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?

Nor'easter - from High to Low

I showed Cody this picture and all he could do was make fun of my Alfalfa hair . . .

Ahhh, Nor'easter Cross. What can I possibly have to say about my first DFL at a UCI race? I know, I'm as surprised as the next person to realize that I've never come in last at a UCI race before! But that streak is, alas, over.

I think the cosmos were trying to warn me not to go - I'd felt wiped out the whole week, not really training at all, then, at 10 the night before the girl I was going to carpool with texted me that she was bailing. Not to be deterred, I got up nice and early on race day (did I mention it's a 4 hour drive to Burlington, VT?) to take a shower, and when I was toweling off my hair I heard a crunch and my neck got all out of whack. Again, I persevered, loading up the car, eating breakfast, etc. The drive up wasn't too bad, all in all. Got out for a couple laps on course and, erm, it was really muddy. I mean, look at the pictures on Cyclingnews or wherever, it was muddy. And it was the kind of mud that is really, really hard to ride through. You keep turning the pedals but you're pretty much not moving. And there were two long sandpits. Of the running variety. I mean, it was a fun course and all, but at this point my perspective has been distorted by what a dreadful race I had. Anyway, got on my trainer for a little warm up, and when I climbed down to get ready to race my head started throbbing. Like, instant onset headache. At this point I'm thinking, "God damnit, I drove 4 hours to get up here and I'm going to race and finish in the money!" Which, props to Adam Myerson, the Verge series, and the race promotor, was equal for the men and women for the 15 places it ran in the women's race.

Last row call up, of course. Did I mention that Helen Wyman was there? Yeah, the British national champion. Yeah. She won. But I digress. The whistle blows and I'm not in a big enough gear but I figured it was going to all bog down in the first turn so I didn't need to panic. Then I find myself in last place going into the first turn. OK, I can move up, look at all those people right there? I passed one girl, got on my teammate's wheel, and hoped for opportunities to move up. Then . . . it just kind of fell apart. I was going as hard as I could but it just wasn't happening. My head felt like it was going to explode, my stomach was exceedingly unhappy with me, and I just wasn't having much fun. With one lap to go the sole person I'd passed at the beginning passed me back, and that was that. During that last lap my train of thinking was along the lines of, "I should really just downgrade, I'd have more fun racing with the amateurs, I suck at this." I know, bad thoughts, but the mental game can be the hardest part when you're rolling in DFL. I suppose the good news is that I actually finished, and didn't get lapped by Helen. In retrospect, perhaps it would have been better if I'd pulled out on lap one, given the 4 hours of misery that were to follow.

I felt like I was about to pass out after I finished, so I immediately rode over to the bike wash to get cleaned up and GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE. I didn't cool down (I told myself that my entire last lap had been a cool down. ha. haha. yeah.), but I hung out with my teammates for a few minutes while they did. I had some recovery drink. Then I hit the road. I talked to my dad on the phone whilst meandering my way through Burlington and probably running over someone's cat/child/foot in my somewhat distracted and unhappy state. Once rolling I started feeling really, really lousy. Head throbbing, stomach seriously unhappy with the state of affairs. And I had 4. Hours. To. Go. I'm not really sure how I made it home. It involved occasional stops for light napping and puking out the car door. It involved a whole lot of silence because every little sound hurt oh, so much. Somehow I made it home by 10, crawled into bed, covered in mud, and failure, and probably vomit. But oh! The joy of stillness and quiet.

Anyway, needless to say I should have listened to the signs and stayed home, and most of my Sunday and Monday involved continued recovery from whatever it is I did to myself on Saturday. I even called in sick yesterday, the first time I've done that since I started my job in January. I'll get out on my bike today and hopefully be able to salvage a little something for the Grand Prix of Gloucester this weekend. I love this race, let's hope it loves me back more than the Nor'easter did.

Northern Kingdom

I wanna go back!!!

One week ago today I was camping outside of East Burke, VT. I'd wake up that day, drink good coffee and eat oatmeal, and go ride brand new (to me) singletrack for 3 hours with Cody and Riley. We'd get back to camp and eat whole wheat pasta with our homemade pesto, about a pound of bacon, and good romano cheese. And drink beer.

(Today I woke up at 4, came to work, and am currently drinking bad coffee - there's something about the Turbo Shots that Dunkin' Donuts put in their coffee that make me feel all hella cracked out. I mean, more than normal espresso. 'S weird. I currently find myself grooving to a La Bouche song at 5:30 AM, inspite of my better judgement.)

Anyway, needless to say it was a totally fantastic vacation - complete with sitting around a fire drinking beer and making s'mores. I think we spent about 12 hours riding ripping trails while we were there. My legs still hurt. A couple friends from Gloucester came up to camp and ride with us. One of them compiled some pretty fun videos from her helmet cam. Mostly there's just some shots of my butt, but you can see Cody getting rad over a couple jumps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuFW3AFk8-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6E0MkmkH4U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlIhj2ulyjE

On Thursday me and Cody spent almost 4 hours riding in a downpour. It actually was one of the funnest days, trail-wise. It was slippery with all the wet roots, but god those trails are fun.

New Christmas card photo???

After that picture was taken we went out and split a medium pepperoni pizza, an order of mozzerella sticks, and an order of french fries. Yeah. It was a lot of cheese. But it takes a lot of cheese to stay warm whilst camping in Northern Vermont in September. And with 3+ hours of hard riding each day I think Iate like, 10K calories a day and came back a pound or two down from when we'd left. Hey, it's race season, I gotta keep tabs on these things.

Anyway, the downside of taking a few days off work to go play is that I'm super busy and utterly vacation-hungover this week. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to heading BACK up to Burlington, VT this weekend for the Nor'Easter UCI cyclocross race. Two words for you: Euro Pros. Yeah, Crossresults has my ranked LAST on race predictor. Sad face. But I guess I can only do bettter than that, right???

Dude, Reno, what the hell? Why can't you get in the news for something not terrible? Seriously, the economy? Suicide rates? Mass involuntary aeronautical vehicular manslaughter? (Not that Gloucester is much better.) I tell this story a lot, but back in 2002 a dude crashed his plane out at the Air Races, and, well, died. I saw his picture in the paper and he was this guy who I'd waited on at The Diner out in Golden Valley (that's in Reno, for you non-Reno-ites). Anyway, he had been a jerk and had tipped me like, 51 cents, so I remembered his face. Then, well, you know the story. Life's weird, huh?

On a lighter note - did anyone watch the Pats game on Sunday? Did you see Wilfork's interception? Look it up on Youtube. It's priceless.

This digression brought to you by Dunkin' Donuts Turbo Shots.