What More Could A Girl Ask For?

Banner - Summerset State Park

2010-06-05T20:54:00.001-05:00

After a not-so-stellar day at Ingawanis a couple weeks back, I was ready (or at least as ready as I could hope to be) to get back on the mountain bike for the race at Banner (aka Summerset State Park). Last year, this race was held the day after Dam to Dam, and my legs were cooked. This year, I figured my all-thumbs style of racing was behind me, so I’d try to redeem myself from last year’s race and the Ingawanis debacle.

As soon as I started my recon/warm-up lap, I remembered why Banner was not one of my favorite courses. It is fairly technical and contains some tough, shortish climbs, not all of which I can ride. I survived the recon lap, then headed back to the registration table to find out how many laps of torture I was in for. Experts were to do seven laps! I talked race director Ryan Hanser into decreasing the women’s number of laps (in all categories) down one lap, as I was working my tail off to convince PRC’s Katie Fistler into trying out her first mountain bike race! Since she only had two laps to do, Katie went out and performed awesomely in her first (of many more to come) race.

While continuing my warm-up, I learned there was only one other woman (Sally Logan) entered in the Expert category, and, putting our heads together, we determined that perhaps five laps would be better suited to our abilities. Thankfully Ryan agreed to that, too!

The race started with Sally and me swapping the lead back and forth, based on who had screwed up most recently. Not too far in, Sally took a slider down a hillside and I went ahead. Lap one wasn’t pretty but it was done. Lap two started off much like lap one – I would alternately be having fun one minute then hating the whole idea of racing (or even just riding) at Banner the next. About 3-4 minutes into lap two, I threw my chain. Not just your garden variety chain-throw, though. No, I did it up real good! Somehow, I managed to get the chain wedged between the cassette and the spokes of the rear wheel. No amount of tugging, pulling, or swearing would make it budge even an inch. I was done for.

I carried the bike down the trail a ways and back to the registration table where I told them I was pulling the plug. They came over to take a look, and along with them came Katie Fistler. She offered to let me ride her bike for the rest of the race! Ryan gave the okay, so I jumped on her bike. She was quick to point out that her pedals and my shoes were not compatible. My feet are about one size bigger than her shoes, and her saddle height was about 8-10 inches too low for me. I still wanted to race, so we adjusted the saddle, I stuffed my feet in her shoes, and I was back in business! (Katie was double cool in that she had hand-ups for me at each lap!)

I quickly noticed a few other differences between our bikes: hers is a hardtail, is in need of some TLC, won’t shift to all gears, and weighs about 30 pounds more than the one I left at the car! Plus, as I rode away the saddle loosened itself and each time I sat down, the nose shot straight up! I restarted my lap two and quickly realized what a stud Katie was to have maneuvered this bike through two laps – I wasn’t going to last more than one on it! The extra weight was fun on the downhills because it carried so much momentum, but hucking it uphill was murder! As I made my way around – very slowly – someone asked what had happened to Cam. I figured I had missed him come by while I was messing around with bikes, so I had no idea what they were talking about. When I came through the start/finish area to call it quits for the second time that day, I saw Cam changing into street clothes at the car. He’d bent his rear der and wedged his chain into almost the exact same position I’d wedged mine on the first lap!

I rested for a second, asked him to fix Katie’s saddle while I thought about going back for another lap. In the meantime, another Katie (Bergman) walked over with her 29r and offered that to me! I thought, “What the heck?” and jumped on her bike for lap number three. By now I was down a whole lap to Sally, so I was just doing laps to avoid a DNF. Katie B’s bike offered some new challenges; most notable were the grip shifters, but let’s not forget that I’m still in Katie F’s too small shoes, as well! I managed to man-handle that around the course for another lap, before again contemplating just calling it a day and heading home. By the end of lap three, I had convinced myself to say that enough is enough and I should just enjoy a smoothie with Cam and take the DNF. I rolled back up to the car to return Katie B’s bike, and what did I see? Cam was standing there next to my bike which he’d fixed during my third lap!

As much as I wanted to be done for the day, I chose to take my bike out for one more lap. It felt great to be back in the correct size shoes and on a bike I felt very comfortable on! So good, in fact, that I ended up HTFU and finished lap four and five, thusly finishing the race.

It took three bikes, two pair of shoes, two very generous Katies, one frustrated boyfriend (who fixes bikes really well when he’s frustrated…), but I got it done! I still don’t really like Banner, but it hasn’t got the best of me yet!

State Fair Crit

2010-05-21T21:03:00.001-05:00

I’ve called myself a lot of things in my athletic career, but never once have I considered myself a roadie. We found ourselves with another rare open weekend on the mountain bike calendar. We were pleased, though, to see a crit close to home, so for the second time this season, we went out and played with the roadies.

I’ve been to the Iowa State Fairgrounds a number of times in the last 15 years, and I always remember Crystal dragging me to some building at the top of the hill so she could buy a commemorative State Fair piece of pottery. That hike wasn’t a lot of fun, and when I heard that the crit involved laps up the backside of that hill, I wasn’t any more enthusiastic.

We arrived (late, as usual) with just enough time to get me registered and slightly warmed up before I toed the line with about a dozen women for the Women’s Open. The start/finish area was adjacent to the wienerschnitzel and Pabst Blue Ribbon booth (also a past State Fair memory). We all knew Lisa Vetterlein would put the hurt on us all; it was just a matter of how much it would smart!

We took off, and with my usual slow start and skittish descending abilities, I was off the back in a hurry. Over the course of the race, I made full use of my entire gear range, and just tried to pick off a couple of weary riders. Lisa lapped me once, then twice, and again mercifully with two laps to go (which meant it was only one lap to go for me!). The woman is crazy strong and crazy fast on a bike, and it is so good to see her back at it! She was the triathlete to beat in the Midwest, back when I first got into the sport. She took a little time off to start a family, but Maria von Ruhtenberg persuaded her to join up with the chicks of Punk Rock Cycling, and we’re all glad to have her back. Well, maybe not everyone who gets their butt kicked by her… but I’m more of a realist, and I think it’s awesome to watch her tear apart a field of great riders!

After sixteen tough laps, our race was over. I got changed in short order because I wanted a front row seat at Cam’s race(s). He did very well, winning the 40+ race over Dewey Dickey in the final sprint. He also got some action in the 1-2-3 race, and ended up a very respectable seventh there.
It was a fun day to hang out with the Des Moines cycling peeps, including a good dinner post-race downtown with Lisa, Maria, Doug, and some of the kiddos.

Ingawanis

2010-05-12T10:20:00.002-05:00

They say that some days you’ve got it and some days you don’t. Mother’s Day at Ingawanis I definitely didn’t have it! I’d come off a great week of training, and I was feeling strong and ready to take on the world! In fact, we were slated to race on Saturday in Nebraska and Sunday at Ingawanis, but Saturday’s race at Platte River State Park got rained out at the eleventh hour. Cam and I opted to stay home on Saturday instead of heading south to Missouri for a race. I felt pretty decently rested, though my back had been barking at me the latter part of the week, but I do recall noticing that something just felt a little off on the car ride to Waverly.

I vividly remember racing at Ingawanis last year. It was a fun course with some good challenges, but nothing that was too killer. However, I heard that this year we’d be racing on the other half of the course – part that we didn’t see last year – so basically this was to be a totally unfamiliar course to me.

We arrived a couple hours before the race started and chatted with Cam’s mom who drove up to spend her Mother’s Day on the dirt! We suited up and headed out for a recon lap. I like it when Cam rides the recon with me, especially when it is totally unfamiliar territory. The first half of the 6-mile course is fast and fun. The second half kicks up the challenge and technical nature a couple notches.

Rock gardens have been a sticking point for me since my start in the sport. Even if it’s not that technical of a section, I still look and can’t see anything but the sharp, pointy shards of stone thirsty for my blood! But, after navigating long stretches of rocks at the Bonebender 3/6 with no mishaps, I rode into this section feeling better about my chances of survival. I rode and walked the first of two tricky sections during the recon, then hopped back on my bike and tried to catch back up to Cam who had by now ridden through the second section and on up the trail a bit. He heard the loud crunch as I t-boned a tree and launched myself over the bars. Pain and adrenaline spiked while I stood up, assessed the damage (to me, then the bike), and tried to calm down. By then Cam was back to check things over (me, then the bike…). It took me a while to get moving again, and I was pretty gun-shy from that point on.

It’d been quite a while since I’d crashed on the bike, and I was hoping to have my streak last much longer than it did! We finished the recon lap and headed back for the start. I still wasn’t totally feeling the love, but was happy to see the sun shining and to see so many women show up to race! We had six women in the Cat 1 race and probably five or so in the Cat 2! I knew Robin Williams and Brittany McConnell were gonna put the hurt on me, and Sandy Kessler had made the drive as well. Keely Shannon has been riding very well, and I figured she would be my main competition for the day, but you can never count out Kristin Reece, who finished less than a minute behind me at Waverly last year! So fun to have a big group like that!

We went off with the Cat 1 guys and I was left behind in everyone’s dust. We were all in for four long laps, so I figured I’d better not blow my wad on the chase up the hill! I concentrated on keeping Sandy and Keely in my sights and raced at a speed that I felt was on the high end, yet comfortable enough that I wasn’t gonna do another Superman. I opted to walk the rock garden, since I still was not back to 100% and there wasn’t anyone around me at that point. I still kept Keely in my sights and gained on her until we hit the big nearly washed out climb. I don’t think she knew it was coming ‘cause she was unclipped right at the base. I knew it was coming, geared down, and motored up and away. I didn’t see or hear any more from her the rest of the lap or into the second lap. I was starting to feel a little better and perhaps a little more (prematurely) confident. Early in lap two I caught up with Sandy who was moving very slowly. She pulled over and let me and another couple guys past. I asked her if she was okay, as I knew something had to be going on for her to be so slow. She said she was okay, so I kept moving. Two or three minutes later, she rides up next to me and we try to hang with the guys who just passed us.

Those three slowly gapped me, and I just did my own thing for a bit. I heard two more dudes come up behind me and through a slight lapse of judgment on a sorta tricky downhill, I found myself rocketing over the bars AGAIN! I didn’t get run over, and the guys made sure I was okay before they took off.

Crap. Again I assessed the damage (me, then the bike). This time, I was still fine, but the bike didn’t fare as well… The front was flat. In my dazed state at the start of the race, I’d neglected to grab any CO2, so my day was done. I was disappointed, but not totally heart-broken. I kinda felt like it was God’s way of telling me I was not meant to go fast today and I’d better just hike out of the woods and call it a day. I was reminded of a story I’ve heard a couple different times:

This is the story of the man named Ed who lived in the delta of Mississippi. One
day a great flood descended on his town and the torrents rushed down his street.
Ed prayed to God, confident that “the Lord would provide,” and he would be
saved. The water rose two feet, and a neighbor in a four-wheeler drove by and
called to Ed, “Come on, get in. I’m going to higher ground.” But Ed replied, “No
thanks, I’ll be fine. The Lord will provide.”
The neighbor drove on and the water kept rising. Now at five feet, Ed was at
an upstairs window when a sheriff in a motor boat came by and called out, “Climb
down. I’m going to the rescue shelter.” But Ed answered, “No thanks. I’m fine.
The Lord will provide.”
The sheriff floated away and the water kept rising. Ed scooted up onto the
roof and the National Guard came over in a helicopter and shouted down,
“Sir, grab onto the rope. We’re evacuating the city.” But Ed called back,
“No thanks. It’s okay. The Lord will provide.” The guardsman tried again,
but when Ed didn’t climb on, the helicopter drifted away and the water kept
rising.

Inside Heaven’s gate, God was shocked to see Ed. “What are you doing here?”
“You tell me! I prayed. I said over and over, the Lord will watch over me. The Lord will provide.”
“Well, beloved Doofus, I heard you! I sent your neighbor in the Jeep,
I sent the sheriff in a speed boat. I sent the National Guard for goodness sake!
If you were waiting for wings to fly away – well, I guess you got them now!

Instead of wishing I could get back on my bike and just assume that God would make all my poor handling skills go away, I avoided being like Ed and just started walking. I watched Keely go by and a bunch of other dudes. I probably walked 150-200 yards before Jim Logan rode up. He wasn’t moving really quickly either and asked if I was okay. He generously offered to attempt to refill my tire, and that might have worked if we’d had a little more CO2 to work with, but I had none and one of his two was dead. I was still okay with walking, but Jim offered his front wheel to me! He figured his day was almost over anyways and I was still out there “racing” for money, so we made the switcheroo, and I was off again!

This marks the second time in my racing career that someone has saved my butt from a very certain DNF by literally giving me a wheel to race on. The first was at Ironman Coeur d’Alene, where a resident watching the race from his front yard just ran into his garage, produced a wheel, and sent me on my way! I think Jim’s willingness to help even trumps the guy in Idaho, since Jim now had to hoof it out of the woods pushing a mountain bike. I intend to repay Jim’s generosity the same way I repaid the guy at IMCDA – with a box of F(l)at Tire!

I was so far back at this point (and just thankful to be riding) that I just cruised through two more laps, not killing myself and taking it very easy through the technical sections. I was tired, bruised, dirty, and cranky when I finally finished. The rest of the Cat 1 field was in street clothes and enjoying the day when I finally finished. I was out of the money but also didn’t DNF. I came away with a shirt and some sunglasses. Not bad for a less than perfect day in the dirt. Maria was the big winner – it was Mother’s Day, her birthday, and she won a new Surly frame set! Oh, and Cam won his race, too!

Next up is, um, well, hmmm… We aren’t sure yet! Stay tuned!

Swanson

2010-05-05T10:19:00.001-05:00

Our awesome spring streak of beautiful race days continued with another visit to the great state of Nebraska. Just up the road from Jewell Park where we kicked off our season, we drove into Swanson under bright beautiful skies. They’d had a little rain in the days prior to the race, but there were only a couple wet spots and the course was in awesome shape.

Nebraska fast girl, Roxzanne Abbott-Feagan, was wearing her race director hat again, so that meant I was the lone Cat 1 racer once more. The Cat 2 ladies had a great turnout, so I started with them but did twice the number of laps.

We headed off the line, and I took the lead into the trees. With no one to chase, I just concentrated on pulling away from the ladies behind me. By the middle of lap one, I was riding alone. And, though the leaders and Cam came by me during the later laps, I rode primarily alone!

I kept my lap times very consistent and really enjoyed the course. I love racing in Nebraska – the guys who race there are the best. Not only are they very courteous when they come by to make a pass, they always throw out some words of encouragement as they fly past.

Cam was more challenged in his race. Kent McNeil won by three and a half minutes, and Mark Savery finished about forty seconds in front of third place Cam.

With the sun shining above, we enjoyed rehashing the day with some good friends!

Iowa City Road Race

2010-04-28T10:17:00.003-05:00

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

2010-04-20T21:21:00.013-05:00

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

2010-04-15T11:28:00.000-05:00

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

2010-04-09T19:37:00.002-05:00

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!

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

2009-12-31T13:43:00.001-06:00

I’ve got my first full season of mountain bike racing under my belt, and I’ve been doing a little reflecting on how it went, what I’d like to do next year, and what I hope to be doing in the meantime.

If you’d asked me eighteen months ago if mountain bike racing was how I would spent this time, I’d have called you crazy. I was a pretty content tri-geek, doing a couple of Ironmans and some smaller races in between. After the Coeur d’Alene Ironman last June, I started to notice a little change in my attitude about triathlon and running. I had spent a considerable amount of time training on the bike, and it was clear that I enjoyed that more than the other disciplines. About that time, Cam started to become more of a fixture in my life, and his obvious enthusiasm for the sport is pretty contagious. With a ton of help and encouragement from him, I gave this sport a try. A little success and more encouragement led me to try three races in 2008. It is a great racing outlet, but different enough from triathlon to give me a big heap of enthusiasm and lit a fire in my belly for competition that I hadn’t found in triathlon.

That fire was further developed by being ridiculously blessed to get to ride in some amazing places this year. Maui was the best training kick-off I could have asked for, but I also had great training trips to Arizona with the girls, and, of course, the week I spent with Cam in Colorado. Some early successes in the race season gave me an idea of what could be and really fueled my workouts the rest of the season. I was still not willing to let go completely of triathlon, so my bike-specific training was not as structured as I would have liked. However, getting into Chequamegon gave me the final push for the season. And, it is a long season. We started training January 1, began racing in April, and didn’t finish up the season til October. Then there was still a little time left for some cyclocross racing and the Dirty Duathlon into November.

I owe a lot to the peeps in the cycling community in Des Moines, and, more specifically, the mountain biking folks in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The vibe at races is considerably more laid-back and grass-roots than triathlon. I was never quite Type A enough for triathlon! The men and women I raced against were, with only a few exceptions, very encouraging and great people to spend a Saturday or Sunday alongside. While I enjoyed the sheer volume of competitors in Minnesota and Wisconsin, nothing beats throwing down with the chicks in Iowa. We have such a good time together that the racing usually ends up taking a backseat. We race hard, but the overall goal is getting more women involved and better at the sport. While I race under the Zoom Performance flag, I feel like I’ve got teammates on both the Punk Rock / Rassy’s and All Nine Yards crews. I’m looking forward to the time that there are more women racing in Iowa and Nebraska.

Cam and I have discussed it over and over: how do we get more women involved in the sport? His clinics are a great start – a relaxed, safe environment for women to learn the very basics of the sport without any competition or fear. Once she has learned the basics (or at least learned what skills to work on), the development of those skills is the hard part. In every discussion Cam and I have had, we’ve concluded the same thing again and again. Racing forces those basics to improve. And the more she races, the faster she improves. I think I am a great example of what consistent racing can do for a new rider.

My first season gave me oodles of experience and tons of rewards. I ended up winning the Iowa and Nebraska series for Cat 2 women. I had some decent finishes in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but an overall (or even age group) win eluded me in the north. Chequamegon was a highlight despite a crash and narrowly missing all my goals for my first Cheq 40. I feel like Chequamegon is sorta like Ironman, in one regard. The first time you do it, you just do it for the experience and with few expectations. After that, you can truly try to race it. I’m really hungry to race Chequamegon next year!

Cam… It is no exaggeration to say that there is absolutely no way I could have done any of this without the help, support, encouragement, advice, equipment (!!), and love of Cam. Simply put, he literally made it all happen. I just showed up and rode the bike! Really it’s his fault I tried out the sport in the first place. Thanks to his first mountain bike clinic for women in 2007 - which I nearly didn’t attend - it got me hooked! Then his passion for racing anywhere within a 500-mile radius of Des Moines every weekend put me in the passenger seat of the Jeep (and into another race) when it might have been easier or more convenient to stay local and hang out at home.

I am pretty sure that there were days he would have rather worked on his own bike or just chilled out, but he faithfully prepared, maintained, washed, and otherwise handled every detail of the ‘Goose. He rode with me on days I know he could have had a better workout without me. If I got grumpy or bonky on a ride, he never said a word about it. On many weekends, we had to leave a couple hours earlier to get me to my race when sleep was probably a more attractive alternative. Though his season may very well have gone better without me to get in the way, he was often more excited for my successes than I was! I’m not sure how I got so lucky to have him in my life, but I hope that I have the chance to make it up to him somehow! Thanks, Cam!

Next year I’ve got some decisions to make. I know that I’m not giving up triathlon. And, much to Cam’s dismay, I’m not giving up running either. There won’t be an Ironmans in the near future, but I do have a couple local races I like to support and race. And I always run Dam to Dam. Other than those, I will be hitting the mountain bike race scene much like this year. When I look at my strengths and weaknesses from this year, I can already see how I will be spending my off-season and much of my training next year. The first order of business is some serious strength training. And, we’ve been hitting the weights pretty hard. I started back in October, have been very consistent, and am starting to feel a significant difference.

The “real” training starts next week, and the Zoom garage rides have started as well. While the snow continues to pile up outside my door, I am anxiously looking forward to sunny days and rides on the trail!

Season Finale - Sheboygan

2009-10-18T08:15:00.011-05:00

I’ve been looking forward to the season finale at Sheboygan since last year. Not because I wanted the season to end but because we had such a great time there last year. I had my best race of 2008 (of the three that I did…) there. I was racing in the Citizen class (Cat 3) and almost won the race, but I screwed up a sandy section in the final quarter mile and finished 2nd. That was the single moment that fueled my desire to do better, go faster, and win more in 2009.

It was good to back in Sheboygan this year – everything looked the same on the surface, but things were actually quite a bit different. Most noticeably was the weather. Last year, we were basking in a long, glorious Indian summer; this year it was snowing when we pulled into the parking lot for our pre-ride on Saturday. The other big difference was between the Citizen course from last year and the Sport course this time around. Gone were all the “easy” routes, and in their place were some gnarly rooty climbs and descents. There were also a couple of new sections and re-routes throughout.

I had a great time on the pre-ride, despite the cold numbing my fingers and toes. It is no fun at all, but it’s just the way my body works in the cold – I can be sweating all over and still not have the use of my extremities. There were a couple near misses with trees as I tried to figure out how to brake correctly without hitting the dirt or doing a Superman over the bars.

Again this year, we were guests of Ty and Christine, so our pre-race dinner was quite a spread of pasta, chicken, salmon, bread, salad, and wine. Also like last year, we chased it all with a big slice of carrot cake. We really should have taken a picture of the table. Too bad there weren’t more people there to enjoy it!

Race day was a little colder, but the sun was shining and that made quite a difference in how things felt. Cam hung out in the warm Jeep while I pedaled around some Sheboygan neighborhoods for my warm-up. I felt so good afterwards that I shed my jacket and knee warmers at the start line and passed them off to Cam. A good-sized contingent (twenty-seven) of Sport women toed the line for the WORS season finale. A couple of them looked vaguely familiar, but I haven’t raced enough in Wisconsin to know who all the heavy hitters are. After a lengthy list of call-ups, I settled into a spot near the rear.

Don gave us the “GOOOOOO!” and the front of the pack took off while I tried to not get left in their dust. After alternating between some asphalt and off-road sections, we hit the singletrack with me sitting about mid-pack. I was able to get around 3-4 girls who had some trouble with a couple of the log piles and rooty climbs. I vividly remember my apprehension last year with the water crossing and this year sailed through it without giving it a second glance. Following that was a mildly tricky climb that was totally rideable if you had checked it out on a pre-ride. I was catching up to riders from earlier waves at this time, so traffic was heavy with a few riding and most walking. One dude was walking up the right side of the incline, off the main track. Per race etiquette, I called out that I was riding, as walking racers should yield to riders. This guy had apparently lost his mind in a hypoxic fog, walked directly into my path and announced, “Well, I really don’t care anymore if you’re riding.” I really wanted to go rugby on this guy and put him in his place, but instead I pointed out that he had some pretty crappy sportsmanship, and it was not cool. That’s the first time I’ve ever had anything like that happen to me in a race anywhere. I wish I’d gotten his number and let Cam loose on the guy! However, just knowing that clown was behind me put a big smile on my face and I powered on!

Next up was a log jump that made me take the easy way out in 2008. I flew over that with a huge grin on my face and a big cheer from the crowd who had gathered to heckle. I passed a couple other guys and gals as I finished up the first half of the lap. The Sheboygan course is pretty interesting in that it runs through two city parks that are located on opposite sides of a major road. We passed under the bridge and traveled along the creek towards the Equalizer, a long-ish steep climb I’ve never cleared. This year was no exception, but I am able to run up the hill cyclocross style and passed another gal.

Despite passing a bunch guys and gals, I really felt like I lost ground on lap two; I got stuck behind a couple slower riders for what seemed like forever. Twice I was right on the wheel of a gal in front of me who didn’t have either the skills or desire to pass the even slower guys in front of her. One in particular was causing a bigger log-jam behind me, and we all were getting frustrated. I was pleased, however, that when I finally got around the ones in front of me, I would leave the whole traffic jam behind.

Whether I felt like I was having a good day or not, I couldn’t complain after passing a very slow moving gal right after the singletrack along the river. She was moving so slow that I felt compelled to ask her if she was okay when I passed. As I rode by she said she’d actually fallen into the river! On a day with temps topping out in the low 40’s, I bet she was pretty chilly! When I reached the top of the Equalizer for the second time, I was told that I was sitting in about 7-8th place. Not where I wanted to be, but my diesel engine was just starting to get warmed up, so I put my head down and did what I could for the final lap.

I caught another two or three gals on the final lap, and when I topped out on the Equalizer for the final time, they let me know that they couldn’t see anyone behind me and the girls in front were not within reach, so I could cruise to the finish. I was feeling so good, that I just kept up the pace and hammered to the finishline. I ended up fifth overall and fourth in my age group. I was pretty pleased with my finish and felt like it might have been one of my better races of the season. It was a little disappointing to get aced out of a medal – my age group took four of the top five spots! I think it might have been the only WORS race that I didn’t get to stand atop a box. I’m certainly not disappointed with my finish, though. All the big guns usually turn out for this final race of the season.

With the season basically over as soon as I crossed the finishline, I took a very short cool-down ride, threw on a jacket, grabbed the camera, and turned around to get back to watch Cam start his race. I met up with Ty, Greg, and Tony for some pictures at the log jump, then high-tailed it back to the Jeep to get into some dry, warm clothes. Usually Cam makes us some awesome smoothies for post-race nutrition, but this year I opted for a couple very tasty Oktoberfest beers from the Lakefront Brewery! The sun was shining, so I was warm and happy.

Cam had a decent race going for the first four laps. I took lots of pictures, and then went to the finishline to meet him when he was done. The first ten guys came through; there was a long gap until I saw Cam hit the line. He was looking pretty tuckered out. Apparently he’d bonked pretty bad since the last time I’d seen him. He was pleased that he’d been able to pull out an eleventh place finish. It is very rare for him to bonk like that – we’re still trying to figure out exactly why it happened. He tanked a bunch of Gatorade and some food. Then we got him a beer!

We had fun hanging out with everyone at the awards eating candy and enjoying the tasty beer. The elite field was smaller than most WORS races since cyclocross season had started; consequently the payout only went eight places. We didn’t win anything in the drawing either. We settled for another great dinner with Ty and Christine (with a bigger slice of carrot cake!). Regardless of how the finish turned out, we are both still looking forward to taking another stab at Sheboygan next fall!

Dirty Wooden Shoe

2009-10-13T20:47:00.004-05:00

The weather took out yet another race this year: Sugarbottom. That is a serious bummer because I really enjoyed that race last year, and I wanted to take another stab at it. I have also been recruiting some other gals to come try out a race – Sugarbottom is a pretty beginner-friendly locale - so the cancellation forces them to have to wait til 2010 to try out the sport.

When Sugar got cancelled on Friday night, we had to figure out what Plan B would be. Options included heading to SW Wisconsin for a race or stay local and do a ‘cross race in Pella. I was still pretty amped to race a mountain bike, but the thought of another 4+ hours each way in the car made my stomach turn. It turned out not to be much work to convince Cam that sticking close to home might not be such a bad idea. Besides, I kinda enjoyed the one ‘cross race I did last year, and you are pretty much guaranteed a good butt-kickin’, high-intensity workout when you race ‘cross.

Neither one of us has a ‘cross bike, so we do it ghetto-style on a mountain bike. And a hard-tail works a little better (and weighs a little less), so the ‘Goose was the ride of choice for both of us. My race was up first with four Cat 1/2/3 women and seven Cat 4 – a couple of PRC chicks, a bunch of DMOS ladies, and me. The four 1/2/3s were gone immediately, and I settled into about 5th or 6th place in my class following another one of my not-so-stellar starts. The course was one of the more mountain biker-friendly ‘cross courses I’d seen, so after a couple of laps, I’d worked my way up to what I figured was third place, where I stayed for a couple more laps. I went back and forth with the DMOS racer ahead of me. I’d catch her on the technical parts and climbs, then she’d pull away on the straight-aways.

This continued on for the remainder of the race; I even passed her a few times, only to get reeled back in a short time later. After 45 minutes of racing in the red zone, my oxygen-deprived brain decided that a third place finish was going to be just fine, so put it in cruise control and finished out the race. I even added a little flair with a triple bunny hop across the finishline…

It was cold and blowing, so after a quick cool-down lap with Maria, I passed the ‘Goose off to Cam and changed clothes. I checked out the posted results to see how everyone else had finished and was surprised to see my name listed as 2nd place! It turned out that the vast majority of the race I’d been battling for the lead! A race is a race and I know that whenever I am in a race I should be fighting for every spot like it is the lead. I admit, however, that I did have thoughts throughout the race that I would certainly “settle” for third rather than turn myself inside out for second. Had I known that I was fighting for first, I know I would have gladly made blood shoot out of my eyes to fight for the win.

It was my bad. It was not a good race strategy, and I learned the lesson the hard way. So, although I was disappointed with not getting to race at Sugarbottom, we had a great time in Pella, and I am looking forward to Spooky Cross in a couple of weeks!

Cam had a good race, too. The Zoom Performance ‘Cross Team duo of Tony Nichols and JJ Bailey went one-two, and Cam pulled a strong third. Tony was off the front the whole race with JJ chasing. Cam worked his way up to third and challenged JJ a couple of times, but JJ’s barrier prowess was too much to overcome for a guy who would much rather stay clipped in to his pedals the whole race. The ‘Goose got a good coat of mud, and we got one last high-intensity workout before our season finale at Sheboygan next week.

Manawa

2009-09-27T12:17:00.004-05:00

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

2009-09-23T21:21:00.013-05:00

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

2009-09-16T14:59:00.005-05:00

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

2009-09-14T20:18:00.011-05:00

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.”

Maskenthine

2009-08-31T19:46:00.003-05:00

When I found out that Steve was bringing the girls back to Bettendorf for a visit this weekend, I have to admit that I was really hoping this race would get rained out for a third time this year so that we could go back and have some twin time instead of driving to BFE, Nebraska for a bike meet. However, the weather had better ideas and the day was picture-perfect to race on the dirt. Aside from the 3.5 hour duration, the drive over was great.

As usual, I was hoping for a decent turn-out of females to compete against. But, also as usual, there was just one other woman who made the trip (which, as it turned out, was only about a 10 minute drive for her). My recon lap went well, but I recall thinking that the laps were pretty short, so I assumed that we'd be doing at least three laps. Standing on the starting line, I was shocked to find out that the Cat 2 women were only scheduled for 2 laps. I tried to convince the other competitor that we should do three laps, but she declined. This was gonna be a quick race for us.

We started with the 45+ Cat 2 men, and I took the lead (after the men...) into the most technical section following the start up the gravel road. That may have been a mistake as Rhonda, the other woman, really had a home field advantage, living so close to the venue. I'm sure she had a better grasp on how to get through this section, and my suspicions were confirmed because she was right on my butt throughout that whole portion. The course opens up a bit after the initial section of single track, so I was able to slowly pull away. It took me the first half of the lap to get my gap to stick, though.

My legs weren't great at during my warm-up or lap one, but they really started to feel pretty good at the beginning of lap two. With Chequamegon coming up in three short weeks, I wanted to push the pace in the more open sections to see what I could do and to make sure I was getting a decent workout and not just putting in the minimum to win. When I dropped the hammer, I started picking people off, one by one, and sometimes three at a time. At one point, I even passed the (lone) Cat 1 woman racer who started 2 minutes ahead of me!

All too soon, the second lap was over and so was my race. I was just starting to feel good, too! The most disappointing part was that I had driven 3.5 hours each way for what ended up being less than a one hour race. In fact, I got done with my race, waited for Rhonda to finish, watched for Cam to come by a couple minutes later to start his fourth lap, made it back to the car to change clothes, and was back before Cam came around again.

Too short. Bummer. I could have used a good, long, high intensity workout to help prep for Chequamegon. It is what it is, though.

Cam had an outstanding race. He let Kevin lead for a couple of laps before whipping past him and never looking back. He won by 3.5 minutes.

Two Ws for Team Vardaman-Kirkpatrick again! We were home in time for me to get up the next morning and still make the trip to the Quad-Cities for a quick visit with Steve and the girls and some Happy Joes pizza!

Seven Oaks - Boone, Iowa

2009-08-27T16:05:00.003-05:00

They say ignorance is bliss. That was certainly the case for me when it comes to Boone. Although it is just a few minutes down the road from Ames, I’d never ridden at Seven Oaks before. I’d seen Cam race there twice last year, but I’d never turned a single pedal stroke there myself. Either I wasn’t paying attention to the course while I was watching Cam race or my mind blocked out what I was seeing; regardless, that place is tough.

Cam and I went over for a little course recon on Saturday. We’d had some rain, so we weren’t sure what the course conditions would be. Literally, just as we were pedaling our way onto the first few feet of the trail, I asked Cam if I was correct in assuming that the biggest challenge of riding/racing at Seven Oaks was the climbing. He quickly corrected me – it is a very technical course. And he spent the next 75 minutes showing me example after example after example of the technical nature of this ski hill.

At some point about halfway through the single lap that we did together, I decided I wasn’t having fun anymore! The course was still a little slick from the rain, I had so much mud caked in my shoes and pedals that I could barely get clipped in and out, and I was spending a bunch of time off the bike pushing it around some of the trickier switchbacks. I honestly had a fleeting thought about the Hickory Grove triathlon being held the next day and if I thought I could still enter and compete there rather than at the Boone race! Thankfully, the last quarter of the lap gets a little bit easier, so I banished the triathlon thought from my head, and took a needed little rest in the back of the truck while Cam did another lap at his pace… Cam said the course had dried out quite a bit between his first and second laps, and he thought it would be good to go for the race on Sunday.

Race day was perfect – like 70-75 degrees, a light breeze, and not a single cloud in the sky – that kind of good! There was a good turnout of people, especially with three females in the beginner class, three in Cat 2, and one in Cat 1. Keely and I rode the beginner loop for a warm-up, then soon it was go time.

The experts took off at noon, with the rest of us 5 minutes later. Generally, we women start off in the back and have to pass a bunch of dudes shortly after entering the singletrack. I wanted to avoid doing any more passing than necessary, because there are very limited locations where a safe pass can be made (at least with my skill level) at Boone. I pushed it a little at the start and was thankful that my legs were able to respond. That would never happen at a bigger race…

Still, as soon as we all hit the singletrack, the pace slowed considerably and there was a lot of walking to be had by all. I stayed on my bike more than I thought I might, and was able to get around a couple more dudes in the process. I had managed to get in front of Keely and Kristin at the start and hoped to keep a couple of guys between us as much as possible.

The initial climb is challenging, but then it just gets worse from there. However, I found myself really enjoying it much more than the day before. For one, the course was much drier, and the parts I couldn’t ride were far less slick than on Saturday. Secondly, the pace was obviously higher during the race, so the momentum created by the speed eased some of the climbs. I was still working my butt off, but I was having a lot more fun doing it! I enjoyed riding with some of the guys during the first lap. We all seemed to struggle with the same technical areas, but somehow I managed to gain a little ground on most of them for the remainder of the lap. There were no major mishaps on lap one, but I did find myself laughing out loud a couple of times at some silly mistakes or total catastrophes that were narrowly avoided. Near the end of the lap, I could feel my back starting to revolt against the strain of the technical nature of the course.

Lap two started well, but not more than about five minutes in, I took a crazy line down a little drop, hit something at the bottom, and before I knew it I was on the ground and the bike was piled up underneath me. I knew there was one guy behind me who could very easily run me right over if he didn’t see me until too late. I grabbed the bike, did a really fast glance to make sure nothing was totally mangled, then remounted in a hurry. My body was fine, but not too long after, I heard the front brakes start rubbing. I stopped to see what was up with the brakes, and right then Cam came around (on his third lap!), so it was a perfect opportunity for him to pass me without putting myself into a tree. He asked me if I was in the lead, which seemed strange to me, because I knew that he would have had to pass Kristin and Keely to get up to me! I kind of pondered that in my head as I finished the lap.

I got the brakes to work without rubbing, and soldiered on to the finish. The only major mistake was stopping to let one of the leaders by me, but I mistook the Cat 2 guy behind me for the leader. Basically, I pulled over and let someone by who really should have fought me for the spot. It wasn’t Keely or Kristin, so it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but I need to not make that mistake again!

After the race, Cam asked if I had won. I thought I had, but he said he never saw Keely. I wondered if she had to drop out or if something had happened to her. I saw her after we did a cool-down, and she said thought she was gaining on me at the end of the first lap, but then she’d taken a wrong turn (onto the beginner loop) at the start of lap two. It took her a while to figure out what had happened and how to get back to where she needed to be. That’s a bummer – it would have been fun to battle it out with her on the second lap!

Looking back, it really was a fun race. Painful, but fun. The only carnage from the race was a whole bunch of bruising on my legs, a little scrape on my elbow and one broken piece on the front brakes of the bike. The day was picture-perfect and we ended it well with a great post-race meal at Hickory Park!

WORS / MNSCS Border Battle

2009-08-20T19:44:00.004-05:00

It’s been a little while since Cam and I headed to the Great White North for a race – actually it was the middle of June since I’d gone racin’ in Wisconsin. I’ve been enjoying some fun times testing my skillz in some recent Iowa and Nebraska races, but I was ready to throw down with the larger women’s fields in the north. A quick check of the MNSCS and WORS schedules showed the annual Border Battle between the two series.

Before we could head out for the weekend’s race, we had another little something to do on Friday night: the Iowa State Fair! Cam’s company gives him two admission tickets and $20 worth of food tickets. Plus, one of my favorites, Gary Allan, was playing at the Grandstand on Friday night. If that wasn’t good enough, the first Friday of the Fair is also traditionally East Sider Night, so the people-watching would be exceptionally good! We ate our way through the evening (sadly, nothing we had was on a stick) at the Beef Producers booth, the Turkey Producer’s booth, and the ice cream trailer; we also managed to take in the Big Bull, the Big Boar, some sheep judging, and even a little bit of beer drinking. Although Cam isn’t much of a country music fan, the company was good and we enjoyed our little evening out. Then it was time to start thinking about racing again!

Held in River Falls, WI, the Border Battle pits the Wisconsin riders against the ones from Minnesota for a year’s worth of bragging rights and a traveling trophy. Being from Iowa, our rides would be of no consequence to that end, but having basically twice the competition would mean that we would need to step up our game to compete!

We weren’t really sure what the weather would do – rain was forecast, but no one was saying exactly when or how much it would be. The pre-ride on Saturday turned out to be perfect – the weather, the course, everything. We hit the grocery store on the way back to the cabin we shared with Tyrine, Tim, and Michelle, and cooked up a great dinner. We were able to eat dinner out on the deck before the rain started. It rained all night long, and only started to clear off by a couple hours before my race. As soon as I was partially warmed-up, I rode over to see how muddy the racers in the beginner class were, and to my surprise they looked pretty clean!

The rest of my warm-up was similar to my experiences at these bigger races. My stomach was doing flip-flops and I felt like I was on the verge of bonking – just nothing in my legs. I’ve sorta learned to accept this as “normal” for me now, but I still haven’t figured out how to deal with it in a productive manner.

Twenty-four women lined up for the start of the Cat 2 race, including me and Michelle. I knew I was gonna have another bad start, but I really got left behind this time! We took a short run through the grass to the base of the first climb; I was in dead last (again). I had hoped to make up some ground on the climb, and it didn’t take long for that to happen. People were unclipping all over the place, but I managed to find a workable line among them and cruise to the top. I think I passed 8-9 ladies on that climb.

I stuck to the wheels of a couple gals through the first half of the lap and worked my way around them and a few guys, too. The course was in great shape and despite a few minor hiccups with other competitors, everything was going well. Cam was out taking pictures on the first lap, so I had a little bit of a cheering section! Lap two was more of the same. A fourteen year old and I swapped places back and forth for awhile, until she took off and left me in her dust. After she faded into the distance, I rode alone primarily for the rest of the race, except for a couple of guys who made me work for my position. I never saw another female, either behind me or in front of me, for the rest of the race.

When I crossed the finish line, I noticed that I wasn’t working very hard. Apparently, I needed a rabbit of some sort to chase. That is an area that I really need to work on – keep diggin’ til the end of the race. I ended up 10th place overall, 2nd in my age group.

Cam’s race began soon after mine ended. I had a chance to get out on the course to snap a couple pictures. Following his warm-up, Cam wasn’t too sure his legs were 100% up to the challenge, but he marched his way steadily through the field and came out with a strong eighth place finish.
Next up is another race close to home: Seven Oaks in Boone. I’ve never raced there. In fact this is where I watched my first race last year. As I understand, there is a lot of climbing, but everyone seems to like to race there!

Lake Ahquabi

2009-08-11T16:33:00.007-05:00

I couldn’t decide how I felt about going back to race at Ahquabi this year. Part of me was stoked to have the chance to ride this course again. After all, this was where I made my mountain bike racing debut just last year. On the other hand, I found it really hard to believe that a whole year had passed me by. Man, time does certainly fly! And a lot has changed since then.

A year ago, Cam and I weren’t even (officially, whatever that means) dating, he was busy making fun of the 300lbs. bike I was planning to race, and I was scared to death of actually trying to go “fast” on a mountain bike trail. Rolling up this year, I had to laugh a little about the changes from last year.

Last year, it took some convincing me that I would survive the race, let alone doing it without crashing into something or someone. This time around, I was recruiting any and every female who I knew owned a mountain bike. Last year, I thought I would die from the effort it would take to ride one lap at Ahquabi. This year, I was a little disappointed that we were only doing three laps – I thought seriously about heading back out for another lap or two in an effort to get a little more training for Chequamegon. A year ago, I was the one asking all the questions at the starting line, while this time I was one of the ones answering the newbie’s questions. Needless to say, I was much happier this year!

The one thing that didn’t change, however, was that I didn’t want to get beat in the race! Hopefully I won’t ever lose that drive! Actually, I think last year’s goal was to not get lapped by Cam. I figured this year, it would probably happen no matter what, so I just set a goal of not letting that happen until my third lap…

With increased recruitment efforts this year, we brought the Women’s Cat 2 field size up to four – All Nine Yards’ Kristin Reece, Rassmussen’s Sally Logan, Punk Rock Cycling’s Keely Shannon, and me. Keely is a complete stud on the bike, and probably has more experience that the other three of us combined despite her young age of 19. She used to race mountain bikes in her earlier years and now races Cat 3 on the road. Sally, Kristin, and I placed within about a minute of each other last week at Ingawanis, so I knew that I would have some good competition when the gun went off.

Temps were back into the 90s, but combined with the mostly shaded nature of this course, it felt maybe ten to fifteen degrees cooler than the sun-baked blast-furnace-like conditions of the race the day before. The skies (and the forecast) threatened big-time thunderstorms and hail, so we were all keeping an eye to the sky throughout our warm-ups leading up to the start.

Race director Bruce Brown put together an awesome course – 7+ challenging miles of Chequamegon-like trails. With 90% doubletrack and a fair amount of climbing, the conditions are perfect for beginner and experienced riders alike. Even the Dee and Dave Mable broke out the tandem for the day.

Bruce started the whole group of 60+ racers at the same time, with most of us pretty well self-seeded according to category. The start was pretty fast, even back where I started… I was just trying to keep Keely within my visual field, not let her get too far away! I was also pleasantly surprised to see Karolyn Zeller, newbie mountain bike studette, crank out some fast and furious first miles in her race. The crowds thinned out fairly quickly, and about midway through the first lap, I finally caught and passed Karolyn, then Keely. While Karolyn was only doing one lap, I knew I needed to keep the pace up to keep Keely from catching back up to me.

The course was fast, for the most part, and what surprised me the most was how much I was enjoying pushing myself through the tougher parts of the race, despite my fatigue from the previous day’s race, and despite the heat. I was feeling pretty fresh and my legs would go when I told them to. That is a great feeling.

I ended up riding the majority of the race by myself, but the two-way traffic sections meant I got to cheer on some of the other ladies and see Cam a couple times out there. It wasn’t until my final lap that he finally caught and lapped me. He had a big enough gap on second that we rode together for a couple of seconds before he took off.

The last few yards to the finish line was straight up a huge incline. Surprisingly, I still felt awesome by the time I got there, so I just dropped into an easy-ish gear and plugged my way to the top for the win!

This was one of the most fun races of the year so far. My favorite part was seeing so many newbies come out and try out the sport. At one point I walked away from Cam and told him, “I’m gonna go take advantage of having all these females here and go hang out with the girls!”

Hopefully, all these new ladies were bit by the bug that got me at Ahquabi last year, and they will be regulars on the Iowa MTB race circuit!

Tranquility Tire Tantrum

2009-08-08T07:50:00.003-05:00

The forecast just sounded great: 100+ temps (never mind the heat index…) and 25mph winds, gusting to 45mph. Sounds like the makings of a pretty miserable day for a mountain bike race. I really don’t mind the heat nearly as much as I mind the cold, so I figured I’d do okay.

Cam and I loaded up and headed to Omaha, and tried to keep the Jeep from getting blown off the Interstate. Unfortunately, we did come across a motorcyclist who wasn’t able to keep it shiny side up. That image will be with me for a long time…

We arrived with enough time to do a recon lap and get a little acclimated to the heat. My legs didn’t feel the best on the recon lap, so I cut it a little short. I got enough of a feel for what I was going to be up against: switchback city and a little bit of climbing. Though it had rained pretty well on Friday, the majority of the course was pretty dry and dusty with just a couple of soggy spots. I also learned that the shade felt great, but the sun would bake you in a hurry! I hid out in the shade and dumped Gatorade down my throat until the race was ready to start.

As usual, there was a small turnout in the women’s fields: two of us in Cat 2 and no one showed for the Cat 1 race. Nebraska regular, Rox, was out with a wicked injury. Rhonda (the other female) and I lined up at the back of the men’s fields. I usually have a pretty slow start, so I’d just as soon not have any dudes breathing down my back right from the start.

After about 10 minutes of delay at the start for some interesting paperwork issues, we were finally off. I was even slower than usual coming off the line but saw no real reason to be pushing it at all right at the start. It was going to be a long, hot, brutal day no matter what, so I figured I’d just let all the rabbits tire themselves out; I would try to come on strong later in the race.

My only rabbit, Rhonda, hit the dirt about 3-4 minutes into the race, so I didn’t really have to work too hard to overtake her! Lap one was good. I got into the swing of things pretty quickly, and enjoyed chasing down some of the guys ahead of me. Apparently, this course uses some BMX trails, too, so I had some fun testing out my mad skills on those!

By the time I hit lap 2, I was starting to feel the heat. There were lots of other racers who were feeling it, too, evidenced by the carnage along the trail – lots of DNFs today! Since speed was no longer a huge worry, I tried to work on getting a few more fluids into my system. I could feel myself slowing down, and I knew I could be in a world of hurt in a hurry if I didn’t start to focus on hydration.

I passed a few more guys on the last half of the lap and was able to finish strong for the win. Not a really exciting race or win, but a win is a win, and I will take it. Cam was feeling the heat, put it in cruise control about halfway through the race for a second place finish.

Recovery was the next order of business. We threw down a huge smoothie and about a half gallon of water each. Tomorrow is another hot, humid race at Lake Ahquabi State Park in the Iowa Series.

Ingawanis

2009-08-04T13:27:00.000-05:00

I get a little excited every time we go racing in Iowa. Not only do I know it’s gonna be a great course and full of fun people, but perhaps the best part is knowing that it’s gonna be a short drive! We can eat breakfast and dinner at home with some great racing between.

Ingawanis is a Boy Scout camp outside of Waverly. Cam told me that the course was pretty fun, but he wasn’t sure what to expect since part of the trail was shut down for logging (of all things…). He wondered if the best part wasn’t the part that was closed.

We arrived with plenty of time to get registered and get a practice lap done before go-time. I ran into Kristin Reece right when we arrived. She was a good person to lead me on a recon lap as she’d raced the time trial there the day before. The course was in great shape and a blast to ride.

Like most Iowa races, there were only three of us in the Cat 2 race, but there was another 3-4 women toeing the line for the Cat 1 cash! Cat 1 and 2 started in separate waves, but all men and women of the same class started together. Kristin, Sally Logan, and I hung out near the back of the Cat 2 field and shot the breeze waiting for the gun to sound. Having cool chicks around me at the start really helps me keep my heart from jumping out of my throat before any racing has occurred.

We took off with Kristin in the lead, followed by me, then Sally. I stayed on Kristin’s wheel for the first 4-5 minutes while I settled into a groove. We worked our way around some of the slower guys, then when I was nearing full-steam, Kristin let me by. She stayed close for a while, but by the end of lap one I was riding alone.

The course was fast and fun. There were a couple of tricky climbs, but without anyone breathing down my neck or slower traffic to contend with, I was able to get through them with little difficulty. The laps were going by well. I caught a few more guys, but the closer we got to the end, the more I started to see the tail end of the Cat 1 women’s field. I ran out of real estate just before I caught her, but it was good to know that I had made up the 2-3 minute start differential.

I came across the line first, and about a minute after me was Kristin, then barely another minute until Sally who nearly flatted and had to stop for air. Though we rarely saw each other on the course, we were a lot closer in the final standings.

I took a good cool-down spin with the Logans and others; they shared some Chequamegon tips with me. I’m really looking forward to the time we’ll all be spending in Hayward the weekend of the race! Good peeps!

Cam had a good race and even some good competition during the early laps. By the final lap he was riding alone in the lead. One downfall of the Iowa and Nebraska series is that we race at the same time, so I don’t get to watch his race progress any more than what I can see from the saddle of my bike! Still, it was yet another great day of racing for us! We are blessed!

RAGBRAI XXXVII - The Best Yet!

2009-08-03T15:11:00.009-05:00

I know I say this every year, but again this year was the best ever! It just keeps getting better! If I had to put a title of this year's ride, it would be Family Ties. Riding with Team Satisfied this year was Sparkle, Sparkle's mom (Snake), Sparkle's cousin (Saucy) and Saucy's husband (The Shaman), plus my uncle (The Sjeff), and me (Sugar). I was so glad to have Jeff along this year. I've been very fortunate to be able to spend more and more time with my extended family over the last 8 years or so, and the more time we spend together, the more fun we have!

I knew that Jeff would like RAGBRAI for the people and for the riding. The way we did RAGBRAI in the early years was growing old for me (or am I that one that is getting old??), and I've begun to realize what I like most about the Ride is the riding! Jeff and I set a pre-ride goal of riding the whole thing. Honestly, I've never done that before, so I was excited about doing it!

Jeff had an adventurous trip to Iowa, including hitting a deer at 2am (in someone else's car), and met us in Council Bluffs on Saturday. I was without, for the first time, my traditional RAGBRAI bike. A day or two before Cam and I left for Colorado, I found a crack in the frame, so Cam let me borrow one of his bikes to take on RAGBRAI.

Some highlights of the trip:

1. We made a stop at Sid's on the way west, plus the traditional stop in Marne.

2. It was a very mild week, temperature-wise. I wore arm warmers for at least parts of 3 days.

3. Jeff and I did the century loop. This was also a first for any member of Team Satisfied.

4. I ate a lot of Pastafari. Whoa, the food is so good and the salmon is so worth the extra cha-ching!

5. I only ran into Team Emerson once the whole week. It was very strange not to see them as much this year.

6. I don't think we ever went to a single beer garden. Oh, I take that back. However, the only one we went to was off-route at the Cumming Tap.

7. Beer and Casey's pizza is always a good dinner at the end of a long day of riding bikes.

8. Snake is an awesome sag-driver. I learned from her that it is easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission.

9. This year's traditional thunderstorm took place the first night that we didn't have a house to stay housing us for the night.

10. I'm already looking forward to next year. Any other family up for the challenge?

Colorado Training Camp - Durango Report

2009-07-12T15:09:00.007-05:00

After our rides on Tuesday, we left Vail and headed to Durango. The drive varies between dull and fairly flat terrain to some of the most amazing views and roads I've ever seen! Aside from the bit of motion sickness I encountered on the last half of the drive, we really enjoyed the trip and found a few other places we'd like to check out on a bike next time we are in Colorado.

We had one night to spend in Durango before Cam's dad showed up with our accommodations for the rest of the week, a sweet motorhome. As soon as I could get out of the car, I hit the hay. Cam found some BBQ, and that was all she wrote for the first night in Durango.

During the drive over, I realized I was half-way through with my Colorado trip, and I hadn't even set the tires of the 'Goose on any dirt! That needed to be fixed ASAP. Bright and early (sort of...) on Wednesday morning, we left the Jeep at the hotel and rode a couple miles to the Telegraph trails. Cam gave me a few warnings about rattlesnakes, trails to be careful on, and encouragement to drink often, then he headed out to abuse his body and amuse his mind for a few hours.

Thankfully there are some pretty nice trail maps at every intersection, so I couldn't get too lost. I tried out a couple trails and came across some other riders who were impressed that I had tackled one of the trails. They told me they usually rested up a day or two before trying that one! I was pretty glad to hear that because I had used up most of my allotted energy for the day on that one trail! That and I was feeling the hurt of the altitude. I stopped to rest at one point and seriously thought I was gonna toss my cookies. I tanked a bunch of water and a few calories and headed for flatter terrain.

Instead of sticking to the trail map, I just went exploring. I rode up Horse Gulch Road until I found some random unmarked trails and just followed them til they either ran out or turned into something too gnarly for my meager abilities. It turned out to be a pretty fun adventure, and I rode quite a bit of stuff I was sure I'd never attempt!

It was a pretty warm day and the stuff I was riding was in no way sheltered from the sun, so after about 2.5 hours of fun on the dirt, I headed back to the hotel. There I sat under an overhang and "borrowed" the wireless connection while waiting for Cam to return. He rolled up a little later and it wasn't until he got off the bike that I could tell something was wrong. He looked a little dazed, then turned around to show me his back. The raw meat that was where his shoulders used to be looked pretty bad. The bike wasn't much better with a cracked stem and partially taco'd front wheel. We got him cleaned off and then went in search of his father and some dinner - and we found it in the form of a cold beer and awesome meal at the local micro brewery.

Durango Day Two, Cam went out for a long road ride. His mountain bike was not yet rideable and the road would be a little more forgiving to the aches from the crash. So, Larry and I went in search of some singletrack. We found some good trail that eventually meets up with the Colorado Trail. We rode for about an hour before Larry started to feel like I did the day before. I, on the other hand, was feeling great! I sent Larry back to a junction in the road, and I went on up to find the Colorado. It took some climbing to get there, but I can't tell you how fun the trip down was! Again, throughout the day I found myself riding stuff that was so intimidating before. For some reason, being in Colorado gave me the extra little boost of confidence I needed to just charge through rocks and down trail that might have been a hike-a-bike for me in Iowa.

I met back up with Larry at the bottom - he looked much better - and we headed back to the RV. We hit a great little Italian place for dinner (and some great wine). We also procured a new stem for Cam's bike, so we could go ride some dirt together on Friday, my last full day in Durango.

Larry opted for a road ride on Friday, so Cam replaced his stem and wheel, then we drove into town to start the ride. We rode out to the same trailhead that Larry and I had driven to the day before. We followed the same sweet singletrack as the day before and chased each other down the Colorado Trail. Instead of turning off to go back to the trailhead, we continued on the Colorado to Gudy's Rest for a little snack and some photos. The rest of the Colorado was really fun and a little challenging. The views were amazing, so it took a little bit of concentration to remember to keep my eyes on the trail and not on the vistas!

I was both perfectly tired and perfectly satisfied when we rolled up to the Jeep three hours after we'd left it. It was the perfect ending to my trip.

Early the next morning, I boarded a plane home. It was pretty hard to leave, but I'm already looking forward to next year!

Colorado Training Camp - Day Five

2009-07-07T22:39:00.003-05:00

For our last day in Vail, Cam wanted to go for a long road ride, so I sent him out the door early. I relaxed around the house, did a little work, then decided I wanted to go for one final ride. Steve was off of work and going to take the girls to the park in Vail, so I opted to ride to the park and meet them for a little fun. It was about a 45 minute ride wach way, with a very fun break in between!

The blondie is Sophie and the one in green in Lauren, both age 3 1/2. Awesome kiddos!

Colorado Training Camp - Day Four

2009-07-06T22:56:00.002-05:00

Every time I drive to Vail on I-70, I see the bike path that runs from Frisco to Vail, weaving back and forth under the interstate and over Vail Pass, and I think to myself, what kind of crazy person would ride their bike on that?? Well, today I found out that I am that kind of crazy person.

The sign at the trailhead

The view looking back towards Vail

The view at the top of Vail Pass (elev. 10,600 ft)

Heading back down the mountain

A VERY steep section near the Interstate - with the Runaway Truck Ramp in the background

The sign I was most looking forward to seeing on the ride home - the turn-off to Steve and Tina's house!

The Stats (at least the best that I can figure):

Distance: 60 miles

Time: 5 hours (!!)

Elevation Gain: 5500 ft.

Times I Got Lost: 2-3-ish...

Many thanks to my sister-in-law for letting me ride her road bike for the day. I'm thinking this wouldn't have been so much fun on a mountain bike!

Cam and my brother went out to hit some local trails and try to rip the legs off of each other. I'm not sure who "won," but each came home with evidence of a crash!

Colorado Training Camp - Day Three

2009-07-05T22:55:00.000-05:00

We awoke to another beautiful day; chilly, but beautiful. Since Cam was still feeling a little like he'd been run over by a bus, we decided to just do an easy recovery ride to Vail. Sunday is also the day of the Farmers' Market in the Village, so it was a good day to go.

We hopped on the mountain bikes and headed down the road out of the neighborhood. The trip down the hillside took about 8 minutes. Being that the road is 3.3 miles long, that meant we were flying at nearly 25mph without ever taking a single pedal stroke. Fun on the way down, but that meant it was going to be a looooong ride home at the end of the day.

Right at the bottom of the hill, we were able to jump on a bike path that took us straight into Vail. The Farmers' Market was packed with people, and we had trouble even walking through with our bikes. Once we survived that melee, we found a little outdoor patio to have some lunch.

The ride back toward Avon was great. It was great at least until we got back to the entrance of the neighborhood. The skies had been darkening throughout the day, and we were wondering if we could make it back to Steve and Tina's before we got wet. It turns out that we didn't make it. After hiding out under the awning of a condo for about 20 minutes during the downpour, we resumed our the slow slog up the hill. It took us a full 30 minutes to cover those last 3.3 miles home (a breakneck pace of 6-7 mph).

Besides the visit to the coffee shop and the grocery store, we relaxed the rest of the day with my nieces and put ourselves to bed relatively early.

Colorado Training Camp - Day Two

2009-07-04T21:52:00.000-05:00

I was riding along a nice bike path just outside Breckenridge and couldn't help but reflect on just how fortunate I am. It's July 4th, and I am out enjoying a beautiful day in the Colorado mountains on my bike. Between the wildflowers growing along the trail, the bright blue sky and light breeze, and the fact that I just love to be on my bike, I couldn't possible come up with anything that I would do to make the day any better. Or at least I'd better not try to come up with anything... I am so blessed to get to do what I do.

I started off the year with 10 days on Maui, riding my bike. In April, I scored another trip to Phoenix for 5 days of riding with some great women. Now, here I am in Colorado getting to spend another 8 days of riding. Later in the month I'll add another week with RAGBRAI. It truly doesn't get any better than this!

The reflection came about because I was out riding while Cam raced in the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge. His race started at 11am, so I watched the start (literally a parade lap - the racers lead the Fourth of July parade down Main Street in downtown Breck.

I had roughly 2 hours to kill until I would see Cam again and he would need a hand-up. I changed clothes and went in search of the bike path we'd seen on our drive into town. I made it as far as Summit High School before it was time to turn back. I was pleased to see a high ropes challenge course similar to what we use at the ALC. I had to take a few pictures, as there were a few elements that we don't have.

Once I rode back and gave Cam some more to drink, I was free for almost another two hours before he'd finish. I headed back out along the same path, but made it all the way to Frisco this time before needing to double back. This time, I spotted another one of my favorite sports being played: rugby! That warranted another stop for some photos.

As I was snapping some shots of the scrum, moisture began to fall from the sky. It was very light, but was rain nonetheless. So as not to be caught out in a downpour, I high-tailed it back to the race site. As I watched the winners and other finishers come through the chute, the heavens opened. If I were to see Cam's finish, I had no choice but to hang out in the rain. When the breeze also picked up, I found shelter under an EZ-Up of some team. I just pretended like I was supposed to be there...

Dave Weins had a great finish. I took his picture because his aunt takes one of the exercise classes I teach in Ames. That and he's just a stud... The women's champion came across the line and was doing all her post-race interviews right in front of me. She was stoked to earn a national title - her first!

Soon I saw the familiar black and white of Rassy's heading down the hill towards me. Cam crossed the finishline, and before I could even say a single word, he looked me straight in the eye and said, "I am NOT doing this again next year! That sucked!"

I just smiled, knowing it would only be a matter of time before he ate those words...

We did a quick cool-down, changed into some warm clothes, shivered at the finish for a while, ate some of the best post-race food I've ever seen, had a beer, then headed back to Vail where a great Fourth of July meal awaited us. We stayed up late enough to watch some fireworks out on the deck with the girls. A great day!

Colorado Training Camp - Day One

2009-07-03T20:00:00.000-05:00

2:59am (Iowa time): Wake up!

3:50am: On the road, my idea. I remembered our family trips to Colorado when I was a kid - we would be on the road VERY early and although that kinda sucked, it was great to be well into Nebraska when the sun was just coming up and crossing into Colorado before noon.

12:10pm (Colorado time): Join every resident of Denver on I-70 West. Traffic moves between 5-15mph for the next hour. It's a good thing the scenery was so great, otherwise it would have really been annoying. Drive through a torrential downpour in Summit County.

2:40pm: Arrive at Steve and Tina's house and get to spend a little time with Lauren and Sophie. It pours again.

4:30pm: Finally get a break in the weather. We head out for a little ride to stretch the legs and make me feel like a human again. We rode around Steve and Tina's neighborhood which is fun, but we are always either tearing down some hill or climbing back up some hill. Did I mention that Steve and Tina live on the side of a mountain??

7:45pm: Bathe and feed ourselves and get to bed early. Cam races 50 miles in Breckenridge tomorrow!

Hy-Vee Triathlon

2009-06-30T14:52:00.003-05:00

The Team Vardo Tri Group (acutally I coach all these folks but Kecia!)

A free entry to the Hy-Vee Triathlon fell into my lap a few weeks ago. The only thing that had been holding me back from signing up on my own was the cost. I’ve done enough big races (and spent enough big money to do them) to know that at the end of the day, it’s still just an Olympic distance race. And, while Hy-Vee does hand out a lot of schwag, the quality isn’t enough to warrant the high price tag. Craig and Jenny put on awesome races with better schwag for half the price!

The original plan was to work the Zoom booth at the expo and take in all the rest of the events of the weekend without having the headache of actually doing the race. I was so excited to get $150 worth of free entry to the race that I grabbed it without really thinking about all the other inconveniences that go along with a race of this size – namely the parking, the athlete meetings, the bike check-in the day before, etc. Reality hit once the weekend rolled around.

On Friday I headed to West Des Moines to kill a couple birds with one stone. I hit the expo, chatted with Matt and Dustin at the Zoom booth for a little bit, then Dustin and I filed into the mandatory athlete meeting to hear a bunch of stuff that we either already knew or turned out to be misinformation! After the meeting and packet pick-up, I went back to the booth and ended up staying there for a couple more hours than I expected. We had a ton of our athletes come by, but we also talked to a lot of folks about who Zoom is and what we do. It seemed to be worth the extra effort to stay and spread the love!

Because Hy-Vee has so many connections in the food industry, there was free food all over the expo. I think that part of my undoing of the weekend started right there on Friday night. It seemed as though I was always snacking on something. Chips from the Doritos booth, granola bars from the schwag bag, “vitamin” water, etc. I spent more time than I had planned at the expo, and that meant I had more time to eat a lot of junk.

After the expo, Cam and I met Matt and some of his athletes for dinner. Pizza wasn’t the greatest choice I could have made (but, man, was it good!). Cam headed out early on Saturday morning for his race in Mankato, so I hung around the house until about 11am, then headed back to the race site to watch the pro races for the afternoon. I took in lots of water, but it was still blazing hot, and sitting in the sun from noon til about 7pm might not have been the best idea either. Kris, Kirstin, Kecia, and Tim were all down for some of the races, too, so we hung out and ate more free food.

Really the amount of food that was given away at this race to the spectators was like nothing I’d ever seen. The green movement meant that there were a bunch of vendors handing out reusable grocery sacks, and the people walking through the expo looked like they’d just done all their grocery shopping for the week. I basically ate lunch and dinner there, plus had tons of free water and other beverages whenever I needed. At one point, one of the vendors just started bringing free sandwiches into the stands and passing them out.

The women’s pro race was a blast to watch, but it was the men’s race later in the day that was the real nail-biter. Going into the last lap of the run, it was a 6-man race. The sprint to the finish was awesome, with the difference between 1st and 3rd place costing the losers over $150,000! Very exciting, and I’m glad I was there to witness it!

At 6pm, they finally let us start checking our bikes in for the night. By that time, I would guess that I’d walked about 5-6 miles in the heat and humidity of that day. Again, not the best idea the day before a big race… I had to get home and to bed early since the raced started at 6am the next morning! I’m so thankful that I was able to stay at Cam’s the night before. The rest of the Team Vardo folks from Ames doing the race had 3-3:30am wake-ups - I got to sleep in til 4!

It was a cool morning, and I tried to do everything the same as I always do before a race, including what I eat. My stomach is usually iron-clad, and I rarely have any sort of problems with it. For that, I am very thankful. I parked and walked to the race in the dark, just as the sun was coming up. I easily met up with my athletes and the Vardos in transition. We shot the breeze, took some pictures, then huddled together on the beach to keep warm!

The swim was not wetsuit legal, and not one of the worst swims I’ve been a part of. My swim training this year has consisted of about 6 weeks of swimming in February and March, then nothing (at all!) until a week before Copper Creek. I managed 3 open water swims before taking on the one mile swim at Hy-Vee. Not exactly what I would recommend to my athletes, but at least all that Ironman training stuck in my brain and allowed me a decent swim.

I got out of the water feeling good, had a great transition, and was very thankful to feel that the temperature had risen enough that I wouldn’t freeze my ta-tas on the bike. Again, I wanted to see what kind of damage I could inflict out on the bike course. There were lots of Des Moines cyclists out cheering (heckling) on the course. I put the hammer down on the first half, making sure I didn’t get passed by any other females. The course was pretty packed, but that is just what you get in a race this size. I was going back and forth with a couple of guys, most notable was the guy wearing his old tri shorts with the spandex rotting out of the rear seam. Yep, the view of his crack gleaming in the morning sun nearly burned my retinas right out of my head.

About mid-way through the bike I started to notice a little twinge in my gut. I thought it might just be from riding in aero, as I’ve been riding primarily on my road bike lately. It didn’t get worse, though it didn’t get better either, so I sort of just ignored it and hoped it would go away. I also decided not to take any nutrition (gels) during the ride so I didn’t upset my gut any further.
After a decent ride, I easily transitioned off the bike and headed out into the heat of the morning on the run. The first mile was fine, but as my effort increased with the first incline, my gut started to revolt in anger. Quickly my race plan turned from finish strong to run the downhills and flats and take it easy (read: walk) on the uphills. Bummer.

I tried drinking water, I tried not drinking water. I thought about trying a gel, but was pretty sure my stomach wouldn’t tolerate that. I ran/walked nearly the entire 10K. Thankfully the last mile or so is all downhill or flat, so I did my best to make it to the finish line without embarrassing myself!

Regardless of how you feel at the end of Hy-Vee, it’s still a pretty cool experience to run on the bright blue carpet through the grandstand area to the finish line. I got my finisher’s medal and ran right into Ric Jurgens (Hy-Vee CEO). I thanked him for putting on such a great race right here in Des Moines.

My athletes all had great races. Their accomplishments actually mean a lot more to me than my failure!

That is probably it for my 2009 triathlon season! Next up is eight days in Colorado with Cam, a week of work, then on to RAGBRAI! Following that will be two and half more months of mountain bike racing!

WORS Cup

2009-06-25T19:07:00.000-05:00

Following a surprisingly good return to the sport of triathlon at the Copper Creek last week, Cam and I headed back up to Wisconsin for another gamble with the weather and some more stellar mountain bike racing. We left on Wednesday night, as Cam had some work to do in Illinois on Thursday. That meant I got to spend a day with my parents. The rains followed us east and wouldn't leave us alone! I tried to sneak a run in between storms, but got caught out in a mass of thunder and lightning. Thankfully, I was just running around in the neighborhood, so I wasn't more than about a 1/3 of a mile from home.

Friday morning we awoke to clear skies that quickly turned dark as we approached Dubuque. When we stopped for gas there, the weather radio inside the store was blasting about severe thunderstorms that were headed in our direction. We tried to outrun the storm, but didn't get very far before the horizontal rains were hitting us from every direction. After a long 30 minutes of that craziness, we emerged from the mess and eventually turned away from the storm to head north towards Wautoma.

We arrived at Mt. Norris to find sunny skies and race preparations in full swing. We went out for a lap together, then Cam went around for another as I enjoyed my lunch. The course was in near perfect condition - just a few wet spots that were sure to dry out nicely by race time on the following day. As we loaded up our stuff to head further north to our motel in Waupaca, we felt a few rain drops hit. By the time we were 10 minutes away from the course, we were in our second deluge of the day! Cam was about beside himself and almost wanted to just turn around and drive back to Des Moines. Thankfully, we determined that we wouldn't put to waste all the time and gasoline we'd spent getting there; we'd stay and see what Saturday would bring.

Saturday morning was gorgeous! Nothing but blue skies and sunshine - a perfect day! The WORS Cup has a slightly different format than the rest of the WORS series races. On this day, Cam's race would be the first of the day at noon, followed by the Comp race, then my Cat 2 race at 4pm. This was not great for us, since we still needed to drive quite a ways after my race to get back home, but we would make it work. The skies were clear, but the sun was heating things up pretty quickly. I determined that I would have to seek shade for the whole day if I was going to have any energy left to race with later.

I took a few pictures at the start of Cam's race. He had a great start! I was able to photograph him in a couple locations at the start, then I made my way to the Alterra tent on the hill near the end of the lap. As the first of the riders went through the woods a little distance from where I was, I didn't see Cam, but I just figured that he had moved up a couple spots and I'd missed seeing him come past. No more than a minute later, I looked up to see him riding slowly on a different part of the mountain, not on the trail. I could tell he'd pulled the plug on the race, but that's a pretty rare sight, so I headed down to see what was up.

His disappointment was still pretty fresh, so I didn't get any details at the time. But, I could tell that he wasn't hurt (physically) and that was all I really needed to know at that moment. The bike looked okay, too, and he was able to head out for a cool-off ride to sort through the frustration of the situation. While he did that, I watched the rest of the race from a shady locale and tried to stay cool.

When Cam got back, we talked about what happened. He'd taken a bad line, hit a nasty stump in the middle of the trail, took a flier, and skewed the handlebars in such a way that he couldn't get them straightened out without a trip to the Jeep from some tools. He encouraged me not to make the same mistakes in my race!

A couple hours later it was time for me to get ready. On my warm-up, my legs felt terrible. It was almost like I was low on blood sugar, but I knew that was not the case. I think I was having trouble getting excited to rage on the bike because of Cam's situation. I got to the starting line and had a good talk with Kyle Williams, then Robin came over to offer a bit of encouragement and advice. She'd raced really well earlier in the day and had some very helpful tips on how to navigate the trickier (at least for me) rock gardens. I really appreciate her help whenever it is available! Obviously I get a lot of advice from Cam, but having it come from a woman's perspective does make a difference.

There were 17 women at the starting line when Don gave us the, "GOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Per my shaky legs and usual poor start, I brought up the rear of the field. I managed to get myself up a spot or two heading into the singletrack. I was expecting a bunch of climbing, as this was a ski slope, but to my surprise there wasn't as much as I thought. I really don't mind the climbing too much, at least not in the early stages of the race. I followed a woman through most of the singletrack on the first lap. she was taking some pretty decent lines which allowed me to get a better feel on things. Once things opened up, I easily got past her and began working my way up in the field.

By the third and final lap, I was slowing down a little, but thankfully not as much as the rest of the field! The technical sections that got me the first lap didn't stand a chance on laps two and three. It felt good to get my legs under me and power through some of the tougher areas. The heat was also an issue, and for the first time, I felt like I needed all the fluids I had on the bike, plus some. The ice cold water they handed out on the course felt great when poured over my head!

I crossed the finish line fourth place overall and third in my age group. I felt good about my performance, but was still surprised to hear Cam say that he thought it was my best race so far! For the second time in my mountain bike racing career, I got to stand on the WORS podium!

Copper Creek Triathlon

2009-06-23T17:54:00.007-05:00

It was with a little bit of reluctance that I signed up for Copper Creek in the first place. I knew that my focus was going to be on mountain bike racing this year and I hadn't been swimming (at all) or running (with any consistency) this spring. I did want to do the race, however, because we got rained out last year and I like to support the races put on by my friends Craig and Jenny. That and I wanted to make sure I did a triathlon at least once this year, if only for professional reasons.

Like last year, I helped out with race preparations on Friday night and Saturday at packet pick-up. The volunteers are rewarded well for helping, plus it is interesting to see a little of the behind-the-scenes of putting on a race like this.

Unlike last year, where it rained cats and dogs forcing the cancellation of the race, race morning was foggy, but otherwise great. Cam's race was cancelled, so he was able to accompany me and help me get everything ready. It was good for my mental state to have him there.

I ran into a bunch of Team Vardo folks, a couple of them doing their first triathlons! Rich and Natalie had both been training all spring and Kecia had done a tri with a pool swim last year, but this would be her first open water race. Also joining in on the fun were Bill, Chris, and Kirstin.

At race site the fog didn't seem to want to dissipate. As the athletes gathered for the swim, we couldn't see across the lake. Craig decided to delay the start of the race by a little bit to see if the fog would burn off a bit. After waiting for a while and not seeing the conditions improve, the race was started despite the fog. It looked to be okay for the first few waves that went off, so I just went with the flow. Soon my wave was ready to take to the water. We were in yellow swim caps, the same color as the swim buoys marking our course. I got in the water and looked out into the fog - I couldn't even see to the first buoy! It was going to be an interesting swim.

The cannon went off and the chaos grew worse. Not only couldn't I spot any buoys, but every time I looked up to spot, all I could see were yellow caps that might or might not be the next buoy! So with virtually no swimming at all for the last few months, I was swimming both dumb and blind...

After navigating my way through the swim, I got out of the water feeling pretty good, had a good transition and got on the bike with no problems. From what I had seen of the bike course the day before, I knew it was going to be a hilly, but fast course. The fog we'd experienced during the swim had only lifted a bit. Before the race had started, I'd asked Cam to look at the sunglasses of the elite wave to see if condensation on the glasses was an issue. He was waiting near my transition area during T1 and said only a couple elite guys were back and they weren't wearing glasses. I decided to risk it and put on my Oakleys anyway. I always feel a little naked without sunglasses on my face.

Since I've really only been working on my cycling this year, I hit it hard on the bike. I was passed by a few men and only 2 women, but not from my age group. Because it was an out and back course, I was able to keep an eye on my competition. I know full well that I am not much of a swimmer, but I only saw a few women ahead of me on the bike, so I must have done okay on the swim... I worked on keeping my cadence high and pushed the effort, especially on the hills, where I knew I was probably better prepared than a lot of my competition. With the bike segment being only 12.4 miles, I was soon back in transition and quickly out on the run.

The run followed the lakefront for about a 1/4 mile before starting its uphill ascent to the turnaround. I knew the hills were coming, but I wasn't totally prepared for how I felt once I hit them! I did walk for about 10 seconds at each water station, just long enough to toss down some fluids and give myself a little mental break. The run was also an out and back, so I kept an eye on what was going on around me. Again I was passed by a bunch of guys and just a few women. Once I'd hit the halfway mark, I was surprised to find that there were actually a few more hills I had to run up on the way back to the lake!

The longer I ran, the better I felt - at least to a point. As we hit the final stretch (around the backside of the lake), I was ready to be done. I continued on with what Cam has kindly named the Vardo Shuffle, and headed for the finishline. About 1/3 of a mile from the end, I was finally passed by a gal in my age group. She flew past me like I was moving in the wrong direction, and I had nothing to give in the fight to chase her down. I managed to get across the finishline with my breakfast in my stomach and a respectable 5th place in my age group.

Looking back, there were a few things I had going for me. First, I had very little expectations going into the race, and therefore very few of the pre-race jitters that usually accompany higher hopes. Two, I was better prepared than most for a bike course of this level of challenge. Finally, just having the amount of experience in racing triathlon that I do, allowed me to make quick transitions and have little fear of the less than ideal swim conditions.

Next up is the WORS Cup race in Wisconsin, then the Hy-Vee Triathlon. In a previous post, I stated that I wasn't going to do Hy-Vee. A free entry fell into my lap a couple of weeks ago, and before I could really think about it, I said I'd take it. We'll see if any of my good luck charms that helped at Copper Creek will help me out at Hy-Vee!

Wausau WORS

2009-06-18T17:20:00.009-05:00

After having so much fun last year at the WORS season finale, I've been waiting all season for a chance to head to Wisconsin to take another swing at the cheeseheads. As the date for the Wausau race drew closer, I kept one eye on my training and the other eye on the weather forecast. In keeping with the cooler than normal weather pattern that Iowa has been experiencing all spring and summer, the weather-guessers predicted more of the same, with some rain thrown in for good measure.

So, as Cam and I loaded up our gear, I found myself packing jeans, sweatshirts, wool socks, and my winter jacket so I could survive Wisconsin in June. We left very early on Saturday morning in the rain, drove in the rain, and arrived in Wausau with the rain still falling and temps in the 40s. A full day of rain would leave an Iowa trail worthless for a race the following day, but the Wisconsin soils soak up the water like a sponge, possibly leaving the trails better for racing than when dry. We soon ran into Tyrine and tried to decide if we should go for a pre-ride. I quickly noticed the fire-burning stove in the corner of the lodge and had my decision made for me. Cam and Christine geared up for a lap of the course. Ty took a nap in his car, and I stayed warm by the fire.

The rain continued the rest of the day and into the night. However, the pavement was dry the next morning when we peeked out of the hotel room window! The skies never cleared, but the rain had passed, so we headed back to the course. Cam prepared my ride while I geared up for a cool 45 degree ride in the woods. Thankfully the trees are so dense that the blowing wind was kept from my easy-to-freeze fingers and toes.

As I lined up for the Sport race, I was excited to see 29 other women there next to me. Since I opted out of the pre-ride the day before, all I had to go on was Cam's recon report. I knew there was a good amount of cross country ski trails, some fun singletrack, and the infamous Ho Chi Minh trail - a challenging, rocky section of singletrack. Cam told me it was tough, but doable, and then he followed it up with some very good advice on how to tackle that portion.

With a "GOOOOOOOOOO!" we were off. I took my usual sweet time getting clipped in and up to speed. Again I found myself bringing up the rear of the field as we left the start area. Different than most races, the Big Ring Classic starts with some of the ski trails, rather than dumping riders immediately into the singletrack. By the time we reached the singletrack I had passed most of the field and was probably about 7th wheel. We had a quick taste of singletrack before hitting Ho Chi Mihn. At about that same time, we women had caught up to the tail end of the Clydesdale field and were trying to work our way past them. The wheels really came off my fast-moving bus at this point. Between the fact that I hadn't had a chance to pre-ride any of the course, the challenging nature of these rocks, and all the other folks falling into the abyss, I was like a bull in a china shop.

I maintained my position as best I could for as long as I could, but eventually, a couple women sneaked past me when I had to dismount for a quick hike. Once off the Ho Chi Mihn, I did the best I could to keep up with the other females, passing when I could, and disposing of some of the guys. I rode with a couple girls, alternating the lead. We never really seemed to make any headway in catching those ahead of us.

The rain didn't seem to affect the trails too much in the singletrack, but out in the open things got a little squishy. If you stayed on the worn path, the mud kinda sucked you in, but off to the side a bit was much faster. I was fast on the doubletrack, but I didn't seem to want to test my technical skills on the slippery, rooty singletrack. I finished the first lap in about 11th place, closely following the next girl back out for our second lap. We had a similar trip through Ho Chi Mihn and the surrounding trails.

At some point in that second lap, I seemed to run out of gas. I wasn't bonking, and I wasn't particularly tired; I just didn't go fast. I was just out there spinning my wheels, trying to get to the finish line. Two more women went past me and I had nothing to give them. A couple clydesdale guys followed me through the last section of trail. I crossed the finishline and was just thankful to be done. I ended up 5th in my age group and 13th overall. Not great, but a good workout nonetheless.

I rode around for a few minutes, and as I was getting back to the Jeep, I heard Don introduce Cam and the other pros for call-ups. I grabbed the camera and made it to the starting area in time to see him off. I gave the bike a quick hose-off and got out of my sweaty clothes and into my jeans, hooded sweatshirt and jacket as quickly as possible as the cold was quickly invading my bones.

I found a good place to watch - the Alterra tent. The start/finish area weaves around for a mile or so giving spectators many chances to see their riders. Cam's race broke into groups pretty early on and he hung around between 8-12th place for the whole race. A sprint at the finish put him to 10th overall and just in the money.

The other fun part of the day was watching Kim Eppen and Robin Williams, two women from Iowa City, go 1-2 in the Cat. 1 women's race. Kim's husband Brian took 4th in the men's race. A good day for Iowa, though I didn't have much to do with it...

Vardaman, PI

2009-06-12T06:50:00.013-05:00

Although I could barely walk after Dam to Dam on Saturday, my pride didn't really want to let me out of doing the mountain bike race the following day. I hobbled around the house in the morning trying to decide if I would feel better or worse if I rode. The final decision was to get out to Banner and see what I felt like after a warm-up lap, then sign up if all was good.

Having ridden the course once with Cam and Squirrel on Friday, I knew the race would be far from a cake-walk. Half of this course is as technical as I have ever ridden. Lots of off-camber, tight turns and challenging terrain requiring strong bike handling skills. The other half is flat and fast. As we took to the trail on Friday, I made a mental note of how bright and green everything looked as we entered the trail. We've had good rain:sunshine ratios lately, making the color of the flora jump right out at you!

Sunday was another bright, sunny day. I rode around on the pavement for about 30 minutes to see what the legs thought of moving again. Once they were a little warm, I headed down to the entrance to the singletrack. As soon as I got moving, I was reminded of just how challenging this course would be. Add the fatigued, sore legs and I was in for quite a ride.

After signing up and having Cam make a few minor adjustments to the 'Goose, I made my way to the start line and found two other women ready to go. Kim Hopkins and I would race in the Cat. 2 race and Cara Hamann would go for it in the Cat. 1 race. Cara is getting ready for Ironman Coeur d'Alene in a couple of weeks and just wanted a little longer effort to replace her typical training ride on the road. It sounded a little risky to me, but she was ready to roll...

All the Cat. 1 and Cat. 2 men and women were on the course at the same time. I knew that Cam and some of the other faster guys would lap us at some point, so I made another goal of not getting lapped twice! The females were doing 3 laps and Cam's class was doing 5. The starter said, "GO!!" and I told Kim to take the lead into the singletrack, as I had no idea what kind of effort I would be able to put forth with such wrecked legs.

As a group of us started up one of the first challenging climbs, the guy in front of me made a statement about how he really shouldn't have gone out to the bar the night before. I replied (and trumped his discovery) with a reply of how I really shouldn't have raced Dam to Dam the day before. He groaned and quit his whining after that!

I was all over the place during lap one, and what made things worse was that there were some singlespeed guys coming from behind, having started after the rest of the Cat. 2 riders. I did my best to get out of their way, but many times that meant taking a little side-trip into the greenery on the side of the trail. At one point I heard some dudes coming up behind me, so I tried to pull over. I was coming around a corner a little too hot right at that point and ended up off the trail at an unfortunate location. I'm sure it looked a lot worse than it was - in fact, I thought I was going to be taking the 'Goose on a long trip down a steep bank - but thankfully, I had things under more control than anyone (me included) thought.

Once I had me and the 'Goose back on the right track, I just continued testing myself through the rest of lap one. Challenging terrain doesn't scare me - I can just take things slowly (sometimes very slowly) and get through it. However, another little goal I had set for myself was to avoid a dip in the drink by staying steady on the couple little bridge crossings. If you are off by just a little bit, you take a swim. Remembering where the bridges were from my recon laps, I made special effort to slow down and take a deep breath both before and after each crossing, so I could keep things rolling in the right direction.

Lap 2 was much better. I was warmed-up and my mind was ready to conquer a few of the areas that had kicked my butt on lap one. Kim was out of my sight, so I turned this race into more of a training ride and technical riding lesson. Traffic was still an issue, as the nature of the trail was apparently kicking the butts of some of the guys in the race, too! We went back and forth a lot throughout the course. About halfway through my second lap I heard a fast bike coming up behind me, and I figured it was Cam. We were in the midst of a really fast, fun section of trail with no time or place for me to let him through, so we got to ride together (for a few seconds, anyway). I was really pleased to find a couple photos of this rare occurrence. I was even more pleased that I was in front of him at the time...

The rest of the race I just tried not to lose any more ground. I was pretty sure I'd never catch Kim and her fresh legs. The tone in my head alternated between swearing at Squirrel for creating such a highly technical course and thinking about what a great time I was having, despite the pain.

I crossed the finishline about 1:30 back from Kim, and was really happy to see Maria sitting by the finishline cheering. She was fresh out of the hospital, recovering from a significant crash in the Melon City Crit the week before. She looked great, even though she'd left her spleen (and a bunch of skin) in Muscatine. Cam finished a few minutes later, in first place.

My legs were truly cooked now. Sore, tired, and dirty. That was pretty much me in a nutshell. I wanted some dinner, a shower, and then a long, long night of sleep. Although I didn't know it at the time, tired legs were not to be the worst lingering reminder of the race.

Having spent a little time off the trail, I figured I had probably gotten into a little bit of the vast amounts of poison ivy along the way. I did my best to clean off my legs as soon as I finished, but was not too surprised to find a little bit on my legs in the following days. I was, however, surprised that it didn't stop there. I ended up with a pretty nasty case on both legs - it's gonna take a while to get rid of that...

That Darn Dam to Dam

2009-06-08T12:40:00.011-05:00

Like every spring for the past 7 years, I have led a 10-week training program for Dam to Dam. Beginner runners extend themselves to tackle the 20K race held in Des Moines. This program and this race are always highlights of my year. The time always go by so quickly... one day it is March, then I blink my eyes for just a second and suddenly it is Memorial Day and the race is only a few days away!

This year, instead of leading the whole thing myself (which doesn't allow for any other activities on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings for 10 weeks), I decided to hire an assistant coach. We ended up sharing the Tuesday/Saturday coaching responsibilities 50/50. Not only did that make everything more manageable, but it also made the time fly past even more quickly!

The only downside to all of this is that I didn't get to run with the group every week, especially the long runs. Plus, the rest of my focus has been on cycling this year, where in past years it was triathlon, so I was still getting plenty of run training accomplished. This year, I managed to squeeze in one each of 6-, 8-, and 10-mile runs, all done prior to four weeks before the race. That meant I literally did nothing over 4 miles/week in the 4 weeks leading up to the race. If you haven't already figured it out, that is not anywhere close to what I should have been doing to prepare.

Back in February, I had an athlete ask me if I thought someone could bike their way to run fitness (he'd been doing a lot of riding (but little running), and was signed up for a marathon in the spring). Apparently, I'd decided to put this theory to the test, with me as the test subject!

I have never in my lifetime toed the line of a race with so few expectations. Truly, the only goal was to finish, regardless of time, with as little damage to my body as possible. With a mountain bike race the following day, I honestly just wanted to get the 12.4 miles done and over with! I had no pre-race nerves. In fact, as I stood on the Saylorville Dam waiting to take off, I was having trouble even getting excited about being there. Usually, I love this race, and it always gets me excited, but that was not the case this year.

I also had another unwelcome detail present itself in the days leading up to race day. My right rotator cuff had been bothering me - probably something that I did out on the challenge course earlier in the week. I didn't realize that it would be a problem until I ran with Team 12.4 two days before the race at our annual Team 12.4 / Team Vardo pasta feed. As we took off down the road, I realized that the forward and back swinging motion of running was nearly impossible and very painful with my shoulder in its current condition. The best I could figure out was that I was going to have to run with my shoulder basically held static for 2 hours while I ran! I spent the rest of Thursday and all day Friday alternating between icing and exercising my shoulder as best I knew in hopes of a miraculous recovery somehow by Saturday morning!

I woke up Saturday morning with a little improvement, but no miracle. The day was beautiful, but I knew it was going to heat up in a hurry. I found a bunch of Team 12.4ers, past and present, and some Zoom athletes at the start. I decided to run by myself, as I didn't know what to expect from either my legs or my shoulder. The gun went off, and I quickly discovered that if I swung my right arm directly in front of my body (such bad running form!!), the shoulder would tolerate it. So picture me, a running coach, running the big event of the year, with the worst form of any of my students! The day started warm and only got hotter as the day progressed. So, I took off slowly and decided to let my legs make all the decisions of the day.

Miles 1-6 are all downhill or flat. Easy. I felt good, kept up with my nutrition (I love caffeinated Hammer Gel!), my hydration, and tried to keep my heart rate in Zone 2-3. I maintained a steady 9-9:30 pace, and was using my HR as a gauge until the stupid monitor gave me the black screen of death at mile 4. So much for that training/racing tool! I was pretty much on my own from that point on, with no HR data to provide feedback.

The hills were next, which lead us into town. I felt much stronger on the hills than I ever would have expected, and didn't stop to walk as I had feared I might need. Around mile 8 I noticed my right trapezius was getting tight and fatigued from holding my shoulder in such a foreign position for so long. I thought that might be the beginning of the end for me, but kept pushing. I knew that mile 10 was usually the valley of darkness for me in this race, so I wanted to cover as much ground as quickly as possible before I arrived there. Like Pavlov's dog, I made the turn towards the 10-mile mark, and I felt everything get sluggish. I was ready to be done. It was not more than a minute later that I heard a familiar voice from behind ask me how things in Ames were. It was Ian - I'd trained his wife a few years back, and had the opportunity to get to know him a little as well. We ran and talked all the way to Birdland Marina, and kept each other moving. When I pulled ahead a little on the hill, I hollered back for him to catch up with me; I think we both needed each other more than we thought. Another half mile down the road, we stopped at an aid station for a sip of water. While I wanted to walk and drink, Ian made me throw down the water and get running again. We bypassed the champagne at mile 11.4 and just pushed our way to the finish line. Ian dropped off at mile 12 for another sip of water, but I kept cruising.

When I ran my first two marathons, I found myself getting a little emotional as I neared the finish lines. It was hard to breathe and my eyes would well up a bit. All the emotions of training and accomplishing something like that came to a head in the final miles. I would be near-hyperventilating as I crossed the finish lines. That never happened in my Ironmans, so I thought that silly female stuff was behind me. Not so. As I ran across the river for the final 1/4 mile to the finish line of this Dam to Dam, the same emotional thing hit me again. I did my best to contain it, and crossed the finish line with a big smile on my face. Final chip time was 2:01. Not a PR, but certainly in the Top 3 of my 8 Dam to Dam finishes!

I could barely walk, my legs hurt so bad; in particular, my right leg was the worst. I blame that on the goofy gait that my shoulder forced upon me. I found some water, some Gatorade, and eventually all my runners from Team 12.4. On a day with so few personal expectations, it turned out to be an awesome day!

Snake Alley Crit

2009-05-25T08:00:00.016-05:00

Growing up, Memorial Day weekends were always filled with rainy camping trips and soggy sleeping bags. It was a given that, no matter the forecast, it *would* rain. It was such a sure-thing, that we used to have a rain pool betting on when the rain would arrive! Though the camping trip tradition is long-gone, the rain has always fallen on this first weekend of summer. This year started what may become another Memorial Day weekend tradition: a trip to Burlington for the Snake Alley Criterium.

As a tri geek, I always thought that cycling was proceeded by a swim and followed by a run. The thought of just racing a bike was foreign at best and scary as heck. Since making a foray into mountain bike racing, the single sport of bike racing isn't as frightening, but yet the idea of a crit, especially on Snake Alley, wasn't even on my radar. But knowing that my choices for the day were to sit/stand around all day with no chance for a workout of my own, or to throw my hat in the ring and give the Snake whatever I could muster, I coughed up the dough for registration and went for it!

We pulled into town about an hour before the start of the Cat 4 women's race. As Cam and I signed up for our races, we saw some of the Punk Rock Cycling team, including Keri, who just 12 weeks ago had a beautiful baby boy, registering for the race as well. After a good warm-up, including a few trips up some of the steep side streets, I headed to the start/finish area. Besides the 4 PRC girls, I also recognized a couple ladies in pink from the All 9 Yards team. I borrowed a few words of advice and strategy from the more experienced riders. I set myself a goal of not puking before the race started.

Soon the starter sent us off, and we all hit the gas. The first trip up was rough, but not because of the grade or the cobblestones; the problem was the density of bikes and bodies all vying for space on a narrow, brick, steep roadway. Balancing a bike under these circumstances is challenging enough, but with others swerving around you, the intensity increases dramatically. The Cat 4 race totaled 6 laps. Each lap up the Alley was more painful than the last, but as the crowds thinned, the chances of eating a brick diminished. I went back and forth for much of the race with Dee Mable; I could catch her on the climb, but she'd fly right past me on the downhill parts of the lap. I ended up 17th, not near the front, but not DFL. I'll take it.

While it was fun to try something new, I don't think I'm gonna make road racing a regular part of my annual schedule. However, I just may keep Snake Alley on the list. It is probably as close to mountain bike racing as you can get in a crit. There isn't as great a chance of getting caught up in a big mess since the Snake opens up the pack racing that usually characterizes crits. And the skills needed to climb the Alley are similar to what is needed to conquer some of the big climbs in MTBing: control, balance, correct weighting over the bike, slow cycling skills.

After my race, I rode a little to cool down, then made quick time back to Snake Alley to watch Cam take it to the competition in the 40+ race. It was a good race, but on the last lap Cam turned the screws on the guy stuck to his wheel and pulled out good lead and win.

The PRC girls and I watched the Cobble Climb, grabbed some food and beverages, then went back to the hill in time to watch Cam try for another win in the 30+ race. Though he did very well; he finished second - no small feat considering the winner hadn't already raced earlier in the day!

The weather remained beautiful for our races, but soon after the 30+ race, the skies clouded over and the tradition of rain on the Memorial Day weekend continued!

Erik's Spring Cup - Inver Grove Heights, MN

2009-05-19T09:35:00.019-05:00

With no mountain bike race on the Iowa or Nebraska schedules, I opted to skip the Jordan Creek Duathlon to go to Minnesota with Cam for the first race of the Minnesota State Championship Series. Since the race was in the Twin Cities, it allowed us to visit Cam's aunt and uncle who graciously put us up for the night before the race.

Saturday, we left Ames driving north into a fierce headwind, but the skies stayed clear the whole way. Since neither Cam or I had ever ridden this course, we headed straight for Inver Grove Heights to check things out before Sunday's race. I was thrilled to get on the bike and head into the singletrack feeling good but without the usual hyper-elevated HR that usually accompanies my mountain biking excursions. And, it didn't seem to take more than a few pedal strokes for me to feel the love of the singletrack. I remember thinking to myself that maybe I had turned a proverbial corner with this mountain bike racing thing and hoped that some of that BS was behind me.

My other thought was that Cam would probably do really well on this course; it was tight, twisty singletrack, but with lots of places to make a clean pass and some wide-open sections that would allow for some serious hauling of the mail. And, although it was relatively flat (and Cam can climb with the best of them), one of his other strengths is his fitness - if he could get in a position that allowed him to drop the hammer, he'd leave everyone else behind. With no idea what to expect for competition in a Cat 2 race, the only thing I was sure of was that I was going to have fun and (probably) not finish last. I really like the flow of the singletrack, and the open sections are usually where I like to hit the gas and gain some ground. I've noticed that a lot of the gals in other races I've done tend to do just the opposite and use the open fields to un-cross their eyes.

Volunteers were out working diligently to mark the course and get it ready for race day but were not yet done when we rode. Consequently, it wasn't until I was done riding, had changed my clothes, and had a snack that Cam rode back to the Jeep and said that our practice laps had all been run backwards to the race direction! Cam went out for a couple more recon laps (this time done in the correct direction), then came back and told me that he wasn't sure this would be a great race for him, as it didn't suit his strengths well. I just kept my mouth shut and decided to see what happened on race day...

Following a good dinner and my pre-race ritual of ice cream (Haagen-Dazs Pineapple Coconut - tastes just like the fantastic pina coladas that Mike made in Maui), I had a great night's sleep and awoke to incredibly gorgeous conditions: 50's and sunshine. We ate breakfast with Jeff and Heidi, then headed east to IGH. We scored a sweet parking place (Cam has a special gift in his ability to sniff these out...), got registered, and got me dressed and ready to ride.

I checked out a bit of the course (this time in the correct direction) for a quick warm-up, then headed towards the start/finish line and noticed that my heart rate was through the roof! So much for getting my pre-race jitters under control... I found my place in the mass of people and waited with the other Cat 2 females while wave after wave of Cat 2 guys began their races. I took some deep breaths in a unsuccessful attempt to calm things down in my gut. When I am this amped, even the thought of turning the pedals makes me feel like my heart might explode. Finally it was time for the 14 Cat 2 women to start. The starter said, "GO!" and everyone took off in a mad sprint for the first corner. I took a second to get clipped in, then acted as the tail-end escort (hey, somebody has to be last!) for the field. I pedaled my rubber-filled legs as best I could, and even passed one girl just before we dropped into the singletrack.

Soon I felt like I was back in my own skin, and, although my HR was still sky-high, feeling better and ready to race. It took me nearly a third of the first lap before I got up the nerve to attempt some passes, so I just hung back and followed some significantly slower gals until things opened up and I could make a move. With every pass, my confidence increased, I got more under control, and I got hungrier for more spots!

By the end of lap one, I had passed a hand-full of girls and kept the pedal down through the start/finish area to pick up another place. Lap two had heavier traffic as we ladies were now in the thick of the traffic of some of the slower Cat 2 men, so I spent more time passing men than women. But, by the time I neared the end of lap 2, Cam told me that I was in sixth place, just behind a girl riding her cyclocross bike. Shortly after seeing Cam, I passed cyclocross-girl and tried (unsuccessfully) to leave her behind. She and I had been going back and forth throughout much of lap 2, where I got by her on a sandy corner, she by me a little later, and I repassed her when she wrapped herself up in a pine tree (lot of sap in here...). She yo-yoed off my wheel throughout the third lap, but I never could shake her.

I tried to keep my eyes looking ahead for 4th place, as my goal had now become a solid top five finish, and I wasn't 100% sure what was going to shake out with cyclocross-girl once we hit the final open stretch to the finish line - I needed to get past 4th place to insure that goal. Heading into the final third of the final lap, I spotted 4th place and made steady progress in her direction. I passed her on sandy uphill switchback and hoped in vain that cyclocross-girl would get caught behind her. Coming out of the singletrack in 4th place with cyclocross-girl not far behind, I pushed the pace. As I topped the short rise, I spotted 3rd place! She was making quick progress to the finish line, but I was pretty sure that I was gonna make her work for that spot! I dropped the hammer, but cyclocross-girl followed suit and sneaked past me. A few very short seconds later, we were both steam-rolling past 3rd place who probably peed her chamois with surprise! She tried to respond, but was too surprised to make any real run for it. I finished 1.1 seconds behind cyclocross-girl and 2.3 seconds ahead of the girl who needed to change her shorts.

I think we all crossed the finish line with huge smiles on our faces (well, maybe not the girl who dropped two places in the last 100 feet of the race, but whatever... it ain't over til it's over!). It's so much fun to have a race like that for the finish! I so enjoyed racing in Minnesota, mainly because there are some people to race with! I told Cam after the race that I will go race any day in Minnesota or Wisconsin. Now I totally understand why he used to spend every weekend driving out of state to race. I might have been bit by the racing bug a while ago, but I am fully infected with the disease now!

Cam had missed my finish as he was out warming up for his race. I know he was disappointed that he missed seeing that final sprint, but I did my best to fill him in on all the details. I tossed down one of Cam's signature post-race smoothies (he made me one after a long training ride on day, and now I fear for him that he might have to make me one for after each race!) and changed clothes. The day had turned out even better than we could have hoped for - now it was in the 60's, empty blue skies, and just breezy enough that you didn't cook yourself standing in the sun.

I watched Cam's start, but had to hang around for the Cat 2 awards during his first two laps. As soon as they were over, I bolted for the course to try to snap a few photos. Though he had predicted that he wouldn't do well on this course, I wasn't surprised to see him in the top 6 or so after three laps. He continued to pick people off through the next two laps and ended up in third at the end! He was also pleasantly surprised with his success and, like me, wished that his race had been another lap or two, as he probably could have gained some more ground.

Platte River Battle Royale

2009-05-12T08:09:00.005-05:00

After a disappointing race at Sylvan Island to open my 2009 mountain bike racing season, I was really looking forward to getting back on the Mongoose and doing some racing (as opposed to just riding around in the mud and rain, blah!). The next opportunity came in the form of a trip to Nebraska for the Psycowpath Series' Platte River Battle Royale at Platte River State Park.

It was a chilly morning with nothing but sunshine forecast for the rest of the day. The rain we had experienced in Iowa had basically missed Platte River State Park, so the trails were good to go! Cam and I arrived with enough time to allow me to take a lap at my own pace to get a feel for the course. Per my usual nerves, it took me a while to get a feel for riding off-road again. My heart rate spikes as soon as I start pedaling, even a slow ride in the grass. I think my reaction is akin to Pavlov's dog's reaction to the ringing bell and his upcoming meal. Something deep within my brain knows how much fun I am about to have, so it starts pumping out the adrenaline long before it is necessary. This premature excitation is becoming somewhat troublesome, but I'll have to explain that in a later post.

On the drive over, Cam had warned me of a couple of sections of the course: the rock garden and the gully. My brain automatically balks at the term "rock garden," and immediately translates that to "section Julie should just hike-a-bike." When I rode up to in on my recon lap, I didn't think it looked that horrible, but I didn't see a line I was 100% comfortable with either, so hike-a-bike it was. And the gully was sandy (my nemesis, grrr!), but very rideable. By the time I had finished my recon, the temperature had increased enough that I could shed some clothing, have a little snack, and just chill before the start.

I had hoped to see a bunch of ladies toe the line for this Nebraska race, but at the staging area I only saw two others - one for the the Cat 1 race and another (Nicole) to join me in the Cat 2 race. While our Cat 2 race was shorter than the Cat 1, everyone - men and women - started together and raced on the course at the same time. This meant I would most likely be lapped by Cam and the other experts somewhere on lap 2. It's not usually a big deal, as I can either hear them coming or they will announce their arrival behind me so I can pull over to let them by.

My M.O. at the start of these cycling races is simply to keep myself upright and out of trouble. When starting in a mass (or mess, as the case may be), I simply don't have the confidence (or ability to sprint) to charge right up the middle and go for it as soon as we get the "GO!" from the starter. So, I always seem to find myself bringing up the rear and heading very close to dead-last into the singletrack. So far, that has worked out okay, as it gives me some people to chase!

This race was no exception to that. I followed the Cat 2 men and Nicole into the first climb. About halfway up the climb, many were slowing more rapidly than I, so I passed Nicole and a bunch of guys. After calming my heart rate a little following the first climb, I settled in and started chasing down the guys. I ran into an issue in the open field that divided the two halves of the race, and while I dealt with that frustration, I saw Nicole slide past me. Back on my bike, I was 50% annoyed with having been put back in 2nd place and 50% thrilled to have a rabbit to chase down for the rest of the race.

I walked the rock garden and rode the rest and got updates from the spectators on the gap between me and Nicole. By the end of Lap 1, I had closed the gap to less than 30 seconds, and about 5 minutes into Lap 2 I passed her again for good. With no issues to speak of for the rest of the race, I had a blast on this fun course. There were lots of tight twisty parts and some of the most fun rollercoaster sections I've been on. Cam and the rest of the expert guys let me know when they were coming and all got by without any altercations. It's actually kind of fun to have some of these guys come by, as the ones I know will shout out some encouragement to me as they rocket past! There are some good peeps in this sport!

I cruised to the finish, rode a cool-down, threw down some post-race nutrition and made it back to the start/finish area to see Cam come through to start his final lap. By now the sun was shining brightly, the temps were near perfect at 65-70, and just a little wind! Awesome. Cam brought home the W with about a one minute gap on second.

No pics of me, but a couple of Cam and three of one guy who chose to "ride" the rock garden:

All in all, it was a good day for the Vardaman-Kirkpatrick Team. A Cat 2 win for me and a Cat 1/Overall win for Cam!

New Challenges

2009-05-08T07:02:00.003-05:00

It seems like every single day someone asks me what I am training for this season:

"Are you doing Hy-Vee?" (no)
"Are you training for Dam to Dam?" (yes, kind of...)
"What triathlons are you doing this year?" (maybe one or two)
"Are you going to do another Ironman this year?" (not a chance)
"When is your next big race?" (big race??)

And, while I am thankful for the awesome support and encouragement I get from my family, friends, and training partners, it is admittedly hard to answer a lot of these questions. After spending the past five years training for triathlons/Ironmans and running races (with marginal amounts of success), I found myself at a bit of a crossroad. I always knew I loved training for the longer distance stuff (halfs and Ironmans), but it wasn't until last year that I fully realized why.

Swimming has always been a challenge for me, and I made great strides last year - I even looked forward to some of swim workouts! And I've enjoyed running for as long as I can remember. My run fitness improved - I threw down all PRs in my races last year - and I was learning to embrace the pain that comes with speed. Pushing myself beyond what I really thought was possible for me in swimming and running was very satisfying for me.

However, it was the cycling that really put a smile on my face. Cycling fitness doesn't come through running or swimming. One must place her butt on the saddle and turn the pedals to improve. And as the miles and hours tick away, the smile on my face grows and grows! Still as a triathlete, I was not finding the satisfaction in racing that I found last fall in my brief introduction to mountain bike racing. I have found myself in love with a new challenge.

Old Capital Crit

2009-04-28T08:06:00.007-05:00

A couple of shots of Cam's race at the Iowa City race this weekend. I forgot to take pictures at the road race on Saturday...

Sylvan Island: Ridin' in the Rain

2009-04-27T20:28:00.008-05:00

I love spring for so many reasons. The grass turns green, the trees begin to bud, and the sun stays up later and later; basically, it means summer is on its way. And the one thing I love about summer is that I get to ride my bike in the sunshine!

I was very fortunate to have two opportunities to go to warm, sunny locales this winter to ride my bike: Maui in January and Phoenix in April. What a blessing those two trips were! The Iowa winters seem to get to me more and more every year. They seem to get longer and progressively more brutal the older I get (maybe that's just a sign of me turning into a grumpy old lady, too, but I'm just sayin'). Between those rides and a bunch of early Saturday mornings spent riding at the Garage (where the walls would literally drip with condensed sweat) with 20+ other tri geeks, I feel like I have put down a pretty decent foundation to build upon in the coming months.

After ending last year's race season on a couple of high notes, I've spent 6 months jonesin' for another mountain bike race. A couple early season possibilities were ruined by rain, so both Cam and I were looking forward to getting back to the Quad-Cities and racing at Sylvan Island.

We arrived at the race site on Saturday afternoon to check out the course and give me a taste of the tight, twisty, turny course that Cam described to me as Sylvan Island. After about 30 seconds on the course, I realized he was not kidding in the least! I continue to be so thankful to have him to show me around these places so that I don't have to do it alone. Cam is extremely patient and does a great job of talking me through some of the more technical sections on the one recon lap we do together. I know that it probably kills him to have to crawl through these courses at my speed when he could just as easily tear through them without a second glance. Just one of the many reasons I love him...

We were pleasantly surprised to find the course in great shape as it had rained quite a bit in the days leading up to the race. More rain had been forecast, but everyone was holding their collective breaths that the rain would either hold off, or at least be less than predicted.

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting my mom in the hospital following her knee replacement, then had dinner with Royce and Randy before a quick stop at Whitey's on our way to Cam's sister's place for the night. We enjoyed having some great "conversations" with Kennan (who turned 2 on April 26), and Cam played "Toss the Toddler" (Kennan's favorite game to play with her uncle Cam) to burn off the Whitey's malt calories.

On Sunday morning, we were excited to see that the rain had not started overnight and the roads were dry! That only lasted until about 9am... Cam's mom's race (does YOUR mom race a mountain bike???) started with just a sprinkle of rain falling, but picked up in intensity throughout the race. Over 70 beginners showed up and looked to be having a blast in the rain.

After seeing Cam's mom have such a good time in the rain, I couldn't not do the race, so I got dressed and had my turn at things. The rain kept increasing in intensity and we raced in basically a deluge! Cam's pre-race instructions to me involved reminders to go my own pace and to not get into a situation that could put me in harm's way. The other 90% of the instructions involved how to minimize damage to the bike while riding in the crappy conditions!

I did end up going at my own pace, which put me way back in a place where I "raced" by myself the whole time. I still had a lot of fun getting messy and muddy, but I was not setting any speed records... After two of the prescribed three laps, the officials pulled me from the course. I was pretty disappointed because I was having a blast and really wanted to finish my race. I was WAY more disappointed when I learned that the other female a couple of minutes behind me was allowed to finish her third lap. We are still not sure what happened there...

The earlier races had pretty much destroyed the course for the finale of the day, the Expert Race. Cam got dressed in the Jeep and prepared his bike in the Jeep, and pretty much hung out in the Jeep (and out of the rain) until the last possible minute before his race. Cam's mom, sister, and niece and I weathered the rain, cold, and wind to take some photos and cheer on our man.

Cam finished in first, with about a one minute margin over second. He was literally coated from head (in his eyes, ears, nose, etc) to his toes with mud, and there was no place to clean off the humans or the cycles. I tried to help clean Cam off enough to get him into clean, dry, warm clothes sometime before hypothermia set in, but it was a challenge, to say the least.

I guess we got what we wanted: a mountain bike race. But it wasn't exactly what we were looking for...

Next week are the Iowa City Road Race and Crit. Stay tuned!

IronCamp Arizona 2009

2009-04-10T16:18:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of quick pictures from the girl's (long) weekend in sunny Mesa, AZ. We had a great time and really enjoyed the cycling, eating, cycling, drinking, cycling, and sunshine!

An Eggs-periment

2009-02-24T20:23:00.009-06:00

I loved my CSA last summer, so I was pumped to find out that one of the farmers was offering eggs. These aren't just some eggs that you can run to the grocery store to procure. No, these are some pretty special eggs.

I've been reading An Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen. What a great book to describe where exactly our food comes from, what we in the US have done to food to make it cheaper, and what we have sacrificed along the way. I highly recommend the book, especially if you are concerned about the quality of the food you use to fuel your body. Aside from looking at the corn that surrounds me in Iowa in a new light, I have also gained a better appreciation for the proteins that nourish me as an athlete. Eggs would be one great example.

I eat about a dozen eggs a week. They are quick and easy to fix and can be eaten in a number of ways and in a number of combinations. Between the slow economy and my frugality, I usually find myself leaning towards the least expensive option for eggs. I've tried nearly all the varieties that Hy-Vee offers, from plain-jane white eggs to the organic brown and everything in between. Truth be told, I couldn't tell much of a difference - not in taste, not in quality.

Tonight I picked up my first dozen eggs from Small Potatoes Farm. They are amazingly beautiful eggs. Unlike the white eggs from Hy-Vee, they were not all uniform in shape or size. Nor were they any shade of white! Please note that the upper left hand egg is the white Hy-Vee brand egg, put in the container for comparison purposes.

These beauties are green, pink, and blue! They look like Easter eggs, but aren't colored by Paas, but by the chickens that lay them.

I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of my typical Hy-Vee egg with the new rainbow of eggs from Small Potatoes.

Test One: Size and Color.

Winner: A Tie - The colored eggs are amazing in their variety, but the white eggs are a brilliant white, too. The colored eggs vary in size from small to extra large. Who am I to say that one size is better than another.

Test Two: The Shell

Winner: The colored eggs - with barely a tap on the counter, the white egg split and leaked some egg before I could get it to the container. The colored egg required a sharper whack, and the shell was much stronger and less brittle than the white.

Test Three: Consistancy

Winner: The colored eggs - the first picture shows the colored egg. Notice how firm the egg white is and how the eggs stays together as opposed to the second picture (the white egg). The white spreads out more and the yolk is less firm.

Test Four: Taste

Winner: The colored eggs - I didn't fully realize how much flavor an egg contains until I tried the egg from Small Potatoes. Much richer and bolder taste. They say that some chefs have to modify their recipes when they cook using very high quality eggs such as these because the characteristics and flavor make such a difference!

I am eggs-ited to eat these eggs for the next 10 weeks. If I start running faster or blowing past people on my bike, you'll know why!

Maui 2009

2009-02-08T14:36:00.000-06:00

What a way to kick off the new year! Once again, I was blessed to be invited to spend 10 glorious days in Maui with my family. Jeff & Jeanette and Erin & Lance started a tradition a number of years back to get the family together in a warm locale every other January. This was our third trip in a row to Maui, and we've not been disappointed yet!

It's great to get to hang with the family for a week, and this year was even better as Cam was invited, too! We knew we wanted to ride a bunch while we were there, and after talking to the guy at the bike shop, we decided to take our own bikes, rather than take a chance with what they had to offer. It was a very good decision... My uncle ended up renting for a day, and he was less than thrilled with what he got. Mike, my cousin from Seattle, also brought his bike to join in on the fun.

Day One: Mike, South of Makena, with Haleakala in the background

Day One: South of Makena

Day Two: What better place to get a flat than in Maui?

Day Two: What a view!

Day Four: South of Makena

Day Five: My ride to Iao Valley State Park

Day Five: Iao Valley State Park

Day Five: Iao Needle

Day Five: Rest stop!

Day Six: Honolua Bay

Day Six: Cousin Mike, me, and Uncle Jeff at Honolua Bay

In all, I rode 7 of the 10 days we were on the island. Cam rode 9, including 2 trips up Haleakala and one ride on the the Road to Hana. Neither one of us can stop talking about going back next year (even if it is an "off" year for the family vacation)!

Dirty Duathlon

2008-11-05T08:40:00.007-06:00

Following another great day of riding (and practicing, for me) at the Science Center on Saturday, we geared up for the main event of the weekend: the Dirty Duathlon. Cam was teamed with his friend Kristy to defend their title from last year in the relay event. Originally, I was going to do the whole 2+ mile run, 12+ mile bike ride, and 2+ mile run alone, but after riding a couple laps on Friday and Saturday, I called in a runner, so I could just concentrate on the riding.

The amazing weather continued, and as race time neared it was in the low 70s! In November! Awesome! The beginner race took quite a bit longer than I think anyone predicted, so the main race got underway about 20 minutes late. There was a great turnout for the event.

Jan started things off for our team, I waited for her to come into transition, then it was my turn to hit the gas! We did four laps of Rollercoaster and the hillside. It starts off with a good climb (basically you go from sitting still in transition directly into the red zone), a couple of ups and downs, then the water crossing, my nemesis. It is a quick, easy stream crossing followed by a little up-down-and-turnaround that I had trouble getting figured out. There was so much congestion on lap one that almost everyone around me had to bail off their bikes and do a hike-a-bike up the switchbacks that follow.

As the lap progressed, traffic started to space out a little more evenly. I passed a few guys, and a few guys passed me. It didn’t take me too long to realize that there weren’t many females riding bikes that day. I think there may have only been two of us on relays and maybe five or six doing the event solo.

It took a whole lap for me to really get things dialed in, and after that, though still pretty painful, I started to have some fun. On lap two I got to the water crossing and nearly made it, but I ended up having to unclip to avoid another rider who didn’t quite make it. I got clipped back in and worked my way up the switchbacks and nearly made it all the way. Oh well, there is always the next lap!

The proudest shining moment of my entire athletic career came in the middle of hillside on lap two. I pedaled up behind a rider who was really struggling with the whole mountain bike riding thing. It turned out to be TJ Tollakson, a pro triathlete known for his cycling prowess! Not only did I catch him, but I whizzed right past him and never looked back. There aren’t too many people who can say they’ve beat TJ in a bike race, but I can! Though I passed a professional triathlete, I also spent much of lap two getting lapped by the leaders in the midst of their third lap. Cam, Andy, Kent, and a few others came whipping past me and all offered some encouragement as they went.

On lap three, I was more determined to do better on this little water crossing. This time I finally made it across the water portion but got in trouble a couple of times on the climb out. So close! I knew now what it would take to make it all the way, so I was actually glad that I was gonna get one more shot at it.
When I came around to the start/finish line to start the fourth and final lap, I was again greeted by Jeff and Liz who’d been cheering there on every lap. Cam had finished and passed off to Kristy to finish their repeat victory, and he was there cheering with them. I chugged my way up the hill one last time to begin lap four. As I made my way down to that darn water crossing, I could see Cam waiting to see how I’d do. I had no other racers to contend with, so I just went for it. It wasn’t necessarily pretty or fast, but I kept at it and cleared the water and the whole climb! Cam was cheering like crazy and his excitement soon had some of the other spectators cheering me on as well.

Cam showed up at a couple other spots to cheer on lap four. As that final lap progressed so did my enjoyment of the event. I’d been out there riding for over 90 minutes, but was having so much fun, I really didn’t want it to end right away! Soon enough, though, I was climbing back to the transition area to pass off to Jan for her final run portion. She ran a strong finish leg to end our race. Although we didn’t set any land-speed records, we did pretty well for a couple of girls!

Photos courtesy of FryGuy and Justin Bruce.

Spooky Woods Ride

2008-11-03T08:34:00.002-06:00

This was a really fun weekend of mountain biking. The weather was again forecast to be amazing all weekend long, and we had the bonus of the Halloween weekend to contend with. Because the weather was so awesome, I wanted to get in as much ride time as possible. Thankfully, I have a boyfriend who will put up no arguments to that desire!

I got off work at about 10am on Friday, and Cam took off around 11am, so we met at his house and did a little planning. We went to Costco to get some stuff, then grabbed lunch at Jason’s Deli. After a quick stop at the bike shop, we drove to the Science Center and Cam gave me some lessons on Rollercoaster to get me ready for the Dirty Duathlon on Sunday. We did Rollercoaster and the hillside a few times, and each time I struggled with the water crossing. Although I practiced it a few times, it just didn’t seem like I was gonna get it in time for the race. I was okay with that, though. I knew I might just have to get off and walk it each time. It didn’t look that hard; it just was!

We rode over to Denman’s after that, and I had a great time chasing Cam around. I noticed something was a little off on the Mongoose I was riding. Cam diagnosed that the middle chainring had reached the end of its proud career. He called the shop, and they had one, so all was good – Cam would switch it out and me and the ‘Goose would be back in business for the rest of the weekend.

After about 2 hours of riding, it was time to get home, clean up the bikes, have some dinner then get ready for the night ride. As it turns out, the new chainring wouldn’t fit, so we had to move to plan B – which ended up being a whole different bike! That meant switching the wheels and the saddle. It took a while, but Cam persevered, and by the time the sun went down, I was riding a Specialized!

Cam hooked up some lights to both bikes, and around 8pm, we took off into the dark to the Spooky Woods ride at Denman’s. I was pretty thankful that we got to ride at Denman’s during the day, so I had some sort of idea about what to expect. It is, however, a whole different story doing it at night!

Once we were safely at the party it was in full-force. There was chili, beer, fire, costumes, and a sweet cooler stereo (ala RAGBRAI) pumping out the Michael Jackson, just like the old high school parties of the past. Oh, and the Night Quarter Rage race. We sat that one out. The highlight was these sweet Jack-o-Lantern logs of fire! And the informal ladies belching contest. Cam really wanted to participate in that one, but we wouldn't let him…

The ride home was quite chilly, but once we were safely home, we agreed it was a really good time!

Spooky Cross 2008

2008-10-28T08:01:00.009-05:00

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

2008-10-22T07:45:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-10-20T07:37:00.001-05:00

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!

2008-10-17T11:30:00.000-05:00

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

2008-10-15T13:00:00.001-05:00

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.

Sugar Races at Sugar Bottom!

2008-09-23T10:16:00.005-05:00

With the promise of Whitey's ice cream echoing in our heads, Cam and I headed east this weekend for some time to be spent with family and, of course, mountain bike racing! I got up early on Saturday morning to get in my 10-mile run before we loaded up. We were going to Sugar Bottom Recreation Area (outside of North Liberty, Iowa) to pre-ride the course before continuing on to the Quad-Cities for the night. I didn't think that my legs would want to run 10 miles after an hour or more of riding, so it was good to get it out of the way beforehand.

Cam takes excellent care of me (and the bike he lets me ride) whenever I endeavor to try my luck at this crazy sport of his. We took off together for a little tour of this awesome park. It is very well-maintained and clearly marked, much like a ski slope, with green (beginner), blue (intermediate), and black (not for Julie) routes. It's great fun for me to ride with him - thankfully he slows it waaaaay down when I am with him - I can really learn a lot by watching him. Plus, he gives lots of pointers along the way. Apparently, I was a little rusty getting back on the mountain bike after a couple weeks off, and I could clearly see that I was slowing down his attempts to get a good read on the course. I sent him off on his own, then took off in search of some easy green stuff to practice some basics.

Once I found some trails that were more my speed, I got back into the groove pretty quickly. This course is much different from where I made my mountain bike racing debut - mostly singletrack as opposed to the wide open stuff at Ahquabi. I found one section that I could ride without too much trouble, but that had a few challenging sections and I rode that for about 40 minutes. About halfway through, I heard Cam ride up behind me, and I just tried to ride fast enough that he wouldn't plow me over! I had a big grin on my face the whole time, and with every pedal stroke I got more excited to race the next day.

We continued on to Bettendorf where we cleaned up and met Cam's sister, Amy, and her husband (Josh) and their kiddo (Kennan) at church in Moline. We were entertained at dinner by 17-month old Kennan's funny antics and the skinny, weird dentist who danced outside our table-side window. After dinner, we headed to Whitey's for one of the best Oreo malts I've ever enjoyed. Cam is smart and tries to watch what he eats the night before a big race. I, however, seem to want to put Whitey's ice cream above all other goals and ambitions! We split the malt, but I ate the lion's share.

Sunday morning was perfect! It was a little foggy, not too warm, not too cool. We stopped by Hy-Vee for some coffee (Cam) and bagels, yogurt, and OJ (me). My race was at 10am, but Cam didn't have to start til noon, so he would have plenty of time to inhale a box of cereal before his start.

I was hoping for a good turnout in the beginner class, as the last race I'd done only had two women in my class. I wanted to have a little more competition this time. The parking lot was pretty empty when we rolled in, but quickly filled, and I watched a few more females getting warmed up. I headed out to get the blood flowing a little bit and see if I could figure out what kind of route we'd be on. Naively, I thought that the beginner race would stick to mostly beginner-ish routes, so that was where I turned my focus. Apparently, though, they weren't quite done marking the course when I did my warm-up!

Although the picture above doesn't show it, there ended up being 7 women and 26 men in the beginner class. We lined up, received our instructions, and then we were off! We headed up the gravel road before we turned onto the singletrack. This was the section I'd reconed on Saturday and during my warm-up, so I felt like I could go for it. I think I saw 5 women go in ahead of me, so I had a couple rabbits to catch! We were no more than three or four minutes into the woods before I had my first altercation. I came around a corner a little hotter than I should have, only to find that someone planted a very mature tree right where my bike was steering itself. I had no other option than a direct hit. My only hope at the time was that I could deliver a harder blow to the tree than the tree could deliver to me. My hope was in vain. I stuffed it hard, crashing my left hand, shoulder, and knee into the bark. Saving what little face I had left, I never fell over. Another chick and a couple of guys passed me while I untangled myself from the tree. I didn't really take any time to assess the damage - my mind was still in "rage" mode from the Pantera death metal we rocked in the Jeep during the drive to the course - I just made sure that nothing was broken. You have to look really closely to see anything on my shoulder, but there is definitely blood running down my leg...

The extra adrenaline rush from the crash carried me the rest of the race. Not too much further along, the chick and one of the guys that passed me while I hugged the tree had their own little tangle during a pass, so I passed them back at that point, never to see them again. Once I got the hang of passing people, I made it my job. Don't tell anyone, but the most fun for me is cruising past the guys...

After a good 30 minutes on the singletrack, we hit the gravel for a quick couple hundred yards before getting back in the woods. The two guys I'd been chasing got passed by me like they were standing still. I was loving all the fitness I'd been working on all year! We started hitting some more technical parts of the course where I could reel guys in on the fast stuff, but they'd usually get me on the more technical areas. Overall, I was gaining, and I chicked quite a few dudes.

The third and final section was the most technical of all, and I was starting to appreciate how painful Cam's races are for him. My back was cramping and my arms were cooked, but I only had to do one lap; the experts had three! In the last third of the race we turned onto an expert trail. Right away, we had four log crossings. I easily rode over three of them...

The "highlight" of this section was Cyclocross Hill:

Riders come cruising down the first hill, cross the bridge at the bottom, then try to maintain enough momentum to make it up the other side. I think I made it about a third of the way up before I bailed, grabbed my bike, and ran up the hill 'cross-style. I passed another guy at the top of that hill! There were a bunch of people watching the carnage from the top. I made a mental note that it would be a good place to watch Cam's race when I was done.

With that section behind me, I took off for the finish. I could hear one guy behind me, so I just tried to maintain the pace for the rest of the race. I finished the 10.9-mile course in 1:10:54, about 6 1/2 minutes behind the first place female, good enough for third place.

With my race out of the way, my attention turned to getting some food in my stomach, cleaning up, and getting ready to watch Cam unleash his fury on Sugar Bottom and the competition.

I knew his main competition would be Brian Eppen, a local pro rider. Cam said Brian had a bit of an advantage, as he rides at Sugar Bottom on a regular basis and knows the trails well. But I also knew that Cam is having a great year and was fresh off an incredible 10th place finish at Chequamegon last weekend. This was going to be a fun battle to watch unfold!

I watched the expert and sport classes take off, then wandered over to Cyclocross Hill to see how things would play out on lap one. After about 40 minutes, we hear someone on the far side of the hill tell us there are riders coming. I see Brian cruise to the top of the hill, with Cam in tow about 15 seconds back. So far, so good. The top ten or so guys are able to top the hill without dismounting, but then the fun starts for the spectators! We cheer, encourage, sometimes even attempt to *will* people up and over the top. Most don't quite make it. I enjoyed watching Kent (on a singlespeed) easily zip past an expert (on a geared bike) who barely made it half way before having to hike it. Rather than risk poison ivy by hiking through the woods in search of another vantage point, I stayed put at the hill and cheered and chatted with some of the other fans.

Pretty soon, it was time to start looking for Cam and Brian again. This time Cam was right on Brian's wheel! I screamed some encouragement, then took off for the start/finish line in case Cam needed a hand-up. I also wanted to have a look around for Amy and Kennan, since they were supposed to be driving up for Cam's race, but I didn't see them before the start. Cam was still glued to Brian's wheel when they came through, and both guys looked like they were working pretty hard.

Not seeing Amy and Kennan, I headed back to watch lap three on the hill. I expected it to be another close lap, but when the time was right, all I saw was Cam coming up the hill with Brian nowhere in sight! Cam had to take some evasive action on the way up the hill to avoid a tangle with some lap traffic, but made it through without any trouble.

I screamed something again, and was so fired up at that point, I didn't stick around long enough to see how far back Brian was; I just took off in a dead sprint to the finish line!

A few minutes later, Cam crossed the finish line, looking pretty beat, but thankful for the win! It turns out that Brian had his own altercation with his saddle a couple of times during the race, and that might have contributed to some slower than usual lap times for him, but a win is a win! Soon enough, I saw Amy and Kennan, so we hung out and watched Kennan practice walking on the uneven surfaces while Cam sucked down his post-race nutrition and took a cool-down spin.

Kennan enjoyed her uncle's funny faces and getting to play with the acorns and sticks, and Amy and I enjoyed the beautiful day. Post-race was spent rehashing the day with everyone, taking some more pics, and Cam and I splitting a tall-boy of MGD. What more can a girl ask for?

Late in the afternoon we left Sugar Bottom in search of food and more ice cream in Iowa City. We had the most amazing burritos at the Atlas - these things were to die for: buffalo chicken, mashed potatoes, celery and carrots, wow! Though stuffed, we walked to the ped mall for another Whitey's shake, but this time we each had our own!

Riding and Racing

2008-09-18T22:13:00.009-05:00

I can hardly believe, as I look at the calendar, that September is flying past me. It seems like not very long ago that I was just getting recovered from Coeur d'Alene, but already football is on TV and the leaves are starting to change. Usually, this is cause for great concern for me. You see, I basically hate winter in Iowa. I don't tolerate the cold well, and the Iowa winters just seem to go on forever. I like to get out and play in the sunshine, wear shorts and flip flops every day, ride my bike until 7 o'clock or later, that kind of thing. While fall is a fantastic time of year, I generally find myself getting into a bit of a funk when it rolls around because I know that sub-zero temps and fewer hours of daylight are right around the corner.

This year I am fighting the inevitable onset of my winter depression. I have been on my bike as many days as possible and have been getting some pretty decent rides, especially considering that I don't have any races or goals on the horizon. A couple of Fridays ago, I had an afternoon free, so I got on my bike and headed NW. Soon I found myself just west of Webster City and three hours from home! Thankfully, I had a debit card and enough of the day left over to make it home with plenty of sunshine. While I didn't make it home in time to do the 5K I had planned on, I did launch myself out of bed the next morning for a great 10-mile run with Team Vardo.

Cell phones take great pics during long bike rides

Sometime during that run, I had to ask myself what the heck I was doing. Here I was, done with all my racing for the season, with apparently a ton of fitness and nothing to do with it! Talking with a bunch of other triathletes, I realized there were a lot of people I know who are going to do the Longhorn 70.3 in Austin, TX, on October 5th. So, with 3.5 weeks to race day, I pulled out the trusty ol' credit card and bought a plane ticket and a race entry.

With only a few weeks to sharpen for the race, I've been spending more time in DM riding with some folks who are getting ready for Ironman Florida in November. We've had some really fun rides, even when we get lost (and add another 90 minutes to the ride because of it) or it rains. I've made some awesome friends through this sport, and I am so thankful for that!

As I think about this race season, I am also really thankful for the opportunity to do some events I might have shied away from in the past. Last weekend's DOathlon for Life might fall into that category. I've only done one other duathlon: the 2007 Dutchman Tri turned Du. It was the most painful 5K run, 40K bike, and 10K run of my life. This time I decided to embrace the pain and just go for it! Part of the pain would be induced by the hilly 70-mile bike ride we did on the day before the event, but the rest would be self-induced. Although it was a bit rainy, windy, and chilly (not my favorite combination...), the race went well - I ended up 2nd in my age group and won the door prize (a set of clip-on aero bars)!

Next up is another mountain bike race (if I think I can do it without screwing up anything for the Texas race...).

24 Hours in Boone

2008-09-04T12:31:00.008-05:00

I had the pleasure of spending 24 hours (really it was more like 27 hours, but who's counting?) in Boone over the Labor Day weekend. I know, anyone who has spent any amount of time in Boone is wondering how even 24 minutes in Boone could be pleasurable, but I think that anyone can enjoy Boone if you are with the right people.

Cam and the rest of the Rasmussen Bike Shop Team (Andy, Kent, and Jed) were in town to defend the team championship that Rassy's has won for the past two years. The 6th Annual 24-Hours of Seven Oaks Mountain Bike Race brought out solo riders and team of two or four to race for 12 or 24 hours.

The weather was awesome and the company sounded great, so I committed to hanging out with the team for the full day. Armed with a camera, some food and beer, and the truck tent, I met Cam at Seven Oaks on Saturday morning to set up camp. They already had a pretty sweet set-up with the Rassy cube truck (fresh off the road from RAGBRAI), a couple of big tents, some lights, a generator (Team Satisfied take note, these guys do it right!), and all the equipment necessary to kick some butt.

The whole bottom of the ski hill was full of tents, teams, solo riders, and lots of fans. The course followed a serpentine pattern at the base, to allow the fans to catch more than just a glimpse of their favorite riders on each lap. This was also helpful to allow the next team rider enough time to make his/her way to the exchange zone to start their lap.

The race started at noon on Saturday, and Team Rassy took turns , one lap at a time, covering the 8+ mile course. After a few rounds, I hiked up the "mountain" to take some pictures. Andy was just finishing his lap while I was scouting for good places to grab a couple shots of Cam when he came out for his next lap. I was distracted for just a brief moment on the trail and nearly had a potentially fatal collision with Andy speeding through the woods. I'm sure both our heart rates when up a few beats, but all was good, and I did end up getting a couple decent shots of Cam having a blast.

Took some fun pics of the wildlife: some bees doing their thing and a rather large millipede living it up in one of Jed's discarded tires.

The guys slowly started gaining ground over the second place team and lapped them in the evening. As the sun started to set, headlamps and lights started to make an appearance on the course. Although we still had some daylight at camp, I understand that things were getting pretty dark in the bowels of the course. With the setting sun came cooler temps. The race had already lost a couple people to heat exhaustion or heat stroke (one guy (24-hour solo competitor) we almost lost permanently - paramedics said the next step for him was death...), so it was a welcome relief.

Around midnight, the guys started doing two laps at a time, to allow for some sleep. At 2am, I got up out of the truck tent to "help" send Cam out for a couple laps. Really, I just had to go to the bathroom, but don't tell him that...

As I was walking back from the bathroom, I took a couple cool pics of the fog that had settled in over the camping area.
I thought for a few minutes about trying to stay up to cheer Cam on for his two circuits, but the cold and sleepiness drove me back into the warmth of the tent.

By morning, the guys had added another lap to their lead, and we thought everyone would be done after they'd completed their 7 laps at about 10:30am. But the second place team could technically still win, if they got another two laps in while Team Rassy rested. Andy, although visably bitter about having to go around one more time while everyone else had breakfast and cleaned up, suited up and took one for the team. That last lap secured the win!

1000 clams richer, the Rassy team left Boone and surely enjoyed the rest of their holiday weekend with big smiles on their faces!

Hickory Grove Triathlon

2008-08-25T13:29:00.003-05:00

When I first started doing triathlons, I thought they were a pretty big deal. I knew how hard running was, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how people could run after they'd gone for a swim and a bike ride. Having done a marathon in 2002, I figured I could handle a sprint-distance triathlon the following year. I was hooked after that first race and did four more sprint distance triathlons the following year. I always seemed to be cooked after the 5K run at the end of the event. The jump to Olympic-distance seemed like too big of a leap for me; I mean, I would have to run a 10K at the end - no way! The 2005 season was packed with more sprint triathlons.

It wasn't until the fall of 2005 when I apparently lost my mind and signed myself up for an Ironman that I realized I'd better get ready to tackle the mighty Oly, and his friends Half IM and IM. I did one more sprint early in the 2006 season before I became hooked on long-course triathlon. I've totally loved the training and racing (or more appropriately in my world, participating in) long-course. I thought it really suited my strengths - I may not be fast, but I can go forever.

After all the long stuff I decided that I wanted to try out another sprint, just to see what I could do. Nearly all of my racing this season has produced PRs, so I was cautiously optimistic about going fast again.

The Hickory Grove Triathlon (formerly the Cy-Man) is held in Colo, Iowa, about 15-20 minutes from Ames, so it seemed like a perfect time and place for me to go. Plus, some of the Team Vardo triathlon faction would be competing.

The plan was to hammer the swim (at least to my weak abilities - I haven't been swimming very much this summer), really push the bike (I've been doing LOTS of cycling this summer), and then just suck it up and embrace the pain of the run. I also had this very lofty little goal of a podium finish (top three in my age group), but I knew that was a stretch, at best.

The weather was awesome. It was a bit chilly when we pulled into the lot at about 6:30am. I got my transition area all set up then went for a quick recon of the first part of the run course - pretty flat and on grass and trail. I jumped on my bike for a taste of the three-loop bike course (totaling 15.5 miles) - it was sweet and fast. I made it back into transition in time to make the final wetsuit decision - I opted for the extra warmth (while standing on the beach for 30+ minutes before my wave went off) and buoyancy, put on the wetsuit, and headed to the beach for a little swim warm-up.

My wave went off at 8:18am, and it was a great start - not a lot of contact and I found open water very quickly. Since it was only 500 yards, I cooked along pretty well and made it out of the water in the right place despite having the morning sun directly in my eyes. Swim time was 8:27 - a PR by 3 minutes and fourth fastest in my AG. After a run up the hill to T1, I floundered around trying to get out of my wetsuit and onto the bike. T1 was 1:52 - not bad for me all things considered.

I got onto the bike without any problems. I'm so used to really having to pace myself for 50+ mile rides, so it was good to just get out there and blast it. I passed a bunch of people, but didn't see too many in my age group right off the bat. That meant I either had a really good or a really bad swim. Things started to get pretty crowded by the end of the second lap with nearly 300 people spread out over the same 5-mile loop. I did a little inadvertent drafting, but only because I couldn't get to any daylight. I pushed the pace the whole way and landed back at T2 in 45:50 for a 20.3 mph pace - another PR and third fastest in my AG! Following a 1:23 T2, I headed out on the run.

It was painful as usual, but I concentrated on staying relaxed and a quick cadence. I wasn't passed by anyone in my age group. I spotted one female who left T2 right ahead of me, but I couldn't make out her age on the back of her leg. I slowly reeled her in by the end of mile 1 and realized she was in my age group. She was running with someone else, and I opted not to pass her (thus giving away that I was in her age group and putting a huge target on my back) and just hung right with them for another mile. At mile 2 she started to pull away, and I couldn't hang with her. My goal was to get to the finish line as soon as possible and not get passed by any other 30-34 year old female! I kept up the pace to finish the run in 26:17 - another PR and sixth in my AG.

Immediately following the finish I searched out that girl that finished ahead of me to congratulate her on a great race. It turns out that she knew I was just behind her on the course, and she turned it on to drop me! We had a good laugh and introduced ourselves.

After some nutrition, I checked out the results. It looked like I was 5th out of 29 in my AG. The first one in my AG finished second overall, so that took her out of the top three in my AG. Rats! It looked like I was one spot out off the podium. So close... If only I'd beaten that one girl!

We hung around for the awards, and I was surprised to hear them call my name for third in my AG! I picked up the hardware - a pint glass - and I went home a little puzzled by how I could finish 5th in the AG, but end up with an award.

It wasn't until I really examined the results that I realized what had happened. The second place girl in my AG had posted a bike time of 37:something, which translates to an average speed of 27.5 mph. Um, I don't think so. It looks like she only did 2 laps of the bike course instead of 3.

It was a great day for a triathlon! Lots of PRs all around and my first hardware at a tri!

Mmmm... food!

2008-08-25T13:06:00.002-05:00

This is what I picked up at my CSA this week:

That's a lot of food for one person! The closer we get to the fall, the more food that is ready to eat. Earlier this summer (especially during the floods in May/June), our shares were pretty small, but the last couple of weeks have been quite bountiful!

I started with some sweet corn on Tuesday night. Some of the sweet corn has been better than others this year.

Next up was the eggplant on Thursday. I tried a cheesy eggplant casserole and some baked eggplant. Um, I'm not a big fan of eggplant.

Cam was here for dinner on Friday night. We made fish tacos (my favorite!) and apple crisp. That used the cabbage, onion, and half the apples. Cam came back on Sunday night for dinner again. We used some of the summer squash and zucchini in the pasta sauce, steamed some green beans, and had the rest of the sweet corn.

Today, I made pickles out of the cucumber and washed the lettuce for salads for the rest of the week.

I still have to figure out what to do with the other half a head of cabbage, all the tomatoes, the pepper, and the rest of the apples. More food comes tomorrow!

Mob the 'Quab

2008-08-11T14:22:00.009-05:00

Another weekend, another new adventure.

Not only did Cam talk me into doing my first mountain bike race this weekend, he also gave me a guided tour of the course on Saturday afternoon, set me up on one of his old rides (and didn't get upset when I busted the saddle during the practice ride...), and patiently answered my questions and talked me through all my newbie nerves.

I think this was only the 6th or 7th time I've been on a mountain bike (at least riding trails - I don't think that my commuting to the ISU football tailgate on a mountain bike really counts as riding). Thankfully, this wasn't a terribly technical course . There wasn't really any singletrack to speak of - mostly some nice, wide snowmobile trails. But that meant that it would be a little faster course, and at some point, I guess you could say that fast becomes technical again.

I like to think I have a healthy respect for the damage that I could inflict on myself if I got out of control. I lean a little towards caution, but I still like the speed and being just on the edge of out of control. The hard part is finding the fine line between the two.

The venue was Lake Ahquabi State Park, just south of Indianola. The race started at noon on Sunday with Cam and the rest of the Experts, then the Sport Class at 12:05pm, and all five (three dudes and two gals) of us Beginners at 12:07pm. My goal was to survive our single round of the course and to not get lapped by Cam! My warm-up consisted of a few rounds of the last section of the course. It had me a bit nervous as it is a long-ish decent on a torn-up old asphalt road. I went to the line very excited, but not in the same pit-of-my-stomach nervous that I get before a triathlon, just thrilled to be trying something new!

My adrenaline was pumping hard as soon as we got started. I had no idea what to expect out of the "racing" part of the race. I'd seen the course, but not ever really raced a bike before! My heart was red-lined for the first 5-10 minutes with all the adrenaline, but things settled in nicely after that.

The guys in our class were basically out of sight (off the front end, obviously) right from the start, and I quickly dropped the other woman on the first hill. I raced alone for the first 8-10 minutes until I caught someone on one of the hills. And by "caught" I mean that we had both bailed out somewhere on the incline and I was hiking faster than he was. I passed him before we headed out on to the first bridge. At the time I thought he was in my class, but I think he was in the Sport Class, so I'm not sure what his story was... But, the bottom line is he got chicked by some newbie rider!

My HR was more under control and I was enjoying the whole experience by this time. I remembered that the second half was a little tougher than the first, so I just started diggin'. Eventually, I motored up behind another guy and made a clean pass - although I think this guy was hurtin' from an altercation with a tree. As I made my final turn back into the woods before the final decent, I was bummed that the race was nearly over. I was finally getting into the groove and that was it.

I cleanly made it down the asphalt road and to the finish line. I even had time to get off the bike, grab a drink and enjoy a banana before Cam came sliding through at the end of his second lap (he lapped the other gal during that last decent). My goals were met, and I ended it with a huge grin on my face!

Final time was 36 and change, good enough to win the Women's Beginner class and take home a box of Clif Bars for the effort!

Mountain Bike Racing in Boone

2008-08-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

No, not me racing on a mountain bike. I just went to watch and cheer. My friend, Cam, is a semi-pro, but doesn't do a lot of racing in central Iowa. So, when I found out he was going to be racing in Boone, I took advantage and headed over to watch. Of course, it turned out to be one of the hottest and most humid days of the summer, but that just added to the adventure.

Armed with a camera and an extra water bottle (for Cam, not me), I hiked into the woods at Seven Oaks and tried to get some good shots without getting eaten alive by the mosquitos or run over by a wayward bicycle.

What I learned:

1. You can't miss a giant herd of mountain bikes headed in your direction - even if they are obscured by the trees. They are loud - at least a lot louder than I was expecting and loud enough that you feel the need to get the heck outta their way!

2. Bug spray is no match for the man-eating insects of this central Iowa summer.

3. It's hard to take good pictures of Cam. He led from start to finish, so I never had any warning of when he'd be coming over the hill I was standing at the bottom of. If he'd been in second or third, I would have had some idea of when he was coming. I don't think he thought much of my request to have him race in second place til the end...

4. Mountain bike racers are a funny bunch. Many of them would have a little chat with me as they rode by - telling me about the heat, the bath they took in the stream, how glad they were that I was there to cheer for them.

5. Cam makes some funny faces when he rides.

6. Sometimes you just have to get off and run!

I think I may have been bitten by more than just mosquitos; I think he's got me talked into trying out my own mountain bike race next weekend! Stay tuned...

Big Creek Tri 28

2008-08-03T21:29:00.005-05:00

A quick race report from last weekend...

This being only the second triathlon for me this year (and being only 5 weeks post-Ironman), I had pretty low expectations for this race. My training has been mostly whatever I have felt like doing (or not) on any given day. Plus, I had just come off 4 days of RAGBRAI, which isn't exactly a triathlon-specific training regime.

I wasn't too sure whether the swim would be wet-suit legal or not, so I almost left home without my wetsuit. Thankfully, it dawned on me that I could at least throw it in the truck and use it if, by some miracle, the water temp allowed.

I went off in the fourth wave. It wasn't a particularly physical start, just the usual jostling for position. Still, though, I continued to struggle with getting into a decent rhythm until the halfway point. After that, it was smooth sailing (glad I had a wetsuit, too!) into T1.

Having done a lot of riding over the past few weeks, I wanted to push it a little on the bike to see where I was at. Actually, I decided to treat the ride as a stand-alone bike race, and then hope the run would take care of itself. The new course was great, but early into the race, I realized I had an issue with my left aerobar. At each joint in the road, the impact would cause the bar to loosen and drop to the front. As the race went on, it continued to get worse. After the turnaround, I realized I couldn't get out of aero or the bar would drop dangerously close to my front wheel. The last thing I needed was to endo after having the shifter lever lodge in my spokes! Although coming back into T2 was a little scary given that I could only break with my right and had to stop and dismount with lefty still on the aerobar, I didn't break any bones or sail past the dismount line.

Although there had been a slight chance of rain earlier in the day, by now all the clouds had burned off and we were left with sun, heat, and humidity - kinda like you'd guess Iowa in July might be... I felt strong for about 2 miles, then the wheels came off. It was a suffer-fest to the finish for me, but once I saw the results, I was pleasantly surprised at how the day had turned out.

I finished 5th in my age group and PR'd the swim, the bike, and the overall race! Not great, but overall, I can't complain.

I'm hoping to find at least one more triathlon for the season. Since I haven't done a sprint since the early part of 2006, I'm thinking about the Hickory Grove Triathlon. I'll keep you informed...

RAGBRAI XXXVI - Team Satisfied Strikes Again!

2008-07-24T16:03:00.028-05:00

Although the membership changes slightly year-to-year, the whole Team Satisfied experience becomes more and more satisfying with each passing RAGBRAI. The 2008 edition of what I consider the best week of the year took riders from Missouri Valley to Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, and all the way to LeClaire. Per Team Bylaws, the road stopped for Team Satisfied on Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday and Friday: Making Preparations

Though convincing Curt that we wouldn't ruin his new trailer by taking it on the Ride was no easy task, he did eventually relent. He and I spent a couple hours on Thursday getting things ready to go. The main challenge was retro-fitting the parts and pieces we'd previously used on the old trailer to make an equally functional home-away-from-home for the Team. We laid the wall-to-wall carpet, mounted new screens for the doors, and loaded some of the furniture. Honestly, I think Curt ended up really getting into the modifications - he went above and beyond the call.

Sparkle arrived on Friday afternoon and was the most hyper I've seen her in a long time. We finished up the final touches on the trailer: mounting the dresser, loading the sofa, futon, toilet, and all the tubs with the essentials. Tami and Doug were stuck in Chicago traffic, so the first team meeting was a little on the light side, but we made final plans over dinner at the Cafe.

Saturday: Ames to Missouri Valley (via truck and trailer)

The goal was to leave Ames at noon, but due to a few circumstances, we didn't roll out til 1:30pm. We had lunch in the truck and pondered what our first stop might be. Initially, we entertained the idea of stopping in Polk City, but Sparkle and I always have a difficult time figuring out how to get there, and we ended up too far west to stop there.

We continued south to I-80, then west to Stuart. We found a great little bar - Ruby's Pub - and had the whole place to ourselves. The women's restroom was voted best bar ladies' room by Team Satisfied.

Not long after leaving Stuart, the traffic on I-80 came to a complete stand-still. At one point, Sid got out of the truck and went out to talk to the truck drivers and others milling about in the median. He quickly concluded that we would exit the interstate as soon as we could.

The next exit took us southwest to Anita. As soon as we pulled in, we could easily spot the hot ticket for RAGBRAI cyclists. The place was packed with Team Toe Ring. There was dancing on the bar, leg-wrestling, and a couple of TVs. Le Tour + Pure Country = A Very Satisfying Stop for Team Satisfied!

The final stop would be Marne. The party was in full force, and there were clearly some folks who had spent the better part of their Saturday there. Free koozies and a "Pam" spotting were highlights of this stop.

The rest of the drive into Missouri Valley followed the early miles of Sunday's route. Sometimes this isn't the best idea, as it gives you a pretty decent taste of the following morning's hills. The town of 3000 is built on a hillside - not very conducive for camping and hosting 15,000 people. Armed with an address and little else, we failed miserably in trying to find the lot we were to camp upon. It's not a good sign when none of the locals or friendly police officers have ever heard of the street you are looking for... The geniuses that we are, we did eventually find the spot, but there was no way that Team Satisfied (or anyone else with a brain) would be happy camping on a 10% grade.

We decided that if we looked like we knew what we were doing, we could probably get away with parking in a (flat) lot just up the hill. We pulled in like we owned the place and set up camp at the school's bus barn with a bunch of other RVs and tent campers. We shared a couple of kybos and, rather than setting up a dumpster, the fine folks of Missouri Valley left us our own garbage truck!

The skies began to turn dark and ugly as we unloaded and prepared for the first night. In talking to some of the other campers, we learned of a house nearby that would allow us to come inside in case of bad weather, which was forecast. We ate some dinner, then headed downtown.

I was keeping my eyes peeled for the familiar white shirts of Team Emerson, friends we met on the 2005 RAGBRAI. They all have connections to the Atlanta Old White Rugby Club, and we ALWAYS run into them. Of course, a watched pot never boils, so I never saw them and was convinced (and very disappointed) that they weren't going to be there at all. They have become good friends over the years, and it felt like it could be a long week without them on the ride.

It was a slow start to RAGBRAI compared to previous years, but I think the weather played a role in the events of the evening. We had the dark, rolling clouds, the big gusts of wind, and a severe weather watch, but nothing ever materialized out of the sky (thankfully). The band at the beverage garden was pretty good, but the dust blowing around and multiple trains a few feet away chased a lot of us to other locales. Of all the people we met that night, most had been moderately over-served and were not very satisfying to spend much time around. As soon as we were able to convince Sid, we headed for home.

Sunday: Missouri Valley to Harlan

We awoke feeling pretty fresh and took care of all the morning's business of getting packed up and creating a game-plan for the day. While inflating tires for the team, I noticed a familiar issue with Tami's tire. There was a pretty healthy bit of cracking near the bead on her rear tire. Recognizing this as a potentially dangerous (and possibly inconvenient) problem, we made our first stop of the day at the familiar Rasmussen's Bike Shop truck 0.9 miles into the day for a new tire.

Happy to be done with the mechanicals of the day (we hoped), we headed east into the hills. Caffeine and food were the first order of business in Beebeetown. A very tasty ice tea and lemonade for drink and a sloppy joe for breakfast hit the spot. While enjoying the sloppy joe, a passerby asked where I got my "tavern." After asking him to repeat himself a number of times, I figured out he was asking about the sandwich. Have you ever heard it called a tavern?? Must be from out of town...

We continued the climbing to Underwood. Doug was on a mountain bike and Tami was riding her Bianchi that she purchased in high school (15-20 years ago...), so they were getting a little fatigued. I'm sure that it didn't help that their ONLY training miles were 15 miles the week previous along the lakefront in Chicago. Sparkle and I determined that we would put them in Sid's sag wagon after 30 miles in order to get them through the day without dying - they could still enjoy the evening in Harlan and be willing to get back on their bikes the next day.

After a quick pit stop at a (very nice) kybo under threatening skies, a familiar jersey rode past. It was Team Emerson!! They pulled off a few yards up the road to determine what they should do with one of their riders. He is a native of the island of Fiji, where apparently bicycles are not a usual mode of transportation. The rider was having a pretty rough time of things, so I think they were gonna put him on the team sag wagon, too...

We all met up in Neola, the meeting town of the day. Soon, it was like old times, Team Emerson and Team Satisfied hanging out in the (air-conditioned!!) bar and Sid hitting on girls from other teams. Eventually, Sparkle chose to sag in with Tami and Doug, and I headed down the road in the Team Emerson pace line. By now the skies had cleared and the sun was in full force - just like Iowa in July, it was hot and sticky! I stuck with the Emersons until the next town. While they waited for a couple people we dropped, I continued on at a more reasonable pace. I got hit on by some girl, and I can easily say that made me ride about 5mph faster, just to get away from her!

The rest of the ride was great - hilly, but great. I cruised into Harlan and easily found the host home. We showered and headed into town for supper, an ice cream treat at the gas station, and some pull tabs. No one won the lottery, so it was back home for us.

Bad weather was forecast again, so Sparkle (who really doesn't care for tornadoes) decided to just go ahead and start her evening by sleeping inside. I tried my best to sleep in the trailer without cooking myself in the heat and humidity. At 2:30am, I heard the familiar sound of the police making their rounds telling all the campers (via squad car loud-speaker) that a severe storm was going to hit within 20 minutes and we needed to seek shelter. I had the trailer sealed up in a matter of minutes and alerted Tami and Doug that they needed to get out of their tent.

We'd been through this once or twice every year we'd been camping in the trailer and had been caught in some pretty bad situations, so we don't risk anything anymore. I found an empty futon inside, so we got a decent night's sleep after that!

Stats:

58.9 miles

3797 feet of climb

Monday: Harlan to Jefferson

Saucy and the Shaman opted to start their day with a ride in the truck. They wanted to finish up the day riding into Jefferson, and we all knew that 82.9 miles could easily kick your butt!

The ride out of Harlan was good. We missed the century loop again this year! We joke about it each year, but it is one of the by-laws of Team Satisfied. Scientific studies have proven that riding the century loop on RAGBRAI is not at all satisfying.

After 15 miles, we arrived in the first town of the day, Kimballton. It isn't much more than a bend in the road, but we were ready for a little treat. After a granola bar under the shade of a parked pick-up, Sparkle and I walked our way to the other end of town. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a guy with a sign on his bike that said "Spoke Bracelets $5." Sounded intriguing (and not very expensive), so we circled back to get a better view. Basically, this guy does a quick eyeball of your wrist, pulls a spoke out of his bag, and bends (with the help of a pair of pliers) a perfectly sized bracelet to fit you. It's understated and yet says, "I ride a bike." Sure to be a hit on the runways in Paris this fall.

It was another very hilly day. I heard someone say that if you had done the century loop (only an extra 17.1 miles), it would be the hardest day in RAGBRAI history. Sparkle and I agreed early on that we would stop for Pastafari this day, since we were both craving veggies, as one tends to do after eating RAGBRAI food for 3 days. We would ride together some, then we would get spaced apart for a little bit, but would always wait for each other after a few miles.

As I was riding, I was asked by a fellow rider about my cycling sandals and how good they worked for riding. We ended up chatting for quite a while, and, as it turned out, Stuart was meeting his brothers at Pastafari as well. The three of us had a great little meal on the porch of little cabin on a hill. In the shade! We rode from there to Coon Rapids to meet up with Saucy and the Shaman. When we found Snake with the truck, Sparkle decided that she'd had enough, and joined her mom for the rest of the ride into Jefferson. Stuart and I, after being well nourished by cookies and Pringles, headed out to chase down Saucy and the Shaman.

Along the route, we saw evidence of what the previous night's storm had done. The corn in many areas was blown nearly all the way over. There were tree branches everywhere. At one point we came upon a grain bin that had been blown to pieces. Next to it was a wide swath of corn that was smashed to the ground. It was either crop circles or a tornado had been through!

We took another break in Scranton, because it looked like rain (and we were really ready for another break). As we left Scranton, it started to rain. With only 10 miles to go, we forged ahead. The rain would have been fine to deal with, but the accompanying lightning was not. Our two choices were: keep riding or take shelter. However, the only shelter was large groves of really tall trees - not really where you want to be in an electrical storm. We kept pedaling our way to freedom and arrived safely.

I'd never heard of this, but (leave it to the out-of-state guy riding his first RAGBRAI to tell me) many of the bike manufacturers allow riders to demo bikes for a day on the ride. We checked that out, then made our way to our accommodations for the night. I told Saucy and the Shaman about the demos, so they went downtown to see about new rides for Tuesday. The team was blessed with a great host for the night - good showers, supper, and beds (!!!) for the night.

We had a big team that night with Snake and Pete, the Senator and all the riders in the same town. My favorite RAGBRAI band was playing: the Johnny Holm Band. They all dropped me off at the expo on the way into town, as I needed a new helmet. Mine fell victim to some accident that, thankfully, my head was not a part of - I'm still not sure what happened, but it ruined my old one. At the concert, we enjoyed some good beverages, great music, and the always interesting spectacle of the Senator working his constituency.

Stats:

82.9 miles

5239 feet of climb

Tuesday: Jefferson to Ames

Tuesday greeted Team Satisfied with another glorious day. Saucy and the Shaman had some sweet demo bikes to ride (and they wanted to go the whole distance!!). Soon after leaving Jefferson, Sparkle and I lost Saucy and the Shaman after a quick bathroom break in Grand Junction. We ran into Team Bad Monkey and one of my Team Vardo running friends. By the time we were through visiting with people in town, we came to realize that a train (damn trains!) was blocking the only route out of town. After waiting for a little bit, riders started throwing their bikes over their shoulders and hiking up the track until they could cross. When in Rome...

The next stop was just outside of Grand Junction. We spotted the homemade ice cream sign long before we became aware that everything at this farm house was Iowa State cardinal and gold. The ice cream was awesome, and Sparkle dunked a little kid dressed in University of Iowa clothes in the dunk tank.

We moved on quickly as I know Sparkle was excited to get to the next town: Dana! Unfortunately, Dana was not in Dana, but we did get a picture of her with the town water tower, er, stick. In Dana, we hatched a plan to bypass Ogden. We've both been to Ogden, and neither of us could remember seeing or doing anything there that we wanted to do again. We mapped out a straight-shot to Boone. The new route took us through a surprisingly nice part of Boone County and got us out of the crowds for a little while.

We met up with Saucy and the Shaman (who were VERY satisfied with their demo bikes) just before the BIG hill into Boone. Following their hike to the top, we all rode into Boone for some lunch and a quick visit to Details - all three of us used to get our hair cut there. We made another quick stop for a beer, then pedaled on into Ames.

Saucy and the Shaman had to parade past their niece and nephews in town, but Sparkle and I took the shortcut to the house. Already waiting there was Matt (Team Emerson) and his two boys. We helped get them unpacked and into the house, then I met them at the airport to drop off their rental car.

The rest of the Emersons were in the midst of numerous rounds of showering and getting ready when I came back. One over-served Emerson even napped on my kitchen floor while we made plans for the evening.

We all loaded up into a couple vehicles and headed to Sid's for some chow, then to the Styx and Nadas concert. The concert was good, but the fireworks show afterwards was better.

Stats:

57 miles

1377 feet of climb

Wednesday: Ames to Tama-Toledo

It appeared that I was the final remaining member of Team Satisfied who still wanted to ride, so I headed out of town by myself, helping a few wayward visitors with the best way to get through town. Sid called and surprised the heck out of me saying that he was on his bike and headed east! I met up with Stuart in Nevada, and I did my best to give him a different view of RAGBRAI than what he had seen over the previous 3 days. We hit the 6th Street Pub for a vodka lemonade and waited for Sid to arrive. The place was hopping after about 30 minutes, and I almost thought about spending the rest of the day there!

Sid, Stuart and I left after a little while and kept motoring to Colo, then State Center. A text from the Emersons said that Road Hawgs was the place to be there. I had my first tenderloin of the ride then settled in at Road Hawgs with the Emersons and the Monkeys for a few more lemonades. Stuart wanted to keep riding, so, after a high-five, he was off.

After listening to the Bad Monkey's plan to go to Marshalltown (off-route), I threw out the idea to the Emersons who embraced the idea whole-heartedly. Sid had ridden 27 miles (27 more than he'd ridden in about 20 years), and he'd been slightly over-servedso we put him in the Emersons sag-wagon to meet up with us in Marshalltown. A few well-paced draft lines later we rode into Marshalltown. As we rode into town we passed a building with a message board that read, "Welcome Emerson." It was a sign that couldn't be passed without taking a picture. I didn't have my camera, though, so you'll just have to take my word for it...

We found a fun little bar under a bridge and started in on the Red Bull and Vodkas. They were tasty! Following a bunch of BSing on the patio, Sid then Sparkle showed up. It was getting late, and none of us needed any more Red Bull. Sparkle packed Sid and I into the truck, and suddenly RAGBRAI 2008 was over.

Stats:

40-ish

2000-ish feet of climbing

I was bummed out for the rest of the day about having to stop the ride mid-week, but when I awoke Thursday morning to rain, I was feeling like a genius!

More Random IM Week Photos

2008-07-12T20:21:00.007-05:00

Here are just a few more pictures from the big Ironman adventure in Coeur d'Alene:

Mike and I were very blessed to have such a large and enthusiastic crowd to cheer us on to our Ironman finishes.

If there is one thing that the Klein clan is good at, it is eating. If eating were a sport, we'd all have M-Dot tattoos! Even our pies sported the trademark...

Aside from being an awesome cousin (to me) and mother of three, Erin is a physical therapist who offered up her services as massage therapist for the weary athletes. I cannot tell you what a great massage that was...

The night before the race, Mike and I were able to take a few minutes to thank everyone for coming out to support us, and for dealing with us as we trained. It was good to be able to say thanks. If you weren't there, and I didn't get to tell you in person, thank you!

The Big Day - June 22, 2008

2008-06-30T14:33:00.006-05:00

My goals for this race:
1. Finish under 14 hours. Mike (from Team Vardo) decided that I should have a daylight finish since my Wisconsin race ended well into the night, with a finishing time of 16:30. I think he wanted me to have a better finisher's photo! I had a couple things going for me on finishing in the daylight. First, Idaho is darn near in Canada, so the daylight sticks around a lot longer in the summertime. Second, June 22 is only a day off of being the longest day of the year!
2. I wanted to swim under 1:30, bike under 7:00, and run under 5:00. The remaining 30 minutes were my buffer for transitions and anything else that might come up.
3. Nutrition was a big goal for me, too. I didn't even come close in Wisconsin to staying on top of my nutrition program, and I thought that made a big difference in how poorly that day turned out.
4. My final goal was to remain present throughout the race. Wisconsin was such a blur with the cold, the fatigue, and the stress of it all. I wanted to remember every detail - good or bad. I wanted to have the kind of race that, looking back, I could know that I put myself out there and performed like I haven't in the past.

Pre-Race:
My body was still tuned to Central Daylight Savings Time, so the 4:00am wake-up alarm was not a shock to my system. I had actually slept pretty well; the ice cream in my tummy made me happy all night long. The usual pre-race nerves weren't present, but neither had they been all week, so all was good. I felt very calm, collected, and controlled with every movement. Breakfast was the usual PB & honey on whole wheat bagel. Given the magnitude of the caloric requirement of the event, I ate the whole thing rather than just my usual half.

I turned on the Weather Channel for another update. Things still looked good - partly sunny with a high of 76 and 10-15mph winds out of the south. Perfect. Roehr mixed up four bottles of Perpetuem with calories for 2 hours in each. My plan was to only use 3.5 of them, and have the rest as a back-up. I got dressed and gathered up my special needs bags, my Perpetuem, a couple bottles of water for my bike, a pre-race gel, and some sipping water for the rest of the morning. We loaded up the car and headed down toward the lake.

We parked pretty easily and went first to body marking. Meghan, Teresa, and Leigh were a three-man body-marking team. Then it was off to transition. Roehr was smart enough to wear her volunteer shirt, so she came into transition with me. It had rained the night before, and there were puddles on all the transition bags, but thankfully nothing in my bags was wet. I put the nutrition in my swim-to-bike bag, then we headed to my bike. The plastic bags I'd put on the seat and front had pretty much done their jobs, so I reset the computer, made sure it was in the correct gear; the last need was a little air for the tires. I gave the IronMaiden a quick little pep talk, then we went in search of the special needs drop-offs.

We walked west along the lakefront to bike and run special needs. I didn't put much of anything in the bags this time - just a Snickers Marathon bar and some Pepto and Tums in case of emergency, in each. By this time it was only about 5:30-ish, and I didn't have to meet Mike until 6:30, and I wanted to get off my feet and just chill for a while. We found a great little spot on the wall at the far end of the beach, away from all the chaos of the morning. Roehr and I just talked and watched the swim course take shape. There were tons of kayaks in a rainbow of colors - it was a really cool sight to see them all on the lake as the sun came up over the hills to the east.

Soon, the pros were making their way onto the beach to begin their warm-ups. I glanced over to my left and saw an athlete getting into her wetsuit. It took me a moment to figure out that I'd been sitting next to Desiree Ficker for about 15 minutes! Roehr went into stealth mode, and managed to snap a couple pictures of her getting ready.

Lori walked by at about 6am, and joined us on the wall. She took a few more pictures and I just enjoyed the whole thing - relaxing, hanging out with friends and family, keeping things in perspective. It is a good way to start an event like the Ironman. The morning was still pretty chilly - about 55-60 degrees, so the longer we sat, the colder we got. I was not feeling very excited about getting in the cold lake already freezing! A little before 6:30, we started walking down to meet Mike. It was very crowded along the lakefront, but I managed to spot him without any trouble. I shoved myself into Jenny's wetsuit, lathered on the BodyGlide, gave lots of hugs to everyone, and then Mike and I flowed into the mass of black moving toward the lake. The Swim:
Mike and I wanted to start together, so we found a little spot of real estate on which we could await the start. We took a quick dip in the lake to get the initial shock of the temperature out of the way. I think the official temperature ended up being 59.5 degrees - it had warmed up a few degrees since my arrival. Mike and I shared a few words and I told him to take a look around at the last little bit of peace he was going to see for the next hour or better. As we looked around, I was amazed at how few people were standing near us. We had lined up roughly in the middle, but we were about 3-4 rows deep with no one behind us. As I looked to my left and to my right, there were stacks of people crowded all the way up to the wall, but no one very close. I guess no one wanted to start in the middle, so they all took the advise of starting to the outside! Not a problem for me! The National Anthem was sung, we watched the pros come around to start their second lap, Mike Reilly had a few more encouraging words for us, then the cannon started the race! Between the cold water and the 2000 other athletes, this was the most violent swim start I've been a part of. At least in other large races, you can put your head down and swim. But here everyone was doing the swim 3 strokes and sit-up routine. This went on for at least 600 yards. No one was in any sort of rhythm. The blast of the cold water, the stress of the start and the race, plus all the arms and legs were too much for many people to handle. I was ready to swim, I just couldn't swim away and through all the bodies to find any clear water. The other variable that I always seem to forget about is the male to female ratio. This race was 70:30, and it's tough being a sub-130# female getting the crap kicked out of you by men twice your size for over an hour.

While things had spaced out a bit by the first turn, they just piled back up at the corner. It wasn't too far to the second turn, and finally after that I found some open water. The sun was peeking in and out of the clouds which was good and bad - the sun really helped with warmth, but it was much easier to sight without the sun blasting in your eyes. By now, I was good in the temperature department and was swimming at a pretty good pace. I kept hearing Jenny's words ringing in my ears about my swim stroke, so I spent a little time making sure all was good with the technique.

Soon enough, I was ready to get out of the water at the 1.2-mile mark. My legs weren't really excited about having to walk/run out of the water, but we got it done. As I eased back into the water for lap two, I noticed that not only was the water not cold, it almost felt warm! About 25 yards into the second lap, I took a shot to my left eye. I think it was a fist, but it could have been a foot, too. It shoved my goggles into the eye, so I had to sit up (which also gave me a chance to say a couple of choice words) to adjust. Not really a big deal, but painful for a little bit. Everything else about lap two was good. I had no idea of my time, but I knew that my swim fitness felt great.

I climbed out of the water and walked up to the transition area. I heard people cheering for me, but couldn't always tell who it was. I also overheard someone mention something about 1:20 (as in elapsed race time), so I figured I swam near that time. I grabbed my bag from a volunteer (who I later found out was Allyson, Kris' sister, but apparently I didn't look up at that point) and ran to the women's change tent.

Outside was my mom directing traffic into the tent. I stopped and gave her a quick hug and kiss (she looked very relieved to see me non-hypothermic) and went inside. I saw Roehr was helping someone else, but I sat down nearby. I was still feeling pretty focused, so became very direct with the volunteer as to what I wanted and in what order. I got all my nutrition loaded in my bike jersey (and somehow got my arm warmers on) and headed out the door, telling Roehr my time as I left. Immediately outside the tent were the sunscreen applicators. I could see Erin had opted to be near the men's tent exit (smart girl, Erin!!), so a couple of other women tended to me (how come they didn't have male sunscreen guys at our tent??). They didn't do a very good job, but, as I later found out, I shouldn't have worried about myself; it was Mike that came out with the second degree sunburns from the day (with lots of finger streaks from the applicators...).

The Bike:
The sun was shining and I had a great swim. Transition had gone well, too; it was almost all too perfect. The bike course starts with a short-ish out and back along the lake, about 16 miles round-trip. Then we head north toward Hayden Lake, and the hills start there. There are just a couple hills after the turnaround, then it is pretty flat back toward transition, with just another tiny (1-2 mile) out and back before you can start the second lap (or head into transition).

I carry my nutrition in a Bento Box on the bike. It is big enough to hold two 2-hour flasks, so the other two flasks go in my jersey pockets. There is a little velcro top that secures the flasks into the box. My plan was to just have a sip or two of water for the first 20 minutes, then start in on the Perpetuem, one shot every 20 minutes. I took my first shot right before the first uphill. The road was a little rough coming down the back side of the hill, and I had a little chuckle to myself about all the yellow meshy aero bottle thingys that had bounced out of the water bottles of other people. There was lots of stuff littering the road - CO2 cartridges, water bottles, gels, etc. I hit the turnaround and was headed back to town when I was ready for shot number two. I looked down into my Bento Box only to realize that I, too, had been a victim of the road! Apparently, I hadn't sufficiently secured the top and had bounced one of my nutrition bottles out with everyone else's! Next time, I won't laugh quite as hard. It's that whole karma thing...

As we make our way back towards transition before heading out on the big loop, I was riding along, still kicking myself for losing a very valuable bottle of nutrition, I suddenly hear a "whoomp, whoomp, whoomp" noise coming from my bike. Just as I realize it is something hitting my brake pads on each revolution of the wheel, I brace myself for the upcoming pop of the tube. BANG! It sounds like a shotgun, but I was thankfully on a flat, residential street, and not screaming down some huge hill at 35mph! I pull over and methodically start to pull out my tools and go over the steps in my mind. Part of me was bummed that this had happened, but the other part of me was still focused on the task at hand and was thankful that I'd changed a bunch of tubes and tires this spring, so I knew the drill. Also good for me, was that it was the front wheel, so it is a lot easier to deal with.

I grabbed a section of grass in some dude's yard and the tire comes off easier than usual - I should have known that was a bad sign. I pulled out the old tube and grab a new one. Not wanting to forget any important details, I grabbed the tire to check out what cause the hole. It was wishful thinking to hope there was a thorn or nail in the tire. Instead I saw that the bead had blown on the tire. It is totally shredded. Not good. I was carrying two tubes, but no tires. I decided to replace the tube and see if I can limp it back to transition (only a couple miles away) and hopefully get a new tire there. I put a little CO2 in the new one and it bulges right out of the hole, like I expected. So I deflated the tube some, put the wheel back on the bike, and started walking. This was not what I wanted to be doing at 9am on race day.

I was looking for a tech support van to magically appear, but none ever did. I waved down a race support motorcycle who did a u-turn to get to me. He asked me what I needed and if he could call anyone for me. I didn't know of anyone I could call who could help me, so I just asked him to see if he could find a tech van. He rode away, and other riders started to ask if I needed help. I got lots of pity looks when I said I needed a tire, not a tube. After a block or two of walking in my cycling shoes (turned out that the mile-plus hike we did in the Arizona desert in our cycling shoes actually paid off!!), the spectators started to come to my aid. One lady said her neighbor had a bunch of bikes and maybe he could help. Her daughter ran over to the guy's house and, sure enough, his front yard was littered with about 30 bikes, mostly cruisers and kids' bikes. He came out of the house looking rather irritated, but asked what size I needed. He said he didn't have one, so the walk began again.

This was the first time that I actually started thinking that my day might be over. All the training, the fitness, the excitement might be for nothing. I was seriously bummed. After another block or two, another spectator asked what I needed. He thought he probably had one, so I pulled over. [Excitement!!] Soon, he comes out of his garage with a front wheel. We pull the tire off the rim, and get it on my wheel. Upon closer examination, we realize this tire is a piece of junk, too - really old and starting to disintegrate - probably not gonna last me the whole race either. [Disappointment...] He yells across the lawn to his neighbor, and soon this guy comes trotting out of his garage with another wheel. [Excitement, again!!] It looks good. Definitely not a race tire, by any stretch of the imagination (even had a Schrader valve), but who am I to complain!

As all this is going on, I see out of the corner of my eye, one of the race officials heading my way. [A touch scared at this point...] He wants to know what is going on, and if I need some help. I basically tell him that I need a tire, and I need him to just look the other way (literally) while I allow these nice young men to put a new tire on my wheel for me. [Please don't DQ me for this!!] He says it's no problem and away he goes! We got the tube deflated on the neighbor's wheel so we could switch the tire, and suddenly we realized it will just be faster to give me the whole wheel. It is at this point that I ask these guys what kind of beer they like, since I'm pretty sure I owe them a giant pile of whatever they ask for! Their only request is that the beer is cold. I can do that! I glance up at the address on the house so I am sure to remember where to bring the beer - 1209 Mullan. I handed them my old wheel as collateral, got back on the bike and started again!

I think the entire ordeal cost me around 20 minutes and a lot of heartburn, but I rode away with a huge smile on my face and a ruined day saved! The only other casualty of the long pit stop was that I somehow bumped the computer sensors on the bike and had no other information besides cadence for the rest of the ride. This is sort of ironic, since my computer crapped out during Wisconsin, too. Truth be told, I really do most of my riding based on cadence and heart rate (on my watch) anyway, so it was no real loss, but I was kind of looking forward to having more information this time. Still, I was so thankful to be riding I didn't much care!

I had to refocus myself, now that I was back in the race. The game plan had been to go really easy on lap one, then get crazy (or as crazy as I can get at my speed...) on lap two. This little detour meant that I was already way off my goal pace and the total time goal might be gone, too. I brought myself back to the real world, where I still had about 120 miles left in my day. I got my heart rate and cadence where I wanted to be - at the "easy" pace I had initially wanted. Still, I was picking people off like crazy.

The downhill sections of the race were a blast and the scenery was amazing, especially out by Hayden Lake. But what goes up must come down, so the uphills were amazing, but in a different and not so good way. The first major hill was probably the worst of them all, and I honestly didn't know if I would need to test out walking in the cycling shoes again when the second lap came around. However, not long after that climb was a great group of loud Team Klein-Vardo supporters in their awesome red shirts - so easy to see! They were cheering like crazy for everybody, but turned it up a notch or two when they spotted me! The hills rolled on for about another 20 miles and I saw Roehr and my parents and Lori at various points out on the course. I told Roehr about the flat and the address of the guys that I owed beer.

I made it a point to offer some encouragement to those riding around me. We shared some brief chats during passes, and I think it really helps to have all those positive vibes going in the midst of something that can be rather painful. I also made it a point to smile whenever I saw my friends and family. I think that helped me get past the rough start. The ride back into town was flat, but into a headwind. I was still feeling great at this point and even smiled as I headed back out on my second loop. I remembered how terrible I felt at Wisconsin when I started lap two. I really wanted out of that race at that point. I really was having a good time at CDA! Special needs is not at the halfway mark in CDA, it is more like 62 or 64 miles - the turnaround for the first little out-and-back. As we headed back out, we rode down Mullan again, and as I passed 1209 Mullan, I gave a little shout out to the guys who helped, "Thanks for the wheel!!" They all went crazy! I even heard one guy say, "Is she still out there??" They were yelling for me as long as I could hear them. I did decide to stop at special needs to pick up one of the Snickers Marathon bars, as I'd lost one flask of nutrition early on. Mentally it was good to know that I was beyond halfway when I stopped for SN.

I rode past 1209 Mullan on the way back and gathered a little more energy from the saviors of my race. Once on the road headed north for the second lap, we had the wind at our backs. I could see that many of the racers were felling a little cooked at this point (exactly what I had felt in Wisconsin at the same stage of the race). Feeling great, I tucked down into aero position and went to work. As my old track coach used to tell us, "You've got to make hay while the sun is shining!" The sun was shining on me, and I again started passing people like it was my job. I survived the hills on the second lap, and all the fans that were there on lap one remained! I began to experience some higher highs and lower lows later in the ride. I would have a burst of feeling great followed by feeling like I could barely turn the cranks. But knowing that I was almost done made it go by more quickly. I ran through the first two bottles of nutrition in 4 hours - right on target. The third flask was one that I picked up at the expo (I know, nothing new on race day, whatever...) and it was not a good one, but I had to use it because of the lost one I had bounced one out of the bike. The valve wouldn't stay open and the sides were too rigid to squeeze any of the nutrition out of, even if you could get the valve to stay open! So bottle three was quite a task to get into my system. I basically had to get into aero position, unscrew the lid and pour the Perpetuem into my mouth. It got all over everything including my face. I probably looked like a 2-year old trying to eat oatmeal. Plus that stuff is so sticky, it's like super glue and won't wash off. After two attempts with that, I dug into the Snickers bar and then part of a banana from an aid station. That was enough calories to get me back to transition.

The Run:
I returned my bike and found my bag without any problems. Again, I was very direct with the volunteer in the change tent, and things went smoothly. I changed my whole outfit and filled up my shirt with gels and tied a long-sleeved shirt around my waist. I walked out of the change tent with my hat and a half eaten Snickers bar (the rest of the one from the bike) in my hands, but my hair was pretty laughable - the swim and 7+ hours in a bike helmet didn't do me any favors! But I sure didn't want to sit in transition and try to make a ponytail out of the wasp's net that was atop my head! Of course, as soon as I get out on the course, I see Kris, and I yell at her not to take my picture! I must have looked even worse than I thought because my comment drew quite a laugh from the rest of the crowd! I somehow managed to get the hair tamed down and into my hat, then I started to think about running.

The run is similar to the bike in that it has a short out-and-back followed by a longer out-and-back, then repeat. I started with a little easy trot to see how everything felt. It was not so good. Almost immediately, we came to an aid station, so I tried a couple pretzels and some water. That was tough going down, but I was able to start with my run plan. The plan was to walk the aid stations and any big hills. I figured I could talk myself into running the 0.9 miles betwen each aid station. In the early miles, I stretched the aid stations out just so I could walk a little more. Nutrition-wise the plan was a gel at every third mile and water or Gatorade at each of the other miles. During miles one through eight, things were not good in my world. I was plodding along, thinking I was in for another really long day. But I was moving. And managing to have some gels (and I was really glad I grabbed those couple of caffienated ones at the store on Saturday!!). I saw lots red-shirted fans along the route, but everytime I opened my mouth to speak, the words either didn't come out or they came out in extra-slow-motion. Lori was volunteering at a run aid station but still wearing her red Team Klein-Vardo shirt, so she was easy to spot! It was so good to have fans all over the place!

As I was coming back down the big hill at the turnaround, I finally saw Mike as he was coming up. He looked great and he ended up passing me before either of us had reached the bottom of the hill. He was headed in for the finish! I continued the walk-run program and gradually walked less and less (I think the caffeine was starting to kick in!). The trip back into town was kind of a blur, but again I was okay with the fact that I had to take the "To Lap 2" turn instead of the "To Finish Line" turn. I knew I only had 13 miles to go! And believe me, that was something I could embrace!

I'd been doing a lot of math in my head, trying to figure out my finish time. Everytime, I knew it was gonna be close. The overwhelming desire to finish in under 14 hours kept me moving. Each step after mile 13 is great, because you know you are one step closer to the finish line. Things started to feel better and, although this may sound a little strange, I gave myself permission to run. I think that I had been holding back from running because I knew that in this long race, I would only get more and more fatigued and less likely to run. By giving myself permission to run, I (obviously) covered a lot more ground faster, and for some reason, it made me feel better.

While the running was going pretty well, my stomach had pretty much had enough. I think my last gel was at mile 14 or so, and that was all she wrote. Even the thought of trying to swallow another one of those made my stomach unhappy. I kept up with the Gatorade (about an ounce or two) at each aid station, but nothing substantial. I walked up the last hill to the final turnaround at mile 20.75, then I knew it was just a straight shot to the finish line. While most people hit the wall at mile 20, I suddenly came alive! My walking breaks became shorter, and my pace started to pick up. With 3.2 miles to go, the clock read 13:24 - I just needed three sub-12-minute miles to meet my goal! I saw Roehr and Kris one last time at their corner, then I was headed for home.

My legs were tired, but still able to do their thing. When I took the final "To Finish Line" turn I was stoked. I had been going back and forth with some girl in a pink jersey for most of the last half of the race. I'm betting I really made her mad when I went sprinting (as much as one can sprint the last 0.6 miles of 140.6) past her towards the finish line. I was actually quite a dork as I made it down to the end... I was high-fiving everyone in sight and just generally acting very excited! I could see the clock at the end of the street, and I still had a few minutes to spare! I ended up at 13:57:22. I was stoked! Even with the bike malfunction, I made it! I got my medal and finisher's hat and shirt, had my picture taken, then was let go out of the back of the finish area. Just after I stepped out, they brought someone else out on a stretcher. I was glad to be upright! We had lots of hugs, pictures, and even a couple of phone calls before I was ready to head to the massage tent. On my way there, I stopped off at the post-race food table to see if I could get anything into my belly. The cheese pizza looked really good, but after two really tiny bites, I decided that was a losing battle.

The massage tent was hyper-heated and felt great, but the chick that gave me the "massage" was not all there. She barely touched me and when she did, it was more like the slight squeeze you might give to an avocado to check on it's ripeness than a massage. After about 6 minutes of that, I was outta there. Roehr met me with some dry warm clothes and a chocolate milk, and we headed back to Mike and Teresa's to rehash the day.

Totals for the day:
Swim: 1:19:32
T1: 8:52
Bike: 7:19:05
T2: 5:35
Run: 5:04:20
Total time: 13:57:22

Total calories consumed (estimated): 2000
Total calories burned (estimated): 8000

Taper Time!

2008-06-15T21:20:00.002-05:00

It is really strange to be tapering in June. There is just something wrong with that! Everyone else is jsut starting to really ramp up their training, and I am on the down-stroke. I cannot complain, however, as I am ready for a little slow down. I did my last big workouts this week, including a 2.7-mile swim on Monday and a three-hour bike ride today. I'm not gonna lie; I was pretty pooped after the ride. I need the big reduction in volume that this week will provide. Last week was a 13-hour training week, but this week will only be about 5 and a half!

I'm leaving for Coeur d'Alene on Thursday and will be returning home the following Wednesday. I am super pumped to have so many great people coming to Idaho to watch. It will be great to spend a few days relaxing after the race, too. I'm not sure what we'll be doing, but as I understand, it may involve beer! Next report will be after the race! Thanks for reading!