Iowa City Road Race

Road racing has never been that attractive to me. First, I know of far too many people who have crashed with broken bones and loss of skin to show for it. And, second, I know that successful road racing relies on strategy and teamwork – I don’t know the first thing about road racing strategy! The teamwork problem is a little more easily solved even though I am the only woman racing on the road in a Zoom Performance kit. The generous ladies of Punk Rock Cycling volunteered to adopt me into their team if or when I wanted to lay it out on the road.

With no mountain bike races on the calendar this weekend, Cam and I wanted to get to the Quad Cities to celebrate Cam’s niece’s third birthday. We figured we could hit the Iowa City Road Race on Saturday and the Old Capital Crit on the way home on Sunday.

We got to Kalona (an Mennonite community just outside Iowa City) early enough to get me registered and ready to face my first road race. Cam piled on the advice to help keep me out of any trouble. My job was to stay in front or far enough off the back that if something happened in the pack, I could avoid the carnage.

Cam took the Power Tap wheel off my bike, and I got to ride it for the first time with my Ksyrium wheels – much lighter! It took a little getting used to, and I could hardly believe what a difference they made! After a little pre-race meeting with the four Punk Rock ladies we all lined up for the start. I think there were about 30-35 women there for the Cat 4 race. I chose to line up on the outside and in the back, just to keep myself out of trouble.

We headed out, and the first thing I noticed was how slow we were going! It was a very relaxed pace for the first of our two 12-mile laps. There were a few surges, but when I glanced down at my heart rate, I was in Zone 1 much of the time! While many of the girls were working to improve their position, I rode around in the back, making sure my position was one of personal safety. To heck with trying to race!

In a Cat 4 race, nearly everyone is a beginner (me included), and this was very apparent. I saw a lot of near-misses that could have been avoided by using a little bit of common sense. There were also some close calls due to the lack of pack-riding experience of our field. The yellow line rule was a topic of discussion with the race officials before the race began, though once we got out on the course, there was no yellow line. The spirit of the rule was followed on lap one, but with everyone getting anxious for the finish, lap two had riders all over the road. We had no motorcycle official during the first lap, but one found us on lap two, about 2-3 miles from the finish.

This official tried to talk the field back over the (imaginary) yellow line, and then made a bad choice and just squeezed us to the right. This action caused a number of reactions from the field of beginners – a lot brake-grabbing and evasive actions. This rippled though the field causing some tires to touch and, at the back of the field, a rider to hit the pavement. I caught the sight of this out of the corner of my eye. I recognized the pink and black kit, so I knew it was a friend from the VeloRosa Team, but I wasn’t sure who. A couple riders stopped to help her. We were very close to the finish so the group exploded and the final sprint was on. I wasn’t close enough to the front when it was go-time, but I still finished in the main group, about 12th. Some one caught my final sprint on camera:

Kim Hopkins ended up with a collarbone broken in four places. The official eventually took responsibility for the accident and apologized to the field at the race on Sunday. I’m a little scarred by the vision of seeing her go down, but I was also assured by some of the other racers that this was an unusual Cat 4 race. So I might try another one. We’ll see…

Cam’s race was longer, and apparently he had too many glasses of water in the days leading up to the race. He emptied his bladder numerous times before the race, but couldn’t make it through the whole race without emptying again! With a lap to go, I watched the main field come by without Cam. Then a couple minutes later, he came slowly riding up the road. He’d had to make another pit stop and was done racing!

We both made it through the day with less than stellar results but good workouts nonetheless. The birthday weekend was very fun, we ate Atlas burritos on the way to Bettendorf, and we made it back to Iowa City for the crit (just to watch) on Sunday!

Bonebender

Coming off a great weekend at Sylvan Island, I spent the whole week looking forward to getting back out on the dirt. Since the mountain biking season is just getting started, there were few options for racing. There was a lot of talk about a race in Missouri – the Bonebender, offering 3- or 6-hour racing options – but I remembered hearing from last year’s racers that it rained a ton before this event and it was barely ride-able. Though it rained a bit during the week, reports from the race directors said that conditions were great and that we should all come out and race!

Cam and I headed down to KC on Saturday mid-day, checked into Hotel Streeter (his friends from college) and went out on a little bike path shake-out ride to test out Cam’s calf and remove the rot that accumulates in one’s legs when you sit in a car for 3+ hours. Cam’s leg felt near 100%, so it was game-on for him to do the 6-hour race.

I was really up in the air about whether to enter the 3- or 6-hour event. I went back and forth quite a bit. My longest ride of the season so far had been four hours. I’ve been feeling great on the mountain bike, but didn’t want to get sloppy as I tired and accidentally launch myself over a ledge or into a tree. Six hours would be good for me, from a training perspective, and I was pretty sure that there would be less competition in the 6-hour. But, in the end, I decided on the 3-hour. I could always ride more if I felt like it, and I knew that Roxanne Abbott (out of Omaha – a major player in the Psycowpath Series) had signed up for the 3. This would be a good test of how I stacked up against someone with her racing experience and prowess.

There was quite the festive atmosphere developing as we pulled into Smithville Lake. The weather was looking to be near perfect. A large contingent of racers flying the Rassy colors had already arrived and were busy setting up camp. On the women’s side were Maria Ruhtenberg and Sally Logan. Maria is still pretty new to the whole MTB thing, but is very eager to gain experience, so she signed up for the 6-hour and collected a few extra tough-girl points. And, though Sally is in training for Leadville, she opted to join me on the 3-hour circuit. I signed up immediately – before I had a chance to second-guess my decision to do three instead of six.

They do the start LeMans-style, meaning there is a foot race to your bike in hopes of thinning out the traffic heading into the singletrack. With over 200 entrants, that was a good choice in theory, but the actual application of it didn’t work out so well, as there was still a pretty major bottleneck and multiple back-ups throughout the first half of the first lap. For the most part, the men on the course were courteous when passed or passing.

Once I’d found some open trail and was able to ride at my own pace, I realized just how fun of a course this was. There were some pretty challenging rock gardens that would have been mostly un-rideable for me last year at this time, but I really enjoyed being able to push my way through them now! The next challenge was figuring out how to pace myself. Though it is a three-hour race, if you finish one of the 11.5-mile loops anywhere up to 2:59, you have the option of heading out for another lap. With my lap times being anywhere from 1:10 to 1:15, I could be racing for closer to four hours than three. I settled into a fairly comfortable pace, checking my heart rate monitor often to make sure I was where I thought I needed to be and began picking off women, one-by-one. Though I had no idea how many women got ahead of me at the start, I could at least tell if the women I was passing were 3- or 6-hour racers based on the color of their race plate. I knew Sally was ahead of me, as I could see her off in the distance or when the course would sorta double-back on itself in a few places. It seemed as if we were staying pretty consistently spaced during lap one.
I felt awesome after the first lap, managed to take in a little of my secret weapon – caffeinated Hammer Gel – and some water. I pushed the pace a little more on lap two and went in pursuit of Sally. We met up at a creek crossing that neither of us liked and we hung together to the rock garden. I think she was beginning to tire a bit, so she took it a little easier through there, and I took off to see who else might be ahead.

I still felt great after the second lap, so I kept up the pace until I felt like I might start getting a little sloppy from fatigue in the technical sections. I really enjoyed the course and found myself a little disappointed that I hadn’t just bucked up and did the 6-hour. I crossed the line around 3:44, and was pleasantly surprised to see that I was in second place, although I ended up about 30 minutes back from Roxanne. Even without the bottlenecks and traffic jams on lap one, I’m not sure that I could have gone 10 minutes faster per lap to keep pace with her. Sally ended up with third, about 10 minutes back from me. Once again, I avoided being lapped by Cam who had a very good race, finishing 5th overall and second in his category.
The weather could not have possible been any nicer. Temps were in the 50-60s and the sun shone most of the day, but never in a solar oven sort of way. Big thanks to Chad and Angie who hosted us in Kansas City, fed us, and gave us a place to call home for the weekend.

No dirt next weekend. We are heading to Iowa City for a weekend of racing and back to Bettendorf for Cam’s niece’s birthday!

Sylvan Island Stampede

Last year at Sylvan Island, I was still pretty new to this sport and this place scared me enough that I was slow enough that they pulled me from the race. This year, with a whole year more experience under my belt, I was ready to tame this course and avenge last year’s debacle. Besides a ton more racing experience, the weather was about a night and day difference from 2009’s downpour and muddy conditions. The course was in great shape despite some rain earlier in the week, and the temps were perfect for racing in the woods.

I was simply hoping for a respectable finish, as I had no idea who would show up for this smack-down. When we pulled in for our pre-ride on Saturday, the car parked behind us was the vehicle of Brian and Kim Eppen. That scared me plenty, then Cam said that Kyle and Robin Williams were planning on racing, too! Kim and Robin are the two female big guns racing MTB in Iowa, and I was gonna get to see exactly where I stacked up against them!

The course was running backwards to last year’s race, which threw a little hitch in everyone’s giddy-up. Cam and I rode together for one lap, and I was finally able to see why he likes it there so much. Though it is very tight and twisty, there is also some pretty decent flow, once you get going. After three laps of fun, I was feeling so good that I would have ridden all day were it not for the race the following morning!

My mom stuffed us full of dinner and then breakfast again the next morning. We headed out early to watch Cam’s mom race in the novice race at 10am, then I geared up with the rest of the ladies and the sport men for a noon start. The officials decided to let the women go off about 4 minutes before the men, and I, for one, was glad they did. I got a fairly decent start, considering my track record, but still headed in about 8th or 9th wheel. I got past quite a few women on lap one. On lap two, I looked back to see Keely and Sally right on my butt. Sweet! We rode together for much of the second lap, where we lost Sally near the end, Keely stayed with me while we worked with the faster guys who were now starting to catch us. I had an altercation with three guys nearly running me into a tree, but I avoided injury!

At the start of the fourth and final lap, Keely passed me and took off. I had no idea where we were in the field, but I just wanted to hang on and not lose sight of her. About that same time, Jim Logan caught up to us and passed me. The three of us went through the water crossing together, but Keely crashed coming off the bridge. I made sure she was okay, then took off, as I knew she had the ability to make a comeback. I passed one more woman near the end and dropped the hammer to the finish.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that I ended up fourth overall, behind Kim, Robin, and their fellow Iowa City Fast Girl Brittany McConnell. To finish fourth to those guys is a really good place to be! I was also amazed at how good I felt after the race. Besides my usual post-race migraine, my body felt overall good. Watching so many other racers get beat up and hobble around for the rest of the day, I think I am really starting to see some of the other benefits of working out so hard in the weight room this winter! Cam had a tough day: he had an altercation with a tree within the first few minutes of the race. He lost sight of the very fast duo of Brian Eppen and Jesse Lalonde. He rode most of the day in third place all by himself, and finished there as well. He was not the only one to suffer a casualty – there were numerous DNFs, flats, bloody wounds, and broken bikes at the finish area. Cam’s crash didn’t damage his bike, though he didn’t come out without bashing his calf into something (top tube?). Only time will tell what the long-term implications of that might be.

Next up is the Bonebender 3/6 at Smithville Lake in Missouri…if the rain holds off…

A Weekend of Firsts

Though this marked the start of only my second full season of mountain bike racing, this weekend was also one of many firsts:

This weekend marked the first mountain bike race of the season. After a long, cold, snowy winter spent on the trainer, Cam and I were both ready to get outside and rip it up on the dirt! We made the easy drive to Bellevue, Nebraska for the opener of the Psycowpath Series: the Jewell Park TT. Neither of us had been there before, but we’d heard really good things about the course. The racing got underway at 11am, but my start wasn’t until 1pm and Cam’s until almost 1:30pm. So, we arrived by 10am, got dressed and made a couple recon laps to check things out. It did not take long to realize why we’d heard such good reports about Jewell Park. Like kids on a rollercoaster, we went up and down and up and down, big smiles growing with pedal revolution! Thankfully it was a beautiful weekend, so we just hung out and enjoyed the weather and each other’s company for a bit over an hour between our recon laps and my warm-up for the real deal.

After pondering the decision most of the winter, I finally decided to upgrade and spend the 2010 season as a Cat 1. Iowa is doing better at getting a few more women to come out and race their mountain bikes, but Nebraska is still lagging a bit behind. So, while this weekend marked my first race as a Cat 1, I think it was also the first time that I raced against absolutely no competition! I was, in fact, the only female racing for either Cat 1 or Cat 2! That means that I scored another first this weekend: my first win as a Cat 1! While it was surely the easiest (maybe the only!) win I’ll see all season, I was just happy to be back out on the dirt!

Another first: a new (to me) race rig. This season I’ll be rolling on a 2006 Orbea Oiz, full-suspension, another hand-me-down from Cam. I got to spend a little time on this new ride in Texas over Thanksgiving last fall, then the snow came, and I never threw a leg over it again until this weekend – more than four months later! What little riding I’ve done on it has been great, much easier on my back, and just as much fun! I’m also getting used to the tubeless tires. Not a big change, but I can run a lower tire pressure, also making my back happier!

Back to the race… without any competition, there was little pressure to perform, but the drive to go fast on dirt doesn’t just go away, so I went hard, but never went so far as to turn myself inside out. Ryan and Roxanne, the race organizers, put a full 10-minute gap between me and the next guys to race, but I knew that I had better ride real quick-like to avoid having one of them potentially catch me from behind. I rode the course in 23:50, with the fastest time of the day being 16:19 (men's expert winner). Knowing the course served the locals well, but Cam rode strong and scored a fifth place finish, just over 40 seconds behind the winner.

We pondered sticking around to ride some more at Swanson, and scope out the next course in the Psycowpath series, but by the time we were through with awards, we opted to hit the road and get back to DM at a reasonable hour.

Sunday was another nice day – a little overcast, but good temps. And that meant I had the opportunity for one more first: my first ride on my new road bike! Back in 2003 when I first got into riding, I bought a Raleigh Grand Prix. And, I’ve been riding that bike ever since! Now that I’ve made the transformation from tri geek to bike geek, I figured it was time for an upgrade. And upgrade I did! I did some research and picked out an awesome 2010 Orbea Diva. While I certainly don’t consider myself a Diva, this bike is definitely a good fit for me! Cam (with just a little help from me) has been building this bike (in his dining room) for a couple of weeks while I gathered parts. Finally we got everything assembled, and the weather cooperated enough to let me christen her with a great 3.5 hour ride on Sunday. The differences between the Diva and the Raleigh are like night and day; actually it’s more dramatic than that…. I’m gonna be enjoying this ride for years and years to come!

The weather is improving quickly and enough that I can ride outside most days. That makes me very happy! I'm also very happy to be looking forward to a very full race schedule this spring, summer, and fall. Next up is the Sylvan Island Stampede, back in my hometown! Last year, it poured rain and was a big mess. This year, the weather looks to be perfect!