Fast turkey

USGP NJ was like a Velo Bella festival (pre-show for Nationals) with 8 Bellas on the course, representation in each group and practically at each level of the race. Saturday's key words were sun and power. Sunday, mud and steady. Teammate Amy took the most aggressive rider award on Sunday proving that she is a power house and she has skills. I think the rest of us were all hoping for a little better than our finishing numbers, but I know there were many lessons learned out there and all hoping for some better luck and faster legs.

This week is hopefully some hard training, turkey, and racing in New England again Sat and in the MABRA on Sunday.

Changing tactics

Beacon and Highland Park this past weekend were as much fun as always. The parks are absolutely lovely, especially in the fall - with the water, the leaves, the crisp air. I love getting to the venues early and just checking out the trails at 'new' places like these. It was nice having these two races back to back again - which allowed Judd and I to stay in NJ and also see a part of the state other than the turnpike. Because of the misty cool weather we decided to forgo Atlantic City and the beaches for some other time.

This weekend I continued to see improvement in my fitness and was almost pleased that I could stay with Rebecca and Mo for a good chunk of the race. I was actually confused at the beginning of Beacon, thinking that the two of them must have started out really slow. But after a few laps up the stairs-of-the-giants (or the amphitheater of pain) I started to feel it (and actually still do - three days later).

Riding with Rebecca has reminded me of what it means to race. We have two different styles of riding and racing. I prefer the slightly more technical sections, love corners, and ride consistently - one speed. Meanwhile, Rebecca forces the challenge - she makes it a true race. She attacks, then peaks over her shoulder to make sure you are suffering if you are still riding her wheel. She leaves it all out on the course. She is tactful and well aware of her own and her competitors strengths and weaknesses. She wares down her competition and then finishes you off with a killer sprint. That is pretty much what happened at Beacon, even when my brave teammate stormed up the stairs and kept the pressure on and closed the gap to Rebecca and bravely fought for that last podium step.

Sunday, at Highland Park, half the course was a long slow rise and you get to feel which muscles were worked in the amphitheater stairs at Beacon the day before. The silver lining was the second half of the course, an awesome descent that dares you to take the off-camber turns with no brakes, which is doable, but I kept flinching and tapping the brakes right before the turns anyway.

The race pretty much blew apart by the top of the hill on the first lap. Mo and Georgia were gone. Anna, Rebecca, Wallace, Betsy, Erica, and I were settling out who was going to chase. Once teammate Anna took the helm I defensively took up a resting spot and made sure no one would bridge up to her. She kept her distance and secured the last podium spot. Erica had a perfect race and kept the pressure on. I learned that there is no advantage to "drafting" in cyclocross as the trailing rider has to accelerate twice as hard to catch back up out of corners. The effort took its toll and my one attempt at being an offensive rider did me in as I launched an 'attack' before the start of the hill in hopes of dropping Erica. However I fear my 'attack' was more of a slow acceleration as Erica appeared unfazed and rode right on by me as the hill got steep and I wasn't able to close the gap.

It was really nice to see Mandy and MegA again back on the their old 'stomping' grounds. And it was really fun to have Morgan and Alicia and Bill out there cheering and hanging out.

It was really cool to see Brewer have a phenomenal race on Sunday.

******

Now with four or so weeks to go till Nationals, it's time for a change. I'm training through the next few weeks and will also try to launch more of an offense to my racing. I'm not sure if it will change anything or not, but it will hopefully bring me more satisfaction with the race and not the chase.

Northward Bound

Judd and I once again packed up the car and headed out for the North again (for the second of four trips to New England this season) for the Farmington and Northampton races. Although I'm to the point now that every New England race is my favorite - not to diss on the MAC series, but there is something quaint about the small towns in Mass and CT, the local spectators, the snow, the dunkin donuts, the fans, the announcers ....

Our first trip to the great North was Gloucester. Below is the pic of the Velo Bella-Kona squad that raced (Jen, Steph, Melanie, Melody, Anna)

Farmington and Northampton were both a blast. Sat in CT I had a great race and was almost about to catch the lead chase group before they launched some attacks to make sure I wasn't going to join them. I rode the sandpit really well for a change and rode hard the whole course with Wallace hot on my wheels. The rain/sleet mix was coming down and it added to the fun by making some of the turns a little slick - allowing the course to claim many victims at some point. I was quite pleased with my 5th place (my best so far in New England) and not that far back from the leaders (until the second to last corner where I had a spectacular wipe out that required me to practically regain my consciousness, put my chain back on, and limp to the line with crooked handlebars and bent derailler).

Sunday the leggies were a little tired but I surprisingly had an awesome start and was in perfect position for the first few corners and finally where I wanted to be - in the lead group...for about 1/2 a lap. Little mistakes kept costing me seconds and eventually sealed my fate. Whether it was not picking up the bike or getting back on quick enough, slipping or stumbling on the rooty scramble drag/pull-your-self-up hill, or stalling out on the steep ride-up and having to hobbley-ho my bike up the rest of the hill (how embarrassing - I hope there are no pics of that anywhere). I was fortunate to finish 6th and happy to see my teammate Anna finally regaining her form.

Now it is time for the Amphitheatre of Pain at Beacon - back in the MAC. I'm looking forward to Mandykins taking a break from Darden to race with us all again and I'm pleased to have the New England gals coming down. We are all like a travelling circus.

Halloween (a little late in coming)

People in Louisville take Halloween seriously as you can see from the pic of one of the houses decked out. Perhaps because it's home to one of the most haunted places in the US - the Waverly Sanatorium. I'm still really upset that we didn't even realize that it was in Louisville. We first heard about it on the Sci Fi series Ghost Hunters.

It is Velo Bella tradition to do a little something for the holiday. We had candy for the adult kids, and I used the spider rings to bribe the local kids across from the VBK tent for some stale cookies since the Papa John's trailer was empty. Rumor has it Sir Papa was even at the race.

The Velo Bellas had a blast trying to add goblin flair for Sunday's race - whether it was skeleton hands, devilish horns, a scarey skrunken head. I was lacking in flair as my pumpkin socks were dirty from wearing them the past few days. All I had was a hair band with a witch face I put around my headset which ended up falling off before the race was over anyway.

Louisville wasn't a bad experience for my first taste of the mid-west/south or whatever geographic region it should be considered. I higly recommend visiting for the Halloween festivities.