From Mt. Weather to Mountain Biking

I joined the Gripped Racing team for a little stroll in the mountains last Saturday. I haven't been to Mt. Weather in a while and I have never done Naked Mtn so ... why not join some great people in suffering in the hills?

Within 5minutes of rolling out, I was drenched in sweat. This was going to be a long day. At the first opportunity, one of our more enterprising members schwigged salt packets to add to our water during our convenience-store refill stop. While it wasn't the best-taste, those salt packets probably saved the day for me. At the base of Mt. Weather we separated out according to how hard we wanted to go up the climb. It was not as hard as I remembered but hard enough that I was happy when the big climb was over. We regrouped and chased each other along the ridge - that was a nice reward for the effort.

Naked Mountain was not as bad as everyone had built it up. I was warned not to spend it all on Mt. Weather, that the next climb up Naked Mtn was short but steep. Kim and I rode together, pacing ourselves for the big climb. At some points we were singing. Next thing we knew, we were flying down to the bottom. Neither of us realized where said-climb happened. Perhaps we were delirious with the heat or the warnings had our expectations (read: dread) so high we were pleasantly surprised. Either way. That happened. On the flip side, the never-ending drag back to the parking area lived up to its reputation. Our reward for suffering through the ride was a solid lunch at Fosters. I considered the day a WIN which was further validated after receiving updates on that little race happening a couple blocks from my house in Clarendon.

So - Sunday. I went mountain biking. No, really, I did. But wait- there's more ... I had fun. I might have even liked it. Oh fine, I had a blast. There. I said it. While my only picture evidence is a not-so-great shot of mud/dirt on my legs, I swear it happened.

dirty legs. picture does not do it justice.

A bit of background - I once owned a MTB - circa 2004? I rode it a couple of times. The last ride on the bike resulted in a broken wrist. I promptly sold the bike and swore off of that masochistic riding-in-the-woods seeking obstacles thing. Crazy stuff, I was sticking to the more sane(?) road.

As an aside, showing up to a ride (or race) where my bike magically appears is a pretty awesome experience. So faux pro. As I had no reference, I did not notice that it was a bit small for me and that the bars were pretty narrow. I definitely had no idea the significance of the wheel size - this bike has 26" wheels vs the 29" everyone else had.

It was like learning to ride a bike for the first time. Everything I know (and even more that I've forgotten) about riding/racing road bikes was pretty much out the window. Ride with your elbows wide, view your arms and legs as your suspension, keep your pedals level when not pedaling (so as to avoid clipping trees or rocks or other trail hazards). I have enough trouble with smooth asphalt (as witnessed here and here)- what the heck am I doing in the woods?

Off we went to start an instruction lap at Wakefield, stopping at each "feature" to discuss the best line, functional logic and tips on clearing the obstacle. Some of it was mental - this LOOKS like the best line, but really this is the better line and here's why. This was about when I realized I couldn't reliably clip in on the left pedal - sweet. Whatever, I'm out here, I'm going to make it happen. The 2nd lap was my best; by the 3rd partial-lap I was getting tired - taking bad lines and reverting to road habits. 

The experience gave me the same feeling I remember from learning to race road. Each corner, each jump, each creek crossing was a milestone. When you start from no skills, every pedal stroke is progress. I don't know enough to talk myself out of things - and even when I hit the dirt (and that I did!), it wasn't damaging to my body or my psyche. I knew I took a bad line and that was the result. But the next time around, I cleared that section with a triumphant smile.

Many thanks to Claudia for lending me her spare MTB. I kind of giggled at someone having a spare MTB until I remembered how many times I've had multiple spare road bikes. Perspective.

I can't say thank you enough to the Gripped Racing team for humoring this noob. Every one of you showed immense patience, shared awesome tips and tricks and provided the encouragement to try things that I never thought I could (or would) do. Thank you for showing me the joys of the dirt side.

Of Registering, Racing and Cheating

A lot to cover but I'll do my best to keep it concise. Then again, you have full disclosure that I ramble in this blog so no promises.

First - if you were one of the masses that protested the lack of a Womens Field at Tour of Washington County I assume that you're all registered up for the Tour and the Twilight Crit. My assumption is likely wrong as there are only 10 women signed up for the Twilight Crit as of this morning. One might argue that our field has the second-highest number of pre-registrations as of this moment but 10 registered racers is NOT something to brag about. We demanded this race - lets post up - or be prepared to lose it.  

On a more positive note, we DO have 20 riders right now for the Tour - that's a nice number so far and with a few more we will have a solid field. I'm looking forward to suffering with company out there.

Last weekend was more or less prep for the ToWC. At least for the suffering part. In the TT (Saturday) I had a completely amateur start - the buzzer thingy beeped, I was in the wrong gear and I couldn't clip in. I know I audibly grunted (sorry to the officials who witnessed) as my stupid-heavy gear challenged my first pedal stroke. I spent the next 30seconds desperately trying to clip in. That pretty much set the tone for my ride. I couldn't settle in, my heart rate was through the roof, playing false to my power numbers that were not. Most of the day was in a cross wind, which gets real interesting in the TT bars. On the upside, part of the rough section was re-paved - that was a nice surprise. The end result - Sue took over 2mins out of me to win the day. Not my shining moment (but a solid ride for Sue!).

SO. Time Trials and drafting ...you know,  the "C" word. Cheating. Cheaters suck. I'm somehow still amazed that people cheat in AMATEUR racing. Does a silly white jersey meant that much, and how much can it mean if you KNOW you had to cheat to get it? And, for once, this has nothing to do with chemical substances! While I can do an entire blog series on that subject, we'll save that for a day when I run out of other things to talk about. Anyway. As my grandaddy used to say - if enough people call you a horse, you probably oughtta strap on a feed bag. (shut up. my family is from the south).  Enough credible, upstanding and long-time racers have stepped up as witnesses and in protest - and now we have video! Why do we have the rules and yet fail to enforce them? Doesn't that encourage cheating? Requiring an official to witness drafting is nonsensical and inefficient - a personal moto for each rider, anyone? With a camera, because maybe the official didn't really see it clear enough? Where is the line?

Bottom line: Cheaters suck.

Onward. Miller School road race. I'll save the drama - I felt better than I thought I would to start and made the initial selection. Dangerously dangling off the back as we came up to the start of the last lap - I was close but not on the field as we made the turn up the one big hill - and ohhey, how about that time trial yesterday?! There were several awesome women in there spinning it up and off they went. I had almost an entire lap to contemplate the meaning of life, swear off racing, consider getting off my bike and, when I finally rolled across the finish line I asked the refs "Did I win?". The quizzical looks I received were well worth the effort.

Congrats to fellow Vita Janelle for her 45+ Road Race Championship win (!!) and to all the ladies who posted up in that field. It was great to see Michelle from Artemis back (although my legs weren't as thrilled) and I hereby accuse both Sue and Amanda of softpedaling the TT because they were not showing any signs of it on Sunday! (see above about Sue winning by over 2mins).