cheer up dufus

ALLERGEN DEFENSE KIT

Hey. SPeaking of end of the world. I decided to cheer myself up. As a joke I think I"ll race in this and train in this . This might keep the allegens away from me and I can train. Maybe even race. what you think??? Oh and it substitutes as a domestic 'anti terrorism' preparedness device. and after reading the news, I am wondering if this week is going to be on high alert anyway.

http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/msa-3100.htm

anyway . Thanks for the emails. I am starting to cheer up a little. Its not the end of the world.

:)

SO not fair

After training so hard for two months healthy as a horse, now I got allergies. BIG TIME. Not the run of the mill kind of low grade allergies.... but big snot and sinus congestion kind. I was wondering if I was just sick but the doctor said it was allergies. Mold. I am taking Allegra which is making me drowsy but I can breath. There are some good medicines out and I highly recommend Zycam. (the nose swabs)

I am getting more clear but not clear enough to race 100% all out. Its too dangerous.
Last year I kept doing that and I never got better.
I just can't. If it gets in my lungs I am done for the season.
I think I"ll just focus on Nationals now. And Jingle Cross hopefully. I had to run around like a mad woman to get my UCI license faxed over, then confirmed it. SHelled Out 90 BUCKS for that thing!!! MAN. ANd I was just crossing my fingers this was going to be over and I could race. I registered for ONE race and if I was ok then I"d register for SUnday. But I woke up in a fit of coughing. I am not racing today.
I was coughing all nite. This is just stupid.
:(
I don't see the point of driving 4 hours and racing when my throat is coughing and I have congestion. I am talking major stupid.
IF it gets into my lungs then my season is over.
OVER. DAMN the MOLD!!!! Did anyone else get sick after Jackson Park? hmmm.

I am not going thru that again this year. Hank said that with the economy so on edge I probalby should just get my money back and sit and do local races. I just wanted to race today so bad. I woke up and paced the floor and realized that if I go, and if i Push myself too hard, then I"ll get sicker.

I have sworn every swear word and have even asked why. This seems so unfair. But .
whatever.

its just life. what can you do.

SO. no race this week to blog about. Just whining.

Juan Antonio Flecha steals flag for fan

HA!!!!!!!! that is soooo funny!!!

Jackson Park Cross '08

HEY.....The First Cross race! wow The GUYS of Verdigris did so well.
First race and we got some podiums and a couple wins. (me!too!!!)
YAY!
AND I gots me a team mate that folks are already buzzing about and I can't wait to race with her.

I am afraid my blog reports are going to not be so plentiful . Work has new rules about computer use and I have so little time as it is. I am off today so I am compiling my thoughts I gathered after the race.

JACKSON PARK was a GREAT venue!
KUDO's to the course makers. WOW the course on this race was A+++ totally well thought out. Great barricades and lots of room to remount. Very well done! I 'loved' the hill run up,. But that was my worst obstacle. Its just that I am a slower runner than nearly everyone on the planet. Who ever 'trains their weakness'. ? what fun is that. :)
The run up was the hardest one for me as it came after a tight right turn. I could never time it right. Hank said that dismounting early is better than late so I'd take my foot out way early but the navigation of the corner was tricky hanging off a bike. I missed grabbing my bike frame once towards the end of the race and it was pretty funny. Instead of picking up my frame I just hefted the handle bars high and Gallumped over the barricade banging my back wheel on the boards. OUCH my tires! I just wanted to move forward.
My favorite hero, Alyson Dunlap, she once said long long long ago back in the day: 'AS LONG AS YOU KEEP MOVING FORWARD, it doesn't matter how you get there'. :)
.... ok not an exact quote and I think she meant that if you want to win don't worry about proper technique. Just get there as fast as you can.

The ground was a bit spongy but my tubeless Czchechie Tufo tires were perfect for that. I thought for sure I"d roll those babies but they stuck so nice for me. :) Tires are rather personal and these are MY babies that work for me. Hank got my pressure right for me and I was flying. The weather was great. I wasn''t sick!!!!!!! ha!

There were a LOT of faces at the line up. It was a good sized field of women. The last time I saw Holly she was wearing heavy clothes and snow covers. She looked so tiny now in her summer shorts. Tiny and mean. A good mean. If anyone can look Mean in pink.~ She can!

I came with a plan. Just race my own race. My own pace.
HA!
Hahahahaaaa.
You can never go to a Cross race with a plan. WHY is that?? Only God makes plans. Everyone else looks up at the sky and goes WHY ME? why!?????
SO many things can happen. Cross is like doing a crit that is inverted. Instead of getting pushed in a curb by someone, or out-smarted by someone, you just fall over all by yourself. Sometimes For no reason.

The field was pretty tough. I started to feel like I was trying to keep up with the Guys. I was on the front by the first hill and settled myself to tempo strong. Then Rebecca racing for XXX came barrelling around me. See? Can't plan. Soon we were off the front playing cat and mouse with each other. I figured out pretty early that her scamper was going to kill me fast. She was getting out of her saddle all the time and just pumping the pedals. I had to control my pace a bit. Use the course and try to be perfect. I could tempo my pace more evenly. Dang.... I felt like I was racing with one of the guys.
It was so hot out. I had water. I ignore that tradition of no water on the bike. Not when its 80 out and humid. Give me my cage!!!
These cross traditions. :) They leave little room for common sense ........do you know why? BECAUSE BELGIUMS INVENTED THE RULES AND BELGIUMS ARE A SILLY FOLK.

I had so much DESIRE . I think the break from racing really did help my mind and all that. I wanted to do the best I could 100percent today. No holding back and no fears. This summer, my training was about NO holding back. Well. Lets see how it holds up to the long season ahead. Right? And anyway, at this point I was cool with second place. I just wanted to push myself as far as I could go today. These moments come ONCE in a lifetime.

I came to the running barricade.....foot thru....coast....jump...remount...clip. I was lucky to do my fastest barricade at a critical point in the race . It helped me a LOT. I still tapped my brakes a bit but I am hoping by the end of the season I am not hitting my brakes anymore and can take the jumps at full speed. It was all I could muster and I was seeing cross eye'd.
I almost lost her wheel with about 3 to go. I caught back on by a miracle and then rested. I saw the 2 to go and tried to get away but I slid out in a corner and she passed me. Now I caught her again. We were in the last lap. It was now or never. ALL the other times she was right there and ready to re-charge me and leave me for dead. I was so hesitant. Finally I just said what the heck and I went around her as hard as I could. It wasn't an attack, just a strong pedalling. I was expecting that my move would simply lead her to the finish line and her deadly sprint would finish me off.
But she never did.
I had a gap. !
It was such a game of cat and mouse and over the edge exhaustion that it is all a blur now. It was like we were in THE CAGE and throwing punches at each other. Heck. Somehow I got in front of her one more time. I took the final corners as aggressively as I could and just dug so deep my heart was screaming. I came across the line and nearly fell off my bike.
I won!
Hank told me to pedal around but I had nothing left to even pedal.
so there you go. wow. I won my first race and it was hard won at that.
I hope I don't get sick this season!!!!!!

Safri Duo - Played A Live (Original Video) The Bongo Song

I like this song. Its house music but downloadable version of the tune is about 8 minutes long, energetic and just..well....percussion and sweat. Love it! It makes more sense pedalling.

FIrst Cross mishap

Ok. I guess Cross can get pricey.

Hank did this today jumping onto his bike after a dismount. Niiiiiice. He said it was squeaking a bit before it POPPED apart.

Pretty POWERful huh??

Now you know why I stay with him...... :)

The Oak Brook State Championship

EDITTED. I felt bad about my blog. It wasn't fair to everyone that showed up and everyone that helped. It was insensitive . My feelings at the time were pretty hot about it though. You know when you come off a race and you are kinda emotional? I dont mind losing but I never felt I had a race. I have had harder training rides, if you know what I mean. But it was a first time event and I hope they try it again.

Safety was first at the Oak Brook event. Hurt memories and deep pain were still in our hearts as we remembered Beth, the cat 4 woman's rider who was fatally hit by a truck last year. Everyone was happy to have a road race today. I felt it a duty to show up and race in her memory and her honor.
We were started on a 3 mile course a minute behind the cat 1/2 men. We had 16 laps. Our race was shortened to 45 miles from 60. (no big surprise there with the small field that showed up). To keep it really safe the pace car neutralized us every time the men lapped us. (which was often) There were even Primes!!! Primes!!

I don't know how to blog this race. I sooo so so don't want to take anything away from the actual venue and event. Many, many volunteers showed up and HAY BALES and lots of kids cheering. Primes out the whazoo! yeah..primes. It was a road race. ha. It was really cool. These are the things that I normally would be so happy about. THe organizers did a great job setting up an amazing venue in such short notice. (6 weeks!) They tried to come up with a way to race the races safely. It is hard to do that on a small course and harder to get a bigger course. Its just getting hard to do 'road' races.
You know....like I said, I came because as a local gal I felt obligated but also that I wanted to show appreciation for the hard work of setting up a race so fast and so WELL done. BTW......I actually trained for this event.
I decided to blog because I do think that people should know what happened in this race in case in the future this happens again . I am not a very flexible person and had just one plan. Get away and stay away. Use attrition to my advantage as long as I could. The course itself made it difficult to get away and the depth of our small woman's field was just enough of a match in strengths that is was clearly going to be difficult.
I started to realize my plan was never going to work due to a long long neutralization of about 10 minutes. :) Getting put into an officially neutralized slow pace for 5-10 minutes every 4-5 laps (for safety reasons) is enough to let anyone recover and get back into the game. NO attrition. No test of strength. In short, It was not a race at all. OH.... we were safe!!! Bubble wrapped and safe as babies in a crib. But we were not REALLY racing. However that being said it could easily be to someone else's advantage and anyone with a brain would love this type of racing and would go with the flow.

I dont want to spend so much time talking about this but...I guess its my 'therapy' to mull it over. Its over. Its done. Actually the neutral parts were kinda fun and we chatted and joked. I had a pretty good time and hey, it wasn't all bad. No teams and a small field of women but not a field without depth and there were enuf good riders to make getting away rather difficult. I thought about the Elgin race which was surprisingly tougher than this and had only 9 women racing in it. I was hoping this would still be a good hard event. The hills were kinda like Haeger's bend hills in Barrington (the triples) on the Harper ride but with a faster downhill leading to the second hill.

At one time about half way into the event we really started to 'race' and were finally forcing a higher pace with some consistancy. It actually got HARD and became a real race!!! FUN! Two were off the front and someone started to bridge. After a hairpin corner I took over and powered past one gal then the other up the first hill. We got two gals shelled off the back and now I was on the front. I was really feeling some delicious pain in my legs. Suddenly on the downhill leading to the next climb, Prinner countered my bridge RIGHT into the hill. Beautiful! Expertly done. ... Meshburg went with her and didn't even have to pedal. When Prinner jumped and attacked us on the hill. She went for it hard and took Meshburg with her. Oooops fer me! right? .... ..they should have gotten away. They had a gap. My legs were screaming. I slowed just a little and Francine came around me. I saw the top of the hill and was just figuring on surviving the hill to try to recover fast enough to catch on later. I felt that they would get away. I watched and saw Meshburg move in front of Jessie and......they sat up. But we were gaining on them pretty quickly. Everyone was trying to get away and make a race of this.

Francine bridged and we hit the tailwind hard. I moved up to the front and kept the pace high. I held it back just a little bit...wait for it. wait for it. wait wait wait for the corner that goes to the cross wind! I felt GOOD. GOOD legs. (tailwind always feels good) I was going to just go as hard as I could at the corner. I was thinking of what to do. At this point if someone did a powerful attack at the corner they might just get away into the cross wind. Maybe to set a smaller break. But...For all I know someone behind me was thinking the exact same thing and *I* was on the front leading fast to that very corner of truth so I could easily easily get attacked by someone behind me now. GET READY! This was it. HURT and more HURT. In any event we were racing. I was getting my money's worth finally.
Suddenly ...... right about at the start finish line, I got waved at by the pace car dude. At first I just waved back. My mind was totally on my game plan. Then I saw the pace car coming closer so I thought of it like a carrot to make me go faster. But he slowed more and told us to stop. WHAT? It finally dawned on me when Meshburg shouted out neutral lap.
NO!!!!!!
THey stopped us cold. DAMN IT.
Wait for the men to pass. Kirsten Meshburg asked if we could have the gals off the back start in the same place. The official said yeah sure. But he forgot. Or he didn't care. We were soft pedaling for about 10 minutes as the men's front break passed. Then waited till the rest of the men's pack passed us. It was too hot to just stop and wait on the hot cement. We had to keep moving. This sucked.
THey started us all up again all together. No one did anything after that for a couple laps. I honestly dont remember but it never picked up again like that. I tried to get away again at 2 laps to go but that didn't take. No one countered and everyone did the 'settle in for the sprint' routine. One of the gals that got dropped by more than 500 yards had been let back on because of our soft pedaling neutrality. She kept quiet in the back for the rest of the race (once bitten twice shy, right?) SHe waited till the sprint and she podiumed. LOL. funny. I love it. ...oh... But who cares. Whatever. ITS DONE AND OVER AND SUCH IS THE WAYS OF BIKE RACING.
Well. Another race I messed up. Water under the bridge. I am still kicking myself. I lost sleep thinking about how I didn't jump first. You know, I shoulda had that in my head...
Guys that raced the course said it was really tough to get away. Hindsite.... I should have just dove into the cross wind on the last lap. Pearson won the cat 1-2 race that way and no one saw that coming. But the girls in the peleton had some power left and I might not have made it. However I still shoulda woulda coulda tried that. Hmmm. doh.

But the real kudo's still goes to Meshburg. She jumped first and won the sprint.

WELL...gripes aside.... If they had not had to neutralize the race so much for the men to pass us safely, it might have been a bad accident. But maybe with so few women present we would have been ok? I don't know. It was just the way it was. Everything went smoothly for the men's race . If we had not been neutralized I do think at the very least it would have been a much more interesting and harder race and not the boring schlog-fest that it was. Instead any hard pace that was established was immediately nullified. It was like having a free lap every 3 laps. ((that sounds like a rap tune))

I don't even know how to blog about this. LIke I said, I so so SO do not want to dis the organizers and I came to the race just to honor that fact that they held a race. I really came to race. I guess the only thing left to do is to just get ready for Cross.