Rollers!

I couldn't find anybody to ride with today so I opted to stay inside and ride rollers. I did one hour - my record so far for rollers.

Cedar River Loop

We had more beautiful fall colors on today's ride. I feel like I'm cheating somebody when I get in 60 miles without paying for any gas! I rode with a couple of friends who hadn't been on the Cedar River loop and it was fun to see the route through new eyes. You feel like you are out in the country on those roads. We saw horses, goats, and even some really cute ponies. It was a long ride though and my body wasn't quite used to the distance.

We took the back road through the arboretum on the way home. The road was closed to cars and the road surface has been recently redone. It was really nice. People were walking their dogs, families were out together, and there were leaves falling around us as we rode. Very relaxing.

I snapped a picture of the fall colors from the Ravenna bridge on my way back.

Cedar River Loop

http://www.bikely.com/

Fall Leaves

We had a nice sized group of women on the ride today. It seems as if everyone was drawn outside by the sunshine. The Fall leaves were beautiful. As we crossed Mercer Island we got a progression of green-yellow to yellow-orange to yellow-orange-red. It made me think of Popsicles. Maybe I was hungry.

I learned this week that the group of men I rode with last week formed a splinter group and left the team. I was sad because I have been on the same team with some of these guys for a very long time. It was really surprising. I think the girls are rallying though and we will still have a good group of racers.

Go Annette Go! Master's World Track Championships in Sydney

http://www.cyclingmasters.tv/stream.aspx

I've been watching Annette race at the Master's World Track Championships in Sydney. She already has a second in the 500 and a world championship and world record in the Pursuit! Woohoo! In the picture she is about to win her semi-final sprint heat. More racing tomorrow but it will still be today for her. That track is beautiful!

Cold but Sunny

Last night we had our first frost warning of the year. Leina and I rode early this morning - 8:30 so we could go with the men's team. We only had two women so we thought it would be more fun to ride with the guys. We headed north but mostly took side streets instead of the trail so we didn't have to dodge the runners. It was cold out and I wore several layers - four in fact - to keep warm. We stopped at the bathrooms after about an hour and when I came out the guys all had steam coming off of them. It looked really cool with the sun peaking up just over the trees and fog hanging around the edges. The sun eventually came out and warmed things up. It was nice to have a big group although I never knew exactly when we were going to have a "sprint". The guys like to sprint for the "city limits" signs but I haven't figured out where they are yet.

Our Burnaby Track Racing Adventure

We raced track again!!!









Mark and I were moping about, lamenting the end of track season when he suggested we go up to Burnaby, in Canada and race on their indoor track. We were both very excited at the idea of more racing, and to try out a new track. We had heard stories about the steep banking and sharp turns. Burnaby is half the size of our track at Marymoor, 200 meters instead of 400 meters. The turns are tighter, so have to be banked more. The turns at Marymoor have about a 28 degree banking and the surface of the track is concrete. The turns at Burnaby have a 47 degree banking and the surface of the track is wood.

It was amazing when we got there. The building has a bubble type roof which uses air pressure to maintain the support of the roof. So to get into the building you have to go through a special air lock.

We got there pretty early and were the first racers to show up. It felt surreal inside the building. The sound bounces around the inside of the roof and comes at you from all different directions with strange echos. There were volley ball games going on when we got there. The whole inside of the track oval is full of volley ball courts with high nets to keep the balls out. It was a strange combination for us. One of the Canadian racers, Mike, greeted us when we got there. They were excited that folks from "South of the Border" were there. We felt like special guests.





We couldn't warm up right away because they had to put in a piece of the track (see pictures). They needed several people to get it in to place. But then in didn't fit. They had it together a few days ago but there was a big temperature & humidity change in the last few days which changed the size of the wood. No problem. They got out a saw and made a new shim piece to fit it back together. I was impressed.









I felt very daunted by the steep angles on the track. I asked a lot of questions about how to get on and off of the track safely. I was worried because they say you have to be going at least 30 to not fall off of the track. That's 30 kilometers per hour which is about 19 mph. I don't have a speedometer so I have no idea how fast I usually ride. I talked to one of the Canadian women, Jen, and I followed her onto the track. It wasn't bad at all. Then I got the feel of the corners. Wow! It reminded me of when I was stuck circling a thunderstorm at the Denver airport. Every time you hit the corner you feel like you weigh twice as much and the ground is pushing up at you. This happens about every 10 seconds. Whooom! You really have to try it. And when you get going fast you feel it even more. As you come off of the corner you feel lift - as you come out of the G-forces of the turn, kind of like a roller coaster. I couldn't help yelling "whee" the first time I took a fast lap in the sprinter's lane.


Soon we were going to be racing! The novice racers went first and I went over to hear the instructions they were being given. They have special rules for the novices about when you can attack and they require the field to regroup. This forces the riders to ride as a pack so they improve their group riding skills. You have to ride up the banking and grab the rail just to start the race. Then you drop down the bank and get up enough speed to hit the corners. The first time the group went around the announcer yelled at them "you guys better speed up or you'll be on your butts!" My stomach lurched.

Then I got to watch the guy's 4-lap heats. They usually have an A and a B race but they combined them since there weren't that many in the A group (I rode with the C group). We had four from the USA - Guy, Mark, Brian, and myself. Mark and Brian both made it through their heats by riding hard from the front.

I was really more worried than I needed to be. They called my group for our first race and I rode up to the rail and grabbed it, no problem. We dropped down and they started the race with a "whistle". Which was a guy whistling through his teeth really loud. I chuckled. They are really low key and friendly at Burnaby. In fact they don't even wear race numbers. I asked one of the racers about it because having the right race number is a big deal at Marymoor. The racer said, "oh it's no problem, Mike (the announcer), he knows everybody." My race was an unknown distance. I played it safe and rode conservatively to get my bearings. It was fun! No problem. Whew, I felt much better after getting in a race.


They guys did their final 4-lap heat and Brian rode awesome to get 3rd place!



Then it was already time for me to race again. Almost no break! I'm using to having several races in between at Marymoor. I did a snowball race and shortly after finished with a points race. They were playing volley ball still while we raced and it was a bit disconcerting because you could here them yelling in the center of the track as they played. At one point my bike hit a loose board and jumped sideways. I freaked out for a second but then calmed down and kept going. It's a way different feel on the boards and the bike handles differently. The key is to stay relaxed and calm. I started to feel motion sick after the end of my race. I was told to look further ahead into the next turn to keep that from happening.

We all finished racing and had the luxury of taking a shower before the ride home. It's nice to be indoors! It was pouring rain outside too so if this were Marymoor we would have not been able to race at all.

It was a great experience and I can't wait to go again.

Good Luck Annette!

Good luck to my teammate Annette and her husband Kenny! They are at Track Nationals this week down in Carson California. To keep up to date I found all of the cycling blogs I could and loaded them into my Google Reader. If you haven't discovered the Google reader check it out. You can read all of your favorite blogs and it sorts them out for you and tells you right away which ones have new posts.

Here are a few to start with...
http://teamtype12007.blogspot.com/
http://ouchprocycling.blogspot.com/
http://fcshannon.blogspot.com/
http://proman-paradigm.blogspot.com/
http://chainandpedals.blogspot.com/
http://www.armstrongcycling.com/
http://lizreapcarlson.wordpress.com/
http://www.hipsternascar.com/

And the official page here

The best story so far is Shelly Olds bike being found after being stolen.

Now I really need to get some work done and stop surfing the Internet!