Here's how Sunday's race went down:
1. Not prepared as I was in Boise for half the week.
2. Riding on a new set of wheels with a lot less stopping power (although very light!)
3. Heard through the grapevine that it was going to be a non-technical roadie course. Sucky for me.
I started in the 2nd row and quickly moved my way up to 2nd place. Once we hit the big climb the leader stood up and I knew she would totally blow up (I only stand as a last resort since it fries your quads). Sure enough she did and I led for a lap or two, then traded 1st-3rd place with a couple girls. They both killed me on the last climb and I rolled across the line in 3rd out of 21. I'm pretty happy with 3rd since this was definitely not my kind of course!
11.01.2010
Season's Eatings!
It's that time of year again- Season's Eatings, which extends from Halloween to New Year's Day. Time to fill up on candy and fattening foods!
10.25.2010
MFG #4
Well, the weathermen were right (for once)!Rain and heavy winds. I overheated during my warmup and decided to skip the long-sleeved skinsuit...bad move. Right before our 11:20 start the temperature dropped, downpour began and the winds kicked up. All of us girls were huddled under a canopy and didn't leave until the absolute last minute. As soon as the race started I didn't even think about the temperature! The course was great- didn't require too much power and had just enough technical elements to keep it fun. I led the entire race with a decent gap but had to work at the end to keep one of the HB girls behind me. I will moving up to the 1-2 group for the next race- should be interesting!
10.12.2010
MFG #3 Federal Way
This course was not at all what I thought it would be. All roadie and not much technical stuff for us mountain bikers. I got the hole shot and led the entire race- 2nd place came in 41 seconds behind me! I think I'm 1st in the series now. Here are a couple pictures- click to see a larger version:
Charleston Photos...
Can be found here!
We had a great time at David and Courtney's wedding and can't wait to go back to Charleston.
We had a great time at David and Courtney's wedding and can't wait to go back to Charleston.
6.03.2010
6.01.2010
Spokane v.2.0
Time for my one MTB race of the year- 24 Hours Round the Clock in Spokane!
I actually trained for this race. Right after CX season & holidays I hopped back on the trainer and just started logging miles. I also spent a lot of time cross training- hiking, snowshoeing and even XC skiing. Toss in a few InCycle classes, gym sessions and a badass new bike...and the rest is history! My goal was 14 laps- 3 more than last year. Could I actually pull it off?
Boy, there were are a lot of racers this year! The first lap is always a total cluster, and for whatever reason I joined in the ruckus and rode super fast. In fact, my first 3 laps were pretty darn fast and my transitions even faster thanks to my husband Eric. By lap 6 I started to deteriorate though- I was actually getting bored (!) and was tired of riding by myself. I rolled into camp, plopped in a chair and lost it. After declaring my intent to DNF several times Eric somehow talked me into one more lap. Fine. So after a few miles I stumbled upon "Ear Guy" (solo guy who had an ear infection and rode my pace) and a few miles later we picked up "Thigh Guy" (slowed by severe leg cramps). It was SO nice to have riding buddies. At that point I was in 2nd place.
Sometime in the early morning I was informed that the #1 gal dropped out. That was all the motivation I needed. Thanks to Eric and Molly Martin I knew exactly what my competition was doing and definitely used that to my advantage. Around 2am Eric said "Right now everyone is sleeping or taking a break- you have to get out there and put a lap on them!". So I did!
On lap 12 I was climbing up "5 minute hill"...and lapped the #2 girl. Aw yeah. Lap 13 was OK and 14 was painful- my IT band lit up on every downstroke. By then I was 99.9% sure I had won the race so I kept it to a light spin and walked all the hills. I waited on pins and needles for an hour to see if anyone was heading out for a 14th lap, because that would mean 15 for me (ugh). But at noon the gun fired and that was it- I won the women's solo division!
Overall I had a great race. Food/water intake was really low but I never bonked or even came close to it. No sleep but I never felt the need to stop and rest. My support crew was top notch.
14 laps, 203 miles and $800 in prize money. Sweet.
Stay tuned for more photos!
I actually trained for this race. Right after CX season & holidays I hopped back on the trainer and just started logging miles. I also spent a lot of time cross training- hiking, snowshoeing and even XC skiing. Toss in a few InCycle classes, gym sessions and a badass new bike...and the rest is history! My goal was 14 laps- 3 more than last year. Could I actually pull it off?
Boy, there were are a lot of racers this year! The first lap is always a total cluster, and for whatever reason I joined in the ruckus and rode super fast. In fact, my first 3 laps were pretty darn fast and my transitions even faster thanks to my husband Eric. By lap 6 I started to deteriorate though- I was actually getting bored (!) and was tired of riding by myself. I rolled into camp, plopped in a chair and lost it. After declaring my intent to DNF several times Eric somehow talked me into one more lap. Fine. So after a few miles I stumbled upon "Ear Guy" (solo guy who had an ear infection and rode my pace) and a few miles later we picked up "Thigh Guy" (slowed by severe leg cramps). It was SO nice to have riding buddies. At that point I was in 2nd place.
Sometime in the early morning I was informed that the #1 gal dropped out. That was all the motivation I needed. Thanks to Eric and Molly Martin I knew exactly what my competition was doing and definitely used that to my advantage. Around 2am Eric said "Right now everyone is sleeping or taking a break- you have to get out there and put a lap on them!". So I did!
On lap 12 I was climbing up "5 minute hill"...and lapped the #2 girl. Aw yeah. Lap 13 was OK and 14 was painful- my IT band lit up on every downstroke. By then I was 99.9% sure I had won the race so I kept it to a light spin and walked all the hills. I waited on pins and needles for an hour to see if anyone was heading out for a 14th lap, because that would mean 15 for me (ugh). But at noon the gun fired and that was it- I won the women's solo division!
Overall I had a great race. Food/water intake was really low but I never bonked or even came close to it. No sleep but I never felt the need to stop and rest. My support crew was top notch.
14 laps, 203 miles and $800 in prize money. Sweet.
Stay tuned for more photos!
5.09.2010
4.10.2010
April already!
Here in Seattle April showers bring May showers. And June showers. We've had a few really nice days though and Eric and I have been taking advantage of them. Today we took a ferry out to Port Gamble to hit the trails. We had a great time despite getting lost a few times!
3.07.2010
Time flies...
...whether you're having fun or not! Wow, it's already March. We have been enjoying the early arrival of spring and doing a lot of biking and hiking.
2.06.2010
Spring has sprung...well, kinda....
We have had unseasonably warm weather lately. OK, so "warm" only means 55 degrees but hey, I'll take it. It's better than 40 and rain! Our plants have been having a field day- everything has mini-leaves on it and my tulips are about 3" tall right now. Here's a shot of the flower pots on my front porch.
1.31.2010
1.29.2010
No news is good news
No news to report, mostly because we don't have a camera anymore (which means no photos to post). We're both busy with work, busy at home, busy with Daisy and Little B. We are tenatively planning a trip to Hawaii...we could use some sun and warm weather!
1.02.2010
In the year 2010...
Shouldn't we be wearing silver space suits and riding in flying cars? 2010 sounds so futuristic. The minute someone invents a food-a-rac-a-cycle I'm gonna buy one.
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