Happy March 1st!

Remember how I said that I was going to have one last hurrah on my Racer-X at Mas O Menos? I think I spoke to soon. It looks like I'm going to have another last hurrah on it at the race I'm doing next weekend. 

My new bike is making some serious progress though, and is going to be completely black-my favorite color :-) My brakes and forks arrived this week...hooray!

I love these brakes because you can actually adjust the reach of the lever...

This fork is pretty darn cool :-)

Oh, and check out my new shoes! Our team is going to be rocking Specialized helmets, shoes and saddles this year. Have you ever tried on Specialized shoes before? Holy Moly, they are ultra comfortable. I like them because the toe box is a bit roomier then the shoes that I have been wearing and they feel really supportive. 

I can't believe that it's time for another race already. As of now I'm not nervous at all...just excited to ride my bike outside. Hopefully I will still be excited to be on my bike 5 hours into the race! 

I finally checked the weather forecast for Hot Springs, Arkansas and it's not looking so great for next weekend. It's absolutely beautiful every day leading up to the weekend (60's and sunny), and then Friday and Saturday look nasty with rain and thunderstorms. Boo! There's still time so I'm crossing my fingers that the weather forecast will change. Since these early races are challenging enough I expect only sun and warm temps :-)

Ted the wonder mechanic and I leave really early on Thursday morning, but my goal is to be completely packed by Wednesday morning. That way I won't have any last minute craziness of running around. I've always hated driving to Arkansas for races because it's a good 14 hour drive. However, that's going to seem short after our Texas trip. 

My trainer has an overuse injury

This weekend I broke my trainer. 

Enough said! 

Is it March yet???

Here's yet another website for me to visit on a regular basis. Thanks to Andrea and Chris for putting this together. It's nice having a listing of all Michigan races in one place. Not to mention that they have really good taste in featured riders :-) If you click on my picture, you can read an interview with me.

I started laughing when I read the interview because one of the questions was "what is the best advice that you were ever given?" and I answered "not to wear underwear under bike shorts." Really??? Out of all the advice I've ever been given, that's the best?? But yeah, I really think it was!!!

Well, off to Pilates class. Then I have a 2 hour workout that's really going to hurt. I'm going to have to use Scott's trainer until I get replacement parts for mine. His trainer has gotten a lot less use then mine over the winter so I'm thinking it will last until spring!

Hammer Time

For 2009 our team will be using Hammer Products. I use a variety of their product, but above all I love this stuff! In fact, I swear by it. I drink it by the bottle, I sprinkle it on toast, I use it as a creamer for my coffee. Ok, exaggerating a bit, but I do consume large amounts of it. 

Two other products that I've always used are the gels and sustained energy. I've definitely evolved when it comes to sustained energy usage. A few years back I was mixing these 1000 calorie bottles with fruit punch gatorade. I would have the bottle sitting on my bike for hours during 24 hour races, and it would always turn into this pink, frothy, super warm, Masque of the Red Death bottle. There was no way that I could monitor how many calories I was getting from it. Gaaahh...I can't even think about the taste. And I'm pretty sure the people at Hammer never meant to have their product mixed with Gatorade :-)

Now I just put the amount of calories that I need per hour in a small flask and mix it with a gel. Scott will hand it to me as I ride past in the pit. I'll get the right amount of calories...and it tastes good too. I'm a complete sucker for the espresso and chocolate flavors-of course!

I definitely plan on reading up on their other products over the next couple of days. If you have any suggestions, please suggest away! Already, I know that I'm going to need one of these, some of this, and of course lots of this!

And in completely none nutrition related news, it looks like we are going to get hit with another winter storm. Ummm...hello? Isn't it about time for winter to be over already? More snow just might push some people over the edge. I'm not going to mention any names, but she is about 5'9 and has red hair. Rumor has it that a week in the sun has spoiled her to the point that she expects it to be warm everywhere-including Michigan!!!

I told myself that I wasn't going to look...

at the results, that is... :-(

I'm really mad that I couldn't make up 4 minutes to catch 3rd place. I'm totally blaming the cactus tree (or are they called plants?) that I fell into! ha ha!

I wish that someone could have videotaped the fall because it was freaking funny. I saw people crashing all day, but it was mostly on these little sandy dips or some of the tighter turns. And where did I fall? In the middle of nowhere. It was towards the middle of my second lap and I was chasing down 3rd and 4th place, and all of a sudden I was going down in a cactus plant. There was a guy behind me who witnessed it and he started laughing. I had to laugh too, because it was so ridiculous. Oh well, at least I got my first fall of the season out of the way. And truth be told, I'll take a cactus plant over a wet bridge any day of the week!

Well, enough about Mas O Menos. We are finally home and it's time to move on. I'm uber motivated to start training again but my coach has me taking it pretty easy for the rest of the week. Probably smart, because my calve muscles are still SORE! Normally I feel the most sore in my quads and glutes, but not this time. Everything else feels great. I know this isn't the case, but I feel like I only used my calve muscles during the race. I'm walking around like I'm on stilts because they are so sore and tight that I can't even flex them...

My next race is in a few weeks and I can't wait. I totally caught the racing bug. At least this race is A LOT closer to home. Scott will be in California, so I'll be making the trip with Ted. I'm not sure if I'll be racing against any of the other girls at Mas O Menos, but I do know that Rebecca will be there. It's going to be a good race! 

Our trip in a nutshell

This trip went by so fast that I almost feel like it was a dream. Luckily I have a few bruises and scratches to prove otherwise....

The drive down to Texas was looooong, but fun. We entertained ourselves with poor attempts at self-portraits...

And stopped a few times to break up the monotony of the drive....
Finally, after a mere 27 hours of driving we arrived in Terlingua, Texas just in time to set up camp before it got dark....

The next day we woke up to the sun and warm temps. After breakfast and coffee we met up with a group of friends to pre-ride a bit of the course....

And then before I knew it, it was race day and I was lining up at the start line. Mas O Menos was the first race of the Norba National Ultra Endurance Series and there was a really great field of racers ready to duke it out for points. The women's field was pretty stacked, but the only person that I really knew was Rebecca Rusch (spoiler alert: she absolutely killed the field). It was nice having a familiar face in the crowd. 

Surprisingly, I wasn't that nervous at the start line. I had spent the last 3.5 months training on the trainer and all of a sudden I was about to race. It felt completely surreal. The pro men and women took off together in a neutral start, and it was a SLOW neutral at that. Everyone kept having to slam on their brakes, and we had a lot of stopping and going. Things got a little crazy once we started actually racing. We were racing on sandy double track and the air was so dusty I was almost riding blindly. 

The course was pretty fun, but it was terrain that I am not used to riding on. Lots of tight singletrack with super sandy turns in between cactus trees. There were some really evil parts on the course too, like gravel and sand pits that zapped all of my energy to get through them. Even though it felt weird to be riding without a trainer attached, I was moving at a pretty good pace. I was in 5th place for most of the 1st lap, but caught the 3rd and 4th place girl's by the time I reached the infamous Tres Cuevas climb. I like climbing, so once I passed the two girl's I thought to myself that I would "kill" the climb to put some time on them. 

In theory, it was a great plan. In reality...not so much. The climb was NOT what I was hoping for. It was one of those steep climbs with tons of loose rock so that there was only one line to take in many spots. Half-way up I was riding behind a guy when he came to a complete stop. I tried to go around him but my front wheel sank in a pile of loose gravel and I came to a complete stop. I actually had to get off of my bike and run (more like walk) to a spot where I could get back on. Ugh!!! Plus, the two girls that I had just passed rode right past me when I was stuck in the gravel. So much for putting time on them :-)

During my second lap I started to really feel everything-and not in a good way. The sun was beating down and heat was rising up from the sand. I can't think of a better way to describe what it felt like except to say that it felt like I was riding in the desert. Which makes sense, since I WAS riding in the desert. Half-way through I started melting. Melting I tell you...and fading big time!!! My face was on fire, salty sweat was streaming into my eyes and I still had to go up that stupid climb one more time. And since melting, fading and having to climb up the monster hill weren't enough to worry about, my legs started cramping too. Woo freaking Hoo!

For some reason, the second time up the climb was WAY easier, which was surprising since I was really tired. I think it's because everyone was so spread out that I was able to go my own pace. I ended up crossing the finish line in 5th place. Am I happy with how I did? For the most part yes. I'm happy because I felt really good during the first lap, and I can tell that the training Lynda had me doing this winter has made me a lot stronger. The part of the race that I'm not happy with is that I could see 3rd and 4th place almost all the way to the finish line and I couldn't catch them. And I wanted to catch them so bad! I made a few mistakes that cost me some time and of course now I'm playing the woulda, coulda, shoulda game. 

Overall, it was a great trip. And definitely a first too. I've never had my first "ride" of the season be a 100k race in the desert before. Talk about jumping right in!!! Scott decided to race the 50K, and ended up in 6th place, so he got a nice workout in too.

Here I am wearing my temporary kit. Can you tell that my back and shoulders were hurting? I think all of my muscles were in complete shock!

After taking the best solar bag shower of my life, Scott and I headed back into town for some BBQ. So good!!!!

It's funny that it only took two days of riding to make me look like a mountain biker again. Scratches on my arms...a few bruises....tan lines. I feel like me again!

Yes!!! Wahoo!!!! Yippee!!!! Hurrah!!!! Sweet!!!! Cowabunga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure if anyone actually uses the word cowabunga anymore, but I'm bringing it back :-)

Why am I so excited that I'm using words like cowabunga in my blog title you ask? Well, ask no longer. It's about the heat wave that we experienced over the weekend. 

When I say heat wave you have to remember that I live in Michigan, and therefore everything is coming from my perspective of what's warm and cold. In this case, we had temps near or at 50 degrees for 2 days. AND (this is the best part) the sun was shining! That's all it took to put me in a really, really good mood. 

I know that we live in Michigan, and I know that we are going to have horrible weather days all the way through March. But this weekend was proof that Spring is slowly coming!!!

Ironically enough, I did not ride outside this weekend. But that's because I was finishing off a rest week. Plus, all of the melting snow was causing some really icy spots. When I took Naomi outside I took one step onto our driveway and the next thing I knew both of my feet were straight in the air and I was on the ground. It was one of those falls that happened so fast that I actually landed on my head. And since I've been watching countless seasons of 6 Feet Under and Dexter this winter, my first thought was, "I'm dead." And right after I realized that I was still, um, breathing, my second thought was that my iphone (which was missing from my hand) was dead. I've heard horror stories from friends about iphones breaking upon the first drop, but mine flew halfway down the driveway and is still working nicely. Ha, it's the little iphone that could!

Today is going to be busy, busy, busy with last minute errands that I need to run. I still have a little time though. We don't leave until tomorrow afternoon. And if I'm this excited about 50 degree weather, just think of what I'm going to be like once we hit 70 degrees!

Well Hello There Blogosphere!

My poor little blog has been lacking in posts lately, but that's because I've been running around like crazy. My dad has been out of town for work all week,  and my mom is still in a cast. This week has seemed like that movie "Groundhog Day," because I've been doing the exact same thing every day. 

I finally registered for Mas O Menos (ouch) and bought my U$A Cycling Licen$e (double ouch). It looks like my Racer-X and I are going to have one last hurrah together because my new bike is far from being race ready. That's ok though. I never expected to have all of my parts by now anyways because it's really, really, really early in the season. 

Our team jerseys won't be ready until March, so Kenda sent me a few basic jerseys to wear in the meantime. Yeah! It's always nice to have "fresh" smelling jerseys to race in :-) Oh, and I think Voler is going to try and get me some new shorts to wear as well. I just hope that my team director was joking when he said "now you can race in those white shorts that you always wanted!" 

I also got the official OK from my coach regarding my nutrition plan for the race. I have to admit that I was shocked to get it right on the first try because it took me 5 tries to get it right for 24 hour Natz last year. I must be learning! Before Lynda I never really came up with nutrition plans and it's made a world of a difference. At previous 24 hour races I would just buy a lot of basic food and tell my pit crew to hand me "something" as I came through. It always ended up in some sort of disaster where I would come through the middle of the night demanding something that we didn't have (like a cheeseburger with a side of fries), or I would bonk because I wasn't getting enough calories. This past year it was WAY less stressful and I felt great (or as great as you can feel during a 24) for the entire race. My plan for Mas O Menos is pretty simple, since it's a way shorter race. Basically it's just my hydration drink of choice, with enough gels so that I get the proper calories, sodium etc. per hour! 

The one thing that I really need to pay attention to in this race is drinking from the beginning. In faster races I always make the mistake of not drinking enough for the first hour. Especially since it will be cooler in the morning. Must remember...staying hydrated is a good thing, especially when racing in the desert!!!

Super Spinning Sunday

Even though it was Super Bowl Sunday I did not catch one minute of the game. When I was a marching band dork in high school I had to partake in many, many football games. And to this day I couldn't tell you any rules of the game. I think I actually sat backwards in the bleachers or something. But come half time I was always "game on" with our marching routines. Good grief. Sometimes I want to go back in time and knock myself out. 

Ok, enough about marching band. This weekend went by way too fast. Today I had my last killer workout in preparation for my upcoming race, and now I'm entering a rest week. Yes!!! I need to get some serious sleeping, eating, and packing done. 

Right now my wickedly cool Carbide is waiting for new parts. It looks like it's going to be built up with Shimano this year. I've been a Sram grip shift junky ever since I've started riding a bike, but I'm sure I'll like the triggers just as well. Not to mention I won't have to worry about cutting down my grips now!

I finally looked up the weather for Terlingua, Texas and while race day is still too far away for an accurate forecast, the weather is looking pretty consistent. Sunny and in the 70's. I can't decide if I should be worried about the weather or not. Part of me is thinking, "you've been living in the Tundra, 70 degrees is going to be completely and utterly shocking," and then another part of me thinks that I have nothing to worry about. I mean come on, I've been working out in my basement with a heat vent right above my trainer and a bright light shining right on me for months. 70 degrees and the sun is going to feel just right! 

The only thing that I should be worried about is how long I can survive in the desert after the race. Once I see the sun it's going to be really hard to come back!