Go West!

Greetings from the Grand Rapids International Airport! I am sitting here with a 43 lb bag trying NOT to think about what I forgot.

This past week was insanely busy, but no complaints! I actually recovered from Lumberjack faster then any hundred miler I've ever done. Not sure why, but I'll take it. Now we are headed out to Mill Valley, California for Scott's best friends wedding. And after that up to Portland for the Cascade Creampuff.

When I signed up for the Creampuff I had no idea that 24 hour Nationals was going to move back out to Moab. In a way, I'm glad that I didn't know, because I never would have committed to going up to Oregon. And Oregon is a place that I've always wanted to visit. We will be spending the week in Portland, and I can't wait to see what it's like. I've only heard very, very, very good things.

We shipped our bikes out to the inn where we are staying in California, and I'm hoping to get some good riding in between the wedding festivities. The wedding is a 3 day affair, and I'm quite confident that I'm going to look absolutely hideous in my dress. My tan lines are so bad that it's going to look like I'm wearing a white t-shirt underneath my dress. And I just realized that I didn't bring any hair care products. I never do my hair, so it didn't occur to me that I might want a blow dryer. Oops.

But make no mistake about it, I didn't forget my foam roller or ten thousand twin six t-shirts :-)

Well, time to board our plane. Up, up and away!

PS. The only good thing about only getting 4 hours of sleep last night is that I might sleep through the entire flight. That way I won't have to bug Scott about weird noises and such!

PPS. Nam and I started another blog about our other favorite thing besides riding bikes. I think I'll finally be able to actually contribute from out West!

Post race interview

My race report is below, but here is more proof of my dorkiness!

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Lumberjack 100 race report

When I showed up to the Lumberjack course with a singlespeed Friday afternoon, I received one of two questions. Most of the racers with gears were like, "why?" and all of the singlespeeders were like, "what gear ratio?"

"32x18," I'd reply....and then freak out a little bit on the inside. The only training I had done on the bike was the day before, where I pointed my new bike up the biggest hill that I could find and mashed my brains out to get to the top.

At the start line I lined up near the front, but didn't pay that much attention to where anyone else was. I was racing in the women's open class, but knew that I was going to have to race my own race. In fact, I was mostly thinking about my coach at the start, and wondering what she would say if she knew that I decided to jump on a SS and race it for 100 miles. I figured that she would have to approve since she's the 24 hour solo SS National Champ :-)

And then we were off! The start was slightly maddening as it was on a completely flat paved road for 1.5 miles. It's a good way to break up the field but I felt like no matter how fast I was pedaling I was moving backwards. Finally I hit dirt and I was able to get moving. The first climb had a train of people going up it, and I was forced to dismount and run to the top. I started to worry that I had been too over-confident in thinking that I could race a hundred miler on a SS, but those worries didn't last long...

I was having SO MUCH fun!!!!

Photos by Jack Kunnen!!!

Personally I like lap races best, so of course I really liked the 3-lap format of the Lumberjack course. Riding the Selma was awesome and I noticed that my riding style was much more aggressive then what it is with gears. I initially wanted the Selma for strength training and I think riding it will help me get faster in general. Momentum became my best friend!

Don't get me wrong, the race was not easy by any means. The course was really challenging, and at times downright hard! I was fighting muscle cramps, and there were a few climbs that required every single body part to get up them. There was actually one sandy, steep climb that was so hard to get up I was almost at a complete standstill. I was so stubborn about not wanting to get off my bike that I found myself trying to throw my head forward to get some extra forward movement. It was ridiculous. I couldn't believe how much upper body I was using throughout the day. My arms never got that sore though, so I'm pretty sure the upper body workouts that I've been doing with Jason are already starting to work!

I continued to catch people throughout the race, and finished in 3rd place, 9 minutes behind 1st. My finishing time was 8:29, which was my fastest time ever!!! I didn't race with a heart rate monitor or watch, and had to laugh when I saw my lap times. They were pretty darn consistent!

Lap 1: 2:49:57

Lap 2: 2:49:23

Lap 3: 2:49:42

SO happy with my new bike!!!

Podium pic...

This picture of Cheryl with her axe and me with my Lumberjack scarf cracks me up. I feel like we should be on a poster advertising for Northern Michigan!

After the race we headed back home for lots of pizza. And the next day we were all up early to eat again.

Nothing tastes better the morning after a hundred miler then lots of coffee and lots of pancakes!

The pancakes at The Real Food Cafe are huge!!!

It was a great weekend of racing and friends. I'm already plotting to get Namrita and Eddie back up here to hang out. Also, a big thanks to everyone at the race for all of the cheers. There's no place like racing at home!

Next up? Cascade Creampuff in Oregon. The Dos Niner is already on it's way out West!

One morning I woke up and said, I think I'll race a Singlespeed at Lumberjack!

A very important bike build was happening at Velo City Cycles while I was lying in bed sick with the flu last week....

Hello Selma!!!!

I want to send a huge thank you to all of my sponsors for helping me build this sweet bike. I can't believe that it's mine.

I also want to thank my mechanics for building my bike up so quickly. It was down to the wire as parts were still arriving 2 days before race day. Yikes! Not only did Aaron come in on his day off to work on my bike, but both Aaron and Berger had to deal with all of my texts, FB messages, and annoying phone calls all week. I had a lot of free time while I was sick :-)

There were numerous times where I almost chickened out the day before the race. I am so glad that I didn't. I raced in the women's open class and finished 3rd overall, and only 9 minutes behind 1st place.

And I had so much fun. It's a full day later and I'm still smiling about it!!!

Full race report coming tomorrow! In the meantime, mtbracenews has some coverage!

I basically need a miracle!

Well I'm off! It turns out that I did indeed have the flu. My doctor said that it's going around here like crazy.

It's too bad that I couldn't get this race sponsored by Imodium AD, because that's what I've been living on for the last couple of days :-)

Oh well, I'm still going to do the best I can. I hope I have a few muscles left..

From pedaling to puking...

I'm typing this blog post from bed, trying to reassure myself that I am indeed NOT going to die. Right now I feel so (for lack of a better term) puke-y that it's hard to believe that just two days ago I was riding my bike, eating good food, and drinking good coffee!

One of my favorite things about endurance racing is the people that you meet....it's hard to believe that I've only met Nam and Eddie four years ago!

Remember this road????

It's a lot more fun to ride now!!! I love Michigan in the summertime!

My coach had me doing a lot of JRA (just ride along) workouts this weekend and that's exactly what we did. We rode a bit of trail, a bit of road, and cheered on racers at the 8 hours of Cannonsburg.

We headed downtown for food after one of our rides, and ran into one of the toughest endurance racers ever. When Mark retired from racing he started his own pedicab business and we finally got a ride! I think it's safe to say that he's probably the toughest pedicab driver out there.

He pulled all four of us around while on the mend from a broken ankle!

And obviously my upper body workouts that I've been doing with Jason are working, because check out my arm! Not sure what's going on in this picture but I have a forearm like popeye!

Mark's leg is still in a brace....

Nam and I stopped for java chip frappachinos after one of our rides. So freaking good!

We were very, very careful on our way home to avoid all of the potholes!

So yeah, as you can see it was a really great weekend until Sunday night, when shit hit the fan!!! And I'm not using that term to refer to trouble or chaos. I'm using it to refer to some sort of stomach virus/food poisoning thing. I'm lucky that I hardly ever get sick, but when I do....ewwww!

Which leaves me exactly how I started this blog...in bed. I'm obviously dehydrated because my feet are actually cramping, so I'm forcing myself to drink liquids. Ugh. I figured there are two ways to look at this. It's either really bad timing because the Lumberjack 100 is this coming weekend, or really good timing because it happened now instead of later in the week.

I'm definitely keeping my cramping toes crossed that I feel better tomorrow!

Mohican non-race report

I drove down to Ohio late Thursday afternoon with Scott's farm-team-mate JoeFro. JoeFro was really fun to travel with and it was nice having someone to share the driving. Actually, now that I think of it, JoeFro drove the whole way down!

Once we arrived we grabbed a bite to eat and then I headed off to find my old Kenda teammate Amanda, since we were sharing a room again. Our room was seriously light and sound proof and I slept like a baby.

The next day was pretty relaxed. I went for an easy hour spin with JoeFro and we made it back just in the nick of time. Not only did it start thundering and lightening, but it also started hailing...like crazy.

I think some of the hail was on steroids....
It rained off and on for the rest of the day and night, but stopped just in time for the race start. I was really excited to race and put on my new lucky race socks (which incidentally match the pockets on my new jerseys from Twin Six).

And then we were off! Our start went straight up a paved climb before heading into singletrack and my legs felt pretty good. I was doing this race for training and my coach gave me several different goals. The biggest one was to get a hundred miles in without completely frying myself. Sadly that didn't happen.

Within a mile of the race start I started having shifting problems and bad, bad chain suck. I was certainly not alone as half the field seemed to be walking backwards, but that doesn't mean I wasn't bummed. I'm not going to lie...I shed a few tears out there. However, some random guy on the trail stopped me from having a complete pity party. While riding past he asked, "are you ok Hoss?"

I've been called a lot of things, but never, ever Hoss.

I stopped at both the 1st and 2nd aid stations and completely washed my bike, but nothing helped. I also tried riding SS style, but my chain still kept getting jammed between my front rings and chain stay. Finally I stopped being stubborn at the 3rd aid station and accepted the fact that it just wasn't my day. Luckily my bike is OK, but the entire drive train needs some major TLC.

And I think I need some new argyle socks that aren't brown...

It was a bad day to debut my new jersey from Twin Six, but the mud all came out!
Once I made it back to the finish area I coasted on my bike over to Joe's car. I knew that he would still be out on the trail for a while, and I wanted to shower.

And that's when I heard a familiar hissing sound...

No effing way. I ABSOLUTELY could not believe it. There was a family of Geese standing in the middle of the bike path and blocking me from where I needed to be. I was still in enough of a FOWL mood (ha ha, get it? Fowl??) that I decided that I was not going to back down. We had a mini showdown, the geese and I. There I was, dripping wet and covered in mud, and yelling out loud for the geese to get out of my way. Once I realized how crazy I was being I started laughing!

We hung out for a while after JoeFro finished, and I was once again reminded of why I like endurance racing so much. Everyone had mini-adventures to talk about. Some were good, many were bad, but that's part of bike racing. And while I'm still very disappointed of never getting to really race, I can at least say I have perfected my cross dismounts! I think I practiced it at least 40-50 times and that's no exaggeration! And I also got some more practice riding in the mud. When I started riding on big wheels I promised myself that I wouldn't start preaching about how much better they are, but guess what? They freaking ARE better. My Mamasita saved my life out there a few times when I was trying to make up time on the downhills. Holy Moly...I will never ride anything else.

So there you have it. My first non-race race report. Now it's time to get some more training in. The good news is that my legs feel great right now. I guess that's what happens when you only ride 52 miles in 7.5 hours.

But don't stop reading just yet...

Check out my blog post on the Salsa website. I'm always bugging Namrita for nutrition advice, and she knows what she is talking about. In fact, both JoeFro and I tested out her suggestion for a pre-race breakfast this past weekend and it was awesome!

The Mohican Mechanical

Quick Update: I always wondered what it would take for me to NOT finish a race. I raced over 20 miles with a fractured clavicle, 65 miles with a lacerated knee, and 115 miles after getting lost. Somehow I always made it across the finish line.

This weekend was a different story. I had such bad shifting issues and chain suck that I couldn't pedal. I tried my hardest to make things right, but there was nothing that I could do. Boo!

Full (half-race) report coming up tonight! Right now it's time to get ready to lead the Velo City group ride. My legs are feeling way fresher then I thought they would feel so I think I'm going to ride my bike out to the trail!

Lumberjack 100 preview....don't forget the bug spray!

I'm really glad that we were able to pre-ride most of the Lumberjack course this weekend. We had a great group and before I write anything else I need to thank one of the riders (Marshall) for being our official map reader! If it weren't for him we might still be out there!!!

The L100 is definitely the least technical course out of all the races in the NUE series. It also has the least amount of climbing. However, it is NOT the least difficult. In fact, this course can make you blow-up and then some.

I always divide the course into an inner loop and an outer loop and both loops add up to one lap. The inner loop is done first and seems harder then the outer loop. At least it does to me. It has a lot of short power climbs that take a minute or so to get up, but that means that recovery on the downhills is almost nonexistent. Passing is pretty easy as most of the singletrack is pretty wide.

The outer loop has sections of trail that is a bit more narrow and flat. It's really hardpacked right now and super, super green.

There are a few open sections of trail, but these are few and far between. I always refer to these sections as "power suckers" because they are usually sandier and hotter...

Remember how I said the course isn't technical? There are maybe 10 roots on the whole course, if that. We did a bit of trail maintenance while we were out there too..

This year the course is changing from 4 laps to 3. Rick (the promoter) added a bit of road and doubletrack and it's a welcome change. Both are completely flat, so you can really haul!

We had to do some sand surfing while riding the new doubletrack sections. In fact, there was more sand then usual on the course, but that doesn't mean it will be like that during the race. It just depends on how much rain we get in June.

And speaking of rain, beware of the Michigan Mosquito Militia. Bring bug spray...or else! They never seem to bother me while I am riding, but they were attacking us in droves during the start last year. I think I actually saw some dive bombing us in "V Formations!"

We ended up cutting out about the last 10 miles of the trail, but I think everyone got a good idea of what it was like. Afterwards we talked a bit about nutrition, handed out some prizes thanks to Hydrapak and Optic Nerve, and did a Salsa bike photo shoot!

All 3 of these bikes will be racing this year...

Oh, and if you like beef jerky...Northern Michigan is the place you want to be. This was the jerky selection at the local gas station. Sheesh!

I've been getting a lot of emails lately from people coming from out of town asking about the course. Most of the questions are regarding tire choice and whether to ride a FS or HT.

Personally I'm going with Kenda Karmas because they are my all-time favorite tire. I love the way that they corner, and I love the way they ride through sand. I know a ton of people who race Lumberjack on Small Block Eight tires as well. You basically want a tire that rolls really well on hard packed dirt. The only tricky parts are the sandy corners, which is why I like the Karma. And this course eats rain, so mud won't be much of a problem.

I've raced the course on both a HT and FS (both had small wheels), and this year I'm racing on my Mamasita. The big wheels rail through the sand and even out the bumps. This was an easy decision for me because my Dos Niner is going to be heading out West. I'm not sure which bike I would choose if I had both available to me on race day. Probably still the Mamasita but the Dos Niner would sure be nice on the few sections that are really bumpy!

I'm really getting excited about this race. Northern Michigan is awesome this time of year, and Rick and his wife Cathy do a terrific job of putting on the race. It's super well marked which is nice because after a while everything starts to look the same. And if you start to get tired towards the end of the race just remember one thing....there will be kegs of Founders beer at the finish line :-)