Deja vu. Today must be the 5th since Denver thought last night was the 4th of July (again, so soon?)...at 10:30, long after I had begun my slumber. Guess I shouldn't complain. In my sleepy confusion, I thought the city was being attacked by aliens.
To highlight my tiredness this morning, I squeezed sunscreen on my toothbrush.
TGIF, all!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Pseudo-Mead World Championships
Last night was another attempt at racing with the big boys (cat 1-3 men). The first time I did this race, I hung in the pack for the full hour and finished pretty well. Yesterday brought a whole new level of racing that redefined "fast." Leave it to a full squad from Australia, a couple of Slipstream-Chipolte guys and Vitamin Cottage to push the pace almost from the gun. Training races have very relaxed rules about getting dropped...your race isn't over, just jump back in. So I kept jumping back in with the break (oh, ouch) and then drifted back to the chase group and got spat out over and over again. It was a Nature Valley flashback, but it was much better having my butt kicked by guys, who are supposed to be stronger.
A sentimental moment
I just sold my first road bike, a steel yellow Serotta Fierte (pic coming). It was such a good bike, it is what helped me fall in love with being on the road, it helped me fall in love with racing.
Fortunately, its new owner is a brand new roadie (well, she will be a roadie once she gets the bike on the road). She is so excited to ride and I know this bike will introduce her to the joys of long days cruising roads that would never be seen, if not on a road bike. She will meet people she wouldn't have met otherwise and discover that going fast in fresh air brings about clarity, freedom and purpose.
Goodbye, dear bike, I wish you many, many more miles of memories.
Fortunately, its new owner is a brand new roadie (well, she will be a roadie once she gets the bike on the road). She is so excited to ride and I know this bike will introduce her to the joys of long days cruising roads that would never be seen, if not on a road bike. She will meet people she wouldn't have met otherwise and discover that going fast in fresh air brings about clarity, freedom and purpose.
Goodbye, dear bike, I wish you many, many more miles of memories.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Long Time No Blog
Well, here we are, in the middle of a *hot* Colorado summer. Blogging has taken a back seat to being out and about. A quick update: Last week started with a crit in Pueblo.
It was hot, hot, hot. Sarah Uhl (world-class sprinter) showed up and took all of the primes. Was it totally necessary to sprint for the coaching-for-2-month prime? For all I know, she gave it away to a local after the race. It was a good course, but not too many racers showed up. We had some local spectators, but I can't say it was all that desired. The comments and attention from the men watching to the women racers would make anyone pretty uncomfortable.
There was a break and I was in the wrong position for it...so I was left chasing like a mad woman for the rest of the race. Leigh (my teammate) has a sprint & I thought it would be fun to try a leadout. With half a lap to go, I gunned it with all I had and she took off my wheel to win the field sprint. I forgot that I still needed to cross the line...and spent the rest of my energy yelling to Leigh to go faster since a girl was gaining on her. That was definitely the highlight of the day and a good way to reintroduce racing and intensity to my legs that hadn't pedaled more than an hour during the entire previous week since Nature Valley.
It was hot, hot, hot. Sarah Uhl (world-class sprinter) showed up and took all of the primes. Was it totally necessary to sprint for the coaching-for-2-month prime? For all I know, she gave it away to a local after the race. It was a good course, but not too many racers showed up. We had some local spectators, but I can't say it was all that desired. The comments and attention from the men watching to the women racers would make anyone pretty uncomfortable.There was a break and I was in the wrong position for it...so I was left chasing like a mad woman for the rest of the race. Leigh (my teammate) has a sprint & I thought it would be fun to try a leadout. With half a lap to go, I gunned it with all I had and she took off my wheel to win the field sprint. I forgot that I still needed to cross the line...and spent the rest of my energy yelling to Leigh to go faster since a girl was gaining on her. That was definitely the highlight of the day and a good way to reintroduce racing and intensity to my legs that hadn't pedaled more than an hour during the entire previous week since Nature Valley.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Fireworks & Fun
Finally, I got to see track racing for the first time ever! Yesterday was a fun trip to Colorado Springs (then hanging out waiting for racing to start since it was raining/hailing upon our getting to town)...but that was after a 5 1/2 hr ride in the morning, so there was no guilt at eating a good dinner, ice cream and cheering. Track racers make every other type of racing look super slow.
I took pictures, but everyone was going much too quickly. Fun watching you race, Cari!!!
I took pictures, but everyone was going much too quickly. Fun watching you race, Cari!!!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Still Recovering, Happy Bike to Work Day
Hanging out not doing much of anything, recovery is challenging. It's easier to be constantly on the go and get little sleep than it is to be disciplined and get to bed early.
Pretty good video coverage of each day of Nature Valley is available. You won't see me up close, but it's a decent view of the courses and players at the front of each stage.
I walked to work today and rode home. Unfortunately, it was Bike TO Work Day, not Bike Home day. No treats were being handed out to those of us who didn't have wheels for the morning commute.
Pretty good video coverage of each day of Nature Valley is available. You won't see me up close, but it's a decent view of the courses and players at the front of each stage.
I walked to work today and rode home. Unfortunately, it was Bike TO Work Day, not Bike Home day. No treats were being handed out to those of us who didn't have wheels for the morning commute.
A true Wall
Here's the hill that we had to do repeatedly on the last day of Nature Valley...thanks to this blog for the pic. I've been trying to find one that properly expresses what a hill that gets as steep as 24% looks like.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
NV Pics
Team pic taken during our pre-race ride of the TT course. 
Italian dinner family-style in the motel room. Missing from photo: Ryan, Dana, Gina.
Nicky's award-winning sprint against Laura van Gilder.
Nicky on the podium for her 2nd place finish at Friday's crit in Minneapolis. Next to her is Laura van Gilder and Brooke Miller.
Survived Nature Valley
I didn't expect a race without a super long climb in it to be so challenging. The power hills and simply length of the race made for very intense racing. It was a great race, Minnesota was welcoming (shockingly mild weather as compared with previous years) and the team couldn't have been better. I'm very, very happy to have the experience and even though I'm so tired I can hardly move right now, I feel better having done it.
http://team.bikehugger.com has been updated with details from each stage.
There's so much to be learned and gained from this kind of experience. It also keeps your ego in check. Being threatened with a time cut each day is scary, but then again, it adds to the drama.
Huge thanks to Team Group Health for paying for the team to go to Nature Valley. This is a very expensive race to go to and it was so nice to have a bed every night (we stayed in the race hotel, the Holiday Inn...at the center of everything).
As compared with Redlands--it was much faster, more furious, there were more crashes and it was, by far, the harder of the two races.
What did I learn from this race? Every day I had personal victories (aside from the not-so-great results) and learned a ton...
Day 1 Success: Leading the kiddie race with my teammates and getting a kiddie medal.
Learned: Positioning is key and if you don't have the right position to start, take every opportunity to move up before the pack splits (they did callups for at least 30 people making the rest of us not called up start really far back). Time cuts are soooo scary.
Day 2 Success: Figuring out how to position in a road race. I entered the small dirt road next to Kristen Armstrong. Success part B: Not taking her out when we turned onto that little dirt road.
Learned (or yet to learn): How to ride on dirt and wet-ish pavement. I was so freaked out, I slowed waaaay down, basically making me lose the leaders. Grrrrr.
Day 3 Success: Being able to hold back and ride slowly in the TT. It was hard to hold back when slow girls were passing me, but I needed to save my legs.
Learned: How to race a time trial, by watching Kristen Armstrong (the world TT champ). It was obvious she was going to win based on the lack of her upper body movement and very straight line that she took.
Day 4 Success: Playing in the front with the big girls. Chasing down attacks and covering most of the moves up there...Dropping back to the team car to pick up bottles. This had totally freaked me out before (at Redlands), but I did it twice during this stage.
Learned: I need a new seat. This comes as no surprise to anyone who has seen my seat (it's all ripped up from extended periods of trainer sessions)...but using another seat saved that race since the old was was so uncomfortable. Learned #2: How to motorpace. Never done it before, but I can see why it's valuable for training.
Day 5 Success: Making the time cut and not being "DNF'd" from the race. Not a huge accomplishment, but with 118 starters, it was nice to be among the ~84 who finished.
Day 5 Learned: Need to do lots of hill repeats up brutal climbs so it's not so shocking to see such a grade in a race.
And, after doing Redlands and Nature Valley, I just cannot fathom doing any stage race without a solid team, without a super supportive manager, an A+ mechanic and totally self-less soigneur.
I'll be racing locally for the rest of the season and focusing on each weekend. But, for now, I'm resting, sleeping, working, eating...my bike will stay packed for a few more days.
http://team.bikehugger.com has been updated with details from each stage.
There's so much to be learned and gained from this kind of experience. It also keeps your ego in check. Being threatened with a time cut each day is scary, but then again, it adds to the drama.
Huge thanks to Team Group Health for paying for the team to go to Nature Valley. This is a very expensive race to go to and it was so nice to have a bed every night (we stayed in the race hotel, the Holiday Inn...at the center of everything).
As compared with Redlands--it was much faster, more furious, there were more crashes and it was, by far, the harder of the two races.
What did I learn from this race? Every day I had personal victories (aside from the not-so-great results) and learned a ton...
Day 1 Success: Leading the kiddie race with my teammates and getting a kiddie medal.
Learned: Positioning is key and if you don't have the right position to start, take every opportunity to move up before the pack splits (they did callups for at least 30 people making the rest of us not called up start really far back). Time cuts are soooo scary.
Day 2 Success: Figuring out how to position in a road race. I entered the small dirt road next to Kristen Armstrong. Success part B: Not taking her out when we turned onto that little dirt road.
Learned (or yet to learn): How to ride on dirt and wet-ish pavement. I was so freaked out, I slowed waaaay down, basically making me lose the leaders. Grrrrr.
Day 3 Success: Being able to hold back and ride slowly in the TT. It was hard to hold back when slow girls were passing me, but I needed to save my legs.
Learned: How to race a time trial, by watching Kristen Armstrong (the world TT champ). It was obvious she was going to win based on the lack of her upper body movement and very straight line that she took.
Day 4 Success: Playing in the front with the big girls. Chasing down attacks and covering most of the moves up there...Dropping back to the team car to pick up bottles. This had totally freaked me out before (at Redlands), but I did it twice during this stage.
Learned: I need a new seat. This comes as no surprise to anyone who has seen my seat (it's all ripped up from extended periods of trainer sessions)...but using another seat saved that race since the old was was so uncomfortable. Learned #2: How to motorpace. Never done it before, but I can see why it's valuable for training.
Day 5 Success: Making the time cut and not being "DNF'd" from the race. Not a huge accomplishment, but with 118 starters, it was nice to be among the ~84 who finished.
Day 5 Learned: Need to do lots of hill repeats up brutal climbs so it's not so shocking to see such a grade in a race.
And, after doing Redlands and Nature Valley, I just cannot fathom doing any stage race without a solid team, without a super supportive manager, an A+ mechanic and totally self-less soigneur.
I'll be racing locally for the rest of the season and focusing on each weekend. But, for now, I'm resting, sleeping, working, eating...my bike will stay packed for a few more days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)