TGIF - 9/5/08

Life outside of cycling ... can there be such a thing ?

I've been struggling as of late with the word "balance". No, I don't mean the fact that I'm not the most graceful thing in the world. I mean having some semblance of balance in life: family, work, school, social life, vacation etc etc. Given that cycling is a haven for OCD-prone people (myself included), balance isn't exactly our ... forte.

We tend to have blinders on, eyes on the prize, pushing to the limits to achieve something that seems worthy at the time. I've heard of cyclists lying to significant others to get to races or having secret bank accounts so they don't have to justify paying more than double a mortgage payment for bike parts and accessories. I've seen kids, wives and husbands being hoodwinked (yeah, I said it) into a nice weekend trip only to find out later that they'll be spending half of it on the side of some godforsaken road in the "feedzone" for the privilege of a glimpse of their loved one about every hour or so. This is not balance. This is insanity !

I am not preaching here - I am guilty of the same. I suppose being a single professional keeps me from getting into too much trouble: no one to lie to, not in danger of going bankrupt for those new e-motion rollers. But I started to find that all the interactions I had with other people had something to do with cycling. I was living, breathing, sleeping - cycling. Any guys with potential for dating had to be as obnoxious about it as I was. I was missing out on weddings, celebrations, family gatherings, vacations ... all for the sake of not missing a race. The last real vacation I took without a bike was before I started racing. 5 years ago. All vacation time at work was reserved for out of town races or training camps.

Lets not even mention the lack of maintenance/upkeep on my house. Luckily my wardrobe consisted of mostly lycra other than dry cleaning items for work, so laundry was done on a regular basis if only to have kits to wear. My poor cat thought he was an orphan. He seemed more surprised when I was home on a weekend than not. My car hadn't been washed in months. My vespa sat idle because you can't carry a bike on a vespa.

The problem is that you get so caught up in training and racing that you don't realize that "real" life is passing by. I have had a couple of "off" weekends as the season winds down. I've caught up on some reading, devouring about 4 books in the last two weeks. (loved the twilight series ... easy, fun, mindless entertainment ... always looking for suggestions for new books. I digress.)

My non-cycling friends and family have been shocked to see me appear at late-summer events. My nieces declared that it must be really special if I'm there, 'cause I'm always racing. My sister kept asking when I had to leave, because she knew I needed to be on the bike somewhere at some point. As some of you probably noticed, I even took a break from blogging/participating in anything bike related. I didn't realize how stressed I was trying to finish out the season. How much I let it take over my every thought. These past few weeks have been eye-opening, at the very least.

The scary thing is that I was just contemplating trying cyclo-cross. I think I'll hold off on that until I can balance out road racing. If there is such a thing.

Have a great weekend !

TGIF - 8/22/08

Okay, I'm back in action with my TGIF posts ... I kinda flaked out last week with a little too much going on all at one time. This is going to be a bit of a rant, I believe, so hold on tight.

First, can I just say that the sheer amount of negative energy out there is astounding? Everyone has something to b*tch about, and the anonymity of the internet/email gives people an outlet without consequence. I don't mean this just b/c of the anonymous replies to my last post - I welcome CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, commentary, jokes (even at my expense) and suggestions. I do not welcome people who want to take shots and belittle someone else's opinion or perspective. Come on, people: you wouldn't say these things in this way if you had to do it to someone's face. You know why ? Because you know it's not how you should treat others. It's mean and nothing good comes of it. The only reason you feel comfy doing it is because you think there is no consequence.

This is kinda like the guy who flips you off in traffic, or throws something at you as you're riding your bike on the shoulder. Kind of like the idiot in front of you that brake-tests you. They can do it from the safety of their vehicles and will likely never see you again. That doesn't mean it's right, it just means that they are showing their true nature - absent all controls, this is the person they would be. The thought that this is the nature of so many people is scary.

So DC Velo announced the DC Crit yesterday. My inbox is full, I have stopped checking emails right now. Some are supportive of the event and asking how they can be a part of it. THANK YOU for positive karma !! Some are asking genuinely honest questions - I am doing my best to answer them as well as I can. Some are just plain crappy. Accusing me (and sometimes my squad) of not supporting womens racing. Um ... excuse me ... have we met ? I am no Evelyn, but I have done plenty to support racing in general and, specifically, womens racing - number 1, I actually SHOW UP TO RACE when promoters have womens fields. Heck, I even sometimes show up to race when they dont ! Most of those that are chastising me and my team are those that I haven't seen at races more than a handful of times all year. Seriously ? How can you preach that everyone should hold a field for you when you don't show up ? Is it just in case you decide to show up ?

I am excited about the DC Crit. This is going to be a race on a grand scale - the first in downtown DC and on the level with CSC, which, unfortunately, is not going to happen again (so I'm told). Bike racing is going to be on the national stage. The sheer amount of goodwill, positive publicity and exposure that this event will garner is GOOD for anyone who rides a bike ! Look at the big-picture - if this does positive things for the sport in general, aren't we all winners ? The promoters and sponsors want to grow this into a marquee event - that means a big-girl race is in the future !! Isn't it worth getting something off the ground, however imperfect, in order to give us a bigger, better venue in the future ? Is it so bad to have a little patience that you'd rather torpedo the whole event - and all that it can do for the greater good - just because it can't happen immediately ?

My vote is to be a part of the solution. So I can either race with the boys or help with the race in general. You'll see me and my team helping out with the race - we'll be there to make sure they know that women's racing is alive and well, and we support the clubs that put time, energy, effort and money to try to expand bicycle racing in the region. Given the paltry schedule of 2008, perhaps instead of trying to tank one of the new and exciting events, maybe we should concentrate on some of those clubs that haven't bothered to support the sport by throwing a race of their own - much less one on this scale.

I just can't deal with so much negativity. I realize we all have our opinions and we all have a right to them - thank goodness we live in such a place where we can express them openly. But please, for crying out loud, can't we try to be positive ? Can't we have intelligent and educated discourse instead of devolving into childish name-calling ? We have so much good stuff to offer - each of us - if we just try to be a part of the solution.

That's all I've got for today - let the anonymous comments and criticisms ensue. See you at the races.

Tour de Millersburg

For those of you that have never been there, Millersburg is a little town in PA just outside of Harrisburg - it's small-town-America where the townsfolk come over to chat during dinner and invite you to their homes to see the beautiful landscaping they have done. I'm not making that up, that happened.

This was the 2nd year that Millersburg pulled out all the stops for a 2-day, 3-event stage race. The courses were thoughtful, safe and challenging, but not so much that the racers couldn't impact the race. Everything was located in/around the center of town so parking, registration and getting to the courses was a breeze. They added a ton of nice touches - neutral water, cookies and wraps after the road race, two opportunities to schmooze with Bob Roll ... very cool. The best part was the obvious support from the community. People came out to see the racers they met last year. They would see us riding on the roads to warm up or cool down and they'd wave or cheer for us. They gave us recommendations for food, tried to hook everyone up with host families (see the C3 blog here) and generally encouraged us to have a good time. We were treated like they WANTED us there. It was novel and much appreciated.

On to the race. The 1-2-3 field was small but had some depth - again the Juice Plus star, Laura, showed up. HPC sent 4 strong riders, C3 had a squad of 5. Team CycleLife sent a team of 3 1/2 .. I say 1/2 because I was but a shell of myself. Three or four consecutive days of little or no sleep, stress from work and family combined with being on my feet Friday night finally caught up with me. I had lost most of my personality and felt terrible before we even got there.

The TT course was perfect for me - I should have rolled it pretty well, but I didn't. I couldn't get focused, I couldn't get my pacing right and when I finally got into the groove I nearly missed the turn around b/c I wasn't paying attention. I lost a good 10sec there, I'm certain. Sara got 9th, Robin, 10th, Mel , 14th and I came in 12th -even with all that drama, I was only a couple seconds off the top 5, so I guess I should have been pleased with that. I wasn't and so the day went on.

The girls went to check out the crit course and I was grateful for a little bit of solace while I tried to regain my personality and recover for the crit. Given our TT finishes, we were protecting Sara as our GC contender. I raced fairly conservatively most of the race, chasing a few things and bringing back a couple of dangerous moves ... I was in good position and tried to stay relaxed the whole time. On the whole, I felt much better about this race. Until we got the bell lap. Someone attacked and (unnamed rider) decided she wanted to chase as we were leaning over into the first left turn - she didnt even look before she abruptly swerved left. I saw it happening and yelled at her not to do it ... she did it anyway and I had to slam on my brakes or T-bone her. Seriously ??? I know we all make questionable moves sometimes but this was blatant. I slammed on the brakes. And then had to get restarted in the middle of a hill. In my 53-13 (at least it felt that way). Fabulous. That was the split in the pack and while I chased my little heart out, I couldn't catch. I wound up about 12th while Sara made the split and wound up in the top 10. Melanie finished right behind me and Robin stuck it out to finish at the back of the pack.

My lack of filters kicked in here b/c I tore off in search of (unnamed rider). I was pretty heated - I absolutely HATE when people take my safety into their hands... If I hadn't seen it happening, she would have taken half the field out in that turn, going about 22mph up a hill. For my fellow competitors, you're welcome - I made it crystal clear that this was unacceptable.

That night we stayed in a cabin - a straight-up cabin, bunk beds and a bathroom, that was IT. It was mildly entertaining but I was so tired I don't think it would have made a difference. We slept until we woke up, which was good.

Our race was at 1:15 so we had plenty of time to relax and get our things ready. 54 miles was a long race for us but by this time I had something to prove. We were again protecting Sara since she was highest in GC. Race was fairly animated with the big guns launching attacks and the field responding. 3-laps,18 miles. By lap 2 I knew it was going to end in a field sprint. There was a fabulous downhill into town with a hard right turn and a chicane leading into the sprint so this was going to be interesting. I went back and grabbed Sara several times to bring her to the wheels she needed to be on (near the front). I chased a few things and helped bring back a few things we weren't in.

After a last lap move by Lorena (HPC) was brought back, Juice Plus jumped. We had about 2k to go and it was ON ... we were like a freight train, no moving up and back, you were on the wheel or you weren't. We came into town and had it up over 40mph for the final sprint. I was in decent position - We made the final turn and I jumped with the sprint. I saw a white line and thought that was the finish - I hesitated for half a second before realizing the finish was another white line 5meters ahead. I lost a good 3 or 4 positions to that Cat4 move. But, still finished 10th and I'll take it. Melanie managed to sprint for the correct line for an awesome 5th place, while Robin and Sara survived the pack finish.

Once all the racing was over, things relaxed. We sat down for some pizza at the "Wooden Nickel". A local couple correctly pinned us as cyclists (what gave us away? Do we have it stamped on our foreheads or is it the panda-tan?) and chatted us up, asking about the race and our input on improvements.

We saved room for ice cream, because everything is better with ice cream. Truly. We sat in the town gazebo and read a little about the town's history on the plaques in the town square. The same couple from dinner came over and offered a tour of their beautiful yard- in DC or Baltimore, this would be odd and borderline frightening, but we're in small-town-America.

They lived about a block away in this gorgeous old home. Kathy had attended school in DC (horticulture) and was dying to show these DC dwellers what she does in her spare time. Their yard was absolutely covered with beautiful annuals and perinnials; trees, shrubs and flowers of all types. It looked and smelled wonderful. A winding stairway, lined with flowers, led us up to their wrap around porch where you could see the river and the sun setting.

Now thats the way to cap off a weekend of stress, sweat and tears ... If you can make it next year, put Millersburg on your list of things to do. You won't regret it. More Millersburg stuff on the Team blog.