12 Hours of Stank!

It’s not often that you get the opportunity to go to a 12 hour race that’s ~10 miles from your house, so I was excited to enter the 12 Hours of Stank @ Nesbit Park in Bartlett. Since I’ve been in post-season break mode since Oak Ridge, I wasn’t feeling particularly ready for a 12 hour solo race. No worries, though, because Carter, Ryan, and I decided to form a relay team.

We couldn’t have asked for better race-day weather (ok, so I was a little bit cold, but I can’t really complain). We decided that I’d ride the opening lap since I’d likely have the fastest lap times. Even with a slip up on some Blue Trail roots (first of several falls of the day), I still managed a lap time of close to 53 minutes.

At the start line (side note… dang, I look skinny here!):

prerace12

We swapped single laps all day. Unfortunately, Ryan had a flat tire on one lap and a broken chain during the next. The time it took to repair those mechanicals meant that we’d each complete 4 laps (otherwise, I would have gone out for a 5th sometime before the cutoff of 9:00pm).

Steve is my co-pilot:

steve

Even so, we still won the Co-ed 3-person relay division of the race (ok, I’ll admit- we were the only entry… though I still think we kicked a little butt!)

Post race photo:
dscf5158

Bike Parts!

Eventually, I’ll have an Air9 frame… when? No idea. So, in the meantime, I’ll just post (in true Weight Weenie style) parts that I’ve bought to lighten up my current set of components that were on the Jet9:

SRAM Red Front Derailleur:

dsc_9983

SPEEN Umlenker Top-Pull Adapter:

dsc_9984

Installed:

dsc_9985

X.0 Grip Shift (+cables):

dsc_9987

I’ve got Easton Carbon bars, too, but I didn’t take a photo.

Oh yeah, and Ryan, Carter, and I raced as a relay team in the 12 hours of Stank yesterday… I’ll write up a report tomorrow at some point…

Beat the Freak Cyclocross #1 and #2

I know, I know… I’ve been slacking on writing my race reports. It was a really good weekend…

Saturday was all about rain. About halfway to Fayettville, it started, and it didn’t stop until much later in the afternoon. When we arrived at the race course, it was coming down pretty hard, and soon enough, parts of the course were under more than a foot of water. The entire thing was a mud pit.

Only one other woman (Kim Bishop) showed up to race the 1/2/3 race, and we lined up with the cat 3 men. I got off to a slightly sluggish start, but managed to pass her early in the first lap. From there, I just worked on picking off the guys. The course was good for me- the mud was either deep or greasy, so I used all of the mud-riding skills I learned during the 1st lap of DSG (the 12 hour race that went horribly wrong back in May). I ended up coming in 5th overall (against 10 men). Sweet!

Photos (Courtesy of Tina Freeman):

2009-btf-9-26-09-sat-race-tinas-camera-1219

2009-btf-9-26-09-sat-race-tinas-camera-1255

2009-btf-9-26-09-sat-race-tinas-camera-1616

2009-btf-9-26-09-sat-race-tinas-camera-1627

Conditions on Sunday were not nearly as harsh. The sun was actually out, and a little bit of the mud had dried up. The course was less technical, but did include a sand pit. I lined up with the same group as the previous race. This time, my start was much better- I entered the first part of the course flawlessly tucked up in the middle of the group. There was still a lot of mud & soft grass as well as a nasty sand pit, but some parts of the course were hard and fast. I passed a lot of guys. A couple of them (Ryan included) had mechanical issues. Because of that, I ended up finishing 2nd overall. Woohoo! I like beating up on the guys a little bit :)

Here’s me in the sand & over some barriers:

sandsmall

barrier

I’m amazed at how much of a difference a nice bike makes! The BH Carbon is a cyclocross machine (though, unlike the Surly, it’s no fun to ride on singletrack because of the stiffness). I’m really excited for the entire season, but even moreso for what’s coming up in January- Yesterday on Facebook I saw that Eddie O’Dea (55nine Performance) is making preparations for Southern Cross. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I experienced an episode of Epic Fail when I lost that race to Carey Lowery in the final runup before the finish line.

Yeah. That race and I have unfinished business.

Weekend Prep

I’m about to do a little packing & hit the hay since Ryan & I are leaving in the morning for Fayetteville and the Beat the Freak cyclocross races. It’s been interesting to ready my food for the weekend since I’m still doing the “daniel fast” thing for two more weeks. I figured I’d post up a couple of roadworthy recipes:

Trail Mix:
1 can cashews
1 bag wasabi edamame (I think that “wasabi powder” is OK as an ingredient…)
Walnuts
Unsweetened dried Apricots, chopped
Raisins

Toss all of those into a Ziploc bag, shake up, and enjoy.

Brown Rice & Lentil Curry:
1 cup brown rice
1 cup lentils
1 box Pacific veggie broth
Red curry paste

Bring the broth to a boil and add the rice. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add the lentils and a tablespoon of red curry paste (you can add more later if you want). Cover back up & simmer for 20 more minutes. Eat as is or add to vegetables or an Ezekiel-brand sandwich wrap (they’re yeast & sugar free) with some spinach & other “burrito” filling of your choice.

Along with those, some of my other staples include peanut butter & rice cakes, protein shakes, soy-crisps, Larabars, and various whole fruits.

Clear Creek Challenge

The alarm clock went off early Sunday morning. We had some breakfast, packed the car, and headed down to Oxford for the Clear Creek Challenge MTB race.

The skies were cloudy, but the radar had been clear. Ryan was very brave and entered the cat 2 race insted of beginner, even though it was his first XC race ever, and he’s only ridden a MTB a handful of times. However, by the time we toed the line, the conditions went from dry to thunderstorm.

When the official told us to go, I took off and grabbed the holeshot. The trail was a river, but didn’t seem too slippery yet, so I used it to my advantage and tested the nerve of the other two ladies I was racing against. The strategy worked well- after a few minutes of hammering, I started passing the master’s men (and an expert woman who had started with them on her single speed). I looked back periodically and saw no one, so I backed off to a more sustainable tempo pace so that I wouldn’t have to take as many chances or risk getting too tired. At about mile 4, I passed Ryan, who was cursing and generally hating life.

This strategy worked swimmingly for the first lap. I freaking NAILED the steep switchback section. I mean KILLED it! I think the switchback is still cowering in fear over how much I kicked its butt. I have to gloat, because switchbacks have been the bain of my short MTB existance…

ccmud
I started to feel kinda tired during the last couple of miles of the first lap, so I figured I needed to eat some calories. I’m currently participating in a research study where I’m following the Daniel Fast for three weeks, so my options are somewhat limited. During the first few miles of the next lap, I managed to cram a Larabar down my throat.

Despite this, I only felt worse. Trying to preserve what energy was left, I shifted into my granny gear for a short hill somewhere around mile 4. I never left the granny gear after that. It was either what I had/hadn’t eaten, the 8 hours of Raid the Rock the day before, or a combination of both, but I hit the wall. The remaining lap was a death march. I kept waiting for the other women to pass me back as I crawled down the trail, which had turned into greasy mud in many sections as the rain tailed off.

Luckily, between the bad conditions and some mechanicals, no one caught me…

ccpodium

Luck. Lots of it. I discussed my luck with Mike and Darryl during RTR on Saturday. I happened to see a couple of checkpoints where we’d been somewhat off on our heading/pace counting, so when we were looking for one later on, he referred to me as “eagle eyes.” Hell, I don’t have eagle eyes… I’m just plain lucky more often than I’m not.

Other Happenings:
-It’s gonna be a while before I have more adventure/xc races, because I just mailed my Jet 9 frame back to Niner for the recall. Hopefully the turnaround is fast, because I don’t know if I’ll be able to find a bike to ride in the meantime.
-Saturday will be my first CX race on the new BH rig as well as the first race of this season. I haven’t drilled nearly enough, but I’m hoping for the usual trial by fire learning experience. That reminds me- I need to whip up a set of pit wheels for when I burp my rear tubeless tire in a botched, flying remount.
-This morning, I applied/recieved my upgrade to cat 1 for both road racing and XC racing. Hopefully CX 3 to 2 will follow shortly, but I figure I need more than 5 races under my belt before then…

Break time is OVER

First, let me preface this by saying that if I name you in here, it’s out of the utmost respect and admiration for your riding abilities, determination, and drive. I love my competitors more than anyone else on the planet, because without you all, this training stuff is meaningless!

Since Oak Ridge, I’ve been slacking. The combo of Fool’s Gold and Oak Ridge weekends was physically and mentally exhausting. I won’t make excuses, though- some break time was needed, but I’ve also just been feeling lazy since then. I’ve barely had the impetus to ride my MTB enough to keep some fitness for the upcoming adventure/MTB races. Then, this morning, on XM radio, I heard every song that’s played on my brain’s mp3 player during my last two weekends of racing. Lazy time needs to be over.

I’ve had enough recovery time. Time to get off of my butt. I’m reading blog/facebook posts of some of the ladies that will be my toughest competitors during the next year, and I feel like a bum. In order to motivate myself (and maybe you?) I want to call you out. OK, maybe I’m just calling myself out to be as tough and driven as all of you, but doing this keeps me honest.

So (in no particular order), to Debbie, Kim, Loretta, Betsy, Namrita, Carey (I’ve got a special place in my heart for Carey when it comes to Southern Cross!) and any other badass chick on a bike that I’m forgetting… right now, you could all kick my butt, and rightly so. I’ve been training like an amateur and trying to rely on my innate stubbornness and tenacity to get me through my races. That ends this winter. If you read this and you are planning on winning some races in the next year (namely endurance, CX, XC, and road), just know that I’m coming for you. All of you. Tell your friends.

I love you all, and I can’t wait to see you again,

Andrea

Out of the Ashes: Oak Ridge Omnium Race Report

Friday was a tough day.

I hadn’t ridden all week because of my adductor pain, so Ryan and I went for a quick spin on Friday morning so I could see how my legs felt. It was bad- not injury pain bad- just “you haven’t ridden in a week” bad. I tried a leg-opening effort and was barely able to sustain normal wattage without searing lactic acid that felt as if it was being drawn from my legs into my lungs. I tried a couple of attacks… worse. I had no “snap” to speak of. It was exactly the type of ride that you don’t want to have before a state championship race.

After getting home & packing up, we hit the road. To add to the crappy ride I’d had earlier, my leg got more sore as the day went on, and, by the time we went to dinner that night, I was in enough pain to be limping. I kept watching out for other competitors… I didn’t want them to see that I was that injured. I told Ryan that I needed some sort of miraculous healing process to occur by the time I woke up in the morning and went to bed feeling both mentally and physically broken.

Road Race
Determined to do what I could with what I had, I woke up, ate some breakfast, and pinned my number. Strangely enough, after a couple of ibuprofen, I couldn’t feel my injury. Once I arrived at the staging area for the race, I changed and rolled around a little. A lot of women were showing up and registering. We lined up with a nice sized field. While we were waiting to start, Ryan rolled up from his race. He was grinning-Â turns out he’d won the cat 3 state championship in a 2-man breakaway on the last lap. I was so excited that I laid my bike down and hugged him. He’s been working so hard this season… it’s awesome to see it finally pay off.

Soon after, my race started. Two laps on a course with a couple of big hills and a lot of rollers. When we came to the first hill, I tried an attack. I don’t think it registered as an attack to any of the other racers. Fail. A few miles later, we hit the next hill. The riders behind me stuck me out in the wind.

Fine. You want me in front? Well, then you’d better hold the eff on.

Figuring that my attacking legs were non-existent, I took my week of frustrations out in a barely-sustainable tempo up the hill. It was a bit of a stair-step climb… I never let off during the reprieves, and, just as we passed the feed zone and I was feeling like puking, we passed a church’s sign that said “PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD.” I took that as a cue to continue the punishment. I looked back and saw that the peloton had exploded behind me with a few riders hanging on and others sprinkled down the road. The crest of the hill came soon after, and, being pissed off at gravity from my wreck exactly one week before, I stood up and let loose upon the descent. It was technical in a couple of spots, but the roads were well-banked, so I never touched the brakes. I wanted to show the descent who was boss.

Once we hit the flat/rolling section after all of these shenanigans, I pulled through, flicked an elbow, and surveyed the damage- five riders and myself had a good gap on a shattered group of chasers. We started working together to stay away. It was a great ride from there. We finished the remaining lap & a half mostly cooperating until we left the race course loop. I took that as a cue to get on a wheel and prepare to sprint. When we hit 1k to go, one rider took the inititive to lead the field out. We rounded the corner to the finish and Mary Mayhew jumped. I followed and went to her left just as Jennifer Schuble did the same to me. It seemed like the world’s longest sprint, but I managed to hold her off and take it by a wheel. I nearly cried on the way back to the staging area. I couldn’t believe that I’d been able to ride that hard. I couldn’t believe that I’d been able to match Mary’s jump into the sprint. I couldn’t believe that I’d actually been able to sprint so hard against some really good sprinters. I was almost overwhelmed.

Time Trial
As soon as I rolled in from my race, I told Ryan the good news and we headed back to the hotel. I had to immediately eat and get my bike ready for the 8 mile time trial just three hours later. I’m finding longer time trials to be “easier” as far pacing goes now that I’ve got a powermeter. I used to start too hard then fade at the end. Now I know what type of wattage I should see for the duration, and it helps me hold back a little at the beginning and finish with barely anything left by the end. This strategy paid off- I rolled a 19:35, which was more than enough for 1st place. With the omnium weighted heavily towards the time trial and criterium, this was good, but I’d still need to place in the top 3 on Sunday or risk losing the #1 spot.

FYI- in Oak Ridge, State Champions drink for free. I was glad that my Sunday race wasn’t until late in the day!

Criterium
I was feeling pretty good warming up on the trainer. Ryan raced both the masters 30+ and cat 3 crits, so we were at the race course pretty early. I didn’t mind watching a few other categories, because the finish of the race was a little bit tricky. It was a short, sharp uphill followed by a left turn and a long drag to the finish… with an intermittent tailwind. It seemed that whoever was able to get around the corner first was holding on for the win, but not all of the races played out that way, so I was slightly worried about making sure that I nailed it and kept my top omnium placing.

When our race started, I did what a normally do and attacked off the line. I like setting the “mood” for the race before anyone starts to get too comfortable. My attack strung the group out, but no one was really caught off gaurd, so I tucked back in line to catch my breath and wait for an opportunity to try again. I really wanted to thin the group out early in the race then rest up a bit for the sprint.

A couple of laps later, my strategy would be unnecessary.

Someone pulled for a lap then tried to pull through along the start/finish stretch. Whoever was behind her didn’t let her pull through. The pace bogged down to 16 or 17 mph and everyone in front of me started looking at each other and swerving around trying to make one another pull. I can’t stand that crap, so, of course, I attacked the bejesus out of them for it. It was about 7 minutes in to the 50 minute criterium.

I got a gap. They chased. For several laps, I was wavering at about a 10-15 second lead. A couple of times I’d look back and wonder if I should sit up, get caught, and try to conserve energy.

I’ve tried this solo break thing enough to know that at some point, you either give up and try to recover, or you go “all in,” meaning that you commit enough of your energy that you’re either staying away and winning or getting caught and not have anything left to get you to the finish line.

I went all in.

The gap grew to close to 30 seconds and continued to waiver. I knew that if I could get far enough away far enough into the race that the morale of the chasers would be broken and they’d let me stay out. Twenty minutes remained on the clock, and Ryan gave me a time check of 37 seconds… next lap, 54 seconds. As I’d hoped, the chasers began to fear being too tired to be able to sprint well, sat up, and resolved themselves to racing for 2nd place. I continued to fight the wind with all I had left, and the gap continued to grow. As I passed the start/finish with 5 laps to go, Barb Rigby, the official, announced on the loudspeaker that she wanted me to lap the field.

yeah… you get out here and lap the field. With the times I’m turning and the time remaining, I should have had 5 to go on the previous lap…

Such is you inner monologue when you’re swimming in a cesspool of lactic acid. I got within 20 seconds or so of lapping them. 53 minutes after the first attack (told you she made me do an extra lap!), I crossed the finish line… totally exhausted of both my physical and mental capacities, but very, very happy.

The pack sprint was handily won by Jennifer Schuble. I’m glad I wasn’t there…

And so, my road season comes to a close.

I spent most of the ride home in total disbelief of the past 8 days. I had an insane MTB wreck, managed to ride 30 more miles thinking I’d broken some bones, held on to second place, then spent all week limping around and going nuts with a torn hip adductor. Between the pain and the horrible morning ride, if you’d told me Friday night that I’d sweep the omnium, I would have called you a fool. I still can’t figure out how I manage to do these things. Luck? Genes? Physiology? Your guess is as good as mine. All I do know is that I can’t wait for the next challenge. Ok, enough cheese. Time to get some real lunch.

Oh yeah, and here’s a link to Ryan’s photos… Roadcx.net

Restless- Confessions of an Adrenaline Junkie

I think that the term “Adrenaline Junkie” is something that’s pretty cliched, but now that I’ve got excess time to sit around and think, it makes more sense.Â

With the exception of the torn adductor, I’m ready to get out and bend some cranks. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this motivated to train. I want to shake things up on the MTB next year, and I’m ready to get started NOW. Something about the anti-inflammatory med the doc has me on (Voltaren) seems to make me feel a little crazy on top of being restless.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s the whole weekend experience that’s making me crazy. Here’s a quote from someone RBR about people that do ultra-endurance sports: “People do this stuff for the same reason heroin addicts OD…. they keep chasing the high and it takes more and more to get that high.” This is how I feel right now. If I can’t get out and ride my bike, I want to get in my car and do 100mph on the interstate or something.

After thinking that you’re going to die for even a fraction of a second, ordinary life suddenly becomes the most painfully boring thing you’ve ever experienced.

At least for me, it’s like that. Other people would probably just be happy that they’re alive (of course, other people wouldn’t have been going fast enough to wreck and think that they’re going to die during mid-flight). I guess that’s the “adrenaline junkie” personality type. I keep sitting here while my hip mends wishing that someone would bust through my front door and try to rob me just to add some excitement to the mundane. Maybe it’s a psychological side-effect of attention deficit disorder… certainly sounds less goofy than “adrenaline junkie”!

It’s why I’ve decided to go ahead and race the Oak ridge Omnium this weekend. I want to take my frustrations out on the race. It’s gonna hurt, but I can’t wait. Really- if I have to wait any longer, I’m gonna go nuts!!! So, it’s time to defend the TN State Champion Road Race title. I’m very much looking forward to it :)

Injury Update

A couple of days later, and I’m amazed at how I’ve healed up. Other than random bruises showing up all over my arms and legs, the only thing I’m feeling from my Saturday mid-race flight is the groin pull. It’s pretty bad. I’m guessing that if I went to a doc that she/he would just recommend ice, rest, and anti-inflammatories, so I’ll skip the trip & just keep doing that. I took a photo of the trail rash on my hip, but it’s not really in a spot that I want to post on the internet, so you’ll just have to use your imaginations…

Update: At the recommendation of a PT friend who said that the pain I was having could be a broken hip, I went for an x-ray. Nothing is broken, but I do have a torn hip adductor. I’ve got some good anti-inflammatories and instructions to “take it easy” for a while so it can heal on its own.

Fool’s Gold 50 Race Report

Well, my weekend didn’t go quite as planned, but I still consider it a success.

I arrived at Camp Wahsega late in the afternoon and went out for a quick spin to get my legs moving again after the 7+ hour drive. Afterward, I cleaned up and figured I’d drive back to town for dinner. I was joined by Cesar Grajales… who, I have to admit, I first thought was just a guy in a rock racing t-shirt he’d picked up at the bike shop until he talked about his team, and I asked who his team was… oops. Dinner was good- we met up with Mike from Niner bikes and some other racers at Caruso’s- an Italian place that was a race sponsor. When we got back, I got to meet with a lot of the other women who were racing… I think that the people I’ve met at MTB races are part of the reason why I love it so much!

The next day started at 5:00 am with the ringing of the canteen bell (just like summer camp back in the day!) By 7:00, I was at the start area to watch the 100 mile racers take off. At 7:15, we were off. The course started on a 12 mile climb. It was pretty gradual, so I settled in to a nice tempo pace. At the top, we passed the first aid station, and only one woman- Loretta Simpson (local expert MTB racer) had stayed with me. I threw in a couple of attacks on the flat section at the top just for good measure. It was very tempting to go a lot harder at that point, but I made myself maintain the same tempo pace so that I’d be able to finish strong. It seemed to have worked, because she dropped back before the next aid station, which was at 19 miles in. I had to stop for water, and she caught up to me.

Once we were back on the trail, I kept with my strategy- tempo riding then letting it rip whenever I was on a descent. That was working well until mile 21… I hit a descent that started out looking as if it’d be fine at high speed, but about halfway down, it got really rocky. I took a bad line into the rocks, hit a large rock, and lost all control… I found out from my Garmin file last night that my speed at that point was 35 mph. I am not sure what happened between hitting the rock and becoming airborne, but I was in the air long enough to hear people yelling and to think to myself, “this is really, really bad.” All I could think to do was tuck my arms up to my sides and relax… it sounds weird, but it’s probably why I didn’t break anything. I bounced into a rock garden then slid downhill for what seemed like forever. When I came to a stop, I could barely breathe- I didn’t know where I was hurt because everything hurt so much. All I could do was just lay on the trail in a fetal position and let space and time catch up with me. I think I heard someone offer to go back to the aid station and call for help, but I managed to communicate that I thought I might be OK.

This was the type of wreck where even the guy that usually rides by and asks if everyone is OK over his shoulder stops… even if just out of morbid curiosity.

After I laid there for a minute, I sat up- at which point (according to Laureen Coffelt), I turned white, but realized that I was (reletively) OK. After another minute, I stood up and slowly got back on my bike. Everyone asked if I was going to continue the race, and I told them I’d at least ride to the next aid station. Somehow, I ended up on the wheel of Laureen (Memphis local from RB’s Racing who was in the 100 mile race). She asked if I wanted to get by, and I told her that I was just going to follow her for a little while- she was very steady and had pre-ridden the course enough to know where the good lines were and would even yell back to me when we came to a section that was easier in the granny gear. It really let me get my rhythm and nerve back. I don’t think she realizes how much that helped me. I honestly don’t know if I could have kept going if it weren’t for her wheel and her encouragement. Huge thanks are deserved…

Once we were off singletrack and back on some forest road, I decided to pick the pace up a little. At that point, my right groin and forearm were hurting a lot, and I had a dull headache (I saw later that I’d cracked the shell of my helmet) and sore back. I just went into survival mode. The fall broke my spirit as much as it broke my body, so I had no drive to even attempt to chase down Loretta, who’d gone ahead once she was sure that I was alive and not on my way to the hospital. All I could do was think about George Hincapie riding in the Tour with a broken collarbone and count the miles.

Somehow, I managed to drag myself the remaining 30 miles to the finish. I held on to 2nd place, too. I wanted to cry when I got there. After I showered, I packed up the car with all intentions of driving back to Memphis to race at the Stanky Creek XC race the next day. However, I changed my mind as I became progressively more sore and noticed some blood in my urine. I was really disappointed that I didn’t race Stanky because it’s a trail where I feel that I do really well, but I was comforted by kegs of Terrapin beer and a bunch of new friends to swap stories and do a little hiking with (the camp has some pretty cool trails/waterfalls to check out).

Today (Monday), I still feel like I’ve been beaten with a lead pipe. My muscles ache, I think I broke a rib, and mentally, I’m in an odd fog- I don’t think I hit my head, but I can’t think straight, and I’ve lost my appetite. Hopefully it’ll clear up in a day or two. I’ve entered the Oak Ridge Omnium that’s scheduled for next weekend, which includes the TN State Championship Road Race. Even if I’m still a little banged up, the payout is great, and I need to defend my RR Jersey!

I’ll update with some photos soon…