lets do this again shall we?

photo by Katy P

So last weekend was the BIG Cross Crusade Halloween Weekend races in Bend, Oregon. My team, Ironclad, got a house for the weekend and a few hearty partiers/racers, descended on the fair high desert town with massive amounts of cardboard in tow. No, the cardboard wasn't just from the boxes of beer we were bringing with us, it was for our Halloween costumes... CARS! Someone, I'm not quite sure who, thought it would be an epically awesome and a hugely bad idea to dress up as cars. That way in unison, we could cause traffic jams and hog the race course. Needless to say, the idea of moving around in a huge cardboard box while biking, dismounting, carrying your bike over barriers and up staircases is just a dumb idea. So, it seemed perfect for the Cross Crusade.

The several of us participating in the muckery, chose our vehicles. I, a proud Subaru owner, chose a subaru. The idea struck me as amusing in endless ways, A) I wasn't really dressing up, B) but yet I was, C) more or less, I was making fun of myself, and D) SUBARU's are all over the frickin road in Oregon. It's great!

So needless to say, I packed a huge box in my car and spent Saturday night painting my own little subaru as a silver fox. Adding in details like the suby logo, front grill of the 2003, and windows and a little black lab mix in the back seat (much like my own dear sweet Anna). It was really fun in our little Ironclad house, to be spread out in the garage painting and cutting with my teammates while folks, not participating in the costume idea, drank beer inside. I mean, don't get me wrong, we were drinking beer in the garage... but I just kinda smiled when I realized that the scene reminded me of art school. That's what we'd all do when projects were do, gather in a common space, share materials and chit-chat while working tirelessly away. Apparently, this scene was not lost on anyone else as several of my teammates also went to design school and we all shared the same thought... "doesn't this remind you of studio?". Who would have thought that this long after college, you and your friends all gather to work on art projects?

Also amusing about this whole thing, is that you could tell everyone's focus on design based upon how they approached the idea of creating a car. Trevor and Alana, both former architecture students, created highly crafted 3-d cars that either they fit into, or could be places on their race steeds. Myself, a graphic designer, approached the problem from a 2-d perspective. Meaning, I paid attention to graphic details and how the car looked from the front and from the back.

So anyways, after the paint had dried, I shoved the silver suby in the back of my reali-life subaru and set off for the race course. Everything seemed to be going great until right before my race when I put the costume on, I forgot a huge design flaw... I had never actually tried riding my bike with the costume on. I knew that the costume would fit, but I never really thought about little things like tire drag and going up and down hills. Slight major oversight.

bikeportland.org

Not really caring about the "race" part of the race, I signed up in the men's SS category so that my teammates and I could ride our cars together in the same race and cause the most havoc. I started in the back knowing that I wasn't going to be going anywhere any time soon. The first obstacle to clear (aside from the car rubbing on my wheels) was a huge wooden ramp that was set up on the course. Normally, I would be well aware of this going into it, but I had kinda forgotten about the ramp thinking that the stairs would be my biggest challenge to over come. Having said that, I didn't attack the ramp with the speed or intensity needed for a single speed bike... and so halfway up, I just couldn't get my bike going anymore. This meant a speedy dismount from the bike with my costume on (something else I also hadn't really worked on). I managed to stay upright, but sadly the smooth plywood of the ramp at the steep angle did not have any traction. Meaning, myself and my bike and my costume were slowly sliding down the ramp.

The best part about this whole next scene is realizing that this is the place on the course where EVERYONE is watching you. It's in the center, by the beer garden, and everyone can see you. As well, since I waited last to go, all the other racers have passed through this area already which means that everyone has no one to watch but me.

So, this came into play when I heard everyone yelling at me as I slowly slid back down the ramp. "USE YOUR ALL-WHEEL DRIVE" the beer garden yelled. I was able to stop myself from sliding further and pathetically crawled over to the railing of the ramp where I pulled myself to the top. Here, everyone is still watching and heckling. I quickly rearrange my costume, mount my bike and start to head down the other side of the ramp. Which quickly brought about another issue I had slightly overlooked, the fact that when I tilt downwards, so does my costume. So needless to say, as soon as I start to head down I begin to run over the front of my costume. At this point I was pretty sure I was going to endo over the handlebars. I saw my young racing career ending with broken arms and splinters embedded in my face. All I could think was, well... hopefully someone will get this on film.

photos by David M

For whatever reason, be it my quick release duct-tape or the bike tubes I used for suspenders, running over my costume with my front wheel did not cause me to endo... but instead resulted in my costume getting horribly tangled in my bike. I was able to guide my steed and costume down the embankment without crashing, but had to come to rest at the bottom to untangle myself. At this point, I just envisioned the men's B's field flying over the ramp and landing on poor me and my wreckage of a Subaru. Thankfully, some handy bystanders jumped in the course and helped me untangle the mess I had found myself in.

I was able to get the badly damaged but still usable costume back on and set off, once again determined to at least do ONE lap with my costume before it officially bit the dust. So I rode, one hand holding my car up and one hand on the wheel, everyone chanting... "GO SUBARU!!!". Not too long after the ramp debacle, I came across another nemesis I did not plan for... a gravel hill. So once again I was unable to build up the speed I needed for the hill because one hand was holding my costume up, so half-way up the hill I stopped and had to hop off the bike. At this point, I was getting heckled by four men who were just sitting there watching me struggle. I took the car off of me to readjust it and then, by some saving grace of God, a huge gust of wind came and blew my car down the hillside. I watched it roll two or three times, over and over till it hit a shrub and came to rest on it's base. I had no patience left for my car so I took it as a sign it was not to be, said "fuck it, that car was a lemon anyways"... remounted my bike and then rode off into the sunset.

After the race was over (and amazingly, I did not place last!) I went back over to the hillside which served as the final resting spot for my costume. As I approached the hillside, I also noticed a small boy on his little bmx bike was going over there too. I slowed and watched to see what he was doing. When he reached the gravel, he hopped off his bike and sprinted up the hill. Sure enough, he went straight for the silver subaru. He picked it up, put it on, and then raced back down the hill... hopped on his bike and rode off. As he passed he I said to him... "that looks pretty good on you". He said "thanks, I guess that person didn't want their costume anymore". And well, I kinda wanted my costume back... but mainly I just wanted to throw it away. But, seeing this kid ride around, having fun in something I had fun creating, was just about as priceless as anything else. I pretty much considered it well worth my entry fee for a race I had no intent on actually doing well in.

It was a fun time Bend, lets do this again shall we?

(ps: VeloNews even wrote about us and had photos, saying: "The Ironclad racers who sacrificed their race to dress up as huge cardboard cars were a good laugh." And I'm like... that's ME they're talking about!

2011 Bike Racing Year in Review...

And just like that, aside from some random PIR's till the end of the month, I am done with a season of bike racing that has lasted since February. Really, I am happy to hang up the road bike for a bit and spend my weekends camping, hiking, surfing, and doing other stuff till cross rears it's muddy head in October. Granted, cross races actually start up next weekend, but I need a break. I know it may seem odd, since I spend so much time on the bike, especially in the summer, but my soul doesn't live on the bike. No, my soul plays in the woods, it climbs the mountains and it floats in the icy cold rivers of this land. And... it's been calling and calling and calling all summer long and I can't just keep not answering. Granted, I've satiated it here and there, teased it with a dabbling of camping and surfing over a weekend, but it needs more. I need more. So, with only a few weeks of summer left till the rains come again - I take off into the woods. Well, I still have to go to work and do other things on the edges, but I vow to get outside come the weekend.

2011

All in all though, I just wanted to re-cap on what a great year it has been since I started racing back in February. Actually, let me just recap on what a great year it has been since I joined Ironclad. Yes, yes... this may seem like such a shameless plug for my team, but really... they are quite awesome. I mean, yeah they race bikes well, but more importantly, they are fun, kind and considerate people. They are folks you actually want to spend time around where it doesn't feel like a chore. It's a team in almost every aspect of the word... something that I was solely missing on my former bike racing squad. And when it comes to bikes, it's nice to show up to a race and have people to race with, not just people that you are competing against. You can lay out a plan prior and actually see it come to fruition. Somedays you do the work, some days your teammates are there to help you. In the end, everyone wins.

On that note, I'd just like to thank my teammates for helping me achieve my two main goals of the season:

1) Winning a month at PIR (I actually ended up winning two back to back months)

2) Podiuming at Crit State Champs (I got second in the Cat 3's)

RACES OF NOTE:

April 2: Cherry Blossom Crit, Cat 3, 4th place

This was the largest field I ever face all year, especially with everyone being in the same Category, there were 36 riders in this one and it came down to a close sprint at the line with me just missing out on a podium by a narrow margin for 4th place. I had podiumed the year prior and really wanted to again, especially since this crit is really the only reason I race the Cherry Blossom Stage Race... but oh well.

July 16th, Ironclad Crit, Cat 3, 1st place

Thanks to Ironclad for scoring Cat3's separately. Once again a narrow 4th place across the line over all, but when it comes to scoring... I'll take 1st for the 3's. It was a fun race with Ironclad leading out the charges on all accounts.

July 30th, Gresham Crit, Sr Women, 3rd place

I've normally hated this race, I have no idea why, but this year it was pretty kind to me. I think because prior I hadn't raced the Franz Crit and now I really do have an appreciation for flat courses. Anyways, early on Bri and Emily got in a break so it was just up to the rest of us to see who'd take the sprint across the line for 3rd. And really, I like these kind of races... the bunch sprint at the end. It keeps it exciting. So, needless to say I played my cards right and came up with the bunch win. Woo!

August 13th, OBRA (Oregon State Championship) Crit, Cat 3, 2nd place.

This was another race where Bri just went for a break off the front with one other person and it came down to a bunch sprint for the remaining places. Anna did a lot of work up front leading me out but Emily had an amazing punch around the last corner and beat me to the line for first. Once again, I was the fourth across the line overall, but when scored separately for Cat3's, I got 2nd, achieving my goal of podiuming at States. check.

And then there is PIR:

8/15: Monday PIR, 3rd

7/25: Monday PIR, 2nd

7/18: Monday PIR, 1st

7/11: Monday PIR, 1st

6/27: Monday PIR, 1st

6/20: Monday PIR, 4th

6/13: Monday PIR, 2nd

6/6: Monday PIR, 3rd

2012

Another goal I had for 2011 was to upgrade to Cat 2, which I think I could do at this point, the jury is still out... but I think I'll hang in there as a Cat 3 through the 2012 spring season since I really have no desire to race the longer milage road race season as a Cat 2 (Cat 3's will race 50 miles, Cat 2's will race 70+). I mean really, I'm just in for the crits which mostly, Cat 3's race with the 1/2's... so there is no difference, but it's nice to know for planning purposes. As well, I can do more to help my other Cat 3 teammates on the road than I can our Cat 2's, and we have some newer Cat 3's that I look forward to protecting and working for come spring. Basically, when it comes to the spring season, I will try my best to work my ass off for you till I get popped off on a hill, get lost, and have some lumberjack take me back to my car.

I think I'll also make it a goal to work on more tactical things and aspects of the sport for 2012 and perhaps, overcome my wariness of doing any race that has an incline in it. I had also wanted to make it out to the track a little more this year, but my need to spend time outdoors and desire to see my friends, family and loved ones on occasion, outweighed the track when it was all said and done. So, maybe next year I'll make it a point to make it to more track events and figure out how to do Madisons.

However, till then I have some camping to do, some cross races to get muddy in, some snowboarding, and some traveling to middle earth... they'll be plenty of time for racing bikes later.

The calamity that is spring season.

(me... off the back)

Spring Racing:

To some people Spring Season is a chance to show their mettle on the hills, to prove how hard they've been working in the off season, to show up to a race, come rain, snow, sleet or hell (hail) and bring the pain. For me, it's a chance to pay homage to the cycling gods with all the bad luck one could possibly hope for. A sacrifice if you will. Flat tires, crashes, more flat tires, getting lost, getting told the wrong way to go, shifting problems, etc... you name it and for the most part I've had something go wrong in every race I've ever done March through April. Sure, it'd be easy to just swear off racing in the spring time and try to avoid the calamity all together, but I'd rather have those things go wrong at this time of year when I don't really care too much about the outcome, than when I actually do give a shit.

And no, it's just not me and my poor attitude. It'd be easy to look back and say, well... these things are brought upon you by your reluctance to care about road races... but really, the outcome time and time and time again speak for themselves. Maybe it's one of those... if I told myself that "I was good at climbing hills then I'd become a good hill climber" kinda things. But at this point I just choose acceptance. I choose to just donate my money to the promoters in hopes that I'll get a little bit of racing in, that I can donate to my team's overall game plan for a few miles before I get bucked off the back or passed liked cheap chinese food on the hills. I'd rather get the shit storm of back luck out now.

This negative attitude on spring racing season actually helps me keep a really positive attitude in a race (or normally ride as it becomes). Take for example this past weekend during the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic, it was the last day and the last stage and my team was going for the overall win of the race series. I got bucked off the pack early on because my legs wouldn't allow me to hammer up the hill at the blistering quick pace set by the race leaders, and then when I got to a part where I had an opportunity to catch up, my shifting was not cooperating. I caught up to another rider (Lisa, from Seattle) who had gotten spit out and between the two of us we figured it was just going to be a pleasant 30 some mile ride. Together, we kept a pretty good pace and were able to chit chat back in forth. I learned a lot about Lisa, her cycling history, what she was studying in school, etc... and somewhere between all of it she said to me... "wow, you're like the most positive pleasant person that I've ever ridden off the back with. Most people are like "f*ck this shit, I hate this, f*ck you, g'damn f*ckin hill, g'damn f*ckin bike!" and you're all happy and everything." And my response to her was just a smile.

So together, we rode around the lush orchards of The Dalles, trying to catch up with our race which really, wasn't too far ahead. But, at one point I realized something was amiss... so I asked her... "Hey, when are we supposed to get on the big loop?" (in the Cat 3 women's race we had one small loop and two big loops on the course). "We've been riding on this for too long but all of the Course Marshals have just waved us on and told us to keep going the way we were. Something isn't right here." So as we progressed, we kept asking the Course Marshals which way was the big loop? and, they kept motioning us on saying it's up ahead. Then we realized they must have had us confused with the Cat 4 women who had to do two short laps and one large one. We stopped at one point to get out a map and see exactly where the turnoff was. Lisa is like... "you have a map?" And I looked at her and smiled saying "this thing has been known to happen to me before."

However, by then it was too late. We had done an extra lap on the short loop and had completely been cut-off from our race. At this point, we had to DNF (as in: Did Not Finish) and it pained me seeing how I had already DNF'd twice this season already. Once for the lumberjack incident at Cherry Pie and then a week prior for Piece of Cake when I flatted. Never before in my two years have racing have I DNF'd, but this year it was looking to be the overwhelming trend. Worst thing is, you can't DNF at a Stage Race. If so... you can't continue onto the next stage. And granted, this was the last stage... but they don't even score you in overall General Classification then. It's like you never existed, like all the money you paid to race was just money you gave to a homeless person to spend on booze. Lisa, realizing her day was over too... called her husband (she brought a phone with her, I'll have to remember that for my next road race) told her that we were done, but for shits and giggles we'd be doing the long loop just once to get a good ride in. So, that's what we did.

When we approached the Course Marshals at the intersection who were supposed to tell us to turn, we explained their error to them. "Sorry" they said "it's so hard to tell". Which I can imagine since it looks like brightly colored spandexed rider after brightly colored spandexed rider, and well, we as riders have responsibility to know the course. However, we zoomed past them initially at a pretty quick pace and from a distance, they motioned us onto the wrong course. In fact, I think as we passed them the wrong time I even shouted out "Thanks for volunteering" since that's the kind of nice person I am. I take that back now though, what I should have really said was "thanks for kicking me out of the race!"

So Lisa and I did one full long loop and rode intermixed with the Cat 4 women who were completing their only lap and the Cat 4 men who were close to finishing their race as well. There was a massive gravel climb in this section and then a massive corkscrew descent. Lisa, who was a quicker climber than I, beat me up all the uphills and I tried with all my might to catch up with her on the downs. However, the corkscrew descent was pretty tight and right off the beginning of it I had Cat 4 men passing me through the tight turns. Seeing how they were still racing and I was not, I laid off on my speed to try and not interfere with their downhill. This was kinda hard though. At one point, looking over my shoulder to see if there were anymore men... I caught glimpse of the medic car. I thought the medic car wanted to pass me in order to catch up with the men... but no, it just kept riding behind me, slowly, engine running, creeping around every turn behind me like it was just waiting for me to crash or run off the road. (This also helped my positive attitude for the afternoon.) I was thankful when I finally reached the bottom of the hill and it passed me... speeding off to catch up with the men. Suddenly I felt relieved, I've never ridden with the grim reaper on my wheel before, but I imagine that's about what it feels like.

Within a few kilometers, I came to the finish. As I climbed the little hill I saw my friend Eryn Barker off to the side of the road. I asked Eryn if she knew or not weather the Cat 3 women had come in yet? If they had... I could cross the line and hopefully not... not DNF. However, if they still hadn't come in... I would technically be one of the first women to finish and well... that just wasn't the honest case here. So, this left me with a predicament, do I cross the line or do I not? I had no idea what to do in this situation as no one had ever prepped me for it. I looked up the road and saw Lisa and then asked her what to do. She said they had just told her to cross the line, so... that's what I did. Apparently and understandably, the officials do not care about what happens to little olde riders who get bucked off and lost from the pack.

(it was so pretty out there... did you guys see the horses and that adorable little barn and ... what? no, you were busy? Sorry you missed it. I think I am going to come back out here just to ride this course again for fun. )

So anyways, from this vantage point I could just wait to see how things finished up for my team. It didn't take too long before some familiar Cat 3 ladies roared up the road. The first one was my friend and former teammate Sara Fletcher, and then shortly after there was an uphill sprint battle which my new teammate and friend Brianna Walle won. Basically, with Sara getting the win it cemented the overall General Classification for my other teammate Anna Christansen, who came in third for the final race. When the dust finally settled, Ironclad had killed it... wining the Stage 1 Road Race, winning the Stage 2 Time Trial, not winning the Stage 3 Crit (however, I did come in fourth... but the crit doesn't mean a hill of jack squat in a stage race) and having a good enough placing in the Stage 4 Road Race to keep the competitors at bay. I'm really proud of my team, they (we) all worked really hard and together for the team win... I just wish I could have helped out a little bit more.

(WINNING!)

However, I can smile and say I'm happy my road racing season is over for 2011. From now on it's all crits and track and cross. None of this hill bull shit. Also, I hope that this ends my steady string of bad luck. I hope that I have given the cycling gods enough of a sacrifice that I can sail on clean through the rest of the year. I do know though, that racing can be dangerous and my thoughts and prayers are with fellow OBRA racer Leia Tyrrell as she recovers from a head injury that was received during the Crit in the 1/2 women's field on Saturday night. For as much of my bitching as I do here, it pails in comparison to that kinda of thing. So really, this whole post is a silly bitch fest rant me feeling sorry for myself kinda thing, and for that I am sorry to waste your time. Yes, as well, there are bigger issues for example, people in Japan are still suffering from radiation exposure and they are homeless and cold and hungry.

As for the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic Stage Race, it's a great event... but the more I do it, the more it becomes apparent to me that I only really like 25% of it, and that's the 25% that doesn't mean anything more than bragging rights. In the long run, I just don't think it's worth the money for me to be disgruntled and fail as hard as I do. I like the teamwork and hanging out with everyone and the challenge of the whole thing... but when your name doesn't even show up on the final general classification because someone told you to go the wrong way, it leaves you feeling a little bitter. But, at the end of the day... you smile, cause the only other option is crying and well, four out of four people admit that crying over a Cat 3 women's race is pretty lame.

(Oh, here's a photo from the only aspect I liked about racing in the CBC, the Crit. I'm here, I placed well... and you can't even see me. I only laugh at this.)

Have you ever transcended space and time?

great day for bike race huh?

This is my race report for Cherry Pie.

You know, I've had so many people ask me what in the hell happened to me (and what's up with the DNF?) that even after writing it down in a coherent readable form, that it still fails to make any sense to me - but here it is.

Cherry Pie is the first race of the season on the OBRA calendar. And, seeing how I cringe at any race over 35 miles (Cherry Pie is 50 miles)... it's one that I normally wouldn't sign up to do by my own measure. I mean, come mid February I'd rather be at the mountain snowboarding and thinking happy thoughts about warm weather racing; however, the promoters for Cherry Pie were offering a CAT 3 Women's ONLY field and not only did I want to support that choice with numbers, but I was excited to race for the first time with my new team, Ironclad. We had at least six girls set to race and we put together a nice little game plan to better our chances of getting one of us across the line first. In fact, I was most excited for this race as it was my first chance to really work a "team strategy". In my prior race history, it was more about surviving and trying to scrap together a decent placing... but here with Ironclad I had a set plan for the race and a finite goal to accomplish.

My game plan for the race was to work really hard and pull a lot for the first 25 miles, in an effort to protect my teammates and wear some of the other ladies out. Basically, it was nice to just focus on 25 miles and not really worry about the rest. If I was able to hang on beyond that I would, but anything over the initial 25 miles was icing on the cake. So, needless to say the first 25 miles of the race I was a crazy biking into the headwind racing fool. I pulled in a lot of places I normally wouldn't and didn't mind wearing myself out for the good of the team cause... well, it was for the good of the team. Going into the first part of the second lap (after my focused 25 miles) I got dropped on the hills (not surprisingly) and then caught up with a chase group that was in hot pursuit of the main pack. As hard as I tried though, trying to organize a productive paceline with the wind and my prior hard efforts taking their toil, I slacked off the back of the chase pack when we hit a set of rollers. Not feeling bad since I had done my job prior, I rode the remaining 18 miles or so of the race by myself seeing the trailing chasers ahead of me pretty much the whole time.

Even though I saw the glistening of bikes ahead of me, I did lose sight of them around mile 45. No worries I thought, I've just got five miles to go and well, since it's a loop course that I've already been through once, I shouldn't have a problem. So, I finished up the rest of the 50 mile race solo. The cat 3 women were the last race of the day so I naturally figured that the finish would be boxing up and packing away by the time I got there... but by the time I got there - there was no one to be found. I knew I had crossed where the finish was - since I had seen the "1km to go" and all the other race signs... but no one was in sight. Shrugging it off as the OBRA folks just being eager to get home, I wearily started to make my way back to the staging area (which was still a few miles away). It was then that I realized I had no idea how to actually get back. When prior we had passed this point I had been in a hill racing haze... so I just rode around aimlessly for a bit trying to look for something familiar, to guide me back the right way. However, the evening was drawing to a close and the sun was dropping lower in the sky. As well, I was tired and hungry and knew my ride was probably waiting for me at the car.

At that point I happened upon a local man who was cutting and loading wood into his car. I stopped and asked him how to get back to the high school and he gave me a long series of directions that made my eyes glaze over. Finally he just asked "would you like me to give you a ride back" and I eagerly agreed. So, I helped him load some wood for five minutes and then we loaded my bike into the back of his beat up Dodge truck. Then, we headed off for the staging area where all of my teammates were worried about my whereabouts. How often can you say in your race report that you helped someone stack and load wood?

So yeah, I got lost... but in my book I got lost after I passed the finish line. What makes me wonder is what in the hell happened to me to for that last quarter of the race? It'd be easy to say... well, you were just really slow jenn... but the interesting thing is that one of my teammates was behind me in the race - and yet... she finished the race across the line ahead of me. In fact, she even said that everyone waited for me at the finish - but I never showed up. My clock and milage had me at 50 some miles and I followed the race course (it was a loop so we did the same thing twice) and passed them same signs twice (most notably the egg place and the fake cop car sign)... but really I have no idea what happened to me.

Yes, I suppose I could have taken a wrong turn in there, but I don't have good luck with ending up where I am supposed to be in the first place. Normally if a wrong turn was the case I'd still be spinning around the greater part of central Oregon as we speak. Basically, my best guess is that I passed into a parallel time dimension between miles 45-51 which caused me to miss the complete official end of the race. Basically, I transcended time, but not space (Huckabee reference) In my book though, I did not DNF. In fact, I pride myself on never having a DNF in a race... it's just unfortunate that no one was there to see me finish. Anyways, quite frankly, I am still puzzled by the whole thing. All in all, it just makes me realize why i love track and crits so much. IE: it's normally pretty easy to remember where you left the car cause you never were more than a half mile away for the whole race. And, this is all the more reason to love Spin class too!

Oh, and in case you were wondering ... the Ironclad ladies killed it. The game plan continued to work even tough I was apparently lost in the woods and Brianna Walle charged up the hill at the finish to place first. It's going to be a kick ass year.

Women's CX Single Speed Oregon State Championships and other bike related news

"SSara Tingey and Jenn Velolevo both got a podium spot in the womens SS cross race yesterday. I saw them both on the course and they were rockin' it! Congrats to both of you and nice work in some tough conditions. Levo did a cool slide out on the tough off-camber section at the top of the course. I didn't see a single person ride that section, although it didn't keep me from trying all day (stoopid!)"

-Joe Santos

Sometimes, it's best to leave the detailed race reports to more simpler formats. If that was the case here, I think Joe summed up Saturday's State Championship races pretty well. But, me being me and this being my blog, I'm going to elaborate just a little bit more.

Going into Saturday's race, I was mainly just stoked that there WAS a Women's SS Category, for the first time ever. Granted, I thought that we'd probably just have at least five women show up on the start line but to my surprise we had one of the largest women's fields of the day! (SS: 15, Beginner: 15, Cat B: 10, Cat A: 12, Master A: 19, Master B:5, 45+:10). And, it was a pretty strong group of women who showed up. Everyone from folks like Sarah T and Anna Christiansen (who race A's), a lot of the B's (who I normally place behind), and some fasters masters ladies. Prior to the race, it was fun standing on the line with everyone who is basically, your cross bike racing peer, meaning, we are all riding the same basic bike. It's a great equalizer, you know that when you're not looking forward to that big hill... that no one else is either. It's gonna be tough for you, it's gonna be tough for everyone. Speaking of hills by the way, this subject got everyone talking about what gearing they were running. While we all had single speeds, we were not all running the same single speed. Looking around and chit-chatting, I realized that I was running way too big of a gear for the "dreaded hill" at Salem HS. Whereas most of my competitors were gearing the mid-to-late 30's, my gearing was up in the 40's. This, I realized, was most likely not going to be too favorable for the race. But, instead of worrying about the fact that I'm going to have to run my bike up the hill, I just accepted it was not my ideal course and that i'd be running with the bike any time the elevation started gaining and my legs started pushing. In that case, I'd just have to make up for it by kicking the shit out of any flat spots where I could sprint and gain ground. I mean, I might as well make my big gear work for me while everyone else is spinning eh? So, that's what I did.

Once the race was underway, everyone shot straight out of the gates and in no time flat, a few people went down and got stuck in the mud. Anna C. seemed to have hit turbo and was out of sight in no time, a bit ahead of me was Sarah T but I still had about three other racers in between us that I figured were going to give me a run for my money. Bit by bit, someone would wipe out on the slippery off-camber. Being an opportunist, I made it past some folks by mostly riding this section with one foot clipped out - that way I could brace myself intentionally and just kick it through most of the time, catching myself when I needed to all the while keeping momentum up. Every time there was a little bit (or a big bit) of a hill, I just did what I said I would do and got off and ran it, conserving energy rather than expending it trying to ride. Luckily the hill wasn't that steep, it was just long and littered with momentum draining bark dust wood chips. As long as you could keep a good pace and stay moving at a quick rate, I figured you could do pretty well.

By the end of the first lap, I was only going back and forth with two other riders, MK from Ironclad and Angela from Hammer. A few times I passed Angela on the flats, but then she'd catch back up to me on the hill. By the mid part of lap two though, I caught back up to her after she passed me on a hill and she was just spinning and spinning and spinning on the flats and gaining no ground. This is where I was glad to be running a big gear as I just flew past. MK at this point was the only rider ahead of me. She was going strong but got caught up a few times in the mucky off-camber where I was able to pass her. For the rest of the race my main motivation was not to catch up with Sarah, who I'd occasionally catch a glimpse of ahead of me, but it was to keep those two other girls off my back. (I've found that not only beer, but paranoia as well is a great motivator). The rest of the race was spent hammering it in sections that I could, looking behind me, bombing down sections where I could, looking behind me, running into tree branches that covered the best lines, (looking behind me) and running up hills. It wasn't till about the third lap when I realized that I was in a medal spot and that there was only one other person ahead of Sarah, which was Anna. Cool I thought, I just have to not freak the frick out and finish strong. I managed to ride the rest of the course pretty clean aside from a big wipe out in the mud section right before the finish. It was one of those where you fall down and you fall through your bike... meaning, you and your bike have to be untangled in order to keep going. It was at this point that I had visions of having to run the bike to the finish and having one of the other girls creeping up behind me turning into a neck and neck bike vs foot race... but no, the bike kept moving and so did I.

At the finish line I happily saw Sarah and Anna there waiting. I got a little confused at first since there were some other racers standing there too, people that normally place ahead of me or at least near to, so I wasn't to sure how I placed at first, but I soon learned that they had been cut from the race a lap before me, so no... I did indeed come in third. Woop woop! As well, there was a nice chunk of time between me and 4th so even if I had had to run it in the end, I still probably would have placed third. Overall, I was stoked to medal in the first ever wmns ss category and happy to do it with my BTV teammate Sarah (who she being a superior mountain biker, I never thought I'd see the day where I was standing on the same podium.) Hopefully, with our strong field and good showing on Saturday, OBRA can make Women's SS a legitimate open wmns category at more cross races next year. Sadly though, I hope it wouldn't take away from the competitive nature of the other women's categories; for example I was a little disappointed in turnout in the Women's B field with only 10 racers. Hopefully, everyone can have their cake and eat it too.

PS: special thanks to Margi who can either predict the future or at least fill my head with self-full filling prophecies. Thanks for helping me believe in myself. :)

(photo by Sara F)

As well, on this note... it's with bittersweet satisfaction that I hang up my BTV kit for the 2010 bike racing season. It's been a good season for me and I've had many enjoyable races and fun times and beers with my Bridgetown teammates. However, when I return to the road in 2011 I've decided to switch teams and race with Ironclad instead. It's nothing personal as I love Bridgetown and it's been a great two years riding with and getting to know them. Most of all, I thank Bridgetown for taking a chance on a kid who came to team rides wearing tennis shoes and had cage pedals. :)

Overall, it's been a great season and a great year. In 2010, I entered in 40 races including road races, time trials, crits, track races and a cross. Which in aside from cross races (where there are 60 some plus riders), I placed in the top ten in all events with a few top five finishes (and a lot of 4th places) as well as one or two podiums. The highlights of the season were probably:

3rd place - Cherry Blossom Cycling Class Stage Race Criterium, Cat 4

1st place - OBRA State Championships, Match Sprints, Cat 4

2nd place - OBRA State Championships, 500mm TT, Cat 4

3rd place - OBRA State Championships, Wmns SS XC

Looking back on that, I am a very very very happy camper and I am really really looking forward to racing with the Ironclad crew net year. However, at the same time I am also really really happy for bike racing to be over for a bit. I am ready for the snow to start falling. I am ready to say good bye to dirt and asphalt for a while and hello to powder and pine trees. Everyone needs some time to refresh and rejuvenate and for that, I go to the mountains. See ya on the road come spring time!

(Speaking of snow, here's a photo of the podium for the Wmns SS on Saturday... who here looks like they just came out of the half-pipe?)

mad props...

I give my gf Sam mad props!

Not only has she been racing cross for the first time this year... she's been doing it on a massivly heavy mountain bike. Better yet, all the races she's done so far have been slog fests. Meaning: mud, muck, and glop that makes her bike 10x heavier.

This past weekend at PIR, she was doing really well.... but going into the last lap her chain had a malfunction. She pulled over to the side of the course and fiddled with it for like five minutes before saying f'it... I'm running with it. In this time sadly, the rest of the field still racing passed her. But rather than give up, she started running with the bike... pushing that heavy bastard alongside her for a mile plus.

The last set of barriers were also on a muddy slippery run up. So, not only did she have to haul her bike up this mucky slope, but she had to pick it up and hoist it up over the barriers. Sam may have been the last one to cross the line for the women's beginner category on Sunday, but she wasn't in last place. As well... she gained the love of everyone who saw her tramp with her bike through the sludge. I give her mad props for finishing the race and not just throwing the bike off to the side of the course and look for the closest beer tent. No, she waited till after she crossed the finish line to do that. Way to go babe.

And... Burk Webb made an awesome video of the race last weekend featuring Sam at :42 seconds. It was shot as she lifted her bike over the last barrier and then pushed it up the hill. Her face is priceless...

watch the whole video here:

Cross Crusade Race #4 PIR from Burk Webb on Vimeo.