Sick AGAIN

I am sick again (worse today than I was yesterday) and Fontana Nationals is 48 hours away. Not good. NOT good at all.... Allergy season is here and it is going to be a long spring and possibly summer.

Cal State Kickoff & B-day Weekend

The Cal State XC Series kicked off this past weekend with Bonelli Park. I have been racing Bonelli since 2002 and it's a special place for me. Many a fond (first podium in sport, expert and pro) and not-so-fond memories (heat stroke, poison sumac, smelly water)!

Sunday's race was good, much better than last year for me. Started out strong, felt the burn, held the lead for the first bit, then Carolyn took off ahead. Given that it was a short race I figured I would just leave it all out there, kind of like a cross race (or back to back cross race). My legs held up OK, but my asthma was not good on the first lap, burning lungs from all the allergens in the air! I was able to keep it together pretty well and tried to hammer as much as possible. In the end I finished 2nd overall which was a nice way to kick off the regular season. I really enjoyed the new section that coincided with the Super D. A nice way to spice up the same old Bonelli XC course!

Greg's folks were in town and it was also the day after my birthday. So was not a bad weekend! We had a picnic after the race (thanks Greg, Mom, Dad and Carolyn!). Even Dorothy stopped by on her way back from racing Tour of Murrieta. The whole venue sang happy b-day to me on the podium! not bad! Greg's mom made me my favorite b-day cake (strawberry!) in the shape of a bunny (a throw back to childhood). Pix to come!

It was great to see everyone from Backbone, and all sorts of new faces and old faces I hadn't seen since the fall. Carolyn and I chatted with Krista Park after the race, she had done the Saturday Southridge race. It was also nice to see such a large showing in our Pro/Expert field (and sport and beginner!). Lots of people have moved up this year to either pro or expert and it's an exciting time!

More pix to come! Need to get them off the home computer!

Next stop Fontana Nationals!

Vision Quest 2008 - Report

Saturday morning wake up call was 3:45 AM. Made some oatmeal and waited until the last minute to get suited up. Greg, Murphy and I left the hotel at 4:45 AM and drove 15 minutes to Black Star Canyon for the race start. We passed Pua doing a *warm up ride* from O'Neill Park to the start which was prob an extra 15 miles (and she would still smoke all of us). The weather was feeling quite warm (compared to last year), but with a heavy layer of fog/mist almost like rain. Greg and Murphy saw me off at the start line at 5:30, but didn't get the chance to snap any pictures. 300 people starting in the dark for Vision Quest or Counting Coup (more people had lights this year thankfully!) riding up Black Star Canyon with mystery rain ruts. I had a drive train issue at one point, but got things fixed up quick. That would be the last mechanical issue I would have all day. :) . While it was still dark I would occasionally look down below at the traverse I had just climbed and still see a long train of lights in the dark behind me. a very cool scene and also very quiet as everyone is working hard and prob partially still waking up! The sun came up around 6:15, and I realized just how wet things were as drops of water fell off my helmet into my face. It was still too misty to put on the sunglasses, so I had to squint my eyes a bit longer.

I could barely see the super doppler radar ball (means you are done with the first long climb), but all I know is that I got there at least 15 minutes faster than last year. :) I felt leagues better than last year, maybe because I didn't have a cold this time, or that I had a better winter of training? or that my 29'er just fits well? I made it to the first aid station in 2 hour 22 min or so and stopped for maybe 2-3 minutes to fill my bottle. I already knew things were leagues better than last year!

Made it from the first aid station (Maple Springs) to the top of Santiago Peak in less than 2 hours. I felt waaaaaay better than last year and kept a good attitude. I reeled in a guy along that climb with a jersey that said Italia on it. I saw him later at the end of the day and he said "good job out there today!* and I said "Ahh.. Italia! I was reeling you in!"

After Santiago Peak I headed down the fire road to drop into Upper Holy Jim. Jason Siegel was there cheering people on! Was nice to see a familiar face and I was excited to tell him how much better this year was going! Dropped in on Holy Jim and felt great. Rode it with much more confidence than last time. Even passed a few GUYS ;). mwwwwahahahahaaaaaaaa!! After upper, it was Lower Holy Jim which I had just trained on a few weeks prior. So it was good to recall all of the timing. Felt great on the switchbacks and thankfully only encountered a few hikers and uphill bikers. That makes the ride a bit nicer! Handled the water crossings at the bottom as well as I could, both feet were totally soaked by the end. Hustled it to Aid Station 2, could NOT believe that it was less than 5 hours total time when I checked in (2/3 of the race behind me!). Manny Prado flew by on his way to the finish which made me happy because last year when I came to Aid Station 2, Pua was finishing and she was 1 hour behind him last year. So i took that as a good sign!Heather Mootheart and a very nice guy ran up to me to help me get through Aid Station 2 quickly. they downshifted my bike (getting me ready for the final leg of the race, the big climb up Horsetheif!). And one of them cleaned off the top of my water bottle which REALLY was nice to see when I went for a sip after I headed up the road. :) THANKS Heather! Was nice to see a familiar face.

As I headed up to Horsetheif I was surprised that I only saw a few riders coming through and they were the leaders. I was happy that I never saw many of the people I ran into last year. All of these things told me that this year was entirely different for me. I was forecasting how much time I thought it would take me to get to the top of the climb. As I started the hike a bike section, I was shooting for making it up to the top as close to 6 hr elapsed time as I could. I was trying to guess how long it would take me to get back down and to the finish line from that point. I did part of the hike with a guy John, a single-speeder, from Rock-N-Road Cyclery. I pulled ahead of him after a bit, sort of got into a zone on the hike (wanted it to be OVER!). I got to the very top of horsetheif, and last check point at 6 hr 10 min elapsed time. Not bad! ALSO i looked at the leaderboard and noticed one more spot open in the Top 5 women. They announced ... "That's you! 5th place". :) I was quite happy with that seeing names like Pua, Louise Kobin and Leslie Williams. Amazing women who are endurance specialists and very successful at what they do! Was happy to be in their company (even as much as they may have still kicked my butt!)

I stopped for a quick cup of water and to put my arm warmers back up. Bolted as quick as I could to fiinish the last bit of climbing (fire road) and then descent down Trabuco. 6 hour 20 elapsed time and I was DONE CLIMBING!!!!!!!!!! it was all down hill from there on Trabuco and Horsetheif, literally (well, with a 5 mile rather flat, bumpy fire road ride out). After Trabuco I had the section of trail where there were still some people going up.. I remembered how that felt last year to see lots of people finishing, but knowing I still had to ride and hike all the way up and then come back down. I tried not to ride TOO crazy so I didn't crash into anyone. one guy called me *Bro* which I took as a compliment because maybe it meant I was riding like a guy downhill. HAHA. anyways, I laughed and he laughed when he realized I was not a Bro!

Made it back to Aid Station 2 and the FINAL STRETCH with my elapsed time saying 6 hr 57 min. I rode that fire road out as fast as I could, trying to pick off the last few guys I could. I saw Greg and Murphy with a mile to go. Made it to the finish line at 7:09!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE HOUR FORTY MINUTES FASTER than last year! 56.6 miles and 11,500 feet of climbing. I was ready for my Chocodile... :)