cross race #1 - loveland

i couldn’t sleep at all the night before the race. well truth be told, i fell asleep, but then i woke up around 2 am and my head was filled with visions of dismounts & remounts and not being able to dismount in time and or getting impaled by one of the stakes on the course and my husband later asked me if i ever heard of anyone getting impaled by a stake on a cross course and i have to say no. so, as usual; most of my fears are completely irrational. my husband says – it’s ‘cross racing. its supposed to just be fun. just have fun. race your race.

registration was a cluster (and i was pre-registered to avoid such a cluster). i had registered for womens’ open but later regretted that choice. i had hoped they would be able to switch me to the master’s womens’ group, (solely on the assumption that i would place better in masters! - and actually, i would have placed 3rd) but the volunteer was in the weeds to put it mildly and i had no chance in hell of getting switched. open women’s race it was. registration was such a cluster that 3 days later results are still not up. (the insane winds from hurricane ike and subsequent loss of power probably have much to do with it!) i have no idea where i came in - all i know is i was not dead last - believe it was somewhere in front third! phew.

i was able to squeeze in a quick pre-ride of the course and it was just enough to freak me the hell out. course overview: tons of crazy short steep hills that went into crazy steep short downhills that went into crazy tight 180 degree turns that went back up into more crazy shorty steep uphills to a 180 degree turn downhill. ride. rinse. repeat. hopefully you get the picture. sadly – my husband said this was nuthin’. the course was easy. there were 2 sets of barriers. no sand. damn. and i had done so much sand practice.

i had a great starting position going through the first turn. my mantra was “race your own race”. i was confident that the hills might slow some girls down and i could start picking them off at some point. but that point came too late in the race, i rode way too timidly and cautious for the first two laps – i had a whole, itsmyfirstcrossraceimjustrtyingtosettleinandseehowitallgoes
excuse going in my head. i was just trying to breathe. at the first set of barriers i miraculously dismounted & hippity hopped over them & got back on my bike and on my merry way. well truth be told, i wasn’t feeling merry. i was mostly feeling hot and thirsty. *now that i have written this i have seen the picture of the "hippity-hop" over the barrier. it's not pretty.

now. in addition to the crazy steep shorty uphills into 180 degree downhill turns there was a lovely, fairly straight and dare i say normal patch of the course; followed by a crazy shit tight S turn with a pine tree in the middle of it. i almost crashed into this pine tree on every lap; but saved myself every lap - i looked away from the tree and tried to look around the turn (this was tough in that the tree blocked your view of the turn). looking where you want to go as opposed to where you are afraid to go is nothing short of miraculous in saving you from where you don’t want to go.

so i’m riding. i’m riding. and it’s hot. it’s really hot. and i’ve never been so parched in my life and i want a hand up but i told my husband i’d be fine and i’m envious of the girl with the camelback. i want to be her. mostly, i just want her camelback. i can’t hear any cowbells and i want some. more hills. come on come on come on. you love hills. more downhills. holy crap this is steep. get back in the saddle. don’t touch the brakes don’t touch the brakes. more crazy tight turns. for the love of god girl look where you want to go. omg. please do not get tangled in that tape. dismounting is a crap shoot. sometimes i nail it. sometimes i’m stuck in my pedal. remounts are not a crap shoot but almost impossible. i. am. so. tired. what number is he holding up? 1? only 1 more lap? that was faster than i thought. one more lap. ok. that girl is pretty close. go pass her. good. now go pass that next girl. ok. i got the hang of this now. oh. bummer for you to have gotten hung up in that pine tree. i am going to pass you now. oh. hey. am sorry to see that you are having trouble on this hill and about to fall over. i am going to pass you now. ok. ok. i get it now! i get it!

i don’t know how many girls i passed on that last lap but it was without a doubt, my best lap. i found all my mojo on the last lap - finally got my head wrapped around the whole thing two laps too late.

i could have worked harder. i mostly know this because when i finished the race i did not want to throw up. nor was i doing any dry-heaving throughout the race. apparently this is a part of cx racing that i missed out on & i think it has a direct correlation to the fact that i was not working all that hard. i wasted my first two laps trying to find my way. but its ok. i got a bunch more races.

next one is in two weeks. i know what i really need to work on now. the best part? when its over. and you are sitting on the steps of the airstream, with a beer in hand. watching the next race going by. the best part is knowing that last year you were content to watch and cheer, but this year you are one of them.

road season wrap up

i have just returned from my last road race of my first ever bike racing season; i've had a beer, taken some tylenol for the raging, i-still-not-have-rehydrated-enough headache, written my race report on team site and am now here to tell all.

first things first. my goal for this race was to finish in the top five. mission accomplished with 5th place!

i'll start at the start line. the official went through his whole schpiel & told us the race would be a neutral start for the first few turns out of town and after that the race was open. but i swear, within the first mile of the race, i looked at my computer and wondered what the hell was so neutral about 30mph. neutral my ass. in every road other race i have been in so far, the starts were very civilized. lots of polite, girly chatter. not this one. this race was all business from the get-go. just get in position and GO!

there were two girls up front who were really pushing the pace - this was within that first 'neutral' mile. we hit the first hill, which was a steep doozy of a mother at mile 5, and i watch them get out of their saddles & just gun it - knew they were trying to split the group, and i wanted to be in the break. it was tough as hell but i stayed on; and so, for the first time ever - i was able to stay in the break & be up with the cool girls. i was still reeling from that hill (not so much the hill, but the speed at which we went into & up it), and the two girls just kept pushing the pace - they were hitting the rollers hard & we all started to really string out. by mile 10, they had all just ridden away in a strung out line and i could no longer see anyone (i would find out at the end of the race that every single one of us wound up in essentially, a solo time trail). and we finished the race in exactly the same positions we were in at mile 5 once we had crested the hill and split the group.

i know that when you fall off like that it sometimes behooves you to wait for the second group to catch you so you can work together - no one wants to do a hilly 40 mile race alone. that said, i also knew that no one behind me was going to be of much help. so now my goal was to just not let anyone catch me. i needed to try to keep putting as much distance as i could between me and the girls behind me. i knew they were not climbers, but i also figured they might have some power on the flats & could certainly catch me on a descent, so i never, ever let up. i went faster on downhills that i have ever gone and just settled into a steady pace in the hills. i would look back every now & then to ensure that the girls behind hadn't organized themselves into any chase group. i even asked passing guys from the citizens' race how far back they were and was assured they were 'very' far back. (still, i never sat up -never stopped pedaling).

at about mile 37, with 3 miles left to go, i looked back and in the very far off distance i thought i caught a glimpse of the kit colors of one of the women that we dropped at mile 5. but i didn't have my glasses on & so couldn't be sure. i looked back a few more times and the orange and black dot may have been slightly closer, but i still couldn't tell. so i just kept going as hard as i could. i had worked too hard to keep my 5th place spot, there was no way i was going to lose it this close to finish.

then, with 1 mile left to go. one mile! i look behind me and realize that orange and black dot was exactly who i feared it was because she was on. my. wheel! on my wheel. i may have said holy crap out loud. not sure. i was simultaneously impressed and worried as hell. as i noticed her, we were coming up to a hill that starts a series of turns to the finish. she may have just bridged a gap of 34 miles, but i knew she wasn't going to be able to keep up with me on the hill if i really hammered it - i could buy myself just a tiny bit of time. so i just gunned it and rode away. when i got to the top and looked back, i swear she was still at the bottom of it.

i still wasn't safe. this race had a crit-style finish and i figured it could be my downfall if i found myself with anyone who was better at turns than me (and that would be everyone). but i also thought i'll be damned if i lose 5th place in the last few turns. suffice it to say, i have never gone through a series of turns faster in my life. every time i looked back, she was maybe a block away, maybe closer. i thought if she can get dropped at mile 5, haul ass on that hilly mofo of a course and catch someone at mile 39, she could probably take me on the thing i suck the most at: turns.

i finally turned that last turn, saw the finish archway and was enormously relieved to see that it was closer than i thought - if i had to sprint her, and i thought it could come down to that; i could do it. i gave a quick look back to see where she was. and she wasn't too close, but she wasn't that far away either. she was medium distance.

so. i start to really haul ass. i mean really. big ring, all out - i am going for it. 5th place is mine.

one split second, i look back to gauge where she was, and when i look forward again - there is a CAR in front of me. at a dead stop. i'll say it again. a car pulls out onto the course and stops. and now a car is between me and my sprint to the finish. i can hear the race directors screaming at the car and waving it to just keep going forward. i'm still propelling myself forward, fully confident that the driver will actually propel his car forward and move out of my damn way. i am so confident that he'll either move forward or just remain stopped, and i have a perfectly wide enough passing spot on the right, that i just keep going.

just as i decide to go to his right, he decides to TURN RIGHT down a side street.

and i scream and lock the brakes and can feel my back wheel skid out a bit and because the cycling gods were smiling down on me and maybe my grandparents too, i am able to clip out and stop in time so i don't crash into him or fall and be run over by his back wheel as he makes the damn turn. i stopped so close to the car that there was no room to even go around to the left. i have to actually sit there and wait for him to complete his turn. and off he goes on his clueless merry little way and i bet he never even saw me.

and all of this happens in what feels like a nano-second. and now i am at a dead stop in the big ring. the adrenaline is pumping, i'm freaked out and mad for all kinds of reasons, moreso over losing my spot than almost biting it mere feet from the finish line. i don't even look back - i don't want to know where she is, for all i know, she had already crossed the line. so i clip in, and try my best to kick it (which is hard in big ring from dead stop) and i still take 5th place. i looked to my left just as i crossed and she was right. there.

we rolled around together to the parking lot & i gave her kudos for the good job chasing back on. and she said she thought that near crash was going to be really ugly - i imagine it looked pretty bad and so i am assuming she slowed down a bit to avoid any possible carnage. also highly impressive that she caught me. more highly impressive there was no carnage involving me.

this was a hilly, tough course. i loved it. loved it even more when i hit the biggest, toughest hill of the course (which was nowhere near as hard as the hill on this course) and steadily made my way up past guys who were walking it. now, all this said - i loved the hills when i was hitting them at my pace - going up them at the blistering pace that the two girls had been dictating earlier would have been nearly impossible. i like to think i am good in the hills, but when you get in a race with the higher category girls (and for the first time you are actually in the break and able to see up close how they work) you really see the differences in strength. those girls up front pushing the pace and hammering every roller were a force to be reckoned with - they just rode away and left the rest of us in their wake. they hammered the hills, splintered the group and very deservedly took first and second. i want to be where they are next year.

i would occasionally get discouraged these past few months, thinking i hadn't improved enough (i have very high, bordering on completely unreasonable expectations for myself). my husband would remind me all the time that its my first season, i came into it with some fitness from running, but no bike base. but in this last month especially, i really started to see that i have indeed come a long way from that first race.

so. 12 races later, my first road race season is complete. bring on the long winter team training rides. cause i can't wait to see what a good bike base and a second season does.

the creative fog lifts

the redecorating is almost complete. i still have a little wallpaper to hang and some woodwork to paint, but its' a nice refreshing change. i was getting bored of looking at my own blog. and i'm telling you, that was telling - something had to be done. i love my blog. i read it often. but i just wasn't feeling inspired. so i trolled the internet and googled blogger templates more times than i can count - i found some great minimalist skins, but the one i was leaving was fairly minimal; so i thought i'd shake it up a bit and go a little girly for a while.

that whole xml error that was driving me to disctraction? yeah. um. total user error. do not cut and paste the code into html space. you have to browse out to where you saved it and upload it from there. i'm pretty sure all the instructions said to do that too. we still have to hack the code here and there to get things to work; so all in good time. welcome to my new place.

i had a great half finished post about volunteering at ironman last weekend. our team manned a water stop on the bike portion of the course. we were the first stop at 12 miles, then when the last rider went through (bless her doctors-told-her-she'd-never-walk-again heart), we packed up and moved across the street to get them all at mile 100. i finally got to see the sippy cups with foot long straws in action. real action. not just 25 mile club ride stuff. i was amazed to see what some of them accomplish while riding the bike, at a faster average speed than i ever ride. they're tossing bottles, grabbing bottles, putting things in pockets and on the bike - and then, like a benihana chef on the roll, they're concocting things in that sippy cup. pouring in powders, gatorade and water. some sort of magic ironman nectar of the gods that gets them through 112 miles. mixing things in my kitchen is sometimes messy enough and i usually need to follow a recipe book. doing it into a little bottle on the front of your bike, while you are riding it, embarking on 112 miles - only to be followed by the insanity of a marathon and having just swum 2.5 miles? highly impressive.

my heart ached for the few people who pulled off to the side, got off their bikes and practically fell to the ground. i thought they were out for good. not sure why i thought this, i know first hand you can pull off to the side of a race, even be put in an ambulance and not be out for good - just an hour. they complained about the heat and nutrition and gi issues, and i could feel their pain. my stomach tied up in knots just thinking about how many gels and powerbars they had consumed, or hadn't consumed seeing as most of them said they could't keep anything down. we got them towels soaked in ice & any real food we could get our hands on. (note to ironman organizers - every other athlete that rolled through asked for a banana). a little ice, rest, food and time and they all slowly but surely got back on the bikes and rolled off - cheered on by a bunch of us happy to see them upright and soldiering on. 102.5 miles behind them and 38.2 ahead of them. it boggles the mind. amazing.

my favorite temporary casualty was the belgium man who races 'cross and was thrilled (i think as thrilled you can be 100 miles into a race on a 93 degree day) to find himself at an aid station manned by a cycling team - the majority of whom are currently gearing up to race 'cross. we got an invite to visit should we ever go to belgium.

and now while we're on the subject of 'cross, the first race is next weekend and i'm nowhere near ready. i hear you're never really ready for your first race, so i suspect that this next biking adventure will be much like my first road season - every race is training and experience. the skills and drills have been an enormous help and i was overjoyed to get a huge kudos on my progress from my husband at tuesday nights' pratice. i can also tell that some of the handling skills i am slowly picking up at 'cross are eeking their way onto my road bike. which is excatly what i had hoped would happen, since my handling skills on the road leave so much to be desired.

and while we're on the subject of road riding, my first season comes to an end after my last race this saturday. a very hilly 40 mile race. that race i am ready for, and i can't wait.

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oh for the love of all that's bloggy and good - if i see this message one more time, i'm going to burst at the bloggy seams. i do the google. i do the research. i even know how to do some weensy coding. i know everything has to end with a '>'. my eyes are glazing over just looking for the missing '>'. i've deleted all my beloved widgets knowing i can just make them again. i started a 'test' blank canvas of a blog to try out some of the wicked cool new templates i found, so as not to risk losing any of the sheer literary genius that exists in this little space on the web.

and still.

i get that message.

this rearrange could take longer than planned.

limbo

i'm feeling the need to rearrange this place.
blog is in limbo till i find what i want ....
could be mere hours.
could be days.
i'll be back.