Oh, Vermont.

Last weekend I went to Vermont for a couple of regional races. I was staying with Cody's sister-in-law and his wee little nephew, as he and his brother were up in Northern New Hampshire doing a man-retreat (ed. note: how manly is it to bring your iPhone backpacking? Yeah, that's what I thought too). Anyway, I'd decided to go to these races rather than down to those in Plymouth because they had almost $1000 women's prize purse between the two of them. I like to support events that support women's racing.

The course on Saturday was in Windsor, VT, and went all around the Harpoon Brewery (it's kind of like Sierra Nevada Brewery, but in Massachusetts, and not as big). The course wasn't overly technical, but it had some fun sections. There was what felt like a lot of climbing, which hurt. Anyway, I had a great start (for once! yay!) then got passed by a couple ladies. Basically I was in a group racing for 4th for a majority of the race, but I was sucking on the run-up and eventually got dropped there. Hella uncool. So I wound up 7th. The picture at the top is from that race. I also almost wrecked myself on the barriers, but held it together somehow. Oh yeah, and my teammate won!

On Sunday I went to Putney, VT, which is a neat little town on the Connecticut River that has one of the most fun co-op groceries I've been to in a long time. Loved that place. They also have a shop that puts on weekly Wednesday night 'cross races. How rad is that? Yeah, hella rad. Anyway, the course had a lot of fun stuff, including a super steep descent into a big rutted mud section that was kind of sketchy. Unfortunately it also had a big flat section virtually free from turns that went around this field. Boring. And really painful. And as it turned out, the course was super short, so they could definitely have added some turns in there to make it more fun and so that we didn't have to do 8 laps. 8 laps, you ask? Yes. 8. And there was a really hard run-up. That we had to do. 8 times. Anyway, I didn't have as good of a start, but I got with a good group and I was doing pretty well. Then I dropped my chain. It was so stupid, it was on this little stairs run up part, and as I was running my knee pushed my pedal backward and as it backpedaled the chain came off my inner ring. Ok, no biggie, chain back on, get with some other riders, keep moving. Then, on the next lap, it did the Same Thing. Put it back on, but then apparently I hadn't done a very good job and it came off again immediately. This was pretty much where my race ended. I got my chain back on and kept going, but I was so far back from everyone that, well, my motivator broke. I rode around for a few more laps (and dropped my chain AGAIN!) but I was about to get lapped by the leaders and the officials weren't pulling me, so I pulled myself. AKA DNF. But whatever. At some point that whole "stick it out, quitting is for losers" stuff just doesn't apply. There was nothing to be proved. So, yeah. But my teammate won again!

Anyway, I rode way too long and hard today for a tuesday following a race weekend, but it was 60+ degrees out and you gotta get it in while you can. Carpe diem, or something like that.

NoHo

I have a little confession to make. The last couple weeks, since I skipped Downeast, I've been struggling to stay motivated. It might be the colder weather, it might be a little bit of fatigue, it might be all the warm fuzzy fall fun going on around me the last couple weeks - with harvest parties, halloween parties, fires, pumpkin EVERYTHING. Seriously, fall in New England is pretty special.

Whatever the reason, my motivation to go out and suffer on the bike by myself has been low. Generally when I'm feeling unmovitated I enter this cycle of low motivation > feel bad about being unmotivated > don't do anything at all to keep motivated > feel bad and eat ice cream > low motivation. But these last two weeks, even though I skipped a couple days on the bike, I got out and ran and did some strength training at the gym instead. Staying active and fit and strong > not eating ice cream > increased chances of return to motivated state. And what better way to increase motivation than to have a surprisingly good result at a UCI race? And maybe, the next day, spend 3 hours riding MTBs in short sleeves?

So, on Saturday Cody drove me out to Northampton for the Cycle-Smart International. It was COLD. I broke out my fleece lined long sleeved skin suit for the first time. I probably didn't need to, but it was awfully cozy.

The course was super fun. Started on grass, did a little S turn after the starting stretch then went into this "run" up. It was pretty short, but super gnar. Steep with loose dirt, rocks, and roots. I wasn't running. And the bottleneck it created stopped traffic so entirely that you could pretty much have soft pedalled at the start and still had to wait in line. Even though I wasn't running, my legs are pretty long and I have a lot of practice scrambling up stuff I can't ride when MTBing out here, so I actually passed a few people the first time up. Plus I was swinging my leg over the bike in the rooty descent that led into the run up and coasting in on one foot so I could hop off and get moving as soon as I started to decelerate. Some people were getting off before the little descent and some were waiting until they hit the hill, but my way was totally faster. Anyway, then the course twisted through some trees on some rooty uneven terrain, then there was a fast descent, then the big sand pit. I was really digging the sand pit. From there you twisted around through some grassy turns and some power straightaways, then hit the second "run" up. This one is in quotes because really, you could ride it if you didn't suck. I didn't manage to make it up a single time. Either because there was someone in front of me who screwed me up or because I just couldn't. At any rate, then you had more twisty rooty stuff through the woods, another little descent, barriers, and power grassy stuff before going through the finish. Fun fun fun.

Anyway, I had a pretty good start, made some passes, got passed and ended up with a varying group of 2-3 girls for the majority of the race. I felt really dialed and was railing corners and hammering over the roots with no regard for flat tires, and my fitness was better than I deserved. Overall I felt like my power output was pretty steady, although I lacked the high end to match big accelerations. I felt like someone would accelerate around me and I couldn't match them, but then they'd just kind of hover in front of me, or I could close the gaps by being fast through the corners, which has pretty much never happened to me before. Anyway, I was with two girls in the last lap with a pretty decent gap on anyone behind us when I bobbled the run/ride up and almost fell down the hill. I scrambled up it without too much damage but then I realized I'd dropped my chain and had to stop and put it back on. Rats! The gap that grew between myself and the two I'd been racing against grew too big for me to close in the last half lap, and the girl behind us caught me through the barriers. I dug nice and deep to stick on her wheel, then jumped around her on the finishing straight. Sprinting for 30th. Rad. Or kind of sad, depending on how you look at it. I'm going to go with rad.

We decided to come home afterward rather than stay and race another day. I've been feeling a little throaty and want to stay healthy, and Cody really wanted to ride on Sunday, which turned out to be a great idea. It was 60 degrees and sunny on Sunday and we got in a great 3 hour ride on our favorite trails with some good friends. Killer way to end the weekend.

I think I'll be driving down to Plymouth for a race or two this weekend (Cody's going to Man Weekend with his brothers/friends. They're doing a weekend backpacking trip in Northern New Hampshire. In mid-November. With whiskey. I am, obviously, not invited.) My motivation has returned full force for the second part of the season, and I've got plans to increase that acceleration so I can keep up with those surges that hurt so much in NoHo. But I'm also feeling good about the result I had after mixing up my training a little bit the last couple weeks, and am planning on keeping up the running and strength training in the coming weeks too. It makes me feel more strong and balanced, and we could all use more strenght and balance, right?

There's a pretty OK picture of me racing here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.269774206400337.70560.132987496745676&type=1#!/photo.php?fbid=270248683019556&set=a.270247473019677.70709.132987496745676&type=3&theater

Non-Racing

So after much anticipation and preparation I didn't race Downeast this weekend. On Friday, after a very long work week I decided to skip Saturday to get caught up on those things that I really like to have done when work hits on Monday morning. And I didn't really end up doing too much, because as it turned out I felt kind of crappy all day, and felt really unenthusiastic about racing on Sunday. It took many years of having bad races to realize that when I don't feel like racing, I'm probably too tired/sick/overtrained to have a good race anyway. You know what I mean? Physical fatigue manifests itself emotionally. Then woke up on Sunday with a headache and a sore throat and decided to listen to my body and stay home. Which was good, because I pretty much felt lousy all day. No race next weekend, but the weekend after that is Northampton, which should be fun. Hoping to stay healthy and get in some good training between now and then!

Casco Bay

After three consecutive weekends of UCI races I went to a regional race up in Portland, ME on Saturday. It was nice to feel that regional race vibe, and ride a course that didn't have to adhere to UCI guidelines. This means - Singletrack! Especially refreshing after the big wide dusty thing that was Providence.

It had rained all week pretty much but ended up being super nice for the weekend. Breezy and cool but sunny, with mud leftover from all the rain. Perfect 'cross, in my opinion. I got in a lap on the course and had a really good warmup. Now, as you know, I've really been focusing on having better starts to my races (I love starts!) so I was determined to get it right. Erm . . . didn't happen. I think I'm thrown off by how I've been starting in too hard a gear, so when I started in a gear I could really accelerate in (for me it was like a 36x19) my upper body was still ready to muscle a big gear, so on the whistle I immediately lifted my front wheel off the ground and almost hit the girl next to me. Crap! There goes the race! Then, I missed my pedal. Now, at UCI race, my day would be done. I mean, I might be able to pass a couple girls here and there, but I would never come close to a podium, or even a top 20. Fortunately this was a 1/2/3/4 race, and it started with a long paved section, followed by a 180 degree turn, more pavement, then some wide stuff before dropping onto singletrack. Big ring, accelerate, pass. I passed all but two girls in the first section of pavement, then one other before the singletrack. That left one girl ahead of me (little 15 year old Ellen Noble), and she was zippy and had a great start. Clawed my way up to her and decided to sit on her wheel a little bit, even though the pace felt a little easy to me (not super easy, it was just a bit of recovery).

Now, there was a big run up on this course. Not super steep, but long, and slippery after the rain. It was followed by some twisty turns, another off camber running section, a few more turns and a fun little singletrack section, then a shorter but equally slippery run up. Right after that you came into the barriers, which were in a super spongy grassy section and directly into a strong headwind. Slooooow. What I'm saying is that it would help to bring your running legs. It would seem that mine forgot to get packed, because even though I was riding strong I was struggling in the runs, and 1st place trotted away from me. I would close the gap down to about 5 seconds during the running-free portion of the course, but it would open back up on that big ol' run up. So I got 2nd.

The lesson is (other than "don't start like an idiot") to not sit in when the pace feels to easy. That's not to say if I'd made a move I would have been able to hold it to the finish, but it would be better than sitting around waiting for her to run away from me. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I drove down to York, ME after the race (after spending about 45 minutes wandering around the Portland Whole Foods with race-brain - not a good idea) whereI met up with Cody for a big camping cookout/potluck/party thing. There were probably 40 people and 20 dogs. Seriously - they all ran around the woods in this big, uncontrolled pack. I only made it until about 9 PM, but fun nonetheless. Then yesterday (sunday) we got out on mountain bikes and took advantage of the wind with a gorgeous sail under sunny skies. Lovely.

Well, duh.

I just had a revelation - how will I ever get good at CX race starts if I don't like them? Love the start. Love. The. Start. It begins today.

Seriously, I only ever started getting better in crits when I stopped saying, "yeah, I don't like crits." So yeah, I love CX starts. The chaos. The pain. Oh yeah.

And I found out on Sunday that I'm a lot faster off the blocks when I'm in a gear I can actually turn over. No more big ring. Why has it taken me 4 years of racing cross to figure that out? I think everyone just watched me muscling a big gear and chuckled to themselves, "haha, we're not going to tell her the secret of not starting in a huge gear." Thanks guys.

I LOVE STARTS!

Providence

I'm writing an immediate race report from the races in Providence this weekend so I can move on. Yeah, it was that bad.

Basically, I really, really sucked. I mean, a lot. Which was kind of disappointing after having such great races in Gloucester. I think that was the kicker - such good races the weekend before, and then to find myself off the back again. Blech. But, as my coach reminded me, it's coming at the end of a hard block of training and racing, and I got a bit of late start on my high intensity training for CX. So, I should be going pretty good by December! . . . Anyway, it was hot and dry and a very roadie friendly course. So while I'm glad I went, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was fun.

But, as whenever we have this lousy races, I've spent a good deal of time thinking about what I could have done different in the leadup to the race (I mean, going back a week or so, not 3 months), and while I think my prep was pretty good, it's easy to pick out things I can do to make it better. You know, rest, nutrition, just little ways to improve. And, while it's too early in the season to start saying "next season . . ." sometimes it's these lousy races that sharpen my determination in the long run. Must. Get. Redemption. Next year. Providence.

Anyway, Cody skipped about a thousand awesome things to come down to Providence with me and work the pits and put up with my whiny "why do I suck so much?" conversation on the way home. You know, the endless rehashing and justifying. Poor guy. So pretty much he's awesome, and I wish I could have had a decent race to justify it.

Okay, subject closed.

Gloucester - keepin' it classy.*

Nearly the first thing I did when we arrived in Gloucester last year was race the Gran Prix of Gloucester, and now we've come back to that point. Full circle, or something . . .

If I were to look exclusively at my placing - 35th and 33rd - I'd think that I was slower than last year. But when I look at the talent of the field I think I'm actually doing better. Certainly there are things that need improvement (like 20 more watts) but by and large I'd say I'm getting faster.

Day 1

I love my team. I've yet to belong to a team that I didn't love, and this group of ladies is no exception. While I was back in the field duking it out for 35th my teammate Andrea Smith was battling with Helen Wyman, the British national champ. That's pretty darn cool. But anyway.

I have this tendency to think I'm doing really well at the start only to find I'm in last place. Day 1 at Gloucester was one of these. Rats. Must. Improve. Starts. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the start is definitely my least favorite part. Not a sprinter. Intensely dislike the feeling of digging myself into such a deep, dark hole in the first 30 seconds of racing. But either I figure it out and get it done, or resign myself to never breaking the top 10. Starts. Will practice. Anyway, Saturday's course was FUN! They built this sweet flyover, and there was some weird sketchy mud leading into it, and those tight off camber turns they put in every year. It was a little hot, in my opinion, and I was pretty parched by the end. Anyway, the big news for my CX racing this year is that I'm totally killing the run ups! I know, right?!?! I've always kind of floundered during the running parts, but this weekend I was PASSING PEOPLE on the gnar Gloucester run up. On the last lap I passed Vicki Thomas, only to have her get back on her bike faster on top of the flyover (d'oh!) and beat me by 10 seconds or so. I ran more this year than I've ever run before. And I trained it, doing track workouts, and plyometrics. And it worked!!! In an effort to not let people think I'd gone over to the dark side and become a "runner" I kept saying that I was just training my run for CX, and as it turned out, I was! Okay, I'll shut up about it, but the truth is I'm really psyched.

Day 2

The course on Sunday was a little less technical, no flyover and it was dry, but super fun, lots of turns, and a beach run/ride that lead to a big ol' set of stairs. Now, I was kind of dreading the stairs, but since it turns out I'm like the Usain Bolt of cyclocross, it actually worked to my advantage.

Anyway, determined as I was to have a good start, I didn't. I lined up on Lyne Bessette's wheel - bad idea? I dunno, but right after the whistle the girl to my right promptly ran into me and then moved into my line. Bitch. But then I popped out of my pedal. Uh, yeah. I'd sprayed some lube on my cleats to keep them from mudding up and then I kept popping out of my pedals. And I think they still mudded up. I just. Can't. Win.

I passed a bunch of girls on the first lap, then gave up a couple places. My legs weren't as snappy as on Saturday (well, no duh), but I had a good race. I kept it together and stayed upright as people fell over all around me in the corners and the sand. One girl passed me at the beginning of the last lap, then fell over on the beach and I darted around her and totally dropped her going up the stairs. I know, I know, I'm awesome (kidding!). Of course then someone else passed me and out-cornered me to such a degree that she opened up 15 seconds in in the last half lap. So starts and cornering. Yes, I will work on these things.

Anyway, big big thanks to all the friends who came out to cheer and tell me I'm awesome! And to Cody for pitting for me and telling me to "go faster", "dig", and "get on that wheel" so many times that I wanted to throw my bike at him.

Oh, and if you missed it on facebook, I made Cyclingnews:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/nepcx-gran-prix-of-gloucester-2-2011/elite-women/photos/192802

Or at least, part of me did.

*Note on the title:

On day 2 the course had to be re-routed due to a backed up septic system and pools of veryverybad water on course. Then later I heard that some bikes were stolen out of the parking lot? And it just left me with the feeling that Gloucester is like Reno - everyone who visits it thinks that is kind of quaint, somewhat delinquent, a decent place to visit but why the hell would you want to live there anyway? It gave me that warm feeling that I felt towards Reno - that which you'd feel for your slightly unstable second-cousin with a police record on unemployment. Sure, you wouldn't want to lend them your car, or money, but they're family so, like, you've gotta love them a little bit, right?