Never in a million years did I expect to see my photo gracing the homepage of any cycling-type website! Thanks a billion to TrainerRoad!!
I’ve been using TrainerRoad for about a year now, since my coach – Tony Diede with CritFit – suggested it. I instantly fell in love, and the biggest draw was their Virtual Power feature which allowed me to train with power without buying an unaffordable power meter. I could usually create custom workouts of my CritFit intervals and follow along on my laptop, which used ANT+ to collect my heart rate, cadence, and speed data from my Garmin sensors.
Indoor training season is back in full force for some, including myself (though cyclocross and my new fat bike will take me outdoors). I have some new exciting stuff on tap for my training for 2015 utilizing CritFit, and of course TrainerRoad! Luckily a power meter has become affordable to me, which I look forward to when I ride outdoors on my road bike. However, TrainerRoad will be as useful as always to me, as I’ll pair my power meter to the system through ANT+. I am still in cyclocross race mode through middle of December, and then the serious training begins, and I’ll update as I have more details on all that fun 🙂
Once again, many thanks to TrainerRoad! They helped give me the structure for a great 2014 mountain bike race season, and I am looking forward to many more great seasons and training with the program! It’s downright kick ass to be a Brand Ambassador for such an innovative company that is making training easier and cheaper for cyclists!
Winter is finally upon us here in Wyoming and Colorado, which means it’s actually cyclocross weather for cyclocross! No more thin time trial skinsuits half unzipped in the 80 degree heat, that’s for sure! I race tomorrow and so far it’s predicted to be about 19 degrees when I race at 10am at the Mile High Urban CX Chaos. As I was rounding up my gear today (had to locate most of it as it’s the first time I’ve used it since CX Nationals last January!), I decided I’d make a little post about what I wear to race a bike in 10-20 degree weather.
The gear for winter!
Starting at the top we have:
Specialized RBX shorts
Specialized Therminal winter tights
Specialized thermal leg warmers
Thermal/fleece Buff
Specialized thermal skullcap
Specialized Deflect neoprene shoe covers
Specialized Sub Zero lobster claw mittens
Endura fleece lined long sleeve jersey/jacket
Giro helmet
My team kit jersey and thermal jacket
Specialized Motodiva shoes
Specialized Winter Wool Tall Sock
Missing from the photo is a thermal Under Armor long sleeve base layer.
So it all goes:
On top: UA baselayer, Endura jersey, team jersey, team jacket (if I need it for the actual race), mittens
On bottom: RBX shorts/chamois, leg warmers, tights, socks, shoes, shoe covers
Head: skullcap, Buff (either just around my neck, or up over my head like a balaclava), helmet, glasses/goggles
Yes, all of this will be on my body! Sounds like a lot, but it worked out well for both days of Altitude Adjustment Cross in January (25 and 10 degrees, respectively)!
Keeping toasty last January!
I also might throw my ski goggles in my bike bag, as I’ve seen people wear them during cold races to cover more of their face. Feels like a crash course in winter after a cyclocross season filled with 70-80 degree days! But I won’t lie, I am excited for some crappier conditions! I had three of my best races last season in snow, and it definitely brings out a different skill set. Just not looking forward to the drive down to Denver 😦
I may have added a “winter specific bike” to the bike family recently, so last night I did order some Patagonia heavyweight long johns and Showers Pass storm bike pants to add to the mix… but I’m hoping it doesn’t get that nasty that I’ll need them during cross!
So that’s it! I’m sure everyone has their own level of clothing that they were. I know a lot of people use embrocation to keep their bodies warm, but honestly the stuff is rather scary to me! I’d rather pedal with 3 layers on my legs than worry about messing up some chili pepper solution and getting it in my eyes or something. Clothing is also going to depend on a person’s tolerance to cold. I’m really comfortable in shorts and short sleeves in 50-60 degree weather, but you can go to other parts and people are piling on winter clothes for those temps, so it’s all relative! However you accomplish it, there’s plenty of ways to still get out on a bike in less than ideal conditions 🙂
Out of the ditch at CycloX Sienna Lake (Photo: John Flora Photography)
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!
Naked Women’s Racing team party at Diebolt Brewing, October 27th.
I’m super excited to “officially” announce (as it’s really not a secret, people have known!) that for 2015 I will be racing on Naked Women’s Racing’s mountain bike team (along with doing my short road stunt and of course cyclocross!)!
Eek, why the big change to a big, super awesome team out of Denver? Well, I applied the evening after my horrid cyclocross race at Boulder Cup. I was feeling super down about racing, and also about feeling like I was just a “one gal show,” with no team members to support me. Traveling alone, racing alone, riding alone gets a bit hard sometimes, and after two years of doing it practically solo I realized that there has to be a bigger picture to this bike racing thing I do – teamwork, new friendships, giving back, promoting women’s cycling, etc. Ever since my early road races in 2013 I have admired the women of Naked Women’s Cycling, and honestly I’ve always been a bit envious of them, especially at road races and cyclocross! I mean, shucks, it’s pretty darn intimidating to jump in a road race where it seems a good third of the field are all on the same team! I am forever grateful for my team affiliations for the past two years, but I knew I had to make a change to get back to a happy place with my racing, and also to have bigger opportunities to keep pushing myself. This was clearer with my dismal cyclocross season start of 2014 and also with me realizing that darn it, I do want to aim for a pro upgrade in mountain biking! So I eagerly started my on-boarding process with Naked Women’s Racing at the beginning of October!
A week ago I attended the season wrap up/new member kick off/fit kit party in Denver at Diebolt Brewing. I had known a few team members from cyclocross where I took to introducing myself and making friends, but it was great to meet many of the others! Almost immediately after getting accepted to the team I joined in for 24 Hours of Old Pueblo, which is a 24-hour mountain bike race in Tucson in February as part of a 4-women team – yay! I’ve always wanted to do a crazy endurance mountain bike race as a team, and damn it’s now happening! So I was able to meet Katey, who will on the team in Tucson and we were able to network about our flights and logistics.
Naked Women’s Racing is titled sponsored by Naked Juice, and also has many many other great sponsors, including a lot of companies I already use, so it’s great to be able represent them on my jersey, along with other companies that I am excited to get to work with for the first time. The team does a large community book drive, Ride for Reading, every year which donates books to school children in underprivileged areas, and also hosts the Bannock Criterium. So not only do I have to race, I have to do more… and I’m excited about that! I’m also excited to be racing with many gals that are way faster than I’ll ever be, but I’m looking forward to that pushing me to improve myself and get faster, especially on the cyclocross and road side of things!
Woohoo, here’s to an exciting 2015! I ordered my kits last night (OMG, I’m on a team that FINALLY has a thermal long sleeve jersey as an option… my life just might now be complete!), and I can’t wait to be rocking that purple and limey-yellow!
CycloX Interlocken with its swanky office buildings and manicured, evil grass (Photo by Shawn Curry)
CycloX Interlocken on October 25th (running a bit behind on blog posts!) was another hot one in a fall where summer doesn’t want to see to end. The venue is nearly all perfectly manicured grass, which I hate. For some reason I just can’t produce any power to ride on grass. Which is why I would hate cyclocross on the east coast or anywhere else where grass is the main course type! However, aside front the grass, the course is actually really fun, with a lot of tight switchbacks and ups and downs long the hillside, and through a drainage area that on this day was filled with very deep mud that was claiming riders, bikes, and shoes. Yippee, mud!
My start was ok, but I knew it wouldn’t be a good race for me. First time through the mud I made it nearly all the way through, an then randomly bailed off for no reason. I would go on to clear it perfectly the next three times, which I guess was a rarity, so I was happy I rode it nearly all 4 times! There was also a large sand pit with a 180 degree turn halfway through that I rode cleanly two times.
Funny how I always smile when there’s mud involved! (Photo by Shawn Curry)
I quickly began my backwards descent through the cat 4 women… and ended up mixing it up with the girls in the 20th’s positions in cat 4. Renee and I stuck together for a little while which was good motivation and some fun for me. I honestly didn’t really care where I ended up, I just wanted to finish the full race and have good skills on cornering and clearing the mud.
Races in the fall are always so pretty with the leaves! Just didn’t like the 80 degree weather… (Photo by William Stoup)
I think I ended up 17th out of 20 due to some DNFs/mechanicals. Nice venue, if they tore up all the grass!
Next day on October 26th was the final installment of the Cheyenne Cyclocross series put on by Rock On Wheels. I decided to race in intermediate for the reason it seemed like it’d be more of a race than advanced. Advanced gets so spread out that you’re practically just time trialing it all by yourself, and I’ve had a little too much of that this year to be excited. So intermediate it was! Clear Creek Park continues to be an amazing venue for cyclocross, better than some I pay the big bucks to race on, and they came up with a great course design once again involving grass, single track, single track through tunnels of trees, a big deep that a lot of the inexperience riders ran, fast bumpy riding through tall grass, and two sets of barriers.
Keeping the boys at bay! (Photo courtesy of Rock on Wheels)
Right at the start a rider in the field of 10 went down, and another ran over him. Myself and the eventual winner (who also went on to win advanced!) separated ourselves down the double track to the big dip and first tree tunnel. I held 2nd for a little ways before two other guys caught me. I stuck with 3rd place quite well, as well as holding off the 5th place riders. Damn, I was racing!
I was shocked that I was actually sprinting through the barriers and remounting pretty darn well! On the final lap in the first tree tunnel I caught 3rd place and solidly passed him. I figured him and 5th place would catch me on the long false uphill flat on the backside, but I kept ahead of them, and hammered the gravel descent to the second tree tunnel and barrier section. I swear I haven’t raced that hard all year! I crossed the finish line in 3rd place! Woohoo!!
I think this was a good example of racing “up” not being the best thing to do. Most likely in advanced I would’ve just faded off the back in some half-hearted time trial, whereas in intermediate I was going 100% the full race and pushing myself to keep going faster. And considering cat 3 is considered “B”‘s for women, I was still really in the correct category 😛 Ha! I’m sad the Cheyenne cross series is over for the year, as I really like the course. Luckily it’s not that far of a bike ride that I can get over there to practice and what not whenever I like.
At the Rolland Cyclocross race in Laramie a few weeks ago I was introduced to Amber Travsky, an outdoor writer for both the Laramie Boomerang and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. After chatting awhile she asked if she could interview me for a story about cyclocross for WTE. I excitedly agreed! Well last Sunday, October 19th, the story ran as a one and a half page spread! Eeek, so exciting! I’m so happy I could be an ambassador of the crazy sport of cyclocross, even if I have a love-hate relationship with it at the moment!
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!
Cross of the North. Hands down the funnest 3 days I’ve had doing cyclocross in a long long time (if not ever?)! Held at The Ranch complex in Loveland, I thought all three courses were fantastic, even with all the thick, gloopy clay mud that sapped the power from my legs and made my wheels hard to turn.
Day 1 – Friday:
Well, I was in the mixed for the first half of lap one… that counts for something, right? 😀
I had a stupidly good start, even clipped in right away with sticky peanut butter mud on the bottom of my shoe. I followed Ashley (way too fast junior) out of the start and was 2nd leaving the starting straight away. I hung right on everyone, and was 6th place going into the huge sticky mud bog by the pits. This is when everyone else, who has running skills, let me in the dust. And then began my solo “race.”
I’m not sure I was giving it my all, I’ll admit that. I know that because I sprinted the entire finishing straight on my last lap without feeling tired. I think mentally I have just stopped pushing myself. Which I guess is ok. I had fun during the race. Second lap I attempted to ride the sticky mud bog and just ended up stopping up my wheels with the mud. But there was my collection of fave photographers egging me on, so I gave it the good ol’ college try! I had my friend from Cheyenne, Robert, crewing for me in the pits and he asked if I wanted the B bike, and I just decided to ride my S-Works (Hank Jr) that was barely moving. Third lap I swapped out bikes, and it went amazingly well! I dismounted, ran, and remounted the B bike (Hank Sr) quite well! I just had the bike in too hard of a gear which sucked at first. It helped having the granny gear for the sticky boggy surface, though I noticed the weight difference (roughly 3 pounds) between the two bikes. Deb, Suzie, and Terri were cheering me on very enthusiastically, and I whined that I wanted my carbon bike! We were racing along with the Master Men 45+ for some odd reason, and I was worried I was going to get lapped… Tim the Official let me know it would probably happen on the 4th lap and I said it was only because I was on my slow bike (when in doubt, always blame the bike, right?).
Hammering on the rarely seen “B” bike! (Photo by Erin Hooley / The Coloradoan)
Robert had Hank Jr washed up for the last half of the fourth (and my final) lap, and it was great to be back on the lighter bike. I did end up getting lapped by about 4 of the men, so my race was over. I told Tim it wasn’t fair because I was back on the fast bike! LOL. I’m pretty sure I almost raced nearly 40 minutes, so it was alright I got pulled. I just don’t know what to say. It was almost embarrassing how bad I did, but I had fun. I finished in 7th place. (Shhh, nobody has to know there was only 7 of us!)
The only hiccup was my Garmin, which remained on Hank Jr. I’m OCD about my mileage and time ridden, so I freaked out a bit on Hank Sr when I realized I didn’t have my Garmin. And then while Hank Jr was getting washed the satellites got turned off somehow, so when I was back on that bike distance wasn’t recorded. I did some manual entries in Strava, but my OCD tells me I have to figure this out for next time when I might be swapping bikes. I guess I might just have to put the 510 instead my skinsuit somewhere, haha! First world problems of a wannabe bike racer…
The muddy aftermath (Photo by Erin Hooley / The Coloradoan)
Day 2 – Saturday:
The course dried out a bit, but the mud bog seemed to have extended itself (I blame the power washers in the pit). There was a larger field, 16 of us this time. I didn’t have a great start this time, I didn’t clip in right away so I was off the back-ish right away. I did use the chance to take some more unpopular lines, which is always good, when there was traffic.
Over the edge… (Photo courtesy of Steve Urlocker)… And weeeeeeeeee (Photo courtesy of Steve Urlocker)
Coming through on the second lap Malcolm yelled to me that Amanda’s tire was flat, and that I should go catch her. I had been keeping Amanda in my sights, but I had no idea if Malcolm was telling the truth, or just trying to motivate me! I slowly started to reel Amanda in, and finally I caught her wheel and did see that she had a rear flat. I yelled out to her asking if she knew (sometimes it’s hard to tell, especially in peanut butter mud when tires always feel flat), and she did. I followed her through the downhill/uphill twisties and got around her before blasting down into the mud bog. Amanda is a strong rider, and faster than me, so I knew I had a limited opportunity to not be in last place for a little while, so I took to trying to hammer as much as I thought I could.
I stayed in front of Amanda for one full lap, and she recaught me in the mud bog. I got lucky and she fumbled in the mud when she remounted, and I remained in front until shortly before the second set of stairs. I watched her run (literally) off into the sunset and I settled in to just finish the race. I’d end up in 16th (shhhh, nobody has to know there was only 16 of us! 😛 ), but for what it’s worth I caught and beat about 4 of the MM45+ Cat 4’s in the duration of the race. 😀 Woohooo, beating the boys! I can get down with that!
I like high speed cornering in tacky mud. (Photo by Karen Rakestraw)
I was oh so thankful to have some motivation for once in a race, even if it was a bit of bad luck for Amanda and her tire. It was nice to finally feel like I was really racing, even if it was just for 2 laps or so. I hung out for several more hours, had some yummy food truck pulled pork tacos, had Amy the Amazing Physical Therapist work on my lower back (it hasn’t hurt since!), and watched #rockstar Suzie Q during the Women’s Open race.
The awesome Cat 3 gals of Naked Women’s Racing!!! (More on that coming soon!!!) (Photo courtesy of Rachel Scott)
Day 3 – Sunday:
Whew, third day of racing. My legs were protesting a bit, and it was definitely colder, windier, and cloudier when I arrived at The Ranch compared to the previous days. I had foregone pre-riding all three days, partly to avoid mud on the first two days, and out of laziness the third day. I had forgotten my pair of “cross” shoes at home, but luckily had my Motodiva MTB shoes (the one I had a long blog complaining about, LOL) in the car, sanes insoles. Felt a bit weird, but I was happy to have shoes to race in nonetheless. I putzed around a bit, and lined up with the other ten brave SW3’s.
I had a pretty bad start, and couldn’t clip in my left foot for the duration of the starting straight, which is pretty darn long. I blame the unfamiliar shoes (actually, I tend to be wearing these shoes when I have start line clip in issues…), but I let it get me more frazzled than I should’ve. I finally got attached to the bike about 10 feet into the bumpy, grassy dirt. I hung on the tails of the fast ladies as best I could, and started to find my groove in the significantly firmer trails.
They changed up the steep off camber drop in to one way steeper and way more off camber with a whoopy-whoop at the bottom that could launch a person going too fast or who is caught off guard. Just as I was about to drop in I saw Deb endo, and in turn I yelled out a bad word and almost came to a stop. Spectators yelled at me to just roll down it, and this was when I regretted not pre-riding at least that section. I made it down just fine, but it was definitely scary during the first time!
One of the fast downhill sections (Photo courtesy of Cross of the North)
The field spread out, and I was pretty much solo. I knew there was a gal behind me, so I just worked on staying on the bike and avoiding the wind-whipped course tape. The mud bog was finally rideable, though it did take some power, muscles, and bike handling to do so. I was just happy to be keeping my feet clean for the first time in 3 days! I was proud of myself, as I was actually “running” the run ups and stairs/barriers. I kept hearing people cheering for me on the course that I had no idea who they were, but they knew my name, and this made me happy!
As I came through on my 3rd lap (I think it was 3rd…) my fave photog Shawn pointed out that Deb had started to fade a bit, and encouraged me to go get her. Finally I had another rabbit to chase down! I did shorten the gap, but never caught her wheel. Either way, it was nice to have someone to chase, once again!
Deb, me, and the gal behind us got pulled after the fourth lap, which was fine by me. My legs were cooked from the three days, and especially the past two of actually pushing myself a teeny bit more than I would’ve (and running up a lot more hills than I ever do). I finished 9th, so definitely not last! (Still okay to shhhh on the fact there was only 11 of us!) Woohoo! Alan was a crossing guard at the end of the finishing straight and was taking my photo so yes, I did “post up” all silly like. LOL! Tim the Official laughed and asked if I had fun… YES!
I booked it down to the pits, got the B bike, and back to the car where I drove straight to the Cheyenne Cyclocross race. My legs were done, so I rode 4 or 5 laps at a casual pace during the advanced race…. two races within two hours in two different states… booyahhh!
So that was my COTN weekend!!! For the first time this year I actually felt “competitive” (I use that term loosely) and had a ton of fun every race! The courses were kick ass: technical, twisty, elevation changes, and muddy! And there’s no way I can complain about USAC races 45 minutes from my house! I’m already looking forward to next year!
Now to de-mud, de-stink, and dry out THREE pairs of shoes. Yes, THREE. Thank goodness I’m a bit of a mountain bike/cross shoe snob and have this many pairs to go around…
(And as a final note, I think I have 100% tested the Wolf Tooth Components single front chain ring set up in a variety of conditions, including thick mud, well enough to say that I fully trust it, and have had zero issues with my chain dropping off when paired with a SRAM Force CX1 rear derailleur!)
The unique fly under/over during Rolland CX in Laramie (Photo: Rolland Cycling)
I’ve done my fair share of races to shake out which ones are worth the money/time/drive, which ones aren’t, which ones are well ran, which ones need a lot of guidance, etc. And out of everything I’ve done, from nationals to races in middle of nowhere Wyoming, from USAC sanctioned to ones that definitely will never seek out sanctioning, from the ones with slick promotion and insanely expensive entry fees to the ones with a simple Word file flyer and $10 fee, I always come back to saying that the Laramie Mountain Bike Series (LMBS) and Gowdy Grinder are the two best run, best timed, best “put together by people with their poop in a group” races I have ever done – ones with very cheap entry fees, free food for ALL racers afterwards, cool prizes, great course markings, and promoted by a couple of locals who actually manage to upload live results on Wifi in the middle of the woods. To say in the least, I am spoiled by the local, grassroots level of racing in southeastern Wyoming.
I started out by racing at the LMBS, so really they’re to blame for all this craziness! Of course I naturally found out how awesome racing was at LMBS and wanted to see how much better all these fancy races with $80 entry fees or USAC sanctioning must be. 2013 was definitely the year I sorted out what events I would go to, which ones I would avoid, which ones I would still go to out of force of national qualifying, and which ones I would limit how many I would do due to fees and return. I continued this into 2014, and have really come to realize sometimes there’s no place like home!
Rolland Cyclocross in Laramie this past weekend didn’t have a large turnout. But that didn’t really bother me as I pinned on a race number for my first race back since getting sick. I was excited for the course, which was better (in my opinion) than some courses I pay the big bucks to race on in Colorado for a mere 40 minutes. Also, who can turn down racing in their hometown, complete with their dad heckling them on? Made me feel like a member of Boulder Junior Cycling, having my parents there telling me to ride faster 😀 I had the chance to spend about $70-80 on entry fees for Colorado USAC cross races this weekend, along with the $50+ in gas. It did kinda make me sad for a second to be missing Primalpalooza when I made the decision not to go, and just take a Saturday trip over to Laramie and pay my $10 under a small tent in windswept Laprele Park. I pretty much forgot about that once I hit the thin air of Laramie, and rode the off camber switchback up and under a bridge over Spring Creek that lead to a punchy climb out and a run over the bridge to the grass on the other side. This was fun, an awesome course feature, and it was in my neck of the woods, not a 130 miles south in Colorado.
I’ve been quick to dismiss some local racing, especially cyclocross, in the past. Sometimes, it isn’t all great (nothing can be perfect all the time), but I think the overwhelming majority of grassroots local racing is something worth hitting up and doing! I’m happy I gave Rolland CX a chance, and without a doubt I’d do more of their events!
Sometimes we all need to just curl up and chill out like Sammie does!
In the past two weeks my body and life threw me the biggest curveball that caused me to do something for the first time in two and a half years: not ride a bike for 12 days. It was the longest break I have had since I began riding a bike in May 2012.
It first started with a rest day to regroup for beginning my new job the next day and life as a Monday-thru-Friday-er with normal hours. Then a day or so later I woke up with a severely sore throat and cough and fever (NOT ebola, I swear!) that got progressively worse through the week. The Saturday following all of this I didn’t get out of bed until 4pm, and it was only for a handful of hours of laying on the couch. By this past Tuesday I finally decided to go to the doctor since it had been a week and I didn’t want to deal with bronchitis or anything long lasting and received antibiotics and non-narcotic cough medicine I could actually take at work. I started feeling better, but then I lost all motivation. It was kinda freeing just laying around being lazy and not sweating it out on a bike.
Finally today, day 13 of the “bike strike” I suited up and headed out on the cross bike. And you know what? It didn’t hurt. The legs felt snappy, and my residual cough didn’t act up too bad. Even the 30mph headwinds I had at times really didn’t damper my mood. For the first time in many weeks I was happy to be out on the bike!
Enjoying the late afternoon autumn sun and 30mph tailwind!
My body needed this. I was suppose to take a week or two off after MTB nationals per my coach’s instructions, but I proceeded to continue racing and riding long hours and miles on the road. I threw myself into a mishap of a cross racing season, and quickly started hating anything involving cycling. My brain needed this. Sure, it sucked being sick, especially for the first week and a half of my new job – the irony is I am in infection control to boot – but it all worked out I think. Since I wasn’t being active I had time to sit around and think about what I wanted from cycling and goals for the future. I also refocused what I wanted from cross this year and what races I would do.
Overall, it was good. I was worried I’d suddenly gain a bunch of weight, or wouldn’t be able to pedal a mile without being tired. None of that happened, and I feel refreshed… woohoo! Taking a rest… who would’ve thunk? Too bad it involved getting sick, but if that’s what it took… Tomorrow I head to Laramie for the Rolland Cycling Cyclocross Race. Excited to try some local Wyoming cross, and even more excited I took the pressure off myself to spend a lot of time and money every weekend at USAC races in Colorado.
Heidi Rides Bikes 