Wors finale.....SheVegas!

Sheboygan has always been a special course for me. A few years ago I gave up multi-sport at the doctor's urging (running was bad for my feet) and took up mountain biking. I wasn't sure I liked it very much at first. I wasn't good at it compared to my friends who had been mountain biking for years - my legs were always full of scrapes and bruises from falling. After trying a few races in 2003 & 2004, I attempted my first full WORS season in 2005. The highlight of that year was when I took the overall win at Sheboygan, one of the more technical courses on the WORS circuit. This victory was especially sweet because earlier in the summer, the doctors thought I had MS...which had derailed my training in July and August that year. After winning that race, I was hooked. I wanted to move up in class, I wanted to train, I wanted to rock the single track, I wanted to kick ass. More importantly, I was in love with this sport. Winning that race was a big deal to me. I'll never forget how it made me feel and how it motivated me over the winter to train for the next season.

Sheboygan 2005. That's me in the red and white jersey and red helmet with the tiny legs.


Fast forward to Sheboygan 2008. I warmed up with this girl and rolled to the start line just minutes before the race began. The nerves were dancing around in my stomach more than usual, even though I had a great pre-ride the day before. My technical riding hasn't been so hot and I don't think I'm alone in worrying about when and where the first Comp men are going to start passing me. Don said GO!!!! and the sprint for the hole shot was on. My start was better than normal and I was sitting right in the middle of the pack when we entered the single track. I rode my first lap smooth and fast, it was almost shocking and too good to be true....and it was... because on my second lap, I began to fall apart. Lap 2, I started off by sitting on April's wheel in the single track, almost feeling like I should pass her as she was a touch slower than me. Before I could act, we would hit the open sections and she would blow me freaking up (almost like it was the first time I had ever ridden a bike). That girl has a big motor on the flats and knows how to use it. I ate dirt a few times and subsequently watched April ride away. Patti and Christine passed me as I floundered. I was left to finish the lap by myself. My Sheboygan was slowly heading down the poop tube.

Picture courtesy of mountaingoat

On lap 3 I hunkered down and focused, which is hard to do when you have no carrot to chase. Ride it cleanly and keep pressing, I told myself. They have to be just up ahead. I obsessively eyeballed my heart rate monitor and made sure that my body was being pushed to its fullest. I ran up that bitch of a hill that SheVegans call the Equalizer for the 3rd time. (I have never attempted to ride the Equalizer during a race. In fact, it's just as fast for me to run it, if not faster. Though, it probably juices my legs more as I am not a runner). Shortly after I re-mounted my bike, I saw Christine in the quarry just ahead of me. In the past my approach would be to hammer up to her and try to immediately pass her. But my summer of getting schooled by road racers who were weaker than me has taught me to settle down and use my head. So I followed her at a bit of a distance. I needed to recover from running the Equalizer. I moved closer and was just a few feet behind her for the remainder of the lap. Lucky for me, Christine never looked back....she too was drinking her bottle and recovering in the single track. As we headed onto the service road for the beginning of lap 4, Christine turned and looked at me. Then I fucking punched it with all I had (the song "drop it like it's hot" kept running through my head as I told myself to "pedal RB, pedal".....at least I entertain myself during these excruciating physical activities or perhaps it's just the dehydration talking). I wanted a nice gap before I got into the single track and I thought it might deflate her a bit. The last lap was pretty uneventful other than I felt great and rode great which is very unfamiliar territory for me. My little tactic worked as Christine never passed me. I kept seeing Patti ahead of me, but I was too tapped out to catch her. So I rolled to 12th out of 18 starters. While not fantastic finish for some, it's a solid result for me.

Picture Courtesy of Velogrrl. The Equalizer run-up. Except my legs are less tiny these days.

At the end of another mountain bike season, I have to remind myself not to stress over how I finished. It's not always about what place you took or didn't take....or who you passed or couldn't pass....sometimes it's just about the journey.

Retro Blogging. UCI CX and Shawano Wors.

A few weeks ago I decided to race Day 1 of the UCI Planet Bike CX Cup on Saturday followed by the Shawano WORS race on Sunday. I learned some very interesting things at my first official UCI race....like there are no feed zones. So say it's 90 degrees outside and you don't have a water bottle cage on your bike, you'll just have to suck it up and pretend that you're a camel. Of course all this information was relayed to me as I was sitting at the start line, so suck it up was all I could do. In fact, I sucked it up all the way to 5th place out of 16 starters in the Women's Cat 3 race. WooHoo! Price to enter the race - 30 dollars. Prize money won - 31 dollars. Net gain - one dollar. Sweet.

With a dollar in my pocket and white dehyration spittle crusted on my lips, I headed to my parents home in Green Bay for a some dinner and a good night of sleep before the WORS race. While I didn't have high hopes for Shawano, I didn't realize how smoked out I was going to feel after racing CX. The race started and I was motoring with everyone on the lead out, then the singletrack, and through the tunnel. When I hit the flat horse pasture I watched almost everyone in the field ride away from me and I had no answer. And to top it off I rode singletrack like a beginner. Result - DFL....and actually, I believe this was my first DFL in a mountain bike race ever. So I left Shawano with a mildly bruised ego, a nasty cold that would cost me a few training days, a realization that I suck on flats and no confidence heading into Sheboygan. At least I had a dollar in my pocket.

Prizes and awards are pretty cool.

The last 16 months have been extremely challenging period of my life. I found myself sitting on the sideline with some pretty major injuries. Between my wrist injury, soft tissue damage in my quad and chronic foot problems there really wasn't much in the way of exercise that I could do. All the medical professionals (PT's, OT's, doctors and surgeons) told me I need to rest my body and let it heal. So I did. I let myself go both physically and mentally. In addition to the cycling, many things in other areas of my life were tanking. I ate burritos, drank lots of wine, became depressed and gained 20 lbs.

I've spend the last 7 months trying to pull myself out of this black hole that I created. Its been a struggle. Work, training, doctors appointments....keep the nose to the grindstone. This summer has found me with shitty road racing results, shitty WORS results and a wrist that feels shitty all the time... a few weeks ago the surgeon tells me that the tendon in my wrist may be permanently damaged. He says finish your WORS season, rest your wrist (again) this fall and winter and we'll see where we are at in spring.

Last Friday I made the 4.5 hour trip to Cable, WI wondering why the fuck am I even bothering with racing. It's a long time to be in a car by yourself when you are in a funky emotional state....even with a fully loaded ipod. Friday night I talked to a lot of familiar faces, took care of administrative issues, rode the beginning 4 miles of the Short and Fat course and went to bed not feeling great about my position in life or cycling.

Saturday morning I couldn't seem to get my shit together. I'll blame it on Perkins in Hayward. They had one hostess and one waitress on staff; the wait for food was ridiculous. After consuming crappy eggs and salty hash browns, I headed over to Cable for the start of the race. I couldn't seem to get dressed or get my bike ready in a timely manner. Procrastination. I intended to get a 45 minute warm up in, but it somehow turned into 15 minutes. Then it was a 15 minute wait for the damn bathroom.

I stepped into the preferred start area. A little nervous banter, the playing of the national anthem, GO...and we were off. In a WORS race you know who everyone is, you know how fast they are and you know who your competition is. In a race like the Short and Fat, I really didn't recognize many people. It's hard to know which ladies to keep your eye on. Riding in the lead group was a little nerve racking. The guys at the front were pulling like mad and people swerving all over the place. I looked down at my computer and it said 31 mph. I wasn't doing that much work and I was being sucked along in the vortex. Cool.

After a while the vortex slowed down and I thought it might be a good time to do some passing. Before I even could act, a tandem hit the ground and ~20 people went down directly in front of me. My heart immediately jumped into my throat as I jammed on my brakes, skidded out, unclipped and gently hit the person laying on the ground ahead of me with my front tire. Everyone around me was on the ground; some bloody and a few screaming in pain or terror.....but I was standing upright. Thank you, thank you thank you! Then I heard 800 people behind me jam on their brakes and scream. I was pretty sure I was done. Would it be a broken collar bone, leg or arm? By some crazy act of god or nature, everyone behind me stopped in time and I remained in one piece. Crisis averted.

About that time I ran into my Chain smoker teammate Dirk. I asked him to give me a pull up to the lady in the Trek jersey and he kindly obliged. By my calculations I was the 3rd overall woman. I tried to sit on her wheel for a while, but once we entered the double track ski trail, she started to blow me up. I backed off a bit and let her get away. I rode the next few miles of the race pretty steadily. Not too much action, not too many men passing me and there were no women in sight behind me. I was sitting pretty....that is until some young girl blows past me half way through the race. WTF. Panic sets in....there goes my podium spot.

The last four miles of the race were a dog fight. I have never dug so emotionally deep into myself during a mountain bike race before. Many crazy things were running though my head. I thought about Tara Llanes and what she wouldn't give to pedal her bike again. I though about all the shitty things that have happened to me during my lifetime. I though about how hard I've worked the last few months to pull myself out of the well. I though about how much I hate being mediocre. I made myself angry. I thought I'm just not going to lay down and let this chick take my podium spot from me. While some people might consider this to be psychotic or perhaps male-like behavior, I'm an ex-competitive soccer player. This is just what you do. You never, ever let anyone take anything from you. And if they get in your way, you better show them the door. (Abby Wambach of the Women's national soccer team will stay locked in her hotel room two days leading up to a game....kind of like a caged animal...then she unleashes all her pent up frustration on the other team come game time).

So I battled with this girl. We went back and forth, back and forth. She easily dropped me on the climbs and I easily out descended her. We were pretty even on the flats. As we flew past a volunteer station, they informed us that we were the 3rd and 4th females. With just under two miles left to go in the race, I decided to try and drop her. I thought maybe it would deflate this girl as I would NOT be able to out climb her on the last climb before the finish. I dropped her for a little while but she would just not let me out of her sight. As predicted, she out climbed me on the last hill and punched it for the finish. I had no answer. My legs were quivering. My heart rate had been an average of 190 for just over an hour of racing (for a two hour WORS race it would typically be around 180). So I rolled into the finish for what I thought was 4th place.

At the finish line, the first thing I did was go shake this girl's hand and tell her how awesome I thought she was. I later found out that Zoe is from Minnesota and is only 15 years old. All I have to say is that Abby and Holly better watch out for this kid. If she sticks with mountain biking, she is going to be fantastic. My 4th place finish somehow turned into a 5th place. In the confusion of the crash on the lead out, one of the women must have slipped away unnoticed and the volunteers must have miscounted. I'm actually more ok with a 5th place finish than a 4th. To do all that work, go through all that emotional stress and be one place outside of the podium almost had me in tears. Warped logic, I know.

With a 5th overall placing and an age class win, I can finally say I had a decent race. Thanks to everyone who cheered me on. I've gotten lots of congratulations in person and though email. Thanks to Chain smoker Dirk for all the "pulls" and for reminding me to put it in the big ring and pedal faster. And thanks to Dave and Renee for picking up all my cool prizes. The best prize of all being my automatic entry into next years race.

My 2008 Chequamagon.

Race report to follow.

Solo Saturday Picture Blog

A beautiful day

at some of my favorite trails

~ 26 miles of Muir and Emma.

"Fine dining" at my favorite east side eatery.

How the spicy meat kisses your lips.......

Kickin' it with da pooch.

Nothing like a little box wine in front of the idiot box....I know....I'm a classy chick.

Border Battle

Picture courtesy of Mountaingoat.


It was a long drive to River Falls, but the single track was well worth the trip. I'm very happy to report that I didn't end up laying on the ground, dehydrated, writhing in agony like I did at Alterra. Unfortunately I didn't ride my bike very well through the single track...so once again I'm managed to bring up the caboose in the women's field. I meet with the surgeon on Friday so he can evaluate my MRI and EMG tests. If I put in as many hours on the bike as I do the doctor's office, I'd probably have my pro license by now.

At least my coach had a pretty good racing weekend. There is really nothing like a SSWC tattoo to top off your race.

Natasha Kai, I'm your biggest fan...

5 reasons why I'm in love with Natasha Kai













TK is just one of those charismatic people who brings a lot of flavor to the Women's National Soccer team. It makes me miss all the years that I played soccer - the crazy fantastic people that I met, the friendships that I made and the great memories that I will take to my grave. I might be a cyclist, but I do appreciate team sports.

US Women's National Soccer Team.

I absolutely love soccer. I started playing soccer when I was six years old.....until I hit my mid-twenties then changed over to cycling. I played on recreational teams when I was younger and competitive traveling teams as I got older. I was a decent player and athlete....I had lots of heart and lots of speed.....I just didn't have the kind of skill set that it took to be on a high quality Division 1 team like UW-Madison, where I went to college.

I've been getting back into soccer again now that the Olympics are in full tilt and all I have to say is that I've become a huge Natasha Kai fan.

What's not to love about the Flyin' Hawaiian.

It is truly amazing that anyone from Hawaii could make the national team. Hundreds of women are trying for 20 or so spots. You can't let off the throttle for even a minute because someone else will take your job. It's simply beyond competitive, its cutthroat. Hawaii doesn't have the the level of competition or the Olympic Developmental Programs (ODP) that most soccer driven states do. So props to Natasha Kai and her fantastic OT header in the quarterfinals against Canada. We're two games away from the gold.

What is even more interesting is that in my google search for all things Natasha Kai, I ran across an interesting picture.Here is a picture of Natasha Kai, Marci Miller Jobson and Carli Lloyd. Marci Miller was a friend of mine from college. She played at UW-Madison for two years then transferred out to SMU to finish her collegiate career. I've been so self involved the last few years with all my cycling endeavors that I hadn't realized that Marci had been playing for the Women's US national team. Marci stepped down from the Women's national team last year to coach women's soccer full time at Baylor University. Congratulations Marci on all your successes as a soccer player and coach. It couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

Alterra and everything else.

I have been a bad summer blogger. Life has gotten way too busy and it's hard to find time to do anything else other than go to work, ride the bike and go to all my stupid doctor's appointments. So I guess a short recap of my summer is in order.

In June and July I tried to pass myself off as a cat 4 road racer. I've been putting quite a bit of training in since the spring, but unfortunately I still don't understand the fine details of racing on the road. So my results weren't exactly reflecting the shape that I've come to be in.

I tried my hand at the last two Wors races and my attempts were pretty unsuccessful. Leading up to the Alterra race, I'd been very sick. I ran out of water on my third lap and had to soft pedal my fourth lap sans anything to drink. I figured I drank over 70 ounces of fluid during that race and when I finished I really needed an IV. I'm probably not recovered from that episode.

Last week I showed up to Sunburst which has to be one of the most boring courses on the WORS circuit....which is super fine with me because I've only been able to mountain bike a handful of times in the last calendar year (stupid swollen wrist) and my technical riding skills have diminished to that of a citizen rider. After two laps, I pulled myself out of the race. My hydration was fine, my heart rate was fine, but my body was so exhausted I just couldn't continue. I've never experienced anything like that before. Plus I had a terrible stomach ache that wouldn't quit. As much as I love Muddy Cup coffee, I think that it is best consumed after a race and not before.

I finally had my appointment with the wrist surgeon from UW-Hospital. He is a sports medicine orthopedist and is also an avid cyclist. He ran me through a bunch of physical tests, looked at my x-rays, ordered an MRI and a nerve test. The MRI was actually pretty painful. I was in a super-contorted position for 45 motionless minutes. When the MRI was over I was numb wrist to shoulder....well, at least I'm not claustrophobic because that little tube they stick you in is pretty damn tiny. My nerve conduction is set for Tuesday. I'm a little concerned as I understand that this is an exceptionally painful test involving needles and electrodes. Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger, or something like that.

What all these annoying tests boil down to is that either my wrist is irritated or it's damaged....the surgeon is not sure which it is. So that means either complete rest or perhaps surgery followed by complete rest. The doctor said my "version" of rest isn't the same "version" of rest that is need to rest a ulnar nerve. At least he is a cyclist and understands how obsessive we can be.

Changes...let the therapy begin.

before


after



My stomach was in knots all morning thinking about my hair appointment. It really seems kind of stupid that caramel highlights and layers would do that to a person. But I put faith in my hairstylist and just let her do her thing with very little input. Hair and make up will always be baffling subjects for me. I must have missed that day in school.

Blog Tag

I've been tagged by Amelia. Here are six things about me that you may or may not know.

1. It's official, my legs don't fit in jeans anymore. I have been to every single store in the greater Madison area and there are only two types of jeans that fit me. Old Navy Sweetheart Straight Legs and Gap Low-Rise Curvy - both size 6 with a belt to keep them from falling down my ass. WTF. Does anyone else have this problem? Apparently they don't make jeans for athletes.

2. I think I'm having an early mid-life crisis and I don't know why. I've felt this way for the last decade of my life which is sad because I'm only 32. I'm considering a gym membership and a personal trainer so that I can (one day) see the return of my abdominal muscles. I somehow lost in them in the last year and a half of my depression. Once I get my body back, I might add a few well-placed custom tattoos.

3. I've always wanted to be on American Gladiators since I was a wee young girl. Unfortunately I'm probably too small and certainly not photogenic enough to make the casting cut. Then again, maybe a little time in the gym could help that along....

http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/casting/index.shtml

4. I've played the guitar for better than a decade. I also played drums for ~8 years way back in the day. I love music; it's such a huge part of my life. Since my wrist injury, I haven't been able to play my guitar and that makes me sad.

5. I've broken bones, gotten tons of stitches and have broken my nose no less than 10 times. I've been in the ER more times that I care to remember. But I'd rather break a bone than have another cortisone shot in my foot again. My foot doctor says I have the feet of an old lady and I'll probably need surgery to clean up the joint space. Thus I've long since given up multi-sport and running.

6. I'm terrified of getting my hair done in some kind of style and color. As part of my therapy to treat my midlife crisis, I made an appointment for next week and told my hairdresser that she is going to make some drastic changes. My only stipulations are no bangs and no super short hair. My stomach is in knots just thinking about it and I'll try not to chicken out.

Most people have already been tagged, so I'll refrain.


www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/photos/#cat=622

Madison by moonlight.

Riding from day...

Into the night...

The last two nights I arrived home at 9:45 pm from my training rides. There is really nothing like getting reacquainted with your bike like doing intervals at night.

Holiday Weekend.

Memorial day weekend has been a pretty low key event this year. Ryan and Wendy headed to the WEMS race. I decided to stay in Madison to chill out and bring my stress level down. Saturday I helped a non-cycling friend fix her bike then I took her on ride around Lake Mendota. Sunday I rode over to the Madison Marathon. A few of my friends were running the half and I thought it would be nice to cheer them on. Unfortunately there were so many people that I couldn't even find them at the finish line.

It's been a long time since I hung out at a running event; I forgot how skinny runners are. Many of the top marathoners literally have sticks for legs. Another thing I noticed is that there was a large portion of people limping after the race. There were way too many racers sporting knee braces and ice packs post event. Honestly I think the best thing a marathoner or ultra runner can do is to pick their parents well. Some people just are not able to put in the miles to do that kind distance and stay injury free. And I'm one of them.

I had a pretty interesting ride this evening. I rode my bike downtown, past The Terrace, down to the Lakeshore dorms, then back home. For reasons unknown to me, my emotions were extremely stirred up and I had a total sensory overload. Maybe I've been so numb to the world lately that this ride was a much needed release or maybe it's the anti-depressants messing with me. All the memories from college started to flood back into my mind. The places I hung out at, the relationships I had, the apartments I lived in, the friendships that I made, all the experiences that made me who I am. Between all my college flashbacks, the streets around me were buzzing with activity. Warner beach full with people picnicking and fishing, a fishing boat that was tagged with the words "muff diver down here", the governor's mansion, the smell of Lake Mendota on a summer evening, frat row/Langdon street full of people drinking and playing frisbee, a couple making out on the terrace, a 13 year old boy trying to race me on the Lakeshore path (and as the Pilgrim would say - he got "girl'd"), picnic point, the Open Pantry where I used to fill up the moped and buy booze underage, someone pumping "Rhiannon" in a white Toyota Prius on the corner of State St. and Johnson, the man with the unicycle at Tenney Locks. I'll never live anywhere else.

Time to hit the road.

I've been popping vitamins, anti-inflammatories and anti-depressants like they are candy. My physiotherapy starts in June and I've given up on icing my wrist. My online research has told me that treating RSD with RICE (rest,ice,compression,elevation) is probably not a good idea. No more taping either. I'm going to resume training on the road this Friday and take life one day at a time.

I received a little post card from the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival today. This small piece of paper was conformation documentation for my entrance into the Short and Fat race. It also stated that I've been awarded a preferred start. This was thoroughly surprising to me considering that my race resume is far from impressive and has been mostly non-existent for the last 12 months. A few years ago I tried to get a preferred start into the 40 and was pretty much denied. I'm guessing that they hand out preferred starts for the Short and Fat without much selectivity. That's okay, I'll take it.

The month of June should prove to be very interesting. While I'm waiting for my medical situation to improve, I'll probably do a crit or two. Maybe even a road race. I know very little about racing on the road. Aside from all the duathlons and triathlons that I used to do, my "roadie" career has consisted of three criteriums.

One year I entered the Badger State Games criterium on a whim. The course was pretty cool as it was on Madison's Capital Square. Unfortunately no other women turned out to race so they asked me if I wanted to roll with the Masters 50+ men. I said sure, why not. I thought to myself, how fast can they be? Minutes later a few 50+ year old dudes roll up on 4000 dollar carbon bikes. Shit, this might be interesting. Go.....and we were off. I hung on for about a half of lap and I was dropped on the small uphill on Carroll St. Even though I knew I couldn't catch these guys, I pedaled the shit out of my bike because I have too much pride to give up. A little while later those old guys came around to lap me so I tried to hang on again. I started to notice that there was a large amount of people congregating on Carroll St. UW students, out-of-towners, street people and whoever else started cheering for me in a disproportionately loud fashion. It was nuts. Every lap I went around they were clapping, chanting and screaming for me to keep up with these old men. You would have thought it was the Superbowl. I had an ear to ear smile that day because I was pleasantly amused at the ruckus which my "race" created. I think I was lapped at least twice for the 20 or 25 laps that we did. What I didn't want to tell my over-exuberant fans is that I could have pulled over at any given time, called it a day and picked up my first place medal....because those guys weren't technically my competition.

I also did the Great Dane crits last year and got popped off the pack in both of them. I felt like I was certainly one of the stronger riders, but unfortunately I didn't really have a strategy or know what I was doing. Maybe next month will teach me something.

Lake Geneva from the sidelines.

I headed to Lake Geneva this weekend with Wendy and Ryan. None of us raced due to a variety of circumstances but we certainly had a decent time camping, socializing and riding. Wendy and I took a easy lap on the citizen course so she could practice her singletrack skills. Ryan did a few laps of his own and managed to catch the wheel of an Alterra superstar. Camping was a little trying with the annoying rain showers. Sitting around the campfire with good company and hot beverages was a great way to combat the cold.

Race day was a little chilly, but at least the rain stayed away. After all, most people did not want a repeat of last year. It is extremely difficult to sit on the sidelines and watch others participate in the sport you love. So I did a lot of cheering and picture taking to keep from dwelling on my current doctor ordered, non-mountain biking status. The subsequent inflammation that followed my 5 mile pre-ride lap on Saturday has convinced me to listen to the doctor; I'll be hanging up the mountain bike for a few weeks and crossing my fingers that my supposedly "incurable" condition will magically go into remission. If that is what is even wrong with me.

I snapped a ton of pictures of ChainSmokers, MadForcs, and women racers in general. Feel free to grab photos from my gallery.

Cooking it up.

Since I don't get to see him very much in everyday life, at least I can see him on tv. My husband, Chef Jeff.

What did I do today?

Not much.

I started taking the anti-depressant that my doctor prescribed for my possible RSD diagnosis. Supposedly OT, ice, ibuprofen and nortripyline are the answers. RSD sounds like one of those catch all ailments when doctors don't know what's wrong with you. The only side effect that I've noticed from this drug is that my mouth is dry.

Today was such a lazy day. A little cleaning, a little grocery shopping, too much time spent fooling around online and no cycling. I had to take the dog for a walk because I refuse to take her in the backyard until the neighbor puts his fence up. The heated exchange that I had with my neighbor yesterday obviously didn't sink in. I had to chase one of his unsupervised dogs out of my yard around dinner time. His wife ran out of the house and started yelling at her dog. Bad dog, bad dog is all she kept saying. Like her dog knows what he flipping did wrong. Those people didn't put even the most basic training into their dogs let alone advanced boundary training. You can't just let your dog out into the backyard and expect that he'll magically stay there. Irritating.

I think I'll hit the gym tomorrow. I know I'm supposed to rest the wrist, but I think I need to pump some iron and ride the stationary bike to purge the anger that I've build up over the past few days. Maybe I'll hit the Forcs group ride on Tuesday if they have one. I hear they have a few girls who like to turn the pedals fast.

I hate people...

Well, not all people. Just a select few.

My neighbor is putting up a privacy fence between our houses. Unfortunately he took down his chain link fence, but has not yet been able to fully finish the 6 foot wooden fence. Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal except for the fact that they have 3 dogs. The dogs are typically unsupervised and run the fence line while barking at us non-stop. Now that the fence is temporarily gone, the dogs are running into my yard and craping all over the place....unsupervised of course.

I too have a dog. She is a high-strung, high-anxiety, super sweet little gal that I adopted from Angel's Wish about five years ago. I've done a lot of training to help with her problems (I should mention that besides my mediocre cycling escapades and working as a research assistant in a pharmaceutical laboratory, I also help teach family dog training classes in the evenings at one of the quality local science-based, positive reinforcement based training facilities). Pepper was seriously bitten by another dog a few months ago. It was so serious that she almost lost her eye. Pep is very scared around other dogs and really wants nothing to do with them now.....and understandably so.

I awoke this morning to my dog panting and pacing around the house. I looked out my patio door to see another dog looking in.....and two other dogs crapping on my lawn. WTF. So I spent part of the morning cleaning up all the dog shit in my backyard. A few hours later I was outside with my dog when all hell broke loose. My neighbor's wife let the dogs out of the house and they totally bum rushed my dog. Once we got the dogs untangled I asked her to keep her dogs in their yard. I also mentioned that they were in my yard earlier in the day and I didn't want her dogs greeting my dog because she had recently been attacked. Her dogs were also left unsupervised the night before. I had to rush my dog out to the bathroom before they saw us and then rush back inside my house. She said she was sorry, that the fence would be put up soon and that her dogs were nice. I said that's great, but I don't want them in my yard greeting my dog.

Minutes later her husband came out and verbally attacked me. He told me not to talk to his wife that fucking way and that we have to be fucking neighbors, so act like one. Needless to say we got in a pretty heated argument where many f-bombs were dropped (by both sides). The argument ended up with him walking away from me mid-sentence. (Mind you that this is the same neighbor who weeks before told us that he was putting up a fence and that we wouldn't have to move our fence. Days later, without telling us, he unhitched our fence at the corner post and left it wide open for anything to come into our yard. Call me crazy, but having a hole in my fence is something I'd like to know about before I step outside at midnight my dog. We live right next to the marsh and it is not uncommon to have dogs, cats, coyotes, raccoons, deer etc. roaming around our neighborhood. Not to mention the fact that you can't detach a fence from the corner post. It could have buckled the whole damn thing. My husband was very cool about it and explained this to him.)

People baffle me. Common sense and courtesy are a thing of the past apparently. It doesn't matter if I'm outside with a social dog, an anxious dog, a two year old child or grandparents. I have the right to not have three strange dogs run repeatedly onto my property to interact with us. I've absolutely had it with piss poor dogs owners and shitty neighbors. If my intolerance to this rudeness makes me a bad neighbor, then count me in. Next time this happens I'll just call animal control. The going rate for "dogs running at large" is $200 per dog. Each pile of crap will run you about $100.

Ok. Rant over.

I went to the doctor this week and it's not looking good for me. My wrist is swollen and they don't know why. This isn't normal. I have to take a week off from cycling and mountain biking is currently on the back burner. I've had an x-ray taken and a battery of tests but no answers. My doctor is treating me for RSD and I'll shortly be heading to a OT wrist specialist. If this doesn't get better in the next few weeks, then I'll be seeing a specialist. Wrist surgery is something to avoid, but that might be the direction I'm heading.

Iola thoughts.

Picture courtesy of Rusty

While my results were certainly nothing to write home about (I posted a faster time last year), I'm glad that I decided to start racing in May. As I write this, I'm sitting here sipping on a glass of wine. If I can consume alcohol after a race, then I usually know that I'm doing well. The wrist is pretty swollen so I'll be icing and popping pills for the next few days. I guess that means most of my training is going to happen on the road. Oh well, life could be worse.

My time off from mountain biking really made me forget how tough racing is. During my first lap, I wasn't sure what was going to explode first - lungs, legs or mental toughness. On the first climb, I mis shifted and dropped my chain. Running up a hill with your bike is not the way to start a mountain bike season. Once I hit the singletrack, it all came back to me. It was awesome....while it lasted. Lap two I felt extremely sick. I have to apologize to anyone who saw me dry heaving on that lap; it was disgusting. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, the lack of fitness or something I ate at the wedding. I'm not sure. The 3rd lap had me cramping because the sickness on the second lap made me stop drinking. By the 4th lap a strange, peaceful feeling came over me and I felt ok with how bad I felt (if that makes sense). As I rolled to the finish, my HR monitor said 182 (average). That might explain some of my issues....

All in all, it was nice getting this race under my belt. I give my fitness a grade of D and my singletrack skills a C+ (I fucked up here and there.) Today was a good starting point and hopefully I can only go up from here. It was really great to see a lot of familiar faces again. It's good to be back.

Dialed.

Sort of. The bike is ready to go; as ready as it's going to be. The dual poploc is still giving me trouble and the Sram Video didn't really help with the particular problem I'm having. But I'm sick of screwing with it and so I'll have to take it into the shop next week. The Fuel 9 just might have a little too much suspension for Iola, oh well. I don't think my wrist will mind.

Doing all this work myself has been stressful. This week I spent just as much time wrenching as riding. Maybe next year I won't wait until the week of the race to get it together. At least the weather is looking better for Iola.

Procrastination.

So the instructions say to torque steel compression nuts to 70 inch pounds and alloy compression nuts to 47 inch pounds. How the hell am I supposed to know if my compression nut is either steel or alloy? I'm a girl and don't know this type of shit. Shouldn't the manual tell me?

Nervous ramblings.

I haven't updated in a while. Sometimes that pesky full time job gets in the way of my life. Vacation the other week was great. I ended it with a 50 mile road ride with this chica. No Rock Cut for me as I had mountain bike issues that needed to be addressed. When I tried to remove my old Hayes rotors, I rounded out some of the bolts. The bike shop who assembled that bike did not use the proper T-25 torx bolts (initially I thought they used 4mm allen bolts, but upon further investigation my brother figured that they used some English bolts as one of his English allens fit perfectly in the hole....bastards), did not grease the bolts and over tightened the bolts. It was quite obvious that they did not use a torque wrench. That is the last time that I buy a bike or any major part from that shop. I took my wheels to another shop and they totally took care of the rotor removal situation for less than 25 dollars. Cronometro is the bomb! I can't thank them enough for fixing that problem.

Last week was a recovery week; only 6.5 hour of training. My leg has been doing well, but my wrist has been in agony and is keeping me up at night. My knee has been bothering me as well, but I think 20+ years of soccer has done a number on some of my body parts.

The countdown to WORS begins. I'm a little concerned as my Trek Fuel is not ready to go. I have to clean out the tires and add Stan's. The Avid 7's need to be cut and bled. My coach has scheduled a 12 hour cycling week. Work is super hectic and is totally flipping me out. We have my sister-in-law's wedding for which she has sent us an itinerary for Friday and Saturday and we must be active participants for all events. I haven't been on my mountain bike since June 2007 and I don't know that I'm going to get to ride it before Sunday. There will be little sleep on Saturday night and certainly no Iola pre-ride. Rain is predicted for Friday thru Sunday in WI. Blah,blah blah...it's all just nerves, stress and excuses talking. But don't be fooled, I'll be towing the line at Iola on Sunday rain or shine. I just might be nervously puking my lunch up beforehand.

New bike, first miles.

Which bike should I ride today?









The new singlespeed it is. Good thing I was heading out for an easy spin as the 34/18 - 175 crank was quite under geared for road riding. It might work pretty well for a Wednesday night ChainSmoker STXC race at Blackhawk though.

Knowing full well that it would probably start raining during my ride, I decided to leave my rain coat and fenders at home. My year off from cycling has softened me and it's time to toughen up a bit. I headed out on the Governor's Mansion-Tenney Park-Memorial Union route; it's a nice ride along Lake Mendota that I do when it needs to stay mellow.










I took this picture a good distance away from the Governor's Mansion. There were many people hanging around there today and I didn't want them to think I was a crazy picture snapping psycho biker chick. That's all I need is some secret service agent taking me out with a tazer gun.










Next, I rolled past Tenney Park. On the way I passed a guy riding a unicycle with his dog in tow. Unfortunately I couldn't get the camera out of my pocket in time for that one.










Onto the Memorial Union, then State Street. I would have stopped for a beer on the Terrace but it started to rain so I headed back home.










All in all, it's not a bad little bike but I'm truly amazed that my arse found the narrow WTB saddle comfortable.










I should have brought the rain coat...

Heavy shit...

Check out Tara's Video.

Life is good.

If you have a herding breed or other type of super active dog, you really have to love it when you see this (above).

It has been a total week of indulgence. Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. Well, maybe not so much...but there has been plenty of eating, sleeping and cycling going on. Vacation is fantastic. Chores have been getting done around the house, the dog has been getting massive exercise, bike maintenance has been happening and tons of riding has been taking place. Monday was an easy one hour spin. Tuesday I somehow managed to miss my group ride, but ended up riding with Wendy. Wednesday I rode with Amelia. Today is a rest day and I'm getting a massage. Life really doesn't get much better. Not to mention that I'm still using unused vacation from 2007. After this week, I'll have 25 days of vacation left for 2008 and it's almost May. Damn that's sweet.

Is Rock Cut going to happen? I've been hearing conflicting reports. It's supposed to rain the next two days so I really hope they push it back a week. I don't need my first race of the year to be a demoralizing mud fest.

I'm having conflicting feelings about Iola. My sister-in-law's wedding is the night before the race. So that means little sleep, rushing around, and no pre-riding. This May will mark my 5th Iola and one could argue that a pre-ride won't be necessary. But man, that pre-ride sure settles the nerves... It won't be optimal, but I think I just need to balls out do it.

I'm waiting on my Tara Llanes road to recovery T-shirt. I meant to order one a long time ago, but finally got around to it now. As I sit here complaining about my permanent ulnar nerve damage, I need to remember that there are people out there who have larger problems than my own. Tara Llanes is a pro mountain bike racer who had a horrible crash during a race in Beaver Creek, CO which left her in a wheelchair. She seems to be a very strong person and is someone to be admired. I'm sure Tara will pop into my mind when I'm racing this year...

Flippin' Wisconsin

Why do I live in this god forsaken state? I ask myself this question every winter. But when summer rolls around, I soon forget about all the cold, shitty weather that I spent months enduring. It's like I somehow have a bout of amnesia. Summertime in Madison, WI has that effect on a people. It makes you forget about all the below zero wind chills, all the $300 MG&E bills and all the cycling hours that were logged indoors. On Saturday I found myself on the trainer for two hours, waiting for my bout of amnesia to come, pissing and moaning with every pedal stroke, cursing the city I live in. It's almost enough to kill my love of racing....but not quite.

Sunday was a little better. I wondered over to the Research Park crits. Seeing as my high end fitness hasn't been worked on yet, I decided to spectate instead of race. The Women's 4's had a pretty small showing due to the cold weather. I could only take about an hour of watching races before I was frozen solid. Next I headed over to my brother's house to defrost a little and address some of the issues that my race bike was having. I literally had to clean the cobwebs off the mountain bike - that's how long its been. Ryan helped me dial in the shifting, which is something I can never seem to properly do on my own. After tinkering around for a few hours, I headed back to my side of town and got ready for a three hour burner. Leaving for a ride after 4pm on a cold day is not the smartest (a.k.a. warmest) decision that has ever been made but I had a decent time (frozen feet not withstanding). I battled the cold and windy conditions in the rolling hills of Waunakee on my trusty cyclocross bike. The wind was an ass-beater and had me cranking up those hills at a whopping 7 mph. Suffer now or suffer later I guess...

I'm officially on vacation now. It should be a fun week of cycling, tinkering, exercising the dog, eating and drinking wine daily. Some of the best vacations are the ones where you just stay home.

Time is flying.

The month of March has been a busy one. Wendy and I participated in a charity spin class at Supreme Fitness and the proceeds went to Multiple Sclerosis. The morning of the class I rolled out of bed, didn't comb my hair and threw on my glasses. We hit up an hour of pilates before we dove into spin class. The spin class was pretty fun and full of energy. About 1.5 hours into spin, the cameras showed up. What I hadn't realized is that NBC 15 was covering this event for the local news. Boy did I look like shit. The camera man shot the class from a few different angles. For some strange reason he parked himself in front of me, zoomed in, and shot film of me for what seemed like hours (it must have been my bright yellow Chain Smoker jersey that attracted the camera). Sure enough, my ugly mug made the news. The next week at work I had multiple people come up to me to say they had seen my stellar cycling performance on Channel 15. Of course this included finger pointing and laughing.....which is a small price to pay for a great cause.

The MS issue hits home with me. In 2005 I had a MS scare. I was experiencing some very strange symptoms that were making me extremely sick. To make a very long story short, after multiple blood tests for various diseases, a trip to the ER for an EKG for my panic attack and a MRI of my brain to check for MS lesions, it was determined that I did not have MS. 10 days worth of super strong antibiotics "cured" me as I might have acquired a tick-borne illness that was similar to MS. We'll never know. But for that 2 month period, those MS-like symptoms turned my world upside down. I certainly feel for people who are affected by this disease.

Base training has been going well but has mostly been on the trainer. I haven't been impressed with the WI weather so far. Last March I remember doing a 60 mile ride in shorts and a jersey with Ryan. This year has me freezing my limbs in my winter cycling attire. I've been piling on the miles as my coach has been scheduling the hours. This week it's 10 hours, next week it's 11. My fitness has slowly been coming around but I'm certainly not in the shape that I was before my injuries.

Iola is around the corner and it makes me so nervous that I want to puke. I haven't had too many high end workouts yet, I haven't ridden on my mountain bike in almost a year, I'm still 10-15 lbs overweight and my usacycling license says Expert. I think I might be in trouble. I'd like to do the Rock Cut Race to gauge my fitness before I embarrass myself at a WORS race, but the weather doesn't seem to be cooperating and my mountain bike isn't ready to go yet. On a more positive note, Chequamagon is a go. I opted for the Short and Fat this year as I wasn't sure I would be able to handle the 40. My 2008 racing year is going to be centered around the Cheq Short and Fat and perhaps Sheboygan WORS.

The single speed commuter is almost done. Now it will be time to turn my attention to my Trek Fuel EX 9. I'm scrapping the Hayes disc brakes for Avid 7's. I'm convinced that there is not an easy way to bleed Hayes brakes and the brakes are constantly making noise (no matter how they are adjusted). My life was so much easier before disc brakes, but damn do I love them.

What have I been up to lately?

Building a pimpin' commuter. More to follow later this week.

Solo Saturday

Today was the first official ChainSmoker ride of 2008. I opted out as I'm not yet ready to blow myself up by riding with a bunch of pumped up Comp and Expert guys who are sick of riding on their trainers. 14 ChainSmokers rode the capital city trail which was pretty much covered in ice. Apparently almost everyone crashed at least once during the outing and they stopped at a bar to kick back a few pitches of beer in the middle of the ride. I'm not sure if the crashing was attributed to the ice or beer though.....that's up for debate.


I wisely decided to head out to Gov. Nelson to do a little skiing. This was a solo adventure as Ryan and Wendy were up at Devil's Head/Lake for a little snowboarding and nordic skiing. I spent about two hours skiing around the park, checking out trails and jamming to tunes on my iPod while trying to keep my heart rate at a reasonable level (Zones 1-2). As I found out, keeping the heart rate in check is hard to accomplish when you are a cross country ski hack. After all, today officially kicks off the beginning of my training program. Since I have yet to spring for a power meter, my training program is entirely heart rate based.

It is also hard to stay in your training zones when a 45+ year-old, caravan-driving lady throws down the cross country ski gauntlet. She passed me, offered up a competitive smirk, and subsequently left me in the dust. I wanted so badly to throw down and put her in her place, but the alarm on my HR monitor reminded me that today was not going to be that day. How sad does your life have to be when you want to race a recreational skiing mom-type at a state park to feel good about yourself. I really need the WORS season to start.


I found a few cool trails in Gov. Nelson. This is one of the prettier lookout points; you can see a nice view of the capital.


Another nice view. You can see Westport and Madison's north side.

It looks like skiing might come to an abrupt end tomorrow - 40 degrees and rain in the afternoon. I might try to get one more round of skiing in at Cherokee Marsh in the morning. Then it's two easy hours on the trainer.

Happy base training!

-RB

Dinner for one, as usual.

Another night, another dinner alone. The typical life of a chef's wife. People who watch the Food Network think being a chef is all glamor and excitement. The reality of the situation is it's stressful, it's often working sixty hours each week, it's working nights and weekends, it's not taking vacations because you have to work, it's not interacting with your spouse because you are too tired to deal, it's not celebrating holidays and other important days with family or friends (yes my husband is currently sitting in a bar de-stressing from his crappy day at work on valentines day....not that we celebrate it, but thats pretty typical of what happens in our house), it's giving up the work-life balance that most people strive for, and it's eating fast food because you don't cook at home or because you are sick of fine dining (yes, my husband eats at McDonald's). You get the point.

A little known secret outside of the Bach household is that I do most of the cooking. It is probably for the best because Jeff and I are of very different philosophies when it comes to the preparation of food. He believes that fat is flavor and food should be cooked in fattening ways. I believe that fatty food items should be rubbed directly on the thighs because that is where they end up when I eat them. Give me the low-fat or no-fat version and I'll eat it. Then again, if I were 140lbs and 6 feet tall, I'd be slathering my gravy all over my potatoes too.

Speaking of low-fat, my nutritional plan has been going well. Though as you can see from the picture above, I'm not totally rigid about this diet thing. I refuse to give up my wine entirely, so I try to keep it to one glass per night (I have been known to throw down a half or full bottle on my own every now and again). I'm currently down from 142lbs to 132lbs. Once my training takes off a little more, I'm sure the rest of the weight will drop right off.

Unfortunately my injuries are going to be a major issue for 2008. My doctor is concerned about my wrist/ulnar nerve injury. She said things like, "This isn't typical", "Some people have to get surgery, though we should try to avoid it", "This might be a chronic problem for you"," You might have to change sports". I told her "I figured it wasn't typical problem", "I agree, I won't be having surgery","If this is a chronic problem, I'll just ice and tape it","I won't be changing sports". It's a good thing she is a cyclist so she understands my lack of logic on the matter.

Besides the wrist thing, there is still a very large bump (or the more appropriate description might be - divot) on my quad from my accident at Lake Geneva. It hurts when I pedal my bike and when I pedal faster it hurts even more. It hurts when I get up in the morning and walk around the house. I guess I'll just have to endure all the hurting. Maybe in 2-15 years it might go away. We can't be too certain. It's a shitty hand of cards to be dealt, but I'll be playing them in 2008. I personally think it would "hurt" more to sit on the sideline again.

The final piece of my plan has fallen into place. I pulled the trigger and hired a coach.....Rachel.

I can't wait to get started.

Another Year Older.

Today is my birthday and I've been feeling overwhelmingly sad. I'm really not sure why. Maybe it's working at a job that doesn't give me the satisfaction which I crave, maybe it's my semi-permanent injuries that I have to tolerate or maybe it's my current lack of fitness. Can you say Seasonal Affective Disorder? I'll put money on that...

Turning 32 has been quite uneventful. A boring day spent at work followed by a trip to Texas Roadhouse to eat a little prime rib with the hubby (but its back on the diet tomorrow). I thought I'd get outside and exercise the dog a bit. Unfortunately it is so damn cold that the Pepper didn't even want to go on a walk. She convincingly told me so by lifting her front legs off the ground like a prairie dog and shook like a leaf. Scrap that idea. Jeff had his bowling league tonite, so that meant I was spending my birthday alone. After eating a huge prime rib, I thought maybe a Pilates workout was in order. A hour-long Pilates class at Supreme Fitness last Saturday, followed by some cross country skiing with Ryan and Wendy sent my body into serious disarray. Every muscle in my body still hurts.....can you say two day recovery! Scrap the Pilates idea. I guess that leaves a little blogging and some vino! Happy birthday to me...

If you haven't heard.....

Sheldon Brown passed away.

Chipotle Exile

Picture Left: 2008 and 20lbs heavier.

After months of hibernation from cycling life and exercise in general, I've concluded that I'm at the fattest point of my life. Last month I tipped the scale at a whopping 142 lbs. Considering that my racing weight in 2006 was between 120-125 lbs (which is what it should be) and considering it is now January, I think I have a pretty major problem on my hands (in addition to the not so minor problem of not having any serious training under my belt since May 2007).

I'm not sure why I didn't notice this situation in the months leading up to the present. Too many enjoyable trips to Chipotle and daily imbibing of wine, coupled with zero physical activities are most likely to blame. Not to mention wallowing in my (still present) injuries really made it easy to not care about anything other than consuming tasty chicken burritos with a side of guacamole.

Picture Right: 2006 Phillips (thanks Amelia) was a skinnier time.....

This problem became a reality during Christmas. My mother casually mentioned to me that perhaps my jeans are a little tight. I thought to myself, are you kidding me? My jeans aren't that tight. Shit, are they? The female youth of today are perpetually packing themselves into jeans which are so tight that a shoe horn is necessary for removal. I guess I'm now a member of this not so exclusive club. Crap. I'm officially swearing off Chipotle.

Once a person has fallen so far down into the well, its hard to climb out of it. Last year I started this blog as a way to chronicle my first year of racing mountain bikes as an expert. I guess this blog has tuned into a diary about a fat girl who had to claw her way out of a 50 foot well. The question is: Will she drown or will she make it?

Picture Left: My best friend and worst enemy.

Knowing that my situation is very dire, I formulated a very exacting plan that would make my return to racing somewhat less embarrassing.

Step 1 - revamp the nutrition. I ponied up a small sum of money and purchased a sports nutrition plan. Along with this plan, I acquired calorie counting software that would track my progress out of the world of the fat into the world of the thin. Bottom line - I don't get to eat anything that I want and I will be measuring/weighing out all my food. I hope this doesn't turn me into a bitch.

Step 2 - Spend a few weeks getting back into the swing of things. This means riding on the trainer, pilates and spin classes at Supreme Fitness and Zoned 4 Fitness, and some weight training at MATC Fitness Center (saying "fitness" three times in once sentence makes me feel stronger already). I have to work all the aches and pains out of my system and remind my body how to work.

Step 3 - Hire a cycling coach by mid-february and do what they say. Coach TBD.

This week's status: 4.5 hours of exercise including a trip to Zoned, no fatty foods and 136 lbs on the scale.

To be continued....