Manawa

My wounds from Chequamegon are healing, but it wasn’t until five days post-Cheq that I felt decent on the bike again. I spent the whole week on the road bike and just tried to keep the legs happy for another couple of weeks.

The first ride with any substantial post-Cheq was the race this weekend in Council Bluffs at Manawa State Park. I’d never ridden there, but I did watch Cam race there last year. About all I knew was that the course is flat and very tight and twisty – not really the best type of course for me, but I needed to show up, race, and finish in order to clinch the Nebraska Psycowpath Series win for Cat 2 women.

It rained on Friday night, but not enough to force a postponement. We arrived to find the course a little greasy, but it dried out nicely as the morning wore on and as the sun came out and made it near perfect. I took my warm-up lap at about 50-60% effort to see how my body was going to react to this course. I felt okay during the warm-up, but never felt the need to push the effort at all. That should have been my first clue about how the day was going to go…

There were three Cat 2 women that lined up at the start, along with Cat 1 rider, Donna. We started with the Masters men and the singlespeed riders. True to form, Barbara took off with the guys entering the singletrack second wheel in our wave. I was pretty sure I’d never see her again the rest of the race. I took up my usual spot at the rear, behind Ann and Donna. No place to go but up, right? Donna and I got gapped off the back of Ann, and I think this was the first tactical error of the day. I could have passed Donna pretty early in the lap, but I sat in behind her too long. Ann was pulling away and we weren’t giving chase. About a quarter of the way through the lap, I passed Donna and went hunting for Ann.

I could close gap each time we hit a long straightaway, but Ann made the twisty, turny sections look so effortless and she’d gradually pull away again. At one point in the first lap, I decided to try to stay with her in the singletrack, and I was rewarded with another up-close-and-personal encounter with the dirt. Thankfully God was kind enough to allow me to fall on my right side instead of the still very tender left elbow and hip. Still, it was an unpleasant experience and not one I wanted to occur again in this particular race, so I was forced to back off a little bit more. For the rest of the race, I would see her pulling on to the singletrack ahead of me when I was just hitting the straightaways. I just couldn’t talk my legs into responding with enough effort to make any progress. She retained that gap for the rest of the race, and I ended with my worst finish of the Nebraska series: third.

Cam (and Kent McNeil) lapped me near the end of my last lap (third) as they finished up their final lap (fourth). I couldn't find Cam after the race for a long time. His post-race smoothie was still in the cooler and that is usually in his hands immediately after a race. It was a long time until he came back to the car. He wasn't 100% sure that his race was only 4 laps, so he did another one, just to be on the safe side!! Regardless, he finished second overall - same result as last year at this course.

My back was sore, my arms were tired, and I was just plain cranky at the end. Apparently I need a little more in the way of recovery after a big race like Chequamegon. I was encouraged to chat with Ann after the race and have her tell me that she was working her tail off to keep me back! At least her effortless riding style was challenging for her.

It was really good, however, to have a good showing of women at the race. I think there were seven of us in the three fields. Not great, by any means, but better. I tried to talk as many of them as possible into coming to Sugarbottom next week!

Chequamegon

I remember back a year ago when Cam was leaving to go to Chequamegon. I was waffling about going up with him to watch. Eventually, I determined that it was best for me to stay home and get a few extra days of training for the Longhorn 70.3 I was doing a few weeks later. By the time the race day rolled around, I was really disappointed in my decision. I didn’t realize what a big race it is, nor was I aware of just how great a group of people from Des Moines would be there as well. As soon as I figured all that out, I vowed to go for the 2009 race.

Going to the race isn’t the tough part. The tough part is getting into the race! The Chequamegon 40 accepts 1700 competitors through a lottery system in March. Cam gets a reserved entry for the following year based on his high finish the previous year, so he was in no matter what. I submitted my entry for the lottery, and through a great deal of turmoil and adventure, nearly missed getting it to race headquarters by the deadline. However, even with amazing set of circumstances that allowed the entry to get there on time, I still wasn’t selected as one of the 1700. Cam and I were both pretty bummed.

This race is popular enough that the race director receives bribes of cash, merchandise, and favors from folks trying to get in after missing the boat in the lottery. In order to keep things fair (and probably get a few laughs on the side), they have one final way to get a few more folks into the race. The Fifty Ways to Ride the Chequamegon contest is the last legal way to get into the race. This contest encourages those left out of the lottery to write (or draw or sing or design) an original piece that represents why they believe they deserve an entry to the sold-out race. Many will enter, fifty will win. I started tossing around ideas on what I could do to earn my entry. Cam and I came up with a few ideas, but they would be pretty time-consuming, and time was not something that I had a lot of as the entry deadline grew nearer.

I had an idea bouncing around in my brain, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. In my typical fashion, I had to throw my idea into action quickly in the last week to make the deadline. I bought a long roll of blue paper, got out my markers, scissors, and tape (just like in second grade) and went to work. It was cheesy and I knew it. So cheesy, in fact, that I wouldn’t let Cam see it. I told him that the only way he was going to see it was if, by some miracle, it worked and I won the contest. Otherwise, I was too embarrassed to show him (or anyone else, for that matter).

Soon after submitting my entry, we left for Colorado. We really only talked about it once on the whole trip, and I said that I had pretty much come to terms with the idea that I wasn’t going to get to do the race, but if I did get selected, I would be thrilled. After that conversation, I totally forgot about the contest. However, upon arriving home, in among the 10 days worth of mail, was a thick envelope from the Chequamegon office!! I was in! Thrilled was an understatement, I was stoked! Now came the challenging part; I had ten weeks to get myself ready for a 40-mile mountain bike race.

Training went well, and soon it was race week. Cam and I loaded up the Jeep and hit the road early Thursday morning so we could enjoy some of the great Wisconsin outdoors for a few days before the race. We arrived in Hayward and found the rest of the Des Moines gang hanging out in the rental house awaiting our arrival. We all suited up and went to recon the first third of the course. On Friday, we did the last third of the course, including the infamous Fire Tower Hill climb. Much of it was exactly what I expected it to be, but some was quite different. I figured that as long as the middle third didn’t hold any surprises, I would be okay!

Race morning came early. At 5am, those of us without preferred starts hopped on our bikes in the dark and rode to the starting area to leave our bikes somewhere near the front. Those that slept in would be relegated to the rear. The morning was awesome – perfect temperature, no rain, just a few clouds. Thankfully our house was within a short walk of the starting area, so we could walk home, then easily get back a few hours later when we were ready to race. The next few hours we ate breakfast, then sat around and looked alternately at each other and at the clock. Not much to do til go-time…

The starting area was full of people and bikes when we arrived. The thirty minutes before the start went by quickly. I spent those last few minutes trying not to freak out about the start – the stories I’d heard put the fear of death in me. With that many people taking off on bikes at the same time, things can and will happen.

I lined up to the outside and hoped for the best. I was around Ken, Jim, Sally, Brian, and Lang, so I figured I had a couple guys around me that I could trust. The first few miles alternated between fast and slow with nothing but a whole lotta slamming on the brakes and accelerating in between. Soon enough, though, we hit Rosie’s Field and that’s when the real racing started. It was fast and furious and a whole lot of fun. The hardest part was staying out of the way of the people moving slowly up the hills, swerving with every pedal stroke.

Once we hit the first gravel road, we began to encounter the sand. It has been a very dry end of the summer in northern Wisconsin, so the sand was pretty abundant. Traditionally, I am not a big fan of the stuff and find riding through it to be far more challenging than any rocky decent. After a few trips through the sand, I started to feel like I had a decent handle on things. That was until about mile 10 where the road curved around to the right and the sand on the road directed my bike straight ahead. That would have been okay had there not been a faster dude trying to pass me on the outside. We banged wheels and both went down. He jumped back up and asked if I was okay before he headed away. I grabbed the bike and my glasses out of the dusty sand and assessed the damage. There was a bunch of blood, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from until I checked out my elbow. I looked down and saw a pulse of blood squirt out. I immediately thought that my day was over, but a little pressure applied with my other hand slowed the flow to a trickle. Knowing that I wasn’t hurt badly and that no one was going to come get me if I stayed where I was, I got back on the bike and pedaled slowly, trying to see out of my glasses which were totally coated in dust.

I found a water stop a few miles later, and I got some first aid there. By then I was pretty sure I could at least survive the rest of the race, even if I couldn’t do it very quickly. I used the extra adrenaline to push the pace a little, knowing that things might start to hurt a bit more once that wore off. I felt very little pain and was able to race pretty well for the rest of the race. I got a quite a few comments about the blood running down my arm, and the best was when I passed a tandem a little later and one of the riders remembered swerving to miss me when I crashed! The worst injury I saw all day was another rider who had crashed and hurt his shoulder. He rigged his Camelbak to hold his arm like a sling, and he rode the rest of the course one-handed (and thus with limited gears). Having ridden behind him for a short stretch, I only hope he was able to finish without crashing again. He looked pretty unsteady on some of those descents!

Soon after the notorious Fire Tower Hill climbs, I caught up to Brian and we stayed in close proximity to each other, crossing the finish line at the same time. We were both Chequamegon virgins, so it was fun to end together. Cam was a little distressed when he saw me at the end. Someone had told him that I went down, and he got me to the med tent ASAP to get my wounds cleaned up. The EMTs went back and forth about whether I should go for stitches for my elbow, but I eventually decided against it. Two hours had passed since the crash and it would be another couple of hours before I could actually get in at the hospital. I opted for the open wound, and I am hoping that my body will just clear any leftover grime out of the wound by itself. I also ended up with some interesting “crop circle” looking bruises on my legs and a large scrape on my hip. I was pleased that my new Zoom kit came out okay. I was afraid there was a big tear in the butt and that I had ridden the last thirty miles with my cheek showing!

I had three goals going into this race. First and second were to be top 10 in my age group and top 50 women. Finally I was hoping to go sub-3 hours. When I crossed the finish line I could see that the sub-3 hour finish was gone, but I sorta had a feeling that was gone when I hit the deck. It wasn't until I got my results from the trailer after the race that I saw I had narrowly missed my other two goals - 11th in my age group and 51st overall. I am so ready to do this race again next year!

The rest of the Des Moines gang had good races. The only other casualty was Kristin’s crash in the Short & Fat race. She went down near the start and ended up with wounds almost identical to mine. She, however, spent the rest of the day in the ER getting those stitches I decided against. Beer and pizza was on the post-race menu. We all spent a beautiful evening on the deck rehashing the day’s events, laughing a lot, and enjoying the great day. Good friends, good food, and good times.

Cam’s race was not the race he had hoped for; he ended up 19th. It was his best time yet at Chequamegon, but his legs weren’t up to the challenge of keeping him with the front pack. I think we are both already excited for next year!

Center TT and Branched Oak

One of the aspects of mountain bike racing that I still need to get used to is the factor that weather plays. In seven years of triathlon racing, I’ve only had one race cancelled or delayed due to weather. And, in that one race (2008 Copper Creek Triathlon) it was pouring rain with bolts of lightning flashing across the sky almost constantly the whole morning. That was a no-brainer. This season, I think we’ve had four or five mountain bike races postponed for weather. And it wasn’t the weather on the morning of the race that forced the delays, it was rain a few days before the event. While I do understand that riding on rain-soaked trails can damage not only the trails, but also the bikes we are riding, it is still frustrating to wake up to blue skies and sunshine and not be able to go out and race. It was doubly frustrating with Chequamegon coming up the following week. We had a weekend planned with some good intensity, but nothing that would kill us for the main event seven days away.

The plan was to do the Branched Oak race north of Lincoln on Saturday, then stay in Des Moines on Sunday and do the Sycamore Time Trial and the Center Time Trial. It was not meant to be, and we got our first indication of that on Friday evening’s recon of Sycamore. I’d never ridden Sycamore, and I wanted to take a look at it before the TT on Sunday. About a quarter mile into it, I flatted. That wouldn’t be a problem except the spare had a hole, too! I started walking while Cam high-tailed it back home to grab the truck and pick me up.

While this was going on in Des Moines, it was raining in Nebraska. By the time we were back home from the non-ride at Sycamore, the race directors had already postponed Saturday’s race to Sunday. Now we had a problem: three races in two states, all on the same day. We both needed points for both series, though it was a little more important for both of us for the Nebraska standings. The big kicker was that the two TTs in DM counted as two different races for the Iowa Series, so points were up for grabs in each event. Eventually we figured out that we might be able to make an interesting compromise. We could do the Center TT on Sunday morning, then jump in the Jeep and roll into Branched Oak with just enough time to get a little warm-up and race there. With a quick call to the RD for the TTs to ask if we could be number one and two off the line and we were back in business!

The weather in DM was great on Saturday, so we rode to the Center trails to get things dialed in. We did a couple laps, and I was feeling really good. I am amazed at what a difference a year makes. I vividly remember chasing Cam around and being totally gassed from the effort, while he was barely breaking a sweat. This year, I am still chasing him around, he still barely breaks a sweat, but I feel great instead of ready to lay down and die! Anyway, I felt good about everything on Rollercoaster and Hillside; I was amped to go racing!

We got to the race with plenty of time to do another lap for a warm-up. Talking with some other racers before we warmed-up, we learned of two new developments: not only was the TT going to be two laps instead of one, but we were to do it backwards of the usual route! After a quick mental adjustment and a lap going the other way, it was soon go-time. I got going pretty well and knew that I had a long string of guys coming after me in one minute intervals. I think I got passed by three guys on the first lap and two on the second. I took the hike-a-bike option up the steep incline out of rollercoaster, but everything else went very well. I ended up with the fastest female time of the morning (and Cam was the fastest man), but we couldn’t stick around long. We did a quick cool-down and loaded up the car for a two and half hour drive.

We did our best to hydrate and refuel during the drive, so we’d have something to burn during round two. Branched Oak is kind of out in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska. The trail is fairly new and/or doesn’t get a lot of riding. This became very apparent to me on my warm-up lap. I thought I was going to have my teeth knocked out of my mouth by the rough terrain. At one point I even stopped to make sure that nothing was so wrong with my bike (flat tire, tire rubbing somewhere, etc) because it felt so bad. Nope, that’s just the course. I felt pretty battered after just warming up, so I was pretty disappointed to hear that we were doing four laps of that crap.

It was time to just suck it up, though my body was not pleased about the whole idea. Again, there were three women at the start line; Donna (Cat 1), Barbara from the Czech Republic (Cat 2), and me. This was Barbara’s first race in the US, but it was very apparent she was fairly accomplished back home. The gun went off, and Donna and I never saw anything of Barbara again – she was riding with the guys and blowing us away! I followed Donna until she hit the deck right in front of me, then we only saw each other on the open grassy section at the end of each lap.

I grew more and more grumpy each lap. I could tell I was just out of juice and that the TT of the morning had taken more out of me than I thought. The worst possible finish for me was going to be second, which was where I was sitting at the time, so I basically went into survival mode and tried to minimize the damage to myself as I ground my way through the remaining laps. I was glad that Cam wasn’t around when I finished – I wouldn’t have been very fun to be around. My back was as sore as it has ever been following a race, and I just needed to get some food back in me. I got off the bike ASAP, grabbed my smoothie and laid down in the grass to make my back stop screaming. When Cam rolled through the finishline (in first place by a pretty decent margin!), I was a little more like myself.

I didn’t like the course and I didn’t feel good most of the race. My only fear was that I’d done way too much six days before the biggest race of my young mountain bike career. I guess I’ll just wait and see!

Maplelag - Labor Day Weekend

We had three choices for racing this weekend:

1. Stay close to home and do the 24-hour race at Boone. I even had a couple girls willing to take me on as a teammate.

2. Dakota 5-0. That would mean a super long drive (9-10 hours) for a challenging 50 mile race. With Chequamegon in two short weeks, that would have been a little much for me. However, the race sounds awesome, and something I’d like to do eventually.

3. MNSCS #9: Laddie’s Loppet at Maplelag Resort in northwestern Minnesota. We knew Jay Richards and family would put on a great event, and a little time at a resort in the great white north sounded pretty good. Jay had even taken it upon himself to reserve a room for us, so the decision was pretty much made for us!

Although the eight-hour drive from Ames was brutal, Cam had planned ahead and loaded up his iPod with some Harry Potter (neither of us had read any of the books nor seen the movies). That helped pass the time, but we had both pretty much had enough of the Jeep by the time we pulled into Maplelag, about 25 miles north of Detroit Lakes. The traffic heading north out of the Twin Cities about put Cam in a mental institute, but as we turned off the paved roads and drove into the resort, we both knew all suffering of the drive was so worth it.

With trees all around and cabins set by the lake, it looked like the summer camp of my younger days. There were even some old railroad cabooses turned into private camping rooms. The main lodge was by far the most impressive, though. Beautiful woodwork, amazing stained glass windows, and a very inviting atmosphere were just some of the great first impressions. We sat down to a homemade meal with fresh bread and tasty dessert, and all of the travel issues melted away. Before checking in, we stopped by the bottomless cookie jars to sample more of the goods!

Jay’s wife, Jonell, checked us in and told us we were staying in the building called the Candy Shop, and our room named Double Fudge Brownie! We totally knew we made the right choice on where to race this weekend.

I was very pleasantly surprised to walk into the Candy Shop and find our big room. It could sleep seven, but we had it all to ourselves and our own bathroom and shower. The other rooms were taken by the Hinkens family, TJ Woodruff and his dad, and Doug Swanson. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the main room of the Candy Shop shooting the breeze with all these folks.

Saturday morning was a crisp, sunny start to the beautiful weekend. The racing was more than just the traditional single day cross country event; there were three events over two days to add to the fun. First up was the Time Trial. As a newbie to all of this cycling stuff, all I knew was that I needed to go as hard as I could for 3-ish miles, but not totally kill myself in the process. After all, there was still another race later in the day! Cam’s race was first, so we warmed up, and then I looked for some good places to snap a few photos.

Cam flew across the finish line in 10 minutes and 1 second, good enough for fourth place. The Sport race was next, and although I still took a while for my legs to get under me, I eventually got up to speed, and finished in the mid-13 minute range, giving me 2nd place for Sport Women. As soon I could breathe again, Cam and I headed out to recon the cross country course for Sunday’s main event.

While the time trial course was not very technical, I was surprised to find out just how tough the cross country course was going to be. I generally walk anything that looks really gnarly on my pre-ride, giving it a once over and deciding whether I will try it during the actual race. While many (Cam included) may not see this as the best way to prepare (he’d rather I went back and physically tried it again before attempting it (or not) in a race), it has worked for me so far! I did make on exception to my rule on this course. There is a series of infamous “lakeside drops” on this course that really didn’t look like anything I wanted to ride my bike down. They are so gnarly that one of the pros was offering a clinic on how to ride them that day. I took my own “pro” with me and we worked on them together. I walked most of the drops and the subsequent ups during the recon, but finally near the end of that section, I turned around and rode one of them, just to see if I could do it without taking a swim in the lake with the ‘Goose. There was probably some rough language going on in my head at the time, but I did clean the section without crashing in a heap at the bottom. The rest of the courses reminded me of Boone: pretty technical with some short, punchy climbs. Ouch, this is gonna hurt.

After another wonderful lunch in the main lodge (and another cookie), we headed back to the room for a little R&R (a great nap for me!!) before the afternoon’s main event: the Short Track race – basically an off-road crit-style race. Again, the only exposure to this kind of racing was earlier this year at Snake Alley. The only thing I remember about that was just how painful it was.

The Sport race was to be eleven minutes plus one lap. I rode the beginner course a few times in my warm-up and thought I would be okay in the race. After the beginner race, however, they re-routed the course to include a much steeper climb that required a lot more momentum to crest. Much to my surprise, I could clear it in my big ring: game on! We lined up with the guys, and I had a better than usual start, which for me means that I wasn’t dead-last. I steadily picked off women, one-at-a-time. Soon I was sitting in second place with only one lap to go. I think there may have been blood shooting out of my eyeballs (at least that‘s what I felt like…), but I managed to get around the first place woman right at the start of our last lap, and somehow held her off for the win! I caught up with Cam between my race and his. He had a pretty big smile on his face!Cam’s race was to be eighteen minutes plus two laps. That gave me plenty of time to take some photos and cheer him on. The Short Track course is great for spectators because each lap only takes about 80-90 seconds, and I could see the leaders about 3-4 times each lap by just moving a few yards in various directions. Cam started out in the top 10 and steadily moved his way through the field up to fourth place, where he stayed for the conclusion. At the end of day one, Cam was sitting in fourth place and I was in second place in the GC.

I figured that with a solid top 3 finish on Sunday, I could hold on to a top 3 overall for the weekend. That was gonna be tough, as my best finish in a MNSCS race was fourth. After yet another great meal and some more time hanging with some good peeps, it was soon time to hit the hay with another big day ahead of us.

During my warm-up on Sunday, my legs didn’t feel as cranky as I thought they might, considering the effort I required of them on Saturday, but I knew it would be later in the race that really demonstrated what the abuse of Saturday did to me. Though Saturday’s events had 6-7 women in each race, about three times that many showed up on Sunday. We thought that we had heard they were going to do call-ups for both the MNSCS series points leaders as well as the stage race leaders, so I was hanging out close to the front as we lined up. The call-ups never happened, but regardless I started closer to the front than I usually do. I was gonna have to haul butt off the line to keep from getting run over by the fast guys behind me. Thankfully, I had one of the best starts I’ve ever had, and hit the first bit of singletrack as about the sixth female. The usual traffic jam ensued as the accordion of riders worked through a very short, but still a little tricky section of trail.

Things spread out a bit by the time we hit the lakeside drops on lap one. As if riding this section wasn’t hard enough on its own, it becomes quite a bit more intimidating with a huge audience, and this is where most of the fans were gathered! Having everyone there does, however, make you step up your game a little – I did not want to take a header into the lake in front of everyone! Cam was at the top of one of the rises and gave me some encouragement. It wasn’t pretty and I didn’t clear everything, but I didn’t go swimming either. Sometime soon after I left the lakeside, I noticed a bad, but now familiar feeling in my right foot. My shoe had a lot of lateral play, and that could only mean one thing: another loose cleat. I was unclipping a lot on this course – not for a bunch of hike-a-bikes but just for little tricky rock gardens or rooty, uphill corners. I knew that every time I unclipped, I was loosening the cleat just a little more. It would be a major disaster to lose the cleat entirely. I couldn’t imagine having to ride there without being clipped to my pedal!

On the ski trail sections, I was able to make up some good ground and worked my way up to third place by the start of the second lap. However, by the time I reached the lakeside again, the fatigue of Saturday’s efforts was starting to set in. Cam was at the bottom of one of the drops this time and gave me another boost, but before I was away from the lake, I’d been passed by fourth place. I kept her in my sights and managed to get by her, only to be passed by another female on the one hike-a-bike climb. This girl took off and I never saw her or any other female the rest of the race. Between having to stop a few times to attempt to tighten the cleat with my fingers and just being generally gassed, I did what I needed to survive the rest of the race and not lose any more places. I though, too, that I was too far back time-wise to finish on the podium of the stage race. But as I cruised across the finish line, I was still pleasantly pleased that I finished as high as I did.

Perhaps the best part of this race was getting to know some of the racers and enjoying the camaraderie of the event, rather than just enjoying the racing itself. I took a quick shower following my race then hung out with some of the women during Cam’s race. He had yet another great race. Just when you might think that all his racing and training, and even his age, is going to catch up with him, he turns out another stellar performance against guys half his age. He picked his way slowly but deliberately through the field, sitting as high as fourth at one point, to finish fifth – an awesome accomplishment against this very talented field.

We stuck around for the awards ceremony. Jay and Jonell did it right. It took a while to get through all the awards, but the family-like atmosphere they nurtured all weekend was easy to see as every racer who was called to the front got more than just a polite round of applause. It was more like a cheer from a bunch of new fans. Although we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible, we did stick around long enough for the door prize drawings. I think Cam won the boobie prize: a book titled “Instinctive Parenting.”