A little bit of suffering during my first race of the season- as you can see, I need to put a little muscle on the 'ole pipes since I can't seem to keep my arm warmers up...
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Triple Crown Series, Nathrop CO
A little bit of suffering during my first race of the season- as you can see, I need to put a little muscle on the 'ole pipes since I can't seem to keep my arm warmers up...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Chalk Creek Stampede, Nathrop CO
Ahh, the first race of the season- very painful, unknowing of how things will go, and finding out how fit everyone else is. I headed down to Nathrop CO on Friday after work, driving down Hwy 24 through several inches of snow that later that evening changed to heavy cold windy rain as i reached Salida. Spring time in the mountains- gotta love it!
I met up with Jen Gersbach and her man Miles who drove up from Durango at the hotel in Salida, CO Friday eve. I was excited to be at a race for the first time this season i think mainly to see everyone again! We grabbed some dinner at a little pub next to the river- we saw Georgia and Dusty there too, fueling up before Saturday's racing. Ok ok so Jen and I did take note of what she was eating- and yes, we ordered the same :) ha! kinda funny.
The next morning we headed over to the bakery beside Absolut Bikes to grab some breakfast, and figure out what we wanted to do- Super D (which later would be called Super T) was at 10:30am, it was 8:30am and the rain was coming down in cold sheets. Mmmm.... Sit in coffee shop and be warm and dry, or ride bikes in cold rain...
so we ran back to the car and drove into Nathrop to ride bikes. yeah, we picked plan B. Jen is an overachiever- ha! thats probably why she's so fast!! Luckily the rain held off, but the wind started up- oh well. So the course for the super D was NOT what i expected- i was hoping they would do the last few miles of the xc course, which is fun, fast and runs by the creek, with a nice punchy gravel wide finish. perfect! nope, they did it TT style, where we pedaled either uphill or false flat the whole time-with maybe 15 seconds of downhill. SUCKKKKK! I was really sad about the course choice- it wasn't at all what i was expecting for a super D. Everyone rode Hardtails, i have my 5 inch travel bike. woohoo. Needless to say, I did horribly, and after Gersbach passed me i sort of gave up. I just wasn't into it anymore. Tomorrow was another day.
Sunday was the XC, and a lot more girls showed for it- every fast woman from Saturday (Georgia, Kelly, Heather, Krista, Katie Compton) as well as more fast girls who are locals here in CO. Good Times. We actually had a really good turnout, primarily since it was a Triple Crown US Cup. It was great to see everyone again- I think thats half the reason why i race bikes...
Up until the word "go" i was catching up with people on the start line, asking about how their winters went and what they have been up to- then i realized what i was standing there for when things got serious and we were hammering down the first stretch. ouch!!
needless to say, i had a horrible start- no surprise. I was off the back- uuuhhhhh! time to play catchup quick- but it being my first race, i needed to pace myself since i had no idea if my body would last at this pace- the first 2 laps were pathetic- but once i found my pace, i could hold it and just keep motoring. i didn't get first, i didn't get last. i am ok with how i did- i think i could have pushed harder, but this race is always super rough for me with all the flat power riding- not exactly my cup of tea.
I am looking towards the next race this weekend- The Growler. Oh yes, I got in! Thanks to Gersbach- i am one of the lucky ones who get to suffer on the 64 mile course this sunday in Gunnison. Ezther did it last year in under 7 hours- i am planning on 7.5 hours. Even though its only 64 miles, apparently its really technical- so not super fast. My plan is to get into my groove and just motor along. I am really excited for it, but a tad nervous too- we'll see how it goes!
I met up with Jen Gersbach and her man Miles who drove up from Durango at the hotel in Salida, CO Friday eve. I was excited to be at a race for the first time this season i think mainly to see everyone again! We grabbed some dinner at a little pub next to the river- we saw Georgia and Dusty there too, fueling up before Saturday's racing. Ok ok so Jen and I did take note of what she was eating- and yes, we ordered the same :) ha! kinda funny.
The next morning we headed over to the bakery beside Absolut Bikes to grab some breakfast, and figure out what we wanted to do- Super D (which later would be called Super T) was at 10:30am, it was 8:30am and the rain was coming down in cold sheets. Mmmm.... Sit in coffee shop and be warm and dry, or ride bikes in cold rain...
so we ran back to the car and drove into Nathrop to ride bikes. yeah, we picked plan B. Jen is an overachiever- ha! thats probably why she's so fast!! Luckily the rain held off, but the wind started up- oh well. So the course for the super D was NOT what i expected- i was hoping they would do the last few miles of the xc course, which is fun, fast and runs by the creek, with a nice punchy gravel wide finish. perfect! nope, they did it TT style, where we pedaled either uphill or false flat the whole time-with maybe 15 seconds of downhill. SUCKKKKK! I was really sad about the course choice- it wasn't at all what i was expecting for a super D. Everyone rode Hardtails, i have my 5 inch travel bike. woohoo. Needless to say, I did horribly, and after Gersbach passed me i sort of gave up. I just wasn't into it anymore. Tomorrow was another day.
Sunday was the XC, and a lot more girls showed for it- every fast woman from Saturday (Georgia, Kelly, Heather, Krista, Katie Compton) as well as more fast girls who are locals here in CO. Good Times. We actually had a really good turnout, primarily since it was a Triple Crown US Cup. It was great to see everyone again- I think thats half the reason why i race bikes...
Up until the word "go" i was catching up with people on the start line, asking about how their winters went and what they have been up to- then i realized what i was standing there for when things got serious and we were hammering down the first stretch. ouch!!
needless to say, i had a horrible start- no surprise. I was off the back- uuuhhhhh! time to play catchup quick- but it being my first race, i needed to pace myself since i had no idea if my body would last at this pace- the first 2 laps were pathetic- but once i found my pace, i could hold it and just keep motoring. i didn't get first, i didn't get last. i am ok with how i did- i think i could have pushed harder, but this race is always super rough for me with all the flat power riding- not exactly my cup of tea.
I am looking towards the next race this weekend- The Growler. Oh yes, I got in! Thanks to Gersbach- i am one of the lucky ones who get to suffer on the 64 mile course this sunday in Gunnison. Ezther did it last year in under 7 hours- i am planning on 7.5 hours. Even though its only 64 miles, apparently its really technical- so not super fast. My plan is to get into my groove and just motor along. I am really excited for it, but a tad nervous too- we'll see how it goes!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
12 Hours of Mesa Verde!
Last weekend, Chris and I (and the doggies) headed down to Cortez, CO for the awesome race, 12 hours of Mesa Verde. Originally I was going to do it solo, but looking back i am soooo glad Chris convinced me to do it on a team-Our team consisted of me, Chris, and our friend Kris Lathrop- Hi Ho Silver was our name! yeah!
The trail that we race on is Phil's World- one of the most fun, fast, swoopy trails ever- with the highlight of the course being Ribcage- yeah, you can get some serious air on those swoops if you're not careful- I rode several times on my front wheel praying that i could hold on with out crashing...
Lathrop did the first lap, which includes some running, and sprinting to get a good position. He ended up top 10 at the start! unfortunately, Kris flatted twice, and we ended up being a bit behind compared to the teams we wanted to be competitive with. Chris also had a rough first lap with his pedal breaking and derailleur hanger messing up- luckily though that was the last of our issues for the day, and the remaining laps were problem free! In between the laps, we had made a sweet campsite with a few of our friends from Durango and Glenwood- Dave n Kathy, Nick and Kara, Tim and Megan, Shannon Gibson and Kenny, Jen Gersbach and Miles, and others who came and went- I think we also had a 1 to 1 ratio of dogs to people too- I was excited to race, but it was awesome to just hang out and relax with everyone all day too!
We ended up 4th overall for the co-ed 3-4 people team- Which I thought was great! Jay Henry's team won, Gersbach and Gibson's team got 2nd, and another team I don't know got 3rd-
After racing we relaxed and killed a few beers around the camp fire. Doesn't get better than that!
The next day Chris, Kris and I rolled into Durango and met up with Jen G. and Miles and took the dogs to the river to romp and play- there was talk of doing a ride, but that quickly dissolved and relaxing was a way better idea. After dominating a couple bakeries (Absolut Bakery in Monaco, and Bread in Durango) we munched on our cookies and baked goods while driving back to Glenwood. It was a solid weekend of sweet riding/racing (whichever you would like to call it) and catching up with great friends. Next stop- Nathrop! Woohoo!
The trail that we race on is Phil's World- one of the most fun, fast, swoopy trails ever- with the highlight of the course being Ribcage- yeah, you can get some serious air on those swoops if you're not careful- I rode several times on my front wheel praying that i could hold on with out crashing...
Lathrop did the first lap, which includes some running, and sprinting to get a good position. He ended up top 10 at the start! unfortunately, Kris flatted twice, and we ended up being a bit behind compared to the teams we wanted to be competitive with. Chris also had a rough first lap with his pedal breaking and derailleur hanger messing up- luckily though that was the last of our issues for the day, and the remaining laps were problem free! In between the laps, we had made a sweet campsite with a few of our friends from Durango and Glenwood- Dave n Kathy, Nick and Kara, Tim and Megan, Shannon Gibson and Kenny, Jen Gersbach and Miles, and others who came and went- I think we also had a 1 to 1 ratio of dogs to people too- I was excited to race, but it was awesome to just hang out and relax with everyone all day too!
We ended up 4th overall for the co-ed 3-4 people team- Which I thought was great! Jay Henry's team won, Gersbach and Gibson's team got 2nd, and another team I don't know got 3rd-
After racing we relaxed and killed a few beers around the camp fire. Doesn't get better than that!
The next day Chris, Kris and I rolled into Durango and met up with Jen G. and Miles and took the dogs to the river to romp and play- there was talk of doing a ride, but that quickly dissolved and relaxing was a way better idea. After dominating a couple bakeries (Absolut Bakery in Monaco, and Bread in Durango) we munched on our cookies and baked goods while driving back to Glenwood. It was a solid weekend of sweet riding/racing (whichever you would like to call it) and catching up with great friends. Next stop- Nathrop! Woohoo!
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Moab, UT White Rim Weekend!
This is the Delicate Arch in Moab, UT. Kris Lathrop, Chris and I went on a hike on Sunday to see some of the arches in Moab. I hardly ever get the chance to go on a hike, so it was really fun to do the 'tourist' thing and see the sights instead of riding. The plan for the day was to go sky diving, but the weather was not the best.. and riding was out of the picture since there was no way I could sit on a saddle after riding White Rim the day before.Kris, Chris and I had joined another group of people from Aspen who were planning to ride White Rim in a day, May 1st. We camped on Friday night at the top of Shafer trail (which is a long climb, especially at the end of the day) and began riding Saturday morning at 6:30am. The plan was to be riding by 6am, but hey, I am NOT a morning person. I thought 6:30am was pretty good... so we watched the sun rise on our bikes as we made our way towards the white rim trail, prepared with camelbaks, lots of granola bars and some sour patch kids. yep, i have decided that gummie candy is way better to eat for this type of riding than anything resembling a healthy bar or Gu. We started 20 miles further away from everyone else and our support vehicle (which contained our food, extra clothes and water) who stayed at hotels and began riding from the visitors center. I suppose we just like the challenge- so for the first 4 hours of our ride, we had to make up 20 miles on our group to catch up before we ran out of water- this meant going harder than I would have liked at that time of the morning but we did catch them- and it was glorious!
Now that the stressful part was over (not knowing if we would ever catch them and get more food and water) we could ride and enjoy ourselves. The views were amazing! I think thats what I like best about mountain biking- it brings you to far away places and you get to see things many people might never see-
We stopped for lunch around mile 65-70 which was cold pizza- sooo delicious! again, health bars just don't cut it when it comes to riding for that many hours- real food is essential! I was craving something real, and Nick Armano had turned us on to the idea of cold pizza last year while riding the colorado trail- pulling out a pizza from the back pocket on the top of a mountain pass in the middle of no where is the best!
After lunch we had a few set backs (Nick flatted 3 times! poor guy! sucky!) but the 3rd one held and we were off to finish our last stretch of our 100 mile ride. I have to admit, at mile 85, i was pretty much ready to be off my bike. I was riding my trusty Spot, which was great for the climbs, but when it came to the rocky sections my butt was killing me! A full suspension would be a much better bike for that length of ride- I am hoping to have my ASR-5 built up for this weekend at Mesa Verde. Chris was having an awesome day and he ended up pulling us on the long stretches of flatness on the trail- which was sweet since the wind was picking up and we were all getting tired. Finally the last climb was upon us, and we all knew once we got to the top the ride was done! our new Outside Van Sprinter was waiting at the top filled with chips and beer! oh yeah!
The group made it back safe and we all celebrated and rejoiced after getting out of our chamois and into some dry clothes while sipping some nicely chilled Tecate and BLL. White Rim in a day successfully accomplished :) This weekend is 12 hours of Mesa Verde- Cortez here we come!
Ridin White Rim...
Kris Lathrop taking some action shots on the trail! He's got some serious talent! Nick, Chris and Me. Ridin Ridin Ridin
Still Riding...And Smiling! Taking a little food break/Fixing bikes/excuse to take in some of the scenery... It took us 11.5 hours to finish (total ride time was about 9.5 hours- yep, we took some serious breaks. We finished on Horse Thief trail, which was about 1500 ft of climbing at mile 99. oh yeah. We camped at the top of that climb, so we were done after that! woohoo!
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