Green Mountain Cross

Williston, VT was a great place to open my UCI cross season. Great courses, strong fields and 2 days of polar-opposite conditions made for a tough weekend of racing.



I had good-not-great-races both days. On Saturday, I was able to overcome a near last row call up and make it up to about 8th wheel by the first corner. Sweet. I battled in a group for a bit that was dangling off of first place, but got spit out the back after about 2 laps and rode solo the rest of the race. Ugh. Tough place to be on a windy day. Watching the 3 ahead of you work together and feeling the group of 4 behind you working together to catch you is rather unsettling. The course was full of flat to slightly uphill sections of grass and wasn't very technical, just climby.

I put my mtb skills to work and rode the run up that consisted of a super-steep pitch with 3 log steps to climb up and over, making up valuable time. I managed to burp a rear tire on one of the 3 rocks on the entire course while flying downhill. My bad-total pilot error. I had to ride a lap with 12 psi in the rear, loosing that recently gained valuable time, hampering my chasing efforts. You just can't rail a corner with low pressure squirming under you. However, I got to practice a trip to the pits for bike change. With Nate's help it went off flawlessly. Rode a lap on the B bike and pulled into the finish solo for 5th place.


Sunday's race was a totally different story. It rained lightly all night and we woke up to pouring rain in the a.m. I was psyched. I'm not particularly good at riding in mud as western mtb conditions typically provide dry, dusty trail conditions. However, I dig it because mud evens the playing field and really is just a heck of a lot more fun than fast grass. Sunday's course also had a lot of climbing but the mud and slick grass made for a totally different ride.

I got a second row call up and blew it. I had a terrible start, dug myself in a deep hole early and had to chase the entire first lap. My brain just didn't register that a race was going on. I crawled back up slowly passing people and then battled for 4th for a while. I made up time in the corners and technical sections and lost time on the long, sustained slight uphills on the grass. Seems my weaknesses in mountain biking are carrying into my cross season...Rebecca Wellons threw down some impressive power and shed me with a about a lap and a half to go. I rode in solo and had to settle for another 5th place. However, my efforts gave me the very valuable UCI points I was looking for! This is especially important for my next 2 race weekends, Gloucester and Providence.

Today we're heading off to a friend's place in Martha's Vineyard for a few days of sailing, paddle boarding and burning through all the good books I don't get to read while I am buried in graduate work.

Crossin' with the Locals

I think I have stumbled into cyclocross heaven on the North Shore of Massachusetts.

Backing up...Nate and I pulled into Ipswich with 5 bikes, a tired dog, and a recently completed 20-page research paper at 3am this past Friday. Got a few hours of sleep, had breakfast with the folks, went for a run, unpacked some bags, got on the bike for some intervals, jumped into the shower and sped off to a wedding. (One of the best weddings ever, by the way. Thanks Rella and Greg :)

The next day we went searching for a bike shop and stumbled upon Stu Thorne's place about 15 min. away. He runs cyclocrossworld.com and a team of some of the greatest cross racers in the country out of his shop in Beverly, Pinnacle Bikes. Needless to say, after spending an hour in there with him my bikes and cross season were off to a very good start. He was endlessly helpful and helped Nate and I choose lots of extra bells and whistles to turn my 2 Giant TCX0s into some pretty mean cross machines. He also clued me into a race that was happening the next day and to the local cross practice going on in the state park 5 mi. from my house every Wednesday. Great, great guy.

Like I said, cyclocross heaven.

Nate worked really hard to put my bikes together in time for me to go to Suckerbrook Cross the following day in Auburn, NH. First ride on the new bike, ever and what better way to figure it all out than to get anerobic and fumble around for 45 min. with 20 other fast women. All in all, I had a good race and I know what I need to work on. Mostly, I just need experience, something I pretty much have none of at the moment.

A lot of it is just getting back into cross mode-like nailing your starts (which I learned is key as I lined up DFL b/c I was fiddling with my tire pressure last minute), having the clarity of mind to get up out of the saddle and hammer after corners and to make the race happen, not let the race happen to you. I got caught behind a huge pile up after the first off camber corner allowing the lead 5 to go off the front immediately while the rest of us track standed. I chased as hard as I could, but could never quite make contact with the lead group and had to settle for 4th. Good news is that my skills and footwork are there. Thankfully, the running guru Eric has had me on a fantastic running program for the last month and it is making a HUGE difference. I'll have to write more about that later. He's soooo onto something there...

Anyway, after stopping in at the podium for a nice check (although women still get the shaft in payouts in comparison to the men in cross, the money is far better here than mountainbiking!) We had to boogie to go get to Foxboro to attend my b-day present:



I have been a rabid u2 fan since the 5th grade. They have always been my "desert island" band-you know the answer to the question "If you were stuck on a desert island and could only listen to one band for the rest of your life who would it be?" I would also answer to that question the more specific "...only one album..." (Joshua Tree of course).


It was sheer coincidence that they would be playing in the Boston area the same time we were there, on my birthday weekend. I'm really not much of a b-day person....I was so wrapped up in finishing a graduate paper I almost forgot my own b-day...but 2 tickets, general admission (allowing us to get SUPER close) was the best b-day present EVER. Thanks, Nate :)

Best concert I have ever seen. And I have seen a LOT of live music. Bono and his pals sure do know how to put on a good show. Total sensory overload. There must have been over 30,000 people there and I think they would all agree that U2 is in a class of its own. It doesn't hurt that they put their talent and fame to good use by bringing awareness to obscure issues like Burma's political struggles and raise endless amounts of money to combat poverty, AIDS and lack of education all over Africa. Things that most Americans never, ever think about. That stuff typically gets bumped out of the Yahoo headlines by stupid crap like which hollywood actor just checked into rehab.

Week one of this whole east coast experiment has been a very, very good thing. Next up is my first ever UCI cross race, the Green Mountain Cross Festival, part of the Verge series this Saturday and Sunday. Hup, hup buttercups!

Dan, this one's for YOU!

Some of Lance's Tour Jerseys at the LIVESTRONG Foundation.

It's funny how busy I became once the mountain bike race season ended. I immediately jumped into training for cross, getting equipment ordered and dialed, working on sponsorship for next year, and packing my bags for the east coast. (A huge, special thanks to Nate (of course), to Peaked Sports and to Giant for helping me pull it all together!) Loading up the car with 5 bikes, husband, dog and provisions for the next 2.5 months after a night of being violently ill with food poisoning was a bit intense.

Let me back up and tell a few other tales.

A few weeks ago I got a call inviting me to travel with a few of my Kenda/Tomac teammates to Austin, TX to meet with some potential sponsors for 2010. We also had the chance to tour the Lance Armstrong Foundation's new building and let me tell ya...If I worked there I would probably still be happily working in the nonprofit world. They have no sick days, no vacation time, no office hours, no separate offices. Totally Lance's style: get your S*$t done, take time off when you need it and no questions asked. Totally rad working environment, plus the building is 100% LEED certified. We also visited his new bike shop, Mellow Johnny's, in downtown Austin. Super cool space for sure. In addition to an impressive collection of bikes (both new and vintage), it also has showers, lockers and free bike storage for anyone who commutes by bike into downtown Austin.
Funny story about this photo. I had just taken my seat on the plane to Austin and a nice gentleman passed to me a copy of a new magazine "Women's Cycling." He said "You looked like a cyclist. Enjoy " and quickly took his seat. I guess I can't hide the size of my quads, even in nice dress pants. Anyway, I read the entire magazine, was about to put it away into the back of the seat in front of me when I caught a glimpse of the back cover and there is a picture of ME on it! Small world. I tracked the guy down in the baggage claim area, told him that I was on the back cover of his magazine and we had a good laugh at the coincidence. He then told me he was on his way to a party for the magazine's opening at the Mellow Johnny's shop. Of course we had to go to that one!

So, check the magazine out. Carson Blume is a very talented photographer and cycling enthusiast. He has a great vision and has put together a beautiful publication : Women's Cycling Magazine.

The next part of the trip was incredibly surreal: a much shorter version of a very long story...I went mountain biking with George W. Bush on his ranch in Crawford, TX! Andy, Colin and I and and our team manager got a special invite to go up to Crawford and go on one of the most epic group rides I have ever been on. Why so epic? It rained 8 inches in the total 2 days before we got there so the conditions were gnarly, but then again even without the rain, riding for 3 hours with secret service tailing you in tricked out 4 wheelers and stopping for viewpoints in which the President tells you about "the time I brought Putin here" or "I also brought Tony Blair to this spot" was pretting flippin' rad.

Regardless of my political affiliation, riding with an ex-president was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. I had the opportunity to ride and speak with the President at length and found him to be an extremely gracious and nice man who was very proud of his ranch and all of the good work they have been doing out there. Oh yeah and he HAMMERS. Seriously, he gets after it on a bike and is pretty darn fit. He also has an incredible network of trails built on his property. He was nice enough to tour us around for hours and hours in really sloppy conditions telling story after story about the ranch, Cindy Sheehan and putting his secret service detail through the ringer. I could tell SO many stories about that day...if you want to hear them, I'll need your social security #, your credit history....kidding. Just kidding. Let's share a beer after the next cross race and I'll tell you the tales.

However, my favorite quote of the day had to have been when I overheard a Secret Service guy talking into his secret little radio saying "I can no longer cover the President. I am cramping."

Me, Mrs. Bush and Barney

I am working on getting some other photos of the team and me with Mr. President and will get those up when I can. It was SO muddy I couldn't ride with my iPhone. Here's a post ride shot one of the 2-wheeled Air Force One:

I know I say this all the time, but I promise to post more in the next few weeks. I have a 3 week break from school and have lots of exciting cross racing coming up. I have moved to the east coast until Thanksgiving to live the cross dream! I grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts and my parents still live here. So, I have moved the operation to New England for the fall so I can hit 2 UCI cross races every weekend within an hour or two from my parent's house. Unfortunately, even with the coolest race on the planet, Moose Cross down the street from my home in Idaho, there just isn't a competitive local cross scene for the ladies. So, instead flying every weekend with 2 bikes ($175 per bike EACH WAY) to get to a competitive UCI race, I have moved my show to the east coast to race on a budget. Mom's cooking, Crane's beach, free dog sitting for when I travel and all my childhood friends to hang out with doesn't hurt either :)

Saving the Best for Last: Park City Point to Point

Race start at Quinn's Junction. 180 racers signed up for this first-year event-not too shabby!

My mountain bike season is DONE. Yesterday I raced the Park City Point to Point and I couldn't think of a better way to close my '09 mountain bike season. Phenomenal race organization, 75 miles + of world class single track and lots of friends to race and hang out with both during and after the race. It didn't hurt that I had a great day on the bike, too. A big pat on the back and a thank you goes out to Shannon Bofelli and the entire crew of staff and volunteers who made this race such a great experience for all. This race is destined to become a classic. Tons of schwagg, perfect course, great course markings and equal payout to the men and women. They also threw a ton of support to the Mountain Trails Foundation, the group responsible for the crazy sick singletrack network in Park City.

Heather and I teaming up at the start. She raced the 1st half of a duo team. It was nice to have a fellow Kenda buddy to chase around.

Other than the fact that my fork blew out at mile 38, all went "smoothly". My upper body/hands/wrists/forearms/shoulders got more of a workout than they bargained for. I couldn't help but laugh to myself that my Tomac Carbide SL (I am sooooo in love with that bike) was kind of like riding a mullet-all business up front and party in the rear. Piloting a 1/2 rigid bike was a total trip, kind of like the anti-hardtail. It was weird to ride it through the uber rocky second half of the course, but it all worked out. I just had to turn down the volume significantly on the descending and be extremly picky about my line choice.

It was a hard race. As us Massholes like to say, it was wicked frickin' hard. The climbing was relentless and the descending provided lots of fun but no rest whatsoever. That's what happens on a course that's 98% singletrack. Enjoyable, but very taxing.

Last finish line of 2009...until Iceman

Honestly, there was no logical reason whatsoever for me to have had a good day. I have been hitting the training for cross hard in the last 2 weeks, consistently doing 2-a-days with running in the a.m. and short, high-intensity interval rides in the afternoon. I came in pretty tired and had zero expectations other than to try to enjoy the best race course I have EVER raced on. Park City is seriously as good as it gets. Maybe I have come up with a good race-prep formula for next year? I know bike racing ain't rocket science, but sometimes I am so completely baffled about why good and bad days happen.

Team Fitzy from Jackson/Teton Valley getting ready to put the hurt on the locals. These are the types of really good folks endurance races are filled with, making me feel like I should quit XC racing and focus 100% on endurance.

Now it's time to put the mountain bike away for a bit, pull out the cross bike even more and build myself a set of barriers in the backyard. 2 more weeks until we leave for the east coast!

Oh yeah, I came in second place overall in 8hrs, 14min, only 39 min behind Pua. I expected her to beat me by at least an hour, so the final result wasn't nearly as demoralizing as I thought it would be.