Bartlett

This time of year the leaves get drier and all pretty with their goldens and reds. The wind this morning was blowing thru the leaves in the back yard making such a pretty sound that I didn't even want to leave.
I have a gorgeous, elderly siberian husky who I love to death. SHe is totally an outdoor dog and as much as she loves people and animals and everything she never wants to come inside. OF COURSE I make her stay inside when its 90 degrees out or totally raining. But she is happy sleeping under the deck all day. I felt like sleeping outside today too, listening to that wonderful sound of the wind thru the trees. If you are riding in the woods at all this week, take the time to stop and look and listen to that sound. Its like the forest is partying a bit before going to bed.

Yesterday was a great course for me. I felt good and my training is going much better. Hank didn't race but he said the course was a 'strong man's' course. The guys that put this together (Thanks to Jim Nowak and company!!!)) really did a great job using the topography to its every advantage. The strong men of Verdigris did very well. We are all so lucky! They have worked hard to get to where they are and I am really proud to be on this team and to be able to train with them.
The mushy back section was thick sometimes and a bit muddy, but never really out of control slippery. ....and I LOVED the mushy climb in the back. Even after the men rode on it , you could still find some good traction in the corners along the edges of the mud. I never felt my bike slip except thru the wood chip section... but that was a 'fun' kinda slip that reminded me of mountain biking when you take a corner at speed. (you know..that Whooohooo!! kinda thing). I especially liked the addition of three long loopy barricades that you had to run around a corner, jump, run around another corner, jump. That was fun and shouldering the bike definitly helped there. Stuff like this makes you wonder why more folks dont get out and DO this. Its just so fun and easy to get into. It is such a good workout. Just get out and do it!
Then after the last jump you had to get on your bike immediately, turn and climb the rest of the hill, ... twice. Of course there was a viscious headwind which really sapped your strength mentally. The headwind really picked up during the race and was in yoru face RIGHT into the start finish line! some foks hit the yellow tape too that was blowing fiercely into the course. I am always spooked by that.
But wow, the course was super fun and lots of cornering.

If it weren't for the corners I'd have gotten the hole shot. Holly got that. The two times I got the whole shot there was just a straightaway and no corners. HA. SO. Obviously I am braking into the corners. I have to tell you there are two women that are viscious at the start line. Debby Dust didn't make it to the race sunday, but there was another Debby from Alberto's that is fast at getting out the gate. She has been first to the corner a couple times and I have to admire her for that. Flatlandia's new cross racer is also fast on the draw and her and Jessica were just battling it out like crazy. Hank really gets on me about not grabbing the front. So do the Verdigris guys I have trained with. But I have gotten the hole shot twice this season and one of those races I did win. SO. there. :P
I think its just getting harder and harder to grab that because these girls are training their butts off! WHen Hank (with his coach hat on) was asking me why I didn't get to the corner first I just told him "because they are really really good, ok? " sheese.
Well, I have no excuse because I was off a couple days last week and only barely practiced my dismounts and remounts outside. AND I NEVER worked on my start. Something to think about before Kansas and I better get on that.

I was behind Holly and keeping her close, I kind of lost her early in the corners but then closed it up on the long climb in the back. Then she got away again on the long asphalt section with the tailwind and downhill . I just didn't go all out there but soon thought..ooopsies better hit it...... ......... SO...after coming around the corner I put the hammer on again and started to close it up fast. I saw the hilly section coming up and was hoping to use that to my advantage. She seemed to slow down. THen it became apparent why.
After the last barricade she was off her bike and fiddling with it. 'NO!!'' "Get on your bike Holly!". The wheel pit was only 60 yards away. ?? I kept riding and didn't know how serious her problem was. Hank said her bike had something wrong with the chain rubbing or grinding and no one could fix it fast enough for her to get back into the game. She had to DNF.
I came around the next lap and she was pushing her bike away. MAN. I feel really bad.
I still do!
Later I asked Hank if the rules let us 'loan' our pit bikes to our competition. He said yes. ((But of course he didn't recommend it)). But if I had known it was so serious I would have loaned her my pit bike even for just a lap so someone could fix her bike for her. hmm... Now I know. But then Hank mentioned we have different pedals so it would have been tough for her. Still it would have kept her in the game long enough to get her bike up and running. That is a great rule to remember. I know its part of cycling and I have been there more than a few times with a flat or a bad crash. Or just poor judgement where I mess up.

OK I feel bad, But the series is long and anything can still happen. We have been neck and neck in the series and it was exciting to see that. It's good fun. Well. After she left I was pretty much alone and I jsut rode as hard as I could. That wind was awful!!! It nearly took me out. You know, a couple races ago I saw our own team mate a good minute ahead in his competition once and he cramped up. (hot day) so I know, keep riding hard and don't think you got it won till its done. Keep looking ahead and never ever look back. I just kept my head on and rode as hard as I could. After last week's spanking I wanted to try harder this time to do well.
I spent the rest of my race going as hard as I could. I wanted to catch the cat 3 men who started 3 minutes ahead of us. I wanted to catch the invisible racers that were in my mind ahead of me.

If I won the lottery today I would definitely be going all over the place and racing every single big race I could. Fer fun! But I am not a wealthy person and its NICE that we DO have over 20 races locally in Chicago area and Wisconsin with super fast competition and sometimes even world class atheletes!! YAY.
With the economic climate I just as soon stay nearby for now. But the gas is down so that is cool for now. :) Hank and me talked about this before the season started. It is quite expensive and tiresome mentally to travel so much. I admire the girls that are doing it and. ON that note. I want to send a hello to Devon Haskel , our local gal. She is now ranked 5th in the nation!!! SO...guys.....next time she passes you in a race just remember that she could be number one in the country one day! :)
yeah.

HOLE shot explained!!!

Ok. Over dinner Hank told me . The mysterious and lately been mis-spelled 'HOLE ' shot is a term used often in DRAG racing and is a way to describe who has the best reflexes to the 'christmas tree' . ((Those colored lights that go down to GREEN and GO!!!!))

Whoever comes out of the 'hole' first usually has a huge advantage. This is true in Cyclo-cross and also in Mountain biking races where a clear advantage is to those that get to the trail first or into the corners .

:)

whole shot

Ok. I am trying to figure out why everyone is calling that first -to-be-off- the- line and into the course the 'whole shot' and not the 'hole shot'.

whole shot. SO. Is it more than just getting to the corner first or is it getting in front and staying in front the entire race. ? the WHOLE shot.

we just need more marching bands at the sand pits

OK!! SO on a happier note: There is a blind marching band from Ohio that will perform at the Rose parade.
http://www.ohio.com/news/ohiocentric/31742589.html

Now. Get this. They practice on treadmills. Have you ever closed your eyes on a treadmill before???

yeah. ~ impressive!!!!!!!

crazyfool or just mean?

I am holding my tongue. I just found out about the men's races . I had to leave early with Hank and we left before the men's 1,2 race. Usually we stay around to watch but couldnt this time.

Some one took a dive into Tim and Wayne! totally T bones them. On purpose? I don't know.
I just read Holly, Killjoy's blog and am rather at a loss as to what happened. I do hope that the officials recognize this behavior as being poor sportsmanship and just plain dangerous.

http://killjoy.squarespace.com/blog/month/october-2008 under 'something needs to be said'.

In the end of the comments, we find out that there are two different people involved in two different incidents. It seemed quite the drama! But the crash involving my team mate was due to a racer 'plowing' into the other riders and people being knocked over like domino's. Ridiculous. Totally unnecessary.

Carpentersville 2008

Connor! great game face! This picture is from a great blog that has many many pictures of the Chicago Cup races. Carolyn is the gal's name and her pictures are soooo good. I especially ((no seriously) recommend looking up the cat 4 women fighting it out in the sand. I smiled at these.
CLASSIC. http://velosnaps.wordpress.com/

WHAT A RACE!!

THERE were balloon bouncy moon walks, an inflatable climbing wall for the kids. ..... and .........a DRUM CORP practicing by the sand. :) THat was super motivational! ((okok that was not the actual drum corp pictured. haha.))

REBECCA MUCH won the Carpentersville Cross race. She must be made of rockets. Speaking of rockets, Debby Dust got second and was doing pretty good at closing the gap for a while on Rebecca. Ok.... Now imagine an old rocket that is sputtering a bit at the start then lets loose a crack and a stutter and a pop (my knees) ...and then a wheeze or two before it gots itself its motor spewing along...... Ok that be me. I did pre-ride and I did warm up. I was right next to a the start but that was the last I saw of Rebecca.

The course was so well done. The organizers used every hill to an advantage and I really enjoyed the new course. It started immediately with some tight corners leading us up and down then back up an incline. Rebecca had made a sizeable gap by the second incline and for a while she was 'just in reach'. I already knew from the other race what kind of fast short-burst of power she has and I could see if I didn't get around these other girls faster then I'll be playing catch up with everyone else. Heck, I had to turn myself inside out to pass one of them. I am sure everyone else had the same idea I did! But..I didn't panic at the riders getting away and just focused on the next turn and was hoping that I could pick off one. then another. I powered up the incline so hard that I finally passed a stubborn racer. I almost caught up with Debby's wheel. I didn't jump over the ditch very well and lost more distance remounting too slowly. I still had gals breathing down my neck at this point and I really had to ramp it up thru the trees to try to close the gap.
Holly was in front of Debby now and I was doing all I could to make some headway. The hardest part for me was still coming up. The sand pit.

I 'lept' off my bike into the sand and ran it. I decided to push my bike but the last part of that pit really drug on my bike a bit. Perhaps shouldering my bike would have been better. Here is lombardo's son from last year. I need to get some more current pics because 'the kid' has GROWN a bit since this picture was taken!. I just put this in today for drama and effect. It was actually a bit warmer out and we didn't really need knee warmers.

HEY..there was a DRUM CORP playing by the sand pit!!! It was great to be hitting the sand with the drums sounding out a tempo! SUPER cool. Debby is really good at the sand. In fact if they ever did a National Time Trial race event on miles of sand, she'd probably win. I think she must surely be training along Lake Michigan's Northstreet beach. Good sand there and (( guys dressed in jammers playing volley ball helps a bit too! )) . Holly was in front of her till the sand pit and that is where, I think, Debby got in front of her. At least I think so but I was too far back to see .....huffing along. I ran the sand. I did my double barricade -run up pretty well and much better than last year. I still need to work on my timing and speed and keeping my HANDS OFF THE BRAKES for crying out loud. The run up came after a long fast section with a swoooopy corner on the hill that I just loved. I got so much speed up that I enjoyed being a bit wreckless taking the corner as fast as I could, leaning way into it . FUN! I tell you what, I could do THAT all day long. :)

Now, I was trying to reel Holly in and it was the start of the second lap. Lap two. Every time there was a slightest bit of incline I"d hammer as hard as I could and even get out of my saddle. I was hoping by doing this I'd eventually reel in just...just...yeah....just EVERYONE!!!..((mind over matter)) ....... even Devon who had a 3 minute lead!! (((For those of you confused, Devon Haskell did the men's cat 3 race which started out 3 minutes ahead of our race.)) But it is not a bad thing to think this way. CONFIDENCE is key . FOCUS. Picturing myself doing these things is half the battle. I was trying to get closer, trying to reel in the next rider. It was going to take a while. Maybe a lap, maybe three. ..maybe 3 hours ...yeah . I could catch them all in 3 hours. They will surely need a pee break by then. :)

Then something happened. Holly had to stop and get off her bike. From what I could see when I passed her, it was something wrong with her chain (?) . Ugh . .... I think possibly the sand got in her chain. focus. She was just calm as a cucumber though and fixed what was wrong and got back on her bike super fast. Now I had a challenge in front and behind me to watch out for. ZIKES!

The race ended up with Rebecca, then Debby then me and Holly soon after me then the wild assortment of riders battling out behind us and I have to look and see who all did what.

HEY..... THe venue was great complete with a beer garden. There was even a rock band. (( Unfortunately there was no 'pass thru' of the course thru the beer garden which really bummed out some of us. :( something to do with legal rights and permits. ))) haha.

I want to shout a hello to Clark, Tom , Henry and everyone else who all came out to watch us race. Thanks for the cheers! I LOVED the weather! the band! the wow. perfect fall day, not to hot, not to cool. NICE!

I am so glad to be part of the cross scene. Verdigris is a great team of guys and gals Especially since they are very very good at Cross and we are all doing well in our events.

Like I said, cross is fuN!

whew

I do'nt have time to blog! wow. I am trying.

well . I finally got to race with Debby Dust! My new team mate. AND SHE WON! yay.
SHe did everything great, including the hills . She says she hates hills but she did a fine job on the steep Hawthorn course. Way to go Dust!
Last race we did was Hawthorne woods and it was all I could do to keep my momentum.
YES there was a glorious hill which I liked a lot but I should have run that thing instead of wasting my time trying to jump on my bike (jump..haha) to ride up. I wasn't so great at getting enough speed up to jump on my bike. THAT is not easy to do.
It was blazing hot out but I like heat. Heat is fine as long as you hydrate. The thing for me was the MUD on a sideways off camberish section. I pre-rode a lot, had my line down. Duck under the tree and push up thru the mud. BUT, after a hundred men had already plowed thru the mud over and over in the masters races, ....uhm...it was different now.

I was in front right away at the start going up to the hill, but I got passed by Debby on the downhill part. I ran the hill in that first lap but took too long to get back in my bike and got passed by two gals. HOlly got up to the front and took off on the long stretch. I pushed hard to pass everyone and got on Holly's wheel before she rode to the pavement part. That was sweet.... I got to rest in her draft for a bit. Then I really messed up and lost my position on the first barricade because I did it way way too slow and too early. SOON I was in fourth spot, not panicking. Till the mud. The gal in front of me took a bad line, not that there was any good lines at that point, it was all sticky mushy mud soup going up a little hill rise. slidey off camber lines were all that was offered. Holly and Debby just braved it up but I slid sideways trying to get around the other gal. I came to a stop. A complete and total stop. UGH. I had to remount and run up. Then I was playing 'catch up' for a lap . I eventually passed Holly when I did a huge effort and attack to pass her. But by then Debby had some distance on the gal in pink. I never did catch back to Debby but we seemed to be at the same pace for a long time. Till I fell in the mud again. I finally did find a good line. FINALLY...you had to duck under some tree branches but the purchase was good.
Oh and wow one lesson....a good one for me.. Just because I hate running doesn't mean it is not a good choice to do. I took too long to remount after the hill barricade so I could ride up the hill. Hank said it was very painful for people to watch me remount after the barricade. haha. HOlly probably did it best but Debby was good at powering a few steps and jumping on her bike, not missing a beat. You only got one chance to clip in when you did it that way. I was too afraid of falling over so I took my time. I actually stopped, dinked on my bike, clipped and rode up. haha.... I am just so dorky-cocky. I probably DID ride it a bit faster but what difference did it make?? I lost all the time on the downhill and barricade being so thrifty with my nerve.
If I had run the hill, Hank said I would have probably done a lot better. I mean yeah...never stop . RULE NUMBER ONE...always keep moving forward. Never stop.

It was the mud that tricked me and I slid about a lot and even had to run off my bike and jump back on the WRONG side . The left side. ...I mean who practices jumping on BOTH sides of your bike?? I seemed to have missed that chapter in my 'how to cyclo cross' instruction book.
I think I lost a total of 20 seconds on the barricade up the hill, and the mud. That was all it took.
But I am happy with second. That is ok.
((grrrrrrrrrrrr))
You know. .... Its rather awkard to remount lefty when you are used to righty. But when you do it right, its kinda cool. That being said I sneaked out a second place just because the course was not technical for the most part and I could hold my tempo nicely. BTW....Debby won the Illinois State Time Trials AND she got second at Nationals in the 30+ category. So it was a great course for her, too. AND..I'm pretty happy I stayed a steady pace .

Lesson: WHen you see mud in the pre-ride...Try to think about what the mud will look like in two hours after 40 guys ride over it over and over. Figure out a line for all situations.
Never let yourself stop.
Try to decide if you can get a 1 minute attack. think of where to rest if you do that.
Its a race..its supposed to hurt.

The race the week before that was Dupage.
I had gotten to the race so late that I didn't have time to pre-ride the course or even take a look at it! I just warmed up for 20 minutes, got pinned and went out and raced. THAT was all it took. Holly blew me away with her technical ability and my lack thereof. It became rather apparent what my weaknesses are during the race two weeks ago. .....
My main weakness is EYESIGHT. Being able to see yellow tape .
yup.

The course was so twisty and doubled back on itself....and my tires were probably not the best suited though Hank and me had a bit of a discussion about that. I like my tires! I probably could have done clinchers that day though. ((oooh pinch flats scare me though)). If I did pinch flat in a race and ...well... I would then wish I had kept the tubulars on.
But that durn tape!!! The tape made my eyes screwy. Our race followed the Men's cat 3 race and the guys did a number on some of the tape. A part of it was broken. When I came to the break in the tape, I went thru it, not realizing that the boys from the cat 3 race had blazed a trail the wrong way. I quickly ducked back under the tape again and I almost started laughing when I heard the gals behind me swearing up a storm . ...but hey. We are responsible for our own way. I shoulda followed the gal in front of ME and I didn't. *I* wasn't swearing. If someone followed ME then its their own .. 'oooooopsie's moment' and I cant be BLAMED for that.
sheese. :) ha!
Well. I really just could NOT get my adreniline up and never caught back up to the two gals. I started reeeling in the second place gal but didn't quite get her in time. I was kinda stuck on 'cruise control' for the first half of the race. I think it was because I took a week off that week from being sick. (good excuse) or it was from watching all the news concerning the wall street/economy disaster and not knowing what is going to happen to our money. ..(stress).
But wow. I just Never got my rythm till about 3 laps to go. I ended up getting THIRD and that was not a good thing for my standings in the over all series. But it was fixable. I am back in first again but only barely and there are still SEVEN more races. ANything can happen. I know that this could be it or I can get my act together and do better .
Well. At least I am healthier now and not having ANY congestion. (knock on wood). I think I am finally getting my legs back though so I hope this weekend I can be a bit smarter and hold my speed up. It should be good. BUT....in Cross you just can't count your chickens before they hatch since you never know what will happen. :) I really wish I could have a weekend free of racing to get out and do a nice long tempo ride again with the guys. Its just so nice out and THOSE are wonderful workouts. Especially when Chris Lombardo shows up with his wife on their tandom mountain bike. THAT is fun. (you just got to ignore the bantering they do sometimes.... ))
haha.

I always say. .....just be glad to be there, alive and healthy and with this glorious weather we are having lately. ENJOY! You never know what can happen tomorrow and if you got the goods..don't waste it.....USE IT cause that day may never come again.

Lesson:: PRE RIDE!!!
STAY FOCUSED!!!!
TIRES R important
Always stay alert and don't follow another's line.
Lose the fear !!