Saving Pennsylvania

This weekend posed a challenge to the girl who formerly called her self "girloffroad".

I raced the Ephrata stage race in PA - on the road, rather than racing the Greenbriar mtn bike race in MD which I had done for years. Skipping the mtn bike race may have caused me to miss out on qualifying for MTB Nats at Mt. Snow this July. Granted, there will be another chance to qualify at the Hoo-Ha in June but that event is always a crapshoot anyway with weather, organizing, course design, voodoo. It does make me wonder why there are even qualifying races - especially since the MTB scene is not nearly as big as it used to be. And why aren't there qualifying races for Road and CX? I'm only a little bummed about possibly not doing MTB nats once again - I was hoping for an age group jersey and maybe being fast enough to "cat up" to race at the pro-level one day (but not as a pro).

I was happy my teammates decided to forego their travel plans and to send nearly a full team to Ephrata PA (pronounced F-rauta not E-frayta). We saw a few Amish and lots of scarey locals and unruly children roaming around. I was quite impressed with the very cool coffee shop in town and the nice pizza joint across the street. The bike race brought quite a few non-racer fans to cheer and yell and watch us all go round in circles on Sunday afternoon.

It was fun doing a stage race - mainly because you can race all weekend. The RR was super slow avg 13.2mph because of the wind - which made for one of the sketchiest races ever. Teammate Leslie made a break with a few others that eventually stuck. The following morning was the hardest thing I had ever done on a bike in a long time. I was expecting worse, and as the hill went up I kept thinking it was going to get steeper and how cruel it would be of the promoter to actually make us have to finish on the steepest part of the mtn - and as it was I rolled past the finish line unknowingly that I had just finished the 28minute or so lung busting effort - shattered my previous 30minute power average. The crit in the afternoon was fun at first. It's nice to have open road and you can rail the corners as hard and as fast as you want. After an early eager flyer to set a high pace - little did I realize as an unmarked rider - nobody cares if you go to the front or off the front - the pack will just do what the number one rider wants to do. We rode in circles until the last 100m.

The highlight of the weekend was Leslie getting selected for the Nature Valley Composite team based on her great results in all three events. Tres cool.

Driving home I was glad to be done with it, despite the fun. However I was quickly reminded of the adventures while shopping at Trader Joe's this week. I was pleased to see that they actually had "local" products and I even supported the PA economy by buying some tomatoes and mushrooms, from PA, and a dozen large eggs from Saunders, (probably picked by Amish child labor), an egg 'factory' we passed on the way back from the road race, out of Lititz PA (pronounced lit-its not li-tits).

Great pics at www.mlkimages.com.

David Avery

Jim Wilson

Dodging green blobs

I've been watching the radar now for the past two days trying to determine how big of a break will there be in the clouds to perhaps allow a ride or a walk.

Sunday for women's race at Carl Dolan we had the only 1 hr break with no rain, it seemed.

Today I'm looking at the radar, measuring how long it's taking for various blobs to move across the screen and trying to predict how much they'll follow the tract of the previous green blob. Just when I think there's an hour window when I can go out and ride, I realize now it's raining on one side of the house and not the other. Bizarre.

Looks like a nice day for the trainer and reruns of the great cycling classics...oh wait, I think it stopped raining again. Let me check the radar.

I think there's a 100% chance it's going to rain 50% of the time.

A week's worth of training...measured in donuts

I love the charts that come out during the Tour de France that compare the energy expenditure of a tour rider compared to how many Calories in various foods.

The past few weeks I've had this craving for Dunkin Donuts (and yes, I'll admit - I've gone and satisfied it too).

At first I thought it must be the memories of the cyclocross season - D&D in the morning (bagel and egg sandwich, OJ) and after the sunday cx races - for the 4 hour drive home (the #1 combo - coffee and two donuts, plus a stop at Starbucks at the MD rest areas).

But here it is March and I'm craving tons of crap food. I've been trying to figure out if I'm going crazy or if I have a tapeworm or what. I decided to check out WKO+ and plotted my kJ expenditure over the past year and half. Duhhhhh since I've been riding outside (since March) I've pretty much doubled or tripled my time on the bike. Add in some good hard rides/races and there it is - I've pretty much doubled my energy expenditure from what it was on average all fall and winter.

So instead of losing weight, I've been going to Dunkin Donuts. I don't think I've been gaining weight either.

Out of curiosity I plugged in some numbers and did my own comparison. Gotta love having a power meter.

On average, per week, I spend about 4,150kJ or about 991 kCal cycling (kCal = kJ/4.1868).

Ah ha! That's nearly equivalent to the #1 meal from Dunkin Donuts I get once a week lately (yes I admit it).

D&D #1 = medium coffee w/ skim and sugar (70 kCal)
1 double chocolate cake donut 340kCal
1 blueberry cake donut 290kCal
~700kCal

(I guess the occasional vending machine visit makes up the rest of the 290kCal)

Walkersville

Walkersville RR was my second longest ride of the year. So my goal going in to Saturday was literally to just finish with the group since I wasn't able to finish Jeff Cup the week before.

Luckily no rain on the parade, but the wind definitely hindered the race on top of the especially narrow roads. There wasn't a whole lot of room to pass or move around, and the wind was keeping the pace kinda slow. However despite the wind, we watched HPC launch their riders out into the wind to suffer and they would eventually drift back into the fold while my CycleLife teammates would try to keep the pace high.

Half way through the race the field split and for a moment, with two teammates from every team in there, Wendy and I thought that a winning break could come from this half of the field. It was really just a bunch of unorganized chaos and nothing happened. The rest of the field caught us and shut it down after 1/2 a lap or so. However something did happen and that was HPC inflicted another sufferfest onto one of their own. This time the strong willed Chris Kelly. The gap between her and the field kept creeping up slowly and despite some hard efforts, there wasn't enough commitment from the field to bring it back. On the last lap the moto ref said the gap was like 30-40 seconds or something. It was time to bring her back.

At about four miles to go - about the only place on the course where there's no headwind - I had gained a bunch of spots on the downhill and used the free acceleration up the little hill. I pushed a few hard pedal strokes over the top and then all of a sudden it was really quiet. I looked back and was kind of startled to see a gap. I decided to just go with it and see what happens.

Susan Matsen the Kelly rider who is really strong and not afraid to work joined me and said we were clear. Lorena HPC latched on to the back of us. I kept looking back and couldn't believe the field wasn't coming. We rode up on HPC's Chris Kelly and she had just enough energy to tag on as we passed by. Awesome I thought - we'll stay out for sure. However, four miles is a long ways to go and it's especially long when you have only 2 sets of legs doing the work. And as such the two HPC gals tactically refused to do a sinlge lick of work, not even a brief second on the front which clearly gave them the advantage for a 1,2 finish as us silly cat 3s pulled and pulled for the sake of not getting caught and having our work be all for nothing. We did survive and I ended up 4th out of the 4 and I think I lost a few brain cells in that last 10 minutes of near anearobic work. And funny that in the end, I wasn't all that excited about just finishing anymore. Ah there's so much to learn.

Teammate Leslie took the field sprint with a nice leadout from Wendy.

Don't be a Lucy!

Although there is nothing wrong with being a "Lucy", it doesn't really work in a competitive environment. Such is the life of an adorable and sweet greyhound dog I met in Louisville during the CX USGP. Her name is Lucy. She was the leanest strongest greyhound I met, but "she just didn't have the heart to race" and she ended up finishing nearly last in every race she did. And as the life of a greyhound goes - we all can imagine what her fate was to be. Meeting Lucy and seeing her disposition, but yet knowing that she probably was a fully capable doggie that could race well if SHE really wanted too - well I thought maybe I'm like Lucy. Maybe this racing thing isn't for me and I should just be a recreational rider who rides for fun - but riding isn't fun. Racing is fun - when you win. Well my inner mantra since October has been "Don't be a Lucy". I didn't post about this little story earlier because I was afraid of being called a Lucy from my competitor's support crews that were in the pits during the cx races.

Instead of being a Lucy, I was trying to tell myself to be a Lion. I even pulled out my little Nittany Lion emblem to give me that motivation - but inside I still felt like a Lucy. There is nothing wrong with being a Lucy, but it's not the temperament to have and to try to compete and win. Finally lying in bed the night before the Walkersville RR, trying to focus on some mental toughness training (so I'm not a Lucy anymore), it dawned on me...Why not be a Lucy and a Lion.

Now that I'm racing with a great team - Team CycleLife - I can't escape being a Lucy - as it's the name of one of our supporter's on our jersey. And I have no shame in being a Lucy, but I'm going to try to be a Lion too.

Adopt a greyhound.

East Coasters in Charge of USA Cycling

It's strange to hear about someone you know that all of a sudden becomes a "celebrity", or at least a star in our little world of cycling.

Hearing that Mark Abramson is now the president of USA Cycling.... But it's just Mark, the guy that kept the collegiate scene alive and fun with the ECCC. We can all look forward to the new energy he will bring to USA Cycling.

And our own Mid-Atlantic Jim Patton is on the board as well as.

And hearing that college friend Matt Cramer has moved from USA Cycling's head of Mtn Bike Development to the US Olympic Committee is really exciting to see.

Lowest TSS - can I really go that slow?

What a great way to spend easter - two days full of riding in DC/MD with the ladies. There were no chocolate marshmallow bunnies, peeps, or Reese's PB eggs in my easter basket. Just cliff blocks, gu, and cliff bars in my back pocket (and an almond butter sandwich too).

I never realized how fortunate the city dwellers are to have such great riding out their front door - it's scenic, rolling, and has some "technical stuff - like corners". I always thought living in the suburbs on the W&OD was to my advantage and the best way to get training in since I can ride out my front door and have access to a bike trail. I never considered that it is actually hindering the development of good riding skills since my weekday ride consist of going straight, riding in to the headwind, 1x180 degree turn, and cruising home feeling fast with a tail wind. You'd think I'd be a good time-trialist or something with training conditions like that.

Two days of nice long rides (for me) have taken their toll. The second day is always the worst, and sure enough the DOMS has set in. My hamstrings ached just from sitting on my chair at work.

Hopefully the two days of recovery rides yesterday and today will bring the legs back around. Today my poor heart and lungs were bored and ready for some intensity but the little leggies just couldn't put out yet. Personal record: Lowest TSS I've ever scored: Monday 2.9 for a 30min ride and while pedalling the whole time.

Looking forward to faster legs this weekend!

cycling for the masses

I love seeing all the new riders and usual suspects come out for the Tues/Thurs group rides by Reston Bike Club. Usually there's a pretty decent smattering of a few folks from most of the local teams represented in the various category rides. The A ride today was a nice size group of 18 or so. Oh but I was feeling it after taking nearly a week off of regular training thanks to the weather down south this past weekend.

It's exciting to track everyone's fitness through out the year at the these rides. It's nice to have them started up again. It's even better that we are a regular critical mass on the local roadways in NoVA.

Learning to Un-Learn

I just got back from "bicycle kindgergarten".

Yeah I'll admit, I'm a slow learner, but when it finally clicks, it's nearly impossible to forget it - unfortunately that applies to bad skills too. Ten years of trying to race a bike, I couldn't figure out why it seemed like I worked harder than anyone else in a race and would only finish just above midpack. And lately on MTB rides it seems my skills are just as bad, sometimes worse than when I raced beginner! Despite reading a few books and trying to take other people's advice I wasn't getting any better. After much online research, the only "cure" is to finally learn the basics of bike riding by attending one of Gene's Better Ride camps.

Thinking way way back, I realize I never learned the basics. The only thing I ever really sorta learned was balance, despite being a total clutz growing up. I was the last kid on the block to learn to ride a bike. I was eight and the bratty kid up the street promised me she wouldn't let go of the bike seat. All of sudden I learned the art of balance, out of fear, while I flew down the hill on the neighborhood street, screaming. I knew it would be worse to crash into the pavement so I hung on to the handlebars while the tears flew out of my eyes, dragging both heels. Even after learning how to ride a bike, I was too afraid to ride off curbs and I swore I'd never ever ride a 10 speed cause the tires were too skinny. So basically I wasn't one of those naturals. I had to work at it and learn to overcome those little fears. I guess I still have some learning to do...

There are some that are naturals and can for example play a piano without knowing anything about it, and there are those that supposedly taught themselves how to read. Everyone is different and for some reason I need to over analyze everything and break it down into tiny pieces. Gene did just that in his classes and his approach to teaching ends up accommodating every type of learning style. In the end we had a group of women of varying ages and abilities who after a few minutes, could accomplish the desired task of a wheelie, or a track stand, hopping large curbs, cornering like the cool downhillers in the videos, despite trying to do these things for months or years (as in my case). For me, the camp is basically just learning all the basic building blocks, to riding a bike "effortlessly".

I've come away with more patience and appreciation for the value of the basic skills, done right. Every other sport seems to focus on perfecting the fundamentals and, heck golfers have a whole channel dedicated to it, but for some reason bicycling really hasn't developed the same way. There's a few camps and clinics, but it's not really mainstream like it is in other sports. My training focus is now changed. To get faster, I'm going to start spending more time training skills (using the proper technique) to be more efficient rather than training for speed.

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!!!!!!!

Sorry to post this tempting picture - do you feel your mouth watering?

I look forward to Girl Scout Cookie Time...Oh, the sweet, crispy tastiness in each bite. You can't have just one (box that is).

Once Valentine's day has passed, I begin to wonder when some sucker parent at work will bring in their daughter's cookie-order form. Around March 1st, I start to make extra trips on my errands, passing-by all the grocery stores to see if the Girl Scouts have set up their tables yet. Finally when I can't take it anymore, I begin to inquire if there have been Girl Scout or Cookie sightings. And then one day, it happens. They are outside the grocery store. Finally, the sweet little crumbly cookie is mine.

Back in the days when I was a Girl Scout, I always wanted to be the biggest seller in my troop. I took notes and did my market research. I would scope out the neighborhood and then would hit the houses where the biggest kids or largest families lived first. Then I'd hit up the old ladies who couldn't resist saying no, they'd freeze the cookies and probaby already had several years worth already frozen when they ordered again. However there was one customer that was the most lucrative, and best at helping me reach my required box-sale goal so I could win that dorky little pink I Love Girl Scouts t-shirt or set of Girl Scouts USA pencils, it was me.

Support Girl Scouts and buy a box of cookies near you.

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Despite owning a mountain bike for 10 years, I still ride as if I have owned it for a few years. I still fear the dreaded curb hop, the log bigger than my fist, and any section that has more than 3 rocks. Oh and if the slope is facing downhill and the trail weaves between two trees.....

One of my other new year's resolutions was to learn how to mtn bike, for real. In hopes of gaining confidence and unlearning bad habits, I decided to enroll in a Better Ride camp. Will it make a difference, maybe? Will I learn something, yes. Would I have been better off staying home and have someone wave a $500 bill in front of me to tempt me to ride over a log as big as my head? We'll see.

New Year's Resolutions, Ramblings

Every year on Jan 1, I set my new year's resolutions as either lofty goals or a silly to-do-list. Most of them I write in my head and keep score for a few weeks until the days are longer and I get pre-occupied with riding outdoors or I eventually forget about the new years resolutions all together.

So one of my new year's goals for this year is to read 10 books. Since college, almost 10 years ago, I have started several but have not finished a single book. My plan is to read a mystery, sci-fi, 2 classics, auto-biography, biography, fiction, non-fiction, current events, and a recent bestseller. First book (for Jan) was Why French Women Don't Get Fat. Not a great book, but it did encourage me to eat more soup and to enjoy seasonal produce: berries in spring, not apples; root vegetables in winter not zucchini. Second book will be What's the Matter With Kansas (aside from hosting cyclocross nationals......) Ohhh!

****

Winter time for many cyclists means riding the trainer. I'm still riding, but only about 4 hours a week on trainer plus a ride or two outdoors on the weekend. Our entertainment is watching euro-cyclocross race re-runs. My favorite cx race to watch is still 2007 CX World Championships with the Americans being the surprise at the end. Actually I enjoy watching all the cx races and find them more captivating than a 2 hour movie (not that I even ride the trainer longer than an hour anyway right now). I cry and laugh and yell at the screen more watching a bike race than being at a theatre watching a comedy. I yell when the riders crash, I ball when the racers cry after a race (except for deClerck who I think is just a baby) - whether they are tears of joy, like with Lars Boom's recent victory, or tears of frustration like when Nys crashes out in a race.....Sigh.

Now that I haven't raced since December, I have realized what a lack of a social life I have. Instead of taking the opportunity to hang out with old friends, watch movies, go to concerts....The biggest and most cherished outings so far this year have still revolved around bikes! whether it was the three group rides we've done, a gathering at a fellow cyclist's house, and now, the MAC Banquet. I'll have to add to the New Year's lofty resolution list: Do something other than biking!

Speaking of the MAC Banquet - it was in Philly this past weekend. We lost our driving endurance more quickly than our riding endurance. Gosh the three hour drive up and three back in one day was rough - but only a few months ago driving 8 hours at a time was nothing (although JD and Mega made the drive from New England which was SOOOOO cool to see them....). I really regret that we hadn't made it out the MAC Banquet's in the past. It's really nice to finally be able to talk to the racers you saw in passing but never really had a chance to talk to them and also to see what people really look like. Not everyone is so dorky after all...... Everyone is all dressed nice and there's no snot or spit hanging from people's faces, no helmet head. I wish more folks could have made it out. After the very nice awards ceremony Judd and I met up with some friends in Center City for a very awesome dinner at Trio. Every time we hang out with them, I just want to move to Philly - they tell stories about the great riding and racing options, the great food, the nice community.....

My latest mission has been to figure out what 'new' bike I should get as my commuter/ride around "town" bike. I encouraged the office to get a bike rack and as a result a few folks have been riding to work or bring the bike to work and riding at lunch. I had been bringing one of my 'race bikes' as my coworkers call them and I'm afraid they will get scratched in the rack. I could use one of my old bikes, but I finally sold them (took a while cause I get all sentimental about them). But I'm eyeing up the Kona Paddy Wagon.

And there I go again - it's all about bikes....

And finally the sun comes out

After mother nature throwing everything she had at us, she gave us a break on Sunday for the elite races - which were probably the best conditions all weekend with sunshine and warm weather (in the 30s).

Judd and I arrived to KC Wed to pre-ride the course lots and lots as prep for our races. However, given the weather and such, I ended up spending about 5 hours on the trainer instead over the few days in the hotel room. Fitness still felt pretty good and I was feeling much better than I had the past few weeks battling a cold. Despite all the training and travel to races all up and down the east coast, nothing really could have prepared anyone for the course at Nationals unless you live and train in a snowbelt or have some serious faith in bike handling skills and tires and ofcourse luck.


The elite women's race probably had about 70 starters. Velo Bella-Kona probably made up 20% of the field :-). Pic from Dave at trailwatch.net
The course was the same layout as all weekend - minus the barriers. The course conditions, which were different each day, each hour, each race. For our race the course still had the ruts from the previous days races in the mud, but they were frozen still at the start of the race. The snow fall the previous night left a granular dry powder on the course which actually helped with traction. For the most part you could still take any line you wished, as long as you were light on the bike, kept your ass back, and plowed over the ruts. However as the race went on, by lap 3 of 4 the mud started to come through and the ruts started to soften and grab the wheels and throw them which ever way.


My start was fair, but I got passed by a lot of folks on the road hill and went into the first corner probably mid pack despite my 2nd row start. I kept the pressure on and blasted through the corners and ruts and did not have any major issues the first two laps other than a few riders spinning out in front of me causing me to stop to pass them. Then the ruts started softening and I took a spill into the metal barrier guards by the pit (as did quite a few elite men as well) and then slipped out in a few other spots, but in all, I rode a fairly decent race. I got really tired and also wasn't confident enough to push the pace much more given the lack of traction and unpredicatability of the ruts.

I was slowly but steadily moving up through the field and finally caught up to my teammates Amy Drombski (who won the U23) and Barb Howe but wiped out on a frozen patch little ways past the last pit but still 1/3 lap to go to the finish. A few riders passed me while I got back up. I head to the stairs one final time and pushed hard, up, up, up, rode down, up, up, up, then realized front brake was totally stuck and wheel wouldn't turn. I tried to undo the front brakes so I could ride up the road (the final stretch) un-hindered. To no avail. Everyone yelled at me to just hop on and go. A few more passed including teammate Steph White (who was 2nd in the Collegiate race).

I hopped on the bike and headed up the finish stretch of road, trying to stand, trying to sprint, trying to preserve the position I already had, but with the front wheel not really moving on it's own, it took all my energy to just get up the hill, and like 3 more girls sprinted by me. Ah hell. I did what I could.

Winter in KC

We arrived to ice encrusted Kansas City on Wed for 2007 Cyclocross National Championships. We planned to arrive early so that we could pre-ride the course on the only days it's really open for any amount of time, Wed and Thursday afternoon.
Given the ice and mud, we opted out of pre-riding the course both days, knowing that the lines would be changing, if not the course, by late Saturday and Sunday, after ice melt, mud, ruts, and more snow that's on the way. Plus we didn't really want to have to spend hours cleaning the bikes for only getting in 2-3 laps in the slop and not even being able to do the workout as planned.

Thursday we watched the Masters 40 plus race. I think that only 1/2 of the registered riders actually showed up to race - granted that still meant 85 or so riders actually raced. It was nice to see a few Mid-Atlantic faces out there with Tom, Kelly, Jeff, and Bill. Bill finally decided to participate in the nationals after watching in RI last year. After the race we ate a BBQ sandwich, cleaned Jeff's bike in a drainage ditch with an old paint bucket we found on the side of the road, and then headed to the hotel for me to ride the trainer and for Judd to explore the suburbs.

Friday we are relaxing in the hotel. We will be heading out shortly to cheer on teammate Anna for her age-group race. She's in top form and fitness this year and really strong and very confident. Mo and Betsy will be tough competitors if the conditions are muddy. I was thinking about doing this 30-34 age group race, but kept hemming and hawing. If it were the day before the elite race, I would have. However with it on Friday, I tend to get really sore two days after a race, which would put me in the hurt locker for Sunday. I finally decided I'd race it anyway, but missed the registration deadline by 5 hours.

So far we discovered the things to do here are to see "Kansas City's #1 attraction - Cabela's" - which has a room with little laser rifles - that would be fun. There's a bowling alley with Martini's served, Dave and Busters, a marble factory, and well, not much else. We are right next to the Kansas Speedway which is impressive and enticing enough to actually make me want to come out to watch a Nascar race. Oh and there's a mechanical bull at one of the steakhouses in the outdoor mall they call Legends - which celebrates the legendary history of Kansas. Unfortunately I didn't see any explanations for the statues they had around the outdoor mall - I did figure out the yellow brick road though.

We'll report back later.

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.

Racing the Derby Cup USGP in Louisville KY

The 10 hour drive of fall foliage and mountain views ended in clean and quaint downtown Louisville. Although long, it was one of the least stressful drives of the cx season. Our very accommodating and fun host was located only a mile from the venue alongside the Ohio River and just past the Louisville Riverside parks.

In Louisville, at night we enjoyed seeing the houses along Hillcrest over-decorated for Halloween. The best was the bike graveyard, the worst was the house that tried to be a pirate ship but looked more like it was under construction.

The food choices along Frankfort Ave were all local and also excellent. I hope to go back some day and eat more. El Mundo for Mexican was by far the J Gumbo's for Cajun was a real tasty deal. Burgers at WW Cousins could have been good if I didn't have racer tummy which allowed me to only eat three bites of my burger and one onion ring.

Okay the race course was alright. It did leave a little to be desired but it wasn't bad considering it was pancake flat other than the flyover. They did at least break up the long straightaways with a few semi-technical sections such as corners or sand. The most frustrating part however was the narrowings and too tight of corners for the early part of the course - with in the first 150m which forced all the races to be single file from that point on. That's not very spectator or racer friendly.

About 40 women lined up - the best of North America (and in some ways the world). It was also a preview of Nationals with the west coasters and Coloradoans coming out. I'll admit I wasn't ashamed to line up third out of four rows in this crowd. It definitely takes a lot of pressure off having not to be on the front row. On the other hand - you biff a start and you'll be left all alone really quick (thank god for those tight corners right off the start stretch).

Saturday was an odd race day. Warmup, pre-ride, all were fine. However once the race got going I just didn't have it. I felt like I was going hard but still going backwards. Unfortunately, almost all of us that have been racing together the past few weeks felt the same and us gals from the East coast didn't fare as well as we all had hoped. What did make me happy was that from a team standpoint, Velo Bella-Kona is talented and has some depth -- if a few racers don't have a good day, there are teammates who will be able to put in a good show - and it all balances out. Barb, Amy, and Kathy all did pretty good. Anna and I were kind of left with our wheels spinning and trying to figure out what just happened. I finished 25th out of 35 and 7+ minutes down from the leader.

Sunday the course was basically the same but they removed one of the bottle necks at the start and shortened up some of the long straightaways with some S-turns. The course was a little bit tackier and the Griffos were hooking up perfectly for me. I actually was able to race and pick off riders. Although I was still basically a back of the packer (pretty much anything worse than 50%), this time I finished only like 5 minutes down from the leader (which is still kind of embarrassing I'll admit). In the grand scheme of things though (although I had hoped for a top 15) I finished about where I was expected, I guess - ironically enough in the same position as my starting line up - 20th. And it earned me one USGP point. Which is kinda cool.

After Saturday's race, a discussion with a teammate got me wondering if perhaps I need a rest week since I had said that this was my 10th race of the season for me - to my teammates 3rd. The question came up - 'Do you race on a rest week?' Dumbfounded, I didn't know what to say. Judd and I race every weekend from mid-Sept to Christmas. I honestly couldn't imagine it any other way. I love each race so much that the thought of missing out on any of them literally gets me all choked up. Now that I've been doing some of these races for years, I look forward to the travel and to the experience of the race on courses I've grown to love and against competition that I know. I'm at the half way point of the season. Let's see how things continue on for the rest of the year.

At home...

in the Mid-Atlantic....
The series opener Granogue is my old favorite cyclocross race - races at this venue have been going on forever and it's a course everyone loves to hate, but always return to. I remember doing this race many years ago and walking up the hill to the tower with tears in my eyes because it seemed so hard. And yet each year I return and am able to ride a little faster and my form gets a little better. Yeah, sometimes I still have to push the bike a few feet while the others can grind out the gears over a little hump. But I am happy that I can finally shoulder the bike and do the whole run-ups with semi-ease and can sorta almost navigate the technical corners without too many issues. It's fun to see how much you progress year to year with a challenging race like this. One day, I hope to ride away with a pink flamingo.

Despite the tough course the day before, I still felt pretty strong at Wiss. I was inspired seeing Anna leading the charge to bring Kari back and wanted to bridge back up to that chase group to try to help. While I was focusing on trying to catch them I rode into the sand way to fast losing control of the front wheel. The pileup with Amy and Betsy and god knows who else ensued. I was so embarrased and annoyed to have crashed, resulting in a huge gap to the top 5 and ruining other people's races. I did manage to stay focused enough to keep trying to close the gaps that resulted from my mistakes. Lesson learned was that it's okay to slow down to navigate tricky corners. Speed and momentum will get you through some technical sections, but there are certain times when the skill required is the patience to go really slow. I think I always had this fear that if you slow down, the effort of going fast will catch up to you. But on the other hand the risk is that if you are going to fast, you can not get out of your own way.