Wednesday, September 29, 2010

USGP

Last weekend rocked. We left on Friday at about 11:30 a.m. which let us get to Sun Prairie in time for me to preride the course. It was quite similar to last year -- lots of turns, off cambr stuff, but also a hellacious run up. I tried to find good lines, practiced turns, etc. and was psyched to race. Christopher got to play at their awesome park so he was excited as well.

When we got to the number pick up, Christopher wanted to stay in the RV so I just grabbed my number and we left being able to camp at the race site, which rocked. I got up early and rode the course before the men's 4 race started around 8:20 a.m. or so, warmed up and that stood around waiting for the race to start. I had a good start but my legs felt like lead from waiting around for the start. I'm passing girls, feeling good, I'm hopping back on my bike after the run-up and get bumped. Ugh. My pedal gets stuck on a post, I finally get it off and I get run into from behind. Crap. Get my pedal unstuck again and then play catch up the rest of the race, going back and forth with Courtney from xXx and one or two others. I ended up 12th out of 43 finishers. I was pretty excited once I saw results because I seriously had no idea where I was. Unfortunately, Sue crashed on the first lap and broke her arm. When I passed her, I figured her wheel slid out in the turn and she would soon be behind me. Looks like her CX season is done but she'll be spending lots of time on the trainer and kicking butt next year.

We watched the fast women and men race which was a load of fun and got to socialize which is always fun. Watching Jeremy Powers ride up the run up was awesome. Since we were camped in the parking lot, I was able to do a few laps of Sunday's course on Saturday evening. I was bummed that we would still be doing the run up as last year we rode up the hill twice and I would much rather ride up it once then run up it.

Sunday morning, I was out on the course again. They tamed down the course a little in spots which was disappointing since technical stuff is always good for me. Warmed up, kept bouncing around before the start. My legs felt better but my start totally sucked. I was in the third row (one row of 1/2/3 and the second row of the 3/4). I had waited to register 'til Tom got paid and, unfortunately, got stuck behind some slow starters on Sunday. So, similar to Saturday, I was picking them off the whole time, going back and forth with some. I felt good on the bike mostly; although, I kept getting passed on the run up and could use a little more practice on my dismounts and mounts. I ended up 11th out of 35 finishers. I cheered on the 50+ and juniors and then we headed back home.

This weekend, I'll be doing the My Wife Inc. Cross the Domes race on Saturday. Tom and Christopher will be coming with so we can visit some friends in New Berlin, WI afterwards. Sunday is DeKalb, which I am totally psyched about -- especially the stairs/ramp thing -- except for having to be there by 7:30 a.m. in the morning to do registration. I am going to have to leave at an ungodly hour.

Yesterday was more hill sprints. Not exactly the most fun way to spend my time at Bullfrog Lake but they definitely seem to be helping for CX. = )

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

3rd, 5th & 49th

This past weekend marked the start of the cross season. Yippee! I went up and did the No Good Double CX race in Eagle, WI on Saturday. As I pulled into the parking lot, there was a downpour. I put on rain gear but, by the time I registered, the rain had stop. It was a great course; although, there was a lot of horse crap. I had a bad start but was mostly feeling good. I passed two girls the last lap. I thought one of them I might have been lapping and the other one I wasn't sure about. I ended up moving myself up from 4th out of 7 to 3rd in that last lap. Woo hoo! I won an awesome set of long-fingered gloves that actually fit and grabbed a bunch of the free gels.

Sunday was Jackson Park. I had to be there at 7:30 to help out with registration. That sucked but it will save me a lot of coin by the end of the season. I did pretty good. I went back and forth with Courtney from XXX but couldn't keep up her pace. I was stoked to take 5th on a fast course -- not one of my strong points. Woo hoo!

More volunteering and then I lined up for the Men's 4A. I needed more caffeine, more drink and more food by that time. It was also blatantly obvious that I had not raced with the boys in nine months. 49 out of 75 starters. Not great but it's early in the season.

I need to work on making my mounts better. I keep fumbling with the pedals. When I was riding the course beforehand though, my mounts were great. So, I know what I need to work on -- getting back on the bike and pedaling quicker and getting more aggressive. The season is definitely starting off well. It will be great if I can keep up the good results but there were quite a few of the regular girls missing from the Saturday WI race as well as Holly missing from Jackson Park and Leah still getting back in form after having to spend some time off the bike.

This weekend will be USGP and should be awesome. I love CX. = )

Monday, September 13, 2010

Last mountainbike race of the year


This weekend was hectic and involved both cross as well as my last mountainbike race of the year.

On Saturday I went to the Half Acre Women's CX Clinic. It was geared more towards beginners but was lead by Kristin Wentworth and was only $15. It was fun, cool to hang out with everyone, good to get in some CX practice and I did learn some things. I realized I wasn't grabbing my top tube during the dismounts and they pointed out another technique mistake. It is really hard to concentrate on two different things so I may have to focus on the hand on the top tube first for awhile unless I want some magnificent crashes attempting to go over barriers in my near future. = )

Pretty much as soon as I got back, we headed down to Hudson so I could preride the course. Fun course with some bridges, log piles, etc. I rode some things Saturday night knowing I wouldn't ride them during the race as the other line was faster. We were able to camp nearby which was nice. Race morning, I did another lap as it is a short course at less than five miles. My legs were tired from all the CX mounts & dismounts the day before. Oh well. I warmed up and then it was time for the kids' race. The photo above is Christopher doing the kids race at Comlara Park. He had fun. We still can't get him interested in riding bikes that actually have pedals -- unless it is hooked up to my bike. He got a small box of sidewalk chalk, a sticker and a t-shirt. Pretty cool.

I lined up with only two other girls. Betsy who is a wickedly good and fast mountainbiker and a girl named Rachel, who I was told was a fast roadie that does adventure races. The guy in charge told Betsy we'd start two minutes after the guys. He tells the sport guys to go and then yells that we should be going with them. I took advantage of the slight confusion and got in front. We soon were on the sport men and started slowly passing them. I was actually able to keep the lead for half a lap. Yea me! Betsy passed me and I thanked her for letting me be 1st briefly. = ) Rachel had passed us at one point earlier and then crashed. She later passed me and got a little gap and I saw her crash at least 3 more times. The last section of singletrack had a lot of logs and long bridges and I was right on her tail -- then we came to a long fast section before the start/finish and I never saw her again. It was fun pretending to be one of the fast girls but I definitely went way too hard the first lap and could have felt better the last three laps. I took 3rd, which got me the most points for the season but I was DFL. Granted, I was beat by two really quick chicks but being DFL still is not a big ego boost. We were each in different age categories so they gave me a gold medal for being first in 30-39. Later, I looked more closely at the medal and realized it said "Novice Women," which seemed typical of how they have been treating the Women's Open category. I did also get a $10 gift card for a bike shop near there.

Tom did two laps of the course afterwards while Christopher & I chilled in the RV. We stopped at a park before the drive back. He got to play with two little kids and had fun. We thought he'd pass out on the way home but he was really hyper most of the way and finally passed out once we were off the highway.

Now, it will be all cross, cross, cross baby! First CX race of the year will be in Wisconsin on Saturday followed by Jackson Park on Sunday. I'm sure I'll be excited later in the week. Today, I'm exhausted and sore.