Andrea

Slobberknocker Race Report

The Slobberknocker is a 75 mile gravel grinder in Perryville, Arkansas. With my past gravel road racing experience at Southern Cross, I opted to ride my cyclocross bike. Most people were riding mountain bikes and told me I was brave for bringing the CX rig. I knew that there were a couple of gnarly spots on the course, but that the skinny tires would be faster on ~90% of the route. In light of my ongoing minor awe at the volume/intensity of training I’ve been absorbing lately, I added a motivational sticker:

The course started out on 6 miles of pavement before turning into the gravel roads of the Ouachita National Forest. The rollout from Perryville went smoothly. My plan was to get ahead of the other women from the start so that I wouldn’t have to wonder what my placing was on course. I ended up on the front, shoulder to shoulder with Frank Webber (on his CX bike) for the neutral motorpace out of town.

At the first climb (still on the pavement), I sat back and watched as a bunch of riders hammered up while I rode a hard, but non-strenuous tempo up the hill. I figured as long as no women were challenging me, I’d keep the pace at about 90-95% of “beast mode” in order to not destroy myself before next weekend’s Cohutta 100.  Like Southern Cross, my climbing strategy was to stand and pedal singlespeed style rather than gear down and spin.

The course was rolling big ring stuff for a while, but once I was on the bigger climbs in the Forest, my strategy was also to cruise the descents easy to avoid flat tires or wrecks. This meant that I was back & forth with a lot of guys on mountain bikes who would granny gear uphill then let loose downhill. There were only a few spots were I really had to ride the brakes and creep. I only heard the rim hit a rock once or twice. (Tubeless FTW!)

One part of the course (the descent to/climb out of Lake Sylvia) was two-way traffic to an aid station/turnaround where you could see the people ahead of (or behind) you. After a quick pit stop at the Aid Station, I was making my way up the climb when Laureen Coffelt zoomed past on her way down. Even though I knew that meant she was a solid 5-10 minutes behind me, it motivated me go one gear harder.

Speaking of motivation, I almost forgot to add a song to this post (weird video… you’ll notice something new each time you watch it)

The course after the turnaround was a couple more climbs and a bunch of flat/rollers. After the initial sketch of the last big descent, I hit the big ring and hauled all sorts of ass, absorbing a large quantity of guys who had been just ahead of me all day. Rolling back into town, I realized that I was going to come in under 5 hours (not that it was a goal or anything, since I really had no idea how long the course would take, but it’s a good benchmark).

Official finish time, 4:54- landing me in 1st place with $200, a belt buckle, and a sweet trophy woodsplitter maul. Bam!

Results aren’t online yet, but I’ll post a link & maybe some more photos as they turn up.

 

Andrea

Tiger Lane Crit

I decided to add some interest to the intensity of my training this week with the Tiger Lane Criterium race. Given the difficulty of my upcoming races and how hard I’ve been training lately, I’d felt unsure about going. However, with all of the other women in town avoiding the race, I figured it was a pride thing and pinned my number anyway.

As many youngling roadies have discovered, criterium racing (click the link and scroll down a little if you don’t know what I’m talking about) is somewhat of a learned skill. Much like cyclocross, because of the added bike and pack handling skills required for crit success, it’s possible to have exceptional fitness but still suck at it. The physiological efforts of a fast crit is similar to cyclocross as well- most of the time, you’re close to threshold, with repetitive leg/lung searing attacks sprinkled throughout the duration of the race.

I haven’t been training for the attack-type effort, much less ridden in a crit since June of 2010, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. The “women’s race” was run in conjunction with the Cat 4 men- a group that can be somewhat unpredictable due to the variety of riders ranging from recently upgraded 5s, cat 4s for life, sandbaggers afraid of cat 3 racing, as well as  former cat 2s (yeah, I’m serious, there was a downgraded cat 2 in my race).

The course was flat, fast, and relatively non-technical. As we lined up for roll call, I did my best to stay stone-faced despite the fact that my heart rate was already above 130bpm. When the race started, I immediately stuck like glue to the first few wheels. My strategy was to stay near the front where the pace was smooth and I could follow the important moves. It was a good one- I barely used my brakes, and, though we were often 2-3 deep through the turns, everything was smooth. Even at high speeds, the group was surprisingly calm and non-sketchy. I chased a few breaks and made a few of my own attacks. I couldn’t help myself…

About 3/4 of the way through the race, a small break formed. Noticing that it was the magical mix of 1 rider from each of the attending teams, I jumped and bridged. According to Ryan, we had a workable gap started as we rounded the home stretch. Even though we were killing it, for some reason, someone chased down the break. It was a total cat 4 move on someone’s part, because there was seriously a member of each team in the group (i.e. someone chased down their own teammate). Maybe they were mad that I was up there?

The last few laps were somewhat uneventful. A lot of riders were stuck in the back because of the breakneck pace. I sat around near the front until the former cat 2 rolled off the front on the last lap (and won). The resulting surge/sprint landed me somewhere in the top half of the field for the sprint.

Given the situation, I’m pretty stoked on the whole thing. I’ve still got the crit skills on lock, and that sort of intensity will do wonders for my upcoming racing endeavors. Unfortunately, because of said races, I don’t think I’ll make it back to the crits until the last of the 4 race series. Big thanks to the 901 Racing guys for putting on a great race AND including a women’s payout!

Andrea

Unsolicited Advice for Active Women

I might catch some isht for this, but I think it’s worth saying. Guys, you don’t have to read. This doesn’t really involve you.

Over the weekend, I worked neutral mechanical support for the Los Locos Duathon. While I was there, I was amazed at the number of beautiful, strong ladies who were not taking care of themselves.

Ladies… I’m talking about your breasts here.

I saw so many cases of breast abuse during the run portions of the race that I wanted to start a neutral breast support tent. Do you WANT them to be friends with your belly button by the time you’re 50? Seriously?!

If you’re female and still reading, let me give you some sage advice. If you have larger than pancake-sized boobs, the same sports bra that you wear for yoga class, yardwork, lifting weights, or even cycling will NOT work for running. You know that feeling of something smacking you in the chin with every stride? That’s your breasts- it’s not good for them, and it’s not necessary. There are awesome sports bras out there, but you aren’t going to find them at Target for $20. Educate yourself. Do a little searching on the internet, then head down to your LRS (local run shop) or LBS (local bra shop) and start trying things on. Your boobs will thank you.

My other sage advice is this…

Well, it’s more of an etiquette/self respect  thing…

Triathlons are places where you’ll see people wearing very little in the way of clothing. It makes sense- it’s a sport that involves swimming. It’s hot. Etc. See below:

 

The triathlon-friendly swimsuit. Makes perfect sense. Should you wear one to a duathlon? I’d hazard a guess that if any female triathlete showed up to a duathlon in her favorite tri-suit that no one would bat an eyelash.

However, if you’re green enough to multisport that
A) You consider bootyshorts to be “close enough” to traditional tri gear that you can ride a bike in them
B) You attempt to run the wrong direction out of transition
C) Your pre-race warmup includes bending over and touching your toes while the guy in line behind you at the portajohn is looking embarrassed and diverting his gaze.

You should probably reconsider your choice of clothing, so that people aren’t snickering and giving you this look:

Andrea

Membership Drive

If you are the type that just reads and leaves without poking around in the sidebar (giggle), take a second to click on the Facebook and twitter links. If you follow/like, you not only get the usual links to new blog posts, but little training updates like this one from yesterday:

“Just finished my 19th and 20th hours of training in the last 7 days, and I managed a set of 3×10 intervals with power numbers that I’d be proud of if I were rested. Holy damn.”

I hope noone took that the wrong way- I wasn’t trying to brag or show off. I’m just really, really happy to see hard work starting to pay off. The aforementioned 20 hours was a lot of base training with several searing doses of intervals thrown in for good measure. Yesterday, I was tired and sore from the previous rides. I struck out on a 2 hour ride not knowing if I’d be able to achieve my usual wattage for 3x10min intervals, and, if I did, if I’d be able to keep the numbers consistent for all three intervals. However, I’ve had some of my best training rides when I’m tired and sore from lots of training, so I was hoping that would be the case.

I hope that my successes in training carries over to the races. It’s definitely promising, at least for the Breck Epic stage race later in the summer. For now, it’s rest and recover for the upcoming races- Slobberknocker (75 mile Arkansas Gravel Grinder) and the Cohutta 100 (first NUE race of the year).

Andrea

Hybrid Rides

I’ve always felt a tiny twinge of jealousy when I see some of my facebook & blogger friends post about epic off-road training rides that they can do from (sometimes) right out their back doors. Living in Memphis does have its pluses, but close proximity to endless hours of singletrack isn’t one of them (luckily, one of the good things about Memphis is its close proximity to Arkansas).

Because of this, I do most of my training on the road. I like my road bike (if you’re new here, scroll back to 2008-2009 and check out some road racing adventures), so I don’t mind road training. However, with my busted fingers, I’ve been unable to operate the brakes on my road bike. The mountain brakes are fine, though- I’ve got enough range of motion, and they’re strong enough that I can do anything on my mountain bike. So, I spent all weekend on the Air9RDO with my powertap wheel.

…and by “all weekend,” I mean 5 hours both days with another 5 hours on tap for today. To those of you who assumed I’d be laid up because of injuries, you were very, very wrong.

I’ve taken to riding from trail to trail, which makes for some very entertaining training rides. It’s pretty fun to switch from “steady” to “trail mojo” periodically during a ride. It’s also been fun getting to know the new A9RDO a little better. All bikes have a personality. If this bike were a man, he wouldn’t be the one you’d take home to meet your parents.

My fingers are slowly getting better. A follow-up visit to the ortho doc resulted in getting the go ahead to be splint-less on my right hand. My left index and middle fingers have to stay taped together for another two weeks to allow the fracture in the middle one to heal. Looks like I’ll be “whole” in time for Slobberknocker and Cohutta weekends.

Andrea

Oops

As I mentioned in my Ouachita report, I have three injured fingers- a sprained middle one on the right hand, and a sprained/broken middle and sprained index on the left. The most painful, colorful, and most sausage-like one is definitely the index finger.

Following the race, Fullface Kenny texted me for a race update. The conversation went like this (I wanted to take a screenshot, but I just figured out that my phone doesn’t do that without downloading an app):

FFK: Finished Yet?
Me: Yeah. 3rd after a flat and a bad wreck
FFK: You OK after the wreck?
Me: I may have broken my hand
FFK: Minor details :)
FFK: A broken hand X-Ray is worth some free beer

So, the next morning, I went to the Minor Med place to get checked out, and was given the aforementioned diagnosis and fitted with some finger splints:

 

Surprisingly enough, I can still do prettymuch everything I need to do at work, with the exception of adjusting hubs and truing wheels… the little arms of the splints get caught up on the spokes. Also, I occasionally have to use a screwdriver to open up a tight quick release. I did get called Edward Scissorhands when I was trying to re-wrap an old gripshift cable.

Tuesday, I noticed that my middle finger is not healing straight. My days as a hand model are officially over.

 

Wednesday, Kenny kept with his promise, and I found this in the mailbox:

 

The healing process is slow. I can work or ride a little without my fingers splinted, but they start to get sore after a couple of hours. It’s going to be an indefinite amount of time before I can ride my road bike since I can’t operate the front brake right now. Luckily, I can still operate my mountain bike with no issues, so my training doesn’t have to take a break for healing.

Hopefully, the ortho will have a positive prognosis when I visit on Monday. I’ll update then.

 

 

Andrea

3rd Place Curse

I’ve got quite a collection of 3rd place finishes from “big” races.

It all started with Marathon Nationals in 2010:

 

 

Then, in 2011, I kept the Bronze collection strong.

Spa City:

Mohican 100:

Fools Gold 100:

 

2012 has been the year that I’ve stepped up the mediocrity… starting off with a Master’s World Championship Bronze:

Then, more bronze at Spa City:

…and, to polish it off, a cute little 3rd place quartz from Ouachita:

 

Yes, being able to podium at a race is something I’m thankful for.
On the other hand, always being on the lowest step is something that is sprouting a deep seeded discontent somewhere in between my liver and my stomach. It had only been a mild annoyance before, but when I heard the latest XXC Podcast with (relatively new) pro endurance racer Jonathan Davis, I really started to feel restless. Among other things, he talked about his dedicated training and recovery routine. I feel like I have a similar desire to dedicate my life to racing a bike much like he has, but I also feel like I’m stuck someplace in between the dream of becoming a professional bike racer and the reality that I can’t quit my day job unless someone magically calls me tomorrow and offers me a pro contract.

I don’t want to sound like I’m discouraged, because I’m not… more like really anxious and a little frustrated with a touch of impatience thrown in. So, this season, I’m hoping/training to get at least another step up… if not see the top at least once at something other than a regional level race. Sure, my goal of “World Domination” might seem a little ambitious at this point, but at least it gives me something to shoot for.

Andrea

Ouachita Challenge Race Report

The entry list for the Ouachita Challenge always seems to be a mixed bag. 2010 seemed like the year of the pros. Last year, the field was slightly more sedate. This year, Carey Lowery showed back up, as well as Jessica Rawlins (state XC champ of Texas) and a host of other strong regional ladies. I finally had a chance to race the new Air9 RDO. Of course, I love the singlespeed best, but with a chance to win, it wasn’t the choice for a race with miles of flat/rolling road injected into its front and midsections.

I lucked out with work- Poolboy Matt was able to get Sunday off and come out to crew for me- a huge time saver on this sort of course.We arrived at camp Sunday just before sunset and rode the pump track for a while to get the car out of our legs. Afterward, we sat around the campfire and traded stories with the Texas guys.

Sunday morning was pretty typical. As always, I woke up with a race song in my head…

We struck camp and headed to Oden High School where the race started. I was a little late to the lineup and ended up only being able to nudge my way about halfway up into the field. For most endurance races, that’s not a huge deal, but for this one, getting into the draft of the lead groups in the 7 miles of road prior to the initial singletrack can give you a huge headstart on competitors that get stuck out in the wind.

I did not make it to the lead group. I was able to get some good paceline action, though. It was about the time that the asphalt changed to gravel when I saw Jessica for the first time. She was smack in the middle of a paceline of her Bicycles Plus teammates, who, from what I overheard from one of the guys, were all cat 1 cross country racers who were there to help Jessica out. I stuck to their wheels for a while before they took off after Carey Lowery up the final climb before the singletrack. I wasn’t about to blow myself up at 5 miles into the race. I figured I’d let them beat each other up a bit then tackle the loser.

After a little singletrack climbing, I rolled up on Jessica and her guys. I managed to get on her wheel and chill out a little. From what I could tell, she probably had me on fitness, but I had the rock riding advantage. With Blowout Mountain ahead, that was a good thing. I was waiting patiently for a chance to get around her when she (I think) dropped her chain. I calmly made haste down the back of Brushy Mountain through the first aid station.

The next portion of rocky awesomeness up and across Blowout was like home to me. Unfortunately, I punched a rock with my rear tire. Stan’s sealant went up in a roostertail behind me, and I pulled off the trail  and rotated the hole down to let the sealant work. It seemed to have closed the puncture, so I decided to gamble and aired the tire back up with my one Big Air CO2. It appeared to hold… until I rolled down the trail another 20 feet, and it started spewing again. CRAP.

I found another safe spot to pull off (not always easy on Blowout) and proceeded to add a tube to my tire. About the time I was getting the tube into the tire, Jessica rolled by. One of her guys stopped to ask if I was OK. When he did, he accidentally dropped a CO2 out of his pack… lucky me!! I finished the change and headed down the trail with my rear tire bouncing like a basketball over the rocks (I wasn’t about to pinch flat). Time elapsed with flat… 10 minutes. In hindsight, the initial CO2 gamble was a bad idea. If it would have worked, though…

Meh.

Next it was up & over one more mountain before hitting the road to/from Sims. There, I met Matt, swapped bottles, and refilled my seat pack. Matt said that Jessica had blown through with her teammates about 4 minutes prior. I could tell I was a little overheated when I left, so I refrained from going all out on the road to the Womble Trail portion of the course. Once I was there, I settled back into my trail rhythm. I was tired, but feeling like I would be able to successfully maintain a slightly gentler pace than what I’d sustained through the Ouachita Trail.

I made it over Mauldin Mountain and was headed down the back side when suddenly, I was wrecking. I don’t really know what happened, because I didn’t ever look ahead of me and register an “oh shit, I’m going to wreck” in my head. There were some roots… they may have been a little slick and off camber… no idea. All I know is that I watch my left hand smash against the ground with my fingers bending back towards my wrist. When I came to rest, I was face down with my feet downhill and my helmet just off the edge of the trail. The two guys that had been following me were pretty freaked out. They offered to get help. I told them I was going to be ok, but that I’d hurt my hand. In my head, I was thinking more along the lines of, “OH MY GOD MY HAND IS MANGLED.”

I heard one of the guys say he’d go get my bike. I have no idea where it was, but, with their help (and by help, I mean, they drug me back up onto the trail) I was back on and riding pretty quickly. I hope I wasn’t rude to them in my demanding that they just give me my bike so that I could keep going… they were concerned, but I just wanted to be riding again during the space between the initial “hurt” and when the adrenaline wore off and the real pain (from both my hand and the multitude of the other cuts/bruises) set in.

The last 15 miles hurt. I made a promise to myself that I could cry on the other side of the finish line as long as I kept my shit together the rest of the way there.

After what seemed like forever, I was back out onto the forest road and headed back in to Oden. I made it a point to big ring the gravel climb that had nearly crushed my soul with cramps the year before. Minutes after that, Matt appeared on his singlespeed with words of encouragement. I chatted with him for a minute before taking off on the wheel of another racer. Finish time, 6:05… 3rd place by less than 2 minutes.

Once I was over the line, I dropped my bike and sat down against a nearby building. It seemed like Matt and everyone else was trying to help me, but all I wanted was some water and to be left alone. Something about the way I was acting or looking caught the eye of the nearby paramedics. They also kept checking in on me, and one eventually convinced me to go sit in the ambulance where it was cool and get a bag of IV fluids.

It did make me feel much better.

Of course, the pain of hurt fingers and other bruised/abraded joints eventually set in once I was cooled off and calmed down. Three of my knuckles started to swell (the index and middle fingers on my left hand and the middle finger of my right hand) as well as the area over my left 5th metacarpal.

This morning, I went to the doctor. Turns out, save a small fracture at the end of the proximal phalange of my left middle finger, the remainder of my injuries are all in the soft tissue. I’ve typed this entire post with 7 working fingers (the other 3 are in splints). I’m to go back to an ortho doc in 1 week for re-evaluation.

I’m crossing my splints for a speedy recovery.

 

 

 

Andrea

Rant #547

I need to complain about something else really quick…

(it’s a rest-ish week since I’m heading out this afternoon for tomorrow’s Ouachita Challenge race, so I have nothing better to talk about)

Cable housing. Namely, cable housing on mountain and cyclocross bikes.

For those of you that are not mechanically informed on how your bike’s shifting works here’s a quick rundown: when you push on the shift lever (road or mountain), the shifter either pulls or releases an exact amount of the shift cable (that’s the “click” you hear when you shift- it’s the ratcheting mechanism inside the shifter). It’s that exact amount that causes the derailleur to move an exact distance up or down and, in turn, move the chain an exact distance between cogs on the cassette (or rings on the chainring).

In order for all of this to occur smoothly, the housing- that stuff that holds the cable to the frame- needs to be smooth and free of debris. Therein lies the problem. Most bikes arrive at the shop with cable stops that necessitate exposed sections of cable. Like this:

On a road bike, those exposed sections are pretty safe, save the occasional inundation from sweat, rain, and/or sports drink. However, if you ride where there’s mud and dirt, it’s very easy for those openings to become fouled with mud, which kills shifting performance. Some manufacturers (not singling anyone out, but this is a common one I see in the shop), even do really dumb stuff like this:

That’s a short piece of housing that runs right through the potentially muddiest part of the bike.

 

In order to combat these ridiculous forays into cable routing, you (or your mechanic) have a couple of options.
#1: sealed cable housing kits. Gore makes a nice kit. It’s relatively light, but somewhat expensive when compared to standard cables & housings. Also, the coating on the cables that come with the kit does not play well with SRAM rear derailleurs or any front derailleurs where the cable rubs on a pivoting point on its way to the pinch bolt. The friction from the rubbing on those spots makes the coating peel up and, in some cases, unravel back into the cable housing itself, which causes the same friction issues you’re trying to avoid in the first place.
#2: Continuous run housing. My personal favorite. Niner did us all a great favor with the new Air9RDO cable routing by providing the option to run a solid piece of housing from the shifter, though the frame, to both the front and rear derailleurs. Other manufacturers have not been so thoughtful. Even though they’re making a bike that will likely get really dirty, they put standard cable stop on the frame rather than the needed “zip tie points” that can be used to attach a continuous run (I’m talking the little flat spots like you use for attaching a hydraulic brake hose). As a result, I’ve taken artistic license with many mountain frames and used various combinations of zip ties and electrical tape to route solid cable housing from one end to the other. It doesn’t always look as pretty as using the cable stops (yes, I realize that there are converters for cable stops to make them “hold” a solid piece of housing. I’m not satisfied with the holding power/security provided by any of the designs). It’s also heavier than running non-continuous housing, and will cost you a little more in parts. Totally worth it, though, IMHO.

I’m amazed at the number of riders and mechanics (and framebuilders, apparently) that are ignorant to the greatness that is continuous cable housing. I recently had a customer tell me, “I took it to ******* bike shop (not gonna name names) and asked for continuous housing, and they had no idea what I was talking about.” Really?! It improves shifting performance enough that Fullface Kenny and I have decided to make it the standard in our shop for anyone that takes their bike out in conditions other than “solid, drought-ridden hardpack.” It’s one of the many reasons why I’m convinced that the Cordova Outdoors bike shop is currently the best in town. No bias at all.

 

 

Andrea

“not a hardcore racer”

“not trying to be Lance Armstrong”

“not trying to be fast”

etc.

If you work in a bike shop, you know exactly who and what I’m talking about.

 

In case you’re just joining us- I work in a bike shop. I repair bikes (yes, mister “can I speak to one of the mechanics?” I am a mechanic. I don’t just come back here and rub grease on my hands to moisturize my cuticles). I also sell a lot of bikes. I like finding the right bike for the right person (no matter what the discipline, age, or ability level), because it’s very rewarding to see them have a great time with their bike.

Let me preface my next small rant with this statement: I understand that budgets exist. I don’t mind helping you work with one. I understand that what you may know you need/want and what you can afford doesn’t always jive.

Those initial quotes usually aren’t from the guy/gal that is very budget constrained. They come from the person who comes in with the misconception that the only reason I’m suggesting the $1600 mountain bike rather than the $900 bike is because I want to sell a more expensive bike… never because of the fact that the cost of the fork alone on the $1600 mountain bike would cover the difference in price between the two.
For some reason, this person is convinced that his/her wish to ride recreationally means that he/she isn’t worth spending a little more to get a better equipped bike. I try to gently educate people on why, if they can afford it, they should buy “as much bike as possible.” Trust me… no recreational, non-racing rider who is on a $4000 bike ever bombs down the trail (or road) frowning and wishing they’d spent less money. I just want to put a hand on their shoulder, look them in the eye, and say, “you’re worth it”

…but I’d probably scare people off doing that.

Just because you don’t want to race or go fast doesn’t mean that you should rule out spending some extra money (as long as it’s affordable, of course). My point is, all bikes are fun, and an expensive bike (whatever “expensive” may mean to you) definitely isn’t mandatory for a good time. However, the frame/parts that cost more, cost more for a reason. They’re lighter. They’ll last longer. They work just as well with age as when they were new. You will be happier with your bike in general for a longer period of time. Remember what I said first… I love seeing people happy with their bikes.

 

-This PSA is brought to you from every single person who sells bikes in all bike shops, ever.-