Wednesday, August 27, 2008

belated race report

(Image courtesy of mountaingoat)

Tom & I decided to trek up to the Border Battle this weekend. I was concerned with how Christopher would handle that long in the RV but it didn't go as bad as I thought it might. I had stocked up on books, DVD's and a puzzle at the library and brought a bunch of toys and other puzzles.
The course was awesome. Logs, bridges -- I was really glad to ride it but was not so sure how it would be racing with comp guys behind me. As it turned out, the WORS guys were fine for the most part. It was the Minn. guys who were a pain in the butt -- passing without letting me know, bumping me, etc. as they passed and actually wanting me to come to a stop so they could get around me. What ticks me off even more is I had told this group that one could pass me now and I'd find a spot quickly for the rest to pass. No one passed me and then they tell me to stop. I got over as far as I could to the left (so as not to fall off the trail to the right) and was annoyed I ended up having to put a foot down as they went by.
My start blew and I couldn't make up for it. I was able to line up in the front, even without a call up. But, by the top of the hill there was a gap between me and the girl ahead of me. Normally, my heart rate shoots up for the start but I couldn't get it up high and didn't feel like I was going as hard as I should be able to. Weird. I'm guessing it's because I got less than a half-hour warm up but am not sure. I will be so happy for cross season when I race first and will actually get to warm up.
What sucked even more than my start was that I guess there was some type of wind burst right after the start of the race that ripped our awning off the RV and destroyed our EZ up. We had put up the EZ up with the screen so I could warm up on the trainer and try to keep Christopher contained but it turned out that Tom hadn't brought the trainer. So, it sucked even more since I'd still have the EZ up if it just hadn't been put up in the first place.
For Tom it was even worse since he had crashed good enough during his race that he actually cracked his helmet. His shoulder is still a little sore today.

My last lap of the race ended up being my fastest lap. I may have to try some more endurance races but I'm probably not heading up to Green Bay this weekend. I've had a cold most of the week and will finally be getting back on my bike this evening to ride to a school board meeting. I'm probably going to stay home and ride the Palos trails. We'll see.

On the job front, I had interviewed with a bike group last week for a position where I would actually help people commute by bike and walk. A job that I would seem to be made for since I get so excited planning my bike commutes. I actually thought the interview didn't go that well and that they seemed to think I actually biked too much. But, they contacted me for professional references and I know they've called at least one of them so hope, hope. It would be a part-time position that I could do from home but would only last probably until July.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Exhausting weekend

I had a great weekend but am exhausted and feel like I need a few days to recover. On Friday afternoon, I was lucky to tag along when my mother took my nephew to see the new Batman movie for his birthday. The movie was awesome, she bought me popcorn and she bought me Jimmy John's afterward. Yea! And, I got to ride my bike to drop off Christopher with a relative beforehand and to meet up with my mom and nephew at the theater. Riding is always good. = )

Saturday, I did the Women's 3/4 criterium race at Downers Grove. I was kind of nervous about it as I would be a Cat. 4 competing against Cat. 3's in addition to the fact that I have extremely little road experience doing very few races and even fewer group rides. So, my goal was to not be last. Being promoted as the national criterium championships, I wasn't sure if that was possible but I figured it was, at the worst, only 20 minutes of humiliation. Well, I was 19th out of 23! Yea for me! I had been riding a good portion of the race with a group of four and two of them came past me before the last turn and I couldn't keep up. It didn't help I sprinted with one to go, thinking the race might be over. Whoops. Afterwards a girl told me I was in front too long. But, it was only 20 minutes and the girls I was with did not seem to be able to take the turns at all. They'd brake way more than they needed to which made me brake more than I needed to and then have to sprint to catch up to their sprinting. It was easier to just ride past them and stay in front for awhile. And, again, it was only 20 minutes and was just a learning experience for me anyway.

We didn't get to hang around too long as I got to cover a Bike and Dine for the local paper. It was kind of fun but I got so hungry! It didn't help that I didn't have a chance to really eat after the race. I was offered food -- but, being vegan, there wasn't really anything I could eat anyway. I stuck around for about an hour and a half and then rode home. It was a total of about 22 miles -- which was in addition to the race and in addition to nearly 98 miles of commuting various places during the week. So, my legs were tired and I was tired.

Sunday morning, Tom and I got up early and dropped off Christopher at Tom's aunts to go on our first group ride together since before Christopher was born. We went to Palos with Rachel, John, Bubba, Coop, Anne, Rick, a Skinny's guy that I can't remember his name (Dan, maybe) and a couple of Hayes guys that I should know their names -- another Dan I think. We had a couple of other guys for the first part of the ride that I think Bubba knew. Tom and I ducked out a little earlier than everyone else to go get Christopher. I had 19.1 miles and more than 2 hours of actual riding time -- not including some of the longer breaks to talk and regroup. Even though these trails are within riding distance from our house, it was an hour into riding before we were on trails I was familiar with (although, a couple I had been on once or twice). There are just a lot of trails out there and when I go by myself I stick to trails I know so I won't get lost. It was a lot of fun but I thought I was going to die. Rachel, our tour guide for the day, is so frigging fast. We'd stop to regroup and my HR would be 190, 188, 191. I'm sure all my bike time this week and race yesterday didn't help. Afterwards, we all went to Portillo's. It was great to ride with everyone and great to get on a bunch of trails I don't normally ride.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Tom proved me wrong

I keep joking we will be in the emergency room any day with Christopher. We were in the immediate care center last night but it was actually because of Tom. As he was riding his bike home from the train station last night, a bug flew in his mouth. Normally, not a big deal although a little gross. Well, soon after he spit the bug out, his tongue started to swell. By the time he got home, his tongue was huge. We should have took a photo but didn't think of it. He took a Claritin but the swelling increased more so, after a search to find Christopher's Elmo doll, we were off. We were there about an hour and a half. The Claritin had started to kick in by then so Tom got a prescription for some steroids but only needs to take them if it gets worse.

Christopher thought the whole thing was great fun. There was another 2-year-old there briefly, he got to run around, he played with a pay phone, figured out how to make water come out of the water fountain AND an ambulance and fire truck came to take some poor woman to the nearby hospital. The firemen waved to Christopher and said hi to him both as they were coming in as well as when they were leaving. So, for Tom, the evening sucked. For Christopher, it probably ranks up there with his birthday. I just kept thinking I was hungry and felt like I needed a nap after chasing Christopher around.

I signed up for the criterium in Downers Grove on Saturday. It's a 3/4 race so I am so totally going to get my butt kicked. Not only am I slow as hell but, with Christopher and my insane schedule, I have not done any group rides in more than a year and have only done a few criteriums. It's only 20 minutes so the humilation will be short. = )

Then, afterward, I get to cover a "Bike and Dine" event in Homewood, IL for the local paper. The race is at 2 p.m. and the event starts at 4 p.m. so Tom will drop me off but I should be able to ride home. I'm very excited. It's almost like getting paid to ride. = )

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Kewaskum

I made the mistake of driving up Saturday to preride the course. Ick. Barely any single track and lots of high grass and weeds that I appear to be allergic to. I hadn't been there since 2005 and I swear there is even less single track since then. Tom didn't want to race so I decided to drive up by myself -- (relatively) close race, series points and, perhaps most importantly, I could actually warm up! Normally, I'm watching Christopher while Tom races.

I did well for me. My times were pretty consistent with my last lap time actually being a smidge faster than the other laps. Fastest speed was during the first, slightly longer, lap. I was farther behind April than I normally am but this is about the worst type of course for me there could be: no singletrack and lots of climbing. It was obviously a good workout as my butt muscles were sore for the ride home. I'm not sure if there's any way I convince myself to ever race there again though.

Photos of Christopher from the wedding

Christopher with my nieces and nephews after the ceremony. Two of my nephews are modeling the lovely tuxes they had to wear as groomsmen.
Christopher holding my fake flowers after the ceremony. You can see part of my dress, as he is standing next to me.
The best parts were hearing my little guy babbling happily during the ceremony and watching him dance around during the reception. Other than that, it sucked.
(Photos courtesy of my sister.)


Friday, August 8, 2008

First failed commute

Monday was the first commute I had to bail on. I rode to a village board meeting that was about 12 miles away. I was kind of excited because I had changed my route slightly from the last time I went and it went much smoother -- less traffic, smoother roads. Then, they cut the meeting short because there is a tornado warning. The forecast had said there was a chance of rain but it seemed like it would be later in the night and there had been no mention of tornadoes. It's not raining yet but I have to ask the mayor a few questions before I go. The mayor then decides I'm not allowed to leave; I have to call to have someone pick me up. Ick. So, I call Tom back and tell him to drive out to Evergreen Park. The mayor then decides I need to leave the building and that a squad will take me somewhere to meet up with Tom. It ends up that the police chief drove me and my bike to my parents where Tom was waiting in the driveway. The village officials said I could leave my bike there. Yeah right. I was trying to get in a low-intensity wattage workout and had actually brought my road bike. There was no way I was leaving it.

The rest of my week has been even more insanely hectic, stressful and busy than usual as I was doing part-time stuff for the local paper, attended two local meetings for them with a total of four articles, did some part-time stuff for a bike group and churned out 10 articles for the commercial real estate publication. Whew. Tonight I have to stand up in a wedding. I'd rather ride my bike home with the tornado warning.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Bleah

24/9 blew. The bike worked beautifully. It truly seems to make me a better rider. Whether it is the geometry, slightly more suspension or just because I'm riding a cool teal bike, I'm not sure and it doesn't matter.

Although the bike worked great, my body did not. To not make this a long and boring post -- let's just suffice it to say that I did basically everything wrong you could possibly do from lack of training and lack of sleep to an incredibly stupid decision of finding out my camelback bladder of Heed and Endurolytes had more than half leaked out into the cooler and just adding more water before my race. It kind of just spiraled down after that.

The first two laps did go good and I had a lot of fun riding, passing people in the single track (and then, of course, getting passed in the open and hilly sections), talking briefly to people I knew on the trail and even getting some compliments on my handling skills. Oh well. I did ride 70 miles -- about the only good thing about it. I think all endurance races will probably be out until Christopher is like 10. At this rate, I'll be stuck to cross and road racing -- since there's local races. And, I do love cross but really consider road as the last resort when considering biking options.