Grindin' at Galena

I am a dork and forgot to take pictures. Bad blogger, bad. If there is one race venue that deserves a few pics it's the Galena Grinder. Just 25 miles north of Sun Valley, this place is a little slice of heaven.

I woke up at 6am to frost covering my tent and did NOT want to get out of my sleeping bag. What happened to summer?!? After hitting snooze 4 times, I finally dragged myself out of bed, brewed up some coffee, put on every article of clothing I brought and started the day. The weather report said nothing of this so all I had were flip flops and a raincoat. Brrrrr.

In short, I had a good day on the bike and came away with the Idaho State Marathon Championship title. I did it in 4 hrs and 31 min (according to my computer-no official times posted yet) and suffered during every single minute of the race. I could tell from my warm up (low HR) that it was going to be a battle for my tired legs, so I knew what I was in for.

The course was a hoot, true to Knobby Tire Series racing. Tons of great singletrack, a variety of climbs ranging from long, middle-ring grunts to steep hike-a-bikes, stream crossings and screaming fast double-track descents. There wasn't much time for recovery anywhere on the course, so I pretty much kept it pinned the whole time. I had a super-strong woman on my tail the entire race and was only able to pull away from her during the last 30 min. during the final hike-a-bike. I don't think I have had to work that hard in a race all year and it was certainly more stressful than I would have preferred! It hurt, but it was a good hurt. :)

I have to give a shout out to Davey, Matt and the entire KTS crew. They did a fantastic job putting the race together and it was the best marked endurance course I have ever ridden. The after party was fun, lunch and beer were free and the prizes for all categories were great. (They always give equal payout to men and women!) Although tallying the results took them longer than they wanted, it gave me an opportunity to meet a bunch of new people, catch up with some old friends and to share race stories. I even got to hang out with our team mechanic (on the west coast) Paul Clark. He and a bunch of pals drove all the way out from Oregon for the race and it was a great surprise to wake up in the morning to find that he and his friends had put down their sleeping bags right next to my car after I had already gone to sleep.

The word on the compression Skins: LOVE them. They made my legs feel much better on the long ride home. Plus, I saw the Pro Men's marathon winner, Evan Plews, wearing them after the race. He's so darn fast, if he's wearing them, they must be cool!

Recovery Tricks

On the advice of a really fast roadie friend of mine, Chellie, I got myself a pair of these:

Skins, aka compression tights. Apparently they are all the rage in the roadie world and with all the traveling and driving I do she couldn't believe I didn't own a pair. I'm always up for an experiment, so I ordered a pair for "travel and recovery." I'm going to test them out today on my drive to the Galena Grinder just north of Sun Valley. It's a short drive for me (4.5 hours) in comparison to all the other drives I do for races, but I'll give them a shot today. Looks like I'll be using the AC. I will also wear a pair of shorts over them because they leave nothing to the imagination.

I've been trying to focus on recovery all week after the Breckenridge 100, doing easy trail and road rides and spending a lot of time here with Maddy:


Trail Creek is just down the street from my house. The small dam creates just enough of a current so that you can stand there up to your hips in FREEZING cold water and get a little massage from mother nature. 15 min. a day has been working wonders for my tired legs and avoids putting me into the dreaded ice bath, Eric's favorite recovery trick. It also gives Maddy plenty of time for swimming and chasing sticks down stream. She's scared to death of the dam and trying to get her to run across it was hilarious. She stood at the entrance and barked and howled for 5 min. before she mustered the guts to run across. Then she smartened up and realized that it would just be easier to swim back to the other side.

Tomorrow I'll be racing in the Idaho State marathon championships, the Galena Grinder. The course is 45 miles, 2 laps on an epic 22.5 mile loop. The Knobby Tire Series is a great one. It's well-attended, very organized and it always has challenging courses. KTS racing is typically real mountain biking - rocks, stream crossings, hike-a-bikes - the kind of stuff that makes mountain bikers smile, including great prizes and free beer afterwards! I've wanted to do this race for years, but my schedule has never allowed for it. I've packed the camping gear, the radar detector, the Racer X and hopefully some recovered legs for the trip.

Crazy Weather in the Tetons

I spent most of the morning cleaning up the house and catching up on weeks of neglected chores due to a busy race and travel schedule. Nothing reminds you more of how much you have neglected things than scrubbing bathrooms. I also spent time in the garden weeding and cutting my first harvest! I filled a few bags with some very yummy mixed greens, bib lettuce, some swiss chard and bok choy and we had our first home-grown salads for dinner tonight. I was so busy I didn't notice the afternoon forecast: severe t-storms. Time to boogie.

I set our for an endurance ride on the road out to Targhee, up Horseshoe Canyon and then back home to Victor on the bike path. It was sunny for much of it, then when I got to the top of Horseshoe, the crazy-dark-puffy-"I'm going to get you" clouds started to build. I knew I had an hour ride home, so I hit the gas and tried to stay ahead of it. I had just barely hung up my road bike in the shed when ka-BOOM! 40mph winds, dime-sized hail and rain started coming down and bouncing off my deck like this:
and this:

This is what was chasing me home:
Teton Valley was in desperate need of some rain, for sure. The weather gods were looking after me with their decided timing of today's storm. The only bummer was that the hail did a number on my garden. The swiss chard now looks more like swiss cheese.

Breckenridge 100 Report

Nate and I traveled down to Breckenridge, CO this past weekend with our friend Gabe for the Breckenridge 100, the 4th event in the National Ultra Endurance Race Series. I had only decided a week prior that I was crazy enough to do this race on a whim. I have been training for and very much enjoying the NMBS series (xc and short track) so this race was simply for the "experience" and for "training."

When I started to get into the nitty-gritty of planning, that's when it hit me: I miss this type of racing! Geeking out with maps, planning for each loop, packing feed bags, totaling calories, carbohydrates, protein and electrolytes for each loop brings out the ultra-nerd in me. My game plan was to not have a game plan. I didn't know the course, I hadn't trained for the distance and I simply couldn't predict what was going to happen over the 100 miles. I just had to see how my body felt and work with it.

5:30 am gathering at our support tent before the start. Yes, everyone is smiling for a reason.

The race kicked off at 6am and sent us off on 3 loops around Breckenridge. The scenery was stunning, especially topping out on Wheeler Pass (about 12,400 feet) at 7:15am, and the riding was challenging. All in all, it was just shy of 14,000 feet of climbing. There were endless sections of rocky and rooty singletrack all over the course which made for slow going. What made for even more slow going was the lack of course markings.

I have a lot of respect for race organizers and all the hard work they put into their events. Yet I must say, this was the most poorly marked course I have ever ridden. There were countless times where I was not sure if I was lost or not for 15-20 min. at a time. The worst sections were during loop 2. There were screaming downhills where, had they been marked or if I had known the course, I could have opened it up and made up some time. Instead, I spent all that time on the breaks, slowing for every intersection, wondering if I was still on course. Not so fun. This happened frequently throughout the day. Course knowledge would have been an advantage in this race. But I digress....to my other complaint, the pro women's payout.

If I sound like I am complaining, I am. Not about the amount but about the fact that the men and women were not paid equally. This is all too common in this sport. We were paid less and the men were paid 5 deep and the women were only paid 3 deep. The race website had the audacity to post an update one week before the race saying "Come on women, there is $$$ to be had!" trying to encourage more of us to sign up. I think the # 1 way to tell women that a race doesn't value their participation is to tell them in advance that you are going to pay the men more to win.

Here's the easy solution: start the base payout to both sexes as equal, then do a scaled percentage of payback of entry fees based on how many people show up. This way, men will always get paid more (duh) but it tells the few of us ladies that do show up that we are, in the race promoters mind, working just as hard out there over 100-miles as the men and that we deserve to be rewarded just like the men. Okay, I digress again....

Going along with my conservative approach to this event, I chose to ride my full suspension Racer-X, a set of 2.1 UST Kenda Karmas, a set of Ergon GX1 grips and carry a 70 oz. Hydrapak. I was going for comfort and happily took the weight penalty. My Racer-X with UST tires is a full 3.5 lbs heavier than my Fireline, but I never once regretted my choice. This bike is the BEST thing that has ever happened to me. I cruised through all the technical, gnarly sections and though it was more to carry on all the long climbs, my body has never felt this good after such a long, tough event. I had the usual soreness in the balls of my feet, lower back and of course, in my legs, but it was nothing like past races where I chose to ride a hardtail. Racer-X, I LOVE YOU!!

Me and the best bike on the planet at the finish!

I'll save you all from the play-by-play of a 100-mile event, but here's the important stuff:

• I finished in 10hours 21 minutes 49 seconds. It was good enough for 14th place overall, 2nd place female (by 13 minutes....grrrrr, being lost on loop 2 stunk) 1st place in my age category.

• I felt good the entire time. Really good. I felt the best from hour 7-10, which was a huge surprise to me. I rode conservatively the entire time and in retrospect, could have ridden harder, earlier. Oh well. I was just nervous not knowing what my body would do at hour 6 -11.
  

• Nate, as always, was the best support person ever. Although he missed my first go-through at the 1st aid station, it was totally my fault. I came through a full 25. min faster than I had predicted. He helped more racers throughout the day than he could count, packed up the hotel room for Gabe and I while we warmed up and even got in a 2 hour ride on the Peaks Trail in the afternoon. Then, he bought a case of 24 oz PBRs and kept Gabe awake until 2:15 am with my brother in law finishing it off. THANKS hubby!

• It was the first endurance race where I had not a single digestive issue the entire time. It was also the first endurance race where I never bonked or had a significant dip in energy. I fueled entirely on Powerbar products. Power Gels, Endurance Drink and Powerbar Performance bars kept my engine running cleanly the entire time. In the past I had relied on a variety of Hammer products and they just never worked quite correctly for me.
  

• The course was hard, but not the hardest 100-miler I have ever done (that's between the E100 and the Creampuff). The most challenging part was stressing about staying on course.

• Did I mention how I am totally obsessed with my Racer-X? It is the PERFECT 100-mile race bike!

I can't wait for the next one!

Off the Couch Adventure Confirmed

I'm in.

I just signed up for the Breckenridge 100. I don't exactly know why I chose to do this to myself. I guess it's because I really like riding my new Racer X and am up for a challenge. All my training this year has been focused on short, cross country racing. If anything, this somewhat irrational decision is fueled by curiosity. I want to see how my body will respond to 10+hours in the saddle after being completely untrained for long distance. The longest ride I have done all year was 5 hours and that was 2 weeks ago at the Firecracker 50. This should be good.

For the record, I am more concerned about my behind than my legs.

I've done enough 100 mile races and LOTOJAs to know that endurance events are far more mental than physical. In theory, if I commit my brain to riding for that long, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Famous last words....

Last Minute Road Trip

These past few days have been a bit nuts because I made a last minute decision to drive to CO for a Mountain States Cup race in Snowmass. I had raced at a MSC in Fruita this past April and I knew it would be worth the trip if I motivated to go. The series is excellent. Mike and his crew have it dialed and I think racers should go the extra mile to support well-run events with positives vibes, great courses and good payouts. Plus, my Racer-X was ready to roll for the Super D.

Nate knew that I was feeling really down that we couldn't afford to send me to the east coast for the NMBS at Windham, the National Championships at Mt. Snow and to Kenda Fest like the rest of my teammates. Then, when our pal Tim called on Wednesday night to tell us that he and his wife, Chellie, were not coming up to visit for the week as they planned, Nate urged me to take advantage of my good health (rib is almost healed!) and race. So off I went.

I started packing the car Thursday afternoon and after chain of unfortunate events (one being that at 11:00pm we discovered that the front wheel to my hardtail was still at the shop), I went to bed at 2am and woke up at 5:30am. I was so tired during the drive, a triple sized Rockstar with lunch had no effect on me whatsoever. I made it to Snowmass at 4:00 after a trip to Starbucks and the grocery store and checked into the camping area. "Camping" was $20 for the weekend and was in a paved parking lot adjacent to the Snowmass Recreation Center. I scoped out a great little spot in a corner with some nice grass nearby and went up to pre-ride the course.

The ride went well enough considering I drove 9 hours on 3.5 hours of sleep. I returned to my campsite that evening to discover that it wasn't my campsite anymore. Some guy had taken my spot that had already been marked with my #, told me that I could go somewhere else and that he wasn't going to move. Then he made fun of my t-shirt. What a dork.

I was too tired to care, so I found a spot in another area, ate some dinner and rolled out my sleeping bag on the sidewalk next to my car. We weren't allowed to pitch tents in the parking lot. (You had to haul your gear far away to the softball field to do so and I was way too lazy for that.) Well, the spot I ended up with was directly in front of check in and I had headlights in my face until 1am. I finally got to sleep after the traffic toned down, and then at around 2am the spinklers turned on. I woke up abruptly to a drenched down sleeping bag and a very wet head and moved my operation to the pavement next to the shelter of my car. Then, at 5am, kid you not, a hot air balloon company arrived with a throng of tourists and spent an hour filling the massive balloon to a chorus of "ooohhhs and aahhhhs". They finally took off after an hour of "woooooossshhhhh"ing so loud from the propane tanks, I thought my brain was going to bounce out of my skull. By 6am, I gave up. I got roughly 5.5 hours of sleep in the last 2 nights. Oh well. If I'm ever going to try a 24-hour race, this can be chocked up to training!

The race went as well as could be expected considering the past 2 nights. It was a high-quality course with a lot of steep climbing on singletrack and tons of technical, twisty, rooty and rocky descents. Too bad my fork was blown, something I discovered on my pre-ride the day before. Front suspension certainly would have helped my cause in this race as I felt like I was going as slow as ice-cold molassas on the descents. Then, with about 15 min. left to race I pulled over to let some singlespeeders go by and managed to get a 18 in long, skinny stick intertwined between my derailleur, chain and multiple spokes. It was so snarled up that it took me a couple minutes and a lot of care to set it free. Miraculously, nothing was bent and off I went.

The eventual 3rd place gal caught up to me on the last steep climb and sadly, the fumes I was running on were long gone and I couldn't respond. I felt terribly defeated when I saw her gap me on the final crest, knowing that although I am a pretty good descender, I had no chance of catching her with a blown fork on the rocky and rough downhill to the finish. I was 4th by 8 seconds.

Oh well, there's always the next race. Athough I didn't get a chance to pre-ride the Super D, I stuck with my plan to race the Racer-X the next morning. I found a better campsite for the night (though we were once again greeted with the 5am balloon crew) and woke up at 5:45 so I could be on my bike at 7:30 to ride up to the summit for the 8:45 Super D. Consistent with the theme of the weekend (budget) and the fact that paying $30 for a ride up a chairlift is against everything I believe in, I chose to ride up the cross country course to the start of the race instead of paying for a ticket. No one told me it wasn't at the tippity-top, so I rode all the way up there anyway and then descended a bunch to get back down. Good thing, because I was hella-warmed up for the race. I nailed the lemans-style run to the bike, got on and away first and never looked back. The Racer-X performed beautifully and I crossed the line first, 10 or 12 seconds ahead of the next gal. The course was essentially the start of the xc backwards-mostly downhill with only a few short sections of pedaling. It was perfect for my tired legs and it made me giggle, a much needed experience after my rough weekend.

After watching some downhill, it was off to Breckenridge for a long afternoon ride. I decided to take a look at the opening loop of the Breckenridge 100, 29-miles of incredible terrain with 4000 feet of climbing. I was doing course recon to figure out if I am crazy enough to race this Saturday, even though I haven't done a dirt ride longer than 50 miles all year. I soon realized that my "mellow" ride wasn't as mellow as planned, especially after a bee stung me in the neck, resulting in a slow-motion endo that gave me significant road rash on my shoulder. I finished with a celebratory burrito from Rasta Pasta, drove an hour to my sister's house in Kremmling, knocked on the door at 9:30pm and realized that she and her husband thought I was coming next, not this, weekend. They let me sleep over anyway. Thanks, guys.

Good times, good times. I'm happy I went, very happy with the 2 podium appearances and most of all happy to be home in one piece!

Long Ride

Yesterday, I set out for a long, interval-heavy ride on my mountain bike. I rode my Titus Fireline (my hardtail) the 10 miles to Peaked Sports and traded it for my full-suspension Racer-X. Super-hubby had just finished putting it together, so I had a great new toy to distract me from the pain that lay ahead.
I tested a different xc warm-up from Eric on the road ride out to Horseshoe. After my slow start at the Deer Valley NMBS we put our heads together and figured that my warmups haven't been long enough for my tree-trunk like thighs. He upped it to 1:20min from 50 min and added more intense efforts. Ouch. It went as well as those kinds of efforts can go. After 2 hrs of riding I was ready wail on some hill repeats. For all you training nerds, I did 4 x 10min efforts, switching between max effort and Z5a. Double ouch.

Thankfully, I had this great view to distract me. It's hard to hurt too badly when you're in a field of gorgeous wildflowers up to your hips with the Grand Teton looming in the background. I was rewarded with some ripping singletrack to test the new Racer-X. Oh my, this ride is so sweet - it will soon get an entry in which I will profess my love for all its abilities. I pedaled home on the road via the Cedron Loop basking in how incredibly green the valley is right now. This road is such a gem. Hardly any cars and fields and fields of green, green, green.

Speaking of green, my garden is actually growing! Who knew?

4th of July in Kremm-tucky

We were fortunate to spend the 4th with my family in Kremmling, CO after the Firecracker 50. My sister and her husband recently bought a house there and my parents came in to visit for the weekend. Nate had a blast ripping around on his dirt bike with my brother-in-law and I got to explore some great trails around Keystone. They proudly call the place Kremm-tucky and if you ever go to visit, you'd know why. (Awakening to the neighbor's turkey is something I could probably get used to.)

I think the highlight of the weekend was my sister (who is 8 months pregnant) showing my mother (who has never shot a firework in her life) how to light and shoot a bottle rocket out of her hand.

The town's fireworks display was launched from the top of the butte right in front of their house. Since Alyson and Dave's house has the best view of the show, the BBQ was held at their house. They didn't own a grill large enough to accommodate the crowd, so they borrowed one from a neighbor. Why waste any energy getting it off the truck when it's just going right back on?

Firecracker Fitty

Ho hum, I wish it had gone better. But after hearing the stories of all the mechanical carnage on the course, I know it could have been worse.

The Summary: I flatted while in 5th place, lost about 20 min, dropped back to 13th and fought back up to 8th. I finished in just over 5 hours. I crashed so hard I have a bruise the size and shape of Texas on my thigh and hit my noggin' hard enough to give me a headache and break the visor off of my helmet. I am going to come back in 2009 with 2.3 downhill tires and a jersey full of tubes and CO2 so I can strategically hide them in key locations all over the course a week in advance.

The Details: A great way to spend the 4th! 800 racers lined up for this event and throngs of people lined the course to see us off. The race was the start of Breckenridge's 4th of July parade and it was a very rare treat to have people around that actually care that there was a mountain bike race happening. My parents were also there and even though I know they would cheer for me even if I was dead last in a knitting contest, it was great to have their support.

We started off with a paved climb up to a dirt road climb. I hung for a very short while in a paceline with Pua, Jenny Smith, Gretchen Reeves and the eventual winner, Sari Anderson. I quickly fell off the back, knowing it was a pace I couldn't, and shouldn't, hold. I settled into the 6 mile opening climb and waited for my legs to warm up.....and waited....and waited.

I made it to the 2nd aid station where Nate told me I was just 3 min. off the lead. I soon passed Pua who was standing on the side of the trail with her chain in her hands. She eventually would have to abandon. Bummer. Had everything gone her way, I know she would have won the race.

I started the descent into Aid station #3 riding too fast for my own good, but I was determined to make up lost time. I was descending behind some slower men on some nasty, loose dirt double track and couldn't see the trail very well because it was so dusty. I went for it anyway, caught the 5th place gal, passed her, then gapped her on the descent. I caught and passed a few more men and then caught up to one who wouldn't let me around. I decided to take a rough line to pass him and that's when I slammed a rock with my rear wheel and heard psssssssstttt. What?? I'm running heavy duty tubeless tires with a generous amount of stan's. No WAY!

I am so naive.

Lesson # 1: Flatting without a tube, stan's and all, is slower than carrying the negligible weight of a tube for 5 hours. Duh.

When I finally slowed to a stop, my tire was spraying stan's all over the trail like a sprinkler. I worked on it for a good 5 minutes, trying to get it to seal with my CO2, but no dice - and I didn't have a tube. I thought that UST tires would negate the possibility that I would even need one. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I rode roughly 7 pounds of pressure for the next 10 minutes down some really sketchy loose rock sections of trail, crashed once, and barely made it to the next aid station. Nate tried to get it to seal as well and had no luck. He threw in a tube lightening-fast like a pro, pumped it up to 37psi (rough riding for the rest of the day) and after about a 20 min delay, I was on my way again.

As I watched Nate fix my flat (thanks, honey) I knew I had a decision to make. Feel sorry for myself, say the race is over 1:30 in, and give up or deal with it and move on? Well, I'd always prefer to finish DFL than not at all when given the option. I had a quick pity-party for myself, yammered to Nate that I had just moved up to 5th and this sucked, yadda-yadda-yadda, blah-blah-blah, got back on my bike and started the long fight to catch back on.

Nate is so, so, so wonderful to me all the time, especially in races. But for this race he was an exceptional rockstar. I still don't know how he did it, but he managed to race me to the bottom and meet me on the opening climb with an extra tube for the next lap. We were afraid that I would miss my next feed because he had left the aid station at the top, so I chugged a bottle of recovery drink right then and there and went on my way.

Lesson #2: never chug anything before a climb.

I set out for the 6 mile climb and spent the next 30 min trying not to vomit. Then I gave up trying....I felt so sick I was convinced that I would have to abandon. I was trying for the first time ever to drink recovery drink mid-race to get the protein I needed for the longer effort, thinking it would help me stay more hydrated than eating bars. I won't be doing that again.

I started feeling better on the last part of the climb and managed to finally pass a number of girls who had passed me when I flatted on the way to aid station #2. I rode/walked with a gal on the hike-a-bike section and we went back and forth for a while on the climb. I finally pulled away from her when I was able to ride a section that she walked. I passed another girl on the descent to the last aid station, putting me in 8th place. I kept the battle going on the last section of downhill, convinced that I could catch another woman. Well, I was going waaaaay too fast entering into the last section of single track, aired off the entry from the road to the trail (which I had planned and enjoyed while I was in the air) but then landed immediately into a corner that during the pre-ride was solid, but after 800 racers had hammered on it all day, was looser and deeper than I expected. I washed out onto my left side, hence the Texas sized bruise, hit my head really hard and got a wake up call to slow-the-*#$&-down, increasing my chances of finishing in one piece.

Nate was at the finish shortly thereafter to wipe the dirt off my face and out of my nose and to congratulate me on a good fight. I had to agree with him-even though I made a bunch of mistakes, flatted and crashed twice, I had a blast and I never, ever gave up trying. I learned a boat-load of lessons during my first marathon race, the most important one being that I love this style of racing and can't wait to do more of them! It's like a really, really hard xc race, but longer, and like a 100-miler but your butt/hands/head/toes/back/eyeballs/legs/wrists don't hurt as much. A very happy in-between.

Could I have made the podium had everything gone my way? Waste of thought. I'll never know. It took the eventual 5th place finisher at least 10 min to catch up to me when I flatted. But that's mountain bike racing. It's a great and rare day when everything goes right. My teammate Andy Schultz was leading the men's race when he flatted and had to drop out. My other teammate Heather Holmes who is SO strong and has been riding really, really well lately couldn't even start because she was really sick the morning of the race. Tons of pro men and women pulled out because of mechanicals. My story is typical and most likely boring when compared to the other stories that went on out there all day. That's why this sport is so darn rad.

Endurance mountain bike racing gets people of all ages and abilities amped to get out there and ride, to push their limits and to have an adventure. An epic ride gives us all a good story to tell over a cold beer at the finish line. I think this is the heart-and-soul of our sport and I know that it is what will keep it thriving way into the future. How do I know? Even though all my training this year has concentrated on preparing for short XC races, as soon as I finished I was already starting to contemplate my next 100-miler. If anyone is planning on driving to the Breck 100 in two weeks, give me a ring.

Race Report: NMBS #4 Deer Valley: The Good, the Not So Good and the Randomly Really Good

This past weekend I drove the "short" (4.5 hrs-not bad for a National) way for the 4th race on the Nat'l Mountain Bike Series at Deer Valley. This is by far my favorite venue of the series. The trails are great fun, the lodging is close by and the vibe is positive. I had the good fortune of staying in a condo a stone's throw away from my team tent thanks to my friends at Peaked Sports in Driggs, ID.
I arrived at this race with some hesitation: I broke a rib in a crash right off the start line at the last national and had only raced once at the Teva Games (total disaster) in the past 6 weeks. After 2 days of pre-riding the xc course and having the Kenda/Titus/Hayes' new team mechanic, Paul Clark, fiddle endlessly with my mystery shifting problem I was feeling good and ready to go. Praise be to Paul! He's a phenomenal mechanic and a really nice person to boot. We're lucky to have him.
XC Race: The Good
Well, the start wasn't so good...I missed my left pedal 4 times at the start. (New shoes 2 days earlier-rookie mistake.) I tried to stay calm as everyone charged past me up the grueling opening climb. When I got to the bottom of the final 1/4 of the climb, I was greeted by a rabid cheering section (thanks Pete, Kayla and Jess) screaming, running and letting loose on the cowbells. Go time! I hit the gas, passed a bunch of gals and made it to the single track in about 17th position. I spent the entire next lap tailing much slower descenders, unable to go for the pass on the single track. Argh.
I just couldn't get my legs going in the first lap. By the middle of the second lap, however, my legs finally started to come around. I finally passed the gals who were gapping me on the climbs and slowing me on the descents 1/2 way through the 2nd lap. As the race went on I just started feeling better and better and the girls behind me seemed to be fading. They were no longer making up time on me on the climbs. I cruised into the finish line in 10th place, my career best in a National. The real victory for the day? It was the first time in 6 weeks that I wasn't riding in agony-I could breathe, stand up and pedal and let 'er rip on the descents without feeling like someone was poking me in the side with a branding iron. Priceless.
Short Track: The Not So Good
Not my best effort. I had a bout of bad luck on the opening climb-the girl in front of me came to a dead stop on a steep loose climb and I had to get off my bike, run up the hill and got passed by almost the entire field. My bad. I should have chose a more conservative line, but short track is all about gambling...My legs were like wet noodles and I didn't have the mojo to chase back on. I was pulled for the first time ever about 1/2 way through. Lesson learned and excellent motivation for the next one. Getting pulled blows.
Super D(ownhill):The Randomly Really Good
Why so random? I had only done one Super D in my life (Sea Otter) and it wasn't really part of the weekend's game plan. This one was rumored to be super gnarly with about 50 feet of pedaling total. I sealed my own fate before I rode the course - I had to sign up Friday morning to get a ride up the lift and I'm not one to waste and entry fee. Then, after my sub-par short track performance I was looking for redemption. I mounted a pair of 2.3 Kenda Nevegals and went for a practice run. The conservative XC racer weenie in me should have packed it in right then and there. It scared the bee-jesus out of me but what else did I have to do on a Sunday afternoon besides loosening my fillings on a stupid-technical Super D course?
I went to the start and started having doubts: a photographer from cyclingnews.com begged me to ride back down the lift with him. That's when I realized I was the ONLY person on the hill on a hardtail-most had downhill or 5inch+ bikes, pads and full face helmets. Good Lord. I lined up on a titanium hardtail in a skinsuit and got nothing but looks of sympathy (and perhaps some giggles). Even the official made me promise to him that I would at least have fun. Right. I nailed the running start, kept with my mantra "smart and fast", didn't scare myself too badly and got 5th. I got to share my first National podium of my career with a bunch of downhillers. Totally random and really, really fun.

Next up: The Firecracker 50, the Marathon National Championships in Breckenridge, CO. 50 miles at elevation 9500-11,500 feet. What a way to ring in the 4th of July! I'm hoping that my endurance background will help me survive this sufferfest. It usually takes me a good 2 hours to warm up on most courses, so that should give me almost 3 hours to catch back on.