Tis the Cross Season

Where does the time go? Even though I haven't been "racing" I have been plenty busy. We took a whirlwind, 6-day trip to the east coast in which we went to a wedding, visited my parents and Nate's mom, and (my favorite part) went up to visit my bestest girlfriend from college, Hope. She and her hubby James and little one Forest live in the dead center of the legendary Kingdom trails in East Burke, VT and we did multiple rides right out their door. I'm already planning when/how I am going to move in next summer! Hope is currently growing twins that will be ready in just a few months, so I figure she can use the help when she has 3 little ones in diapers. I'll just have to resist the urge to ride 5 hrs a day if I am there to help....

James, our guide, host, legendary high school English teacher and official member of the Kingdom trails patrol. He showed us the best of the best.

Nate on a rented 29er dually in VT. I think he needs
to make the swap to big wheels.

Ladies line up for Moosecross

What else? A few weeks ago I raced Moosecross, a double day of cross racing right down the street. Coming fresh off a 10-day break and only 1 day of cx practice I was surprised and pleased with how my body handled the 45 min of pure pain. Victor Velo put on a great show and I was so, so happy I decided to skip Gloucester and race at home instead. I won both days and got some good schwagg:

In the middle of all this, Nate's been ordering parts and building bikes like a maniac. He got my new cross bike up and running last week which meant a trip to Boise to visit Tom Coleman at Wobblenaught. It's become a borderline obsession, but I don't let anyone but Tom touch my bike fit. He's now fit my 29er hardtail, my 5" Virtue, my road bike, my old cross bikes and now this beauty, the new Felt 15x (mine is a bit different: American Classic wheels, Rotor Q rings, FSA components and red bar tape!)

So, we headed to Boise to spend an afternoon with Tom where he worked his bike fit magic and also taught me a thing or two about how to race cross. Oh boy, my poor brain has a long way to go especially coming from a 100-mile MTB season, but hey practice makes perfect!


Saturday I had my first go of it on my new bike and the new fit at the SICX race in Kuna. Both were totally awesome. Tom even came and videotaped my racing so that we could do some post-race analysis. Lots to learn and even more to practice but the race itself was awesome and I went home with a lot more knowledge and even more motivation to improve my cross racing skills.

The course itself was awesome-about 85% grass, and it just twisted and turned relentlessly back and forth onto itself. The cat. 1 ladies started with the men, meaning I had crowds to race with and also had to go for a full 60 min. I felt great and had a great day, coming in first, but more importantly getting that motivating taste of true cross I need before the USGP this weekend.

Nate and I stayed in Boise to watch Boise state slay San Jose 47-0 and then headed out early to catch the local training series race in Sun Valley on Sunday morning. Not nearly as fun as the day before. Not even close. But hey, that's what cross can be all about-you don't have to like the course to suffer like a dog and bleed out your eyeballs.

My super-supporter and I pre-race. Nate will be on hand for most of my big races this year. Yeah! Cross is hard enough. Doing it on your own is just plain stupid hard. He makes it a lot easier and a heck of a lot more fun!

This afternoon begins my month-long odyssey of fall racing: I fly to Louisville from Denver for the USGP this weekend (lining up in the back will be sooooo much fun), return to Colorado and stay there to visit my sister and her kiddos, hang out in Boulder with my most awesomest teammate Judy to race the UCI races in Boulder, fly to Iceman (the greatest MTB race of the year) and then return to Colorado to race the USGP in Ft. Collins.

My car looks ridiculous: a pika double carrier with 2 packed cross bikes, a hard case for my 29er, my 29er, my road bike and all the things one needs for a month long road trip that includes cross racing, family time, halloween parties, mountain bike racing and enough of a wardrobe so that I don't get laughed out of the People's Republic of Boulder. Cross season 2011 has officially begun!