Cowbell Challenge 6hour Solo

Randy and I drove to Davidson, NC last Friday in order to participate in the Cowbell Challenge which offered both 6 and 12 hour racing options; I entered the 6 hour solo and Randy the 12 (craziness). This event was held at Fisher Farm Park just north of Charlotte. The course was a mix of rooty, twisty, hilly, flat, rocky, obstacle ridden trail that amazingly flowed exceptionally well! Since NC is still technically in a drought, the trail was very dry and dusty. Mother Nature was threatening thunderstorms and rain for the day of the event which had me concerned due to the red clay soil and all of the roots. The course would've been treacherous had it rained. Thankfully, it was dry all day Saturday albeit hot and humid. The promoter made the decision to begin the race as a mass start rather than lemans (thank god). I made the executive decision to start toward the back of the pack since I was only riding and didn't want to hold any of the racers up. And while I intended to start toward the back, I did not mean to be AT the back! As soon as the announcer rang the cowbell to start the event, I began to move forward and found out that I should've placed myself more mid-pack. hindsight! It didn't really matter because I was there for a workout and to enjoy riding my mtb which I did. I learned a few things last Saturday. 1. I need to use my camelback. 2. Do not start at the very back 3. Prepare more water/gatorade bottles the night before 4. place the cooler in the transition area to reduce stop time 5. make sure to have 2 seatpacks available for both bikes. that way you don't have to switch them back and forth (so time consuming and a pain!). I'm sure there were more lessons learned but those are still burned in my brain! At the end of the day with 2 crashes under my belt -- I finished 7 laps in a total time of 5:14 (stops and ride time included); Approximately 49miles; and 1st 6hour solo female! That was a shock! I had no idea where I was in relation to the other women. I just rode at a pace that was comfortable and allowed me to have fun! I don't know how the pros keep going for 12 and 24 hours. Monsters! 6 hours/50m iles is enjoyable and enough time for me on my bike! Here's a link to our pictures: http://www.photoreflect.com/PR3/ViewAlbum.aspx?a=522707

KIBTT Guest Rider #1

Last night, the KIBTT girls had their first guest rider session. We'll call him GR1 to maintain his anonymity. When we arrived at BCSP, GR1 proceeded to secure tie 3x5inch pieces of cardboard to our front brake lever so as to discourage us from using our front brake throughout the ride. This was quite exciting on the first downhill on the connector trail. No front brakes and you get to experience the thrill of rear wheel slippage, and a little out-of-control-ness. No crashes occured, there was lots of chatter, lots of laughter, and a little pressure on GR1 to reveal the identity of his expert rider girlfriend (he held out and never did tell us!). Food and beverage were provided for our post ride enjoyment, courtesy of our local comedian Angela.

All in all, it was a good evening! The only thing missing was that we did not get to see Angela practice any trailside bike maintenance.

We are currently taking applications for our next guest rider. Details to follow.

xterra richmond (VA)

Whenever I ride and do stupid things (which is quite often) I call myself grace, you know, way to go grace.Sunday,I did xterra richmond and I lost count of thenumber of times I said this to myself. Let's start at the beginning. The swim is in the James river, light current, shallow water - 1-6 feet deep. Check out the link above to see photos of the boulders that are strewn throughout the river (and hence the swim course), and even the 'Mayan' ruin like thing we had to climb on the run. Anyways, the swim was wave starts, which was awful for me! Pros first, 2 minutes later were men 15-35, 2 minutes later were men above 35, 2 minutes later were women and relays. So, not only did I have the pleasure of trying to navigate lots of slower men who had a head start, since I couldn't take decent lines, I was swimming into boulders all the time. Most of them would just brush right under me, one I swam right up onto. The orange cone sitting on it was not supposed to be a magnet attracting me to it, but rather a warning to stay away from it. But my mind was not thinking except to get around the men, and I beached myself on it. The kayakers must have had a good laugh at that! WAY TO GO GRACE! I finished the swim with lots of abrasions on my arms chest. Not pretty. Then the run to T1 was .25-.5 miles long. No big deal except for the rocks you have to run over. ANd I mean a good solid 50 feet of those big chunky 2inch gravel pieces laid down for pavement. Many people stashed shoes at the swim to wear, but not me. Oh no, I had to do it barefoot - WAY TO GO GRACE! Then onto my sweet little mountain bike for a pretty technical 18+ mile course. The biggest problem was since the men had a head start on the swim I had even less of a lead on them so the first hour of the bike was jam packed with people. I stopped counting the number of crashes I had. One time I wiped out, got up and thought my handlebars seemed weird, and the front wheel and bars were completely turned around and I was sitting on my bike with them backwards! WAY TO GO GRACE! So, like I said, many crashes, none of them bad. Lots of dabbing, and several places I had to get off the bike and walk - a couple of steep switchbacks I didn't make it down, 3 short steep uphills that were littered with people - many times it was people in front of you that prevented you from riding something, and unfortunately I probably kept a few people from riding things - but that's mountain biking - crazy, fun, stressful, tiring - just so different from riding on the road. I should also mention that there werethese small bridges that cross the river so people can ride and walk across. And they all had these ridiculous stairs to climb. So around mile 3 we climbed the first, carrying our bikes, up 10 flights of 10 stairs each. Then ride singletrack, techincal sections, fun sections, crowded sections. This trail had everything you can imagine - and its right in the middle of a city. I wish our trails around here offered more variety. The more I get to ride other trails, I see more things I'd like to see on our local trails. Oh well, we did get to carry our bikes down the stairs next. Then more riding, and back up one more time - yep! That was F.U.N. FInally into t2, and I saw a gal who I met form Purdue, she cheered me along. I fumbled with my race belt for some reason, and my socks were full of sand and I tried to decide if I should empty them or just run. I opted for just run, and have a few blisters to show for that. But the run was pretty flat, except for more climbing up stairs to cross a foot bridge. A climb up the mayan ruin like structure, which was a hand and foot climb up a 75 foot steep hill with railroad ties every three feet to grab onto. One very cool section of the huge boulders that you scamper across, then climb up a ladder bolted into a wall. Then some trails, one long climb on the trails, back up to the footbridge and the finish. I was 3rd in my AG. I won't do this race next year. The swim is too short, and its too far to drive, and it was way to difficult to do two A races two weekends in a row (Pelham then Richmond). Difficult to recover from Pelham, and then figure how to train for Richmond. Too bad, because the Richmond bike course has tons of room for improvement for me!My running is pretty slow now. I'll be adding some speedwork next because I was just plodding along. My overall pace was 9min miles, which probably meant I was running 8:30 pace when I could actually run, and that just won't cut it.And my swimming sucks too. So, I have to bump the swimming up starting NOW.

I'm just happy to be home.

DINO #3 – Portage – Imagination Glen

I had been contemplating the drive to Portage (East Chicago) all week. As the radar screamed of rains that forecasted crappy trail conditions, I was sighing relief. Spending 4 hours in the car just to get there and another 4 for the return trip wasn’t that appealing. Plus, I still hadn’t been on the bike that much due to long days at work; I was just mentally exhausted.

By Friday night, the riders were assured that the impending rain had actually missed Imagination Glen Park and the trails would be decent. So, Meredith and I agreed to get up at the crack of dawn and make the trip north. We arrived in time to get in a good pre-ride and learn some of the obstacles we would face in the course—thank goodness! There are a couple of nasty, steep drops would have made me cringe had I not known about them during the race.

Four girls gathered at the start line: Melanie (this was her home course!), Emily (who just catted up to Expert), Meredith (the sole Sport rider), and myself. My heart was not with the bike on Saturday, and the results showed it. I came in last of all the riders. Melanie & Emily had superb starts; I had no aspirations of staying close to Melanie as she knew the course inside and out. My goal was to keep Emily in sight.

Local knowledge was super important to a course like this. The trail is littered with twists so tight and roller coaster hills; proper gear selection was a must. Periodically, I would find myself going too fast only to have to brake hard just before a turn and losing acceleration out of a corner. Same thing on the roller coasters. At times I would be in too hard of a gear without enough momentum to make it up the other side gracefully. While Meredith and I joked on the way back that Portage actually means, “Hell” in another language, I think it would be a really fun course if a rider knew what was coming up. Without knowing, I never found a rhythm that kept me going.

Emily was in sight most of the time. Again, on the second lap, I felt much better and thought I should give racing my bicycle a try. It stopped about 3-4 miles from the finish when a stick got caught in my rear derailleur. Not thinking much about it, I stopped pedaling and waited for it to fall out. Wrong strategy! The demon-possessed stick fell out after twisting my rear derailleur and bending spokes in my rear wheel causing it to go out of true. I learned about the damage as I tried to pedal my bike only to have the chain skipping up and down the cassette. So, I stopped to try to assess the problem. Gosh, I didn’t see anything: no stick, nothing in the chain, etc. This happened 3 more times as I’m trying to figure out how to fix my bike on the trail. I learned I could pedal without using force of any kind in one gear. So, on the downhills and flats, I could move at a slow speed but had to push my bike up any incline whatsoever.

With this sad display of loss, I crossed the finish line 13 minutes behind second place. Coach Battin was at the finish (with a first place victory); naturally, he fixed my derailleur in about 6 seconds; he’ll be seeing my wheel next week.

Lessons: 1) Must have my heart in it. 2) Learn how to do minor fixes to my bike on the trail!

Xterra Southeast Championships

For some reason, the xterra people like to start the regional championship races at 9:30am! In Alabama in June, at 9:30am its already 90 degrees! By race end this year it was 100. ugh.

So, this year, I was sporting a new race kit - the team I race for - Get A Grip Offroad racing team - suplied me with shorts and tri-top. The top had pockets in back, which is a big no-no for me in a swim. So I broke down and bought a Desoto speedsuit, hoping the speedsuit might help compensate for my absolutely dismal swim training this year, plus eliminate the drag from the pockets. My swim was still a little off last year, but it serves me right. I have been swimming 30 minutes twice a week at absolutely pathetic paces. Its time to get back to normal swim workouts when I get home. Oh yeah, the water was a way too balmy 82 degrees. I swam the whole swim next to Melanie McQuaid, 3-time xterra world champion, but of course she blew me away in T1 and everywhere else! In T1, there was one other age grouper just ahead of me. I started the bike knowing I should hydrate a lot, and I tried to ride smoothly. In the first 10 minutes, tons of pro men, women and fast men age groupers need to get by. Its stressful, because its all singletrack for the stretch, so I have to try to slow down, make room, its just not fun. One corner I tried to go too tight to give them room, and washed out. Lots of trail rash on the right leg, and I held up several people as I tried to pull my bike off the trail. Once I was going again, things were uneventful, the first AG woman passed me at the single track just before the doubletrack long uphill. SHe didn't pull away until I let some other guy go by near the top of the long hill, and I lost contact, because there's just inches of decent trail to ride on just on the side of the double track- the rest is rocks, gravel, and on the uphill its too easy to loose traction and then you can't get going again. SO I had to let her go. One more AG woman passed me just before blood rock, and the woman who was first in t1, was fixing a flat and I passed her. Of these 3, one was world champion last year, one was second at world championships last year (to a now first year pro), the other was just plain fast (20-24 ag, likely to be pro soon). SO I was not feeling too bad. I got to blood rock, rode half, then hopped off. Lots of people stand there to cheer and watch people crash. I told them I was walking, and they cheered me anyways - all are so supportive. Its a nasty stretch of rocky trail. No more passes to the end of the bike. My bike plus t2 was also a few minutes slower than last year. I'mnot sure where Ilost the time, maybe just overall heat fatigue, and the little wipeout at the start. The run scared me, as it is a beast. The first mile or two are relatively flat, and I ran the whole thing, moderately paced, taking gatorade and water twice. Then the run goes vertical on trail that is often loose, debris covered, and steep. ANd I mean steep. There is no hill in Bloomington that I can think of that compares - maybe that gravel road that Ange and I rode in January. Then back down. And the downs are steep, quad busting steep. I am slow on the steeps - down or up, doesn't matter. I had to walk a lot of the ups. I'd bargain with myself to run 40 more steps when I was ready to walk because my heart was ready to bust out of my chest. There are 5 or so big hills like this in 4 miles. It is an absolute beast. Did I mention its a beast? Well, it is. My run was 5 minutes slower than last year. The woman who I passed fixing her flat, passed me running, looking so strong. Then one more woman passed me on the run (she was world champ last year, and at this race I beat her by 10 seconds, this year, she beat me by about the same).

I hit the misting tent, which is just the most awesome thing at the end of a hot race. I need to set one of these up for my dogs. They would love this. I finished 1st in my AG (there were only two of us), and I was 5th amateur woman overall.

$$ DINO #2 $$

Today (June 1, 2008) I won money at a bike race! DINO #2 kicked off at Brown County State Park with 6 Expert women on the start line. A couple of the girls came up from Kentucky since this race served as the “Kentuckiana Championship,” an inventive ploy to get more racers at events.

On the start line, I got that sinking feeling in my stomach that my laziness and carefree riding of late was going to get me. My confidence was low—sometimes I’m easily intimidated. So, the goal for this race was to beat last year’s time of 1 hour 39 minutes 51 seconds.

We started in the grassy field at the trail head of the north parking lot. Instead of taking said trail to the top, we had the privilege of climbing the paved, STEEP road all the way to the North Tower entrance to the trail. Granted, it’s not steep all the way, but the incessant climbing doesn’t do much for my attitude. Just before I entered the trail, my dad & step mom were cheering me on. Too cool.

I was in 5th when I entered the woods (not counting the super fast Sport riders who had beat me up the hill). However, in the first ½ mile, an Expert rider had gone down. She was off the trail when I went by but quickly passed me again. Argh! For some reason, there seems to be a lot of pressure when it’s your home course and everybody expects you to do well. (I know, it’s imagined.) Nevertheless, I feel like I should perform better for some reason.

At the bottom of the North Tower Loop, about 4 miles in to the race, I spotted my husband and threw my sunglasses off in the grass; I was having trouble seeing the trail. Of course, that could have been from the lack of oxygen in my brain.

Then we started on the Aynes Loop—the one with the long climb that just sucks everything out of the legs. Yep, I was in the granny gear cross chaining b/c I knew I would need it for the steep parts. I tend to pedal smaller gears with a faster cadence; especially on the first lap. I didn’t want to burn my legs on the first climb knowing I would have to do the hill again. Near the top was a competitor off her bike gasping for breath. Huh—local knowledge may have come in to play. Did she go too hard too fast? Not pace herself good enough? I didn’t care. I just went by her.

I made it down the other side of the hill and through the straight section by the creek only to catch another one on the hill to the connector. I made it by her and made a mental note to step it up so she couldn’t catch me.

I started the second lap relaxed and ready to do it all again while focusing on my time. On the North Tower Loop, I see the girl in second place, Melanie Rogers. Melanie pounded me last year at Warsaw and in the Iceman, so I’m stoked to be this close to her. I gave chase and seemed to be 20 seconds or so behind her at all times. During this section, my chain came off once and I lost several seconds from chain suck, or something similar—I couldn’t pedal at all. Weird. I got off the bike, shifted, and pedaled by hand. All was well. Again—weird. So, I managed to catch up with her again on the downside of the Aynes Loop. Every time she saw me, she would find a reserve of energy and take off. You know how drivers do in movies when they are neck-in-neck—one of them will shift and find some extra power to inch away? Kind of like that.

I caught her on the last climb. I was breathing down her neck almost touching tires, but I couldn’t muster actually passing her. The new tactic would be to hang on her wheel to the finish and sprint for it. How exciting! She was choosing the best lines in the downhill and not giving up any time. Her speed and my speed were equally matched. Coming out of the woods and into the finish area, I was still on her wheel but clipped a log with my pedal. My foot came out and I couldn’t get it back in. Had my cleat been stripped off? I turned the pedal over, still nothing. We turned into the grassy field coming to the finish line, and I still couldn’t get my #$%^@ foot in the pedal! Needless to say, she pulled away from me and won my 3 seconds. I finished with one foot in. I checked my cleat after the finish—it was still there.

So, the lingering question, “Could I have beat her in the sprint?” Hell yeah, I could have and would have. But the world will never know. Final results: Heather C, first (by 7 minutes); Melanie R, second (by 3 seconds); Angela Breeden, third--$25 richer (2 minutes faster than last year’s time). What a tremendous day!