Tuesday nights have been cyclocross (CX) and short track (ST) race night the last couple of weeks. CX is a fringe sport within a fringe sport that usually occurs in the fall and winter. Road and mountain bike racing is pretty much over and this gives bike racers the opportunity to continue racing. Cold and wet conditions are a given, since it's a winter sport. This is from last year's CX National race: Needless to say we don't see that ^ type of weather condition in Dallas very often, especially early in December.
Tuesday started off nice enough, cool but not cold. As the day went on the temperatures dropped instead of warming up, and the wind picked up for good measure. By 4:00 it was windy and in the low 40s, and I was looking for a good reason not to race. Alan had his excuse all lined up - his bike was in the shop. I wasn't so lucky and I'm too stubborn... no, pig-headed... to use "it's cold" as an excuse.
We get there, bundle up and help with course set up. Soon it's time for the first CX race ("C" class). Since it's a whooping windy, 35deg I put on more than several layers of cycling clothing, get on my bike and start warming up for my CX race which is up next. I still don't have a lot of grace and skill when it comes to getting on and off the bike (you would think with my lack of technical skills, that I would be smoother getting off the bike than I am) so I look at the CX race as sprint-stop-sprint interval training.
The next race is the A's ST (same course as the CX, the course just by-passes the dismount sections). Pam and I ride in the back of the A race to trying to stay warm. As we're riding along I feel something on my face, I look up at the park lights and I see "stuff" coming down. Nope, not rain... it's either sleet or frozen rain! Riding into the wind with those pellets coming down stung. Time to put the visor back on my helmet.
By time we line up for the B/C ST race, it's windy, 32deg and snowing.
Yes, that's right... SNOWING.
Oh man - this is going to be AWESOME!
We take off and Pam gets the lead on me and I work to keep on her wheel. At least the icy pellets have changed to snow, so instead of getting stung in the face we get splatted with big wet flakes.
There's only a handful of spectators but every time we go by everyone's cheering for us and Alan is yelling for, and at, me to keep going. On the last lap I knew I had to make my move if I was going to take the lead. Alan yells "suck it up!" and that gives me the incentive I need. Coming into one of the last chicanes, I've closed the gap and try to pass Pam and one of the guys but my line is too wide and I get squeezed out, when we come out of the final tight turn I'm rubbing the guy's wheel, and he's trying turn tight so he doesn't take Pam down - Mike (photo dude) yells out "now, that's racing!".
I got to find a way to get around this guy so I can get Pam. We get to the start straight and the guy powers past Pam. I know I need to get around the guy if I'm going to hold off Pam. I sprint past Pam and catch up to the guy right before we come up on the short climb to the sidewalk. I start yelling that he's in my line and I need around him NOW. I squeeze him off, get up onto the sidewalk, then turn back down onto the field. A slight downhill with a tail wind is all I need. I get to the last turns around the trash cans and I know I'm home free to the finish line.
We went to Boulder today, first time we've been out there in over a year. There's a lot of fun single-track out there, climbs that challenge me and downhills that take me out of my comfort zone and onto my feet.
The first lap was a easy reconnoiter lap, just checking it out and to see how well I remember the trail.
So, I'm riding along checking it out and get to the service road that we cross a couple time and see that they've added some blocks and re-routed what is normally a two-way traffic section... cool. Turn off the road to go back into the trail and I see something new and unexpected WHAT THE...????
Now why would they build a raised bridge to cross a dry gully? Come on Mr. Trail Steward, was this really necessary? sigh I back up to get a running start and go up and over. I mutter under my breath for the next mile or so, then get back into the fun of riding my mountain bike and the bridge becomes a thing of the past as I get lost in the joy of riding the swoopy dips and twisty trails.
The trail continues to roll under my wheels and as I come up a small climb I see and in the words of the infamous Emily Litella think to myself "Oh, that's very different... Never mind."
Any way, finish my first lap with an impressive time of 1:22 for 10 miles. Next lap I know what to expect on the trail and ride a bit harder, taking 12 minutes off my lap time. Don't think my body is completely recovered yet, but I'm getting closer.
On a final note, I think I may need some new riding socks... what do you think? Why is that my favorite socks are the ones to holes in them? ...and NO, they weren't like this when I started my ride!
Well, the "long" weekend is almost over. (I worked a full day on Friday and gave S & T the afternoon off, so it really wasn't a long weekend for me).
Kyle came up for Thanksgiving which is always good. I know the time will come when he doesn't come home for a holiday and I think I'll be OK with that... but I think I still have a couple of years before I have to worry about that.
Thanksgiving dinner was at the brother-by-a-different-mother in-law's and we had a good time. They took care of 99% of the cooking, so that in itself was a treat. I did slave in the kitchen long enough to make a sweet potato casserole, which is oh so difficult. Kyle provided a tart & yummy key lime pie and a scrumptious blackberry cobbler. Main course was... turkey. I'm not a fan of the big white breasted fowl as I prefer dark meat. Mike had fried a turkey and I have to admit it was some of the best turkey I've had (sorry Mom). I don't know if it was because it was fried, that he had injected the breast meat with a marinade, or maybe a bit of both. Between the dinner and way too many desserts, needless to say I overate... a lot. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the football game through the back of my eyelids.
As earlier stated Friday = Work. It was a fairly quiet day and although I didn't get as much done as I should have, it was still a productive day. And... I may have scored a couple of "nice boss" points by sending the girls home after I got back from lunch.
Saturday some of the Ouachita Team in Training guys met us at OCNP for an easy mountain bike ride (our first bike ride since Tucson). It was a nice, slow ride as we took the group for a tour of the trail. Some of the guys got a little too up close and personal with the trail, but that's to be expected of a mountain bike novice.
Kyle took of for Austin and the architecture studio Sunday morning and we went back to OCNP with some of the regular crew. The boys went off on their ride and I did mine. It was an another easy ride day, but not as easy as Saturday was either. Afterwards, Alan and I were both saying that we still feel sluggish. Guess we need a little more time to recover from the last couple of months.
Thanksgiving day and into the weekend is when we start getting ready for Christmas. No - not shopping... decorating. The tree goes up
The final stop in the "this is going to hurt" tour was this past weekend in Tucson, Arizona. My first century - a 109 miles on the bike and my first trip to Tucson, an awesome cycling friendly town.
Oh, to live in a city with signs like this
and drivers that actually yielded to cyclists!
Saw this in a parking garage When I was taking the picture the owner of the vehicle walked up and said that it was his wife's idea to help find their car in parking lots. It was weird how realistic it looked from a distance.
Oops, I got sidetracked... The trip to Tucson and riding El Tour de Tucson came about because I was adopted by the North Texas Team in Training group that Alan was coaching to do this ride so I became an unofficial member of the team. Almost all of the Team in Training groups (I think there were 25 chapters there with over 400 riders) wear "flair" on their helmets to help identify each chapter. One of the group members once said that they all were soldiers in the battle against leukemia & lymphoma, so our flair was a cool little Army man
The Tucson ride isn't known for long or hard climbs, but there are two dry river bed crossing that have to be done. Seems like a strange layout for a road rally, but it is what it is.
The ride started at 7 in the morning, but since there were over 8,000 riders Coach Alan wanted us to get there early for good positioning; so it was up before 5am and on the bikes about 5:30 to ride to the start. We were fairly close to the front of our starting group and by 6:30 there was a large crowd behind us. Once again, the Coach made a good call. 7am finally rolled around and the racers were sent off, followed by those that expected to finish within 6 hours and on down the line. Surprisingly I saw two unicyclists start with the fast groups.
I did not set any time/speed goals for the ride, I just wanted to enjoy the ride and finish before dark. We had full two and three lane roads for at least the first five miles of the ride which was nice. Plenty of room for everyone and no cars to worry about. We came to the first dry river crossing at the 7-8 mile point, it was about 50 - 75 yards long and had been graded, so there were soft "shoulders" along the side and then a short climb up the other side to get out (I'm sure we looked like lemmings). My mountain bike sure would have been nice at this point in the ride. Some of our team support people were there and cheering for us by name as we came up the other side. Before long I was hearing "Go Kathy... who ever you are" from the other side of the crowd. There was even a Mariachi band playing for the riders as we came out of the crossing.
I get back on the bike and for some reason can't clip in... go figure, sand in the cleats.
People pass me and I pass people and the miles keep rolling by. At about mile 20-some-odd I see MB, one of our group and catch up to her. We have a good time riding together and the miles keep rolling by. We get to a roller section and MB is having problems with the climbs, so I ride with her and help her get up the ups. We turn a corner and I see a nice long climb, uh oh this does not bode well for MB. I tell her to use those gears and keep her cadence steady and I'll see her at the top. I pull over when I get to the top and wait for MB, soon enough I see her and cheer her up and over. This becomes our pattern. We ride well together, but MB has problems with climbs that are on the route. I either ride with her and coax(harass) her up, or wait and cheer at the top.
Before long (mile 46ish, about 3hr 30min into the ride) we hit the big dry crossing which is over a mile long. It's more than a dry river bed, it's more like a sandy road with a small concrete bridge in the middle which is where a rest stop is located. As we're climbing out of the crossing MB says "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" What? "Thank goodness for nostril hairs!" Now where in the world did that come from??? "Just imagine what it would have been like without nostril hairs?" Here's someone else's video of the Sabino Creek crossing
This time after getting back on asphalt you not only needed to knock the sand out of the cleats, but you had to take your shoes off to dump out the sand that had accumulated. Once again clipping in took an effort, but soon enough we were rolling again and wandering through a neighborhood to get to the main road.
Once out on the main road we get to one of the steepest climbs on the route. Luckily it wasn't very long, so I sprinted up to the top and waited for MB. Thanks to the sandy cleats, I almost gave everyone a laugh as I almost didn't get unclipped with I came to a stop. MB makes it to the top, which was better than the person that just fell over about 2/3 the way up (at least I was at the top and stopping on purpose before I almost fell over).
**Warning** Read the following at you own risk. It contains feminine bodily functions and is not for the squeamish or those easily grossed out. After we get going again MB is saying that her leg was cramping a little on the climb. I asked what she was drinking and she said just water, but she had some mix to add. So we pull over and stop so she can get her drink mixed, at this time MB realizes that she has started... early... no necessary items at hand... great... we're on the outskirts of town... 50ish miles into a 109 mile ride... now what? Look, there's some people cheering the riders on. Wait - never mind, the youngest one is about 65. I go ahead and ride over to see if there's a store anywhere close by and they said there's one in town down the road and around the corner... wonderful. MB sends a text to one of the support people and all we can do is hope for a store or that we can be found. We decide to go ahead and start riding and she'll deal with things as they happen. About 1/2 mile up the road is a rest stop. We decide to take the chance and ask around. There was a woman photographer who was able to help out - whew! Irony for the day - the rest stop was sponsored by an Ob/Gyn.
Now that that has been taken care of we can get back to the business at hand and on the road. As we're riding MB says she's doing good and that I can take off if I want. I tell her we'll see what happens at the next stop. We get to a stop about 65 miles in and I decide it's time to stretch out the legs and to finish the ride off.
I have about 40-45 miles to the finish and my legs are feeling good. Since I'm basically starting at the back of the group I spend a lot of the time passing other riders like crazy. Before long I get to a long (about 10 miles) false flat downhill section so it's easy to keep up a fast 20+mph pace. I catch up to a local Team In Training Triathlon coach and we ride together and chat as we cruise along. He pulls off at the next stop we come to as his girlfriend is working at that one. I'm on my own again and just keep the pedals turning, holding a nice quick pace and having fun. I look back at one point and I see that I have a couple of riders sitting on my wheel. I've no problems with that. We get to a climb and at the top I look back again and I've lost my train - hee hee. Soon I'm back in town and heading to the finish line.
I finish the ride, drop my bike off at the truck for shipment back to Dallas and catch the shuttle back to the hotel to clean up. After a shower and change of clothes I go back to the finish line to cheer the rest of the group and all the other riders in.
My computer shows my ride time at 7:44:50 (about 15 minutes of that was at rest stops - I didn't get it stopped every time I did, so I'll guess my actual ride time at about 7hr 30min); average speed as 15.6mph; max speed of 31.1mph; total distance of 108.388 miles.
Oh yeah - remember the unicycles? I don't know if they both finished, but I did see one of them cross the line... WOW!
"To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks." Scott Martin
"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth." - Mark Twain
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”Lance Armstrong
