  After checking out my wounds – skinned knee and ankle, cut palms (stupidly didn’t have gloves on), torn rain pants, and a hole in my favorite “Fat Fish Racing” socks – I climbed on the bike and still continued on to Alki Beach, which was my final choice of a bike destination.  Yes, I still rode another hour, ha!  After getting some photos of the Seattle skyline, I turned around and decided to return the bike a day early.  I was just done with the whole cycling in Seattle thing.  Dripped blood on the bike shop floor, swapped stories, and bought some cleat covers for my carbon soled S-Works shoes I’d be walking a mile back to the hotel in, and I officially said goodbye to riding a bike in Seattle.  For forever.

Overall, glad I got to get in some miles in Washington, which means another state checked off the list!  I vow to never ride a bicycle in Seattle ever again, though.  Painting some lines on a road and making bike paths does not make a place cyclist friendly in the definition I think of when I hear “cyclist friendly.”  Plus I miss cyclists who at least nod, smile, or goodness, even wave when you pass them!  I got stoney glares the entire time.  Eek.  Nope.  I ride a bike with a smile on my face, and with cars at least a good 3 feet away from me, thanks!

The second month of 2015 has come and gone!

1) Training continued on

2) The weather was way wonky, going from summer to frozen over winter in a matter of a week

3) I had a great pre-season taste of mountain bike racing

Still on my kick with making charts, so here’s my February stats and comparison to years earlier.  Once again, a big month, though the return of winter did kill my miles and time slightly the past two weeks, along with having a solid week of recovery after returning from Arizona.  Still, over 30 hours of training/racing/riding is nothing to sneeze at!  Not to mentioned I had my highest time duration week ever February 9th – 15th 🙂

I had some bad days on the bike, and plenty of days where I dreaded doing my intervals only to kick their ass in an awesome fashion.  Today I struggled with high heart rates and dead legs, so I promised myself I’d bundle up and get outside on the cross bike for a road ride to get a change of scenery and breathe in some fresh air.  I did move my bike/trainer set up out of the “bike room” in the basement to the living room so I can watch TV.  My new favorite thing is catching “Jeopardy” at 6:30pm and breathlessly muttering out answers in the middle of intervals.

 

The highlight of February was of course getting in a teaser of mountain bike race season at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.  The race exceeded my expectations and goals in so many ways and set me on a positive path for the rest of the season.  And it introduced me to 24 hour endurance racing, and makes me want to try more of them!

A week from now road racing season starts, so effectively my off season has only 7 days ;eft.  Whew… always seems like it goes by way too fast.  Most years I’m chomping at the bit to start racing, but I’m a bit more reserved this year.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited but I know I have a longggggggg season ahead of me.  Luckily it’s broken into two peaks – XC “A” race at Nordic Valley ProXCT in May and endurance “A” at Leadville 100 in August.  I’m already critically looking at my race calendar and am thinking of cutting a race or two, or substituting races that are closer to home and offer something more helpful (like perhaps 9000′ of climbing in 40 miles…).  Road season is nothing I take too seriously since I’m still not a roadie racer in any shape or form, but they’re nice for getting in some tough road miles and changing up the scenery (and a chance to see some of my cyclocross buddies and teammates).  Frostbite TT is next weekend, which I missed last year due to a weather reschedule.  I sold my TT bike last spring, but I’m still going to rock the alien helmet on the road bike (and plan on riding a good 20-30+ miles after the race, as 11 miles is not long enough for me anymore!).  Then it’s the Lookout Mtn TT, where I just want to set a PR over last year’s time the following weekend.  And – BIG NEWS – the weather is suppose to get nice, so next weekend I hope to get in a long ride on Sunday outside.  Whew.  I love me some good weather 🙂

February… you were kind to me in so many ways… from the 70 degree outdoor rides to my first win of the season in my first 24 hour race to pushing me to break through mental barriers and do silly things like “enjoy” a CritFit Two/Twenty workout.

 

There’s always bit of a let down after coming home from a big race, and even more so after doing well at a big race.  Life goes on, work continues on without a beat, but my mind thinks “oh man, it’s been 3 days since this… a week since I left…” etc.

Katey and I arrived back from Tucson to be greeted by a good foot of snow in Denver.  So much for our non-existent winter.  I returned back to work like nothing happened, and I must admit I was quite down the entire week after coming back from 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.  I had a hard time balancing my “real life” – work as an infection preventionist, bills, cleaning the house, laundry, and my “wanna be bike racer life” where I’m just off riding my bike super fast and living a life in a town of RVs and campers in the desert.  It also didn’t help that my beloved cat was still at my parents’ house.  And oddly enough, I missed my routine of hard workouts on the bike since I was slated for a week of recovery.  Everything just seemed out of whack and I was crying at a moment’s notice over the silliest of things.

And winter continued to happen all week into the weekend so I was effectively snowed in at my parents’ house with my cat in Laramie.  Lots of cake and napping on the couch, and ignoring my bike on the trainer that I convinced my parents to let me set up (there is usually a strict “no bikes in the house” rule at their place).  The winter blues struck hard.

Bam!  Order was restored today with a return to hard training.  Coach T has a busy three weeks planned for me leading up to a work trip that I’ll be taking which will take me away from a bike for a good 8 days (gasp, I might ride one of those exercise spin bikes at the hotel… you can’t keep me from pedaling, it’s a sickness!).  It hurt and was tough, but it felt good.  I am back on track.  Some probably think that I should be happy I had a recovery week to celebrate my great race and to just be lazy, but it just irked me.  I don’t know why, as it’s silly and my body truly needed a recovery.  I’m just a bit OCD and routine oriented.  Ha!

Awesome things in my life at the moment:

• I finally bought a roller massage stick while snowed in this weekend.  I have a foam roller, but I find it so awkward to use and bulky to tote around.  I’m in love with the massage stick!  It was marked $15 at Walmart and rang up $9, which makes it that much better.  My right hamstring has been sore for some random reason and it’s been awesome to be able to easily roll it out.  Here’s to happy muscles!
• I got a new Pedal House tee shirt thanks to Dewey this weekend.  Even better, it’s brown and gold and has “We still hang bike thieves in Wyoming” BIG on the back.  My old shirt from the Pedal House from when I bought my first mountain bike in 2012 has been worn enough the lettering wore off, so this excited me to have a new one!
• Sammie is back at home with me.  Yay… I love my cat.  My house feels way too empty without her.
• Despite going off track with diet and then of course eating like crap during 24HOP, my weight has reached it’s lowest point so far of 146.2lb.  Woohoo!
• I registered for the Laramie Enduro in the open women class.  Say what?
• The days are getting longer!!!
• I’ve already ridden 750 miles this year! 😀

Some not great things:

• Ugh, snow and cold.  Dammit, I was really starting to enjoying long road rides!  HATE THIS.
• I have to have a minor procedure to take biopsies on Wednesday.  My biggest concern is if I’ll feel good enough to nail my billats workout on the trainer.  Priorities, clearly.
• My Fate is still in pieces from my trip and I realized it would be a hell of a lot easier to build if I had a work stand.  I might have to buy one… At least the bike is all clean!

OK, the good clearly outweighs the bad 🙂  The routine has been restored and I’ve integrated back into my “real life” after getting to play bike racer for a few days.