Archive for the ‘Bike Racing’ Category
To the Missy in all of us
We gathered at Kim’s house at 11:30 as if it were any other road trip. We coordinated what we were wearing, made sure we had snacks stocked, and hit the road. Navigation and witty banter started almost immediately as we settled into a familiar way of life. For all of the familiarity though, there was a cloud hanging over us. This 2-hour drive to a Waco suburb was no regular road trip. There were no bikes, no kits, no bottles filled with mix in coolers. We were dressed in our darkest Sunday best with our jerseys packed in bags to wear at request of the family of Missy to show that the cycling community is large and all of us are vulnerable.
It was difficult for us to stay too serious or sad as we drove to the funeral home because it’s not what Missy would have wanted. We spent a ton of time remembering Missy and even more time creating those types of memories that drew Missy to cycling in the first place. I’ve never left a race without at least one new inside joke spawned from some hilarious series of events you just had to be there to understand. Missy had a million of those. We know because everybody at the service had at least one Missy story. She lived to live.
We also had the opportunity to make a new friend in Katherine who ended up riding with us because Kim saw her at the shop and asked if she knew anybody who needed a ride. Just like that she’s one of us. It only takes a few minutes to totally connect with somebody, which is worth doing because they can be gone again in a second.
“Do you want to go all the way?”
I’m now “one of the girlsâ€. I never got this in high school. I would watch the cliques of girls take endless photos together, throw out constant inside jokes nobody else got, and giggle constantly. I realized today that I have a clique of girls now.
Kim has been planning Kate’s wedding shower for months. Really, this is Kim’s first party at the new house… that she’s lived in almost a year now. This wedding shower will be more extravagant than some people’s weddings. Today I took off work to help Kim with the preparation and to just keep her occupied. The plan was that I would pick up water and Topo Chico at Costco and take to Kim’s before 11:00 so we could pick up the keg together.
The Topo and water must have weighed 300lbs. I moved them into the cart, into my car, and into Kim’s garage. I wanted to take a nap but Kim was running late to get the keg. When we get to the brewery Nick leads us to where the kegs are stored and has Kim drive up a huge concrete ramp into a raised warehouse. The minute we park Kim has me take a photo of her car in this warehouse, I think she’s pretty proud of driving up the ramp. Nick comes out with the keg and has Kim take one side to lift it into the car. They lift it straight up and Nick says “Do you want to go all the way?†Kim looks at me and looks at Nick and replies “Weeeell, what do you mean by that?†Nick responds by rocking the keg up into the car. I laugh and tell Nick “Don’t worry, that’s nowhere near the first time Kim’s been asked that.†I think at that point Nick realized what he had asked and couldn’t stop laughing.
We get our shit together and Kim starts rolling down the ramp. She stops halfway and tells me to get out and take a photo. At this point, we’re about 5-feet off the ground and there’s nowhere to walk next to the car so I have to shimmy along the wall so I can close the door and jump down so I can go take a photo. We celebrated our successful keg getting with fabulous margaritas and everything about the day felt right.
It only takes a millisecond for your brain to quit
Wednesday I spent a whole 10-minutes explaining to my mom that exercise is something like 75% mental. “Your mind gives up before your bodyâ€, “It only takes a millisecond for your brain to quitâ€, etc. I know this is true and I feel it every time I finish a race. I can almost always pinpoint the minute I quit. That doesn’t necessarily mean getting dropped or not putting out power anymore, it’s a thing it your brain that just says “Yeah, I’m pretty content with where I am so I’m not going to burn that matchâ€. After the race though, you almost always know that match was there to be burned.
Last night the plan was good. We knew we didn’t have the numbers but we had a good plan and we knew what to watch for. When Leigh went, I knew it was dangerous. Kate was on the front to chase but I needed to be there too. Julie was out with a flat and Kim was not feeling it. It was just me and Kate. Bombing the downhill somebody got their front wheel tangled in my skewer, derailer or something. I went backwards a ton of spots while I tried to sort out if I had broken spokes or an untrue wheel or something. It was inside of 3-to go and I was about 12-people back with my teammate chasing man-watts; everybody single file. I knew Kim was telling me I had to go help Kate but that’s easier said than done; especially on that course. The championship loop will beat you mentally. You are literally not pedaling for 10% of the course and you’re full gas the other 90%. We were strung out most of the race with nowhere to hide. You have to be willing to take risks and you have to put yourself in the wind to move up on the championship loop. I had 2.5 laps and an unknown number of matches plus the finish to pull off. I used the corners to my advantage and moved up a 2-3 positions each time. *strike*, *burn*, *recover*, repeat. On the last sweeping turn before the up-hill that starts the lead-out I bombed inside and got in front of Kate. There was no pulling or helping and she didn’t need it. She got in front of me, looked back, and went. I grabbed her wheel and suffered. I knew I had suffered like this before and come out with the win so I gritted my teeth and started counting. I screamed to myself those same mantra’s I had just told my mom. I told myself this week there would be no regrets my mind would not win. Coming around the last turn into the chicane, I lost Kate’s wheel. I tried my best to keep pedaling but my legs would not respond. I tried to sprint but had nothing left. Kate held on for 2nd, which is nothing short of amazing.
Looking back, I know I left nothing but I also know I didn’t race the best race I could have. My cadence has been lingering in the too-high zone. My legs ran out of steam because there’s only so long that you can push > LT+25% at 100rpm!! There’s always something to improve and I’m already hungry for my next chance.
Winner, Winner; Chicken Dinner! – Matrix 2015
Well what an odd couple of days it’s been. Sitting here in an empty house, it’s difficult to me to put myself in the emotional state I was in three days ago or even two days ago. The worst is that it always seems like the bad emotions last so much longer than the good. For the most part I consider myself an even-keel emotional person so a swing in either direction is pretty strange. The week definitely had me swinging.
Driveways had gotten really hard. I just wasn’t performing as well as I would like. I was trying to take all the advice Kate had given (and trust me, there was a ton of it) but I still wasn’t finishing well. I was really starting to get down on myself. I knew Matrix was coming up and was hoping for a chance to do really well against ladies who were supposedly my same level. It would be the most telling race before Tulsa and I was nervous.
Since it rained on the Driveway races Thursday, I took my bike to MJs to have it cleaned and readied. Really, I wanted to bring it to Matrix and part of that is a clean bike. While I was picking up my bike I saw Scott; who had broken his wrist in a crash with me on the second night of the Driveway. I was happy to see he was feeling better and went to over to talk to him. We talked pleasantries and recovery for a good 10min or so before most of the folks around us dispersed. Once it was just he and myself he asks me if there’s anybody I can talk to about bike handling. The way he worded it I honestly didn’t even think he meant for me. I’m thinking clinics or whatever for somebody he knows. When it finally hits me I can’t respond with anything more than “You mean other than all my teammates�
Then he starts in about how I can’t handle my bike. How I’ve had issues for a while. I look around too much and can’t hold a straight line. For whatever reason, this killed me. I stood there for a good 5-min listening to his criticisms and trying to give mostly honest feedback without starting an argument. It was all I could do to not start crying right there. I held my chin up, kept my eyes dry, made eye contact and told how much I really appreciated him brining this to me. I walked out and got around the block before tears started to well up in my eyes.
It wasn’t what he said so much as how he said it and the meaning I took from it. You see, all last year we would talk about our races together and never once did he think to bring up what a terrible racer I was. He also made statements like “I know you spend a lot of money on your equipment, you should invest in your skills†like this is some sort of hobby I just afford to do well at, and “You need to be more patient and not try to get in the mix so quickly†while my teammates are telling me I’m letting things gap and not fighting hard enough for wheels. What I took away from the conversation was “You’re a chick and you don’t belong in our raceâ€. I cried on and off for the whole afternoon and night. It was irrational but I could not get over it and was sure it would affect my results at Matrix.
So now skip forward to Matrix. I got to Dallas Saturday night and had dinner with the girls. I wasn’t really nervous but I wasn’t sure I would podium. I tried not to over think it (like I usually do). We went to bed around 10:00 and pretty quickly, I wasn’t feeling well. I waited until I thought the girls were asleep and made an embarrassing trip to the bathroom. The whole night I sort of tossed and turned with a none-to-happy belly but knew I had enough sleep to carry me through the race. I got there early, got a good warm up in and just tried to mentally prepare myself for anything.
The race went by so fast. There were a few moves but nothing big. I helped where it made sense and sat back the rest of the time. I half went for a prime just to test the finish and found the sprint VERY short. I had to be the first person around the corner. Jessica was super strong and was predictably attacking the hill before the second to last hill. She was my gamble for the finish. I was 4th wheel with one lap to go. On the back side I moved up to 3rd wheel then waited for Jessica to go. I was on her when she did and followed her around the second to last corner. Then I jumped and started my sprint. I bombed the corner and kept sprinting. When I crossed the line, there was nobody near me and I was sure I’d messed up and it was only 1-lap to go. I had won! My first big win. My first win in a non-combined field. My first win as a cat-3. It was solid.
Here I go again
It’s already that time of year again. That time of year that I constantly wonder if I’m really going to do this. That time of year when I realize that I’ve just started the season and I’m already exhausted. So far I’ve only done local races; no real time commitment road trips and I’m already over-committed. I spend most of the day dreaming of sleeping only to find that when the time comes, it eludes me.
Now I’m faced with the real start of the crit season. Realistically my next few months look like this: Dallas, Dallas, Houston, Dallas, OK, OK. That’s if I don’t do any of Dairyland. In the middle of that I need to continue kicking ass at a 50Hr a week job, taking care of my house and family, and spending enough time with my husband that he doesn’t entertain leaving me.
So why do I do it? Race once and you’ll know why.
Exhastion
I’m not going to spend any time regaling how I haven’t posted here in forever and I never really have any time for it. It seems trite at this point and probably makes up the better part of half of these posts. Needless to say, I’ve been living life, not writing about it.
So how many weeks of build does it take before you hit a wall of exhaustion? Given my life, it seems like 5 is the magic number. Waking up in the morning is a huge chore and I can’t seem to find energy with small naps stolen during the day. So why do it? Simple, #gains!
My numbers have been great so far. I haven’t tested again but I’m pretty sure my LT is up 5-10 watts. Every week I’m hitting max’s in my mean-max’s. The balance required to keep it going is rest; and I’m not doing my part there.
The first two road races of the year didn’t go well at all. I don’t think it was my fitness so much as not being prepared and not being smart. Once the Driveway started it was all back on! The women’s open race has been crazy hard. 23.8mph the first race, 22.8mph second race, 23.7mph third race. These are crazy fast speeds for such small fields.
The 2nd week I crashed in the M3/4 race; only 500m into the race. Broke my helmet and got a saddle in the back. Still limping two weeks later. Lucky, almost no road rash. This week I’m doing the 3/4 race again and hoping it’s a little more settled. there’ve been crashes every week.
The fast, the slow, and the dirty; Memorial Day weekend (Part 1)
Memorial Day weekend marks the 2-week point to Tulsa and, for me, was a big opportunity to test my legs in an aggressive 2-day race setting. The original plan was to race Bike the Bricks followed by the Age-Based crit championship. With only 5-days away, not many people were signed up for the age-based crit though so I made a last minute change to race the driveway as well. I actually didn’t really care if I raced the Age-based but since I wasn’t going to drive home last Friday it seemed reasonable to do the race anyway. Plus it was a back up for if something went bad at BtB; where crashes are common.
I wasn’t expecting great results because it was a really hard course and I had to work registration for 3-hours prior to my race. I warmed up feeling ok but not great. My goal was to try to get a prime or two and stay on for the finish. The race was fast! They called the first men’s prime quickly. Kirsten and I moved to the front in anticipation for the women’s prime that would likely follow. Instead, they called a back-2-back men’s prime (doh!). We went around again (very quickly) then moved to the front again for what would surely be our prime. Can you smell these matches burning? Well for the first time I ever remember it was back-2-back-2-back primes for the men. By the time our prime, 2-deep, came around we were exhausted. My lane got closed but I saw Kirsten got up the side and get the 2nd of the 2-deep. After that, she was gone. I was nowhere near the second prime. At some point I had to pull Kim back up to the pack as it started to shatter. Turns out it would come back together anyway but with her jersey on the line we couldn’t risk it. When the finish came it was strung out and shattered. I was off the back riding with the shrapnel when I see Suzy come by me. I grabbed her wheel as we flew past Amber and then Chelsea. I tried to sprint past Suzy but my lane closed before I could. She took 2nd and I took 3rd. I good reminder to never give up.
Friday’s BtB race was to start at 7:50; same time as the driveway so I figured my prep would be similar. I took a half day because there was so much to do but didn’t go in until 10:00. I have a really hard time sleeping after the driveway and with the stress of getting ready for BtB, I didn’t get to sleep until 1:30AM; well past my bedtime. The plan was to leave work by 1:30PM after putting in a few hours at work. The drive is 3.5 hours with no traffic. I would be hitting D-town at rush hour on the Friday before Memorial day so I allotted an extra 1.5 hours. The drive ended up taking me almost 6-hours (including rest-stops). I arrived frazzled, had no idea where to park, where reg was, where the bathroom was. I parked far away rather than get stuck down a closed road, rode to registration, back to my car. Got on the trainer for a few min, went to use the restroom, and almost missed my race start as I could not find the staging area. I tried to stay calm and get my HR down and think clearly. The first lap was a $100 prime so was started off fast. I got on McRea’s wheel thinking she would pull me where I needed to be. As we came around the one inside corner a girl in front of me went down, then 2-more. I slammed on my breaks and managed to keep it upright. I did not, however, put a foot down so I ended up chasing. McRea put a foot down. I chased with a few unorganized girls for a lap and a half before dropping off of them. I did two and a half more laps on my own before getting pulled; about 10-min into the race.  There really aren’t any words for how pissed I was.
The age-based race was now my chance to get my second day of hard racing in. We got to James brothers house late and hung out talking for a little bit. This is when I found out I would be sleeping on a cot. Not a huge deal I thought, it was a really nice cot and it was really nice of them to put me up. 30-min after everybody had gone to bed though; I realized I was in trouble. All I had was a sleeping bag so my temperature options were cold or hot. I really just needed a blanket. I tossed and turned; waking up sweaty or shivering and swapping my sleeping bag accordingly. We got to the race in plenty of time but I had no water, no ice, no real preparation at all because I had followed James and Rhe there and didn’t get to stop at a gas station. The race was in an office park so it was all pavement, sun, and wind; ohh the wind! Something like 15mph sustained with gusts. The race was strung out from the start. I kept telling myself I needed to move up so 2-laps in I used one of the long straight-aways to move up, right into a head-wind which turned quickly into a cross wind. Much faster than I moved up I went backwards.  I rode with Rhe and a cat4 for a few laps until my back seized up (most likely the effect of dehydration, long drives, and cot sleeping). I could hardly pedal anymore and, just before we got pulled at 32-min, I dropped to last place.
It was so difficult to not feel completely defeated. The worst is that I then stuck my big foot in my mouth and really upset Rhe. It was an emotional weekend that forced much introspection with Tulsa coming up. I suppose only time will tell how this will go.
Houston Grand Fail
Kate and I drove to Houston for the Houston Grand Crit today. It wasn’t originally on my schedule but most of the team was doing it and Brant thought it would be good before Tulsa. Its 2.5 hours (min) to Houston so this was going to be an all day thing. I got myself packed up in the AM, made a sandwich, and headed out the door. Kate and I did an ok of getting on the road on time but, looking back, I don’t think we allowed enough time for pinning, changing, and warm-up. Whatever, I wasn’t taking this very seriously anyway.
Start line
There was nowhere to warm up so Kate recommended we head away from the race where there might be some roads with light traffic. We ended playing red-light/green-light for LT intervals. The worst was that we quickly realized we were a little turned around and only had 10-min before we needed to line up! We stopped at a bar and got directions from some very nice Houstonites and made it back just in time and with very little in the way of warm-up.
We lined up with a great contingent of ladies. Lauren S., Mandy H. (+ 4 teammates),  and Sammi. There was a tough crosswind for most of the course and a tricky U-turn that was all about positioning. I started out feeling the lack of warm-up. I knew I just had to be smart for 2-laps and I’d be good and warmed up. On the second lap, I took the U-turn poorly and had to sprint HARD to get back on but after that I started to feel better and moved up. I was never right at the front but I was mentally preparing for trying to go for primes and making sure I was in a good position. All of a sudden my gears felt wrong. I tried shifting a few more times but my gear didn’t seem to get any easier. I looked back and saw my chain near the bottom of my cassette. At this point, I put my hand up and hoped I would qualify for a free lap after a quick tweak. I held my cable up and road to the mechanic who informed me my shifter paddle was snapped and my race was done.
After the race, my attitude quickly transitioned to “fuck itâ€. Kate and I rode to the Double Tree to meet up with Kim who had to check out of her room. We joked about how Kim was such a scatter-brain after racing and fucked up it was that my first move after DNF’ing was to call my LBS and demand the manager.
Hey, is Robbie there?
…
Yeah, my bike’s broken.
…
Trust me, just get me Robbie!
…
Robbie, I need this fixed now!
We finally headed back just in time to miss all the free food and the end of the P/1/2 race #fail. We got to the car and found ourselves just as scatter-brained as Kim. Kate couldn’t find her keys. I didn’t even put my bike on the rack. It took us 30-min to get our shit together to roll out of there.
As I was finally making the drive back to my place from Kate’s 12-hours after leaving my house, I thought about how unique my life is. That these moments are so difficult to share with others and that I hoped that these memories would stay with me.
Driveway Spring Classic – 6th
22 of us lined up in the rain yesterday for a 50-min race. It was 60-something degrees when we started, by the time we were done it was 53 and dropping. Most of us had not brought warm enough clothes and being soaking wet just made it worse. Many of us tossed our glasses because couldn’t see anything. Over 24-hours later I’m still picking dirt out of my ears and eyes. I got 6th overall and 2nd in the 3s race.
The race today was actually listed as three races; W4, W3, W3/4 40+, and WP12. In the P12 we had Jenny, Kim, and Rhe against Kath and Jen Mix. In the W3 we had Nadia and me against three Think Cash girls, Chelsea, Karla, Suzi, and a few others. We lined up in rainy, wet, and chilly conditions. We didn’t have a pre-race meeting so I wasn’t totally sure what the plan was. From go, Jenny takes off. OMG Jenny! I wish we had video of how long it took everybody to realize what happened!! Given our numbers and the conditions, this was perfect! Jen worked really hard to catch but couldn’t get anybody to work. This was sort of interesting because, regardless of bib #, only the first 5 across the line got any cash. Kim did an amazing job of making sure Jen didn’t get anywhere without her and, of course, she wasn’t going to help. I could tell even on our warm up lap that the rain and the course were going to favor the Austin women; especially coming through the chicane into the sprint.
The first half of the race saw attacks from Jen but not much else. The second half the three’s were more active. Between Chelsea, Karla, Suzi, and TC there was a lot to watch. Nadia did a great job of staying on things and making sure we were covered. This is where I feel like the race sort of fell apart. Being my first race with a real team and being so familiar with the Driveway I actually ended up being in the way. My mind was more on the cat 3 race than the overall and this was a mistake. Throughout the race there was talk of “our†race and “your†race but really there was just the race for cash (something I didn’t think about until after). Kim spent energy trying to reign in my energy and keep me from doing something stupid (both for the overall and the cat3 race) and missed Jen’s move on the last lap. It came together but Kim had to work hard for position and couldn’t make up all the ground.
Looking back, we should have thrown the categories out and focused only on nabbing as many of the top spots as possible with our top women. This is all that should have mattered because the prizes for the other races sucked (and subsequently, I have some Core Power to share with you ladies).Â
It was really awesome to see Kim, Rhe, and Nadia work together and I know I have to work to be a better teammate. Kim pointed out a few times my position was not good relative to the team and I realized I’m not used to, or good, at thinking this way yet. Rhe also pointed out that I didn’t have a good sense of where my teammates are and this is critical to being a good teammate. This is definitely something I plan on working on.
In the end, Jenny pulled off a stellar 1st place and Kim came in 4th. I pulled out a 6th overall but feel that should have been a 5th. Kim probably would have had a better finish also if she hadn’t been watching out for me.
Overall, I feel great about the race. Don’t take my criticisms of myself to harshly. I came here to learn and I’m happy for the advice. Great job everybody!!
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Tour of New Braunfels – Road Race Report
I could not have done a worse job of predicting how this race would unfold. The race started out with Amanda and I on the front. We rolled easy knowing the course was difficult and we would have plenty of time. The first efforts came on the rise to the first turn. Nobody attacked but the effort definitely increased. Amanda and I took the opportunity to get off the front and scope the competition. I stayed second wheel thinking there would be a separation soon. We made the first turn and the second turn and we were still mostly together. I was up front in the stiff cross wind and knew I would need some protection. I played everything well and was able to convince somebody to protect me whenever I needed it.
I was also able to cover every attack. I did not initiate anything but did try to keep breaks going when I bridged. I was very active in this way. I tried to convince others to do the same but the group seemed intent on staying together. At about 4 miles to go, we were neutralized. Nobody was allowed to progress during this time. The pace slowed and we waited for word from the officials that our race was back on. I was second wheel during this time. The race was commenced with about 2 miles to go. Everybody had caught up and recovered by then so it was really just a 2-mile effort. I knew that the strongest girl was going to attack and I planned to be on it. I had completely misunderstood when she was going to attack so when she did, I thought we were closer to the finish than we are. She slowed, and I kept going thinking this was it. I was on my own when we turned the corner and I realized we still had a few hundred meters. My plan disintegrated and, instead of trying to say on the first wheel that passed, I went backwards. I just freaked out and didn’t know what to do. The next thing I knew we were sprinting. The timing on my part could not have been worse. The girl I followed won and I came in 14th. 14th in a race where I was never more than 4-wheels back. Where we had it so strung out before neutralization that there was no way I was going to get any worse than 7th!!
I’m furious at myself for not fighting harder. I gave up and it lost me the race. You can’t win and not risk anything. The minute I realized my mistake, I should have backed off slightly, lowered my cadence and gotten ready for a big dig whenever somebody came around me. It’s so easy to rationalize that now the problem is that I can’t make those decisions when it counts.