Masters Road Nationals - Time Trial

Can you say bling? It's silver, in case you can't tell.

Note: This is a lengthy post - sorry for my long-windedness. USA Cycling considers one to be a "Masters Athlete" at age 30 (actually 29 but no matter) which means I've held that designation for some time now. Trust me, the term 'masters' means nothing - these athletes are fit and go to nationals because they can throw down. When I was doing some goal setting early in the year, I decided that I'd like to do well at Masters Nationals in Louisville which basically means earning a medal in the time trial, road race or criterium. Being from the Midwest, I suppose criterium racing is my best discipline - the more dicey and technical, the better. In looking at the way events were scheduled for Masters Nationals week in Louisville, it was obvious that the TT was the only race I was going to be able to do - or else I would have had to spend all week down there, something I really couldn't do.

I jumped in with Josh for the ride down to the Lou and we arrived late Saturday at my teammate Janeen's place just as the adult pajama party was starting. About Janeen's parties - legendary would be the most appropriate word. The first thing I saw when I walked in? Some guy wearing a floor length satin fuschia nightgown - one of those disturbing things you just can't really ever "un-see." I visited briefly with Paul and Lori but was really tired after a long day so I headed up to my third floor retreat for a little reading and some rest. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep until the power went out at about 3am at which point everyone left - to get breakfast.

Sunday was spent getting bikes checked, picking up race numbers, previewing the course and getting some rest. Josh and I grabbed some excellent barbecue at Mark's Feed Store - me opting for some chicken and Josh devouring nearly an entire pound of barbecue pork. I have to say, it was truly impressive...the menu calls it 'World's Largest Barbecue Sandwich' - and it definitely was!

Monday morning we awakened to cloudy skies and some on-again, off-again rain. Heading over to the race venue with Lori I turned on Josh's ipod and the first thing I heard was "...now imagine your pain as a white ball of healing light..." Thank you very much Tyler Durden - you just made my day. Josh and Paul had headed out earlier as their start times preceeded ours and by the time Lori and I were getting ready to go, the sun had come out and the wind had picked up. Warm up was stellar - legs were good, I had my head together and The The (The Mercy Beat) was the last thing I heard before heading to the start house - perfect.

The course was 38K of rolling, curvy terrain and it suited me well (no climbing!). It seemed to be windy almost everywhere except for a short stretch on the way back that felt like tailwind. I needed to keep things under control and not overstart - I have a tendency to go out way too hard and blow up early, so I kept an eye on the power meter and settled in. I'd passed the 4 riders ahead of me by the turnaround and picked off one more about 3 miles later. I rode hard the entire time but never really suffered - to do so could have been dangerous in the later stages of the ride, so I just kept things steady. In the end I came across the line well behind the winner but very comfortably ahead of third place - a strong performance that could have maybe been better, but certainly not one that could have won. The first place time in my age group was the fastest time for a woman on the day - I think mine was 3rd fastest.

Time trialing is really sort of a new thing for me - in all my years of racing the bike I never worked at being a good time trialist. This season alone I've done more time trials than in my entire (eeeek!) 15 or so years of racing and I think I'm beginning to like it - it's made me stronger on the bike in general and helped me to discover an aptitude that I wasn't aware I had. Even more excellent is the fact that I haven't lost my sprint - at all. There are so many people responsible for helping me get to this point especially my favorite local masters beasts and my coach, John (who, along with Andy Coggan won their tandem category). Thanks guys - I can't tell you how much you've impacted me this season but I think the medal speaks volumes.

Any podium finish at nationals is a very cool thing - I'm very pleased with how things went for me. My teammate Lori also earned silver in her age group and I believe Kenda's Arizona contingent got a medal on the tandem. Over in Columbus we scored a bunch of top 10's at the Grandview races so it was definitely an excellent team weekend. Not to be overlooked were a bunch of top finishes by other Midwest masters athletes including Leigh Thompson who won the 45-49 age group. I have to occasion to race some of the local TT's with Leigh - she's super strong and is a truly deserving champion - way to go, Leigh!

If I get some photos I'll be sure to post them - thanks for reading. Up next, Superweek!!

Holy Crap Batman!! Post Number 100!!!!

Thanks to Johnny W for the pic from the track a few weeks ago. My thought at that very moment? This is a RACE - will someone else please do something? I'm tired of doing all the work around here!!

Can you believe it? This is the 100th time I've allowed my brain to flow freely through my fingers and to the keyboard to post on this silly blog. What an occasion. Why not start it all off with the story of my super run-in with the Chicago PD this morning? What's that? Good idea? I thought so too - here goes.

It was raining and I was totally soaked to the point that my feet were squishing around in my shoes as I made the trek home on Milwaukee this morning after teaching a class and torturing a couple of clients. I had a green light at Paulina and was heading through the intersection IN THE BIKE LANE as a Chicago PD car (not an unmarked one - this one had lights and the whole cop getup going on) GOES TO TURN RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! No signal, no warning, nothing. So I yelled "YOOOOOOOOOO!!" about as loud as I possibly could while grabbing two handfuls of brake and skidding across the wet pavement in front of his bumper.

The car stopped just in time - he was this/close to hitting me so I very calmly said, "nice job - you are a COP and you almost just jones'd me - I had a green light, you used no signal." The response? "Well, we heard yelling." Uh, YEAH because you almost just smashed me (asshole!). The driver was leaning over to the passenger side as his partner kept saying the same thing, "we heard yelling." My thought? Jeeezus, can't you come up with something better than that, tool? Admit your f*ck-up and move on!! Looking at the two of them a thought ran through my mind - collectively the IQ in this car might be similar to that of Forrest Gump. At that point it was obvious that putting any more time and energy into dealing with those jerks was pointless so I rode on, only to have them pass me and turn left at the next stop light - Wood St. - using NO SIGNAL. WTF? Chicago PD - still on notice because you're still disrespectful and incompetent jerk-o's.

I feel better now. I think I'll share my most recent playlist for post #100 - an odd mix, as always. I've found/rediscovered some old stuff I had sitting around on CD that I never transferred to my itunes library. Here goes:

Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver - Primus
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
Brain Stew - Green Day
Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
Garden - PJ
Sick of Myself - Matthew Sweet
Lies - Nine Inch Nails
Bodysnatchers - Radiohead
Aneurysm (Live) - Nirvana
Driven to Tears - The Police
Jerry was a Race Car Driver - Primus
Romance - R.E.M.
I Will Dare - The Replacements
Shattered - Rolling Stones
Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty
Hash Pipe - Weezer
Karma Police - Radiohead
Icky Thump - White Stripes
Flathead - The Fratellis
Shake Hands with Beef - Primus
After Midnight - Eric Clapton
Us and Them - Pink Floyd
I'm the One - Van Halen
YYZ - Rush
Jet Airliner - Steve Miller Band
Please - Chris Isaac
Reach for the Sky - Social Distortion
Even Flow - PJ
Cuttooth - Radiohead
Deadweight - Beck
In the Light - Led Zeppelin

Race wise, not much to report. I sort of did a TT last weekend - it was all good until the corner marshall didn't tell me where to go and I went about 2 miles off the course before hitting a dead end and turning around. Corner dork claims to have yelled at me to turn around but with a TT helmet on I didn't hear a thing but for wind noise. Whatever. Josh rode two strong 40k's and MetLifeGuy had a pretty darn good day on the bike, all things considered. They're both still sitting at or near top of their categories in Rider of the Year points. Well done, gentlemen - you're the best.

What have I read lately? Invisible Monsters (decent) by Chuck Palahniuk, Best Friends by Martha Moody (total schlock), and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (fascinating). Up next, a trip to Louisville for Masters Road Nationals. I'm nervous....

NVGP Day 4: Mankato Road Race

Brooke and Wakes, 2/3 of our fantastic support staff. Thanks so much for everything - you guys are the bomb!!

Saturday morning came long before I ever wanted it to and we rolled out to the race venue still tired from last night. I have no idea how Wakes, Brooke, and Paul are managing to do such a fantastic job of supporting us on so little sleep! I can't thank them enough for all the help they provide at stage races - cleaning, tuning and repairing bikes, loading and unloading the car, getting us wired with radios before races, feeding us during races, driving in the caravan and keeping us all apprised of what is happening in places we can't see, roadside service during races, attending meetings, planning travel logistics, taking care of everyone post-race...it's insane. I can't say exactly why they do it (gratis, no less) but I know they love bike racing, they believe in us and in what we are doing. So, thanks you guys - for everything.

Back to Mankato...what can I say? 91 miles made a bit more tolerable for me by Wakes who played some Frank Sinatra, Cream and Jimi Hendrix on the race radio - oh yeah...nothing like grinding up a hill with Voodoo Child or Sunshine of Your Love blasting through your earbud. Conditions were sunny and hot, some nice windy exposed stuff, lots of fine 'organic' smelling farms, a few wrecks and tons of twitchy wheels, a steep as hell hill at the end and my feet - literally burning inside my shoes starting at mile 20. By mile 70 I could no longer tolerate the intense pain, even after removing my feet from my shoes and riding with them on top, triathlete/dork style for a mile or so. I waited for the car, sat down on the side of the road and wept as Brooke poured water over my blistered feet. I was having an excellent race - I was feeling confident as we approached the final stretch into town, killer hill and all. I have to suspect that my steel cleats had something to do with transferring heat from the baking pavement up to my feet, causing the problem. Due to the DNF, I was unable to start the final stage the next day in Stillwater (big bummer there....). By this point, a few days later, I've finally finished pulling off all of the loose skin and am healing nicely.

Kristin and Jackie both did a great job at Stillwater the next day - not a very nice course at all. It has a block long stretch that averages something like 20%. Standing at the bottom you actually can't really see the top - and that's just one of the climbs...there's another one around the corner that's pretty killer too. Seeing as how I am allergic to climbing, it was nice for me to sit on top of the RV with Ed and cheer on Kristin and Jackie as they represented in fine fashion. Well done ladies - maybe someday you can teach me how to love climbing as much as you do.

Travel home was tedious as the interstate was closed due to flooding near Wisconsin Dells, necessitating a long detour and lots of time creeping along on side roads. My back still hurts from being crunched up in the car for so long!

I'm finally feeling good today, after a couple days' rest and a spirited group ride with the boys last night. Up next, a local TT, some specific training and then off to Louisville for Masters Nationals. As always, thanks for reading and for your comments - I do appreciate it.

NVGP Day 3 Part 2: Downtown Minneapolis Criterium

After a little nap we headed to the evening crit venue in downtown Minneapolis. We had 25 laps to do on a course that's about .9mi long and completely flat with 6 turns in sort of an 'L' shape. There are a few slippery manhole covers, pavement striping and some potholes here and there, pretty typical stuff for this type of course. The stretch between turns 3 and 4 is extremely narrow so bikes usually have a tendency to pile up there if someone overcooks the turn or hits the brakes. Otherwise the course is pretty straightforward - and it begs to be ridden fast-fast-fast!! We had decent weather - upper 70s and some sun with a minor shower about 30min before start time. There was a stiff headwind on the long backstretch and a killer tailwind on the start/finish stretch.

Kristin, Lori, Jackie and I were representing and everyone else was still around to cheer us on. Thanks to Brooke for snagging me a pre-race doppio from the Buck - I needed it! I had a good warm up and was feeling most excellent. Unfortunately I didn't get great position on the start line and had to work my way through a lot traffic for the first few laps - that was tough but I finally got where I wanted to be and rolled through the attacks and sprints still feeling good. I don't actually recall that there were any wrecks but there were TONS of really close calls - twitchy riders picking bad lines through turns, bumping, crossing wheels, jumping out of the saddle rocking their bikes all over the place, etc.

As things picked up for the final sprint I had decent position and thought another top 20 finish was possible until the Cheerwine and TIBCO leadout trains sat up and spread out across the street - basically causing a lot of sitting up and easy rolling over the finish line, all at the same time. I crossed in 26th position. Kristin and Jackie also came in with the main group but unfortunately Lori got hung up in early traffic and couldn't make it to the end.

There were a lot of cameras on the course and Jackie and I made cyclingnews.com here. I eeked my way in behind Canadian national champ and Olympic team member Anne Samplonius on Velonews here. We headed out directly to get home and rest - Saturday's 91mi Mankato road race was going to be epic, and I needed to get some sleep.

NVGP Day 3, Part 1: St. Paul TT

Morning arrived sooner than I would have liked, given that we got in pretty late last night and I slept very little. We rolled out at stupid-early-o'clock in the morning and arrived at the St. Paul TT venue with plenty of time for a course preview and good warm-up. The course was 6mi long and flat - with the last .5mi being uphill with the grade at somewhere between 7 and 8%. Not killer steep but definitely UP. Unfortunately there was not room in our car for me to bring my TT bike so I snagged a set of mini-clip ons from a friend in effort to at least attempt to be more aero. I didn't think it would really make a difference in my time but I have to admit in retrospect that having the TT bike would've DEFINITELY been advantageous. My time was not stellar and I was not pleased with my performance but it got me within the time cut with a large cushion, so I wasn't going to complain. We found out later that the time cut was being enforced so the field was shrunken down to 99 on the start line for the evening criterium. A lot of very strong riders were time cut, including half of our team - a major bummer.

Ah yes, climbing like the sprinter/time trialist I am!!
Thanks to Ryan Staab (Kristin's brother-in-law) for sharing his photos.

We headed back home soon after the TT for lunch and a little rest before the evening crit. I actually slept a bit and was feeling pretty good when we rolled out to the race venue - I love tight, technical criteriums and this course suits me well so I was hoping for another good finish.

NVGP Day 2 - Cannon Falls RR

We had near perfect weather for today's 66 mile road race that began and ended in Cannon Falls. Temps were in the mid to upper 70s with lots of sun, a few clouds and a fair amount of wind. The course was mainly rolling with a few short climbs - a significant one at about 3 miles in that was an opportunity for queen of the hill (QOH) points. Admittedly I was worried as hell about that first climb and I suffered like a dog for the first 10 miles or so - bad enough that I wanted to crawl back into the car.

There were a few little wrecks here and there that I got stuck behind but fortunately none of us got sucked into any of them. I was feeling a little tired after 50mi or so but fortunately my legs came around and I was in good shape going into the half mile long gravel/dirt stretch and killer bumpy downhill section leading to the final circuit where we did 5 laps. I got sort of pinched going into that part and lost some position so I just drilled it and bombed the dirt stretch then rode the right side gutter (with cascading water and potholes) down the hill to the right hand turn - flats and crashes be damned!! My thought at that very second? God, it's like cyclocross...ick. It worked - thankfully or I would've looked like an idiot - and I was on the circuit with the lead group, feeling great. Going into the final sprint we had a downhill off-camber left with about 1K to the line. Someone went down in that turn so we had to take evasive action to get by. At the line I was in 20th - I was very pleased with that, given that I was contemplating having a rough go of things early on and the fact that we started with something like 145 on the line. That's a lot of bikes to fight through!

Everyone got in safely so we all lived to fight another day. That's more than I can say for my power meter...I lost the cpu somewhere along the way so I have to fly commando the rest of the week. I think there are some photos posted on cyclingnews.com - we were lucky enough to have one of the photo guys riding in our caravan car and he snapped some good race shots.

NVGP Day 1: Crash Crash Boom Boom!!

Today began the 5-day 6-stage Nature Valley Grand Prix with the St. Paul lowertown criterium. The course was an approximately .6mi L-shaped 6-turn loop with a slight downhill grade on one side, slightly uphill on the other. We've assembled a strong team for this event - Jackie C, Kristin, Yukie, Andrea, Kat, Jessi, Lori and I are all here to mix it up with the big girls. I love technical criteriums - it is probably what I am best at as a racer so I was pretty excited to get this whole stage racing thing off to a good start...then the weather intervened. There had been a lot of severe storms in the area the entire day and early on there were discussions at race HQ that the event would be canceled. We arrived at the race venue prepared to race or not - we had to be ready no matter what the officials decided.

It was almost comical to be witness to the steady rain interrupted from time to time by an occasional deluge as we warmed up in a sheltered area not far from the start. Massive amounts of water were running down the streets searching for an area to drain at start time and yes - it was pouring on us as we rolled off. The race had been shortened from 40 laps to 30 but it really didn't matter - the field was blown apart early and the wrecks began in earnest on the first lap in turn 2. I had the privilege of meeting with the pavement on three separate occasions (the dreaded auto-jones), the last of which found me chasing to get back onto the main group with 3 laps to go (the wheel pits were closed at that point).

Reports coming in last night were confirmed this morning that due to the inclement conditions, the stage was neutralized and will not be considered in the overall GC. No sprint or QOH points were awarded and today's road race that begins and ends in Cannon Falls will be stage 1. Probably a good thing since only a third of the field was left at the bitter end of last evening's crit and some of the partial released results were incorrect. There were a lot of photographers on the course so I'm sure there is plenty of fine footage to be found on cyclingnews, velonews and the various other outlets that are covering this event.

After a fitful night that saw me sleep very little I took a "self inventory" this morning. Overall, I feel like I was hit by a truck. My entire left ass cheek is a growing contusion and I have some other little random areas of bruising on my elbow, calf and ankle but no road rash - I just slid 10-15 feet or so on the pavement each time I went down. I guess that's a bonus, in a sick sort of way. Oh yeah - most disappointing and traumatic of all - I also broke a nail. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm fine - nothing a little ice and some ibuprofin can't handle.

Word this morning from Mike (our mechanic - I'll call him Wakes from now on) is that aside from pulling an enormous hunk of glass out of my rear tire, my bike is totally fine. I live to fight another day!! We head to Cannon Falls this afternoon for a road race - I'll post afterward...right now I have to drink some more coffee and enjoy what will probably prove to be my last extended bit of rest for the week.

I Could Not Help Myself...

What can I say? I laughed so hard when I got this from (of all people) my parents that I just had to post it.

My Opening Night at the Track

I sat in 90min of creeping traffic Thursday afternoon just so I could race at the track for the first time this season. Opening night at the track was really about a month ago but cold weather and travel have kept me away until this past week. I made the mistake of taking the top off my Jeep so I just sort of cooked in the heat and humidity the entire trip while sipping fierce melon Gatorade and blasting some R.E.M. and Green Day loud enough for the entire North Shore to appreciate.

Racing-wise I wasn't quite sure what to expect of myself as I'd not been feeling so good the entire previous week. Temps were in the 80s and the humidity was pretty stifling so warming up was easy. I wasn't feeling the best but my sprint acceleration was decent so I was thinking that a respectable performance was possible. I'd pondered racing with the men but I wasn't feeling very brave so I stuck with the women's field since the turnout was pretty good. On the schedule for women were a Danish (win-and-out), 24 lap points race (sprints every 3rd lap) and unknown distance. I don't make a habit of racing all three sessions as it tends to make for a long night and a lousy Friday morning so I just did the first two races.

I won the Danish pretty easily - I was surprised that no one really chased when I attacked between turns 1 and 2 on the 4th lap. I really wanted the racing to be hard so when the points race started I went to the front (on the neutral lap...) and pushed the pace, eventually taking the cash primes and 7 of the 8 sprints. That race just cooked me. I didn't look behind me very much but I'm pretty sure the pack was shattered early. I just kept trying to drive things and score sprint points and it all worked out well for me.

I was still pretty toasted on Friday morning when I headed to the lakefront path for an easy ride. In fact I was still so fried that I rode for only about 2 minutes with a couple of the MetLife studs before just turning around and heading home to put my feet up, recover and rehydrate. Sorry guys - I was hurting pretty bad and I'm still not quite better yet even today (Saturday).

The heat and humidity is killing me right now so I'm trying to just rest and prepare for the upcoming week of racing in Minnesota. Not sure I'll have a chance to update the blog while I'm gone but if I do, I'll be sure to provide a daily summary of the joy and suffering part of stage racing that I've come to love so much. Thanks for reading....

Runners - aka: Speedbumps

I love runners....especially the really clueless ones who step right in front of you during an LT interval at 25mph and you plow them over at full speed. This, of course, after you've done your duty as a good cyclist to warn them that you are fast approaching "on your left!" WTF? Yep - I did that very thing this morning on the lakefront path. Fortunately she was the only one to hit the pavement. I had to clip out but pretty much just got back in the saddle and continued on after telling her, "there's a reason for the line in the middle of the path." She took exception to that and let out a pretty impressive string of expletives (which confirmed that she was okay) so I rode on, laughing all the way. Lots of hostility going on there, I'd say. Or, she was just embarrassed. I seem to recall seeing tire marks on her leg.

I've been under the weather the last few days so I've been trying to rest and get better as Nature Valley Grand Prix approaches. NVGP is a very important race for our team and we've gotten a super strong group together for the 5 day 6 stage event in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. This weekend I'll be helping out the Wisco girls at their state road race championship on Sunday before heading to NVGP next Tuesday.

What I've been reading lately: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (who wrote Fight Club). Great, twisted, sickly demented funny stuff. Also: Where Does the Money Go? by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson - a guided tour to the federal budget crisis (gotta read something intellectually challenging once in a while). Further: I finished High Crimes by Michael Kodas last week. It's an interesting look at the commercialization and lawlessness that plague the Mt. Everest climbing community.

Oooops - almost forgot to mention that Trudy, my old Kenda teammate from Australia is in town with her husband. We had a great visit last week before she and Herve headed to Urbana-Champaign to spend some time with friends down that way. It was so great to see her - I miss her and racing with her a great deal.

That's about all for now - it's been a pretty unremarkable week but I plan to race at the track this Thursday, so I'll post if anything interesting happens. As always, thanks for reading!