What's Wrong With This Picture?

Today Lisa and I headed to Dalton to ride The Snake. With TransRockies rapidly approaching, we wanted to get some riding time together. We started at the Dug Gap parking lot and rode the trail opposite of the way the race is run. The gravel climb up to the trailhead was a rude awakening for my legs. Ouch!

The first rocky ridgeline was fun; a lot of down trees, to which Lisa replied, "This feels like an adventure race." Conversation was kept to a minimum as we wanted to keep the tempo up and Lisa had to go to work in the late afternoon. We both handled the technical sections equally and our pace on the uphills was consistent and smooth. I got away from her a little bit on the downhills, but I was also kicking up some good size rocks. So Lisa smartly backed off; she didn't feel like losing any teeth today.

Once we descended down to the Snake Creek Gap parking lot (mile 17), Lisa said she wasn't feeling too good on the climbs. So we decided that I would ride up Horn Mountain at my pace and then turn around at the top and catch her on the way down. Then we would ride back on the pavement to our vehicles.

Most of this climb was in my middle ring. Towards the top it got rather steep and loose, so I dropped the chain down to granny. As I was slowly riding up the last pitch, I hit a "mawl-shaped" rock that lept up into my derailleur. I immediately ground to a halt.

My first thought involved $$$$$$. My second thought was, "Hmmm. How do I fix this?" Bear in mind that in 8 years of racing I had never broken a chain or derailleur. I always carried what I needed to make these kinds of repairs, but always hoping that if it ever did happen, there would be someone else to fix it for me. So now I had to rely on Bruce and Zeke's teachings.

The hardest part was unwrapping the derailleur from my cogset. Turning Pinky into a singlespeed was not as difficult as I had imagined. Aside from having a little too much tension in the chain which resulted in a creaking noise as I pedaled, I managed to get myself back to the truck 10 miles away.

No, I have not been bitten by the Singlespeed bug.

Sacrifice

We just returned home from our family vacation. We spent the last 4 days in the "Redneck Capital of the World," Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Picture the people you would see at a NASCAR race and those were the people that I have been rubbing elbows with. But with the price of gas and our schedules, we chose to stay close to home. Anyways, Carly had a blast and that is the most important thing. 10 years ago, I vowed never to come back to this place ... but then again I had no thought of having children at that time.

Day 1: We went on a hay ride in Cades Cove and were treated to a Mutual of Omaha's Wild Animal Kingdom adventure. We watched as a doe tried to divert a coyote away from her fawn. However, the fawn stood up prematurely, the coyote saw it, attacked, and made off with supper.

Day 2: We went to Dollywood Splash Country, a waterpark. Carly had no fear and rode everything within her height requirement. I must say that I had a great time, too. What I thought was absolutely funny was the pre-recordings at some of the slides. Basically it said that if you were under doctor's orders or were in poor physical condition, you should not ride the slide. Well, hell, that would have eliminated about 65% of the line! There ought to be a law prohibiting bikini wear if your BMI index is higher than a certain value. Yuck!!

Day 3: We hiked the Trillium Gap trail up to Grotto Falls. I think everyone else in Pigeon Forge decided to hike this one today, too. It was a 3 mile roundtrip and fairly easy. But I wanted to stay within Carly's abilities and interests. We did get rained on, but that did not sway Carly's spirits. Carly spotted several salamanders which was pretty cool: a red, a yellow, and a brown.

That evening, we celebrated the 4th at Charlie's parents.

Day 4: We drove to Gray, Tennessee and went to the Gray Fossil Site. Back in 2000, during a TDOT construction project, a 4 acre area of fossils dating back to 4.5-7 million years ago was discovered. Thankfully, our governor deemed this an important finding and the state diverted the road construction around the site. In just 8 years, the storage facility is full of hundred of fossils of tapir, camel, rhinocerous, red panda, saber tooth, and badger. Now, that was cool! Carly had a chance to sift through some earth and look for fossils herself. Unfortunately, all she found was some fossilized wood; no animal fossils. She was disappointed. East Tennessee State University has created a paleontology degree. I can envision Carly working there one day. She has already told me she wants to attend the camp next summer.

All in all, it was a pretty good vacation. Although, I did daydream about riding some sweet singletrack. Now that I am home, I can go out and get my cycling fix.

Getting my Speed Fix

With a free weekend and the venue being so close, I could not pass up this race. So I journeyed down to Chattanooga for the SERC Raccoon Mountain XC race. After having been in the ultra-endurance scene for several years, getting to race an XC event is just a little reward for me. It also allows me to get in some good speed work, especially when toeing the line with some of the best from the Southeast.
Fourteen of us lined up in the Pro/Ex class. Awesome turnout! When the gun went off, several girls lept off the line, including superfast Jamie Dinkins, just back from Under-23 Worlds where she had a top 20 finish. I managed to enter the singletrack just behind Jamie and kept her within my sights for the first half of the first lap. I was feeling strong and loving the techy rocky sections as well as the Six Flags rollercoaster descent.
Stumpy was my steed for the day and we were one, attacking the punchy hill climbs and letting loose on the descents. I almost had my first lap (12 miles) completed when I heard the dreaded, "Hssssssss! Well, crap! (not exactly the same word that at first entered my mind) I pedalled on hoping for it to seal. I rolled through the Start/Finish and heard no more hissing so I hoped that all was good. Kim handed off my bottle for the second lap and told me I was just a minute behind Jamie. I time-trialed the 1/2 mile pavement section and dropped into the woods. Legs were still great, but my mind was elsewhere as I began to feel the dreaded "squishy" in the rear tire.
My tire change was embarassingly slow. I was having a hard time getting the Specialized Fast Track off the rim, even with levers. After probably 5 minutes, I managed to hop back on the bike. I had no idea how many women passed me as I made a conscious effort not to look up everytime I heard wheels buzzing by. However, Kym called out to me and asked if I was o.k. and then I happened to see Paula go past as well. Ughh! It took a bit for me to get back into the rhythm of racing again, but I did.
The last mile of the race, I tried to ramp it up a bit, just to see how the legs were. Legs still great, but then I hit a rock pretty hard and pinch flatted. So, I got to run a bit (good practice for TransRockies) and then rode the last little section of pavement to the finish ... but very slowly as I did not want this event to get any more expensive with a bashed rim.
I managed not to lose any more spots once I got back on the bike, but apparently quite a few women passed me as I ended up 7th. Oh well, I would much rather have a bike mechanical than a body mechanical. I hope to be able to stay on form for my next race is Wilderness 101 ... my favorite hundy and I would like to do well there.
I am having some frustrations with the Stan's. Every time I have punctured (other than thorns), the Stan's has not sealed and eventually I have been forced to put a tube in. I am beginning to wonder if I should just use enough Stan's to seal the tire (if the tire leaks down in a short period of time) onto the rim and not to put any extra in. Getting all that dried latex off my bike today was a b!tch. If anybody has any comments on that, I am open.

Moooooo!

After a good training ride today in the Coker Creek area of Cherokee National Forest, I was hungry for a sirloin steak ... homegrown black angus to be exact. Which leads into my story.

On the way home from the Cowbell Challenge this past Sunday, Zeke and stopped at the Chop House. My treat, since I happened to win a little money, much to Zeke's credit. We both ordered the sirloin. I had a salad, he opted for the steamed broccoli. Then he proceded to tell me how lettuce, of any kind, has no nutritive value. "It is just good for your doo-doo." He did not believe me when I told him of the anti-oxidant benefits of Romaine. So we wagered a little bet. If I won, he would have to eat a steak the way I like it: just knock the horns and tail off and serve it with the blood still runnin'.

You see, Zeke likes it well done. Well done as in "catch it before it drops through the grill to the coals below, then throw it in the microwave and nuke it for an extra minute or two." Needless to say, I won the bet. So now he gets to eat a steak rare. Perhaps if he does my bottle hand-offs for this Sunday's XC race, I will let him upgrade to medium.

Going For Broke

I am going to be training a lot more on the road now, as this came in today. Just as soon as I figure out how to use it. I can perform splenectomies, enterotomies, and ACL repairs in dogs and cats, but when it comes to these gadgets, I am a bit out of my league. Oh well, I can and will read the directions.

I have been self-coaching for the past 7 years and have done o.k. by myself. But this year it seems like I have become a bit stagnant. I've hit a plateau and just can't seem to go beyond it. So I have decided to find a coach. I have one in mind and am planning on making contact just before TransRockies. That should give me a little time to scrape up a down payment.

Cowbell Challenge Race Report

Kudos to Taylor, Anna, Connie, et al for a wonderful event. If you haven't had an opportunity to race the Cowbell, next year is a must. This year the venue was at Fisher Farms and at first I was a bit worried that the course would not be as fun as last year's (Catawba Trails at the Whitewater Center). However, after pre-riding, I saw that A LOT OF TIME and EFFORT had been put into stretching the existing 4 miles of trail into 7 miles. This course was going to be fast! You were going to be on the gas at all times. The climbs were short and steep, the singletrack was tight, twisty, and rooty, and the flat field sections were jarring. Anna and Connie had put in a lot of "woman hours" moving and laying large rocks by hand to create a sweet technical rocky descent!

We lined up at the start ... with our bikes. Yeah! No running start! When the bell went off, I made a huge effort to get in the front as I wanted to get into the singletrack first. I was going for the Queen of the Mountain again this year as I needed a jersey to match my helmet from last year. I raced the first lap like I was on a team. And my legs were light and snappy... completely opposite of how they felt at the Mohican. I knew Rebecca was close behind so I just hammered it and was able to top the 5 climbs first.

After the first lap, I settled in and rode my race. Rebecca passed me on the second lap. No worries; I was feeling good and kept her in my sights. I was just happy to have my legs back. My goal was to be able to stay within striking distance of Rebecca and put more time on 3rd and 4th place. And so I did. By the 8th lap, I had lapped 3rd and 4th place, yet was only 15 minutes behind Rebecca.

I really did not have any bad laps. Yet I must admit that it was mentally challenging to ride such a short lap over and over and over again. At most 12 hours, by the time I have ridden 10 laps, the race is over. But I still had 5 hours left when I hit the 10 lap mark! Bruce Dickman managed to keep it interesting by heading out to different points on the course and challenging the racers with a bullhorn in hand to make it over a couple of the harder sections without dabbing or coming off the bike.

A few times during the race, the skies darkened and a few thunderclaps were heard. But luckily they moved on around us. I was glad, for having to stop and then start the race again would have been dreadful. And the course would have become treachorous, as it was a clay base with lots of roots.

At 7:30 pm it was lights on. I rolled in the pits around 7:45 pm, switched bikes, and decided that I would try to get the fastest female night lap. I was still feeling good at this point so I said to self, "Might as well try." I put in a super hard effort and managed, after 10 hours, to get my heartrate back up into my LT range. However, Rebecca beat me by 2 minutes. That was Lap 16 for me and as I pulled into the Start/Finish area, the race was called due to lightning in the area. That was o.k. by me; I was pretty pooped by then anyway.

Race Day Highlights:

1. finishing second, just 25 minutes off Rebecca Rusch.

2. winning the fastest female lap.

3. having Mom and my stepdad Doug there for support.

4. being able to use bottles instead of a Camelbak (oh, the freedom!)

5. Yuri Hauswald's comment to Zeke as I crossed the finish line on the last lap, "Your wife is superstrong!" (I am still not sure how to take that one.)

Race Day Lowlights:

1. not using enough chamois cream and subsequently being "branded" (Ouch!) by my chamois. Yes, I now have 2 nice "C-shaped" deep abrasions where my glutes meet my hamstrings.

2. watching the 3rd place female singlespeeder stepping up on the podium and receiving her prizemoney and two 6-packs of beer ... and is 4 months pregnant! Stupid, I say, perhaps even negligent. And I can say this as I am a mother, yet was smart enough to stop racing during my pregnancy.

Thanks to the town of Davidson for allowing the Cowbell to happen. This event just keeps getting better and more competitive. And I hear that more trails could potentially be built at Fisher Farms. All I can say is, "Build it and they will come."

Legs are Back!

This past Sunday I competed in a local XC event at Haw Ridge. I was a little anxious about how I would perform. I had pretty much taken the past two weeks off to recover from what I suspected was overttraining. My race did not start until 12:30 pm so I had plenty of time to sit around and worry. It was also getting hotter by the hour; luckily this course was 90% in the woods.

I was only up against one other woman, Jennifer (I think), and the men's side was small as well, so we all started together, which was good. The start was fast, as all XC starts are, and my legs felt quite snappy. I was able to keep the leaders in sight for the first half of the first lap. No heavy lactic acid feeling as I hit the short punchy climbs. And I was able to rail the descents. I managed to pass a few men on this lap.

On the second lap, I slowed a bit, but managed to maintain a high heartrate. With temps in the low 90's, I was steadily draining my Camelbak. On the third lap, I dropped my Camelbak and pulled a cold bottle out of my cooler. The one nice thing about small local races is the ability to park your vehicle right along the race course. Man, it feels great not to have to wear a Camelbak! (Pehaps I can "bottle it" for the Cowbell.) I was able to maintain a nice steady pace and pass a few more men on this lap. I also lapped Jennifer on the third. She was walking her bike out as I passed. Apparently she had a sidewall tear. Bummer!

So, I ended up with a first place, but the most important outcome from this was regaining my confidence. I also managed to finish mid-pack in the men's field. This was just what I needed for going into the week before the Cowbell as I am going to have some stiff competition there.

Oh, by the way, this was my first "dry" race of the season; not one puddle on the trail. Sweet! That means I did not have to spend today cleaning and cleaning and cleaning my bike and gear.

If you are ever down near Knoxville, you need to check Haw Ridge out. 25+ miles of some buff singletrack with everything from the fast and flowy to the rocky and rooty.