TGIF- 5/30/08

Is it just me, or do "short weeks" (those shortened by a holiday) usually feel longer than regular weeks ? Maybe its just because us OCD racers are still recovering from millions of miles driven and raced, or maybe its because we're out of sync with our normal schedules. Either way, Friday makes me happier than usual this week.

Kyle posts WTFM on a weekly basis, which must suck b/c its hard for most of us to find positive things to post on Monday. So, I thought I'd take the easier route - TGIF ... there's always something good about it being FRIDAY. So here are some positive thoughts, experiences and musings for your Friday afternoon:

- I took a walk from my office in Fells Point to the Inner Harbor. First time I've done that in a while. During my walk, I looked around for the first time in ages and noticed what a cool place Baltimore can be. The most exciting news is that there is a Starbucks within walking distance and two doors down is a Haagen Dazs. Someone is clearly trying to keep Wendy happy in Baltimore.

- Less cool is the weird guy carrying a boombox, blasting 80s music, on the waterfront. I avoided eye contact as he scared me a little. I couldn't get a good picture, lest he knew he was attracting attention.... but, this IS Baltimore.

- My ride this morning in Patapsco State Park was an easy spin, so I could appreciate the beautiful trails I get to ride on less than a mile from my house. I also ran into the train that passes through the park not once, but twice ... for some reason the train makes me happy. No, I don't like model trains or anything like that, just the sight and sound of the train is strangely comforting. Maybe I had a special connection with trains in my prior life. Who knows.

- Today I realized that I CAN wear my "good" sunglasses with my helmet (for my Vespa rides). This makes me very happy because the "not so good" sunglasses are ... well.... not so good. I love my Revos.

- The weather for Sunday's CSC even looks awesome (lets not talk about tomorrow's weather). BTW: Loved the blog post on Jens Voigt. My Man Jens...

- I love respect between competitors. It doesn't always have to be adversarial ... sometimes you can just appreciate having been a part of a great race. Props and respect to Chris Kelly, one of the classiest gals in the peloton. Photo courtesy of DemonCats (aka Kevin Dillard).

Okay, thats what I've got for now ... If you need more than THAT to be happy on a Friday, I can't help you !!

Speed Week-end

Its 730pm and I just changed into my jammies and I'm super excited about going to sleep soon. Most friends and loved ones already know that Wendy likes her sleep, but today is a special sleep day - I raced 3days in a row. I have traveled between Baltimore, Annapolis, DC, NJ, back to DC and finally back home to Baltimore in a span of less than 72 hours. Logged almost 600 miles driving. All to race approximately 70 miles. And those 70 miles were ... pardon the french.... balls out the entire way. I loved every minute of it. Even the minute where I rolled over some unfortunate girl's wheel as her bike slid across the road at bike jam. Even the minute when I was coming into the finish at RFK and around the final turn, Sonja clipped her pedal, fish-tailed and recovered (but gave me a heart attack as I was right behind her). Even the minute after the Colavita gal cooked turn 3 at Somerville coming into the bell lap, causing a chain reaction where a CycleLoft gal locked up her breaks and slid wide, taking me into the curb. Especially the minute where I managed to come to a stop right as my front zipp was kissing the curb, clipped out and touched my foot to the curb to stay upright and took off. Another Colavita gal came by me as I was getting back up to speed and told me I have a future in cyclecross. I thanked her for the encouragement once my heart disappeared from my throat.

Bike Jam for me was as it usually is ... (excepting last year, which, again, dont get me started on my training issues for 2007) ... we rolled around in a group, some surges went, we went with them, I found myself drifting toward the back through the top side of the course where I am deathly afraid of those damn little metal feet on the barriers that stick out like a foot and a half and are about pedal-height. I would then try to gain position on the little chicane, only to get squeezed through the backside, then inevitably I'd be in the wrong lane as everyone slammed on their brakes to get through the tight left. I'd semi-chase back on and make up lots of ground on the "hill", which was a lot less painful than I remembered it to be. Wreck happens on the front stretch and I'm pinched to the inside - I see the girl in front of me take a dive and watch in slow motion as her bike slides across toward me. On the brakes, I resolve that my bike can roll over a wheel, so I do it and make it through, only to see the field going down the road. I chased for all I was worth - and when I was about to blow up gloriously, Chris Kelly came by me to take a pull. Bless you, Chris. We flew through the circle and the left turn - then the wonderful Moto-ref came up and said we were neutralized, relax, we're all starting back up together. I still think we'd have made it, but it would have been ugly. I roll up to the back of the pack to find my chain dropped - dismount, fix the chain, hear my good friend Jill yell my name. Quick hug (a sweaty one at that) and the whistle blows again. Come around on the last lap, a Juice Plus girl causes a separation in the field when she takes out a few people. Luckily, Leslie was ahead of the crash. I was not. Lets face it, its not a surprise I was behind it ! 29th, upright, all my skin in tact. Except where I smashed my hand in my trainer earlier in the morning. Beautiful, no ? It felt even better.

Next day, RFK. First time I've ever raced this course. Another "dont get me started" story. It was fast and flat. I hovered mid pack most of the way but found a little more confidence and started playing a little during the middle of the race. Following wheels, I wound up in a couple of moves. I jumped across to another one. Leslie was staying a little smarter than me, nearer the front, but I just wanted to play a little. Relatively safe race, although a last lap crash did bring out the ambulance. Coming into the final turn, I hopped on Sonja's wheel as she had some momentum. And I lost every bit of that momentum as I watched her recover from clipping her pedal. Upright, all skin intact ... and 29th, again. Leslie finished up in the top 15. Watched the 3/4 girls play while we waited for payout ... fun race to watch, and our girls were super active but super smart during the race. We got a 4th and 5th, despite some miscommunication at the end. Sweet.

In the car for 4 hours to NJ, but Leslie booked a sweet hotel and after we ate a turkey-avacado burger (yum!), we put our feet up and basked in the knowledge that we didnt need to get up early. Our race was fast - haven't figured out our average, but I know that drifting through one of the turns I looked down and saw 25. Drifting. Much more comfy after two days of racing, so I moved up and down through the pack, finding the best lines, trying to be energy efficient and just having fun. I found Leslie in the pack quite often and tried to hang out near her. She gave me a wheel to move up toward the end of the race but I didnt react quickly enough to grab it.... I'm thankful I missed it, because on the next lap the Colavita girl next to Leslie went into the corner too hot and cooked it. (no pun intended) (but it is kinda funny). I got caught up in the melee that followed that incident, but managed to stay upright and finish it out in ... 48th. I dont care about that number - I already won my race since I managed to not get taken out in the frantic last two laps. Once again, Leslie scored a top 15. I have GOT to learn to close a race like she does ...

When Common Sense Eludes Us

I debated on writing this in the first person or as a collective - I decided that since I know many of the cyclists in this region and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one with this problem, collective was the way to go. If you happen to be the one sane-cyclist (oxymoron?) among us, please humor me.

We cyclists are not known for our self control. Like I mentioned in a previous post on the Team CycleLife blog, I'm like the greyhound chasing the mechanical rabbit: it doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense, when something moves in a race, I'm going to chase it. Thank goodness I found some rockstar teammates that can capitalize on my lack of self control. We are equally stupid on another front - our health. Yes, I know we all try to eat right (despite Ice Cream being my favorite food group). Yes, I know we exercise religiously - to the point of OCD. Yes, I know we dont really drink or party - except the young-uns that can do that crap and still hand us our arses in a race. As you can tell from my first blog post, Friday nights usually consist of gathering gear, clothing and food for the next day's event.

But when we're sick, we pretend it doesn't exist. We can be running a fever, coughing up lungs or nursing a broken wrist, but we still think that we can go out and race. (photo courtesy of demoncats; note Lance, who broke his left wrist the day before this race). I liken this to selective hearing - we hear our calling to train, to eat and drink the right things etc, but we miss that calling that says - Hey Stupid ... You're Sick. Its a Long Season. DO NOT DO THE TRAINING RACE TONIGHT.

Another reason I am writing this as a collective is that it makes me feel better about my stupidity. Hey, if everyone else is doing it, isn't it less-stupid ? So, last night I made the trek down to Greenbelt, where I've been playing with the boys the last few weeks with decent results. I am glad that they know that I can play on a normal day, because last night was a sad, sad performance. It was damp and cool, which probably helped the cold that I pretended I didn't have. A quick warmup told me I was going to suffer, but hey, I just did two hard races last weekend so of course I should be tired. Rationalization: the key to every cyclist's training regimen. An Evo guy (Kyle) took off from the gun and got a huge gap on us - no one seemed to be chasing so, of course, I stood up and took off. No idea what happened behind me, I looked back after the turn and saw that I had a good gap with one chaser. Thank goodness for Rt 1-guy who caught me and gave me a wheel. We were closing on the hill but I saw the pack closing on us, so I sat up. And coughed up a lung as I drifted toward the back. The Evo guy also drifted back and I silently cursed him for jumping (because I have no self control) - it was silent cursing because I could barely breathe.

I managed to recover as the pace slowed. Surrogate teammate Lance started driving the pace and that was it... finally sat up and sat out for a lap. Because I still lacked the common sense to call it a day. The A-guys passed and kind of eyed me up - yes, I know, I shouldn't have gotten shelled from the B race. Happens to the best of us. I jumped back in. I sat in for a lap. This was easy ! Maybe I just needed some recovery from the flyer. Then the whole not-breathing thing kicked in again. Not so easy. Finally pulled myself with 2 to go. As I slowly rolled through the parking lot, people were hacking, sneezing and generally being sick ... I was NOT the only one that attempted to ignore my health. Yes, that made me feel better.

Today I am working from home in an attempt to save my coworkers from contracting my cold and, more importantly, to rest up for this weekend's big races. On the former point, I'm thoroughly annoyed at people who come into work for two or three days, hacking and blowing their nose all over the place, only to infect the rest of us. Employers give us "sick days" for a reason. Use them. Don't get the rest of us sick because you want to use your sick days as vacation days. Yes, I'm bitter, because this is the 2nd time this year that someone at work brought in something and it went through the whole office. Have some common sense, people. If you're not a cyclist, you have no excuse !!!