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.