Jingle Cross Rocked

What a great weekend of racing. Our Thanksgiving travel day and also the return trip were both quite hellish but hey, I've had a really good year of travel luck in terms of bike racing, so I consider this a deposit into my Karmic Travel Bank for the future. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow but it did include lost bags on both ends, overnights in strange cities, anaerobic sprint efforts to make connections (in which we failed) and me wishing I hadn't forgotten to pack a toothbrush in my carry on. But, because we had late arrivals and were majorly "inconvenienced" we walked away from the trip with $800 in travel vouchers from Delta. But that means we have to fly Delta again. Oh well. We made it back and forth to Iowa City eventually and sometimes that's all you can ask of the airlines

About the racing...dang, Jinglecross was a riot of a good time! Best courses I have ridden all year. I can't remember ever needing to ride behind my saddle in a cross race. The promoters put together some serious courses that absolutely delighted the mountain biker in me. All 3 days had us going up and down the biggest mountain in Iowa City, Mt. Krumpit, which made for some entertaining but gut wrenching climbing, run-ups and descending. The courses never actually seemed to go straight for very long which was rad.

Saturday's runup was brutal. Photo by S. Fuller.

This video is from the first lap of Friday night's race. As you can see, my habit of blowing my 2nd row starts has me way behind the lead pack and in traffic. This descent was slicker than snot on a side hill but I looked forward to it every lap. You can see me come roaring in about 32 sec in with Linda Sone on my inside. She was already out of her pedals and a bit OOC (out of control) and T-boned me. Yikes. Although her crash was more spectacular than mine:

I somehow got going again but rode more than a lap before I realized that I had a rubbing brake so badly in the rear that when I finally did pit and hand the bike off to Nate, he couldn't even spin the wheel. I somehow battled my way up to 4th place anyway. I gapped Kaitlin on the last climb up Krumpit and was probably descending the last trip down too cocky....I lost my front wheel on the first turn, slid out hard and she caught back on. Doh. We went into the finishing stretch together with me leading out the "sprint" (I admittedly have no sprinting ability whatsoever) and she got me by 1/2 a wheel. I settled for 5th but stoked on the day.

Saturday was a rough day for me. It had a heinous run up and I woke up just feeling off. Not much else to say there. It was my hardest fought 9th place ever. Sunday was way better. I came with my head in the game and didn't completely blow my start (just a little). I continued my pattern of slow starts and made my way from 12th to 6th by the end of the race. I passed Devon and Teal in the last lap, but couldn't quite shut it down to Ashley in front of me by 10 sec.

I finished the weekend with many new lessons and lots of new bruises. There were sooooo many places on that course to eff yourself up and I seemed to take advantage of all of them. My legs are dotted with new bruises, both shoulders are dinged up from hitting trees and the ground, my knee is swollen still from clipping a post with it, and I have a pretty painful bruised rib (I've had broken ones before-this definitely ain't broken). After a week of skiing and not having ridden outdoors at all, I couldn't really ask to not hit the deck a few times on courses this challenging!

All the photos in this post were taken by a mystery photographer, S. Fuller who kindly put them all up on Flicker for us to enjoy. Here are some additional shots he took of my bike before the start on Saturday:

On the road again tomorrow to drive to Portland for the last USGPs of the season. From there, I'll stay on for Nationals the following weekend. I can hardly believe that my 2010 season is a mere 4 races away from being over. Although I have to drive 12 hrs to get there, after this past travel weekend I am eternally grateful that I need not board a plane again in 2010!

Teton Style Cross Training

I take it all back. That ending of my last post, that is. Skiing couldn't wait.

Waaaaaaay better than the trainer

I should back up to last week first. I got home from the USGP in Ft. Collins after a month away and was very excited to be headed home until I saw all the snow on the ground. Sometimes, life as a pro biker racer living in the Tetons is tough. The only day I have ridden my bike outside since the USGP was at a local cross race this past Saturday, and that was in 4 inches of wet snow, i.e. the most miserable racing conditions imaginable. Although I jumped into the men's A race, got some good training in and even managed to win it, it didn't take much to convince me that skiing powder is significantly more satisfying than riding your bike in it.

It was really a series of weather and snow related events that forced me go skiing. On Friday, Nate mounted my new skis for me. On Saturday, I raced in Rexburg in totally heinous "I'm not having that much fun" snowy, muddy and freezing cold conditions. There was also a blinding blizzard going on all day Saturday. On Saturday night we braved the blizzard and went to the drive in movie theatre, the Spud, to watch the Teton Gravity Research double header of sic/gnar/bro-brah skiing movies in which we were bombarded with 3 hours of snow-based insanity and waist deep powder shots, some taken in locations we ski regularly. Parts of the last movie was even in 3D, which is why I had to wear these ridiculous glasses:

Sunday morning I woke up and like a good pro racer, put in a solid 2hr trainer effort. Totally effective, but overwhelmingly unsatisfying. I finished, showered, stretched, ate lunch and said to Nate "eff it-let's go skiing." After only one week of trainer rides I was craving this view more than the view from the trainer:So we went. And it was amazing. We barely got a spot at the top of the Pass at 3pm. Here's a shot of the lot at the top, also known at the Teton Pass Resort:

It's people power only, but this places gets unbelievably busy, especially before the Village opens. We had a great tour, did 2 laps on our early-season standby, Edelweiss, and then out the Nose. My new skis made me giddy. The depth of the snow pack was shocking. The weenie bike racer in me is always uber concerned with early season conditions (uncovered deadfall and rocks aren't good for knees!) but my fears have no justification this year. The BTNF avalanche center is reporting that we have the deepest snow at all elevations in the history of record keeping (since 1974) in Jackson Hole.

This shot looks more like February to me, not November.

It was so good on Sunday, we have skied every day this week. Even on Wednesday when it was -5 at the top of the Pass. Will it be good for my racing in Iowa this weekend? Who knows? The only thing I do know is that I always race better when I am content, psyched and training doesn't feel like a chore. I moved to Jackson Hole 10 years ago to be a ski bum and never left, so skiing clearly makes me happy. Spending time in the mountains with Nate makes me extra happy. And at this point of the cycling season, it simply HAS to be about having fun. So, we'll see how it all goes, but at this point I ain't sweating the small stuff. I'm just trying to stay stoked, healthy and making do with what mother nature throws at me. Seeing as she has thrown 130 inches of snow at us already this year, I'm going to go with it and enjoy the gift!

Race, Recover, Repeat: USGP Ft. Collins

It's that time of year for me. The time where building fitness is an elusive task, where the name of the game is race and recover and when I have to walk a very fine line of resting and training in the middle of a ton of travel and racing.

The pre-race week was no fun. No fun at all. Like I noted post Iceman, I had such a terrible flu I wouldn't have cared if I died on the couch. But, by Thursday I felt close to normal, albeit a little weak and was able to go for a little spin on my new wheels!

After the first few pedal strokes I knew what all the fuss was about. Words can't articulate the difference between my old set up (Stan's 355's set up tubeless) and my new American Classic Carbon 58s. Even during the mellow spin along the BLM back roads of Kremmling behind my sister's house I could tell one thing for sure: I just got faster through no additional effort or training-yahoo! A huge thanks to American Classic for hooking me up with some really nice wheels for cross season. And no, Felt and AC did not coordinate the color scheme on my behalf. But you have to admit, together they make one sexy combination:

Thanks to AC, Nate was also able to expand on his ever growing mechanical skill set by learning how to glue tubulars. I can't even fathom the stress of gluing tubies for the first time, but Nate was over the top diligent about doing it right. Rather than passing the buck to a local shop he did a ton of research and even took the time to go into Stu Thorne's shop in Mass. when we were home for a visit back in October to get advice from the legend himself. Again, how lucky am I to be married to such a great mechanic?!?

One more technical note on my bikes. Nate got me set up on some TRP CX9 brakes this year. He bought a few pairs at Interbike on the advice of some of the Giant mechanics-thank god for that because I hear they are so popular you can't find them. They are slightly heavier than cantis but the stopping power is unbelievable. They are so darn strong that I can now ride my cross bikes as I do my mountain bikes that have disc brakes (meaning I can brake harder, for shorter amounts of time which is way faster than dragging on them for longer). I love them and this weekend proved to me that they are at no disadvantage in the mud.

Oh, yeah, about the weekend of racing: The USGP series just rocks. Huge crowds, a ton of excitement, deep, deep fields and fantastic course design. The organization is totally dialed. Saturday's race brought the first real cross weather/conditions of the year: super muddy and cold! Strangely, even after practicing in the mud the previous weekend at Iceman, Saturday was the most I have struggled on a bike in a long time. I admittedly was running my psi in my first race on tubulars way too high and I suffered because of my poor decision. I know everyone struggled and it was a race of who bobbled the least, but I brought riding like a weenie to a new level on Saturday.

Post start line crash aftermath. This is the only reason you will ever see Meredith Miller and Laura Van Gilder behind me.

The course was a maze of off camber turns on what was originally grass before the snowstorm (read: deeply rutted mud) and although I felt fantastic, I rode like I had never seen mud before in my life. I averaged at least 2 crashes a lap, my most spectacular of them being in the last 1/2 lap where I straight lined into some course tape, endoed, got tangled and eventually lost 2 places to Nicole Duke and LVG because of it. But hey, that's cross for you. Despite getting caught behind 3 major wrecks in the first 1/2 lap and riding poorly I ended up in 14th.

I'm grateful that I got held up behind this, not in it! Thankfully Kathy, the one with her face on the pavement, was okay.

I knew I had a better ride in me on Sunday. I dropped my psi significantly and readjusted my headspace according to the slightly drier, more tacky conditions. I had a much better start and even though I was shed from the group that eventually came in 8-11th, I was happy with my post flu effort. Laura Van Gilder and I battled the entire last lap. I tried a measly attack on the last major hill of the course but was unable to shed her. And well, rolling into a finish line with Laura anywhere close to your wheel, either ahead or behind, we all know how that finish is going to go down. I came in 12th, 2 sec. behind LVG.

Nate was great in the pits even after racing his moto early that morning and battling his own version of the flu all week. We decided to spend the night again in Ft. Collins and went to a fun Brazilian restaurant for dinner to celebrate my Iceman win. Great wine, super food and the engaging eating experience of having multiple gauchos come to your table with various meat selections (ever tried wild boar???) was rad. After a long weekend of racing in the cold, it was the perfect ending to a month long road trip.

Now we're home for a week before heading to Jinglecross. Outdoor riding/training is definitely over for the year as it has been nuking snow since we got back, so it's time to make friends with the trainer again. Sigh. Oh well, less than 1 month until Nationals and then it'll be ski season during which I get to tele to my heart's content on possibly the most graphically offensive skis ever made (The Rossi S7s):

Nate will be mounting these fatties for me with Hammerhead's new free-pivot binding the Axl. I should probably ask him to not mount them until after Nationals so I can stay focused....right? Targhee opens this weekend, Jackson Hole the next weekend and I have been dreaming of powder skiing a lot lately. Soooo tempting. But, I think my cycling-specific fit body will freak out (i.e. be SORE) the first time I drop a knee so it's best to wait. The Farmer's Almanac has promised the deepest snow year in recent memory-I think I can wait 3 more weeks!

Finally, a True Iceman

It's taken me a little longer than usual to get the post race report up, but that's what happens when you have the flu. That's right, I've been celebrating my Iceman win with more than 48 hours of the "I could die now and not care" kind of feeling that only the flu can provide.

Moving on...Colt from Cyclingdirt came to this year's Iceman to see what all the fuss was about. He got some great event coverage, including a helmet cam of the men's event by JB. I don't think a person can really grasp the enormity of this event unless you attend, but he did a great job capturing the race vibe in general.

Yes, Iceman is in the boonies of Michigan in November. Yes, it's not the most technical of courses. But, it is hands down the most enjoyable and exciting race of my mountain bike season. Maybe it's the near 4,000 people who participate. Maybe it's because of the after party and the general assumption that if you are there you are there to party...but I can't stress enough that it's the atmosphere that makes this event so special.

On a side note, which I suppose shouldn't be so much of a side note, the promoters of Iceman deserve special recognition for their generous and equal payout. Every promoter gets to choose how to structure their payout and Iceman's promoters choose to reward the women and men equally. Thank you! As I rode the same course, raced the same distance and turned myself inside out to get to the finish line first just as Brian Matter did (congrats Brian, incredible ride to ride all those big names off your wheel!), it feels great to be recognized with an equal $3,500 paycheck. The payout was equal...10 DEEP equal! Amazing. I realize that it's in a tough spot in the calendar for mountain bikers. We're either deep into the off season or busy racing cross, but I encourage everyone to put this on your 2011 calendar. It's worth the trip and regardless of your fitness...it's worth the party!

Here's some of cyclingdirt's coverage:

Cyclingnews.com writeup is here

I had a great race. I went into it fit from racing some cross, determined and wanting to win. I had a made a solid game plan and executed it well. The only part that I did not factor correctly was the muddy and slippery conditions. I expected the thousands of racers who went before us to dry out the course more, but seeing as it was frozen when they raced and had just started to melt out when the pros went off at 2:30pm most of the course and all of the singletrack was a sloppy mess. I showed up with small block 8s on and only decided to switch to a Karma in the front and keep the SB8 in the rear at 9:30 the night before. Should have gone to both Karmas, but the only place I struggled was on the steep punchy hills throughout the course so it was all good.

I rode at the front as much as I could and just continued to ramp the pace up slowly. Soon the group had selected to 7, then to 5, then to 3. The singletrack definitely helped weed out the group. (Speaking of, that's where I started to pass a lot of the pro roadies. Male pro roadies from some vacuum cleaner company and another team that started with a "B". Iceman may be a lot of road, but I don't think you can hang if you don't have dirt skills!) Finally, it was just down to me and Sarah Kylander-Johnson. We were doing a good job of sharing the work, testing each other on the hills and putting time into 3rd. The singletrack started to get really messy and that's when I noted that my mud handling skills were going to give me an advantage. I put that in my head until the Williamsburg road crossing. I knew that this was the place to attack. I was feeling good, knew the course had a series of punchy rollers then a long series of flats which, if I could make a move stick and get out of sight, I could power away.

That's exactly what I did. Here's a great time to note the intensity of the Iceman crowds. This is where/when/why I attacked here:

The encouragement of the crowds, the cowbell and knowing I had it in me to attack made it the perfect opportunity. After hammering the 3 short climbs then powering away after the attack using everything Tom at Wobblenaught has taught me (thanks again, Tom) I got a gap and never looked back. From there (Mile 17) I knew that if I stayed out of sight, the race was mine to loose. I used all the energy I had to keep my bike working through the really muddy conditions, to not force shifts and to enjoy the experience. And enjoy it I did! Take a look at the men's finish just for the crowds-the last mile of the course was like this, lined with rabid (a perhaps a bit intoxicated) mountain bike fans:

The best part about the podium presentation was sharing my champagne with Gary Fisher. It was his 60th birthday, so I asked him to open the bottle for me. He did me the favor and also sprayed us all in the face with some pink bubbly. I was so stoked with the experience I had Gary sign the empty bottle for my trophy case.

There's a lot of great coverage out there, so I don't really want to continue on much longer. There's also a video of me lurking on somewhere Facebook smashing my Ice Trophy in the parking lot of the after party. I'll let you find that on your own. Thanks to my teammates and team manager for a great weekend and an even better post-race celebration. Another thanks to Jim at Kenda for making the trip fun and easy for us and for all his incredible support of our team.

I would be remiss if I didn't post this video of Colt kicking Andy and Colin's tails on the fixie rollers. That's right, the man behind the camera handed it to 2 pro mountain bikers:

Visit cyclingdirt.org for more Videos

Boulder CX Weekend

After a great weekend in Louisville, I was hoping for another great weekend in Boulder. Meh. Didn't happen.

Dave McElwaine photo at the Boulder Res

Saturday's course at the Boulder Res was about as interesting as watching paint dry in the grand scheme of cross courses. Few turns, nothing really technical and lots of sand. But hey, a course doesn't have to be interesting to make you suffer and race hard! I hear the views were awesome...but I was clearly riding with my head up my you-know-where and didn't take the time to appreciate them.

On Sunday, the crowds were thick, the Halloween vibe was strongly represented with great spectator costumes and the racing was exciting. There were too many crashes and mass pileups to count. I got caught behind a few and also caused a few of my own solo wipe outs.

Dave McElwaine photo at the Boulder Cup. Teal gets heckled by bigfoot and BIG crowds!

Sunday's course was killer. Who knew racing in a mall parking lot could be so challenging and fun? Lots of climbing, tons of off-camber grass and technical riding. I loved it but struggled with my tire choice and pressure, was sliding all over the place, wishing I had run something more aggressive and a lower psi. Oh well. 1/2 through my shifter came loose and was sliding down and across my bar-nothing race ending, but just enough to annoy my already not-there-brain. Just another day at the races: lessons learned, should-of-could-of post race laments and most importantly a lot of fun, painful suffering.

Dave McElwaine photo at the Boulder Cup.

I generally rode like a weenie both days this weekend and had less than spectacular rides, coming in 14th on Saturday and 13th on Sunday. All bike racers have these kids of days: you just feel "off." I wasn't riding my bike well, was not nearly as charged as I should have been and nothing was quite coming together for me. I failed to dial in my tire choice and pressure and I probably cruised into the weekend with too much fatigue from travel, sleeping on bad couches and training hard. Again, meh.

But this is all part of the deal. Bike racers, like everyone on the planet, do not operate in a vacuum. We have to manage our real lives alongside racing. I spent 8-6 on Wednesday babysitting 2 of the best parts of my real life:


My favorite part of racing so much in Colorado is that I get to see my niece and nephew a lot. Alyson and Dave actually trusted Auntie Amanda with the kiddos for an entire day. It was awesome! We had a great and relatively easy-going time: multiple walks and trips to the park, stories and too many diapers to count. But, let me tell you: the easiest part of my day was the 2 hours I spent on the trainer doing VO2 efforts when Alyson got home from work at 6!

Up next: ICEMAN! I LOVE this race. Although I heard a rumor that the party bus may be out of commission this year, I am still just as excited as ever to race. The weather looks pretty darn good and I'm stoked to spend a weekend with my fellow Kenda/Felt teammates, to see some of our amazingly generous sponsors, to stay with our team manager in at his home in Ann Arbor and to beg him for some Mighty Good Coffee to take home. I'm also going to do my best to earn this plate back: