Happy Memorial Day!

I had a few "forced" recovery days after the Victoria 100. I say "forced" because Michigan weather was not cooperating with riding outside. It was a nasty week with temps in the 40-50 range and rain almost every day. It made me grumpy but the weather was probably a blessing in disguise because there was less temptation to go ride. I know that recovery days are just as important as training days but sometimes they are really hard. Scott says that I start moping around the house and I think he's probably right :-)

Finally towards the end of the week I was able to get out and start training again. I have to say, I never feel good the first time back on the bike after a few days off. BUT...I have a new coach and my first workout snapped me out of my post-race funk in a hurry. It's been a while since I've done such intense intervals, and I had that tunnel vision feeling where I thought I was going to pass out. Plus I was coughing, snotting and drooling all at the same time. Such a pleasant vision, I know.

The good news about these sorts of workouts are that they seem to get a tiny bit physically and mentally easier each time. At least that's what I'm hoping since I have to do the same workout again tomorrow...but with one extra interval.

I have to admit that I'm really excited about the rest of the summer. And btw, I think it is finally summer here. I'm not sure what happened but we went from 40 degree weather straight to temps in the 90's today. Holy heat wave. It feels almost unbearable because we had no in-between.

Poor Naomi, she hasn't moved from in front of the fan all day. And don't worry-she's still breathing. I actually checked today because she went a few hours without moving once!
More on my new coach and race schedule tomorrow. Right now I need to go to bed so that I can wake up and do some more "bleeding from the eyeball" intervals!

Victoria's 100-race report

I was really excited when I read about the Victoria 100 on cycling news in the early spring. Every year I like to try out a new hundred miler and this one fit into my schedule really well. And even though it was in a different country (Canada), it was a lot closer then many other hundred milers that I've done in the past.

Scott and I spent the majority of the day driving on Saturday. We arrived at the race venue late in the afternoon, registered and then pre-rode the course. Somehow I managed to puncture my tire in the process. Stan's sealed it right up, but after dinner Scott put on a new tire. Such a nice hubby :-)After doing the usual "race prep" it was time for bed. I slept pretty well for the night before a race, but having a wake-up call at 5 a.m. was still brutal. BTW...that's probably my least favorite part of hundred milers. The early starts. I know why it's necessary, but it never seems to get easier.

After a brief riders meeting we lined up and it was time to go. The race was a 2-lap format, and had several different divisions. You could either do the race as a relay, 50 miles or the full hundred. We all started together so there was really no way to tell who I was up against. The promoter sent us out on a small grassy loop to break up the field, but I knew we would enter singletrack soon. My goal was to try and enter it near the front of the pack.

The start was on the neutral side but I was definitely riding slower then I did the previous week at Stony Creek. My legs didn't feel horrible, but at the same time they didn't feel great. Even so I was able to keep the lead guys in sight, and entered the singletrack pretty near the front.

From that point things slowed down dramatically. I have never, ever, EVER gotten off of my bike so much in the first mile as I did that race. I think I was off 5 or 6 times. In a mile!!! There was a nasty muddy walk-up, a few steep short climbs with traffic back-up, and a few trees with rider bobbles. It was not a good feeling to have to get off of a bike so many times during the first mile. I started to panic a bit.

Things started to speed up after the first mile but not that much. The course was almost all really twisty singletrack with short punchy hills that made it really hard to carry much speed. The best way to carry any sort of momentum was to try to remain as smooth as possible and keep a fast cadence. I was racing with my Garmin and realized quickly that I was in for a LONG day in the saddle. There was no way around it.

I was excited when we finally hit doubletrack, but even that wasn't fast. The part of Canada where we were racing has been in the same position as Michigan weather wise. They had a lot of snow this winter, and have been getting a ton of rain this spring. As a result the trail wasn't as packed down as it should have been, and the horses made things seriously bumpy. There were many parts of the doubletrack where I felt like I was going up and down more then forward.

Finally I was done with the first 50 miles. I grabbed a new hydrapak and went out for lap 2. It was slightly easier the second time around because I knew what to expect, but the first mile still seemed to take a million, gazillion years. My legs were feeling better and I passed a few more guys. After that I didn't see anyone else except for volunteers for the remainder of the race. That's a good thing too, because I had one of the clumsiest crashes of my life trying to do a cyclocross dismount over a fallen tree. I'm not sure exactly what happened but one moment I was running and the next moment I was flat on my face.

It started to get a lot warmer during the second lap, and I had to stop at one of the aid stations to refill my hydrapak with water. While the volunteers were filling it I grabbed a peanut butter and banana sandwich and took a few bites. I couldn't eat it all, and I remember looking around for the trash. Since I didn't see anything I put the half-eaten sandwich back on the table with the other sandwiches. At the time it made perfect sense...but I'm wondering if any other rider grabbed it. Ha!

I was never so happy to cross the finish line!!!
Overall the race was really great. The promoter was extremely organized and the trail was marked really well. Looking back I can't remember exactly what was so hard about it, but it was by far one of the hardest hundred milers that I've ever done. Definitely the type of race that make you stronger mentally!

If I could give out two pieces of advice to anyone racing this race in the future they would be:

1. Ride a full-suspension bike. My Ti El Mariachi absorbed a lot of the bumps, but next time I would race on the spearfish.
2. Don't ride with any sort of garmin (it's demoralizing!)

Afterwards we hung out waiting for the awards and I was reminded why I love the endurance scene so much. It's incredibly laid back and the camaraderie can't be beat. There was mucho clapping as each rider crossed the finish line and I noticed that everyone had the same face when crossing the line. No matter how long it takes, the "I'm done" feeling is the greatest!

On our way home Scott asked if I wanted to stop for ice cream. I was shocked (that he didn't automatically know the answer!)

I had the best maple-walnut ice cream of my life!!!

Now it's time to do some serious recovering. This includes paying several visits to Jason. I think I felt my whole back shift during my "running crash."

Victoria's 100-quick recap

Ok, that was a whirlwind trip.

We drove 8 hours on Saturday, pre-rode 10K of the course, slept, raced 100 miles on Sunday and then immediately drove home.

The course was way, way, WAY harder then I ever imagined that it would be. Even so, I had a great race and ended up first female and fourth out of the guys.

I'll post a full race report later in the day. Right now my arms are so sore I can barely type. I feel like I just worked a jackhammer for a million hours...

6 hours of Stony Creek Race Report

This race report is a bit belated, but I figure better late then never, right!? Once again I've fallen behind on my blog. But in my own defense I had 1 day off from work in the last 12 days, so it's been a little busy.

So, Saturday was my one day off and I chose to race the 6 hours of Stony Creek. I was scheduled to do a 6 hour endurance ride and the weather forecast was awful. 70% chance of rain and temps in the 50's. I knew that it would be much easier to ride in those conditions during a race. Plus I had raced Stony Creek the last 2 years, and wanted to try for a 3-peat win.

Scott chose not to go because of the weather, but I managed to convince my little sister Toni to come along for the trip. "Racing in the mud is good training for road racing," I told her over and over whenever it started raining on the drive there. Ha!

The 6 hour race didn't start until 2 p.m. but we left early in the morning to leave plenty of time to get food on the way. However, the drive took much longer then planned and we didn't account for the summer road construction that seems never-ending. As a result we couldn't stop for food, and pulled into the parking lot 30 minutes before the race start. To say that I was panicking would be an understatement. I usually try to arrive at races really early so that I have plenty of time to get everything ready without feeling rushed.

We ran to registration, ran to change, and then I threw a hydrapak under a fellow racers tent. That was the extent of my pre-race preparations. I didn't even have time to check the pressure in my tires.

I stood at the start line giving my little sis last minute instructions about the trail. You know, the typical mountain bike things involving wet roots and bridges. Basically all of the mistakes I've made in the past.

And then it was GO TIME!

I had come off of a week and a half of hard training but my legs felt pretty decent at the start. I found myself in the middle of a good group of guys, and we were moving at a pretty good pace. We were all talking, but I think that they were a little more talkative then me :-)

In the first singletrack section I realized that I didn't have that big of a lead. Whenever I hit a switchback I could see the second place women right behind me. I didn't know who she was but she was moving at a really good pace. Egads!

I didn't see her once we hit the first flat doubletrack section, but the group that I was riding with all went straight on singletrack when we should have veered off onto more doubletrack. The course tape was up really high, so it was super easy for us to ride under. We quickly realized our mistake but we all had to slam on brakes and turn around (actually they realized the mistake and it's a good thing as I would have kept going!) The wrong turn maybe cost us 30 seconds, but it was enough time for the chase group (including the 2nd place women) to catch us.

She pulled ahead and I jumped on her wheel. Let me tell you, the pace accelerated pretty quickly from that point. The group that we were riding with started falling back one by one. I still didn't know who she was, but she was super strong and obviously knew the course really well. My legs were not liking the climbs at all, and I lost contact towards the end of the first lap. Instantly the "race demons" started entering my brain. I'm talking about the "am I fast enough? will I ever catch her? Why do my legs feel so crappy?" thoughts.

I caught back up to her pretty quickly, and we spent half of the second lap going a little under XC race pace. I wasn't sure if I could go that pace for 6 hours, but figured there was no better time then the present to find out. Eventually we both reached the top of a climb at the same time with another guy. He and I descended together and she fell back. After that I never saw her again but I swear I could feel her breathing on my neck the entire time.

After the 2nd lap I realized that I never put nutrition (ummmm, hello rookie!) under the tent with my hydrapak. And I couldn't stop to go to our car to get some because I had no clue how far back the 2nd place female was. As I went through the pit area I noticed a guy standing under a tent doing support for his son. As I rolled by I asked him to find me some gels and have them ready for me the next time I rolled through. From that point on he always had food for me whenever I came by. I later found out that his name was Mike Silver and I will be forever grateful! Especially since he had a variety of flavors of the gel waiting every lap :-) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I finished the race in 1st place with a time of 6:05 and 73 miles. This was also my 3rd year of being 3rd overall in the guys. One of these years I need to move up a spot:-) We lucked out big time with the weather too. It drizzled off and on, but the course was in really good shape. There were a few muddy sections but nothing too bad. Temps were in the low 50's for most of the day, but I felt great racing in just a jersey and shorts.

I spent a little time afterwards talking to friends about the race. The funny thing is that their faces were all clean so I assumed that mine was too!Not so much!

And to think that some people pay for mud masks at the spa....
We didn't get home until midnight and I was completely exhausted. 5 hours of driving and 6 hours of racing = a long day. The next day it was back to work for me and it's been go, go, go every since. I felt super tired during the first part of the week, but am finally starting to feel better now. I can only hope that I am fully recovered by this weekend. I have my first hundred miler of the season this Sunday and I am crossing every single finger and every single toe that my legs come back!!!

I rode a Spearfish and I liked (loved) it

I wanted to post this a few days ago, but blogger was being difficult and unavailable. Oh well, it's been a busy week and I haven't had that much computer time anyways. I've been working late, subsequently riding late, and then going to bed late. You should see the dark circles under my eyes...

Dark circles aside, I'm not complaining. My training rides have been going really well, and the weather is finally warm. It's so much easier now that I can just throw on a jersey and shorts.

My favorite ride this week would have to be the Salsa/Ada bike shop demo day at Luton Park. I definitely did more talking then riding out there, but I FINALLY got to ride a Spearfish. I heard nothing but good things about the bike out at Interbike, and the good reports continued out at the demo day. Everyone who took the bikes out wanted to go out for another ride.

I waited patiently (kind of) for my turn on the bike. While waiting I talked to my old teammate Barry who showed up with his new El Mariachi...

And then I rode my El Mariachi around.....

while eating a hotdog...

And then finally I was able to take the Salsa reps bike out. To tell you the truth, I was really curious to how the bike would ride. I like my bikes to feel really responsive and I didn't know if the Spearfish would feel too full-suspension-y for me.

One pedal stroke and I was smiling. Huge smiles. The bike does not bob at all. It's 100% awesome and the perfect bike for any sort of endurance race. That being said, I think it's perfect for just about anything. I would totally race it in a short XC race too. And then I'd go ride down a mountain afterwards.

Anyways, I'm gushing. Back to the trail....I rode behind my friend Tara (who wanted to test my El EM out) and her dog. The measurements on the spearfish were definitely not set up for me. The handlebars were too high and the seat post wouldn't go high enough. My knees felt like they were coming up to my ears. Even so, I was having so much fun I wanted to stay out there forever.

At one point I whipped out my phone because Tara's dog was doing such a good job of keeping up with us and I wanted to take a picture. First of all, anyone who is as uncoordinated as me should NEVER EVER attempt to ride trail with just one hand. I don't know what I was thinking. Right after I took this picture I rounded the corner and hit a bunch of rocks.

And I think that moment proved to me just how smooth the Spearfish really is. The bike sailed right over the rocks like I was on pavement. The Spearfish definitely saved me from a crash because like I said, I'm uncoordinated. Sometimes I'll walk past a table and just bang into it for no reason at all.

Eventually the sun started to set and I remembered that I wasn't on my bike. Tara went on to finish the trail and I hurried back. Everyone was packed up and waiting for me. Oops! I was having too much fun out there.

Thanks to everyone who came out and thanks to hydrapak for shipping swag for giveaways!!!!

Spinning...really, really fast

My weekend consisted of dirt, pavement and sand.

And Swedish fish (which is one of my favorite emergency ride foods!)

I have to admit that I went into panic mode a little bit this weekend. For the longest time we seemed to be permanently stuck in winter, and all of a sudden it's full on race mode. I'm racing the next two weekends, and Lumberjack is coming up slowly but surely.

I spent 4 hours on my SS this past Saturday and definitely need to get more ride time on it. I'm fine on the trail, but completely suck on any sort of flat. Instead of pedaling really fast I kind of pedal, pedal, coast. Pedal, pedal, coast. It's a really bad habit and I need to eliminate the coasting part and teach myself how to pedal with a really fast rpm. I see more SS rides to the trail in my future :-) That way I can practice on flat roads. Plus, the adrenaline rush I get from trying to make it through a busy intersection before the light changes is great!

By the end of my ride I was completely tanked. I forget how much more of my back and arms I use when I only have one gear. Afterwards I dropped my Selma off to the Ada Bike Shop. It's getting a "facelift," but hopefully I will get it back in a day or two. Or maybe today if I'm lucky!

Sunday was another great day outside. I rode my Chili out to the beach and back which was good for 77 miles. It was a perfect ride day and I followed it up with a perfect nap. Afterwards I did have to go into work, but no one wants to read about that, right? ha ha.

Photo shoot with the Chili. Right after I took this picture it started rolling towards the lake. Talk about an instant heart attack!

I'm not the only one enjoying the nice weather either. Naomi was finally able to get some quality time outside in the sun in her new DOGGLES. Ok, first of all, I want everyone in the blogosphere universe to know that I DID NOT buy doggles for my dog just for the fun of it. I need to make that absolutely clear. In fact, until a month ago the word doggle didn't even exist in my vocabulary.

Naomi was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that attacks her eyes :-( Poor doggy. Luckily it can be controlled with eye drops, but her eyes can't be exposed to the sun. The good news is that we live in Michigan, and the sun doesn't exist 10 months of the year.

The doggle website states several things about their product. One being that the doggles are so stylish humans will want to borrow them (seriously?) and two being that dogs will usually forget that they are wearing them (seriously???)

Naomi won't walk in them so it looks like we will be doing lots of shady walks. This is probably a good thing because I don't know how I could walk Naomi down the street in doggles without peeing my pants. So freaking funny. I can't imagine how crazy I would look either. Imagine me walking down the street, laughing hysterically, being led by a dog wearing sunglasses. There would be a whole lot of awesomeness going on, that's for sure.

However, I can slip them on when she's napping in the sun.

Well, time to get rolling. Don't forget to come ride at Luton Park tonight after 5:30. It's Salsa demo day. And I have some great swag from Hydrapak to raffle off too! Hope to see you there!

Salsa Demo

Come out and ride this coming Tuesday (May 10th) @ Luton Park @ 6 p.m! Salsa is having a demo day with some really sweet bikes to test out. The Ada Bike Shop will also be there helping out and riding. There will be food and refreshments afterwards!!! I'm pushing for s'mores :-)

Bikes available will be the Mukluk, Spearfish, El Mariachi, Fargo and Vaya.

See you there!!!

Done recovering

After two full days of recovery I'm finally starting to feel human again. More importantly, I can walk up the stairs without screaming!

On Sunday the plan was to do an easy spin on the rail trail. I convinced my little sister Toni to join me for the ride but we quickly had to take a detour. There is some massive flooding going on over the trail.

Once we hit the road my easy recovery ride turned not so easy. It was so windy out I could barely move. That's when I had to pull the big sister card and told little Toni to go to the front and pull. I figured it was good training for her anyways....hee hee. She's so strong on a road bike it's ridiculous! We were out there for 2.5 hours and I drafted for 95% of the ride. Awesome!

It was a pretty uneventful ride, though we did stop to rescue a turtle from a sure death. Ugh. I hate picking them up but I always feel too guilty to leave them in the street...

This one was tiny but I screamed when it started wiggling. Not sure what's going on. First I'm screaming at snakes and now I'm screaming at turtles. I think I'm developing some sort of wildlife phobia. And it all started with the goose incident of 2010.

Monday I stayed off of the bike completely but did some upper body strength training with Jason and Gareth. And today it was back on the bike for me. It's still pretty cold here and temps were in the high 40's. I have to say that the weather hasn't been cooperating this spring. It seems like it's never going to warm up. Oh well. Once I was on the bike it didn't matter anyways. I had to do a few hill sprints so I warmed up quickly. Plus my legs felt WAY better!!!

Training for the rest of this week is definitely going to ramp up, but I'm going to have to be really creative with the weather. I'm crossing my fingers and toes that all of the rain in the forecast is a BIG FAT LIE. I've been saying this for the last 2 months, but eventually it does have to warm up!

And that's a wrap!

We got home late Wednesday night, but this is the first time I've really been able to sit down at my computer. These last couple days have been busy with post race vacation stuff. Like cleaning and putting away a lot of gear. And catching up on dog walks. Naomi spent the week with my parents and I suspect that they were serving her dog food with a side of steak. Actually I don't just suspect it...I KNOW it. Spoiled!!!

Anyways, I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, our trip. Scott and I didn't spend an inordinate amount of time down South, but we did get two really good days of riding in after my race. The day after our race we travelled over to the Nantahala outdoor center. We arrived late in the day and our inn was completely deserted. There was a pay phone that didn't work and a note saying that we had to check in a few miles down the road.

spooky.....

On our way to check in I was all, "this is how it starts in all the scary movies!" Scott thought I was being ridiculous, but clearly he hasn't watched the same movies as me. One moment an unsuspecting couple is driving up a (very steep) driveway to a motel in the middle of nowhere and the next thing they know people with masks are trying to break down the door with axes.

In all actuality, our little room was really clean and nice. And definitely quiet. Scott slept like a rock each night. Me? I slept, but not as well. It's hard to get a good night's rest when you are sleeping with one eye open and trained on the door :-) ha ha!

We rode a total of 10.5 hours in the two days that we were down there. My legs were pretty tired from the race so we kept the rides at a really easy pace. Even so, I started to drag towards the end of each ride. I forgot how looooooong the climbs are down South. Next year I'm determined to go back for at least a week really early in the season. The riding in phenomenal and potholes don't exist down there!

I have no clue what I'm doing here...being my usual dorky self....

Recognize this dam???
All in all, a really great trip. But now I need some rest. When I'm at home I can do day after day of intervals, and recover pretty well. That is not the case after a race and traveling. Then I turn into the world's slowest recoverer.

Yesterday I took my little sister Toni mountain biking at Fort Custer and I'm really glad that we went because it showed me that my legs are completely tanked.

My little sister Toni waiting for me after dropping me a million and one times....
Today I'm doing nothing but a really easy spin on the rail trail and then more resting. It's time to go back to work too. I almost forgot about that...