woo.

wow. i went for a ride on saturday on the mesa trails. i was inspired by the photos of singletrack on bender's flickr site. his photos reminded me how much i love and missed singletrack. the pics ignited my lazy ass to pull the spandex on and strap my helmet and go. the eriksen and i headed out to the mesa. good thing i remembered the ipod as my breathing was super annoying. so loud. anyway, it was so fun to be out. it hurt though. i figured it'd help me get the carbon out for sunday's race or i essentially was blowing my wad.
when i got home i thought i was going to pass out. inspiring indeed.
as the day went on i felt a lot better. so good to have gotten the blood flowing.
sunday came quick. we actually pulled out of the driveway 2 minutes before plan (which for us is essentially a miracle). we arrived in sheboygan in good time as opposed to our usual holy-fuck-i-hope-we-get-there-soon-as-i'm-not-registered...
i had low expectations for myself. i hadn't ridden and the rides i did manage to muster definitely weren't of any intensity. i was actually nervous. i tried not to think about it.
the start came and i actually felt pretty damn good. i was up front and it didn't seem too hard. in fact, it was the best i've ever felt at the start. weird. it didn't last long. i was breathing really really hard and it hurt with every stroke for a bit. i passed a few girls. eventually there were 4 of us women in the lead. i don't know how far back 5th was or where anyone was for that matter. in fact what i just wrote might not even be accurate. i think at some point though it was brenda leading holly's mom, another girl and then me in 4th. i tried to pass with no avail a couple times. when we came up to the equalizer holly's mom and one other girl were gone. brenda was a little bit ahead of me. i ended up catching her on the pavement as we headed into the dirt to start our 2nd lap. i was giving it my all to stay with her. catching the men's traffic slowed us a bit which allowed for some recovery time. brenda kept offering to let me by, but i certainly wasn't ready. eventually i was and went by. i know moriah was right behind us. i think i was in 3rd at this point.
coming to the equalizer i hopped off my bike. usually i can ride at least half or partially up this, but yesterday i had nothing. it was as almost if my legs hit a brick wall. when i dismounted i felt a cramp. fuck, fuck, fuck. i still had one lap to go and i had no electrolytes on me. i knew the bottle i'd be getting would be just water. oh well. i marched on. i fought cramps off the rest of the way. i gingerly pedaled on. moriah passed me on the pavement pushing her big ring. we got to the singletrack and i stayed on her wheel. i hoped she'd make a mistake and she did. i made my move and drilled it.
i of course then was stuck behind a train of 6 guys who hit the brakes for every root or dip. i had to dab a couple times which sent my left calf into cramp mode. i couldn't clip in. i'd just put my foot on the pedal and hope for a bump to put it in. luckily it worked every time. moriah passed me again on that little rock drop heading towards the other side. i was hurting. i tried to stay with her and caught her again just as we dropped into the river singletrack. i stayed right behind her and just hoped she'd tire or i'd get a burst of energy. my thoughts were of the equalizer and how i'd get up it. i passed her in the grass heading up to the famous hill. as soon as i got off my bike both legs seized. quads, calf muscles. full on cramps. no matter what i did, one of my muscles would cramp. my foot even cramped. i had no idea how i was going to get up the hill. painfully no doubt. as i stood there moriah passed me and a bianchi chick passed. damn. that's racing. stupid electrolytes. i gingerly rode to the finish hoping nobody else was right behind me.


jeremey snapped this picture of me hurting and really pissed off. i suppose i should be glad he doesn't have a video of me swearing and complaining.

5th for the day. WAY better than i had imagined. it was a fantastic day. there's just something about sheboygan.