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).
 

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.