Spooky Cross 2008

Tony Nichols and JJ Bailey teamed up again this year for another edition of Spooky Cross. The venue was changed this year to Living History Farms, and word on the street was that this would be a great event.

I’ve never done a ‘cross race, nor had I ever seen one in person. I had hoped to attend the Zoom Performance ‘Cross Practice on the Thursday night before the event, but rain forced its cancellation. So, I was left wondering if I could (or should) try to do one of the races on the weekend.

Saturday morning, Cam went to the park early to help Tony and JJ set up for the event. I decided not to participate, so I went for a little run to get some exercise in for the day. It was another gorgeous fall day! Around 11am, I gathered up our bikes and shoes and headed to the park. Watching the race would be a little easier with the bikes as we could hit more parts of the course to watch.

I took a look at the course with Cam, and then decided maybe I should try the beginner race. Jeff and Craig were going to do it, too, so I thought, “What the heck?” and signed up. It was 30 minutes plus two laps. ‘Cross is pure pain for the entire time you are out there! It was good to have a relatively short race to cut my teeth on, but I was still glad when it was over! I ended up being the first female finisher!

Cam held strong on his stance not to race, so we heckled at the top of the hill with the rest of the crazy spectators. Um, the beer was also very good. What did we do before we could get Fat Tire in Iowa??? By the end of the long day, I had run, raced, and drank some beer, basically all on a nearly empty stomach. I made a complete pig of myself that night!

Sunday was a different story. High winds were predicted and accurately so! The sun was shining and the temps weren’t too bad, but that wind would about blow you over and right through you! Cam was again adamant about not racing, and I wasn’t thinking that racing again in that crazy wind would be a good idea either, so we left both bikes at home in the garage. We arrived at LHF and immediately left to go run some copies for JJ. As we were driving away, we decided to at least grab the bikes at home, just in case… Long story short, we both ended up racing on Sunday.

Sunday’s course was a little longer; not really that much harder, but the wind would play a significant role. I recall being completely blown off a little mulch pile we were to ride over, and being blown to a complete standstill during a decent I was pedaling vigorously down! I finished 6th, one spot out of the money. While Sunday’s race was also quite painful, I came to the conclusion that Saturday was a higher intensity race, and thus was voted the harder of the two days.

I really enjoyed the whole cyclocross experience. The racing is very, very painful, but still pretty fun, kinda like mountain biking. It’s also pretty fun to watch – the laps make it easy to see lots of the action. And, who can argue with drinking beer, watching bike racing, and enjoying some great fall weather?

Women's Mountain Bike Clinic

Cam hosted his second annual beginner level mountain bike clinic for women only. Last year’s event drew a very enthusiastic group of 13 women. Teaming with I.O.W.A. for the first time this year at their premier event, nearly twice the number of women participated! And I was the only one who attended both events.

The day was beautiful with comfortable temps and trees in the midst of their color-change. Cam twisted the arms (yeah, right!) of some of his mtb buddies to come out and help. We picked up the Rassy’s truck on the way to the park to show some love. Cam’s awesome sponsors also kicked in some sweet schwag, including six pairs of Oakley sunglasses, four pairs of Louis Garneau shorts, and tons of stuff from Rassy’s. Chicks love cool, free stuff!


In a fashion similar to last year, we started out with some basic riding skills on the grass at Greenwood Park. We learned about cornering, popping wheelies, and getting over small logs.

Next up was a little lesson in hill climbing. It was fun to hear the excitement in these ladies’ voices when they finally rode to the top of the hill they thought they would never summit. The guys provided lots of encouragement (and sometimes a little push) to help get everyone to the top.

Because Denman’s was not usable due to a ton of rain the week prior, we had to move the trail riding portion to the hillside at the old Science Center. Denman’s is probably a better place for this event because the terrain is so flat and forgiving, but the hillside was pretty fun, too! The initial climb winded a few, but once we were to the top, everyone seemed to enjoy the pace and the obstacles.

After about three or four hours of riding and instruction, Cam drew the winners of the schwag, and everyone went home with something! Cam took Elaine, Emily, and I out for some slightly more challenging activities on the hillside. We cleared some bigger logs and climbed some steeper, more rooted climbs.

This turned out to be another huge success. The comments from the women as we rode through the singletrack proved that everyone had a great time.

The Big Announcement!

Back in June, I said that I would soon have an announcement about Zoom Performance. Now, four months later, I am FINALLY able to announce that I have joined Zoom Performance as an endurance coach. My bio is up on the website, and more info will follow!

I am very happy to be a part of this group. Jenny, Matt, and JJ have created the premier coaching organization in Iowa, and I am looking forward to helping Zoom grow into Ames. I am proud to be working with this great group!

Oh, So Close!

Cam's final mountain bike race of the season was this weekend in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and he invited me to come along. Also on the agenda was the Milwaukee wedding of his friend, Mike, on Sunday following the race. I was promised a fun mountain bike race and beer/pizza post-race - who could say no to that??

It was the perfect weekend to drive across Wisconsin. The fall foliage was near its peak - gorgeous! We were also enjoying an awesome Indian summer, with temps in the 70s and 80s and not a single cloud in the sky.

Our hosts for the weekend were Cam's friends Ty and Christine. Tyrine, as they are collectively known, live in a great little house in Milwaukee, just an hour's drive from the race venue in Sheboygan. They are great hosts and Christine is an fantastic cook!

Friday night, after we arrived and cleaned-up, we all headed out for some dinner and Spotted Cow at Maggiano's, then onto what was basically the joint bachelor/bachelorette party for Mike and Chimene. They were bar hopping with a party bus, but the two bars we stuck around for were so smoke-filled that we ended up hanging out outside on the street for the most part.



Saturday's weather turned out to be just as amazing as Friday's, so after breakfast, we drove north to register for the race and recon the course. Cam lead me on a lap while I got my mountain bike mojo dialed in, then we split up for another lap. There were a couple of hairy sections that I needed to take a second look at, but overall, I was feeling good and ready to test things out against a much larger field than I had faced in the past.



After a shower and a beer, we sat down to a great pasta dinner Christine had prepared and chased that with a carrot cake I had baked at home. The food coma that followed, coupled with the late night on Friday, put us all to bed before 9pm.

My race started at 10am on Sunday, so that meant we would need an early start to get to Sheboygan on time. Once we found Cam some coffee and put some gas in the Jeep, we were on our way. And, the weather looked to be just as perfect for the third day in a row!

I got a short little warm-up, then piled in with all the nearly 185 other Citizen racers (40 women, 145 men). Thankfully, it was a wave start, so the women started at 10:10am. I didn't have a very good start and probably went headed into the singletrack about 30th of the 40.

It didn't take me very long to realize that I was way farther back than I wanted to be. Once I started to get a feel for things, I started passing people. My two main goals were to beat the chick I saw at the start line wearing a cycling skirt (in a mountain bike race???) and the girl who was giving me a hard time about not having any water on my bike (she was in total over-kill mode sporting a Camelback for a race that shouldn't take much over an hour to complete...). I disposed of those two really early on in the first lap, so I just started to pick off people one by one. Soon, there were men in the mix, but they were all pretty cool about letting me past.



I had a blast on lap one and was really looking forward to tearing it up on lap two. I continued to work my way through the traffic on the singletrack, but I noticed I could really do some damage on the gravel sections. Many racers seemed to use those areas as a place to recover from their effort in the singletrack, so I passed a bunch of people there. As I started up the gravel on lap two, a spectator said, "Keep pushing, the girls are about 10 seconds ahead." I thought, "Great, the next couple people aren't too far up there; maybe I can pick up a couple more spots before the end!"

Cam was waiting at the top of the hill to take some pictures. He looked like I had startled him, as he rushed to get into position for this shot:



After he took the picture, he told me I was in 4th place! Now I was on a mission! I had a few more dudes to work my way past, then just before the Equalizer Hill, I spotted the three women ahead of me. I made it around the first one without any trouble, but the next two made it perfectly clear that I wasn't getting around them without a fight. As the three of us rode along, I sat on the second place chick's wheel and waited for them to make a mistake that I could exploit. It happened sooner rather than later, and I flew past them while they tried to get their rhythm back.

With the hill looming (and knowing full well that none of the three of us were going to ride the whole hill), I punched up a notch, as I knew I had a giant target on my back now!




I ran up the hill and again saw Cam perched at the top with the camera. He looked about as surprised as I was that I was in first place! Now deep in the red-zone, I jumped back on the bike and took off down the trail and tried to maintain what little lead I had. I knew there was one final section that would be tricky coming up before the finish line; I had had a little trouble with it on Saturday and lap one. Sure enough, I hit the sandy section and had to get off and regroup. I was so crazy that an easy remount turned into a couple more tangles with the bike - I just couldn't get back on the bike - very frustrating! And the more frustrated I got the more clumsy I became. Sure enough, second place came whipping by me, just as I got myself collected and back on the bike. I pushed it, but she was too far ahead for me to catch before the finish line.




I finished 19 seconds back, and thoroughly cooked. Cam had a big hug waiting for me, while I beat myself up for having such a bad end to a great race. He was pretty excited that I did as well as I did. I was just happy to have had such a blast and come out in second place.




Thanks to Christine, we didn't miss the Citizen awards. I got to stand atop the podium for the very first time to collect my age group win.


Next up was the main event: the Expert Race. I tried to station myself all over the course to get a variety of shots for Cam's 5-lap race. But, soon I was drawn over towards Equalizer Hill with the majority of the rest of the fans. It's a fun place to watch people suffer... and there is someone at the top of the hill handing out $5 bills to riders who ride all the way to the top without getting off the bike. The racers are moving a little slower here, so you get to see your favorite longer. It makes for some interesting photo ops, too!

Cam moved steadily through the field from about 11th place on lap 3 up to 5th place near the end of lap 5. I enjoyed a beer while he suffered, but I did manage to get some good pics and keep him updated on where he was in relation to the other pros.

He held on to 5th place, tying his highest WORS finish! A good day for both of us!

As soon as the awards were over, we packed up and headed south in search of greasy pizza, a shower, and then the wedding.

The outstanding weather continued, and although we arrived a couple hours into the reception, we ate some awesome foods and laughed until my face hurt!

Deep in the Heart of Texas - Longhorn 70.3

Austin Trip - Day One:

A little of this.

And a little of this.

Some of this.

Some for me, too!

Then on to this!

I left DM and, after flying thru Minneapolis/St. Paul, arrived on time in Austin. I met Crystal and Jan at the rental car place; we loaded up and headed to the hotel for a quick clean-up before heading to downtown. Jan dropped Crystal and I off at Stubb's to pick-up our tickets for the Gary Allan concert at the will-call window. We were there by 7pm, but all the signs at the venue said that Gary didn't go on until 10pm, so we headed out in search of some supper.

We navigated 6th Street and found some food at the Iron Cactus. The beer was cold, and the food was tasty. Still needing to kill a little time, we found a little Irish Pub nearby and caught up on all that we'd been missing in each other's lives since Crystal moved to North Carolina.

The concert was at an outdoor venue, and the weather was outstanding, but the smokers were out in full-force, so we had to work to keep out of the fog. Gary came on stage right on time, but we quickly realized he'd be quite over-served in the hours leading up to the show. Aside from staggering around the stage and forgetting the words to three songs (which he'd written himself), the concert was pretty good. We charmed the bartender out of two bottles of water by telling him we used to be sisters (he'd been hitting the beer pretty hard himself). A quick taxi ride got us back to the hotel and asleep by midnight. Not exactly the kind of night one needs two nights prior to a half Ironman, but whatever...

Austin Trip - Day Two:

We really only had a couple of things that we needed to take care of on Saturday for Sunday's race, so we had some breakfast and headed downtown to get started. The first stop was to pick up my bike and gear that had been driven to Austin by a Team Vardo friend who was also participating in the race. Then we hit the Whole Foods for lunch and some much needed snacks (and a couple bottles of wine...), we registered for the race, and finally we visited Mellow Johnny's to have a look around.

By the time we'd run all the errands, it was time to find our way to the race venue for a recon and bike drop-off. Crystal tried to stay cool in the shade while Jan and I rode and swam for about an hour. Once the bikes we safely nestled in for the night, we cruised back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.

We had a great dinner with Jeff and Liz Goodman, Tony and Karen Oberman, and Jan. We laughed and drank a couple bottles of wine while enjoying some great food. I *had* to have ice cream (pre-race ritual), so Crystal and I staved off the post-dinner food-coma by walking the nine or ten blocks to Amy's Ice Creams for a little treat. It was lights-out for all of us around 10pm.

Austin Trip - Day Three:

The alarm woke Jan and I at 4:30am. We tried to get out without waking Crystal who was going to catch a ride with Liz and Karen later in the morning. We made it to the parking lot on time and caught an early bus to the race site, but the lines were long!

My wave started 26 minutes after the first wave. The lake was 77.5 degrees - wetsuit-legal, barely - and clear (by Iowa standards). It was the least congested swim start I've had in years. And, considering all the time I've spent in the pool in the last few weeks (read: VERY little), I had a great swim. So great, in fact, that Crystal was amazed that I was out of the water in 30 minutes. I would have been really excited about a 30-minute swim, but as it turns out, the course was short. Rats. Tony had even mentioned something about thinking the swim looked short before the race. The guy is good!

After a decent transition, I cruised out onto the bike course. I had no idea what to expect, as we hadn't ridden more than a couple miles of it during the venue recon the day before. As it turned out the course was about 80% chipseal and 20% asphalt. The roads were very rough, and the wind picked up as the race progressed. I was able to maintain a pretty decent pace throughout, did well with my nutrition, and didn't launch any water bottles. Soon, I was back at transition with a 3-hour bike under my (race) belt. On to the half marathon...

Check out the line of dirt on my back following the bike ride...

I felt decent as I headed out, but soon the heat (and my own lack of run preparation) slowed me. I took to walking the hills and concentrating on getting plenty of water into my body. The two-loop course was about half asphalt and half dirt trail. We spent a good deal of time around the transition area, so I was able to see the Ames/DM fans and my aunt and uncle from Austin quite a few times. Their presence added a little spring to my step and sent me away feeling a little better. The aid stations were pretty fun, too - the costumes and cheering were great. Two trips up the big hill - Quadzilla - was plenty for me, and I counted down the last few miles by reminding myself that they were the last few miles of my whole 2008 season, and I needed to just suck it up and embrace the pain of it all. I was glad to see the finish line, and even happier to see that I had kept myself under the 6 hour mark, my goal for this event.

After some pics with the DM gang, my family, and a longhorn steer, we marched back to the parking area. I loaded the IronMaiden into Chris' van, then Crystal and I climbed in with Phil and Susan to start the second half of the vacation and the part I was most looking forward to - the Tex-Mex eating 3-day binge!

Austin Trip - Days Four and Five:

Phil and Susan claimed that it was the first cloudy, rainy day for quite some time, and, of course, it happened to be the day we had a boat ride planned on Lake Travis. To heck with the weather, we went for the boat ride anyway. It was fun and cool - I was glad we did it!

Monday night we went to my cousin Molly's house for supper with her husband Johnny, their son Cody, and my other cousin Paige and her son Jack. We all enjoyed the fantastic enchiladas, beer, brownies and ice cream, and watching Jack eat hotdogs with grape jelly. It was really good to see my cousins and their families. It had been too long!



Tuesday morning, Phil and I enjoyed looking through a box of old family memories together. Crystal even sat in, as she's basically part of the family, too. We had one more meal of Tex-Mex at the El Arroyo - The Ditch, and made the obligatory stop at James Avery Craftsman. Soon we were all back at the airport and ready to come home!

It was another great trip, and I'm so glad I decided to squeeze in one last race before the tri season ended.