Hurts So Good

Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

After a very relaxing and fun Thanksgiving break, filled with good food, good company, black Friday shenanigans and movies, I found myself at MABRA Championships in Taneytown, MD on Sunday morning.

With a few, but productive hours of sleep I headed out to Maryland, a bit weary of any Thanksgiving traffic that might be. There wasn't any, and so I arrived with plenty of time to register and huddle for warmth in my car, before preparing to layer up and pre-ride. I shouldn't complain about the cold, since our season thus far has been fairly warm, but I will anyway. It was COLD. I decided I would race in knickers layered underneath my skin suit, with arm warmers. For my warm up though, I slid tights on over and another layer on top.

Just as I was to ride off to pre-ride, I saw Nicole, headed over to registration. I told her I'd catch up with her on the course.

Last year, this course was nothing but mud, so we were fortunate to have a not-so-sloppy course this year. As fun as mud is, it can be treacherous. The course had been modified a bit, but was still full of sharp corners and some tricky off-cambor. The course was fun AND tricky. This, I quickly learned as I approached a patch of dried mud. I took it much too fast and didn't notice the rolling nature of the earth. My bike hit a rut at a weird angle and I went head over handlebars. I landed HARD on my right side: quad, hip and shoulder (the same shoulder I separated last year). My bike landed on top of me, right foot still clipped in. I took a brief inventory of my body and though I knew there would be a huge bruise branded on me, I was fine. But Surly was not.

Her handlebar had bent, thus making the front brake inoperable. I quickly ushered ourselves off the course and back to my car. Fortunately, I had enough time to inspect and repair her, with help from the guy parked beside me. Though I had the front brake working, my front wheel wasn't moving. I fixed it enough so that although the brakes we rubbing, I could still ride. I did another lap of the course just so I could make it all the way around. I returned to the car and poked and prodded more with my front break. With help from Nicole and the same guy, we got it so that the brake wasn't rubbing. My bike probably wasn't the safest to ride, but I didn't care.

Off to the start line where Nicole and I, along with the other woman, chatted, stripped down to our base layers, ready to line up. I knew that it could be a fast course, but that I have to ride it smart, or I'd risk crashing. Oddly, most of the women had also indicated that they had crashed during warm up but on a completely different part of the course--a part that I had no problems battling.

With a blow of the whistle and two minutes behind the CAT 4 men, we were off. It wasn't an incredibly fast start, so I held with the pack for much of the first half of the lap. We were all being cautious. Nicole passed me as we rode the wheel of the gal in front of us. She passed her as well, which left me to trail the gal in front for the rest of that lap and the next one. I then passed her, and tried to gain on the HVC rider in front. She was the same girl that I battled with at Race Pace. She was a bit more spry this week, so I let her go. I had the girl behind to worry about. She wasn't that far behind so I needed not to get lazy or tired.

I was still leading her on the third lap, when I slid on a steep off-cambor section. I got distracted for a nano-second and found myself lose traction and just slid. I was able to quickly get up and run with my bike a little before remounting. I put a little extra momentum for fear that she'd catch me. As I made my way through the slalom of trees, barriers and sand, I was enough ahead of her, that with 2 laps to go, I focused on me.

From my fall on the pre-ride, I felt my hip muscles tighten uncomfortable, so I worked on keeping them loose and relaxed so they wouldn't spasm. I also worked on keeping a steady and high candence. With two laps to go I felt very strong and felt like I was mastering the course better and better. I lapped another gal on the course, as well. My last lap was the best, as I was able to hold off the women's race leader from catching me, although I didn't know she was chasing me at the time. I crossed the finish line moments before she did. Though I finished 10th overall and didn't get lapped, I wasn't able to bust into the top ten in the overall rankings. I did move up from 13th though to finish 12th.

I am very happy with my MABRA season. I had more fun this season than I've had in a long time, which I am learning helps me become a better racer!

This morning, as I write this, I am heavily bruised and sore. All seems to be working, though so I should be fine by tomorrow. See you all next week at Captiol Cross in Reston!

Life at the Middle of the Pack

Today was great! Which was good because there were so many reasons for it go poorly.

I was on duty at school this weekend, which means midnight curfews for the girls, which means midnight bedtime for me. When there's a 9 am race an hour or so north the next morning, going to bed late isn't always the best.

I woke up and was on the road by 630. I actually had to scrape frost off my windshields and hoped that racing weather wouldn't be too chilly, as I hadn't really packed accordingly. Sure I had arm warmers, but no knee or leg warmers; in addition, my skin suit was pulled from the dryer on my way out of my apartment the night before without having the chance to dry completely.

When I arrived at the race, I felt tired. and hungry. and cold. I registered and saw my teammate Nicole in the parking lot. She waited for me to change and I tried to maintain composure as I donned my cold, damp skinsuit. I layered up as best I could: sports bra, undershirt, arm warmers and another layer to warm up in. I was certainly the only one pre-riding without knee or leg warmers, but I felt fine.

The course had changed from last year, which if you remember was when I crashed and separatd my shoulder. Driving up to Freedom Park, I swear my shoulder was having sympathy pains. The course was short and full of technical sections, that with the melting frost, made for wet, slippery conditions. Everything was definitely rideable, but just tricky.

I felt good on the warm up lap with Nicole and we pointed out ideas on how best to maneuver through sections. There were a lot of speedy downhills that led to not-so-speedy uphills, so I tried to perfect my shifting before I approached the downhill so I'd be in the right gear to help me climb best.

At the start of the race, there was a gaggle of gals, some who I'd seen and knew how good they were and some I'd not seen before and had no clue. I stayed with Nicole who followed the pack as we left the line. The course was fast and two packs formed: the lead pack and the pack I was in, with Nicole and me battling back and forth and a few other riders behind us. My legs felt really good, no doubt they benefited from a 2 hour bike ride the day before. My body and mind felt really good as well. I was alert and feeling competitive, but not anxious.

Nicole and I led each other around on a lap or two, on our third lap she pulled ahead of me and I chased her. At 3 laps into it, there was still not a lap count, which made me a little nervous; sure, I felt good, but for how long? I decided not to worry about that and just stayed focused on the current lap.

On the fourth lap, a Hunt Valley Cycling gal and I began to battle. I am not sure if I caught her or she caught me at first, but we battled. I stayed on her wheel very closely for much of the fourth lap. On the fifth lap or so, I pulled ahead and led her around. On the final lap, I was leading but a few technicalities kept me from beating her. There was this great section of pavement right after a tricky off-cambor part. The pavement was long enough that I could put into a hard gear, get into my drops and put the hammer down to make up time. However, on the last lap, I couldn't clip in successfully and she passed me. I caught her, luckily and thought it was mine, except as we both bunny hopped over the final log, I got caught up in the snow fencing and had to untangle myself, while she pedaled to the finish.

Despite her success over me, this was by far the most fun I've had racing all season. I felt strong and focused and I fought. I was competitive without being anxious, which usually forces me to question myself. I don't know the official results yet, but I am hopeful that I broke into the top 10. I was able to lap a few of the riders, too, even though I ultimately was lapped by the leader. It's fun to chart my progress over the years and life feels good at the middle of the pack.

This was the last MABRA race before MABRA championships on Sunday, November 25 in Taneytown, MD. I'm currently 19th out of 40 women, so today's points will bump me up a little, I hope. :) (Update: Going into Championships, I am 13th on out of 45)

Tacchino Cross Turkey

A nice morning drive on Rt 7 east at 6 am was very welcome. An extra hour of sleep was nice too!

I made my way to Leesburg for today's race. I missed yesterday's since it would have forced me out of bed at 5am to get to Fairhill, MD for a 9 am race. What is it with these early races. They just keep getting earlier and earlier. Which I guess is nice considering MABRA gave Women 3/4 our own race today. No C men to maneuver around.

The course was similar to last year's except there was a prologue. A very grassy course, I added more air to my front tire after my ride through of the course. I love grassy courses--I think they are an advantage for my strong, sexy legs, but this grassy course had parts that would suck the soul from your legs, leaving you gasping. And it wasn't just me.

On the line, I shut down the new girl in town. There's a very nice newbie who has done many of the races this season. This race was going to be her 3rd or 4th. Each time on the line she talks incessantly about how challenging the course is, how slow she is, blah blah blah. This would be fine, except that the minute the whistle blows she is a ruthless mother fucker and wins or comes in top 3. Yeah, you suck!

So today she spotted me and was about to tell me how awful the course was, and I just said "I'm not going to listen to you anymore." She thought I was joking, but whatever. Today she battled for 3rd. Ugh.

Anyway, my race was ragged. Despite two good rides through on the course, my legs didn't feel warmed up, but I was happy to hear the whistle. I kept with the lead group for a lap or so and managed to keep with two women in front of me for a ways. A girl behind me caught me and I chased her for awhile. There was a gal in yellow who was on me the entire time. At one point, I let her overtake me but she declined. She said I was too good on the technical parts that she worried she'd get in my way.

Whoa?! Say what? Me? a technical goddess?! Who? Where? My ego had been sufficiently boosted and I stayed in front of her the rest of the race. :)

The course was tiresome. And after 2 laps, we still had 4 more to go. GROAN! However, the more I rode, trying to keep yellow girl a safe distance behind me, my legs felt stronger and stronger. On the bell lap of the leaders, I dreaded the thought of having to do another lap, until 3/4 of a lap down, I felt the breath of the leaders behind me (okay, so I heard the announcer...). I glady let them pass me so that I could end this misery that I love so much.

I finished mid pack, I believe. Confirmed: I finished 11 out of 17. Same as last week. The top ten is so close I can taste it!

DCCX: Cross in the District

Until last weekend, the only cross in the District was in National Cathedral. DCCX made its debut on Sunday, October 28 on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home. The venue that proved to be amazing.

Since it was also the Marine Corps Marathon that morning and I was driving in from Old Town, I was paranoid about closed streets, so I arrived early to ensure that I had plenty of time to get lost or turned around. But like a pro, I arrived without any issues.

Registration didn't open until about an hour after I arrived, so I prerode the course numerous times. Boy was it fun! Lots of great off cambor sections and great tracks. It was a long course--nearly 2 miles long! There were about 18 cat 3/4 women registered. I can't believe that is was only 3 or 4 years ago when a Women B race would only get 5 or 6 racers. It's very fun to see it grow.

Even better was that I had two bellas to race with. Nicole Shue and Kim Wendell, both new to the cross circuit, but dominant forces in mtb and triathlons. They definitely proved through mettle, for all of us took off like mad cats at the start. I was confidently in a pack for a bit and had a bella in front of me and behind me, until Kim pulled ahead of me. But we managed to stay together, while we bounced another racer between us and then finally behind us! I could hear Nicole cheering for us the entire way.

However the highlight of the race had to have been when from out of nowhere on the back stretch, I hear a voice from the streets call out my name. I had purposely not advertised my racing because I didn't want to force people to deal with Marathon traffic, so imagine my surprise when I look up and see my best friend Gretchen on Scooty, stopped at the intersection. She is the type of girl to stop for a bike race, but the odds of her spotting me like she did is crazy. She cheered me on and then followed me on her scooter, honking the entire time. It was so much fun, I only wishI hadn't been in the middle of the race so I could have stopped and talked!

Anyway, the Bellas finished strong 9, 10, 11 respectively our of 18 women. Interestingly, I hung around to see the results. So when they called the women's podium together, I meandered over to the registration tent to take a peek. I then heard Nicole's name announced for the podium. How cool! She must of pulled ahead or others may have had mechanicals! Then I heard my name called--for 2nd place! That's so not true, but I went anyway. Soon enough the realized their errors, but for awhile it was nice to stand high in 2nd place.

Iron Cross My Heart

Despite the 2 hour drive each way, I enjoy my trek to Michaux State Forest each year. The foliage is usually at it's peak and the weather insires wool hats and mittens. This year it would be a little sweeter because my trusty companion is a Red Sox fan and first time cross spectator (and possible sweetheart...).

Brian and I, sleepy-eyed over having staying up late to watch the Sox crush the Indians in the first game of that series, but arrived with enough time to get me registered and ready. A few pre-ride warm ups of the course proved efficient and I enjoyed this year's modifications. The change at the start was the most noticeable; it was very nice not to have to tackle a mountain each time around. Instead they left the climbing for the barriers, again placed strategically uphill. As always, the death spiral didn't disappoint.

I felt strong, excited and anxious. I had a strong start but couldn't hold it for long. I fought for a bit, but just tried to maintain a good cadence and enjoy the day. Not hard to do with a 6' cutie cheering you on!

In the end I was 7 out of 9. Not bad. Too bad though this race is no longer apart of the MABRA series, as points would have been nice. But I guess it's just an honor to race!