No Complaints here....

photo: Suzie Bush

Last weekend was yet another highlight of my 2010 year in racing... I placed 4th in the Ironclad Crit. There were about 13 riders overall in the field of CAT 1/2/3's and it was a pretty competitive and fast group of ladies out there. I was pleased to place right off the heels of the podium but close enough to gardner my first top 5 finish racing against the stronger women.

Overall, it was a fun race... but really really friggin hot (I don't do well in heat). The start was rather shitty for me because as soon as the gun went off the ladies were out of the gate and well, it took me half a lap to actually get fully clipped in my pedals. By this point, I was pretty much playing catch-up for the first 10 laps or so. Through out the race... the field never really seemed to truly split as it sometimes does, but there was a definitive "front" of the pack and a clear cut "rear" of the pack. My goal was to pretty much stay towards the rear of the front. Ideally, if I had a big ole team with me I'd try my hand at taking some turns up front leading the pace, but pretty much my m.o. for the race was about conservation and trying to catch the attacks when they happened and to stay in good positioning throughout. I'm never one to really go for the prize laps as I'd rather save it for the finish.

The fun thing about crits is that yeah, good wheels are good to have, but it's not like you can camp out behind one person because it doesn't take much for a good wheel to suddenly become a bad one. In crits, the race is constantly in an ebb and flow, in a constant state of flux as it is always moving and always changing and people are always jockeying for position. I would attribute it to be most like surfing, you have to change how you ride based upon the people around you and what they are doing. Sometimes a wave will come at you funny, sometimes it is predictable, sometimes you'll miss it and sometimes you'll get it just right. In this race, I had a lot of things happen that seemed "just right". Some of it could be luck, some of it could be hard work, but I think a lot of it comes from just observing and learning as you go through the race, learning to predict and anticipate and then figuring out what is going to stick and what will quickly wash away (all while trying not to step on anyone's toes or throw in a headbutt ;).

photo: Suzie Bush

Anyways, a special thank you shout out goes to Ironclad for first of all putting on a great weekend of racing, but secondly to the ladies of Ironclad who were throwing out attack after attack and making it fun. As well, thanks for the nice prize package! I got a sweet Ironclad hoodie (did you know the smallest size they make is a medium?) a nice pair of riding gloves and some socks. And boy, let me tell you, I always forget to clip my toenails so I always need socks! This is so much better than the EK Memorial Track Race where all I got for 3rd place was a handshake (while the dudes 3rd place riders got gift certificates). I give it up to Ironclad for making even 4th place feel like a rock star! I mean...I don't race for the sawg, but it certainly helps make up the deficent of funding that goes into this spendy habit called "bike racing".

4th of July weekend...

Once again, in lieu of actually "writing" a blog... I'm going to post some photos from my 4th of July weekend to the coast for camping and surfing and firework watching. As we're constantly reminded, photos, more often than not, speak louder than words (and well, some people and small children don't read so well - so hopefully they can enjoy this post as much as anyone else.)

it's a bit foggy on top of Mt. Hebo

Make that foggy and cold, about 45 some degrees for the first weekend of July.

Anna and I warming up by the fire.

Amy, Julie and Riley warming up...

Sam and I's awesome double decker camping set-up (it'd be even more awesome if it hadn't deflated half-way through the night)

Dinner time!

Julie reading maps by the fire.

Amy climbing cell phone towers

Sunset at Mr. Hebo

looking out over the valley. That little rock under the clouds in the far left of the photo is Pacific City's haystack rock (as seen in later photos), the rest is the ocean!

Sam and I on a mountain top.

Surfing at Pacific City/Cape Kiwanda (that's haystack rock in the background)

Sam and Riley

Amy and Julie found a nice parking spot on the beach.

4th of July birthday fireworks shin dig at Rockaway Beach

bonfires make any occasion special, even the 4th of July.

That night we camped in an empty culdasack since it was the only place we could find. I mean, at least we had ample storm drains in case it rained.

OBRA Track Championships

The OBRA Track Championships are/were this weekend and unlike omniums where all the points for all the events are added together for overall winners, here... there are three days of racing with each style of event being its own championships. Because even though it seems that a sprint is a sprint out at the track, there are actually long sprints, short sprints, and then long sprints with other people and then short sprints with other people. So, for all intensive purposes it's like asking a marathoner to compete against a 100m sprinter. So anyways, the action started off Friday night with the long solo sprint competition called the 500m TT. 500m is pretty much 2 laps around the track in which you are started from a held position. Ever wonder how long it takes a women's Cat4 rider to do two laps?

Roughly 45 seconds. As you can see by the above times, I missed getting first by 1/100th of a second - which is such a slim margin of time... I can't even wrap my head around numbers like that... I also can't beat myself up about it either (although my start could have been a little better). Anyways, I rolled in at a respectable 2nd place for the evening and looked forward to coming back Saturday morning for more racing.

Saturday we competed in a 200m TT to seed the riders for the sprints later in the morning. I think I came in around 15:48 seconds which was the fastest for my CAT so I would then be seeded first. The most exciting thing about watching all the racers do their TT is that we even saw one racer beat the track record for the 200 that had prior been held for like 7 years. It's horrible that I forgot his name, but if you ever make it out to the velodrome it'll be written there on the wall with a record time of 11:30 seconds... which, is pretty friggin fast.

Anyways, I love the track, but one thing I hate is the waiting around for your next race, especially when it's as hot and sunny as it's been the past few days. So, my game plan was to race, sit in the shade, get nervous, hydrate, race... sit in the shade, get nervous, hydrate, race, talk to someone's grandparents (that wasn't my game plan... but they were nice folks who had come in to see their grandson race and didn't understand match sprints so I actually chatted with them a lot. We got into a great conversation on hand made greeting cards and scrap booking! but wait, I degress) sit in the shade, get nervous, hydrate, race and so on and so forth for about three to four hours. Long story short... I won all of my dual match sprints and then advanced to the Gold Medal round.

In all of my races I drew the opening position, but was able to get in the following position within the first lap. In the gold medal round though, I was going up against a girl who had been racing out at the Velodrome for a while and she knew how to play the match sprint game. Meaning, she stuck to my wheel like glue and it was hard to get a good read on her to see when she would make an attack. Right before we went into the final lap (out of three) she swooped down from behind me and it was up to me to chase her down with a lap to go. I tried to stay confident that I could catch her and at one point it seemed slim... but I just kept hammering and going into the final straight a way, kept the gas pedal slammed to the floor and ended up passing her just before the line. Woo-weee... I had just won the Gold Medal and my first OBRA Championship Jersey!

Initially, I had been thinking about racing the mass start point races and the pursuits tomorrow (Sunday), but really... I am pretty beat from the sun, heat and waiting around and to again perform at max effort. So, instead of going to race tomorrow, I think I'd rather just go hang out at the river, relax and enjoy the remains of my weekend. I am tempted though, but the main reason that I am writing this all tonight and hitting the publish button is so that I won't go back on my word to take a day of recovery and try to win another one. It is really tempting though... but I'm happy as it is, so - we'll call it good. :)

(additional note: Unlike Saturday which saw record numbers of participants, only two women showed up for the events on Sunday making me glad that I went out with my friends on the river for the day.)

And ps: incase you're curious what match sprints are in a track race... watch this informative little video. ;)

Go RED Team!!!

(The Red Team and our Battle Wagon, the Moose!!! 2006)

As we approach yet another fantastic celebration of our great nation's independence, one can't help to think about all the ways we've spent the holiday over the years. While I don't have tons of concrete memories about the 4th of July celebration in Hillsboro, Ohio (other than the Festival of the Bells and watching the fireworks as they scattered over the football field), my celebrations and traditions from the five summers I spent at Camp Tapawingo in Sweden, Maine during and after college, are pretty much cemented in my brain.

Working at Camp Tapawingo, the 4th of July was always so much fun. Normally the night before we'd load all the kids into the big vans and haul them into town (Bridgeton) for the annual firework display. It wasn't so much that the fireworks lasted all evening, but the traffic coming home took forever (even in rural Maine) so it'd be about midnight by the time the kids were all settled down for the night.

(Lockwood and I sport our 4 on the Fourth shirts, 2004)

The next morning a few van loads of us counselors and kids would drive back into town for the 4 on the 4th road race. One of my favorite years doing this, I did a dualathlon by riding my bike 15 miles into town and then running the race.

(JD and I biked it into town on the 4th to go for a run, 2004)

By the time we got back to camp and cleaned up, it was a day full of games and other activities... but the highlight was always the counselor vs. senior camper water fight. We'd spend all afternoon plotting our tactics and pranks (like finding where the seniors hid all of their water balloons and then locking that room shut), and then going down to the arts and crafts room to add our war paint.

(red team war paint, 2006)

The seniors in the meantime, would all get their swimsuits on.

(Seniors of 2001, probably some of the best kids ever. PP4L!)

We'd reach raid the landsports shack and grab lacrosse sticks as we discovered (I actually discovered this) that they make great water ballon launchers. As well, if you are good enough, when water balloons are thrown at you, you can catch em, cradle them, and launch them right back at the thrower.

(yes, I will take credit for adding lacrosse sticks to Tapawingo water fight accessories ever since 1998. photo 2006)

When it came time for the water fight to begin, all the other campers would grab their crazy creeks and sit out by the softball fields, waiting for the procession of counselors to storm up the hill towards the Sr. Cabin. (In later years though, this was changed due to some items in the bunk getting soaked and unfortunate foot to crotch combat with male staff members.) Once the water fight started, things just got crazy. I loved it! It was totally a "no holds barred" kinda thing.

(Ellery takes a seat. 2006)

Of course when the counselors got wet, our red paint bled... so once the Camp Director Jane called the water fight off, I'd always make a mad dash (with a lifeguard counselor friend) to the water front where we'd run down the dock and then cannonball straight into the lake. It was the best way to rinse off.

(Marielle cools off. 2006)

After I finally got cleaned up, the afternoon would be pretty relaxing. A 4th of July cookout was normally on the schedule, but and hopefully -pending on my jobs at camp- that evening I'd be able to make it out of camp to go eat some lobster, drink some beer and swap stories about the great water fight and how we totally dominated once again this year.

Even though I've had several amazing 4th of July's since my days at Camp Tapawingo, I'll probably never have as much fun in one small dose as I did in those water fights. It's not everyday that you can round up 20 kids and 30 adults, give them water, give them balloons and say "go for it". Overall, I have Camp to thank for a lot of great memories. Thanks Camp Tapawingo, and yeah, Go Red Team!

(they just called me levo)