Cap City #4 Lobdell Frisbee Park

Yesterday we joined the 7 Hills gang for a carpool up to Columbus for the Cap City race. WIth a majority of the crew doing the B and C races we left bright and early at 8am from the mall parking lot. This meant James and I had to get up a 6:30 that morning. Yikes!

James did the C race, flatted twice, then did pretty good in the B race and then sat in for the A race. He was certainly under the influence of "3 race" Dan Ramsey. Needless to say, he is also nuts about cyclocross. I have created a hurdling monster. The 7 hills crew faired well with numerous podium finishes from Susan, Jeni, Mike, etc.

The good news was that I had PLENTY of time to warm-up and to pre-ride the course. The course was at a frisbee golf park so there were was some good elevation change. I tend to have good races when there are some decent run-ups and some tight corners. The start was fine for me, I was riding exactly where I wanted to be, in the top 3. After the first hurdles I settled into second. At the run-up though I could really lay on the gas. I'm not quite sure why but for me the skill of running with the bike is something I can do exceptionally well. Too bad run-ups are often rare in CX races. Anyhow, so the rest of the race involved me and Julie Sroka going back and forth. She would catch me on the shorter rises, I'd catch her everytime on the run-up and in the corners. A late race acceleration by Julie and the second to last lap left me feeling a bit flat but I made up some good time and finished only 2-3 sec. down. Always a bridesmaid.

The course was fun, payouts for us ladies were pretty great, the veggie dog cart was a nice touch, so I'm super psyched for the next few races. Big time thanks to my pal Andy Johnson and crew for putting on another great race.

Cincinnati UCI CX Festival

This weekend was huge for Cincinnati with 3 UCI Cyclocross events; 2 C2 races and one C1 race. I decided I'd be doing 2/3 with a day of "rest" between the events. I was able to support my two friends doing their voluntary race promotion; Nick Tinsler (Darkhorse Cycling, Cyclostampede) and Mitch Graham (Biowheels, C1 Race). A big thanks goes out to those guys (and their entire teams) for working their butts off to get the races together. It is no small task and I'm sure all those behind it would rather be riding rather than figuring out where to lay the caution tape.

Friday's event set the tone for the weekend and was a lot of fun. I decided to forgo the $60 charge for a UCI license and raced the 3/4's instead. I am licensed as a 3 until I can get my 1/2 upgrade. With a lot of accomplished racers also signed up I was going to get some good competition. I had nearly 10 racers in my class. The start was pretty fast and I was feeling pretty sore from Thursday and I fell back to like 5th before climbing back up to 3rd. My friend Teri and I went back and forth and we finally started to make some time on 4th on the final lap when Teri surged ahead. I came up a bit short at the end of the race on the sprint and finished 3rd. The course was a bit narly. I don't mind that so much but when it is rut after rut after rut it takes a toll on the body.

Saturday my husband James & I spent our time at Harbin helping to get the course set-up. We put up a lot of steaks and caution tape. I think I picked up like 1,000 twigs and stuff off the ground up there.

Sunday was a big field for me. I started with 23 other women in my class. I got a pretty good start; in the top 5. I lost a few spots and then quickly gained them back. I at one point was riding in 2nd and saw 1st place rider Nicole starting to fade a bit. I needed another 15 min that I didn't have in the 30 min. race. I was happy to finish in the top 3 though. I'm consistent, that is for sure.

The Women's / Men's elite races were really fun to watch. The Katie Compton/Georgia Gould duel was exciting to watch. The highlight though was yesterday when it came down to a sprint finish between Powers/Bishop. Bishop, came up short with a broken chain and had to run it in. I think if not for that mechanical he would have won it.

A big thanks goes out to Lane at the Trek Store for helping me get the tubeless set-up ready. It was without a doubt VERY helpful this weekend.

Cap City #2

Well it was another sweet event put on by my own team, per usual my buddy Andy Johnson made it happen. Chris, the guy who sponsors my sorry behind was also there, of course he arrived in style in a giant green monster truck. It looks like a blast to drive.

It was also my hubby, James' first race ever! He crushed it coming in 9/out of 20 something. He was out there riding his little behind off every lap. He looked solid on the hurdles and he was riding nice & aggressive. He is hooked on racing now - awesome!

I had a good race trading places with a few other women & making it to the last sprint finish where I made the horrible mistake of trying to shift my Sram equipped cyclocross bike like my shimano equipped road bike. DUH! Ah well, I'll get it next time. I did score a few points for my cx upgrade. I'm a point short of halfway. The next few races it looks like I'll be focusing mearly on not getting lapped as some super fast women will be coming into town.

On a side note; USA cycling announced some new cats for MTB racing. I'll be a C1. No more semi-pro limbo land category for the men.

Ever wondered?

I have been looking online for the past few months for some other female cyclists powerfiles. Needless to say, I could not find much. So, I got a spam mail from Saris which I sometimes read, sometimes just delete. Well, in there is an article and some powerfiles posted by a female road pro:

http://www.saris.com/athletes/PermaLink,guid,2a6ff413-a939-4a3e-bf64-0d1422602f4f.aspx

Sorry, blogger is screwed up today or I'd make it a real link.

My Cyclocross Weekend

OH man am I whipped today! I did the double; with two days of kick ass cyclocross racing in Ohio. My husband James joined me for the fun in Columbus, starting with the Cap City Cyclocross Series, and then Loveland for the Ohio Valley Cyclocross Series.

The Cap City race was nearly 2 hours away but well worth the drive. The course was tough, real tough. The temps hit well around 80, the ground was still tacky, and of course there was like 100% humidity. I'm not a big sweaty person but just warming up I was sweating buckets. We lined up with 7 women, which is a good turnout for us ladies. My teammate Amanda crushed the start, just totally hammering into the singletrack section. She was off the front fast with 2 other ladies not far behind. I rode as hard as I could but my legs felt flat and I think I was underfueled. I bonked pretty hard about halfway and was pretty miserable for the rest of the race. Leah and I traded places a bunch of times but I could never manage to crank it up a notch. I finished 4/7 and my teammate Amanda rode strong into 1st. Yeah A!

The next day I was hurtin when I woke up. I couldn't eat, I was really dehydrated and just lacked energy. My husband was going to try to make the C4 race so we ran around in the morning but ended up getting there pretty late. Some snags at the registration made him even later. So, he decided not to race. He will however, make his debut at the Alum Creek race. That left me with plenty of time to warm up. So I cruised around on the loveland bike trail at like 10 mph just warming up ever so slow. I still felt crappy though and I almost sat the race out. I figured I'd try to get in a few laps and if I didn't feel good I'd just DNF...well, all the sudden I felt really good. I hit some of the hurdles and made some gaps and then made some more gaps on the big monster hill. I found myself in 2nd for a lap or two. Wow, it was really surreal. Amanda and I rode together a lot with the Biowheels Amanda not far back and Leah not far back either. Bio Amanda made a move in the last lap and my energy went from high to bonk and I was lucky to finish 3rd. Amanda, my teammate came in 4th. Sweet. Actually, I thought we had snagged 2nd & 3rd but someone had gone off the front early on. I thought we had passed her. Oh well, I was happy with 3rd.

The mens 1/2 race was totally insane - a windstorm whipped through and the poor guys were spending 99% of the time just trying to stay upright. We are without power in our house still since some trees ripped out the power lines. Insane.

What is there to like about Cyclocross?

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who is a race promoter and endurance racer. He was scratching his head trying to figure out why someone would choose a cyclocross race over a mountain bike race. Good question. I was scratching my head over that one too. Then I came up with the reasons l do like cyclocross:

1) The races are short therefore you can usually make it home in time to actually get household chores done, or spend time with the family.

2) Our local series requires a lot less driving time. At the most I'll spend 2 hours in the car to get to a race. Not bad; if I want some good MTB competition I have to drive 6-7 hours down south. Otherwise I'm racing the same women I have raced 1,000x's before.

3) Spectator friendly...unlike a MTB race friends or family can see you pass by every ten minutes or so.

4) Skillz - for those of us who after like 4-5 years of cyclocross have mastered the barriers and run-ups it actually starts to get fun when you can make gaps.

5) The Cap City Cyclocross series is super awesome to us women. Discounted entries, awesome paybacks, makes it a series I'll be following for sure. My friend Andy also designed a kick-ass series leader jersey. My sponsor is also the series sponsor and will be raffling away a Trek X01 cyclocross bike at the end of the series. NICE!

Well, that is my little rant. Bring on the cowbell!

PS - I did get my Xo2 and she is sweet. Only 18 lbs. stock. Awesome. Rival = awesome. Race XLite wheels = sweetness.

Caesar Creek - A race gone terribly right

Wow! What can I say about Caesar Creek other than I was darn lucky that day. I let the other women take the early lead because I know the trail so well I knew a super hard start wasn't a great tactic. I held it nice steady from the start and rode pretty easy behind 2nd place for the first few miles. Rather than take an aggressive pass I rode a bike length or 2 behind. Sure enough, on the first technical section she slipped up enough for me to crank it up a notch and put in a gap. When riding at Caesar Creek it is such an advantage to know the trail and to know when to shift, how to pick the lines, and what junk is just better to walk. It was also important that day to stay cool as temps were in the 90s. Thankfully, I decided the night before to fill the Camelbak up with 2X's the energy drink and then I threw it in the freezer. Cold, strong energy drink = one cool Bridget.

Anyhow, back to the race, I passed Christina on the next creek crossing. Then she passed me on the second root section. Then I passed her no less than 10 sec. later! Hilarious! We were both laughing about how narly the trail was. So, I guess sometime soon after Christina broke a chain. She didn't have the tools to fix it so she had to wait by the side of the trail until someone offered up some tools. Man, she has bad luck. I think that is the 4-5 race where something like that has happened to her bike.
After the last pass, I found myself surprisingly in first for the first lap. My hubby James was there which was awesome. He was a great cheerleader. My lead stayed strong for the rest of the race and I won my first OMBC race ever! Sweet! It was a pretty darn good feeling. Biowheels put up some awesome paybacks for the expert winners! 2x's sweeter! Thanks guys.

CX Time again...

There is some great racing planned for this fall in the greater Cincinnati area. The highlight will be the 3 day CX festival in Oct. 10-12.

More details are here.

Equal payouts for the Elite Men / Elite Women. Now that is what I'm talking about.

24 Hours of 9 Mile

It is on - and being shown in realtime. Not even 12 hours into the race and the solo men's leaders have already hit 156 miles! Holy Cow!

Go Eatough!

The link is here.

Bring on the Cowbell!

All you readers out there (all two of you). I need your help. Please help me convince my sweet, wonderful, very handsome husband that I need this cyclocross bike.

Alum Creek

Well, this pretty much sums up my race today:

"Everybody wants to say, 'I couldn't win because of this or that,' " Landis says. "To my way of thinking, it doesn't matter if your goddamn head fell off or your legs exploded. If you didn't make it, you didn't make it. One excuse is as good as another."
- F. Landis

I didn't expect to win but I thought top 3 was certainly possible. Finished 4th. In the money but very disappointing result. Nobody wants to hear my excuses. At least I got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while. Got some exercise. Didn't break myself or my bike. Got to eat a lot of cookies on the way home.

My dog was happy to see me so we went for a nice walk when I came home. She chased cats, I walked off some muscle soreness. Looking forward to a day off tomorrow from work to recoop.

Good idea!

I spotted this on the Road Bike review while I was trying to see if anyone had posted any spy photos of Trek's 2009 line-up. It is a vending machine full of tubes, tools, water bottles, you name it.

Dang, that is a good idea. My only reservation would be riding with $/Credit Cards...I know in China/Japan they are/have developed ATM machines that read your fingerprint.

I hope to see something like this on the Loveland Bike trail or at a park by downtown Cincinnati.

Amanda Sproat - All pro racer

It was bound to happen. My good friend Amanda finally submitted her request for a pro upgrade to USA Cycling. Now I say I got my ass kicked by a pro racer rather than just my really fast friend Amanda.

Anyhow, cheers to you A for all the hard work! Good job!

Seven

The Trek Store here in Cincy is now carrying Seven Cycles. Ahh they are incredibly sweet indeed. If you get a chance to check out their catalog you'll be amazed by the range of options.

DINO Muscatatuck AMBC

Well the DINO race is almost always muddy. I don't know why that is, it seems like for the past few years a T-Storm rolls in a few days before the race but it dries out just enough to be rideable yet still incredibly sloppy.
My husband James went with me to the race which was nice of him considering it was hot and humid. I'm sure he would have much rather been grilling out/drinkin beer on the 4th of July weekend.
I got off to a pretty bad start coming in like mid-pack into the woods. It wasn't that I couldn't handle the intensity of the start but there was very little room to maneuver before hitting the tight singletrack. The next two laps I was chasing down the other 5 women. James was giving me the time splits and I could see some of the women through the woods. With each lap I had cut down their lead. Eventually I caught Heather from Indiana at the last mile or two. I rode her wheel waiting for the right moment when she got some nasty chainsuck or something and I rode past her for 4th.
It was a good race for me. I was only a few minutes back on some pro women so I'm super psyched for the rest of the season.

OMBC at East Fork

The race went off with a bang with Nicole from IN and the Amandas leading the pain train. I did my best to hang in there but after we past the MTB trailhead I had to back off a bit. I was at max there and could feel even my fingers filling up with lactic acid.
Amanda "Superfly" Sproat was leading heading into the trail and I never saw her again. I passed Christina on Phase 1 who was fumbling with some mechanical issues. Some mechanicals made it a bummer race for her.

My legs were showing me no love at all today. I didn't have that "spark" nor the ability to ride fast at all. I did manage to finish in the money 4/7 (2 "pros" in my class...so 2nd place expert really) so that was good. My sweet hubby James was able to cheer me on and do bottles for me. My pooch Button was able to tag along and cheer me on as well.

The good news is that James and I taped the Euro Cup finals and the Spain won! Woo Hoo!

Race for the Graves

I did the CORA (Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance) series kick-off this past sunday. It was just across the Ohio River in Burlington, KY at England Idlewild park.

I got to the race in plenty of time to warm-up. Ride a bit of the trail and chat with some friends. I was hoping for a better turnout for expert women but I think most of the ladies were at home with their Dads. My Dad was out in Denver expecting his first Grandbaby so I didn't feel bad cutting out for the day.
The start was pretty crazy because we started with the expert men but there wasn't enough trail to spread things out before the start. I stayed right behind a pack of expert guys for the first few minutes of the race. I was surprised to see the guys sliding out on the first few sections. I was out climbing a few of em. No joke, I'm lovin the 29er on those muddy steep climbs. It rules.

Anyhow, the rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I lead from the start. I felt bad for a lot of my friends as I saw Joe, Justin, Bill, & Bob all suffer bike/body mechanicals. I felt especially bad for Joe in his recent bad luck.
The actual race was pretty darn hard. A lot of the expert guys were finishing and looking like they were pretty toasted. Mitch was coughing up a lung. Marty cramped bad. They were broken. I was certainly lucky to have only had to do 2 laps.

It was a sweet, hard, fun, and best of all a LOCAL race. I'm certainly looking forward to the rest of the CORA series.

Mohican 100K

I have been up to race up at Mohican no less than 5 times. Each time I race there I forget how those climbs can sneak up on you & rip your legs to shreds. It is never an easy ride. It does however give you satisfaction knowing you tamed it - a bit.

I decided the Sunday before the race that I was out. I hadn't had enough time to prepare, I was lacking some endurance race essentials, like a camelbak, repair stuff, energy food. I hadn't put in a ride longer than a few hours. It didn't make sense for me to go there to race 60+ miles in one day. Then, I got an email from a friend. He had a place we could stay. It was only 2 miles from the start. Dang, how could I say no! So, I put in my last minute request to get off work the friday before the race off so I could get my s*** together.

I ran around like crazy on friday getting everything together. I picked up a few last minute supplies and got my bike tuned up by the awesome guys at the Trek Store. They hooked me up big time by getting my bike all ready to go (of course I bought it by at the the last minute) for the race. Thanks Jacob, Justin.
Finally, it all came together and I headed out to pick up my husband James at work. We loaded up his commuter bike and we hit the road.

We made pretty good time and ended up getting to Camp Nuhop, to register just before 7. I got myself signed up and as I turned around I saw Floyd Landis there chatting it up with Ryan, the race director. My husband James & I were star struck. We should have both gotten a photo with him but we were in fear we would say something stupid.

We headed out of Camp Nuhop and to our hotel. When we pulled up we saw Bob, (area 106 Trek rep.) Travis & Michelle (of the Trek store Pittsburgh). We chatted with them a while. Chris Eatough came out to chat as well. Again, we were star struck. We were invited to head over to the Pizza Hut with the gang but I opted to get my things sorted for the next day and hit the hay.

I hit the hay early thinking I'd be able to sleep really great that night but when I laid down I couldn't sleep. I was worried about the next day; the 7am start, the 60+ miles I'd be doing. I couldn't help but think - what am I getting myself into?! Then about 3-4am the thunder and lightning rolled in. Again, what am I getting myself into?!

At 6 am I was tired but the pre-race nerves jolted me awake. I got my stuff together and James and I headed to downtown Loudonville for the start. The crowd of cyclists quickly gathered and before I knew it I was stuck out in the back. It was hard to get around and to pass in the bottlenecked area so I was stuck behind a group of riders with no way to gain ground. This is where I made a critical mistake. I never was able to make up for the lost time there. The next 15-20 miles I was hurting. My legs were stiff & slow. I knew I was in for a long day. I figured I'd ride it out to the first aid station and then see how I felt.

I knew that Chris would be there (owner of the Trek Store C-Bus, Cincy) and I was happy to see a familiar face to cheer me on. I stopped for a minute or two to get some Clif Blocks down and refill my Camelbak. I felt better when I got back on my bike and I knew that as tough but that I was going to be able to finish. The next 15ish miles were hard. Lots of bike hiking and narly trail. Truly some backwoods stuff. I got a few leg cramps in that hike-a-bike section and I thought I'd be a DNFer but for some reason; or some miracle, they never returned. The subsequent miles were much easier but with all of the mud I was getting major chain suck. I was wishing I'd have lubed it up at the midway point. My journey through the Mohican Wilderness was irritating because I was on/off, on/off my bike.

I hit the one of the last aid stations; got my chain lubed, got some quick refuels and was off. Sure, there were some monster climbs that never seemed to end but with each climb I could see the end in sight. I did loose a lot of time on the road sections. It was like ride, look for the signs, ride, stop, where am I going?! I dunno...I felt like there could have been about 50 more course markings. I finally rolled into the last aid station where I learned I only had about 7 miles left to go. I was no longer "racing" at this point. I had no idea who was ahead or who was behind. I really took my time finishing it off. I rolled into Camp Nuhop with 8:00 of riding time. It was good enough for a top 5 finish (out of 15) but not good enough to finish in the money. Dang! Well, it was fun, it was hard, and it was shear mayhem at times but I can't wait to do it all over again.

Great photos of the race by Bob Meyers here.
More on the race here.

KYMBA - Capital View XC

My husband, my doggie Button and I headed down to KY for the 3rd race of the KYMBA series. Despite some poor directions (my fault) we managed to arrive with about a half hour to spare. I was sorta nervous before the race, perhaps because my stomach felt hungry and I had only had a few pancakes and a lone energy gel. We (pro/expert) women took off after the sport guys. I had a good start but sort let the pro racer in our field go ahead of me. I stayed on her wheel for a while but I had to do a lot of passing during the race and I lost enough time that I didn't see her again. The course was a blast and I was loving my 29er on the uphill rooted sections. I felt pretty good during the race but I wish I'd have put the hammer down a bit more. I ended up finishing 2/4. My skills are coming back & I'm getting a tiny bit faster each race. Next weekend I'll be headed to the DINO race out in Brown County, IN.

Is it a sign?!

Humm...we were out riding last night and we cruised past the VW dealership in Loveland, OH. I spotted a sweet GTI out front, it was white w/ a black racing stripe. So, I had to get on the VW website to check them out. I found these photos:




Is it a sign - I dunno, you tell me. I think I just figured out what my new car (2009?) will be.