034 Orange Iced Tea

I went through a stage around age 13 where I drank a lot of Turkey Hill orange iced tea and accompanied it with a lot of wheat thins. I didn't grow up as an endurance athlete. I still enjoy a tea every now and then. All in moderation.

The Turkey Hill Country Classic was on Saturday. I wrote up a race report over on my team CAWES blog. Read about it here.  A podium at any race is always special, but a podium at this silly bike race super special to me.

I hope to have enough upgrade points by the end of this road season to move up to a Category 2. I hope Turkey Hill will have a race for me to do when / if that happens. Outside of training races I don't race with the dudes. Just not my style. But it's no big deal if I don't do this race again, there are plenty of other womens races to chose from. A girl can dream, that's all.

Got a full day of daydreaming work in yesterday. The thunder storms parted and the sky cleared. Got outside and busted out some intervals on the bike. Made egg salad and sweet potato fries for dinner. Fell asleep at 9pm.

I think the Poolesville Road Race is calling my name on Saturday. I didn't pre register, they closed it a week early. If not Poolesville I'll be at the Smoketown criterium on Saturday. So many choices.

033 In the Middle

Yesterday my root canal was finally finished. I showed up at the dentist with my tooth in a bag ready to finish this thing. It only took two weeks, 35,000 mg of antibiotics, and a gallon of ice cream. Not to mention no dental insurace has left me with a nice credit card bill this month. I celebrated at work with a glass of probiotics.

I'm hoping the effects of these antibiotics don't sneak up on me. I have been trying to play it smart in terms of my training and racing. The intensity of my training has taken a step back. I'm looking at my long term goals and health.

I'll be honest I'm ready to get back onto a training schedule. I think that is why I'm feeling a little lost right now. I never really felt like I got into a good training block this winter after cyclo-cross nationals. I was dealing with an injury that I thought would just resolve itself with some time off training. Funny how injuries don't work that way. The dull ache in my left hamstring that I had been experiencing since November turned out to be caused by my twisted tailbone. I haven't been able to pin point the exact thing that caused it. Really it could have been as simple as twisting to put a load of laundry into the washing machine.
My flexible back was good for gymnastics, but can be bad in terms of ab stability. I have learned not to confuse ab strength with ab stability. So I worked with an awesome physical therapist who is also a competitive cyclist, and we got my glutes firing and abs stabilizing. I came into the road season feeling strong and pedaling more efficiently. I knew my top end and sprint still needed work, but I was okay with that. I was ready to built into the season and hopefully my July races would be better for it. I guess that's why I'm so ready to get back on track after this tooth derailment.

BA and I found ourselves in the middle of some business decisions. We didn't take them personally. It was business and we understood that. Do not mistake my talk of business decisions with necessarily monetary gain. We found ourselves and our personal assets open to liable, me through marriage. We can only blame ourselves for following the lead and ignorance of others and not educating ourselves. We then had to make an informed business decision for ourselves to protect what we have worked for outside of said business. That business decision we had to make was taken personally.

I will speak for myself when I say I am feeling used and a little lost at the moment.

Time will march on and the days will fall into place. New opportunities will and have presented them self. Now all we can do is be more educated and cautious.

"Just do your best, do everything you can, and don't you worry what their bitter hearts are gonna say."
(The Middle / Jimmy Eat World)

032 Sunny

"After every sunny day

Came a stormy night

That's when Finner would say

Keep your heads held high"

(Of Monsters and Men)

031 Swollen

Eating ice cream at 1 a.m. is not frowned upon.

030 Bad Tooth

I've got one bad tooth.

The root canal went just as Babik described, "It will feel like they are jamming pipe cleaners in your tooth". So I was prepared. I was not however, prepared for the day three cheek swelling and antibiotics and the possible need to remove the crown to let the "gases" release. This is only round one, the permanent root canal packing and putting my crown permanently back on is yet to be complete.

Tonight I am a chipmunk with a prescription of ice cream for dinner.

029 Single, Single, Double

Double unders don't own me anymore. Last night it just clicked, single, single, double, single, single, double. I'm actually doing them I thought, in the middle of a workout on a Tuesday night they just happened. For awhile I was the girl that just did the 3:1 single ratio. For every prescribed double under I did three singles. I thought it was just a skill that wouldn't be mastered. No that's silly to just stop working on a skill. So I studied a bit, but that still didn't help. So I started counting my attempts during workouts, no more singles. And then on a Tuesday night during a 12 minute AMRAP of 15 double unders, 12 handstand pushups, 9 hang cleans the double unders just happened. Single, Single, Double. Double unders don't own me anymore. Next up Double, Double, Double...

028 Sleeping Weather

I used the weekend to take advantage of the excellent sleeping weather. I got in a solid 12+ on Saturday night; low humidity, slight breeze, warm but not hot. I went to bed early with the windows open and ceiling fan on, and I didn't wake up until the sun was shining and birds were chirping. BA like most folks thought it excellent riding weather and ventured out for a long one. Not me I slept. I raced on Saturday and when the thought of riding on a sunny Sunday didn't get a smile on my face I knew I needed to listen. We've all had those days, so I listen to myself and got the weeks chores done. You know the drill;  laundry, mowing, yard work, dishes, grocery store etc. The feeling that I am ahead of the weeks "stuff" takes such a burden off my shoulders, now I'm pumped to ride my bike and throw weights around. I'm calling it a successful recovery block.

027 Wednesday

The first time I showed up to Wednesday Worlds I had never done a road race before. It's a good way to see what road racing is like I thought, without shelling out any dollars. I rolled out with the B group and got dropped on the second corner. That's right two minutes in and it was over. I tried chasing on. They are right there not even 50 yards ahead, it looks like they are easing up, but the cross wind was just too much. I rolled to the fourth corner with a tear in my eye. I just wanted to hang in and ride around with people, it wasn't like I wanted to win the thing.

Two years ago I was still getting dropped on Wednesdays. I'd show up every once in a while and hang in as long as possible. If I was lucky I'd hang on until the last corner when it started ramping up for the sprint. Last year I usually made it to the end, but only showed up on weeks I wasn't racing. It was still pretty hard for me just to sit in.

This year with the warm and dry spring I showed up to the March and April Wednesdays. The first one I did, I hung in and hung in well. I was there at the end for the sprint.

Last night a group of two rolled off the front early. I was near the front and recognized their gap was increasing. I accelerated up to their wheel and looked back, no one had come with me. Half a lap later another rider bridged up. We stayed away for a lap or two. The pack came back and I sat in until the end.

Progress is sometimes hard to measure and sometimes it just hits you over the head.

026 Tires

Tire flipping workouts remind me I'm just a farm girl at heart. 

I don't do too many, they really leave a mark.

025 Wedgies

I don’t know how it happened. Geler Votre Cul Cross, freeze your ass off, my skinsuit shorts started riding up. I was wearing leg warmers and thick gloves. The gloves were a bit much and came off with a lap and a half to go. I was concerned thin gloves would leave my hands frozen at the start and I would be unable to shift confidently during a crazy start.

Wedge in Profile
www.dennisbike.com

Point being, there I was with thick gloves trying to yank down my shorts while cornering, avoiding a barn and trying not to slow down.

My thought process during this moment; crap my shorts, what is going on, I have a skinsuit wedgie, wait is my ass hanging out, no, okay, try to pull them down, crap corner, try to pull them down, crap gloves, crap barn, eff it I’ll just have to deal with this wedgie.

I had a good race, in the mix, felt strong.

Bad Andy in Orange
www.dennisbike.com

Wedge in Full Effect
www.dennisbike.com

Proud of my Bad Andy, 2011 MAC Cyclocross Series Overall Winner.

024 3 - 0

The jokes we make can turn into the goals that we secretly hold onto. We let them brew in our hearts, and pull them out when the training gets tough. We set the little goals in the hope that one day all those little ones will add up to the big one.

Being married to an elite cyclocross racer may have given me a different perspective than some. It was always the joke, the gentle teaser for the beginner racer, “so when are you gonna move up”?

So if we want we can; sleep in a little, go out to breakfast, enjoy the scenery outside of the race venue. It was turning into wait what state are we in, oh right every race looks the same because we’ve been at the race venue for over 8 hours a day.

We put in our time. BA is nothing but supportive of my racing, even when it was at the crack of dawn and hourd from his race, or when I wanted to get there even earlier so I could pre ride more than one lap.

“Maybe by the time I’m thirty,” I blurted out one day. I think I was 27 at the time. I wasn’t sure if I was serious or not but I kept a hold of that goal I had just set for myself. I had three years right.

The years went on, every year I got a little faster, fitter and smarter. Every year I put in a little more time and hard work. Every year I learned a little more and paid a little more attention to both my strengths and weaknesses.

The 2010 cross season was both fun and frustrating. Perhaps I was putting to much pressure on myself. I thought I should be somewhere and wasn’t getting there. Sure I had improved, but not as much as I wanted. Really who did I think I was comparing myself to? For the most part I focused on the improvement I had made and not the improvements of others.

I changed as a racer last season.  I always showed up to race and tried my best, but I finally realized what that meant for me. It meant I wasn’t going to do my best on pure fitness, it meant I wasn’t going to ride away from everyone, it meant I would need to study the course, it meant I needed to know what gear to be in at transitions, it meant I needed to know which corners could be railed and which couldn’t, it meant I needed to know alternate lines if the one I was planning on taking was blocked, and of course it meant I needed to throw all that planning out the window if the race demanded it and just react.

The season ended and I was completely done. Not with riding, but I had nothing left for racing, suffering and fighting. I just wanted to pedal without intensity or purpose. I wanted to leave for a ride and get lost on the road.

The winter came and I found CrossFit and gained confidence in a sport where I had some natural strength. Then Mountain and Road season began in the spring. I had some really good races, even made the podium a few times, all the while thinking, “Maybe by the time I’m thirty”.

I was in a position where the decision was mine. I decided what was right for me was to move on. It was time, I wasn’t giving up but I was letting go. I realized if I stayed where I was it would probably be my last season as a cross racer. Yes strong words, but I really needed a big push a new outlook on racing.

I went for it and never looked back.

023 Easy Killer

Easy killer is pretty much what BA told me last night. Sometimes I'm extremely stubborn. That stubbornness and fight can be to a fault at times. That's why I have BA to pull me back to reality.

I want to race the next MASS Race, French Creek. I've already spent the money. Right now it's not that I need the money, but I just don't want it to go to waste.

I was actually trying to rationalize it to myself. Just this race and then I'll recover through the rest of the antibiotics. Alas, I won't be there.

This isn't something to eff with he says. The words ring true. While I may come back with a negative Lyme's diagnosis, I may also come back with a positive.

Right now, I need to let the antibiotics and my body do the work, and not stress my body more by racing around the woods for two hours on Saturday.

I'm drawing some inspiration from these tulip photographs. I heart "real" abstracts. It's an aerial photograph of tulip fields, but appears to be a painters abstract creation.

022 Lemons and Lyme's

The Mid Atlantic Super Series presented the Granogue Mountain Bike Race this weekend. Andrew Mein's Excellent Adventure held on the Dupont's estate just outside Wilmington Delaware. I came home with a nice plaque for 2nd U40 Sport Woman, a nice travel mug, and a tick attached to my belly. The little sucker was feeding on me just like a little vampire, that's disgusting. First misquitoes now ticks, who knew this blog would turn into my personal trials and tribulations with blood sucking critters. Yes it looked like a deer tick, no it didn't appear to have a full belly of my blood, yes unfortunatly I crushed the little sucker trying to remove it, yes part of it is still in me, yes that's disgusting.

I didn't notice it until Monday evening. Cross your fingers that it crawled on me Monday when I was sorting through the clothes I wore to the race on Sunday to wash and wasn't feeding on me since Sunday, yes that's disgusting.

Yesterday I developed a stiffness in my upper back and a small bulls eye around the bite. Doctor time. The prescription is for antibiotics now and a blood test after I'm done with the antibiotics. If I don't have the lyme antibodies then either I didn't have it or the antibiotics worked. Sounds better to me than waiting a couple weeks to see if my blood tests for lyme and then proceeding with antibiotics.

My goal for Granogue was small. Just finish.

The start was good. The first section of single track gave me some trouble and the second section some more. I continued on, tried to relax, and told myself yes this may start to suck a whole lot but do not stop pedaling.

Then I got in a good rhythm, started riding better and even letting it rip a little. In the end it was a ton of fun.

Unlike the Bakers Dozen I was nervous for this race. I have no idea why. You could say this race is my nemesis, I've never finished until this year. Yeah, goal accomplished and I managed to pull 2nd U40 sport woman.

I'm not letting this little blood sucker hold me back. French Creek is this weekend and I'm registered.
 

Last weeks royal wedding in England got me intrigued on the subject of royalty. I studied the family trees, followed the lineages and read the dramas. How strange to see your family tree mapped out for the entire world to see. As I read about the dramas and scandals of this prince or that queen I thought, they are so real. These things happen in every family not even with the exception of royalty.

I wish the best for the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge. I think they may have got it right. I hope so anyway. They seem genuine, balanced and real. Sure there will probably be scandals, dramas, and lies that I may or may not read about. But for this moment on this day, I felt like I could connect with them.

021 Mosquitoes

They're back, I got bit by a mosquito on the upper portion of my ear. Where this person got a rad tattoo, my ear is red and swollen and looks like that cauliflower ear wrestlers get. It itches bitches.

I received the bite on Sunday while trying to pull the most gigantic spring onion out of the ivy patch. I used a proper dead lift technique but it wouldn't budge. Ripped the top off without getting any of the goods. Total onion fail.

I worked on my hamstrings while picking up the millions of sticks and branches that littered our yard after Saturday's storm. My kind neighbor saw me out there picking up sticks and stopped by to return some that belonged to the trees located on my property. We both have the same species of trees. I guess when your a weakling these things matter. I thanked them and continued on my dead lifting spring onion workout.

020 Punk Rock Rescue

The free punk rock show at the American Bar and Grill was just what BA and I needed. When I wonder what is happening to this world, are policy makers following a good path, am I loosing too much hope in humanity or did I have too much faith to begin with.

Punk Rock was there to the rescue. When a show is free, well you never know what to expect. The bands were good, and I was refreshed by the community spirit. It was simply put a pretty rad show.

And just what we needed. A night out, some loud music, and a few two dollar beers.

019 Weener

Wins come few and far between for most cyclists and athletes in general. I'm not the type of athlete that gauges their sucess on wins. I would have been out of the cycling game a long time ago if that was the case.

Taking my first legitimate win ever at the Leesburg Baker's Dozen, three female catagory, was just the reassurace I needed that I am making some fitness progress. There was something really rewarding that it was a team effort. Team Estrojets. We had a solid team and we just rode. That simple.

I brought my A game, I knew we had a chance to do well. The funny thing is though I wasn't nervous. I was excited to race my bike. Bring it mud, bring it slick roots, bring it rocks.

I'm seriously loving my new hardtail 29er. It's changed by whole outlook on mountain biking. I feel just as powerful as when I'm on my cross or road bike, which was not the case before.

Since January BA and I have been working out at the Crossfit Collective. Crossfit is a serious butt kicker, but so rewarding. I'm feeling so much stronger on the bike. The combination of weight training and gymnastics was just what I needed to add to my training recipe.

018 Fast

I haven't felt fast for awhile. Since the Sterling Ma. NACT Finals Cross Races, Thanksgiving weekend. I keep reminding myself that it's okay not to feel fast in January and I probably shouldn't be fast in January. I had an entire Fall Cross season where I felt fast. On the long winter rides it's easy to forget.

On Saturday I decided to ride out to the fields. The roads where the traffic is sparse and the farm fields are plentiful. I avoided these roads last week due to the threat of snow drifting and blowing. The cross winds are strong on these flat roads that traverse barren fields. I feel at home, they remind me of growing up on the farm. Long walks around the fields. I didn't move far from home, but some days I miss being right there surrounded by them.

As a child I loved the wind. When a storm was approaching or just blowing across the barren fields. It lended a sense of excitement to the outside. I would run outside into the wind and let it whip my hair around as I leaned into it letting the force hold me up.

As a cyclist I loathe the wind. I stay in during wind advisories, I curse the cross wind that pushes my bike into the gutter, and I fight the head wind that makes turning the easiest gear incredibly hard. On Saturday as I rode through the fields, I accepted the wind. It's winter and I'm feeling slow. I will not fight the wind but instead ride my pace. There will be plenty of windy spring days to slice through the wind with speed and determination, but for now I've accepted the wind. As I turned the corner onto the Brownstown Road Race course the head wind pushed me back. I accepted it and kept pedaling. Up the hill, across the finishing straight and off course I continued on my long winter ride.

I passed an amish teen in Rumspringa. He was scooting along in a sweatshirt, beanie, jeans and sneakers. His scooter basket was full of packages. He was not fighting the wind. He was simply moving.

I allowed myself to enjoy the scenery. I had no intervals to do or recover from. The length of Stumptown Road there was a line of toilet paper strung for miles disappearing into the white snow, as if someone had held a roll out of the car window and let the wind take it a will. I pressed on into the winter wind.

017 Chasing Old Trails

Yes this is a little old. I'm getting back into the groove....

The holidays means spending time with family and returning to old hometown haunts. For BA and I it means packing up the car with mountain bikes and presents. We try to squeeze in as much riding time as possible. I hang onto BA's wheel as he whips around the trails of his high school days. The days of night ride poaching with flash lights and ski gloves. I'm told of story's long past. Of winter rides in waffle thermals, hooded sweatshirts, and corduroy shorts.

The trails are rough, one giant rut, fallen trees, and frozen mud. The hills are tiresome, but we attempt to ride them all. As I dismount my bike and begin the trek uphill BA says, "yeah this isn't even rideable in the dry, in case you were wondering".

Then there's the moments where the trails flow, through the pine forest, down the descents. I'm permitted to lead the chase every once in awhile. I scream all the way downhill. Entertainment for the more confident BA.
I sweat like a fiend, we remove rain coats. It rains a lot, the trails are always muddy. If you want to ride around here you get used to the mud I'm told. BA reminisces of the "dry" summer, when they rode everyday. There's talk of changes to the trail, better drainage through a nasty mud pit, and the hill that he's only made up once without dabbing.

We return to the car. I'm exhausted. I never tire of hearing the old mountain biking stories. Races in corduroy shorts and waffle thermals. I'm reminded, I may never be that hard, no matter how good I get. We can only strive with all our technical gear and carbon bikes to retain the passion of corduroy shorts and waffle thermals.

It's the feeling in our guts, the highs and lows, the goals we achieve and the ones we don't. On these winter rides I'm reminded of why I pedal.

016 Hoagies and Fries

Our car smells like hoagies and fries again. You know what that means, another great weekend of cyclocross racing has occurred. It has become a bit of a ritual for BA and I to enjoy rest stop veggie hoagies and french fries on our Sunday post race drive home. Something about a long weekend of racing, riding like a fool with drool coming out of your mouth, and you butt cheek hanging out of a ripped skinsuit that makes french fries taste all that much better. 
 
This past weekend the MAC Series wrapped up with races #10 and #11 in Long Island. What a great MAC season, great turn out, great courses, great promoters, great officials, great racers, great people. 


I took the line on Saturday with a stacked B-women's field. I was fresh from a weekend off racing. Last weekend I bought this book shelf and made BA built it. He pulled a muscle building it. Our books are off the floor now, even this Dewey Decimal book.
 
The B-women go off, I really need to work on my starts. I felt like I didn't have enough room on the start grid. BA says I need to make room, that's what elbows are for. We hit the grass and I kept trying to move up. I'm not in good position. Around the first corner the rider in front of me eases up ever so slightly, I try to go around. Our wheels rub. I think that's okay these things happen but then BAM I'm over her wheel and BAM I'm falling into a rider to my left and then BAM I'm on the ground. I hit the ground and rolled like 5 feet from my bike and unknown to me my skinsuit ripped and my left thigh, butt cheek was hanging out. 


The cheers today were awesome. I rode my butt off and apparently showed everyone. I also may have not been so nice to some folks. Let's face it in a class of sandbaggers those who actually want to get upgrade points are fighting for every spot every race. 9th B-women. 


BA rode to 8th today. Dinner was delicious. Hotel was bed bug free. What more could you ask for?

Sunday BA and I both rode to 6th in our fields.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I made the pecan pie and green bean casserole. The family mentioned they hadn't seen us in awhile. BA and I tried to explain the cross season and how many races we've been doing. Maybe next year with races going into January we'll be around some more weekends in the fall. 

I rode on the back patio on Wednesday night. Fearing the darkness and Thanksgiving travelers I decided to stay off the roads. I think Danger Scout would approve. Our patio light created this eerie shadow of me across the back yard. The neighbors probably think I'm nuts. 

Today we are heading up to Sterling MA for the NACT Finals and some New England Cross Racing. PA States is tomorrow. If your a resident of PA or any state for that matter you should go. BA decided 4 years of the PA State Championship Title was good and this year we should try out a new race.

I'm off to ride the trainer in the basement now... gearing up for a winter of staring at the basement wall. 

015 Episode XV

I'm behind, I wrote this 2 weeks ago and never posted. Enjoy.
 

Two weeks have flown by and 4 more races are done, until next year!
 
This Halloween C3 - Athletes Serving Athletes busted out the top secret special skinsuits.

Stormtroopers are the personal army of Darth Auer and of his commanders. They are portrayed in collective groups of varying organizational sizes ranging from squads to legions, and, for some, their armor and training is modified for special operations and environments. The troopers' most distinctive equipment is the white battle armor they normally wear. 

Two weeks ago BA and I headed over to New Jersey for MAC Race #7 Beacon and #8 Highland Park. Beacon has always been good to me, especially last year. The course is usually the same. Fast flat sandy trails, a beach run, the amphitheater of pain, barriers right after a turn, nice uphill road finish. I was expecting to have a decent to good day. This is what happens when you start expecting in bike racing. A bad start, I thought I'll sit in for a moment and continue to move up. When I decided to move I got pinched in a turn. I kept trying to move up the entire race, but ended up the 14th B Women. 

BA and I are having some serious regrets about being the "house with the light out" on Halloween. Sorry kids I just didn't have time to get candy. They spared the eggs and TP this year. Thank Gawd.
 
Highland Park Mac Race #8, I might have said "I never have a good ride here". Well that's what happens when you start expecting in bike racing, sometimes you surprise yourself. The course has got some climbing and tricky turns. I had my climbing legs ready. Another bad start, but I didn't give up. I just kept keeping on and being aggressive until the end. 5th B Women, my best Highland Park. 

BA had two nice rides to 9th and 10th. 
 
I've got to give a shout out to the C3 elite women's team. Cleaning up the podium at the past 4 MAC races is not a feat to take lightly, rock on!
 
Last weekend was my first trip up to NOHO, Northampton Mass, for the 20th annual Cycle-Smart International. I was pumped because I'd never been and BA was pumped to check it out again. It was awesome; fun course, great people, super organized, totally rad. Thanks to Skinny Craig, Beth and the family for letting C3- Athletes Serving Athletes crash their house. You can't turn away darksider Fat Marc and Monkey cause their family, but to host and cook for the rest of us was super cool. 
 
Once again I'm so proud of my B gals, 75 strong starters. The numbers in our races just keep increasing, it really is awesome. Even in the MAC we've had a solid 40 strong most races. 

Starting 5th row was a challenge that I accepted and concurred fairly well. 25th day 1 and 22nd day 2. I just kept trying to move up through the field the entire race, and had some of my best last laps of the year. I must say it really was awesome to get the feeling of a giant pack of racers behind you while your trying to bear down on the giant pack of racers in front of you. I did find myself in no mans land most of the time but only because I refused to settle for the pack I was with and kept trying to move up. 

BA had a respectable ride to 12th on Day 1 and an awesome ride to 6th on Day 2. The piece of snot running out of his nose on Day 2 was rock awesome. Skinny Craig mentioned if he just licked the snot it might act as some sort of power gel / cliff shot for added energy. Something to consider for the future.
 
I'm now more in love with New England Cross than ever. Spectating Gloucester in 2004 inspired me to race. Racing NOHO in 2010 has reminded me that cross is boss.