Expecting the Unexpected: Team Camp and Bonelli Pro XCT#1

This past weekend I made the 8-hour drive to San Dimas, CA for our Kenda/Felt Team photo shoot. There was a big race so I went to that, too. The first Pro XCT was held at Bonelli Park and was my first opportunity to go hard all season.

@ Dorothy Wong

@ Dorothy Wong

Other than a mysterious, highly annoying humming noise reverberating out of the front end of my Honda Element, the drive was uneventful. On Friday morning, I rode over to the venue, got a bunch of practice laps in and tried to remember what it was like to be a bike racer again. The rest of the day was spent clearing out the cobwebs and going through the typical race prep: testing the tube out of the box before I put it on my bike-a harsh lesson I learned at Leadville 2009, trying to remember what an XC warm up consisted of, choosing the proper hammer gel flavor, etc. and generally scrambling around for a lot longer than I wanted. Did some homework, got some sleep. Pretty standard, expected stuff.

@ Dorothy Wong

I started my warm up at around 9am for the 10:45 race. I got onto the course at about 9:45 for a preview lap and was doing another pass at a steep, hard to ride up and over root section when kid you not, I started to cramp. Badly. Like, sharply in my right inner thigh. I wasn't even going that hard-just above tempo-and I was cramping. IN MY WARMUP. I'll add the disclaimer that I have only ever had a muscle cramp once in my entire life. It was at the very end of a very hot race in Fontana my 2nd year pro. I had gone straight from Jackson Hole winter to wicked hot Fontana and rode too hard in the sudden heat.

So, getting shooting muscle cramps going moderately hard in my warmup was totally unexpected and prompted a minor panic state. Thankfully, I ran into my pal Rebecca and she ran to her car for me and grabbed a bottle of Elete and a bottle of Endurolytes. I grabbed a hand full of Endurolytes took some and tucked the others in my jersey pocket. Then, kid you not, opened the bottle of Elete and shot it straight into my mouth. Straight up. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever done but hey, desperate times, right? I do not suggest it to anyone. Now, I realize that the research is inconclusive about what actually causes muscle cramps and there's no direct science that says electrolyte imbalance causes cramping, but I had to do something.

@ Dorothy Wong

So, I did what I thought was right. I spun lightly or stood still for the next 30 min. before the xc start and never really went hard in warm up. Needless to say, I had no idea what to expect out there. I was actually considering have to DNF for the first time in my life which was NOT cool. Quitting a race is the worst thing possible for your head. If you quit, it makes it easier to quit the next time. I've finished and started races with broken ribs, a cracked tailbone, with no front brake, you name it. So, this was a pretty awful way to start the 2011 season.

@ Dorothy Wong

But, I did my best. I just had to tone the effort down and not push too hard. As soon as I pushed it, I started to cramp, so I just rode as hard as I could, and instead tried to ride well, not hard. Things got a little more challenging when, mid race, I couldn't drop into my small front chain ring. Must have bent my front derailleur. So, lots of standing and cranking a gear that was waaaay too hard. Not exactly ideal, but oh well.

The course was awesome. Really punchy, lots of twisty singletrack, no where to rest. The ladies did 6 laps which was just crazy to me, almost dizzying. The US courses are only going to get shorter to coincide with the world cup moving to shorter lap formats. Thankfully, someone out there at the start/finish had a lap counter as I definitely would have lost count. I had a few battles going out there for a while and won some and lost some. Mostly I battled myself, my body, my semi-functioning bike. I slipped into the 8th spot which was pretty unsatisfying just because of my gap to the leaders - it was too big. Even for someone who is focusing on Ultras distance. I finished with a big sigh, knowing that I was grateful that I finished in light of the cramps, but disappointed with how it all went down. Ho hum. The first race of the season is always a mystery. Going into it you wonder if you are ready. You never feel ready that's for sure, but you always hope for the best. If it goes well, you never really know why. If it goes poorly, well, same thing. Again, expecting the unexpected is a good way to roll.

@ Dorothy Wong

Rather than race the short track on Sunday, I had a grander plan in mind. I woke up super early, packed up the car, loaded up the Garmin with a course, and headed south to pre-ride some of the Vision Quest course. A 4-hour ride sounded far better to me than a 20-minute effort and I am grateful I took this option as I had a harsh reality check of how hard this race is going to be! I rode the first 25 miles of the 56-mile course and oh-my-lord all I did was climb. Seriously. 6500 feet of climbing came in the first 20 miles. I saw lots of 18%-22% on my Garmin. I think I climbed for 3:20 of the 4 hour ride. The scenery was beautiful and I literally passed almost 100 people out there pre-riding the course.

Now I know why it's called the Vision Quest. My hunch is if I haven't hallucinated at some point by the end of this race, I didn't go hard enough.

I busted back to the hotel, grabbed some food, a bunch of parts and headed out to watch the shorttrack. Thankfully I made it in plenty of time to see my teammate Judy rock it and land on the podium! Just where she belongs. I was almost jumping out of my skin I was so happy for her. For someone who had the year she did last year and to only be 6 weeks out of a boot for a broken foot, holy moly, watch out word. She's gonna have a great year! Here's a shot Tom took of her crossing the line for 5th:

The rest of Sunday was a scramble. Getting new forks cut, shuttling back and forth from hotels to venue to get parts, frames and swap incorrect headsets. Colin, Andy, Judy and I were all out on the balcony of the Red Roof Inn building our new bikes for the team photo shoot until about midnight. I still don't know how we pulled it off, but when my alarm went of at 5:30am the next morning, I had a shiny new Felt Nine that was ready to roll pretty for the camera.

The photo shoot was quite fun just because my teammates are so awesome and our photographer Tom Robertson is not only very talented, he's a very, very nice guy to be around. Here's a funny group shot he just sent out to us:

I headed back to Tucson mid-day on Monday with a lot on my mind. I had to distract myself from that high-pitched noise. I thought about my mysterious lack of performance but more on my to-do list for the week. It's finals week, so I have to bust out a 15-page paper, my car needs to get to the shop, I need to get a bike re-built for a marathon race on Saturday and oh, yeah, training, too....but it's all good. Busy is good and where I need to be to be at my best. The year is going to be a great one. I came back from the weekend motivated, a lot more focused and so incredibly grateful for all the awesome support we have from a ton of great companies. Now that race season is truly on, I can't wait to get out there and represent them well!