Crystal Lake.

Three hard laps, two tired legs and one orange sports bra.

 

The level of unzip must be proportional to ones lack of fitness and rate of overheating...that's my theory anyway.  Note to self: Keep the jersey zipped up for all future photo opportunities.  

I wasn't really ready to race, but I made the long drive to Rhinelander, WI.  The lead out was faster than anything that I had ever experienced at any race.  I won't lie.  It broke me.  I blame Adventure 212.  They are even faster this year.  Is that possible?  Apparently it is....

But those types of experiences are good for the soul.  You can waive the white flag, make excuses and DNF or you can suck it up and finish the race.  So I gutted it out for just over two hours.  One pedal ejector crash in the first lap reigned in my ego.  I spend the next few laps perfectly carving singletrack and racing within my fitness ability.  In the process I got acquainted with my new friend.

A carbon frame given to me by a teammate, a few new parts and a few old ones too.  Total weight is 24 lbs.  There is room to bring the weight down but I'll work on that later in the summer.  Right now the focus is on the engine.  My old bike was in the 29 pound range so this new set-up feels like I'm dancing on air.  And hopefully, by mid-summer, I will be.

Spring is Usually Not a Time For Rest.

April is always the busiest month in my calendar.  Lots of training, projects at work, getting bikes dialed, managing sponsorship for the Chain Smokers MTB Team, topped off with lots more riding.  Not this past April.  I've spent the whole month (and then some) not riding my bike or even exercising.  This is a very strange place to be.

My new nightly routine.

Prior to this bump in the road, base training was movin' right along.  Instead of upgrading the bike, I spent most of my efforts upgrading the rider.  There were tons of focused trainer workouts for which I utilized the new toy to the best of my intellectual ability.

Putting out 3.7 watts/kg on a 30 minute test early on seemed like a pretty good start to the spring training season.  But realizing that I have no clue as to what good power numbers would be for a female Cat 1 WORS racer, I thought I'd figure it out when the rubber met the road.  I'm still waiting for that to happen.....stupid knee.

Body recomposition has been a priority in the off season.  After all, your best racing weight is both a weight and body composition that you perform best at.  The goal had been to bring the body fat down to 15-16% while keeping the power to weight ratio in mind.

Measuring body fat is mostly an inaccurate science, but there are a few methods that are considered to be the gold standard.  One is the DXA scan.  It has a high degree of accuracy but is very expensive.  Instead of paying for one, I jumped into a UW study for female cyclists and got one for free.


Participating in this study brought me to a few important realizations:

1.  I've achieved my body fat goal and then some.  Region (%Fat) is the soft tissue + bone while Tissue (%Fat) is just the soft tissue.

At 13.1% body fat, I have returned to my regularly scheduled program of consuming dark chocolate and red wine daily.


2.  I have normal bone density.  Which is always a good thing.  Osteoporosis is nothing to fuck with.

3.  I now understand why I have problems with sciatica and my right knee.

Mmmm pelvis tilt.  Fighting genetics is an uphill battle that you probably won't win.

While my knee feels like a major set back, the season is long.  May will be the month of recuperating, resetting, re-strategizing, rebuilding (the engine), repeating (base training) and hopefully racing.  Crystal Lake?  Most likely...