Friday, July 17, 2009
The Race of Truths
Yesterday was Trailhead’s third TT—a 9.2 mile course by Fletcher (south of Rogers). Unlike any USCF race this one is self policed. There are a few rules. 1. start and stop the timer in the same spots (they are marked) 2. no drafting. 3. don’t cut the course. That’s it. Feel free to do whatever you want or wear whatever you want. This race is the race of truth. Your competition is yourself.
This was my first TT on this course (with arrow bars). I got 25:30 with 20-25 mile winds. The winds were not an issue—only on the way out. You start at Trailhead bike shop ride 10 miles to the church (i.e. the start/finish area) race the course and then ride back. I would have kept up with the guys on the way out, but I wasn’t ready to hammer it before I even raced. Thankfully they slowed down after I said something at a stop.
Last time I did a longer then blackdog race I found that I favored my left leg thus causing my left glut to fatigue. This time once I felt my left leg go weak I focused on the down stroke of my right leg and my speed picked up! It was like finding out there was another tank of gas in the car.
After the individual TT a few of us stayed around and did a Team Time Trial. Let’s just say I should have taken a gu shot, practiced being on the arrow bars in a group, and overall we should’ve drafted like we were on a normal group ride. It was a disaster.
All in all I had a good time and best of all it was a FREE race!
This was my first TT on this course (with arrow bars). I got 25:30 with 20-25 mile winds. The winds were not an issue—only on the way out. You start at Trailhead bike shop ride 10 miles to the church (i.e. the start/finish area) race the course and then ride back. I would have kept up with the guys on the way out, but I wasn’t ready to hammer it before I even raced. Thankfully they slowed down after I said something at a stop.
Last time I did a longer then blackdog race I found that I favored my left leg thus causing my left glut to fatigue. This time once I felt my left leg go weak I focused on the down stroke of my right leg and my speed picked up! It was like finding out there was another tank of gas in the car.
After the individual TT a few of us stayed around and did a Team Time Trial. Let’s just say I should have taken a gu shot, practiced being on the arrow bars in a group, and overall we should’ve drafted like we were on a normal group ride. It was a disaster.
All in all I had a good time and best of all it was a FREE race!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Spam Jam
2 hour drive for a 25 mile road race. I know—crazy. It’s no Headwaters, but it’s a race that my team, Silver Cycling, does as an entire team. Kristy, Jackie, and I represented the Hellions while we were accompanied by 15 of our fellow male teammates. Last year’s race had us battling against 25 mile an hour winds, at least this year it was manageable.
My goal was to stick with the lead group as long as I could and to stay on one of my teammates wheels. For the most part that goal was accomplished.
Heading North we had a bit of wind to battle. I tried to stay as well protected as I could but with a lot of novas racers within the group. I was more nervous during this race than riding in a early season race with a bunch of Cat 4 women. What is up with all of the moving around? Really, moving to the left or right when you are in the middle is not necessary. I had a heck of a time just finding a good wheel.
Once we got to the most northern part of the course we made a right hand turn. I moved to the front and as far left as I could then leaned my bike as much as I could while peddling to make the corner. The entire time I made a turn I was just praying that I wouldn’t get dropped—with a bunch of guys this was going to be tough. After the race was over Jay came up to me and told me my positioning and cornering was awesome.
Jay got a good laugh when I started yelling at all of the guys to hold their line. I must have yelled it about a hundred times. Every time someone was trying to move-in next to me they cut me off! Jackie got pushed off the road into the dirt at least 3 different times. I don’t understand how the cat 5 men can race with each other. I was told once that I shouldn’t be yelling so much—but if you are going to go into my line and threaten my or my teammates safety you better understand I’ll call you out.
On the final stretch our lead group got broken into two groups. I was about three quarters back and gearing up for the big sprint. Jackie and I were the only two women left in the lead group. There was no way I could out sprint her, but hell I was going to give it a shot for fun. I started to come around when this guy in front of me jerks his bike to the left right into my line of fire. I can be a little hot headed when I’m trying to sprint to the line—so the fireworks started to fly out of my mouth.
I came in second in the women’s division 16 overall, but the worst part was the width of the sprint was so wide—no center rule for this race—that ended in a narrow width area. Unknowingly it was going to be set up like that it became very dangerous. We had 15 people sprinting at once at 40 miles per hour with little orange cones fling all over the place and older ladies jumping out in front of us trying to rip off this number from your back. That was scary!
My goal was to stick with the lead group as long as I could and to stay on one of my teammates wheels. For the most part that goal was accomplished.
Heading North we had a bit of wind to battle. I tried to stay as well protected as I could but with a lot of novas racers within the group. I was more nervous during this race than riding in a early season race with a bunch of Cat 4 women. What is up with all of the moving around? Really, moving to the left or right when you are in the middle is not necessary. I had a heck of a time just finding a good wheel.
Once we got to the most northern part of the course we made a right hand turn. I moved to the front and as far left as I could then leaned my bike as much as I could while peddling to make the corner. The entire time I made a turn I was just praying that I wouldn’t get dropped—with a bunch of guys this was going to be tough. After the race was over Jay came up to me and told me my positioning and cornering was awesome.
Jay got a good laugh when I started yelling at all of the guys to hold their line. I must have yelled it about a hundred times. Every time someone was trying to move-in next to me they cut me off! Jackie got pushed off the road into the dirt at least 3 different times. I don’t understand how the cat 5 men can race with each other. I was told once that I shouldn’t be yelling so much—but if you are going to go into my line and threaten my or my teammates safety you better understand I’ll call you out.
On the final stretch our lead group got broken into two groups. I was about three quarters back and gearing up for the big sprint. Jackie and I were the only two women left in the lead group. There was no way I could out sprint her, but hell I was going to give it a shot for fun. I started to come around when this guy in front of me jerks his bike to the left right into my line of fire. I can be a little hot headed when I’m trying to sprint to the line—so the fireworks started to fly out of my mouth.
I came in second in the women’s division 16 overall, but the worst part was the width of the sprint was so wide—no center rule for this race—that ended in a narrow width area. Unknowingly it was going to be set up like that it became very dangerous. We had 15 people sprinting at once at 40 miles per hour with little orange cones fling all over the place and older ladies jumping out in front of us trying to rip off this number from your back. That was scary!
Northfield
Somehow after RAAM my entries do not seem so exciting. But, I’ll give it a shot.
Saturday was the Northfield crit. A favorite to most—not so much mine. I’m not a fan of the hill right at the beginning much less dragging my butt up it 15 times. A mere fraction of what one of my teammates did (she double dipped—i.e. raced twice) or what the cat 1/2’s did (about 50 laps). Well, I’m not a cat 1 either. I just remember last year blacking out a few times and almost losing my cookies on that hill.
This year turned out to be a bit different. I found my line through all of the corners making this race fun—knowing that I didn’t need to touch my breaks at all during the race unless needed. The hill didn’t seem all that hard. I dropped down a few gears and spun up gaining ground on all of the girls. To our luck we were the only group of racers that got rained on. If you’re a cyclist you know that the roads can get quite slick when it rains especially on a main city street with paint. Much less when you’re trying to be aggressive around the corners. I almost lost it three separate times. One of those times scared the crap out of me—taking out some of my sidewall on my back wheel. I decided that finishing the race without a crash was more important than getting a higher position. One the girls thought differently and found herself on the ground on the final turn—she was ok. I got 5th place.
Thanks to Sean from On Support for fixing my front derailleur. After months of frustration, it turns out that entire front derailleur was not aliened to the chain. Thus not allowing me to sprint when needed.
Saturday was the Northfield crit. A favorite to most—not so much mine. I’m not a fan of the hill right at the beginning much less dragging my butt up it 15 times. A mere fraction of what one of my teammates did (she double dipped—i.e. raced twice) or what the cat 1/2’s did (about 50 laps). Well, I’m not a cat 1 either. I just remember last year blacking out a few times and almost losing my cookies on that hill.
This year turned out to be a bit different. I found my line through all of the corners making this race fun—knowing that I didn’t need to touch my breaks at all during the race unless needed. The hill didn’t seem all that hard. I dropped down a few gears and spun up gaining ground on all of the girls. To our luck we were the only group of racers that got rained on. If you’re a cyclist you know that the roads can get quite slick when it rains especially on a main city street with paint. Much less when you’re trying to be aggressive around the corners. I almost lost it three separate times. One of those times scared the crap out of me—taking out some of my sidewall on my back wheel. I decided that finishing the race without a crash was more important than getting a higher position. One the girls thought differently and found herself on the ground on the final turn—she was ok. I got 5th place.
Thanks to Sean from On Support for fixing my front derailleur. After months of frustration, it turns out that entire front derailleur was not aliened to the chain. Thus not allowing me to sprint when needed.
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