The season ends..

Though I would expect to be sad, really I’m not. I find myself looking forward to next season already. Not only what I hope to do in the racing arena but also within the series itself, with our teams race and maybe help out on the MASS front as well.

The season came to a close.. only two of us raced in my class.
Liz decided to be our cheering section verses our competitor… we’ll have to work on that in the off season. So second place in the race at Bear Creek…



And the series…

The weekend came to close with a quick tour of Hersey with the folks and their departure back to Florida. Hopefully with a weekend they enjoyed as they were thrown into our world.

Now we're off for an unexpected visit to the vet as our middle boy has been hobling around on three legs.. broken toe? splinter? We shall see..

Cross began...

First weekend of cross races, both Saturday and Sunday at Bear Creek, and I enjoyed being a spectator. I’ll do one at some point but this weekend was not the time for me. Even though my lap on Saturday before the racing began was a blast, just nice muddy fun. It was great seeing so many familiar faces this weekend and hanging out to watch everyone including hubby do their cross thing.

Sunday morning brought a great mtb ride at Bear Creek before assuming the spectator role again. Though with a few miles to go on the lap my bike began dragging… Not me getting tired, but my rear wheel not wanting to turn. Thankfully most of the last couple laps were downhill. Turns out one of the many rocks hit and bent the rear rotor… guess it’ll need a little tlc before next weekend…

7 Springs 24hr

I know.. a little delayed in this post

Last weekend was the 24hour at 7 Springs that I did on a 5 person team. There were 2 other Guy's teams, another 5 person and a 4 person. We arrived Friday night and spent the evening race prepping. Race prep- talking about racing, drinking, eating.. and drinking some more. Good way to kick off the weekend!

Between our drinks we all went out for a little pre-ride of the course. I went out with another girl on my team and after less than a mile we discovered she had zero brakes. And by discovered I mean I turned around at the end of a decent at a switchback and watched her fly like superwoman into the woods. A good 5 feet but she was okay. Needless to say our pre-ride was over. So I had no clue what the course might be bringing me the following day. And it had an impact.

I was the 5th rider in our team and my first lap was a mess. I was riding like a complete rookie and looking stupid (yes, more than normal). The first 6 miles have a fair amount of rocks, my usual love, but today I was bouncing around in ways never before. Finally after being fed up with this I pulled over just after the mile 6 mark knowing it was a 12 mile lap. My tires were sooo over inflated.. beyond a road bike tire. So I let out air... and probably too much in my frustration. Then I make the next turn and to my surprise it's where the climbing begins! Would have been nice to have the tire pressure now... but it was all gone. I just suck it up not knowing how much climbing might be in front of me. And there was lots! I finally approach the camping area, what was mentioned to me was basically the end of the lap. Ha! There's still over 3 miles. Some fun sections I'd realize later but at this point I'm just pissed. I let the ride get the best of me. By the time I'm going through the last rock gardens my tires are popping out any air left. And no, I didn't stop to fill them. It just seemed to make more since to me to keep riding. I thought I was almost done. On the last climb a teammate on the fast 5 person team passes me and kindly lets me know my tires are really flat. I just acknowledged with a yea and kept pedaling. Finally the lap was over and I was in a very foul mood. I spent a good 30 minutes just NOT talking to anyone and shooing anyone away from me. Finally one of my teammates got me out of my funk and back in the spirit of things. I guess that's some of what teammates are for and it really helped.

After a little nutrition and relaxation it's time for my second lap, going out around 2am. I love riding at night with lights. It's just a different experience and gives me extra energy. I was having a blast this lap and thought I might pull a lap with a great time. But my cockiness came out in the last rock gardens and I hit some rocks way wrong with some good speed. No biggy as I send my bike flying through the air, I managed a run off and didn't hit the ground. Once I get my bike back I realize the front tire is flat.. throw on the CO2 and I'm off. Right after this is a quick little roller coaster that you usually don't have to pedal out of. But not carrying any speed into it I had to. That's when I discover my left foot isn't clipped in and I'm falling backwards. I grab a "tree" to my right hoping to stop but since this "tree" was only a small branch I tumble to the bottom with my bike falling on top of me. My handlebar hit my wrist so hard I thought it was broken and some part of my bike knocked my light off my helmet. Now I'm just rustling around trying to get my light and me back in order. Thankfully the wrist impact was actually 2 inches behind my wrist so it's only sore. I'm still having a blast though and finish my lap with a smile, not a great time but just glad I'm smiling again.

I made a mistake here though and just showered and slept. Forgot the post-ride nutrition part. I felt it on my last lap but since we were getting closer to the noon cut-off I figured I'd be the last rider of our team and just kept it easy and safe. Came in a little before 12:30 and the 24hrs were done.

Then came the post ride drinks and the awards ceremony. Our other two teams finished in the top. Hubby's 5 person team kicked butt all night and came in first while our 4 person team came in 3rd. I'm not sure where my 5 person came in, if my laps would have been faster maybe we'd be closer to the top. I don't think we were last but the results will have to show us for certain. My teammates were awesome in their support of "not caring" about the results.

Certainly an event I'd do again and I'm now up for a 24hr anytime. There wasn't as much socializing after Friday night as I thought might be but more in/out rider prep/rest time. It still made for a great weekend. One with highs and lows but I'll keep all the highs in my memories.

There's a few pic's of the weekend... but you'll have to visit hubby's post for those!

Half Century with the Dentist

And nope, I didn’t need any teeth work. Today was the Lake Nockamixon Century, or in my case, a half century. Our Dentist, who’s also a fellow rider and friend, was game for meeting up with me to do the Nockamixon ride. Friday night, after a few drinks, my optimistic side stated I’d do the full century. My Sunday morning realistic side acknowledged that I probably shouldn’t attempt to jump up from 20-25 mile rides to a 100 mile ride unless I really wanted the consequences come Monday morning. Which I really didn’t, I do have to function a little on Monday.

So it was decided to take it easy, have fun and just ride until we didn’t feel like riding anymore. The weather was beautiful and though all the roads were mostly my familiar riding roads, it was different than most just being an event, riding with the Dentist and a having a fair amount of people showing. The morning began with hubby and I going down there to meet all the Guy’s riders that hubby would ride with. Not my pace so it wasn’t even a brief thought to join them. The Dentist and I headed out first and the Guy’s were soon to follow. It was awesome watching them all fly by and in a pretty good size train of green. Not quite a blur thankfully, at least slow enough to exchange the quickly passing hello’s!

The weekend excluded any mountain bike time and I honestly missed being on the trails but it was good to just get some miles in. Unfortunately I started having numbness in my feet after about 25 miles which continued to the end and didn’t make me too happy. I wasn’t too surprised to have my nail-less toe be a little aggravated either. It was a ride that I wasn’t physically fatigued after though my legs are a little sore. Overall a good 53 mile day on the bike, enjoying socializing and spinning.

Plus the post ride conversation’s bring more excitement into next year already!!

But before I get too excited about next year, first is my excitement for next weekend. Seven Springs 24hr is calling my name. Besides looking forward to hanging out with everyone and having a weekend full of mountain bike time, it’ll be my first time riding there, first time doing an enduro on a team and first time at a 24hr event. I can’t wait!

34 days...

And my toe nail is gone. Still looks ugly as anything but now it's kinda creepy looking too!

Easy recovery ride in beautiful weather. Lot's of other roadie's out and about as well. Kayak's on roof tops everywhere. Still felt sore.. fatigued..

Post ride shower, went downstairs to bs with bikewrench and hubby. Mid sentence I realize my toe nail is perpendicular to my foot! Ewwwww!! Hubby thankfully took the "honor" to remove.

Poor bikewrench. He's had to witness this twice in two weeks with another fellow friend, rockstar, having the same occur. But her nail had hung on for 6 months!

Glad it happened after the Enduro.. it just seems wrong to have no nail there!!!

Change of plans...

Had a change of plans yesterday morning and decided that instead of doing 3 laps for the Iron Hill Sport Race, why not do the Enduro! It’s only four hours. Besides the Sport race wasn’t until 2:00 in the afternoon and the Enduro started at 9:00am. Not to mention that there was four of us in the short bus going down and the other three were already definites for the Enduro.

It was a great day of riding. Weather was perfect and the trails were in great shape for this fun, fast, twisty short course. I managed to put in 5 laps and finish 9th out of 10. Oh, I had no expectations of “placing” well but only to have fun and get some good riding in. Achieved and my body is fatigued today to show it.

My first lap was basically a jumble with all the beginner racers starting just behind us. Not to mention one stop to fix some trail markings that had been torn down, one stop to help a Jr. that crashed pretty hard and my third stop to fix my re-occuring chain suck issue requiring me to pull my chain out from between the cogs, it gets stuck in there pretty darn good! But, that’s the nice thing about an “enduro”, for me anyway it just becomes about riding and having fun, not pushing race pace. My second lap was a cool social lap just riding with Lisa while she finished the second and final lap of her race. Thankfully we were just social enough so that she didn’t lose second place in her race, but I think we caused it to be a little too close for comfort for her afterwards! My third lap was solo for the first half and I was just enjoying the trails. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the freight train of elite/expert racers would be on my tail. Once they caught my goal was just to make sure I’d be out of the way which I’m pretty sure I managed. There were many spots I’d be pulled over and just watching the finesse by which many of these racers ride. So much different than the beginner racers in the laps before, for the most part anyway. My fourth lap still had some elite/experts passing but I found myself zoning out a lot during this lap. Just going through the motion. But my fifth lap was solo with elite/expert complete and only a few other Enduro’s out there. I got my groove going again and even though I was tired, I was loving the trail and having a blast. Then I was done, and yea, my body was too!

Overall yesterday was just another great event where I got to enjoy seeing everyone again, a great day of riding, socializing and having fun.

And with that, I’m off for a little recovery ride. It looks like another beautiful day out there!

Been a while...

I just haven’t got around to an update. Sometimes I wonder why I’d update, why I blog, what do I have to say to everyone or anyone. I enjoy reading what everyone else writes. It feels as though I should, I feel like I want to. But honestly, sometimes I just wonder who is reading everyone’s blogs. It’s always surprising to find out who has ventured to your page and you know there are always those that you’ll never know that ventured to your page. Isn’t that what this is all about though? But really, I think my lack of update results from just that, my mind being all over the place recently without the ability to put it into a steady thought. This really covers many avenues of my life but intentionally I tend to keep this blog to the riding related aspects of me. Good bad or otherwise, this is just my place to talk, vent or cheer on the riding front. Mostly anyway.

So on that… One of my mental battle’s in the last couple weeks.. I’ve continued to be disappointed with my riding. Where I’m at verses where I believe I could be. Yea, old news… I started this blog by listing my riding goals for this season and technically I didn’t active any of them. About two weeks ago I set a strong plan in place and mentally set the stones in place for what was needed for me to improve. I felt determined. I know what I personally need to do but my biggest struggle is actually making it happen. I lasted a week on my plan. One week. One simple aspect of my plan was just trying to force riding or running into the evenings. I’ve failed. I managed two evenings of activity during my one week “on track”. But even then my plan was three nights and I fell a little short. Sure I ride every weekend, but never enough. I’ve even played with my nutrition even though most times that isn’t what causes my biggest weakness. But funny enough, I think trying to focus on “better” nutrition caused the opposite to happen. I went downhill after week one. Guess that goes along with my downhill love.. but that’s just supposed to be biking! Ha Ha Ha.

On the riding front… Last weekend went down to Iron Hill for a little riding of the race course. For me the purpose wasn’t as much to get to know the course but just have a great day of riding. Achived, mostly. Meet up with some other Guy’s and ran into many familiar faces. Iron Hill is a fun course and was in great shape, I was having a blast. Oddly though, I really fell off after 1 ½ laps and these weren’t pushing myself laps by any stretch. There were many stops. My body kinda quit, not like a bonk but just a suddenly lethargic feeling. I was lightheaded and my legs wouldn’t keep going so for “safety sake” I called it quits shortly after.

So how do I feel about racing Iron Hill tomorrow with 3 laps necessary.. Well. Very very uncertain. I’m hoping last week was just a fluke. But I know it contributed to me falling off my plan. If I can’t ride because of something I’m doing, trust me, I won’t keep doing it.

With racing occurring again, an update will surely follow….