Psycho-cross!

I did my first cyclocross (or psycho-cross as Meggan calls it) this past Sunday in Glendale. I was more nervous before the start of this race than I have been in a long time! The funny part is that I was just doing it for *fun*, so why the heck was I nervous!. I had a great time before my race hanging out with homegirls Teri, Dawn, Meggan, Jess and Carolyn Popovic. On top of that James and Julie, The Glendale Heavies, Short Stack and Ara were all in attendance. Bert raced Single Speed AND Men 40+ (back to back with no recovery!). Cap'n Schwanstucha (sp) came out of retirement and raced Men's C.

Cap'n Chris showing "roll-n-pop" style in the Men's C race

Bert riding strong in the Single Speed race (he took 2nd!)

Start of the Women's A race.There I am, third from the left.

I decided to go for Women's A (elite) and give myself the extra challenge. Plus USA Cycling says if you are expert or pro MTB you should do A rather than B. Makes sense. There were 10 starters in the A race and we started off fast as I expected.

I had a good start, broke out towards the front, but knew I wouldn't hold it up there for long. Monique Sawicki suffered a bad fall right after the pavement section. I believe she got back in the race, but was pulled before the end. I am sure she was shaken up pretty bad.

I tried hard to keep in 4th place, but was overtaken by Molly Hartsough (Warrior's Society) who has alot more cross experience than me. I tried hard to get past her again, but the gap was too large. I wasn't sure what position I was in, but going by Greg he kept telling me 5th! So I was pretty happy. I never expected to do that well on my first CX race, and given that October is Drink More Beer and Eat More Pizza month.

Trying to pick up some speed on the longer flat sections...

Roll... and pop!

I ended up doing around 6 gut-wrenching laps of the 2 mile course. Our race was scheduled for 45 min, but the official let me througrh on the last lap (I didn't get pulled out!) so I was out there even longer. It may seem like a short distance, but with all of the transitions, slippery spots, dismounting for obsticles, etc, it was tough! As Mandy Eakins (who took a strong 3rd place) indicated before we started that it's a puke-fest. Hmmm reminds me of short track!

In the end I took 5th place, and made it to the podium. Got my 15$ CASH-MONEY prize (and a schwag bag of other thangs). Enough $ to contribute towards my post-race lunch at Chevy's Mexican with the gang afterwards.

Thanks to everyone for all the support! I was able to keep pushing because of all of the cheering, hip hop rhymin', "roll-n-pop"" comments, "go white girl" comments, etc etc. It was really a FUN day, even though I did have that nautious feeling while racing!

Next cross race I will do: Turkey Trot Cross in Glendale. Teri will be racing too!

In other news:

-Greg and I are thinking about getting a DOG. Will my allergies hold up? Hmmmmmm.......

-I actually watched most of that BASEBALL game last night (and I don't even like baseball!). At least I had Firestone Double Barrel Ale to keep me company. Oh yea, had Greg, Dr. Watkins, J-La and JW to keep me company too.

-Saturday OAK GLEN ride with my pal Jonathan Weaver! I decided to keep cross racing down to 1x per month.

New Bike!

Well I took the plunge and got a new road bike! 2005 Orbea Mitis Dama. I went for the women's specific design and I am very pleased. It's nice to have a bike that REALLY fits. PLUS it's pink and blue! What else could you want.

The new rig has carbon/alum mix, FSA carbon cranks, durace componentry, american classic wheelset. It's just over 17 lbs and I definately can't complain! I took the bike on it's first Sunset Loop the other night and man it rides nice!

Mammoth Report - Continued (Finally!)

Well, I had promised to write more about NORBA Nationals @ Mammoth, but next thing I know I am too busy with work, too busy flying to various weddings, etc etc. So, here is the rest of the weekend in a nutshell:

Saturday (XC race)
We lined up at 9:00AM to experience windy and pretty chilly weather. They split us up by age groups which meant it would take even LONGER for us to actually start. My body was getting very cold and I had lost the nice warmup I did before staging. The race started and I knew I would take things conservatively since it was going to be a long race. The first climb was PAINFUL, but I knew I had to hunker down. After the first climb, it was loop-de-loop in the singletrack. I felt like my legs just didn't want to ride FAST. Yea, the burnout factor. OR was it the high winds and all the DUST all over the place!!!!!!!! I kept a consistent pace, but knew the leaders were far far away at this time. Oh well, 3 weeks prior I didn't even want to do Mammoth at all.My luck ran out at Rim Nordic #3, followed by Brianhead (except for the short track), then basically every race after! The only good thing about Mammoth XC was that I DIDN'T have any mechanicals or flats.

Lap 2 I felt like I was gaining some more speed, but had to deal with pain in the rear end guys (experts and singlespeeders). The first men to pass me were the singlespeed race leaders (including World Champion Carl Decker). The #2 guy was on a pink bike. These guys are true rockstars, which is partially why I will do my first singlespeed race SOMETIME this fall or winter. The bike needs to be painted pink first. I managed to fall once due to another rider's error (YEA it was their fault!). Covered in dust at the start of lap 3 everyone figured I ate it pretty bad. Fortunately I wasn't hurt.

Lap 3 I was contemplating quitting racing all together. Why the heck couldn't I get enough power to PASS anyone. I think back to NORBA National @ Big Bear, 2004 where I took 2nd place and had one of the best races of my *career*. Finishing within the top 5 for all age groups. So, Lap 3 continues, being passed by yet another guy (I think I lost several minutes deal with impolite guys who needed to pass at the WRONG times). I had a shouting match with one guy, who proceeded to close his trap after I reminded him that I was trying to let him by, and not actually just going at turtle-like speed on the edge of the trail for the heck of it.

The funniest part of the race is when I move over to the right to let a nice guy pass..... I hear a riiiiiiiiiiiipppppp, feel my shorts being pulled by a branch and realize... I have a major hole all along the right leg of my shorts. Yes I got some comments from observers, but the best was when I was leading a few guys down the Super D course (feeling great, probably because it was the final lap!)... a spectator yells out "Hey, you are beating the guys.... NICE LEG!" Ahhh, that was pretty funny!

In the end I think I finished 8th in my class, but as Greg says, my time was still competitive. I like to think that things could have been better had I not been travelling alot (work, personal) , overtrained, etc etc. I have alot of things to evaluate here in the off season. As my coach Gareth Thomas has told me for my month off: drink more beer, and eat more pizza.

Highlight of the whole weekend: Meeting Mary McConneloug and Michael Broderick. Their advice to me: "Turn pro as soon as you can........." Hmmmmmmmmm............ Part of me wants to apply TODAY for my pro license, but am I READY?!??!

Oh yeah, almost forgot about Sunday's short track race. I SHOULD HAVE SLEPT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was by far the worst race I have EVER had. I was not recovered from Sat (my own fault.. i was on my feet all day watching other races, and not dressed warm enough in the evening while watching Super D. My legs were in severe pain the whole race... then again I was pulled out after only 4 or 5 laps!! They only let 6 riders finish in the end, which pissed alot of people off. Personally, I always get stronger as the race goes on . I normally start picking people off, however this day was a terrible day. I should have gone with my instinct, OR maybe properly recovered on Sat!

Thanks to everyone who consoled me after that race. It means alot....