Barking Spider

Why would I want to drive 6 hours each way to race in Boise this weekend? After just having been on the road for 3 weeks and a 16hr drive to Sea Otter on the horizon I was ready to stay home.

At least that's what I said when Sarah Kaufman (one of my favorite racers in the whole wide world) asked me about the Wild Rockies race in Nampa, ID and if I was going. Nope, I was on a rest week.

But then the idea took on a life of its own. I asked my coach if it was a good idea and he enthusiastically said yes, great intensity. Then Nate said he would love to visit our friends who live there and get in some riding on dry trails. Then I got myself an appointment with the master of all things bike-fit, Tom Coleman of Wobble-Naught, we scheduled a dinner date with very good friends who we hadn't seen in ages (as in they have a 7month old we hadn't met yet) and I was sold. Suddenly, I couldn't wait to get to Boise.

The Barking Spider (hold your giggles, please) was the first race of the Wild Rockies series and was a true sufferfest. It was 28 miles of loose and hard-pack sand, lots of stupid-steep short climbs and a few loooong climbs on double track that just went forever and ever. There was some fun singletrack through a wash, but it was pretty darn sandy, making it about a 50/50 split of enjoyment vs. sketchyness to rail to corners. Half of me enjoyed the twisty-turny features, the other half was scared of coming off the lips of the berms into the loose sand pits and folding my front wheel.

Like all cyclists out west, I have been riding in a lot of really windy conditions this year. But Saturday was just plain obscene. After the gusts up to 50mph at the Fontana National and almost getting blown off the Hurrican Rim in Southern UT a few days after, I thought I had ridden in it all. Nope. Idaho has its own brand of wind. It doesn't gust as there is nothing out there like trees or buttes or hills to slow it down. It just hammers at you steadily and relentlessly. Saturday was like that. Steady 30 mph coming directly at us on every single climb. Poor Nate stood in the feedzone with a huge puffy down coat and a hat on and probably should have brought his ski goggles too.


There was a small but strong pro field. I managed to ride off the front about 5 min. into the race and that's where I stayed. Alone. In the wind. All day. During lap 2 I had to give myself a good pep talk when I was suffering like a dog. It started out something like "You pansy, just pedal and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You signed up for this, remember?" That didn't work. So I moved onto "Just deal. Breathe. You are racing. Just race." Nope, that didn't help either. Approach #3 was what finally got me out of my hurting head-space: "It's not supposed to feel good. If you felt good, you would be slacking. Make it hurt MORE. That's the point." Ahhhhh, that was the money phrase. Embrace it.

I ended up winning by a healthy margin and came away with a great mental training day. I didn't get pissed at the wind. I managed to embrace the discomfort that was oozing out of every inch of my body and actually ask my body to take on more.

The day pretty much solidified my believe in Sports Psychology. Granted, I am currently working on getting a masters in the subject so I should be a believer. But still, it's pretty powerful stuff to realize that your brain runs the show. Yes, I was suffering. Yeah, the wind was obscene. But it was my choice how that affected my experience out there. If the body says no, the brain can still tell it yes. Cool.

Speaking of brain training, I spent Sunday with Tom Coleman of Wobble-Naught. I knew this guy was a master of bike fitting and I had had a Wobble-Naught fitting years ago and loved it, but holy-moly did I walk away with a significant amount of knowledge. I was there all day and we didn't even get to my road bike. I ended up choosing a different saddle, moving my saddle height up, back and changing the angle as well, decided to switch to a flat bar with a more negative-drop stem, changed my grips placement and moved my cleats. So yup, everything had been wrong! We we even video taped and analyzed my pathetic pedal stroke and body position. Seeing how bad my form is on film was an eye opener. Lots to work on and lots to improve there.

Now it's a mad dash to unpack to repack so we can leave for Sea Otter. I am flying out to the Cohutta 100 from California so I have to think about packing for a XC, Short track and life in host housing for a week to a flight across the country to race a 100-miler unsupported somewhere in Georgia/Tennessee out of one bag and a bike box. Now where's that packing list...

Team Kenda/Felt lookin' all pro in Fontana