Cross Racing

I did the single speed cross race last Sunday at Marymoor! You can now callme a cross racer!

I did some cross racing about 15 years ago but it was on a mountain bike. This was my first time racing on a cross bike.

One of my teammates helped me after the warm up lap and told me how not to cornerlike a road rider. He said to keep some bend in the outside leg so you can have some control if the rear tire starts slipping. Also there is no need to point your inside leg inward (motorcycle style). And it is better to keep the bike more upright and lean your body instead so you keep the tread on your tire in contact with the mud. These last minute tips really helped. I had to consciously try to remember on each corner to and try and not use road technique.

I also went to the cyclocross practice at Marymoor last Wednesday with Sharon and learned that I had way too much pressure in my tires. Ihad 60 lbs in because that is what the side of the tire said. I took it way down to 32 psi in the front and about 35 in the back. That was much better. They also taught me to use just the right brake (not left) when going down hill or in a turn to keep from going over the bars.

The course was fast and fun. I was a bit scared having themen's category 3's and the men's single speeders pass me. I found myself hyperventilating a few times. But they were all very polite when they passed and many offered words of encouragment. Jodi passed me on my last lap and she looked very fast. It was impressive because at that point I was very tired.

It was a fun day. It was fun hanging out with the mud roosters today!

I also got my picture on the MFG cross site! http://www.mfgcyclocross.com/photos/detail/6281181563/

Friday Night Racing

Racing was really fun last night! The gals were fast so I was just trying to hang onto the wheels but on the last sprint I think I got 4th. I was happy to keep pace in the final sprint.

Last week a couple came up to me after racing and asked if I recognized them. I did - it turned out it was a couple that we had met while on vacation in Europe. They just happened to be in Seattle and recognized me. It was cool to have them cheer for me!

Friday Night

Friday night was pretty hard - this picture shows pretty much how I was feeling.




I had fun racing with Jessica in the Madison. We moved up to second on the last lap but we were third for the race on points. Jessica was really strong. It was really fun racing as partners.

Monday Night Madison

It rained last Friday but here is a photo from a couple of weeks ago showing me faking an attack. It worked just as good as the real thing - got the group up to full speed quickly.

http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2011/MVA/617/pages/903C3768jpgmva6.htm





Last Monday Mark and I raced the Madison together. It was fun to be partners in a race. I felt like our slings were nice and close. I hope it works out for us to be partners again. It is hard because there are usually other riders wanting to partner with both of us.

Friday Night Racing

My first race went pretty bad. I ended up last, blowing up 1/2 way through. It was a tempo race which means there are sprints every lap. Very hard.

Then a miss and out which was fun. I made it about 1/2 way before being eliminated.

The last race was the points race. Going into the first set of points the group slowed down so I went up high on the bank. I always do this so when the acceleration happens all I have to do is drop down the bank. I was the only one on the bank though. No one was paying attention to me either. I casually pick up the pace. I tried to be as smooth as possible so no one would realize what I had in mind. We came around corner 4 and I attacked hard down the banking. I quickly got a large gap. At that point no one wanted to chase because they would be leading out the others for the points. Perfect for me. I held the gap and was able to ease up before the line and still get the 5 points. I quickly rolled up the bank and dropped back on the back of the group and held on through the counter attacks. I didn't want to attack that early in the race but the opportunity was too good to pass up. I sat in for the rest of the sprints but I might have gotten one more point on the last one. I got fifth in that race and was pretty happy. The group this year is very strong so fifth is a good place for me.

Here are a couple of photos -

http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2011/MVA/63/pages/903C9237jpgmva6.htm


http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2011/MVA/63/pages/903C9156jpgmva6.htm

I also had a fun track practice today. Got in some good sling-shot practice.

Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race!

My team put on the Mutual of Enumclaw stage race last weekend. I raced at the track Friday night and then got up at 5am and spent the entire weekend at the race. It was exhausting. I helped organize all of the volunteers and helped cover any jobs that needed doing at the last minute.

I also got to hand out some of the yellow leader's jerseys and shake the hands of the winners. It was fun and very gratifying to see so many racers have a good time. There was one racer who chewed me out because he couldn't read the map in the technical guide, but aside from him everybody was really great.

We had a lot of racers come in from out of town, as far as Quebec, Canada, and California. I enjoyed getting to watch the high level of competition, right in our own back yard.

70% chance of rain with thuderstorms

We got to race friday night at the track! It was the last night of the pre-season and I thought for sure it would be rained out. In fact I wasn't even planing to go until Evan, one of the announcers asked me for a ride - that meant I had to go. When I left Seattle it was raining so I was really surprised when we got to Redmond and there were sunny skies!

They started off with a 200 for time. It was not a very fast time for me but it might have been due to the cold weather.

My next race was a keirin - the race where the motor cycle paces the group (5-8 riders) up to speed. The moto is supposed to pace you up to 30 mph - then you race for 1-1/2 laps. It takes 5 laps to reach 30 mph when it is done the way it is supposed to. It was the first night for the moto and we got up to speed really fast. I think they might need to work on the pacing. I was in the back and when the moto pulled off some of the riders were already gassed. I followed one of the other women as she closed the gap but it was too late to be in contention for the 2 spots that got to advance. I felt pretty good though.

The next race was the miss-and-out. My goal was to ride smart and not waste energy. We had 17 women and the miss-and-out works like musical chairs. The last person across the line each lap is out. So the key is to go just hard enough to beat one person without wasting energy by accelerating too much and burning matches. We ride a neutral lap before the race is started so everybody is clipped in and ready to go. On the neutral lap I spotted Rosalyn high up on the banking. The perfect wheel! She was off the front for quite a while on the Enumclaw road race so I knew she was going to be the strongest. I locked on to her wheel and sure enough, she accelerated to the front and started drilling it. We were single file and I was in second position - perfect! My luck lasted at least 4-5 laps before other riders got smart and I had left just enough room for someone to take the wheel from me. I was in 4th position which was still OK, I had to start accelerating towards the finish each time though to avoid being last. There was one lap where it was really close and I thought - that is it. I eased off - just to hear them call someone else's number! Woops! Too late to get back on the back. Aside from that I was pretty happy - I think I got 7th.

I was watching the radar and felt a raindrop or two before the final points race so I opted not to start. The race was really fast and agressive and I was starting to regret not racing when the skies opened up and they had to quickly call the racers off the track. That was it for the night.

I can't wait for next friday!

Pedal Driven

I saw a film last night it was a documentary called "Pedal Driven". It was about the confrontation between mountain bikers and federal land management agencies. It featured some local Mt Bike riders including a guy named Matt who works at Counterbalance. There was some pretty awesome riding footage. http://pedaldriven.howellatthemoon.com/videostrailers You can buy the DVD or watch movie trailers at the pedal driven link. The room was packed with mountain bikers. Boy did I feel like I was in different world!

So I learned a lot about mountain bike trails and thought I'd share since all my mountain bike teammates were actually mountain biking this weekend. Apparently there have been a lot of "illegal" trails build due to a lack of good places to ride. The problem is that the trails, if not designed well can increase erosion and be harmful to the environment. The documentary was about the success stories of the Mt bike community working together with forest resource people to get well designed Mountain bike courses that are also sustainable. According to the film a well designed course can last forever. One of the groups that is working to get new trails built is the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. This group is responsible for the I-5 Colonnade, Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park and others. The I-5 Colonnade and Duthie were featured in the film. It seemed like a very good organization www.evergreenMTB.org They are currently building a bike park in redmond and are looking for builders: http://redmondbikepark.com

Overall the film was great and it was fun to feel the energy in the group. I used to mt bike in the old Redmond watershed before I converted to a track rider.

First night of track

Yea! The first night of track!

It has been so rainy that I haven't spent much time at the track yet - just one training session. So I didn't have my track legs yet.

I tried a 82" gear in the first race. I did not have the leg speed to spin in and got gaped at the first surge. Then I switched to the 88" and felt much better in the miss-and-out. I tried to ride from the outside and commit to my position before the last turn. It was working pretty good but I got tired. The last race was the points - I raced more conservatively but had to bridge a few gaps. I did feel some good speed in bridging. It was all fun again.

first ride up Cougar Moutain for the year

Yesterday my teammates and I rode up Cougar Mountain for the first time since the new year. It was cold and there was snow at the top . There was also light rain that felt like part snow but we weren't talking about it since we had agreed to turn around if it started snowing.

Today I'm blogging while riding trainer. I've been too busy to blog! Time to start my interval now.