2011 Season Wrap-Up

I don't know what's wrong with me in this picture. The photographer told us to look excited. I look like I'm dislocating my jaw to swallow a large rat whole. But I guess that's exciting.

I am again surprised at how quickly 'cross season has come and gone. I spend all year looking forward to it only to have it go so fast that it's hard to stop and really enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, it had a blast, but I wish I had a little more time with it. But that's what next year is for, right?

2011 Stats:

Races: 15

Podium finishes: 1

Last place finishes: 2

DNF's: 1

UCI points: 0

Ugh, that looks terrible when you write it out. It just goes to show that statistics can be misleading. Here's the good stuff:

1. Raced with a fantastic team.

2. Met a ton of great people.

3. Learned the ins and outs of New England cyclocross (some of them, anyway) and travelled a ton.

4. Spent all week every week being totally excited for the upcoming races.

5. Started my first race of the season at Quad Cross saying "jeez, I really need to learn to corner better." By the last race of the season I was dropping people in the corners.

6. Improved my starts (sorta).

7. Ended the season with two consecutive good race weekends!

8. Not remotely burned out, totally psyched on getting way faster for next year, and motivated enough to be excited to start training again January 1st.

So basically, a good season. I've got a couple weeks off the bike here and then I'm going to start training to do some road races this spring. Psyched to train. Psyched to race road. I'm already planning my 2012 'cross season, which is just crazy talk in December of 2011, but I'm an addict, it's hard to help.

Bell Lap

I have a new season goal - two consecutive positive race weekends. And I only have one chance left here to get it right.

I had a great time racing the second-to-last NEPCX race down in Warwick on Saturday. Not the best legs, but an overall decent race that I'm feeling good about. The last race of my season is this Saturday and I am absolutely determined to make it a good one and to finish my 2011 cross season off strong.

The course in Warwick was super fun. We were right down by the water (it was COLD by the water!) on Narragansett Bay, which you can kind of see in the picture up there. The course started with a paved climb, had a bunch of woodsy rooty fast stuff, some fun sandy corners, a nice flat set of barriers, a steep little kicker climb, and a sadistic beach run, not in that order. I had a super slow first lap and couldn't hang on with the group that included most of the people I'm usually racing against, but when we got into the rooty stuff and loose corners my bike handling and the fact that I wasn't following wheels and getting bogged down helped me catch the group as it started to fragment. I caught a number of people, and was right on one girl's wheel going by the pit when someone from the LadiesFirst camp suggested that I "pass that girl now!" me: "OK". I powered around her, but then took a stupid line into a tight turn and had to scrub a ton of speed and was super over-geared coming out of it and she passed me back. I was totally gassed and the next section was pavement into a headwind so really no good way to recover and I couldn't hold her wheel. I never caught back up but I was able to rally enough to not get caught by anyone else, so I didn't feel too bad about it. In retrospect I shouldn't have passed her right before a big headwind stretch, and instead waited for some technical section that I felt strong on. That's racing.

The super rad news of the weekend is that my uber-teammate Andrea Smith won both days. On Saturday it was a fantastic team effort (of which my only contribution was the post-race high five) that culminated in her outsprinting Laura Van Gilder - no small feat. And from what I've read of Sunday's race she just outrode everyone else, including LVG.

Anyway, the only part of me that is happy that my season is ending after this Saturday is the one that cares about paying bills in a timely fashion. Otherwise I'm super psyched on racing, and would be happy to keep going for a couple more months. I'm holding off on post-season analysis and next seasons plans until we're actually in the post-season. I'm actually really excited for some 5 hour rides in the cold this winter, which I find slightly disturbing. But more on that after next weekend!

Anyway, while I didn't race on Sunday I did have a fantastic day helping Cody take down a tree for some friends up in Maine, followed by a MTB ride on some trails I'd never ridden up in Exeter, NH. It's kind of funny, but out west you'd never wake up in one state, do some work in another, and finish your day with a bike ride in a third unless you owned your own plane. Oh New England, you amuse me.

But I have all this gluten free beer left!

I made it through my two weeks with no wheat or gluten. It wasn't so bad, but I didn't feel any better or worse or different than before. I feel compelled to add that I largely avoided grains during this time. I ate oatmeal almost every day, but cooked mostly with garbanzo bean flour and ate a lot of potatoes and yams. I think I ate brown rice one or two times. So last night I made lentil and seitan "meat" balls and spaghetti for dinner. Seriously gluten heavy meal. I figured that the real litmus test would be how I would feel after re-introducing wheat to my diet. And this morning I feel . . . the same. *

Conclusion?

The obvious:
Confirmation of my initial belief that when I eat crap I feel like crap, but when I eat good food I feel good. Weird. (okay, not really). Maybe (okay, definitely) I'm blessed with an incredibly hearty digestive system, but it doesn't seem to matter if I'm eating meat, soy, wheat, or dairy, as long as it's all in moderation and with proper macronutrient balance. I'll continue to enjoy wheat products in moderation, thank you very much. I'm especially excited to discover that I don't have to give up seitan to feel good. Of course I'm not saying that anyone who avoids gluten or grains is wrong, quite the opposite. If it works for you, rad. But what this experiment has taught me is that wheat is not something towards which I have a noticable sensitivity.

The good:
Every time I eliminate something from my diet, even experimentally, I learn something about my patterns and habits and my relationship with food. I know, that sounds totally stupid, but I spend a whole lot of time every day talking to people about their relationships with food and how to improve them. They come to me to lose weight, generally believing that introducing exercise will be the solution. While it's a fantastic start, everyone struggles with the truth that losing weight is 85% diet. In the same way I can't really tell someone to do more pushups unless I can do them myself, I can't expect to be effective in talking to people about their dietary patterns and habits without having a healthy grasp on my own.

The bad:
I still have 3 gluten free beers in my fridge. I don't know why I thought I'd drink a whole 6 pack in 2 weeks while deep in cyclocross season (or really at any point, if we're being honest here). It's not bad, but it's not nearly as good as the Alagash White Ale that I also have in there . . .

*UPDATE!
I fear I may have been premature in my conclusion! As the day progressed I started feeling all bloated and yucky. It wasn't seriously uncomfortable, but it was noticable. I didn't eat anything different than what I had been the last couple weeks, except the wheat.

Crap.

But I'm still going to drink normal beer.

Two to go . . .

Day 2.

One of the best parts of racing and riding bikes is getting to travel to places that you normally wouldn't. I feel like in the last three months I've seen more of Massachusetts than a lot of people I've met around here who have lived in Gloucester their whole lives (although Gloucester is known as being a bit of a black hole - some people never really get off the island). It was the same way when I lived in Reno and travelled all over California, Oregon, Nevada, and Utah. And it's not the same old touristy places most people go on vacation - you can't put on a bike race at Disneyland, and rarely do you get a downtown crit in a big city (although it happens - SF, Boston, etc).

The weekend after Thanksgiving I went to Sterling, MA for a couple 'cross races. My races weren't super great by virtually any measure, but it was neat to see the new roads and get familiar with a new area. It seems like there are a lot of races out around there, both road, CX and MTB, so it's good to be able to say, "oh, I know where that is, it's only an hour away" rather than having to consult a map every time I want to go to a race.

Anyway, the races. I don't want to get into course description but suffice to say that they were Tom Stevens designed courses and super fun. On Saturday I got a second row call up which I utterly squandered by missing my pedal and generally sucking. Second row!!! I'd like to trade that second row call up for a race that I have great legs for, OK? Can I do that? Anyway. Like I said, kind of crappy start, kind of mediocre legs. And then I flatted. It was really, really stupid. I pinched it on something, and I thought I felt my tire going flat. There was a little set of stairs right before the pit, so at the top I stopped to feel my rear tire, which felt firm to me. So I hopped back on and just on the other side of the pit I realized that I most definitely had a flat tire. So I had to run half a lap. Half a lap is probably just over a mile. Not far by running terms, but pretty damn far when you're carrying a bike and in the middle of a race. Anyway, by the time I got straightened out I was about to be lapped, so I just rode pretty easy for the rest of the race hoping I'd have something left in the tank for Sunday.

On Saturday night I stayed with the lovely family who owns Milton CAT - our biggest sponsor. It was fantastic to stay with my teammates and get to just relax after the race, rather than driving home or staying in a hotel.

I woke up on Sunday feeling kind of crappy. Mostly just tired, I think, as I didn't sleep too well on Saturday night. The house was comfortable and great, I was just awake. Sometimes it happens, you know? Anyway, the course on Sunday was a little more technical, and super fun. I felt lousy until I really started warming up on my trainer, and then started feeling a little more lively. I had ANOTHER second row start! What the hell? I guess it was a small field and I pulled a low number in the call-up lottery for those of us who don't hold UCI points. But still! I started right next to Rebecca Wellons. That's so cool! Anyway, I didn't have great legs and made some kind of critical technical errors in the first lap, so I didn't have a particularly spectacular race. But I managed to have fun anyway, which, when it comes down to it, is the most important part.

Anyway, my does-not-meet-expectations result for the weekend was fully in keeping with my rather unfortunate patter of good weekend/bad weekend/good weekend/bad weekend. Which means! That I should have a good race this Saturday in Warwick. Right? Right?! I sure hope so. I was really hoping to have two consecutive good weekends this year, and I'll have a chance when racing my last race of the season in two weeks, Ice Weasels.

I'll be sad to have the season end - cross season feels so short when you're not carrying it into January! But I decided that since I didn't manage a UCI point this year, and I'd undoubtedly be starting near the back at nationals, to just skip it this time around. I'm heading out west in two weeks to visit family and I doubt the prospect of coming in "top 70!" at nationals is enough to keep me motivated to train through travels and the holidays.

I did have a good talk with my coach/team director about road season and the lead up to NEXT cross season, though, and I'm excited to start the 2012 planning! I've learned so much in the last couple months, and I can't wait to combine it with a whole year of good preparation.

Oh yes, and I guess I should say something about Thanksgiving. It was nice. Is that enough? No? Okay, I made two vegan gluten free pies. One was a traditional pumpkin, the other was a pumpkin cheesecake (didn't have any cream cheese, of course) with a homemade, GF graham cracker crust. I made my own gluten free graham crackers. They were amazing. Anyway, both pies were fantastic and well received by even the staunchest meat eaters in attendance. Yay!

Sh(r)edd Park

Climbing. Maybe I should try breathing while racing. The oxygen might help my judgement.

Yesterday I went to a race the Boston Road Club Cyclocross @ Shedd Park, in Lowell. It was rad. Well, mostly.

The course was pretty fun. I like courses where we can get the climbing out of the way fast. Whether it's a run up or a steep little kicker, I like getting the climb over and done with and then having a lot of twisty descending stuff. Or at least, that's how I feel this week. Ask me about it next Monday and I may have a different outlook.

Anyway, the course in Lowell started with a big parade lap around a field, then went into this little up-and-down u-turn around a tree, followed by some muddy-ish rough stuff. Then you had a fast descent into the barriers, another turn, and a super steep little climb. Twisty kind of loose stuff, then a cool series of switchbacks to get down the hill. Then you went back up it. The second climb was a little looser (originally I wrote "loser", which is funny) but it got a little less steep halfway through so you could really power up the last part, unlike the first climb that wasn't as loose but stayed steep the whole way up. Anyway, then you had another fast descent, followed by a little berm that you could kind of air-out if you caught it just right, before entering the woodsy section, then a little pavement, then more woods, finally onto the finishing stretch that was long and windy. As for the climbs, I rode them both in my pre-ride, but some people were running them and I was a little worried that when I got tired I was going to have to run.

I was feeling kind of yucky and super unmotivated as I got ready and "warmed up". Mostly I just rode the trainer for a few minutes, did some dynamic stretching, then decided riding the trainer sucks and went out and did some super half-assed openers on the road. I had a third row start, which isn't really that bad, but the start was super fast and I got sketched out by all the sketchy people. Or maybe it was just me. So I wasn't super aggressive. The result being that when we hit the u-turn around the tree I was pretty far back. I had this really bright idea that if I stayed on my bike a little longer and took the inside line that I could get around people. Um, that was kind of dumb. I ended up getting knocked over and trampled as I was getting off my bike. Seriously, I have a MTB shoe-shaped bruise on the inside of my elbow where I got stepped on. (AND I ripped my nice Fox gloves - but I'd almost not worn any gloves so in retrospect I'll take the ripped gloves over the missing pinky finger.) Anyway, I was Dead. Last. By a long shot. And my chain was off. Again. I was still feeling yucky and crashing and hurting my elbow and my pinky were a really good excuse to quit, right? Even after I got rolling again and passing people I was thinking that I had a good reason to quit, and I should probably just call it a day. But I didn't!

So I guess it can only get better from there, right? It was a 1/2/3 field, and there were 37 of us. So after my mishap I was in 37th. In the end I passed enough girls to end up 14th. That's pretty cool, right? I rode both of those steep climbs every time, except on the last lap when a lapped rider got off right in front of me. It's cool, it happens. Anyway, I was actually riding pretty strong, catching group after group, and feeling like when I went around people I had really good power and could distance myself from them pretty easily.

My coach/team director was standing around the start/finish area yelling at me, which actually was really helpful. It was windy through there and a couple of times when I was a few seconds back from a group or a rider, feeling ouchy and unwilling to dig too deep lest I not be able to claw my way out of the dark pit of pain, he yelled at me "GET UP THERE, NOW! GO NOW!" And I did and it worked out for me every time. Which just goes to show you that our biggest limitations are our heads, not our legs. I really would appreciate it if someone wants to just follow me around at races and tell me to go harder and quit whining. Although, Cody's tried this to no effect in the past, so maybe the difference is I had the fitness to back it up yesterday, for what really felt like the first time this season. Why? Beats the hell out of me.

Anyway, Lowell, Shedd Park, and BRC - kudos, rad race.

1 Week GF

Today will make it 1 week wheat and gluten free. It's not an experiment I entered into to treat any particular complaint, just to satisfy my curiosity, so I don't really have anything too specific to comment on.

Some observations from the week:

Going gluten free is pretty easy. I mean, the wide variety of GF products out there these days makes it pretty simple. I picked up some Bob's Red Mill GF AP flour (which for the uninitiated is a mix of garbanzo bean flour, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, fava bean flour, and, uh, I think that's it) and have been pretty happy with it. I've made pancakes with it yesterday and fed them to Cody with no complaints, which is a pretty good measure. I also picked up some GF beer - Bard's, made with sorghum and hops - which was pretty decent. Not a porter or a strong ale, but not Budweiser either. Basically, I don't feel like I'm really giving anything up. And I'm used to reading labels all the time as it is, so checking for one more ingredient isn't a problem.

I had a good race yesterday. It could be unrelated, or be a combination of factors, but it's worth bearing in mind. I felt like my power was better than it's been all season.

I didn't challenge myself to do this with any hope or expectation of weight loss, and my body composition has remained consistent. Non-expectation met.

For Thanksgiving I'm in charge of Pumpkin Pie. I'm going to make two - a standard pie and this: http://www.theppk.com/2011/11/pumpkin-cheesecake-with-pecan-crunch-topping/. I'm going to make my own GF graham crackers for the crust. Both pies will be vegan and GF. And awesome. We'll be dining with some of Cody's somewhat . . . conservative . . . relatives from New Hampshire (please read the heavy sarcasm in my tone when I say, "and I'm really excited about it" - fortunately, there will be alcohol, and I plan on spending the majority of the day on my bike), and I have no plans of telling them that it's vegan and GF, so I'm excited about feeding them something that they would probably sneer at.

And I guess that's it. The experiment wouldn't be complete if I didn't reintroduce gluten to my diet after the two weeks are up and make observations as to its effects.

Wheat

Yesterday I decided to challenge myself to go 2 weeks wheat-free. I am most definitely not the kind of person who jumps on the bandwagon of nutrition fads, and I've spent the last several years listening to the gluten-free crowd extol the virtues of their dietary choices. Then there's the Paleo diet, which is no grain/lots of meat. I have a lot of thoughts on that, but as someone trying to avoid meat as much as possible that's simply not a practical choice. My complete protein is largely made up of legumes and grains, so eliminating all grains is out of the question.

I read this the other day:

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Doctor+advice+wheat+products/5704519/story.html

And I thought, well, maybe I'll try cutting out wheat for a couple weeks, just to see what happens. Understand that I noticed no difference in how I felt eating meat vs. not eating meat, so I don't think I'm particularly sensitive to dietary shifts, as long as I'm getting adequate nutrition and calories. So I'm curious to see what happens. I don't really foresee avoiding wheat as a huge issue in my diet, there's lots of food out there, and I'm used to reading ingredient labels in depth.

On my ride today I brought a Kashi protein bar, then realized it had wheat in it and I was going to feel like a loser falling off the wagon on day 1 of my challenge, so rode for 2.5 hours with no food at all, and then stopped at a grocery store and ate some Sweedish fish and an Odwalla juice thing. Not too sure that it was the best thing to reach for, but I was hungry and still had some riding to do.

Anyway, I'm not doing it to go "low carb" or anything (carbohydrates make up a consistent 60-65% of my daily caloric intake, right now I'm eating a big bowl of oatmeal. And no, it's not certified GF. Chill) and I'm not doing it to lose weight or anything like that. I think experimenting with my diet in a healthy way is a great way to learn stuff about myself and my dietary habits. Just like experimenting with my training by spending more time at the gym or running.

At any rate, I'll let you know how it goes.