Monday, February 13, 2006

Not Much of a Race — Winter Short-Track Series Race #4

Bah. Not much of a race for me today. I was excited about it, too. I felt like I had so much to look forward to…. No huge rain. No big mud. A little snow flurry right before the start of the “Super Sport” women, but nothing too terrible. I’ve been gaining strength and time in the last three races, so I changed out my gearing to see how that would affect my lap times. I ate right (mostly). My friend Danielle from Durham came down for the race. She and I have raced together in the Cane Creek Series, and she’s moving up to NORBA Expert this year, so we won’t have many chances to race together for a while. There were only 6 girls in the race today, and it was shaping up to be a good one. I was feeling good, albeit a bit cold, before the race.
 
Off the start line I had pretty good position, but quickly lost it as I spun out and the geared chicks pulled away in the pavement. I was a little sketchy on the banked turns. I’m not really sure why, but I think I was working too hard to try to catch up. At the bottom of the hill, I started early working up the speed to power up the climb. That’s when it hit. I stood up on the climb and only heard, Kunck. Kunck. Kunck. I couldn’t turn the pedals over. The chain was skipping, the rear hub sounded awful. I couldn’t even muscle it up the hill once it leveled out. 
 
My race was over.  I only rode half a lap. I walked the bike all the way up the long hill and then the grassy hill to DNF at the scoring table. I didn’t have the tools or the time to fix the issue. As I was walking, the Singlespeed men all passed me. Brian was leading the huge group, so that made me feel great about the day. At least one of us did great! He ended up in second place, but this was a double-points race and he may have just moved up a spot in the overall points. We’ll see – the series points haven’t been posted yet.
 
Some lessons:
* Don’t make changes to your bike when you are feeling sick. (I changed out my gearing earlier in the week, and was feeling quite ill when I did it).
* Always check-out the bike (meaning – RIDE it) after you make changes and before the race starts.
 
The bike is still in the car. I haven’t looked at it yet, so I’m not sure exactly what the damage is. I came home, showered and fell asleep on the couch. I’ll leave the bike for another day.
 
Next week: The final test for the new gearing and new-found fitness…..
Posted by mtbchk at 02:35:07 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Sunday, February 12, 2006

More Gains, Winter Series Race #3

Finally, some decent weather for a winter short-track race – or so we thought. The first few races of the day were relatively mud-free. There was a huge turn-out for the beginner womens’ race (11 women!), and only two for the Sport Race. (See, Arleigh, you should have raced Sport!). Just after the Beginner/Sport Women’s race, the sky turned black and then opened up. Of course, this happened just after I registered for my race. The poor Sport Men had to race in a sideways downpour. Lucky for us, the rain stopped by 1:00, but it left a bunch of mud and a very mushy grassy climb. There was also a great rainbow which appeared right over the softball fields. This must have been a sign.
 
The same seven women from last week raced again this week. So, I thought I knew where I stood. I got a good start again, and held on for the first lap. Once I hit the pavement, the other women began pulling away. For the first three laps, I was able to see two women ahead of me, at least part of the time. My biggest mental help this week was the small crowd at the top of the singletrack climb. Not wanting to disappoint the crowd, I made sure to muscle up the section that I usually start struggling in. I think this improved my outlook tremendously. One guy kept telling me that my closest competitor was 30 seconds ahead of me. 
 
My other strategy was to lose the Camelbak. The race is only 45 minutes long, and I’ve filled it up for each race and haven’t actually drunk from it yet. I gave Melanie a bottle to hand me if I needed it. I only needed it a couple of times, and not having a full Camelbak reduced the weight I was carrying. Unfortunately, I threw it once behind the barriers and it rolled back out into the course. Oops. Thanks, Mel! I promise I won’t throw it again…
 
During the first race, I got lapped by the field twice. During the second race, I was only lapped once. This race, I was lapped, but I didn’t get lapped until late in the race, and I was steadily catching up with the girl directly ahead of me. Finally – I wasn’t going to be last! The girl I was about to catch then pulled over with a mechanical issue with two laps to go, and ended up DNFing. So, I beat someone, but not how I would have liked. I’d rather earn it.
 
So, I gained another 20 seconds per lap, for a total gain of 46 seconds per lap since the first race. The conditions have been roughly the same for each race (muddy!), and I’ve continued to gain time. I’ve gotten faster. I don’t know if I’m used to the course, in better shape, or concentrating more. Either way, I’ll take it! I’ve decided to change gearing for next week to see if I can squeak out some more time off my laps and not die. If it’s drier, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Looking at the forecast, it might be wet again, though.
 
Let’s hope I stay on the same improvement course I’ve been on. Can I gain 20 seconds per lap per race?
 
Posted by mtbchk at 03:35:56 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Monday, January 30, 2006

Lunchables and a Full Moon — Winter Short Track Race #2

Sunday’s race weather was shaping up to be just like last week’s – muddy.  Oh joy.  I think Neal (the race promoter) forgot to renew his weather contract with God.  I came prepared this week, though.  I got a small front fender on Saturday from Blacksheep, just in case.  This proved to be a good move, since the mud was again plentiful and the consistency of baby poo.

  

I always have a hard time figuring out how to eat for a 1:00 race.  After not eating enough last week, I decided to bring a “Lunchables” for a crackers-with-turkey-and-cheese lunch at 11:30 (with Oreos for dessert!).  I know – not the most nutritious, but I figured, heck, it’s FULL of sodium.  There’s no way I could cramp today!  To all you guys heckling me in the woods about eating Lunchables – no cramps!  They kept yelling – “Team Lunchables” – when I came through the creek crossing.  You know who you are.

 

This week’s “Super Sport Women’s” race was bigger than last week’s.  There were seven women (4 last week).  At the starting line, I realized I was out of my league.  One of the girls is a Cat 1 roadie.  All the rest had beaten me handily in other races.  Despite my fears, I actually hung on for the first lap.  I had to beg one of the girls to pass me so I wouldn’t hold her up on the first climb.  Maybe I won’t do that again.  I really need to stop doubting myself on the SS.  I’m really not sure how I would have done if I had had gears.  Would they have smoked me as bad?  It doesn’t matter.  I had more fun than they did!

  

Speaking of doubting myself on the SS, I learned a few things this week.  Last week, I lost a lot of momentum on the big climb because I would slow down and pull over slightly so as not to hold the SS guys back on the climb.  I did this twice, and ended up walking the hill.  This week, I just attacked the hill and let them pass at the top.  I realized that, for the most part, I could actually hang.  I made up time on my female competitors (caught a couple on the hill as they slowly spun up).  I actually stayed right in line with a group of SS guys, too, so I wasn’t holding them back too bad.  That’s cool.

 

I also learned that I hit a physical “wall” after the first 3 laps.  This has happened in both races so far. This is when I tend to let the mental side of racing take over – for better or worse.  Last week, I let the thoughts of pain and the potential for puke gnaw at me and it was defeating me every time on the climbs.  This week, I kept saying over and over, “this is so fun! I love mud!”  I know this sounds dumb, but it worked.  I replaced the painful thoughts with good ones.  I reminded myself that standing and pedaling will make me faster and stronger.  Also, I mooned Taryn and Melanie at the top of the climb.  How can you not have fun when you’re mooning people?

 

Again, the best part of the race was the finish.  This time, as I climbed the last grassy hill, I heard Brian (my boyfriend) approaching from behind.  I waited for him to catch me as we neared the finish line.  We crossed the line holding our hands up together.  Awww. J

 

So, how did I do?  Well, I’m not to the point that I can compete with the geared chicks, so I’m still judging by my own standards.  I felt better than last week.  I did two more laps than last week. I didn’t walk.  With the exception of the lap that I stopped to check on another racer who wrapped her bike around a tree, my lap times were consistently 30 seconds faster than last week.  My average HR was a solid 10 bpm lower than last week.  I know – using a HR monitor goes against the “purity” of SS, but hey – I’m an enginerd and I have to have my DATA!  So, how did I do?  I’m getting better!

 

Picture courtesy of Taylor Sullivan, owner of Organic Systems:

Posted by mtbchk at 14:17:44 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Nutz over Chocolate over Mud (almost) — Winter Short-Track Race #1

Saturday morning, the morning of the first Short Track race, was nasty. Off-and-on rain pounded the poor juniors trying to race. Last year was so much easier for me when I decided to forego short-track racing and just watch from the sidelines. This year, I decided to race, but to do it “for fun”. To assure the fun factor, I raced my SS. This would also assure my subsequent thrashing by whatever competitors I had. See, I wasn’t sure which class to race • do I race with the SS class and get killed by a bunch of fast guys, or do I race with the “Super Sport” women and get killed by fast girls on geared bikes? I chose to race with the girls, to lessen the massacre and to increase the numbers in the women’s race (Neal said that if he didn’t have enough women in Super Sport, he wouldn’t continue to offer the class). So, there were four of us • the three geared chicks and me. Plus, starting 30 seconds ahead of us were 10 singlespeeders. Thankfully, by the time we started, the rain had stopped, so we only had the residual mud to deal with.
 
  
At the start, I got in the back of the line, assuming the others would take off and I’d be spinning my butt off. But, somehow I got enough power in my first few pedal strokes to feel the need to pass one of the other girls. This was a tactical mistake, since I tried to pass and got cut off into the grass with the chain-link fence quickly approaching. Next time, I won’t try to pass on the outside. The girl who cut me off hit her brakes in the turn in the parking lot and almost bit it. All I could imagine was a pile of bodies up against the dumpster in the corner. Disaster avoided (narrowly).
 
The rest of the race, I just tried to hold on. I kept washing out in the turn just below the long uphill, and totally losing my momentum causing me to struggle up the hill each time. About 15 minutes into the race, I realized that I really hadn’t eaten anything substantial besides a “Nutz over Chocolate” Luna bar. After the first 3 long laps, “Nutz over Chocolate” almost became “Nutz over Chocolate over Mud” because I almost lost it all over the climb.
 
My internal voice kept saying, “Breathe, don’t puke. Breathe, don’t puke.”  That worked for a while, so then the voice was saying, “This is fun. This is fun.” That worked, too. By the end of the race, I was feeling great. My legs were spent. My heart didn’t explode, but it came close. The best part of the race was crossing the line with Madonna. She was lapping me, but she was having shifting issues… (you shoulda ridden a SS!) We chatted all the way up the hill to the line.
 
No one in our class actually knew our race was over. “Are we done?” “Was that the last lap?” We all rode around the parking lot trying to decide if we were supposed to do another lap. Our race was supposed to be 40 minutes, and we had only gone 36:30. We thought we heard “you’re done” when we crossed the line, but we never got the last lap bell and it wasn’t time for us to be done. Oh well. If we were supposed to do another lap, it didn’t matter since as far as we were concerned, we were done. 
 
So, 4th place out of four is fine with me. I had a great time. I love riding my SS and I like the extra challenge. Hopefully next week won’t be as muddy and I can keep momentum on the climb rather than struggling up every time. Everyone needs a little 40 minute anaerobic workout in their week.
 

Posted by mtbchk at 06:56:40 | Permalink | Comments (1) »