SCX #4- Steilacoom park

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!

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!

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!

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.

Race photos

Here they are: http://www.flickr.com/photos/82427018@N00/sets/72157624075664219/

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!

Spring flowerpots!

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!

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.

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.

Boatin' weather

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!

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.

CX nationals- Bend, Oregon

Some thoughts about last weekend's CX national championship race...

The good:
1. I had a nice start in the top 1/3rd of the pack. Didn't last very long though!
2. I met my main goal (not to get lapped by the leaders).
3. I didn't break anything.
4. Had a fun (yet humbling) experience. The top women are SO fast.
5. I will be better prepared for next year!

The bad:
1. Forgot my inhaler (not good in cold weather).
2. Icy course. 'Nuff said.
3. Crashed hard twice on my right side. Thought something was broken (see # 3 above).
4. Overall had a bad race. Felt slow and my tech skills were poor.
5. Must buy a lighter bike for next season.

I ended up 31st out of 45 starters. Kinda what I expected though. Now I can kick back, enjoy the holidays and then start training for...road racing! Should be interesting!

Here are a few photos/videos from the race.

Scc #8- Monroe

Today was the last race of the SCC series. I had bad tire karma at last year's Monroe race and I wanted to redeem myself this time around. My legs felt pretty heavy during the warmup and that got me a little worried. Plus, I left my inhaler at home...ack!

The course was chock full 'o variety- pavement, barns, mud, cruddy downhills, you name it. Lucky me- I had the perfect holeshot and lead the entire first lap...then fell back a few spots over the next 6 laps. I should mention that I was absolutely sick to my stomach and actually stopped for a minute (wasn't sure if I should stop or keep riding...barfing is not fun!). I ended up in 4th out of 16 and earned another upgrade point. I am really happy with my race- I have not ridden that hard all year! Click here for photos.

Halloween weekend

Autumn is quickly coming to a close...I can't believe it's already November!! We've been really lucky weather-wise, with a fair amount of sun and not a whole lot of rain.

A few of us ventured out to Fremont last night for Halloween. Eric and I dressed up at Ben and Juliet from LOST (complete with Dharma Iniative lab coats). We had fun but turned in early so we could race the next morning.

Today's race at Maris Farms was awesome!! We got to ride through a pumpkin patch and a corn maze!! My first lap sucked- I lined up on the ride side and was shut out of the first right-hand turn. I was probably close to last place at that point. Then we hit the corn maze and I hooked my bar on a cornstalk, and I ended up tipping over. Once I got back up I hooked my bars again! ACK! After that I picked off quite a few girls and ended up 5th out of 14. I really loved this venue and hope the cyclocross community is welcome back next year.

Here are a few photos from the weekend.

Salmon Days 2009

This weekend is the annual Salmon Days festival here in Issaquah. It was especially fun this year because it was dry! Issaquah has it's own fish hatchery and ladder, which is the final destination for spawning salmon. Here's a short video:

Scc #1

Today was my first real race of the season at Evergreen high school. I've never really loved the course, but it was a little different today and favored racers with good handling skills. I actually warmed up today and I think it made a huge difference- I came in 3rd out of 17! Here are a few more photos.

MFG #2- Fort Steilacoom

I can sum up my race in one word: sucky. I bet a lot of the suckiness could have been avoided if:

1. I got more than 5 hours of sleep the night before
2. I actually warmed up (one slow pre-race lap does NOT count as a warm up)
3. I spent more time training and less time being stressed out.

Not really looking forward to next Sunday's race. Ugh.

This photo shows how slow I was- I had time to smile and wave at the camera!