Jennifer Dilworth Hynes — mtbchk

Brian got a picture from the start of the Uwharrie race.  They made us line up according to our age groups, so our group (30-39) was behind the 19-29 group.  Then, they had us all start together.  You can see Madonna and me right behind the younger gals.  I passed two of them (the one in the blue and then another one of the pink girls).  There were three of them (pink jerseys) in that group.  Here we are:

There were more pictures taken by a professional photographer, but I can’t link directly to them.  Here is the link for the 1500 professional pictures, and here is the page for the race results. 

Here’s my HRM graph from the race.  The absolute altitude numbers are messed up, but I think the “delta” is right.  The hill profile is right, anyway.  Notice I hit my highest HR during the two times I was stopped and running to get back on the bike.  Stressed, I guess.

It was Dirt Diva night tonight at Per4mance Training.  It was pretty fun.  We rode the “Central Park” course and it quickly turned into a race.  For a lot of the girls, it was their first time there.  Patty kicked my butt, but at least I was second!  Good thing Madonna wasn’t in my group!  There were two groups of 7.  I’m pretty whooped right now.

This afternoon was pretty productive.  We got a bunch of stuff done on the inspection front at work, and then I called Jerry to ask about what fork oil to use since my Talas has been leaking for a few months.  I had new Enduro seals to install, but hadn’t gotten around to it.  Well, I ended up leaving work at 3:30, was in his garage with my bike by 5, and had new fork seals by 6.  I don’t think I had very much oil left in it.  (as I feared).  I’m glad he helped me, it was harder than I thought.  Also, I have a feeling I’m going to need every bit of the Talas for Youth Unlimited this weekend.  I’d hate to go into a steep switchback with a bottomed-out fork…

The Cane Creek Series has begun the last two years with the race at Uwharrie in late March.  It was my first Sport-class race, and my first NORBA race two years ago.  I was so excited back then that I could “hang”.  What I meant at that time was, Yay, I’m not last.  OK, so I beat one girl that year, only after I ran over her leg (accidentally).  Last year, the race was on Easter, so the turnout was very low.  I got second place out of three.  The first place girl was WAY ahead, and third place was WAY behind, so I really didn’t push myself very hard.

This year, there were a whole FOUR women in my Sport age class.  But, there were others in the other age ranges (a total of 9 Sport Women, I think), and they started us all together a minute behind the Sport Men age group classes, and ahead of the SS men and clydesdales.  So, we were in the middle.  It was a much bigger group than I’m used to seeing out on the trail.  Usually they start the women in the back of the wave and you don’t see too many others.

Off the starting line, the group quickly separated into two.  I was toward the rear of lead group and we quickly pulled away from the lag group.  Madonna was right ahead of me, with several girls on the “pink” team ahead of her.  I yell, “go Madonna!” as she starts passing other girls and I try to stay with them.  I passed a couple, they slowed a bit, but the fastest three (including Madonna) took off ahead of me.

At this point in the write-up, you need to click where it says “READ MORE”, Melanie…

 

I ended up riding all of the rest of the race with men.  Most of the SS guys passed me, as well as some of the Clydes.  I passed a bunch of the age-group Sport Men.  I’m amazed at the differences of speed within all of these groups.  Some of those clydes could really move, and some of the Sport guys were practically crawling.  At one point, I was trading places with a clyde.  He would pass me on all the downhills on the Supertree side and I would pass him on the climbs and then eventually leave him in the technical parts of the Keyauwee loop.  The first half of the race was on Supertree, a fairly smooth, wide trail with a little bit of climbing, but nothing major.  The second half is rocky, semi-technical, with steeper climbing and downhills.  It is mostly technical singletrack with about a mile of gravel road climb in the middle.

A couple of frustrating things happened in this race. In one sidehill-climb-technical section a guy was stopped in the middle of the trail putting his chain back on.  I yelled as I approached, “riders up!”  I had just passed about 4 guys and wanted to stay ahead of them.  Well, this guy just looks at me, as his front wheel turns and totally blocks the trail.  Off the side of the hill I go, sliding down the leaves, off the bike.  My gu flask falls out, as my flask holder breaks.  I grab my bike and start yelling, “You NEED to get off the trail if you stop! You’ve gotta MOVE!”  I can’t get back on my bike on the hill, meanwhile, the four guys behind me have all had to stop for this guy and are walking.  I ran up the hill and got back on the bike, apologizing to the guys behind me.  “No problem” one guy says.  I offered to let them by, but they said to go ahead.  I was pretty shaken, and at one point I was going through a rock garden when I hit a rock with my foot, came unclipped and brushed a tree with the end of the handlebar.  I had to tell myself to calm down at this point.  From then on, I just hung on and enjoyed the rocky downhill until the big creek crossing.  It’s times like these that I really appreciate my Titus Switchblade.

I knew there would be some trouble when I got to the big creek crossing with the big log before it and I saw four guys walking over the log and in the creek.  I had enough room to ride, if they would let me.  I knew I could at least do the log.  I yelled, “I’m RIDING this!” hoping they’d let me.  I got over the log — just barely.  The guy at the log barely got out of the way in time.  I started to stall on the back side of the log and almost endoed.  I did a pretty cool front-wheelie, though.  Too bad I didn’t mean to, and it scared me to death!  I made it over the log, looked ahead for the line through the creek and took it, yelling, “riding! riding! riding!” the whole time.  Unfortunately, that’s right about the time that Scott T was trying to get up the bank on the other side on his SS.  I stalled at the opposite bank and had to put a foot down.  Oooh.  Wet, cold feet suck. I really didn’t mean to yell or be mean,  I just wanted to make it across.  So, I hoofed it up the bank to a relatively flat spot on the technical climb.  All the guys were walking it.  Of course, a bunch of those guys were riding SS, so I couldn’t blame them for walking that one.  I used the granny gear.  One guy was stopped on the side of the trail grabbing his cramping calf muscle.  Ouch. I got a couple of cheers for riding it to the top.  That made me feel pretty good.  I think Scott was right behind me and I think he rode at least the top part of that climb, too.

Once we got to the gravel road at the top of the climb, Scott pulled away up the gravel climb and I settled into a decent spin, trying to hold onto the guy in front of me.  I knew there was 1 mile of gravel climbing, another steep singletrack climb with good views of the mountains, and then it was a fast, rocky technical downhill to the finish line.  Whoo hoo!

I came through the finish line and could hear Madonna cheering.  She finished in 1st place, Sport 30-39 two minutes ahead of me.  The third place woman (Theresa) finished two minutes behind me.  Fourth place was two minutes behind her.  What a great race!

After our Sport race, Patty Smith went on to battle it out with Leah W in the Expert/Pro races.  Although Leah ended up ahead of Patty, they were in different groupings, so Patty got first for Pro/Expert.  And, the surprise of the day, Cathi M. showed up to race her FIRST race in the Beginner class!  We gave her some pointers in the morning and her race took off at 1:30.  She won the Beginner class by a fairly wide margin.  Way to go, Cathi!  It was a DIVA SWEEP!

Brian raced his first NORBA Expert race.  Two laps in, he was solidly in the middle of the group.  Unfortunately, some shifting issues and the longer distance and pace took their toll on his thighs.  He cramped pretty badly and had to get off the bike to massage the cramps, eat a snack and walk the bike.  He hung in there for a good two laps, though.  Next time….

Next week, Youth Unlimited.  A new course.  Technical.  Climbing.  Should be interesting…

I haven’t posted in a while due to evening obligations.  Not much to report, though.

I haven’t ridden a moving bicycle in a week and a half — since LAST Tuesday at Beatty.  I’ve been on the Computrainer at Per4mance Training twice — the last two Wednesdays.  Other than that, That’s it.  Nothing.  Nada. Zip. 

I don’t know if my time off the bike affected it, (I’m sure it did), but this past Wednesday was the final assessment of my 12-week training program at Per4mance.  By my “midterm” in early February, I had gained 13%, or about 20 Watts.  I don’t think I did that well Wednesday.  I know I squeezed out a few more watts, but not 20.  I haven’t gotten the final results, but I don’t think it was more than 5 or 10 watts.  Had I been on the bike more in the week leading up to the “final”, would I have done better?  I don’t know.  Does it matter?  Not really.  They’re just numbers.  But, I like numbers.  Maybe it’s my competitiveness, maybe it’s my need for data.  I don’t know, but I wish I could go back and do it again.  I do know I gave it all I had that night.  I felt like I was going to DIE after the first four minutes, and it’s a twenty minute time trial!  I ended up taking another ice bath that night.  That’s like legal non-drug pain relievers.  10 minutes in ice, and the muscle pain is gone, with little to no soreness the next day.  Only the first 5 seconds are uncomfortable.  Wearing wool socks in the bath keeps the toes from freezing.

So, tomorrow is the Diva day trip to Uwharrie.  This will also serve as my pre-ride for the Uwharrie Race on Sunday.  I like Uwharrie.  It’s a short race, but not easy.  It’s a “sleeper”.  It’s in the middle of nowhere, but you feel like you’re in the mountains.  It has plenty of climbing, and some fun rocky stuff with a tough creek crossing and subsequent technical steep climb.

Uwharrie is the race I use to judge the effectiveness of my winter training.  I usually surprise myself here and do better than I expect.  We’ll see.  I know there are more people showing up for this race than in the last few years, as I’ve talked a couple of Divas into doing the race.  One of them will be in my class (Madonna).  Also, last year’s race was on Easter, so turn out was low.  At least with a good showing, I’ll have a better idea of where I stand…

So, I’ll report back after the race.

First off, HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY to my baby brother (or, “bub-ra”) DOUG! 

Yes, ladies, he’s single, but he lives on the West Coast….

So, the WOI Weekend was a complete success, except for K1’s knee, but that’s another story.  What happens in Myrtle Beach STAYS in Myrtle Beach.  It was the complete “girls” weekend, with plenty of laughter, some White Russian (thanks, BA), some oysters, some PBR, and some “one-size-fits-most”-shells. (!)  Some pictures might become public.  Some (most) will not.  They are funny.  We got plenty of mullet shots at the car show.  As a whole, we sold 25,000 tickets for MS Society.

The weekend was well worth it.  I’m feeling much better from last week and a few things are (mostly) straightened out.  A little R-n-R will do a body good.

I just got finished changing out my rear derailleur cable and housing (didn’t have enough housing to do the front).  Of course, I’ve ridden the geared bike ONE TIME since the beginning of the year, and on that ride I managed to snag my rear housing on a big stick and tear it to shreds.  So, I had to do some work to get the Titus ready for next week’s race at Uwharrie — the first race of the Cane Creek Series.

So much can be said for taking a step back and getting a different perspective on things.

It’s been a “Chicken Soup for the Soul” kind of week.  In the last few years, I’ve learned that there are some things I can control and others I can’t.  So, how to deal with this control issue?  Look for what I CAN control and rely on support of friends for the rest.

Soothing the soul from within:

• Finishing a good book
• “Blazing fast” SS ride at Beatty yesterday
• Dropping a couple of guys at Beatty
• Taking time away from the cell phone
• Just for s*its and giggles - put in for the maintenance manager’s job at the new Whitewater Park.  It sounded like fun.  I really want to see those huge pumps (SEVEN 750 hp pumps - 536,000 gpm!)
• *Considering* doing the Burn 24-hour race solo.  Putting a plan in place to see if it’s feasible or even smart to do a solo 24-hour, a National-level XC race and a solo 12-hour all in a month.  (With a Dirt Diva trip sandwiched in the middle.)

I get by with a little help from my friends (even if they don’t realize it):

• A nice surprise from Taryn - a SWEET sock cap, hand-knit.  It’s actually supposed to get cold next week.  Maybe I can still use it this year…
• A nice long talk with Nikki last night
• I got told twice last week that I looked skinnier

And, the coup de grâce,

ROAD TRIP!!!

That’s right, the “Rank Women’s Auxiliary”, sometimes referred to as “the wall of ice”, or “WOI”, is headed to Myrtle Beach Friday morning.  Now, I don’t think I’m actually a card-carrying member of WOI, but a Rank I am.  (I’ve been told I’m too “nice” to be WOI)  We’ll be selling raffle tickets at some redneck-car-fest to raise money for the MS Society.  But, when we’re not doing that, I’m already told that BitchAnne’s liquor is packed and the champagne for mimosas is already cold.  Seafood, here I come!  Driving down there with 6 girls packed into one vehicle, and staying at K1’s parent’s house.  Should be a blast.  I feel like I’m harkening back to the days of College Beach Weekends…

 

Things that work well to clear your head:

A few laps on the SS at Beatty, especially when you come within about 15 feet of a young hawk sitting in a tree at eye level.  That’s cool.

Sushi

32 miles with the Divas at about 17.5 mph average

Now, off to a warm bubble bath and a good book. 

That oughtta do it.

So, first off, I’m BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN.  I finally got out on the road today.  It was slow and VERY windy, and I’m being ultra-cautious.  I rode Beatty Tuesday night, once around alone and then backwards with a few guys.  Last night was Per4mance Training.  Not as hard physically as it was last week, but we did the workout “blind”, so we didn’t know what the computrainer would throw at us next.  That was mentally tough.  I got pretty good at anticipating when something might happen, though, because I watched the time and anticipated each minute interval. 

So, anyway, tonight, I decide to go over to Beatty on the way home for a lap or two.  I put the light on, just in case it got dark and I wanted to do another lap.  I was six minutes into the ride, a couple hundred yards into the Valley (black diamond!) trail, and there was a group of people standing around.  It turns out that a woman walking (an elderly woman — 62 — just kidding, mom!) tripped over a root and smacked her arm.  When she tried to get up, she was feeling woozy and dizzy and really didn’t want to be moved.  We called 911, and I went out to the road to meet the first responders.  The first group to show up was (I swear) the ENTIRE fire house.  I tried to get them as close to the trails as I could, which would involve them either following me along the road, or me riding in the fire truck.  (It was even a ladder truck!  whoo hoo!)  So, in I went, bike and all.  That was pretty cool.  They were all checkin’ out the Misfit while I was saying how cool it was to be riding in the fire truck.  I felt like a little kid, but it really WAS fun.

ALL of the first responders (about 8 or so) came out into the woods and ended up carrying the lady out on a backboard because she still refused to walk.  While we’re standing in the woods, her husband starts to feel bad and sits down, and her friend feels woozy, too.  I gave them a granola bar, which they reluctantly took.  I don’t think they were having very much fun on their hike.  Maybe the elderlies should have stayed off the “black diamond trail”! ;)  (kidding again, dad).

So, I finished my ride in the dark.  I’m really glad I thought to bring the light.  Jim from THTB was there helping, too, and he rode the whole trail in the dark.  I offered him my “backup” commuting-type LED light, but he toughed it out and rode in the dark.  He’s braver than I am.

Since my last post, my feelings on road riding have changed a bit.

A stupid redneck came a little close on Thursday, and my gut instinct was the WRONG instinct in this case.  (Don’t challenge or yell at an idiot) Nothing really happened, but I was shaken up enough to cut my ride short.  I didn’t ride on Friday.  I would have ridden at lunch today, but I didn’t have the bike because I thought it was going to rain and I have Brian’s bike in the car still.  So, no road riding since Thursday.

Saturday we worked at Harrisburg for a few hours.  We got a bunch of work done on the berms.  This short track is going to be pretty fun.  Then, we went over to UNCC.  We haven’t been there since 2002.  Man, I forgot how much fun those trails were.  We were there for about 2 hours and logged around 9 miles.  There were a bunch of sections we missed, and we did a lot of back tracking and a little bush hogging.  The trails are confusing, and I’d like to go back with someone who really knows them.  I was going off of what I could remember, but a lot has changed since then.

These trails are still the rough “mountain bike” trails I remember.  I remembered them as being hard.  I thought, “Well, I’ve gotten better since the last time I was there.  Maybe they aren’t really that hard”.  Yes.  They are still hard.  I probably did more of it faster than before, but they are still quite technically challenging.  Lots of logs, some rocks, a BUNCH of whoop-de-dos, steep hills both up and down, and challenging creek crossings.  These trails will now be in my trail-queue.  I just need to get Jerry or someone to show me around.

Two laps at Reni on Sunday on the SS, and I was tired.  No riding today.  Beatty probably tomorrow.  Will (hopefully) get my gift from Taryn.

I’ve started so many new things training- and riding-wise in the last few months.  I’d like to think it’s all made a difference.  I definitely feel stronger, and I am almost sure I’m faster.

I’ve NEVER been a “roadie”.  I got the road bike for “training” and rode it a grand total of 11 times in the first year I had it.  These were all on organized group or charity rides.  Starting in January, I finally talked myself into riding at lunch *alone* on the *road* (gasp).  With all of my other duties and responsibilities, I found my evenings pretty packed, with MUCH less time for night riding and trainer rides like I did last year.  In fact, I think I’ve only been on my home trainer ONCE (!) since the first of the year.  So, daily road rides have taken the place of the night mtb rides and trainer nights at home.  I’ve found that I actually enjoy and look forward to these rides as a mid-day stress relief.  They are more entertaining than I would have expected.

When I ride on the trail, I’ve been riding pretty much just the singlespeed.  The poor Titus sits in the garage waiting for race season and some new fork seals.  I’m not really riding the SS for “training” purposes, but it’s just so much fun, and I like to tell myself I’m gaining power by riding it all the time.  With my earlier work hours and longer daylight, I’ve been doing a little more trail riding lately.  So, two rides almost every day.  (One road, one SS) Yay!

When I first got the SS, Jerry said I’d get big thighs.  I said “I already have big thighs”.  Well, now they are bigger.  But they are strong.  It’s not really like flabby — just more muscular.  I’d rather have big thighs due to muscles than little skinny thighs and no strength.  I feel “healthy”.  The only downside is that my “big” jeans are still too big in the waist, but get stuck on my big thighs.  Hmmm.  This is a dilemma.

Another thing I started this year was the weekly training specificity series at Per4mance Training.  It was slow at first, focusing mainly on “tempo” intervals, but for the last few weeks, Chad has really been kicking our butts.  Last night was Anaerobic Threshold Intervals.  30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, at 120% to 140% of our MSPO (Maximum Sustainable Power Output).  We did this for about 40 minutes.  OUCH.  My legs felt like jello and were on the verge of cramping the entire time.  I kept thinking, this will be great — it’s just like a mtb race.  Wrong.  MUCH less recovery time than in a race.  Less instantaneous power than a race, but sustained for a longer time.  Just enough time to really get the Lactic Acid kickin’.

When I got home, I had to do *something*.  The “stick” wasn’t going to be enough.  After taking a warm shower to knock all the sweat off, I hopped into an ice bath (cold water, with a full bucket of ice out of the freezer).  I stayed there for about 10 minutes or so.  Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I expected.  The only bad thing was that I couldn’t feel my toes for a few hours.  Otherwise, I think this did the trick.  “They” say the ice bath works to flush the Lactic Acid out of the muscles and reduces inflammation.  I’ll have to remember this little trick.  My muscles felt almost immediately better after the bath. 

So, with the road riding, singlespeeding and Per4mance Training, I really think I’m in much better shape than I was this time last year.  I’ve been roughly following the Morris Plan.  I think it seems more flexible than Friel.  I’ve incorporated a little of both in, I guess.  I’m actually having fun training. 

Now, if I can ever decide which races I’m going to do.  I’m still turning a couple of extra endurance races over in my head, wondering if they are do-able in addition to the other Cane Creek Series races this year.  More to come as I make up my mind.

Tuesday was another gorgeous day.  I rode at lunch and set a “blistering” 15.5 mph pace ;).  It was windy when I left, and the wind had a slight chill to it, so I wore a long-sleeve jersey and tights.  That was a mistake.  It was around 60 degrees and I was quickly hot.  Good thing the jersey was my full-zippered Tarheel Trailblazer jersey and I unzipped it to about mid-sports-bra.  That must be why I got so many waves from pickup trucks.  heehee.

I left work at 3:30 and rode at Beatty.  Sometimes I really love riding alone.  It was so nice out, and I was on the SS, dialed in at 32×18 — the perfect gear for Beatty, imo.  I wasn’t thinking about anything, but I was thinking about everything.  Does that make sense?  I rode my first lap and I know I did the whole trail but I don’t remember half of it.  I was in another world, I guess. 

I was toward the end of the valley trail on my second lap when I hear “GO JEN!”  I looked around and didn’t see anyone, but this broke my solitude and I became more aware of the people I was passing.  There were a bunch of joggers, dog walkers and other riders out there, enjoying the trail as much as I was.  It was in perfect shape.  The only thing that gets to me are the people out there who are smoking.  What’s up with that?  There was a guy straddling a Trek Fuel in the parking lot smoking a cigarette before his ride.  Something about that just doesn’t seem right.  I passed him later, heh heh.

Anyway, I heard “go Jen!” again a little while later and realized it was the ubiquitous DaveB.  I used to see him out there all the time, but haven’t in a while.  We chatted on the big rutted climb after the log ride and he was off.  Good to see him again.  Thanks for giving me my first 32T SS ring.  I’m sorry it’s trashed.  I got about 3 good months out of it!

I ran into Jeff S. in the parking lot.  His cranks/BB are shot.  His bike was noisier than mine.

Be careful at Beatty.  There have been a bunch of car break-ins there.  Don’t leave valuables in your car and don’t “hide” your keys anywhere.  Take them with you.  I’ve talked to a couple of people who have had their cars broken into there.  Be smart.