I generally don't participate in WEMS races as it's really not my style of racing; I'm not into being on a mountain bike for 6 or 12 hours at a time (not yet, anyway). But I headed up to Levis Trow in July to help out with the race that the Chain Smokers were putting on. I only slept a few hours on that Friday night and was up at 5am to serve racers breakfast, then I spent a number of hours working timing. After a nine hour "work" day, I suited up for the 25 mile solo.
Race Director Jason
Peter and me
Running in a mountain bike race is hot garbage.
Kent caught me on the second lap and smoked me.....even with a bum knee.
Kelson and Jen
Kelson on the mic. He also announced Day two of the USGP cross race. Maybe it's time for a career change?
The usual look of panic and pain on my face.
Smiling? This is a rare event; I must have been finishing.
1st place. Nothing like being a big fish in a small pond for a minute or two. Getting a bi-monthly smackdown in WORS races teaches you to appreciate small moments like these.
The best part of that weekend was not the race, but it was the Sunday Chain Smoker course tear down ride. We cleaned the course and ripped some of the most fantastic singletrack that I've ever ridden. The sidewinder trail has to be one of the most intimidating trails around. I would easily put Levis on par with riding in Colorado.
Can you believe that these views are in WI?
Todd, Jen and myself posing by a large rock......giddy as hell......even though there wasn't enough chamois cream in all of Wisconsin that could have helped the chaffing that racing and riding at Levis gave us. The Sunday ride was worth every bit of chafe and I would easily label it my most epic ride of 2009.
A good weekend of giving a co-worker a proper Pedro's margarita send off into a new job in a new city, road riding, team party with prizes won, bonfire lit, cycling stories told, and some short-sleeved singletrack riding at the Kettle. I even managed to drop a few hung over dudes.....they must have been more hung over than myself. Time to reel it back in.
I saw the movie Race Across the Sky. It really helps you understand what a special event the Leadville 100 is. And well it is very easy to get swept up in the emotion of that movie, I don't think I'll be applying anytime soon. One thing I know about myself is how bad I suck at altitude and this race is held at over 10,000 feet. Plus I think an Ironman might be an easier event. I would categorize Leadville as one of those things that maybe I'll do before I'm 40.....or maybe not.
Check out Chris P.'s and Rebecca C's (Oct 23 entry) Leadville 100 experiences. If you think you are tough enough, think again.
I'm the opposite of most people. Every August I seem to get depressed and irritated with every aspect of my life. The days get darker earlier and the end of summer is nearing. As winter and spring roll around, I snap out of it and get really excited for the cycling year that is ahead of me. I blame this nonsense on living in Wisconsin. One would think that after 33 years, I should have adjusted by now. Planning the next year helps turn my sadness around.
It's time to start using my gym membership that sits idle from May to October each year. This week I'll begin weight lifting and attending Pilates class. I need to really work on my back problem which stems from the soft tissue damage in my quad that I received from Treadfest 2007. Getting old sucks.
The diet down is on. Weighing and measuring food really sucks, but it's the only way to accurately track what is going into your body. And I like getting the weight drop done in a quick amount of time during base training.
As usual there will be plenty of trainer riding going on. But I tend to burn out fast - especially if the rides are more than 1.5 hours long.
Lights and high top boots have been my top purchases this fall. My pansy-ass is going to have to suck it up because I need to do some outside riding to maintain my sanity.
And of course, I'll have to change it up with some winter sports action.
Another ski trip out to Alpine Meadows in Tahoe would be nice.
Sub three hour tour and 35th female on the day (other years a sub three hour might have placed you 20-30th....but not this year). Days later I found out that I rolled 40 miles on a mildly separated shoulder (1.5 months later and it still hurts.) Two times the daily dose of Vitamin I saw me though. I missed my top 25 goal, but hit my better than 3 hour goal. Considering the bloody mess that I made of my body, I was pretty happy with my race. It's not all that bad when you can take down a beer at the finish line after ripping 40 miles of fire roads.
And I actually got to pedal up fire tower hill. A few years ago I can honestly say I wasn't fit enough to make it up. I'm already stoked for next year.
2009 marks my 4th trip to Hayward, WI to race in one of the largest and craziest events that we have in the Midwest. I did the "40" in 2005 and 2006. I was denied in 2007 which actually worked out very well for me. Due to my injuries last year, I raced the "Short and Fat" and secured my entry into this year's race.
If you have never had the Chequamagon experience check out this video from last year's race.
Thursday night I drove up to Spooner, WI, checked into my hotel room and immediately got acquainted with the 24 hour hot tub and pool. I topped off the night with a few adult beverages and some HBO. A little alone time was nice after the last two insane weeks I've had at work. Friday afternoon I met up with Peter, a fellow ChainSmoker, at the Telemark Resort in Cable, WI to ride the Ojibwa trail.
Now riding this trail the day before the 40 is NOT the wisest thing to do; I'll admit that. But you can't drive 5 hours to a place like Cable, WI and not ride the fantastic singletrack that is part of the CAMBA Trail System. It's seems so wrong. So that is exactly what we did.
Things were going well and we were cruising though the singletrack. Peter and I pre-ride at the same speed (or he is nice enough to slow down for me). After following Peter through the Ojibwa trail for about an hour, I took the lead. We hit some fast downhill doubletrack and I was flying. At the end of the doubletrack there was a huge berm/lip followed by a small drop. I didn't see it right away, but when I realized what it was, I thought "I'm FUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". And I was.
It was too late to lay on the brakes because I was going over the handlebars if I did. So I tried to scrub a little speed off as I went over the sharp lip. There I went flying through the air, higher than I'd ever been in my life. In that split second, I started to contemplate a few important things. 1. Wheelchairs are not for me. 2. If I get out of this alive, I might just give up mountain biking. Many people sit on the couch while watching tv and eating potato chips. I can do it too. 3. Please let my bike be ok for the race tomorrow.
I proceeded to fly over my bike and smash into the ground harder than ever could be imagined. My knees were completely bloody. I landed on my shoulder and chest. My head bounced off of the ground. And my elbow impaled my stomach. Then I realized that I couldn't breath. I tried to get up. Peter pushed me down and told me not to move. He was sure I broke bones - maybe my collarbone. I started to panic. Why couldn't I fucking breath? Did I collapse my lung? Shit, we are in Cable fucking Wisconsin, there is probably not a hospital here (sorry, I have a potty mouth, I know). How the hell am I going to get out of the trail system? I'm going to die here. After about a minute of irrational contemplations, I started to calm down, realizing that I had just knocked the wind out of myself. Duh. Years of playing competitive soccer should have taught me this. But I guess in all the years of getting the wind knocked out of me, I've never had a blow this hard. (Even the time I collided head on with a goalie. I knocked her out, broke both her shins and scored a goal all at the same time. I momentarily was knocked out and had the wind knocked out of me. I still blame her. She was the aggressor and came at me with all her might. I was 110 lbs of goal scoring bad-assness back then.)
I got up, started to walk it off and assess the damage. The bike was ok. The rider had two blood knees, a stomach that hurt from being jabbed with her own flying elbow and a swelling arm/shoulder. It appeared that I'd live to ride another day, just maybe not in the 40. Peter and I started making our way back to the Telemark. We tried to take a short cut and ended up lost (of course). Finally after almost a 2 hour "pre-ride" we made it back to home base where I tended to my wounds, picked up my packet and headed back to my hotel to re-figure my Cheq 40 strategy. If crashing my brains out wasn't enough excitement for the day, a deer jumped out in front of me on HYW 63. My Dodge Dakota came within inches of hitting this terrified female deer. I may have even hit its back leg. My heart ended up somwhere in my throat as I veered completely off the road while driving 60mph, then righted myself back onto the HYW. Do you ever think the Universe is trying to tell you something?
Here is my knee, partially cleaned up for your viewing pleasure.
The last few weeks of life have had me mostly living at work, sleeping very little and eating like total shit or not eating at all. With motivation and expectations at an all time low and back pain at an all time high, I really wasn't that excited to head to Lake Geneva, one of the more technical races in the WORS series.
There were about 20 women at the start line which is a hearty number for the 1:30 race. Don said GOOOOOOOOO and we were off. I climbed up the hot, exposed ski hill, made my way through the dusty, sandy singletrack and found myself thinking about the rock garden that was to come.
The legendary rock garden is Lake Geneva's spectator centerpiece. It is lined with people yelling, screaming and taking photos....all waiting for the inevitable carnage to ensue. Now, the rock garden is really not that difficult of a piece to ride. You need to set your nerves aside, take some momentum into it and roll right down the middle, then try not to break your neck on the descent. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Unfortunately the consequences for not riding it perfectly are substantial - falling in the rock garden could mean serious damage to your bike and body, everyone you know will have witnessed your crash and will have posted the photos come Monday morning and you will most likely be run over by others behind you, trying to ride the rock garden.
With all these thoughts dancing around my head, I sat on the wheel of Brenda ZT as we made our way on Lap 1 up to the rock garden. About this time the Comp men started to catch us. As we passed the "CAUTION" sign, there was dude who wanted to pass us on the drop. I told him to wait. These are not words you will usually hear out of my mouth (those that know me, know I'm super easy to pass - just let me know you're there, don't cut me off, or crash me and we're all good....call me crazy but it is generally not good idea to ask for a pass in a section that requires a CAUTION sign). Brenda ZT hit the rock garden and slowed, which cause me to slow a little and sure enough, the dude made a super sketchy pass as I entered the the garden of many large, bruise worthy rocks. I was off the bike, pissed as hell and maybe even uttering a few unkind words (sorry spectators). Making your way down that hill on foot is awful and dangerous with non stop traffic barreling down a "room for one only" descent.
During that episode a few elite women had passed me, so I spent the rest of Lap 1 expending all my energy trying to regain my position and trying to let go of my anger. I am very happy to report that on Laps 2, 3 and 4 I rode the rock garden cleanly and managed to avoid any permanent physical, emotional or psychological damage that one receives from having a mishap there.
I have a history with heat exhaustion - one episode at Alterra last year and one at Subaru Cup this year. It happens on exposed ski hill climbs on super hot days. I know this about myself. Knowledge is power. So when I started climbing the exposed ski hill on Lap 2, I could feel it coming on. It was just a stones throw away - the chills, the intestinal upset and yucky feelings. The result? I slowed way down, dropped it into the granny gear, started drinking more and hung on as best as I could. I did this for Laps 2, 3 and 4 and finished the race in 2 hours and 36 minutes for 11th on the day. I'll take it.
Well, I'm off to the Chequamagon 40 today. A top 25 finish is the goal but perhaps it's too lofty or assuming. There are many unknowns and things that will be out of my control. For instance, am I going to get run over by 1700 people because I have preferred start and got tangled up one of the many crashes that traditionally happen? And will I have the mental patience to avoid crashes for the first 25-30 miles. If my memory serves me right, it's mass chaos for the majority of that race.
For those of you going, I'll see you at the finish line at the Telemark Resort. We'll be dusty, sweaty, sore, happy and hopefully in one piece. Come have a beer with me.
After a little deliberation, I headed to the WORS race in GB instead of the Palos Meltdown. Ripping 35 or so miles a few weeks out from the Cheq 40 seemed like the right thing to do. I was also excited for what is essentially a road race on the mountain bike with some single track to boot.
The start was the typcial frenetic pace for the holeshot to the singletrack. I felt decent, but I didn't put the hammer down hard enough (unfortunately it seems like I've lost a little on the flats compared to earlier in the season.) and someone who is much slower in singletrack slipped in ahead of me. That is all it took to create a gap...once we went from leadout to singletrack back to double track, the top 8 women were gone. The remaining 6 of us were left in the dust.....left to duke out the remaining 30 plus miles. In retrospect that is where the biggest mistake was made....I should have at all costs threw it down harder on the lead out. Losing the drafting train on this course pretty much equals game over.
So I spent the next few miles blowing myself up trying to be the "front of the back". Once I accomplished that mission, Regina showed up and we were off. At a certain point in the first lap she was ahead of me and tearing my legs off. But I made myself stick on her wheel at all costs. My legs were on fire and my back was in some serious pain. I debated packing it in, but my seatpost had slipped as the race continued which eased the pressure on my back. The comp men started to pass us about half way into lap 1. The King of WORS made his way past me and then took down Regina just in front of me. I picked my jaw up off my top tube, thought "Holy Shit!" and cruised around the carnage. Luckily everyone was ok.
Regina caught back up with me and we rode lap 2 and most of lap 3 together. The back and forth was a total ass beater.....I kept trying to rip the singletrack as fast as possible, but there was no shaking her. On the home stretch in the third lap, Regina disappeared. A comp rider informed me that she had dropped her chain. What a total bummer and not the way I wanted it to end. A sprint finish after 35 miles would have been super sweet. So I just threw it down with everything I had and rolled in 9th for the day. Definitely a decent finish, but also a little disappointing as I can't seem to turn the pedals any faster to move my way up the Elite womens' food chain. I fully realize that Rome wasn't built in a day, but a podium finish would be really, really nice. On a positive note, I did ride the singletrack well. It's not the most technical, but you gotta take the small victories when they come your way.
Also mad props to Lori S. Winning the overall and beating Rebecca C. on her home trails is a huge freaking accomplishment.
All photos by Velogrrl The my race can be summed up in one word - "blah".
A few of the low lights were:
1. Blowing myself up on lap one trying to hang with a stronger rider on the flats.
2. Almost getting pushed off the first bridge on lap one. Someone had fallen off and was remounting at the bridge exit point while I was riding it.
3. Eating it myself at the bridge on lap two for really no good reason.
4. Riding laps two, three and four with pain in my hip/ass from biting in on the bridge and subsequently feeling disheveled and pissed at myself for the rest of the race.
5. Feeling super sick on lap two (maybe the enduralites?).
6. Having the top elite men catch me on lap 3 in the freaking tightest spot on the course. I just pulled over....when I started pedaling again, a few more top elite men came out of nowhere and whizzed right by me. This caused me to suddenly shift my weight in an attempt to once again get out of the way. I ended up tipping over while clipped in and laying in the bushes. It wasn't pretty. And while I know I'm not gunning for a top spot, I do hope all the elite men appreciate the courtesies that are given to them. And I hope they at least had a good laugh while I kicked it in the bushes.
7. Too much braking.
8. Driving solo for 3.5 hours back to Madison while in a pissed off mood. At least I didn't get a speeding ticket.
9. Skipping 4 hours of scheduled training this week cause my hip/ass hurt.
The highlights? There were a few:
1. I held back a lot on the climbs. I think I can let loose a little more because I'm fitter than I think.
2. I felt slightly less unraveled on lap 4, pulled my head out of my ass and kicked it in the ass.
3. I had a decent pre-ride on Saturday and had a good time riding my bike.
4. While sifting through pictures this week I noticed that a few Comp men had also fallen off the first bridge. This somehow lessens the blow to my ego and all the ass pain I've been having.
I think the look on my face says it all.
Next up: Part of me would like to do the Palos meltdown, but I'll be heading to WORS GB. It should be a good test of my fitness and will be a good race leading up to the Cheq 40.
A slow start....nerves danced around in my stomach...GOOOOO!!!!! and the pedal was missed.
Looking good on first quarter of the lap.....until I crunched my left hand between my bike and a tree. Writhing on the ground as all the Elite ladies passed me is not the way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Writhed a few more times on the ground that day.
Smokin Spoke
Drafting on the lead out. Had a decent race but my back was shredded by the second half and rode the singletrack slower than desired. Navagating the singletrack with the Comp men was tough....cut off and forced off my bike a few times.
Jumping on the Comp train. Thanks for the pull fellas.
Wausau
Fucking miserable - muddy, rainy, windy and cold. 40 degrees in June in Wisco. WTF. Back still shredded from Smokin Spoke and from churning 9 mile mud; pulled off to stretch the back and to DNF but got talked into finishing the race. Thanks Michelle.
Subaru Cup
Nothing like going from 40 degree temps to 85+. Heat exhaustion in the XC race. Took it easy in the Super D and had a respectable finish behind Lisa in the Short Track.
Getting the race done early in day has it benefits - kicking it friends.
And got instruction from the likes of Alison Dunlop. We will be seeing her shortly at the Wisco USGP races.
The Firecracker
Had a good ride...until I didn't. Took a spill the beginning of lap numero dos and had hydraulic brake fluid all over my left hand. Life as a chemist has taught me that brake fluid is not miscible in sports drink....but in the thick of it, that is how my hand got rinsed. Yard saled it two more times. Lost a handful of confidence and spots in the overall. Additionally a select few of the Comp and Junior X men created moderately frustrating situations.
These rocks can Suck It Trebek. It was this chica's last race as a Wisco resident. And I had good company for three hour ride home.
Levis Trow
More on this later. It's so beautiful there that it deserves its own post.
Here you can see a Comp man who hit my wheel, pushed me off of my line which nearly forced me off my bike.... not the way you want to start this heart busting climb. Comp dude (whoever you are) I forgive you cause shit happens during racing.
I'm a pretty chill chick and try to be as smooth and gracious in the singletrack as I can be. I certainly forgive many of the stupidities that happen because I'm far from perfect also. And the majority of you are great guys who are generally skilled, safe and super polite. But if you happen to be the 25th Comp dude that day who bumped into me because you don't know how to pass, knocked me off my bike because you are riding outside your ability, shoved me off my line because you think you have the right to the best part of the singletrack or almost crashed me because you didn't think to call your pass....I may lose it and explode at your ass. So I apologize in advance for any unkind words that might fly out of my mouth during the rest of the summer.
Racing in singletrack is getting better as the summer progresses even when dehydrated and hungover. WORS 2009 to be continued.....
Race Director Jason
Peter and me
Running in a mountain bike race is hot garbage.
Kent caught me on the second lap and smoked me.....even with a bum knee.
Kelson and Jen
Kelson on the mic. He also announced Day two of the USGP cross race. Maybe it's time for a career change?
The usual look of panic and pain on my face.
Smiling? This is a rare event; I must have been finishing.
1st place. Nothing like being a big fish in a small pond for a minute or two. Getting a bi-monthly smackdown in WORS races teaches you to appreciate small moments like these.
Can you believe that these views are in WI?
Todd, Jen and myself posing by a large rock......giddy as hell......even though there wasn't enough chamois cream in all of Wisconsin that could have helped the chaffing that racing and riding at Levis gave us. The Sunday ride was worth every bit of chafe and I would easily label it my most epic ride of 2009.
