Superweek Race #4: Whitefish Bay

Our last race of Superweek was finally upon us. I had actually gotten over 7 hrs of sleep for the first time in 4 nights, but I was definitely a little dehydrated from my sleeping aids. Luckily, our race wasn't until 1 pm, so we had plenty of time to sit by the pool at our hotel and drink coffee and surf the Internet. We even had time for a sit down breakfast with a few of the GP boys.

It was a beautiful day for racing and the Whitefish Bay crit course was significantly nicer than the previous day's race in Cudahy. We made sure to get there early to do a few laps of the course before the men's 4/5 race so that we could line up for our race without having to do a lap. We'd been told that it was important to have a good position at the start of this race, and we did just that.

The race started out fast (again) and I concentrated on staying towards the front. There was a bit of jockeying for position going on for the first few laps and I felt like people were riding a little unsafe. Suddenly the rider in front of me decided she wanted to jump out of the pack for some reason, and she almost took me out doing it. For the first time during a crit, I yelled something - I wish I could report that it was something bad-ass, but the only thing that came to mind in that split second was "HEY!!!" And most of you know how intimidating my yelling (aka bar) voice is. I told her. So I swerved to avoid going down as I was "yelling" my displeasure to the rider in front of me, then everyone behind me yelled their displeasure at me for swerving. Shortly thereafter, my legs really started to hurt. Not in a "lactic acid burn" sort of way...it was more like a "how the hell did you expect to do 4 superweek races in a row" sort of way.

So to make a long story short, I got dropped really early in this race. And after riding around for a few laps and getting in groups with other dropped riders, then going for a prime, I decided I was done with Superweek. And my legs thanked me. I was perfectly happy to watch the rest of the race from the sidelines and cheer on my teammates.

After the race, the Bellas got together for their post-race pow-wow, and then discussed the usual cool down ride. But I decided I was done. I no longer wanted to be on my bike. I wanted out of my chamois ASAP. SpecialK agreed - "we don't have anything to recover for anyway, so why bother". So we peer-pressured Pdiddily into packing up the bikes and the car without a ride.

We had decided that we would stick around to watch the men's Pro/1/2 race which didn't even start until 6 pm. It was a fun race, and the GP boys had a great race again, so it was worth staying. The downside was that I didn't get to bed until 3 a.m.

Needless to say, I was happy to take a half of day off of work the next day to sleep in, and was ecstatic to not have to ride my bike that night. The best part was that Pete and I were invited to an excellent dinner gathering with a kick-ass meal, yummy gnt's and wine, and great company.

When I came home from work tonight, I saw that my bike had been de-bugged and was all sparkly clean (thanks Patty Cakes!!) and was just waiting to be ridden again. But I was still exhausted and just couldn't do it. I think I'll be ready tomorrow. And I'll definitely be ready by track racing time on Thursday! It's time to get my groove on.

SS

p.s. speaking of track racing...we had the opportunity to see the Kenosha velodrome while at Superweek, and I think it's safe to say we were a bit disappointed. But it certainly helps us appreciate our awesome track facility here!

Timber!

Apparently a nasty storm rolled through WI last night, and my parent's house/garage had some damage. Luckily, there was no MAJOR damage to the house (no broken windows or water damage), but the deck looks like it's going to need some work. Looks like a pretty close call though...it could have been a lot worse. I love all of the trees at their place, so it's a bummer that a bunch of them are gone. My parents have been worried about a few of the larger trees falling on the house for years...the tree in the foreground of the first picture is one of them, so it's a good sign that it's still standing. As one of my friends pointed out, it looks like my dad will at least get to play with a chainsaw all week.

Superweek Race #3: Cudahy

I woke up crabby for the Cudahy Crit - I'd gone to bed exhausted the night before and only managed to get about 4 hrs of sleep. And I hadn't gotten much sleep the two previous nights, so my first goal for the morning was to try to caffeinate my crabbiness away.

We arrived in Cudahy (pronounced "cud-ah-hay") without incident (unlike the day before when we had to take the airport exit so I could pee, and we almost drove under an overhang that would have totalled our bikes and Pdiddily's car). One look at the crit course and I knew I wasn't going to like this race. It was a relatively flat four corner crit that encompassed a boring park. And the road conditions sucked. There was a huge pothole and a big concrete lip in turn 2, and the roads were just generally crappy.

Having gotten dropped after 25 minutes in the two previous races, I had decided that I would do an extra long warm-up, with the intention of doing "something" early in the race. I wasn't sure what "something" was, but I didn't want to just sit in for 25 minutes, then get dropped.

The race started out pretty slow for once, so SpecialK took a little flyer off the front and I saw that BHar was at the front of the field, so I rolled up there too and we did some blocking, but eventually someone got ansy and chased SpecialK down and the field was back together. Then GW-NoH attacked and eventually got caught too. As we rolled through crappy turn 2, I saw an opening on the outside of the road, and I decided it was time to do "something" - so I got up out of the saddle and attacked as hard as I could. Some chick on the other side of the field was kind enough to yell to everyone else that I was attacking, but I didn't care. I got around turn 3 and I was afraid to look back - I was certain I would see that the field was right on my wheel - but much to my surprise, a quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that there was only one rider with me. So I gunned it again, and the nice rider with me took a few turns pulling, and we were able to stay off the front for a few laps, but the charging field eventually caught us. My moment of glory was gone, but damn, it felt good. And then I was tired. And the race got fast again. And I noticed there were a lot of riders now standing on the sides of the course. I recall looking down at my computer one time and seeing 30 mph as the field was flying down the front stretch - I think I was in my biggest gear and I could not turn the pedals over fast enough to keep up. I got dropped (again). And I wanted to quit because two of my teammates were now hanging out watching, and that looked like more fun. But then GW-NoH rode up, so I had someone to do laps with. We jumped in the field a few times, but we basically just had a nice little chat for the rest of the race. In the end, I finished in the top 25, so that tells you something about how many people must have dropped out. But once again, SpecialK did awesome, so check out her race report.

My lower back was hurtin' after getting jostled around by the crappy roads...and it still hurts. The heating pad is my friend this week.

That night we headed to Downer Ave with the GW ladies to eat some meat, drink some beer (or wine in those tiny bottles, as the case may be), and watch some bike racing. Pete had decided to come to town to race, so it was fun to watch him and the GP boys (and Snide!) mix it up with the pros. Pretty Paul and Pete both did awesome...Paul was hammering at the front for half of the night, and Pete ended up 14th overall, so that was fun to watch. I was determined that I was going to sleep that night, so I made sure I drank enough to help me reach that goal, even if it had consequences for the next day of racing.

Up next...the last day of Superweek...the Whitefish Bay crit.

SS

Superweek Race #2: Kenosha

Due to a serious lack of sleep, I quickly got behind with my Superweek postings...my apologies. And due to the fact that I got home in the middle of the night last night and no amount of espresso is helping me function, my race reports may be sub-par, but deal with it.

Friday we headed to Kenosha for a 30-mile crit. I liked this course! The roads were good and fast, and there were a ton of spectators, mostly due to the little festival taking place in the park that was located in the middle of the course. The field was large and the race started out fast again. Every time I looked down at my computer, it said 26+ mph...even while we were cornering. If it isn't obvious, that is FAST for a women's Cat 3/4 race! And for comparison, the average speed at our local Northfield crit (which does have a hill) was 19 mph. Anyway, it was fast. And once again, I was able to hang on just fine for about 25 minutes before I suddenly hit the wall (just like the day before). I guess it's probably no coincidence that our local crits are not usually more than 25-30 minutes long. Needless to say, I was not prepared/trained for the sustained high speeds coupled with the length of these Superweek Crits. However, I had no intention of quitting this time, so I sat up, was joined by GW-NoH for a lap, and jumped back into the field as they came by. And much to my surprise, I had no problem hanging with them for *almost* the rest of the race. With about 12 laps to go, I rode up to Pdiddily and asked her how she felt...she replied "I don't know". To which I responded, "well then, I think you feel good". We rounded the corner and Pdiddily started moving up the left side of the field with me on her wheel and the next thing I see is bikes and racers airborne ahead of me and to my right. The carnage is quickly sprawling left-ward, and Pdiddily squeaks through while I hit my breaks, veer left, and gun it again. When I look back, I notice that I am the last person who has made it through. Everyone else was either in the crash, or caught up behind it. It was super freaky. Then on the back side of the course, we are told to stop. I quickly scanned the survivors and was relieved to see all three of my teammates and GW-NoH, but no GW-Muhsr. We were finally allowed to roll back up to the front stretch where we saw the emergency vehicles parked on the course and attending to a few riders. The rumor was that there was a least a broken nose and broken collarbone, along with a lot of other minor injuries. I was relieved to see GW-Muhsr in the wheelpit getting some mechanical help. The scariest part for me was that a few of the women involved in the crash were women I had been riding behind for most of the race. And I had generally been trying to stick to the right side of the course. Freaky.

When the race course was finally clear, the officials informed us that lapped riders would not be allowed to finish just so that it would be less confusing to figure out results. I was kind of bummed, only because I was finally riding well, but I totally understood. Plus, it started to sprinkle...and taking those corners at 26 mph in the rain didn't seem like something I was comfortable with, so it was probably for the best. And I wasn't alone - I was surprised to see how many others had been lapped...I'm guessing it was almost half of the field.

So I watched the end of the race from the sidelines (which was also kind of fun), and going into the last lap, SpecialK was in a great position, but got out-sprinted in the end. She still placed 6th, so that was awesome. BHar and Pdiddily also finished with the main field, plus, Pdiddily even threw in a few attacks for the day. So another good day for the Bellas.

Bellas and bikes intact, we headed back to our swanky host-housing to recover. I was exhausted and couldn't wait to go to bed.

Oh, and there was one other highlight of our day...a SuperRookie spotting! Neither SpecialK, Pdiddily, nor myself has ever personally met the infamous SuperRookie...but he was driving away before we figured out that it was him, mostly because I believe he was yelling "WWW DOT SUPER ROOKIE DOT COM" or something of the sort. Rumor has it SpecialK and I will soon get our chance to meet him at the track. Right on.

Next up...the Cudahy Crit on no sleep...my back still hurts.

SS

Superweek Race #1: She-be-gone

Yesterday Pdiddily, SpecialK, and I packed up the team car and headed East. Destination...Sheboygan, WI (via Appleton). Today was race #1 (of four) at Superweek. We accidently took the scenic route from Appleton to Sheboygan but still arrived with plenty of time to register, chamois-up, and warm-up along the shores of Lake Michigan. The course was a 0.8-mile loop with 4 corners, a very slight uphill, and an S-curve. We lined up for the 25 mile race with about 35-40 other Cat 3/4 women including teammate BHar, Bettys MB and CS, GW-NoH and GW-Muhsr...I was excited to finally be part of a larger race and it was nice to have some familiar faces in the pack (translates to: it's nice to have a few wheels you can trust). As expected, the race started pretty fast. And then to make matters worse, they rang the bell for a prime on about the 2nd or 3rd lap. I have never been in a race with so many primes...it felt like the bell was ringing every other lap. The nice part is that SpecialK got a few of those primes, including a Smoothie Maker. So with all of the primes, the race pace stayed pretty high. One of my goals for the race was to try to stay in a good position. I was only semi-successful - I kept finding myself towards the back of the pack, then I'd move up on the little hill, then I'd fall back. But it was good practice for moving around a bit. Then about halfway through the race, I decided to move towards the front. So I slowly made my way up until I was next to SpecialK - when she saw me, she said hello, and I replied with a winded "sup"...and she thought I said "I suck". I didn't suck at the time, but about two minutes later it was much more debateable. For no apparent reason (okay, there may have been an increase in pace), I quickly started falling back through the pack. I quite suddenly felt like I wasn't moving, and everyone else was going 25 mph. The next thing I knew I was at the back of the pack and I was hurting. GW-NoH gave me some words of encouragement, but I had nothing...I sat up, and that was it. She-be-gone.

In hindsight, I always curse myself for not trying harder at that critical moment. But when it's happening, it's such a split second decision - give it some more or give up. I'm not sure why I chose to give up this time because I generally felt okay (aside from not being able to make my bike go fast enough), but that was the decision I made, so done deal. No worries though, I learned a lot today and I'm excited about tomorrow.

Even though it wasn't a great race for me, my teammates had a great race. BHar and SpecialK were mixing it up at the front of the race early on, and SpecialK even took a little flyer off the front for a while. In the end, SpecialK led out the last lap to string the field out, and blew herself up doing so, but she had a great race - I give her the most aggressive rider award. And Pdiddily finished 13th. So a pretty good day for the Bellas.

We're staying with some relatives of SpecialK's for a few nights, and we are getting the full treatment! Beautiful, huge, house in a beautiful area, HUGE dinner and ice cream, 3 awesome daughters who were very excited for us to come visit, and they even went out and bought one of their favorite movies so we could all watch it...Spinal Tap. Dang, I could get use to the life of a "real" bike racer...and I've only been one for one day.

Strats out

p.s. Wishing you a speedy, drug-induced/pain-free, recovery mom!

Flossing like Coolio

So apparently I'm not fun because I don't drive a Hummer. And I'm probably even less fun since I drive a Honda. Who knew that my level of "fun-ness" was associated with my car? Who cares if $75 doesn't even fill the tank, and who cares if it gets 8 - 10 mpg...it must be worth it because it's FUN to floss like Coolio.

You know what they say about a woman who drives a car with good gas mileage.

For my fellow "enviro-whackos", check this out.

On a different note, this Angel had some fun (without driving a Hummer) last Friday night. Beauzalot, Frenchie, Schwake and I went out downtown to celebrate Schwake's birthday (note: Beauzalot wanted me to drive because my car is much easier to park downtown than his big-ass truck...especially since he doesn't get VIP parking at Bella Notte). Ironically, the last time I was out downtown (not including bar rides), Big D was spending his money on something more important...drinks for me and Pete. Anyway, my friend Rabbit(?) was in town and he met up with us and we did some bar hopping, then swung by the free Semisonic reunion show at some block party. As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Dan Wilson...or at least a huge fan of that little move he does (you know the one). But I have to admit, Dano wasn't looking so good...he's looking a little emaciated these days. And he was unusually sappy. Maybe he was just drunk. But I digress. I'm also a huge fan of Jake Slichter's (drummer) book...he's a funny guy who tells an entertaining and insightful story about the music industry. Oh, and John Munson was just his usual tall, cool, self. I'm always hopeful that they'll bust out some old Trip Shakespeare stuff, preferably The Slacks, but no such luck. We headed to one more bar after the music, then Beauzalot, Mark and I had some drinks back at my place...at which time I proceeded to "shake" an already open bottle of pomegranate juice all over my kitchen. Good times.

Oh, and for those of you who know Schwake...we determined that it's official - he doesn't have a gay bone in his body (as exemplified by the ever-present Leatherman on his belt).

As is tradition, Mark and I drank a bunch of gnt's and stayed up really late. However, 4.5 hrs later, Mark still managed to run 10 miles in 95 degree heat while I slept until 11 am, missing my window of opportunity for a bike ride in bearable temperatures. So I opted to do something I haven't done in a long time...stayed inside and cleaned. I did manage to get a nice ride in on Sunday during the steamy weather and then sat in the central air conditioning at work for the remainder of the day.

My future brother-in-law, disguised as Paul Shaffer, stopped by tonight. It's been a while since we've seen him or my sister since they're now living in New York, so it was nice to catch up with him and rub his head for good luck!

Only two days until Superweek! Watch out for the EnviroWhacko on wheels!

SS

I bike to eat

I like to eat...a lot. It's no secret, and my friends and family can tell you that I can seriously pack it away. And if you've ever seen my dad eat, you know that I got my good eatin' genes from him. I bike for a lot of reasons, but mostly I bike to eat. The more I bike, the more I can eat. And the more I race my bike, the more I HAVE to eat. I love it. The irony about biking to eat is that biking takes up so much time that it's often hard to find time to cook good meals. I know it's generally not PC for women to talk about their weight, but I'm going to go there anyway - no worries though ladies, I'm not talking about "absolute" weight here, just "relative" weight, so don't get your undies in a bundle. About a month ago, I stepped on our body fat scale that gets used most often by my roommate. I could care less about my "% fat" or my "% water", and generally I don't even care too much about the weight as long as the siren doesn't start going off. But this time, my weight was down more than I had expected. I figured it was a fluke and went to bed. A few nights ago (a month later), I got on the scale again and it told me the same thing. I'm not sure how the average woman would react, but I could only think of one thing - sweet, I can eat more!! So I've been pigging out for the last few days, with the help of a few of JoeyC's meals. I'm sure my weight will be back to "normal" by this weekend at the rate I'm eating, but it's been a good week. I'm just bummed I missed Annie's now famous pie.

While I'm talking about food, I should mention that my life has recently been changed by the first Twin Cities Trader Joe's that recently opened in my 'hood! I have so many good things to say about this place that I'm not even sure where to start. To summarize, TJ's has healthy, cheap, food that seems to cater to active/busy people. The best part is that I have yet to eat something from TJ's that has an ingredient that I can't pronounce. It's all natural stuff...which is why I can't figure out why it's so cheap. They have a bunch of awesome pre-made frozen meals that are healthy and are amazingly "fresh"...I read on their website that they "blanch" their vegetables before freezing them, so I guess that's why they're so fresh. The frozen meals are perfect for those nights when I get home late from work, go for a ride, and get back at 8:30 and don't want to have to take an hour to cook a big meal. In addition, they have some of the best spicy guacamole...and it's also cheap...two packets for about $2.50! It's cheaper to buy the pre-made stuff than to buy avocadoes and make it from scratch. And Pete and I eat guacamole as our main dish for at least two meals a week, so we've actually stopped making it ourselves and just buy the TJ's. But it's a hot item there...last night they were all out. And they have a cheap liquor store too - perhaps you've heard of their "two buck Chuck" wine. Margot and Aric shared some with us recently and it was pretty good, especially for that price. And according to the TJ's cashier that we chatted with last night, the plan is to open one more TJ's in the Twin Cities yet this year, and another one next year. Sweet.

strats out

crit, track, crit...repeat

Now that I'm finally starting to do better in bike races, I'm too tired and busy to blog about them. So now that I'd actually have something to say besides "I got dropped...again"...I'm too tired to say anything at all. This blanket statement pretty much covers it though: It turns out races are much easier when you get dropped...staying with the field makes the race much harder, but much more fun. Okay, that's lame, maybe I have time for a quick update:

July 4th was the Northfield crit - the race was relatively uneventful and it came down to a big field sprint. I thought I was in a good position going into the last turn, but turns out I wasn't...and I ended up 6th...just barely...I saw that yellow jersey cruisin' up along side of me...one more foot and she would have had me.

July 6th was track racing - can't seem to get the lead out of my legs at the track. My team did well (especially Special K who lapped the field in the points race!), but I felt like crap. It doesn't make sense...Skibby had a good night so I should have too...something's wrong. The highlight of my night was when I put my real clothes on after racing and discovered twenty forgotten dollars in my pocket...I would have been have happy with $5 or $10, but I was elated to find $20. It still makes me smile.


July 9th was the Hopkins Crit - this race was harder/faster than Northfield, and even had a little drama - a crash, some broken gear, a little bit of chick trash talkin' (i.e. "would you mind pulling for a bit?"), and a fight for the last MWCMR points. I was able to stay with the main field, but just barely...I had nothing left for the sprint, and rolled in 7th which pretty much sums up my MWCMR race series since I placed 7th overall.

(Hopkins photos courtesy of www.skinnyski.com).

But what's that growth on my thigh?














On a related note, I must have completely lost my mind because I agreed to go to Superweek for 4 straight days of racing with Special K and Penelope next week...and GW SB just informed me the crits there are 1.5 - 1.75 hrs long (mom, the races here are only 0.5 hrs long).

Special thanks to Marnie for coming to watch both the Northfield and Hopkins Crit...that's a true friend who travels to watch women's Cat 4 bike races! And thanks to all of my friends who came to watch the Hopkins Crit and yell split times to Pete since my voice carries about one foot.

And if my dad is reading this...you better be pampering mom! (she broke her wrist in two spots when we were out waterskiing/boating on 4th of July weekend). I keep telling her that she's too old to be wake-boarding when the lake's so choppy from all the boating traffic, but she just won't listen.

SS

recognize these track racers? probably not...

...unless you race with them regularly. Apparently this is what happens when my boyfriend takes pictures at the track for two weeks in a row...there seems to be a theme here...curious...