TGIF- 6/8/12

It's been a couple weeks ... but there are good reasons!!  First, I was sick after BikeJam and didn't really recover until the following weekend.  While I was recovering, the boy succumbed to the germs I stealthily left around the house for him.  Kidding - of course.  I wouldn't wish whatever it is that I had on anyone, much less someone I actually kinda like.  His symptoms weren't as severe as mine but his lasted almost a week longer.  My new kleenex record: 4 boxes.  Seriously.  I had to replenish our supply in anticipation of the boy getting to that phase of things.  Sigh. We had plans to use our "race-free" memorial weekend to visit some good friends in NC but wisely postponed the trip given that our household turned into an infirmary. 

The weather was too nice not to get on the bike during the holiday weekend and both of us were bitter when we'd see emails and facebook postings about these massive rides everyone got in.  I got in a couple of easy hours each day and the boy posted up 2 of the days but ... still.


As a side note, I was sad to miss Somerville - even if I wasn't sick, I'm just not ready for that level of racing yet.  I'll get back there - it's a fun race when people aren't trying to run over you.  Congrats to some of the locals who made a great showing.  More props to the girls and guys who posted up at Liberty ... I have yet to make that race but I've seen it and it ain't pretty.  I noted some solid finishes for our local stars. 

Health Note:  For the past month or so, I've been fighting to keep up with races and just feeling kinda run down with no known reason. There was much frustration and a few tears as I wondered where my power went. All of a sudden, right around BikeJam, things started lighting back up.  I had no trouble with races, decent jump ... THERE I am!!  I assumed it was because I had been fighting something (see above) and once I got it out of my system, I was ok.

Makes logical sense, right?  Well, this past weekend I was talking to my super-smart friend who,upon hearing my sob story, informed me that it was probably the allergy meds I put myself on - OTC Zyrtec. I've never experienced allergies and had no idea what to do about them so I started taking Zyrtec at the advice of another allergy sufferer.  Unbeknownst to me, the antihistamine in these meds absolutely KILL your performance.  I had been on them about a month and stopped a week or so before BikeJam.  Coinky-dink?  I think not.   Allergy sufferers (and drug-takers) beware: research the meds you're taking as they could be holding you back for no good reason.

Ride Sally Ride was this past weekend.  It was a decent turn out for the women's field, despite a lot of the rock-stars being up at Liberty to play with the big-girls on the Wall.  As with Somerville above- I'd love to do it but I'm just not there yet.  So, Ride Sally Ride it was.

It's a closed triangle-shaped course in an industrial park with wide, sweeping turns.  This didn't stop some from bombing the inside.  We all know how well I deal with that.  Nevertheless, we kept it fairly fast with attacks and primes scattered throughout the 32 lap race.  At one point, NCVC went off with NorthTek and I thought to myself - self, if something is going to stick, this is probably it.  So I jumped.  And chased.  For a good lap and a half, I chased.  I gained ground and just as I was about to catch, I glanced behind me to see the field closing.  On one hand, it was a wasted effort.  On the other, it was an awesome chase and a great confidence builder.  I sat on the field for a lap or two and, as we came into the final lap, I was sitting SECOND WHEEL.  We were cruising, no one was coming around.  Make the first turn, all good.  Make the second turn, even better - flying! About half way to the last turn, the girl in front of me SAT UP.  Seriously.  I almost ran over her.  Then had to jockey wheels (probably didn't make any friends in that frenzy) for the finish.  I stood on the pedals and sprinted for all I was worth to make up spots.  End result: 5th in the 1/2s.  The day is a success if you get paid and even moreso if it at least covers the entry fee.  Not the result I wanted but I'm getting there.  All I need is progress and I'll keep on keeping on.

Kudos to the rest of the girls in the race who kept it relatively safe and congrats to Sonja for the big "W"!

Because I haven't had a good rant in a few weeks, I submit the following:

I recently heard about how I was a menace in a race ...oddly enough, I wasn't even in the same STATE that weekend. I drove several hours for an out-of-state race only to run into someone who, when I introduced myself, informed me about my supposed nefarious nature. I have heard more than one new acquaintance comment "oh, you're not the terrible person I heard you were".

I admit, at first it hurt my feelings. At this point, it's turned comical. I'm castigated if I even mention prior race lives -no names, no critique, simply reference points - and yet these baseless rumors continue. I'll spare my readers my normal rambling and leave it at this: if you are so shallow and closed-minded that you make judgements about people based on someone else's opinion without finding out for yourself, you deserve the reputation you gain when you publicly display the aforementioned character flaws.

I used to think adults were so mature but I've learned we're just bigger kids, with bigger, more expensive toys and bigger egos.Try as we might, we won't stop the middle-school-lunch-table mentality. What we can do is lead by example. Do you stand up for and stand by friends? Do you treat others the way you wish them to treat you?  We can't be perfect and we all make mistakes but that's not an excuse for ignorance and childish behavior. We look at ourselves every day in the mirror - can you honestly be proud of your words and actions?

{Steps down from the soapbox}

As for this weekend, I've completely lost my mind because I actually signed up for tomorrow's Airforce race in Clarendon.  I guess I still believe "that which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".  Or, as Super C-O stated after the Tuesday night Freshbikes ride: "that which doesn't kill you, makes you want to kill your husband".  I can't speak to that but Super Dave laughed nervously when he heard it.

Happy Friday - see you at the races!!

Too sick to race? Do it anyway!

Ok, so I missed my TGIF posting.  Mea culpa.  I woke up Friday morning with a scratchy throat and some minor symptoms of my body fighting something ... the day progressed and I started feeling worse so I pretty much crashed the minute I got home from work.  I slept fitfully and when the boy woke me up to tell me he was heading out for his ride Saturday morning, I barely opened my eyes.  Then the sun started shining in the window, which was open so I heard the birds singing.  Cassius the cat climbed on top of me - he has a talent for parking himself right on my bladder in the mornings.  The trash truck came and created quite a cacophony.  Finally, I just gave up and decided I wasn't sick.  Put on my super-girl suit and headed out to enjoy the sunshine on my bike.  Passed the boy and his crew- they all looked appropriately surprised to see me flying down MacArthur - the last they heard, I was on my deathbed. The operative phrase here is "flying down MacArthur".  When it came to uphill, there was no flying to be done.  I might have set a record with my 16miles in an hour and 45mins.  I was useless when I got home.

Sunday morning, the alarm went off at 5:30 am - the boy came in to get me (he slept on the couch for fear or contracting whatever it was I was suffering from) and we debated on whether I should go race.  Of course I should, I'm constantly prodding women to show up if they want promoters to hold a race for them.  No, I shouldn't, I've been sick for two days.  But it's a double-points race - a championship race!  No, I have a lot planned for Monday.  With no definite answer spoken, the boy started making breakfast (he's good to me) and I slowly got moving.  Breakfast was yummy and I was in a better mood as I hit the road. 

Bonus #1 for being the first race of the day:  excellent parking.   I was parked at the top of the hill, not too far from registration and with a clear view of the dog-leg at the top of the course.  Sweet.  Later in the day I heard people begging to get in - one (unnamed) racer tried to use his pregnant wife as an excuse for race parking! 

Bonus #2 for being the first race of the day: No trainer needed, warm-up is on the closed course. 

Before I knew it, we were lined up and getting our instructions.  The whistle blew and ... I missed my pedal.  Eff.  (sorry CK - new pedals!).  Son-of-a .... ok, thankfully the other girls were feeling their way around the first turns so I could latch on and work my way back up to a better position. The course does get sort of a rhythm to it IF THE RIDERS ARE SMOOTH.  That last part is key, in case the caps lock didn't point that out.  I have often declared that I'd never do BikeJam again - every year someone gets hurt really badly and, lets face it, I have enough trouble without putting myself in a known-to-be-dangerous situation.  But, when the promoters decided to hold a masters field, I knew I had to support the effort.  As expected, the competitors were still competitors but not to the point of taking unnecessary risks.  There were a few -interesting-moves but for the most part, I had fun.  The "hill" to the finish wasn't as hard as I remembered.  I was never in any trouble and I even got to play a little.

After a couple of back-to-back prime laps, the bell rang for the final go-round.  Things got faster and I found myself in a fairly decent position as we approached the finish.  One of the Deep Blue girls jumped up to sprint about halfway up the hill - I hesitated a half-second, thinking - not yet!  I'm not ready yet!  Finally I jumped on the pedals - dare I say, I actually attempted to sprint.  I gained one position so I guess it wasn't completely pathetic.   End result was PODIUM for 35+ and, I think, somewhere around 6th overall. 

Photo credit to Super Dave for this shot:

The boy was coming up later in the day for his afternoon race.  In the meantime, I hung out at the Evo tent (Christine gets major props for setting it up - alone - before the early race), heckling the races with CK, Sue, Gwenn, Phil and Tania, and encountering the likes of Jared and Dave.  I won't even try to explain what was happening here.

Lindsay Bayer, fresh off of her Wilmington Grand Prix win, rolled in and I found out her secret to winning.  If you don't drive like this, folks, you are missing the boat.  Of course it came too late for me to use it in my race but - if you see me pulling up to a race in full bike- gear, watch out.  I'm winning that sh*t.

Nice to run into tons of people I haven't seen in years - including a Kelly club member that I used to train with and Billy, my favorite Baltimore cycling enthusiast. Finally, while watching the boy race, I decided that a smoothie would was in order.  Ah.  Near perfect day, wouldn't you say?

Oh - and remember how I said I was sick going into this?  Yeah.  Despite the smoothie, I lost my voice on my way home.  As in, can't speak above a whisper.  They say this could last a couple of days. 

The things we do to race our bikes. 

TGIF - 5/11/2012 - First Time for Everything

The past couple weeks have been busy, tiring, exhilarating, frustrating and rewarding.  If I were less prone to rambling, I might have just tweeted that and called it good.  Instead, you get this:


A decent but not great finish at the Steel City Crit a couple weeks ago was part of the frustrating bit.  I floated through the pack during the race with no real issues, admittedly suffering a little toward the end.  Despite myself, I had a bit left in the tank for the downhill finish.  Until I got stuck behind slower rider going into the final turn and had to sprint out of the corner and tried, in vain, to pull out a result.  I really have to work on getting in better position for the last corner.

Fast forward to the Tuesday Night Ride from Conte's/Freshbikes.  Put this part under frustrating but rewarding.  I still haven't figured out the flow of the ride.  I find myself in the wrong places when we turn and splits happen where I can see them but can't get out of traffic to get to them.  Then I find myself chasing on the wrong parts so when I hit the real hills, I'm already feeling toasty.  I'm never happy with my ride there - I just feel like I should be going faster, sticking with the fast guys.  As previously mentioned on this blog (ad nauseum) patience is not a virtue of mine.

Next we go to Greenbelt.  Where I lasted exactly 2 laps with the B group.  WTH?!?!? I can't remember the last time I was dropped from the B group.   I rolled the car, changed and left to sulk and wonder what's going on.  I've been saying it for weeks but I have to actually admit it now ... I think I have allergies for the first time in my life.  Tired, congested, itchy eyes, runny nose (yeah, it's a pretty sight).  Most importantly - I can't breathe.  I feel like I'm dropping a lung every time I get halfway up a hill.  Then I spend 15mins trying to figure out where I left the aforementioned lung because, well, I'm gonna need it for the next climb.  After talking with a few other allergy-sufferers, I picked up some Zyrtec and, against my will, started taking it daily.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the boy spent most of his free time last week putting together my new time trial bike.  Yes, I bought a new bike.  It's a sickness, really.  Anyway, it's a pretty sweet ride and completely assembled by the boy.  Unfortunately, it wasn't really ride-ready until Friday.  The day before the Deep Blue TT.  We took it to Hains (doing the anti-rain dance - it worked!!) and I put in about 3 laps there with minor stops to adjust the bars/saddle height.  We packed it up that night and headed to DE for the race early on Saturday.

This was going to be either really good or ... really bad.  The course was sight unseen.  I did ride up to scope out the start - coming out of a cargo plane - and thought to myself "If I make it down that ramp without dumping it, we'll call the day a success".  As you can tell, I like to set my standards pretty high.

I was registered -for the first time! - in the masters race.  I hadn't done a time trial since 2008.  Yeah.  This was going to be interesting.  If you've never done Deep Blue, it's held at the Air Mobility Command Museum.  You warm up on tarmac littered with HUGE out of service military planes.  If you're not mindful, you might hit your head on a propeller.  The actual start is out the back of a C-130.  I watched quite a few riders bobble down the ramp so I was naturally terrified that I would wipe out there.  It wasn't pretty, but I did make it down the ramp.  I was so concerned about getting down the ramp that I forgot to turn on my new computer.  Lost a bit of time sitting up and waiting, waiting, waiting for it to find satellites and finally setting the timer.  After that, I settled in pretty quickly and just pedaled.  Early on, I looked down and was a little disappointed with the power I was holding.  Then I realized I forgot to "calibrate" the computer.  Power was useless so I switched back to heart rate.  Blasphemy!! 

And so I pedaled.  Saw a couple girls ahead, made them the focus of my attention (cue the greyhound/rabbit routine).  Passed them but they weren't in my field.  Drat.  Was very, very surprised when I saw the 200m sign.  I must've missed the 1k sign.  I passed a line on the road and kept going, looking around to ask someone - Was that really the finish? It was just a line on the road with a suspicious-looking van on the side of the road.  That was the finish!?!  Very unceremonious.  Drifted in, did a recovery spin and waited for results.  The boy saw them before I did and was ecstatic - I think he felt as much pressure for the bike to perform as I felt to perform.  So .... even though it was a time trial ... I got my first gold medal since 2008!! 

Much of the credit goes to the boy, who desperately wanted me to do this race and worked tirelessly to finish setting up my bike - it was near perfect and, most importantly, I could walk after the race.  It's the little things, ya know?

Next up, the Bunny Hop.  Ah, the site of the disaster that nearly ended my race career.  It was very important for me to have a decent day there- mentally, spiritually and emotionally.   The 35+/45+ race was fast and smooth.  It was actually FUN!  As we're coming into the last corner, I'm on a good wheel moving forward on the inside.  (unnamed rider) decides that she wants that wheel and inserts herself between me and another girl on my right, physically bobbling back and forth between us.  I yelled at her that there was no room and she answered with some primal "AYYYYAYYAYYA".  It was either hit the brakes or hit the curb (thereby taking everyone behind me down as well).  I opted to spare myself (and others) the fun of road rash and/or broken bones. Yeah, I wussed out but I'm not going to go for that bullsh*t going forward.  That happened once and I assure you, next time I'm throwing elbows.  I would have doubted myself (maybe I'm too timid) but many others saw it happen - everyone said that "someone" should say something.  Yeah, they should.

We had one race between the masters and the open race.  A quick recovery and we were back at it.  I did think ahead to bring another kit - this made me very, very happy.  The race was little less fluid in the open but only a couple of issues with safety.  It was an active race, but when rockstar Katy Giles went, she went and no one wanted to answer. A few accelerations and, on the 2nd to last lap, a wreck happened right behind me.  All accounts said everyone was ok but, given my history at the Hop, I was done.  I finished with the field, making a half-assed effort at sprinting for, probably, 20th or so.  I wasn't overly thrilled but quickly got some perspective: goal #1 still stands - UPRIGHT.

Lessons learned: position, position, position.  Allergies suck, zyrtec helps.  People still take stupid risks with everyone else's safety, even in "masters" level racing.  Respect and civility between riders is so valuable and absolutely appreciated.  Sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to, no matter how hard you try or how bad you want it. 

So - first time trial, first win, first masters race, first season of allergies, first time in many years that I've been able to double up.  Yeah, there's a first time for everything - sometimes a "second" first that actually means a little bit more than the first one!