Thursday, July 24, 2008

east coast chaos


over the past couple weeks, i attended the two norbas over on the east coast: windam, NY (which was a new venue) and mt. snow, VT. two races i was looking forward to and dreading at the same time...
i met up with my teammate allie who moved to NY (about 30 min. from the laguardia airport where she picked me up-where the chaos began) and we drove up to Windam on friday morning- i expected it to be muddy as all get out, but the course was dry, manicured and perfect- almost too good. the trails were newly built by local racers- there were plenty of rock sections, wooden bridges and fast fun descents (which is what i was doing in the pic- courtesy of dave m./cyclingnews.com). i knew i would have a good time racing it, even if i felt like total crap. which, after firecracker, i was wasted. i thought i could recover but as seen in the results over the last couple weekends, its evident i am wasted tired...
back to the story. so i got a preride in friday and then met up with my dad and sally at the local B&B- i have to admit, it was really nice. lacy window treatments and all... made to order breakfast, tea and cookies in the afternoon, and snacks at night. the rooms had VS on tv, and internet. doesnt get much better than that. what else could a bike racer want? ha!
saturday i woke up to a dry sunny day! even though it was hot and humid, i didnt mind- as long as the rain held off i was happy-i felt good in my warmup, and headed to the start line. i was really nervous, probably since my dad was there- it was sooo good to see him and sally again- and i knew they would be cheering like crazy for me no matter what place i was in. the race bottlenecked at the trailhead, which was expected. unfortunately i got a horrible placement once things panned out, and the race was short (i finished in 1hr 40 min) so there was little time to make up spots- i was not happy with my 25th, but i knew i was tired. perhaps too tired to be racing in the first place- im starting to learn this, and its taken me many years to figure it out...
after a horrible short track, i hopped in the car with the cannondale girls and drove over to the next venue, mt. snow VT. the plan was to rest up over the week in between, which was harder to do than i thought. i ended up riding the course everyday and then some, which looking back probably wasnt the best idea. the climbs were very steep, and going easy wasnt an option. so when race day came, i already felt like i had raced. i had no jump, no attack, no intensity in me. if i were at a home race, i probably would have sat it out. but it was the nationals and the course was fun- and that kept me motivated. the first lap was terrible. i flatted, rolled into the tech zone and morgan (our mechanic for the weekend) mistakenly ripped the valve out of the rim which made putting air in impossible. at this point, i knew my race was pretty much over. he threw on a heavy spare wheel and sent me off. i was way off the back, and had little motivation to push hard. but i figured i would put one last ditch effort in- go as hard as i could- just to see. well, this turned out for the worse as i puked at the top of the climb. i have never done that. i descended back down and had decided to stop after that point. i met up with my old teammate tasha (it was so good to see her again!) and we both struggled together on our last lap, laughing, chatting and catching up. it was as if we were back in boulder training together again. so maybe doing this at the national champs wasnt the best idea, but it made me finish the race, and we crossed the line together. at least it wasnt quite as embarrassing with her beside me. frosty was worried i guess, since we had been so far back. its good to know that people knew something probably had happened- a lot had happened- during those 2 hrs of racing. i am now back home and trying to catch up on sleep and get back to life in boulder. time for a break from the bike for a while, or at least until the next race... in 2 weeks. :)

Monday, July 07, 2008

FIRECRACKER!!!!!


Whats the best way to spend a holiday that most people relax, enjoy the weather, bbq, drink beer, and watch explosions? i know! climb 11,000ft at high altitude as fast as you can on a bike...
woohoo!
so thats what i did- along with lots of other crazy mountain bikers- it was the Marathon National Championships held in Breckenridge, CO. i was actually really excited about it, since the longer races seem to suit me better anyway- the pic was taken riding down main street while we all high fived the kids standing along the side cheering for us- definitely one of my favorite parts of the race! of course, this was before the pain started on the first climb...
i drove up thursday evening and met up with everyone at bretts house in dillon which was huge- 3 bedrooms with a loft- we all packed in and turned out to be an awesome weekend of racing and riding- oh and some wicked ping pong, Foosball, and a lot of relaxing-
we drove up to breck friday morning to start the race around 11am. i "warmed up" with becca- well we rode around a little to ease the pain of the first climb, which didnt help.. it was a classic tilley start- got blown off the back of the strung out group of pro women as we climbed up Boreas pass. i felt real bad. perfect- ha! just like the rest of my races have been this season. there were 2 laps of 25 miles each, and last year when i raced it i went too hard on the first lap. so this time, i sat back, paced myself and had fun on the first 25 miles. once i passed through the start finish after 2.5 hrs, i was ready to get things goin- i started on the climb for the second time and i felt awesome, being motivated both by lack of water in my water bottle (there were 4 feed stations on the course, one at the top of the first climb) and the fact that i could finally see some of the girls i was racing against- reeling them in. one by one. i went from being almost last up to 7th, making up about 8-10 minutes on the second lap. by the time i was finished though, i could barely stand. my brother jay had come up to spend the weekend in breck too, and met me at the finish line. it was great to see him- after some bbq and beer, i was returning to my normal state- well almost. nothing like getting close to drunk off of 2 pbrs! yeah!
it was back to the house for some relaxing... the next day brett took all of us out (keri b., jeff, megan m., brian fuentes, becca, brett, chris butler and me) for another epic ride in keystone- which was amazing, but i did struggle a little on the climbs... the thunderstorms rolled in and it was time for a nap! we ended the day with an amazing dinner- another perfect day. it was a great weekend filled with tons of riding, good food and good people- cant wait until next year!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Dusty and Hot- Deer Valley 08

Another year at deer valley over- one of my favorite courses, since after 4 years i have memorized the course- which helps me quite a bit- as you can tell, not preriding at all is not good for me. knowing the course so well lets me adjust my efforts- which equals better races for me- usually...

i got in thursday evening to park city where my DH teammate Kimber (who wasnt racing due to her crash on barnie rubble i think it was called, which would later be taken out of the DH course since it was too dangerous.. she's so hard core) and her boyfriend live in a great house about 20 minutes outside of the venue- so nice to have a place that i can bring Casey to- he and i had some catching up to do- i feel bad sometimes that i leave him with friends every time i go race- this time he's with me! yeah!

i got up friday, wasted some time at the venue chatting it up with everyone, and about 2 hours later becca and i were preriding the course- yep, the same as last year. i can turn my brain off and just ride. afterward i drove by the whole foods (yeah i was hungry- bad idea) and spent $50 on a salad, slice of pizza, yogurt and cereal. how does that happen?
later that day my new wheel came in the mail at kimbers place replacing the one i had bent the week before- those Stans wheels are wicked light! i had alex rush me a new set just in time- thanks Alex! so i spent the afternoon sealing up tires, replacing bent rotors and doing other random prerace bike fixes- sort of a mental escape from thinking about the actual race itself...
i have no idea why, but i was really nervous for the xc- i think since i wanted to do really well- i got my bike checked over and started warming up- felt good, did 3/4 of a lap on the course and i was ready- the start wasn't good, again. i slipped out on some gravel and couldn't get going again on the first climb- i was laughing. not good. once i got going, i started passing girls ok- but got caught behind some traffic on the descents on the first lap, but once i got going on the 2nd i was good to go- i felt good- kept picking girls off- i got them in sight, and reeled them in. one by one. by the middle of the 2nd lap i was top 20, and then it happened- mechanical! my chain got stuck between my cassette and my spokes- i yanked it hard and couldnt get it out- i ran down the climb i had just mostly completed and shep was there in the tech zone- i got it out but by that time i had gotten passed by 6 girls. dang. so, started picking them off again. back up to 21st or so, then it happened again. i was really frustrated- i should have had the limits fixed but i was so anxious to get going again i wasnt thinking clear- i ended up 23rd. sigh. there's always next year...
i was determined to have a good short track on sunday- i have done a few of the boulder ST races and i felt better about it than i have in the past- i warmed up for about 1.5 hours, harder than i ever have for a ST, and i think thats what i needed. i felt great! i got stuck behind some traffic on the start, but then kept moving up through the race- i ended up 15th or so which i am happy about- i think i might be getting better at this ST thing...
i stayed to watch the guys battle it out and suffer on the hot dusty course- then it was off to clean up, pack and grab Casey to head back to boulderville. back home. i love racing my bike, but i have to admit, i do love coming home. to my house. my bed. a few days to rest (i mean, work) and think about the next race-the circus continues...