Banner - Summerset State Park

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bonebender

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sylvan Island Stampede

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Weekend of Firsts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chequamegon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Center TT and Branched Oak

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maplelag - Labor Day Weekend

We had three choices for racing this weekend:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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