So That Happened - Argyle TT & Bunny Hop 2015

This weekend was my first 2-race (actually 2-event, 3-race) weekend of the year. I went to work Monday because I needed the rest.

I've made a number of changes in both real-life and racing/training over the past many months so I'm kind of exploring new perspectives on all fronts. One big change in training/racing is that I joined the Mid-Atlantic Colavita race team. I've been training and racing with many of these amazing women over the years so I knew it would be an awesome fit. The team has great energy and we have a lot of fun in whatever we're doing. In addition, I'm going into the season with a different outlook - taking the races as they come, racing when it's fun and reducing the pressure I put on myself in general.

So- back to the race stuff. Saturday was the Argyle Time Trial. A nice course, really great people promoting the event, and amazing weather to get reacquainted with our TT bikes. The course really is beautiful and the terrain suits my riding strengths. I have spent some time on my TT bike (a TT bike highlight was a 2hr trainer ride while participating in a work web-ex. THAT is how you win a web-ex!) and I was anxious to see how game-day turned out.

About halfway into the expected mileage, I started seeing riders coming back on the other side of the road. I thought it was a loop and a turnaround point wasn't noted on the course map. I had an Artemis rider with me when we came up to a 4-lane highway. We stopped at the redlight, pondered where to go, had a conversation with a helpful driver stopped at the light and finally made the decision to turn around. I probably had stupid-high average for the next stretch as I was feeling pretty ... frustrated is a gentle word for it ... Finally got back to the missed turn and - like magic - there were road guards there! Directing riders! I'm bending a left turn as other riders (coming from the correct direction) were leaning into their right turn - that was fun! .

What's done is done - I got back in the mode and started re-passing people I passed a while back. The mens field was coming through - 2 riders passed me and gave me some more motivation to keep pushing. The finish was uneventful and we all reconvened to compare adventure distances. I think Sue, Dave and Kaitlyn win with 28 or 29miles. A few more miles than the 18.6 or so expected. A few.

Dana and I - hours later - on the top step. Photo Credit: Chuck Kyle

I technically won but I have no idea how it would have really turned out. It took HOURS to get wrong results, then HOURS more for semi-acceptable results. It will never cease to amaze me how a mass-sprint finish can be finalized faster than one by one TT finishes with absolute start and finish times. I digress.

After all that waiting I was listing to the right ....

The upside is that I had some quality time with Dana, Chuck, Kaitlyn, Sue and a number of others while waiting. To the promoters - I'd like to suggest a food truck next year; that might have helped with the recovery (or lack thereof).

Quality time off our legs. Photo Credit: Chuck Kyle

With all the time spent standing around and soaking in the sun, I was worried that I was going to be in bad shape for Sunday's races. I seriously had a headache and an upset stomach - some as pre-race anxiety and some because I was simply tired - when I departed for Sunday's races. 

First race was 12:30 or so. Sunny, warm - tan-line type weather. No idea how many lined up, I made my way to the front for a good line around that first turn. We didn't start slow but we were all together for a bit.  I stayed near the front in greyhound-rabbit mode - if it moved, I was on it. ABRT went off a couple times, NCVC tried to drag us around, my Colavita girls put in some digs ...long story short, I believe ABRT initiated and we wound up with a small group ahead of the field. Janelle jumped for a prime in the closing laps and proceeded to ride away. Evolution tried to chase. I was on that wheel but wasn't going to pull through to chase my teammate.

35+Podium Photo Credit: Amanda Watson

Janelle went solo for several laps and held it for the 45+ win. ABRT took the 1-2 sprint for 35+ - I was 3rd.

We had a  little over an hour between races so not enough time for me to eat/digest the yummy smoked-chicken apple gouda sammich I brought for sustenance. A caramel honey-stinger waffle was about all I could do. There was no warm up to be had - just spin around or get off your feet. A lot of fresh legs coming in the Open race - NCVC, Fearless Femme and quite a few newer Cat 4s and Cat 3s. A decent field for women's racing these days. 

I made my way up to the front for the start (didn't we just do this?) with no idea how this race was going to go. I mentally made a pact with myself to get through 5 laps at a time - then get through 5 more. No goals but to survive.

Mimi blew the whistle and all that was out the door.

It started a little slow - thank the race gods. I needed that time to get back in the groove. Everyone seemed to be watching NCVC and Fearless Femme. An NCVC rider jumped, a couple of riders joined her. More moves went and came back. FINALLY, after the 2nd turn on the backside, NCVC jumped and Fearless Femme went with her. In my head (and apparently outloud) I said ok, THAT I care about. I pulled out some sort of sprint-chase move and dug in to join them. Then there were 4 - Ainhoa came up as well. We had a gap but not a big one. We passed by the lap counter - it said 17 and I nearly cried. I'm out there with a current pro, a semi-pro and a sprinting machine. And my sammich sits in my car, uneaten.

Following Wheels. Photo Credit:Alison Mittlelstadt

Then there were 5. Photo Credit:Alison Mittlelstadt

About 13 to go I heard someone in the crowd say NCVC is bridging. Clio made an amazing chase and joined to make 5. I was staring at the Fearless Femme kit (my position in the rotation) like it was my job.  I was thinking -I have to stick this, trust my training, I CAN STICK THIS. We worked a paceline until maybe 10 to go. At that point, NCVC tried to mix it up a couple of times. I was just holding wheels and rotating through until maybe 4 to go when NCVC put in a massive dig. I desperately tried to follow but got separated. In the past, I might have given up but then I got all oh-hell-no, I didn't get this far to go out like that. As I'm passing about 5 yards off the group Joe Jefferson announces "grab a gear and lift the rear - gotta dig deep Wendy Ulmer". I would have laughed if I had the energy. I went into TT mode and caught back on as we made the 2nd turn.YEAH!

2-to-go - Joe announced a gambler's prime - a diamond necklace. I did not care in the least but I knew that would charge the pace. We approached the line waiting for SOMEONE to go - finally Fearless Femme went for the prime and it was on. I stayed on pace until we made the final bend into the sprint finish. I was done. I finished 5th out of the 5-man break with a stupid grin of exhaustion and happy. Holy wow.

Done. Photo Credit:Alison Mittlelstadt

I understand the field tried to chase several times but finally gave up. Colavita represented all the way, though - Janelle and Chris both got primes in the field and Laura finished 3rd in the 3s.

Between the extended time trial, a long afternoon waiting for results followed by 2 hard, fast races - I was done. My reward was finally devouring my sandwich on the drive home. Completely and happily spent.

This is my Friday - 9.18.14

Lots to catch up on!

So. It’s been a while. It’s hard to follow up a blog post about the death of your mother with witty and sarcastic commentary about bikes, racing, wine, friends and life in general. It’s been a tough few months at work as well so I just haven’t found the motivation to be sarcastic and witty.

I limped through the last month or two of race season because I didn’t want to squander the leads I had established in both BAR competitions and the VA Omnium. I even conquored my fears of the Track thanks to Gwenn and her expertise. Thanks also to Esmonde, who lent me his track bike (that I have not yet returned!) 

Champions of the WORLD!!

 Thankfully I did manage to hold the overall on all counts so the effort was not without reward but gosh, my results were terrible and I wasn’t having fun. Thank goodness for off season!!

 

Admit it- these are pretty SWEET

The offseason gives me a chance to do silly things … like running. Yes, you read that right. I have been running on a somewhat regular basis. In the beginning it was pretty slow – I won’t quote any numbers but take my word for it – S L O W. Then I got a new pair of kicks ! Nothing like something new to make you step your game up, right? Eh. Kinda. I’m still slow by any “real” runner’s judgment, but faster than my original slow. I do heart my new running shoes. I admit that I hesitated Wednesday morning on getting out there but I did it - because I wanted to wear my shoes. 

I’m also doing some P90x workouts. I say “some” because I’m not following the schedule as I have in the past. It’s tough to find time for running and long days at work with 1-1.5 hrs of P90x every day. That said, it’s doing good things for me; the ab workout nearly kills you in 16mins if you do it right and, let’s admit it, we aren’t doing a whole lotta upper body stuff on the bike so push-ups and pull-ups are great cross training (tiny baby pull ups for me – someday I want to do a real one. someday). 

Oh, and I finally get to commute by bike to work!! The office building finished the gym and associated locker room with showers. Yes, I’ve been told that I could do a field shower but … no. It’s not a long commute but it starts the day off much better for everyone. For me, I get to work happy because of the adrenaline spike. For others, I’m not yelling at stupid people doing stupid things on the road. Win-Win. 

Bikes!!

Offseason has given me the chance to do things that I haven’t done in way too long. Like going up to visit my beautiful cousin in PA. We took a marathon bike ride together, something we’ve never done. She doesn’t ride and was on flat-pedals but hung in there for over 3 hours!

Bike ride with a thumb in the pic.

Then we went to the Zac Brown concert in Hershey – hands down, the best concert I’ve been to! So glad to have that memory.

Making faces before the concert

Someone please explain why I couldn't take decent pics - The girl in front of me was taking awesome shots but this is the best I got.

The next weekend I went down to Charlottesville with Claudette for a metric century in the hills. I finally got to meet Mary; I’ve heard her name and knew of her but it was fun to hang out and ride with both of these fine ladies. Loved the little town of Charlottesville. I’ve been in the area for races but never knew the cute little town square. A fun weekend trek with some fun people! 

Mary, Claudette and me. Look at those green rolling hills!

Because I saw it in the parking garage and thought it was kinda cool.

Real Life: It kinda sucks sometimes

It was her birthday. She was officially 63. And she died later that morning.

I hadn’t heard her voice in several years and her last two years were spent exclusively in the nursing home bed with a feeding tube and bad TV for when she was actually awake. I didn’t visit as often as I probably should have because it was so hard to see her; until the last year or so, she would cry violently at random times and I hated to think that I was stirring up bad memories or that she had a sudden jolt of consciousness and realized what condition she was in. She was trapped in her own body and I could only hope that her mind didn’t let her know how bad it was. The woman I knew would be mortified to know that people had to change her diaper and that her beautiful teeth were full of cavities because they just don’t spend time or money on teeth when they’re trying to keep you alive and out of pain.

In some ways her passing was a relief. She suffered from Alzheimers and Parkinsons ; the former was diagnosed as dementia back in 2007 or so because she was “too young” to have Alzheimers. The latter came on slowly but worked consistently to shut her body down. It’s been a tough week or so for me to figure things out in my head. Her passing was not a shock but the finality of it was still hard to take. I look around at other ladies her age, doting on children and grandchildren, off to bingo or vacationing with their family and wonder why she couldn’t have that. I think, more than anything, I mourn the lost opportunity, how things could have been different and better somehow. 

Her life, and our family life, was not easy but I do remember some good times and happy memories. I’m staring at a picture on my desk right now that I took from the nursing home on my last visit – by some beautiful stroke of fate I managed to make the trip up to see her two days before she passed away. 

The picture was taken shortly after my brother died and I wanted to take her out for a girl’s day. We already knew she was regressing but she was still functional. We went to get our hair done; the picture was taken in the salon. That day I also took her to get her very first pedicure. She didn’t quite know what to do with that and she had ticklish feet so she was giggling the whole time. Oh, and I took her to Starbucks. She didn’t know what she wanted so I got her a Caramel Latte. She tentatively took a sip and her face lit up – THIS IS SO GOOD!  It is a happy-sad memory right now but it’s mostly happy.

We did not have a great relationship but I know she had a good heart.  Right now I hope that I’m wrong in my opinions about religion and she’s out in the great somewhere, hanging out with my brother and my granddaddy. Even if that’s not how things work, the thought makes me smile. She suffered more than any one person should have to in a lifetime. Rest in peace, Momma