OMG! The weather didn't suck!

EMO

This weather FUCKING SUCKS!!!

So, yeah.

It was my birthday this past weekend.
I love my birthday. It's like a day I don't feel guilty for wanting things to be about me. I have issues with making time for myself or doing things for me without feeling guilty about it every other day of the year.
I had a good day. We went to Beechwood and I rode while John hung out with the kids. I'd hardly call it racing. I overheated at the beginning of the first lap. Pulled off the trail to strip and try not to puke. Got back on the bike and was happy to have the trail to myself. I was getting super annoyed in the singletrack for my usual reasons, but whatever. I'm probably only bringing that up because I'm having a pity party for myself at the moment. I won't get all emo and give reasons why.
Anyway, lap 2 I ran into Bubba. I hung out with him while watching him fix his busted chain. Took his ass forever.
We rode the last 2 laps together. Almost conversation pace really. It was fun. Those trails are fucking awesome. I wish they were closer. I wish everything was fucking closer.
I'm getting fat. I really need to watch what I eat and get more exercise. Maybe I'll start tomorrow.



*Thanks to Brittany for the photos.

Do people read these anymore?

What a great weekend.
Waterpark on Saturday with the kids and some friends. Good times for sure.
I ended up making my rib hurt on the waterslides so started to have second thoughts about Sunday. Then it being so cold I was like meh, I'll just call it a year.
We headed to the course to get Ryan ready. He was racing sport.
Sent him off and went hiking into the woods. I saw the dirt and the roots in the singletrack and there was NO way I wasn't suiting up! It helped that it wasn't as cold out as I thought it was going to be.
So hurry up and eat. Talk shit with Meg. Register. Run to get dressed. Find all my shit. Get ready. Warm up. And hurry up to wait.
Don said Goooo...
I had a decent first 3 laps. Minus the crash where I lost all my food and almost ended up in the river, the first lap was okay. Second lap I realized I lost all my food in that crash, but whatever. I wasn't going to stress about it. However the ghost shifting or stiff link or whatever it was I had going on after the crash was pissing me off. Major pressure on the pedals and it popped. After awhile I got over it and just stayed in easier gears. The third lap I was starting to cramp by the elite cut off and I still had a lap to go. Fuck the last lap. I was DONE. I don't think I could have rode it any slower. I stopped at the elite cut off climb and tried to stop from cramping. I knew I was going to be in trouble when I got to the equalizer.
The equalizer was easier to get up that time than my 3rd lap and I think that's because I stopped. Next year I have to be more aggressive there even if I'm walking. I was so paranoid about getting in the riders' way that I spent way too much time waiting and looking back. The crowd didn't give anybody any room, barely enough for two riders to get through. Anyway, I'm glad I raced. As much as I suffer in elite it is much more satisfying than sport. It would be way too hard to go back to being stuck behind much slower people (the last of the sport pack). I'd rather bring up the rear in elite any day. As much as I suffer out there, it's still fun.

Two things though about Sunday:
1. It would have been nice to prepare for racing on Sunday. I barely ate breakfast and I was totally dehydrated from not drinking good fluids. Not to mention the waterpark all day on Saturday.
2. I don't ride very much. I usually get in 1-2 rides a week. The past 4, or has it been 5, weeks after my rib injury I haven't really ridden at all. I've tried more than a few times to only have to come back home because it was too painful or I couldn't breath right. You can't not ride for a month before an elite race and expect a better result. Not that I did, but I can't help but wonder how I would have done if I had been healthy and ridden more.

One of the highlights of my race was on my last lap John caught and passed me (obviously). It's always nice to see him on the course. Anyway, Matt Gehling shortly after was behing me. He was like "Wrong Gatto" and took off. That totally made me laugh and forget about the fact that I could barely ride my bike.

Again Sheboygan didn't disappoint as the finale. I can't wait til next year.

I can't believe the season is over!

Complaining

I've managed to not come on my blog and complain every day for the past two weeks about how terrible my ribs feel. And how my sternum keeps like popping. And if I raise my left arm my ribs click.
I tried to stay away from riding as much as possible, but who am I kidding... if I can do it, it'll be done. You'd think I'd be smart and ride my road bike, but no. But really I didn't ride too much... I don't want to be stupid.
Actually riding off road wasn't too horrible... it's the breathing that would get me. Trying to fully inhale was painful so it would always cut the ride short.
Not to mention there was a sort of fear of crashing that I never have. The thought of going down on my ribs wasn't a pleasant one.
The past two days were really painful. It was way worse than even the day after it happened. I woke up today and felt a lot better. I didn't even feel the need to dull it with pain meds. So I decided to ride. It still hurt and it hurt a little to breath, but I could. Too bad it didn't stay light out, I would've stayed out much longer.
I feel okay right now, not too bad... but I'll know how much better I am by tomorrow when I wake up.
This weekend.... what to do, what to do....

So....

Who is NOT going to Chequamegon?

No racing for me

It wasn't worth it. I sneezed a few minutes ago which pretty much sealed my no regrets. I'm bummed I didn't but I don't regret my decision. I'm more annoyed at my situation. It sucks being injured.
Lake Geneva is one of my favorite courses. It's technical and I do better at that type of climbing than I do at Palos type climbing.
Meh.

I still was able to see everyone so that was cool.

I don't even know what to write about so I'll leave it at I'm hoping to ride this week.
John'll be gone all weekend for Chequamegon.

Is there anyone not going, provided I can find a sitter, up for a ride down here?

Mesa, Swallow Cliffs, Palos? Or maybe I'll finally try to get to See Wee Kaw, depends on my ribs though.

Ow, my ribs.

Fuck. I'm so pissed.
I think I may have a cracked rib.
It sucks to laugh, cry, cough and OMG don't even mention sneezing.
It doesn't totally suck to breath, only when I breath deep.
For the most part I'm just really uncomfortable.
I'm going to pre-ride tomorrow and see how I feel.

I'm going to bed now because I'm so irritated. I took some prescription pain relief to sleep. I'm hoping to be magically be better by morning.

Rather

I can't even believe I'm saying this...

I have no desire to race Sunday. NONE. The weather is fucking fabulous and all the trails are MINT around here. I don't want to sit in a car. My ribs hurt. Climbing can suck it. I have lots more reasons as to why I don't want to race.

Right now I'd rather just stay home. I'd love to go on an epic mtb ride here, hang out with my kids and *gasp* watch the damn Bears' game.

ETA: I'm pre-registered which is a huge reason I feel obligated to go.
That and the majority of my friends will be there anyway, so my epic mtb ride wouldn't happen.

real quick...

I rode Swallow Cliff tonight. It was awesome. A-W-E-S-O-M-E! I can't describe the feeling I had riding through the illegal singletrack. I was super pumped! I need to bring people out there pronto to have that same feeling.
What pisses me off though is, well, at the end of my ride as I was heading to the lot I decided to check out the creek singletrack. I didn't remember if it went anywhere or it just stopped.
So as I was looking at the pretty creek and avoiding the down tree I hit another log I didn't see. BAM! I hit the down tree hard as hell with my rib cage and hip. I knocked the wind out of myself for what felt like minutes. It hurt, but I think I was more pissed that that's how my ride ended. And then to add insult to injury there was fucking ITCHWEED!!!
My left side is getting purple. If it gets purple enough I'll get a pic.
Sneezing sucks and laughing and coughing... but it's not bad enough to stop me from riding or anything.

Wait... It's Monday?

So weird... it's felt like Sunday all day.
Maybe it's because I've barely done anything this holiday weekend except get a couple bike rides in.
There were things going on this weekend, however I didn't want to commit myself to anything. It was nice not being on a schedule for once.
Saturday I ended up taking my road bike out. I hadn't been in awhile and I think I was still pretty worked over from the race last Sunday and the mountain bike rides I hit during the week. I clipped on my iPod and just headed out with no plan. It was pretty uneventful really. I felt like crap the whole ride; but I was on my bike so how crappy could it be?
Sunday... hmmm... Sunday. Yeah, I sat around all damn day. I had no desire to get up and get motivated to do anything. And I didn't even have the excuse of the internet because that was super boring all day. So finally I checked the CAMBr board and a friend of mine, Nancy, posted a ride for 3:30. Perfect. It's 2:50 now. So I quick loaded up and headed to the staging area. It ended up being Nancy, some other dude whose name escapes me, Cory and me. I felt bad the whole beginning of the ride, but by the end I felt like I shook whatever was making me feel flat off. We rode the old portion of Cemetery Hill. Holy log crossings. I love log crossings.
Monday (today I guess). I was itchin' all day to ride. I wanted to ride with John but that just wasn't workin' out at all. The neighbor kids came over to head over to the mesa later that afternoon. I thought about tagging along with them, but just didn't feel like it. I ended up taking a nap. I don't know what my deal was/is lately, but I've just felt tired. I woke up determined to get out of the house. Right away I grabbed my Twin Six bird jersey with matching socks and my iPod. I headed straight for the Mesa.
When I first arrived I felt, yes you guessed it, like crap. WTF? Anyway, I just kept riding. I started to feel really good right about rainbow bridge. Pat Benatar came on my iPOd. Coincidence? I think not. I felt really good and just started attacking the singletrack. I came into some corners WAY too hot testing my SRAM XX brakes. It felt good to push my skills a bit. I just wish I'd seen that one tree...



It ended up being a great ride. I came home refreshed and with a big smile on my face.
I didn't think it could get any bigger til I saw Zoe pimping her two wheels all by herself! She sort of had it a couple months ago but was all over the place. She hated it. She wouldn't ride anything but her Strider. Apparently today was the day cuz she was awesome. I'm so proud of her!

The Meltdown. Second ravine

Palos Meltdown 2009

I was looking forward to this race for awhile. Getting sick I wished it was a week later. Turns out that Saturday I started to feel better; so I wasn't bummed at all. I was in a way excited. I still didn't know if I would be affected or not.
Anyway, we've been taking our neighbor kids out mountain biking. They've gotten a few rides in so we signed them all up for the Meltdown.
So...
All of us plus Gage and Jeremey headed out to Palos to start the day. Meg and Bubba showed up shortly. Carlos and Sonia showed up after them.
What a fucking awesome day! I don't think it could've been more perfect.
We had our neighbor kids there. The 11 year old, Ryan, raced citizen and had a spectacular time. He even outsprinted a full-faced helmet dude at the finish line! He couldn't stop talking about the race. I find that so awesome! Our other neighbor Mark, who is 15, raced citizen as well. He ended up cramping on the finish hill and had to run it up for the finish trying to stay ahead of the guy right behind him. It was hysterical yelling at him to GO... He was like "I can't". So we just started yelling "RUN" and he started running. I'm still laughing about that today. Our other neighbor kid, Ryan, raced sport. He's 15 as well. He has a little more ride time than the other two kids (two WORS races and riding tons when he can). I loved watching his face as he struggled up the finish hill while we were yelling at him. He gave it his all and ended up collapsing at the finish! I have some great photos of that.
I'm proud of all of them. I know they were hurting and they stuck it out.
After laughing our asses off at their finishes we headed back to get ready for our race. I started at the back of the pack with Bubba and Meg. The first lap I struggled with recovering as usual. Megan and I rode the majority of the race together.She'd pass me on the opening stretch and then I'd pass her as we were heading to stair steps. Then I'd gap her on Turf. My second lap was awesome. I felt like I was killing it out there (whether or not I was remains to be seen, it just felt like it). I didn't see Meg until I headed down towards the green grassy hill going into the 3rd lap. When she caught me there, I knew she'd take me in the end. I barely gapped her heading down into Turf- I'm not even sure I'd call it a gap. Then I was struggling. Up Psychopath I told stories of wanting to quit right then and there. My quads hurt so bad. I was on the verge of cramping. By Gravity Cavity I let her go by. I watched her motor out. We practically could've slapped hands on the two way on the grass heading into the finish. Sweet.
I had an AWESOME time.
I don't think being sick had any bearing on my race. I felt great really. It was a long race. Someone mentioned lap distances with the grass hill were closer to 9 miles and not 8. I finished 3rd overall. Podiumed 1st in age. Holly took 1st overall, so wasn't in age group awards.



John took 6th overall in the men's race.

Little Ryan finished 65th out of 93 finishers, 5th age. Mark finished 14th overall, 1st age. Ryan finished 19th out of almost 250 riders, 1st age as well.

Good Times.

p.s. The spacing and the pictures is pissing me off, but I'm too lazy to switch it all around.

Lame... *cough

I'm still sick.
At my doc appointment yesterday I still had a fever, 100.3. I was wondering why my palms wouldn't stop sweating...
Anyway, I have antibiotics, mucinex and some nasal spray. Hopefully I feel better by Sunday. I've been looking forward to the Meltdown for awhile, now, not so much.




Meh.



ETA: This fucking rain on Wednesday bullshit is total bullshit.

Very cool

Claire declared the Border Battle Twin Six day. The result... lots of great photos of WORS racers and friends and families sporting the 6.

T6 day photos

There were quite a few cool ones of my husband. What a hottie.



*photos by Todd Bauer and Bruce Adelsman

From the wedding...

John, me, my mom, dad, sis and b-i-l


Most of my cousins


All of my cousins.


If you don't know who these peeps are, not sure why you're reading this.




As I said before, when you have a wedding to go to, it's kind of meh. But once there, it's nice to see everyone. Life is so busy sometimes, we don't make time to get together and get caught up. Weddings sort of force us to do these things.

hmmm....

The past few days have sucked ass.
Wednesday I wanted to ride so badly at Palos, but of course Mother Nature had other plans. It probably didn't matter, I hadn't felt well all that day and by evening I was pretty sick. I initially thought it was allergies but having slept early Wednesday into late Thursday afternoon, I'm thinking it was something else.
I can't believe how much pain I was in. My body ached, my skin hurt to the touch, I could barely open my eyes. My jaw felt mis-aligned the sinus pressure was so intense. Friday I felt a little better but still felt a bit off balance and my head was still on the verge of exploding. Saturday I finally felt well enough to walk around, talk, etc. I even took Zoe to her allergist appointment and the doc was more interested in me! She ended up making me fill out a bunch of paperwork so she could give me some samples and a prescription to help me feel better.
Saturday afternoon it was my cousin's wedding. I was glad to be feeling a little better of course. I'm not a huge fan of weddings, but still, I didn't want to miss it. It's weird, I didn't think I'd care at my own, but I was so happy to have my friends and family there to share my day. I wanted to do the same for her. Later that evening I started to feel more like myself. The left side of my head still hurt and I was pretty congested and out of breath. I couldn't dance as much as I wanted, but I still was able to.
John ended up getting sick on Friday night, so he was sick at the wedding too. Kind of a bummer as I wanted to dance more with him... but I'm glad he was able to make it all.
Sunday I had hoped to get a good ride in with the Meltdown next week. I'd hoped to get some good riding all of last week actually. Obviously being sick doesn't help my cause. Anyway, John and I took our neighbors Ryan (another Ryan) and Mark out to Palos to see if they wanted to do the Meltdown. It was perfect. Ryan is 11 so obviously can't go fast (yet). I was able to ride, not push myself and introduce him to mountain biking. It was a great day. I'm so happy to have made it out.


Now almost 10:30 and starting to feel better, I totally don't want to go to work tomorrow.

The Battle

Hmmm... where to begin.
(WARNING! This is long.)
We left Friday afternoon for the border of MN and WI. Our newly-bitten-by-the-mountain-bike-bug neighbor Ryan tagged along with John and me for our not-as-long-as-I-thought-it-would-be haul to River Falls, WI.
We pulled to our hotel just shortly after 9pm Friday night.
We grabbed some quick grub at Chipotle and then settled into our hotel room.
Jerry and fam wouldn't be up to pre-ride til around 3 or so on Saturday, so we needed to figure out something to do with our morning.
I thought we could hang with Brent, but I didn't know his phone didn't have email; so my email inviting ourselves to his place went unanswered. So instead we went to Fleet Farm and then made the trip to Mall of America. We just walked around really. Hung out with the Bubba Gump shrimp, explained to Ryan that everything at LegoLand were really built with Legos. After getting bored with the mall we grabbed some Dairy Queen and headed to the course to meet Jerry.
I hate pre-riding. I don't know why, but I always feel like crap. I couldn't breath, I couldn't ride the singletrack. I was starting to get really annoyed. Especially since I upgraded. Anyway, I ended up only doing two laps as I felt dizzy, chilled and just all around crappy. I think I was just really dehydrated.
Afterwards we all headed out for some pretty good Mexican. Then I think everyone fell asleep, early. Except me. I was watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It's such a different movie watching it as an adult.
Anyway, woke up at 5:30, 6:00 and then finally just before 7am. I was starving. Waited around a bit for Ryan to wake up and then grabbed some breakfast.
Then to the course. Ryan was racing Citizen and we hadn't registered him yet.
Brent showed up shortly after we did with his girlfriend Nicole, Hurl and Kelly. It was good to see them all.
Sitting around all day had its pluses and minuses. But I love the atmosphere and the people at the races so it's definitely more plus.
Ryan ended up having a great race! He finished 1st in age and like 14th overall. It was his second race ever and he's only been on a bike for just over a month. He's totally hooked.
After heckling Brent for a bit and him grossing us all out we all started getting ready to race. I wasn't really nervous, I'm not sure what I was. I know I dreaded the start. I dreaded the comp men a bit.
Don called up everyone but 3 of us girls. The start wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. However once we got to the start climb I didn't really look up. I didn't want to see how long it was or how far ahead the girls were ahead of me. I just wanted to ride my own race and finish. I caught the back part of the elite women right away. Back up from the bridge. It was nice to recover there. I still had a hell of a time getting my heart rate down from the start to settle into a pace. I didn't really settle until the second lap. Which I guess is usual; except now instead of two laps to go, I had a whole sport race in front of me.
While on lap one I thought about quitting many times. My lower arms went numb, I couldn't catch my breath, I was sweating like I'd never sweat before. I knew the comp guys would be coming soon and when they did, it wasn't as bad as I prepared myself for. 2 caught me right away and then there was a huge gap. Then a couple more and then they just kept coming. But I never stopped. I moved over on occasion and sometimes I probably yielded more than I have to, but I'll get more confident as time goes on. I never had an incident really. Only with an elite guy. More on that later.
Lap 2 was probably my best lap. It went by pretty quick. I rode with a lot of comp guys in the open sections, were on their wheels in the singletrack, it was fun.
In my third lap (which was another fun lap) near the switchbacks I knew a group of elite guys were coming. There really isn't a great place to pass on those climbs. I hesitated going up the first one and ended up having to put my foot down. A dumb moment of indecisiveness and I had to wait for the small train to go by. Not a big deal, but next time I just have to go for it. You don't necessarily lose a lot of time, but you definitely lose momentum and your groove. Later on the wicked fast awesome downhill I heard a rider coming up on me. I assumed it was a comp guy. Some of the comp guys were slower than I was on the descents so I didn't want to give going first up so I dropped in. I realized that it was an elite rider. I felt bad, but at the same time I ripped that section every time. Right after it opens plenty for a rider to get by. It ended up not mattering. So I really only felt bad because I did have a moment of indecision and he was probably like WTF woman!
I had caught Renee at one point. She was a little out of sorts from crashing on the bridge... still though, it was a small victory for me. I know how much stronger she is than I am on the ascents and open. I ended up losing site of her on the 4th start climb.
My last lap is where I made my biggest mistake. I didn't eat. I knew I needed it. I knew it was in my back pocket. But for some reason I just didn't grab it. I'm sitting her typing this and don't get my thought process. As the lap went on I felt myself fade because I needed to eat. I remember telling myself well it's half way over whatever. But really FUCKING EAT ON THE LAST LAP! I know this. I won't make that mistake again. I know not eating cost me time. Especially when it's a distance I'm not used to doing. I knew I wasn't as strong in the singletrack, etc because I was hungry. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it.
As far as the elite bullshit pass... I was climbing up after the switchbacks and an elite racer took a pass right between a tree and the side of the trail, where I had nowhere to go but off my bike. The other elite rider that was following him and now behind me yelled "Nice pass!" to him. He looked at me and was like he really could've waited a few seconds. I ended up having to walk the rest of the way as it was a little too steep to get on and pedal.
In saying that I had an awesome time. It was hard (it's supposed to be) and it was good to feel like I was racing again. Sport was still challenging for me I suppose. I mean it's not like I was killing it there; there are more then a few sport women stronger than I am. I needed a different challenge I guess. I'm not sure how to explain it. Being stuck behind the old guys and clydes was getting old. It's such a back n forth decision- the move up. Not sure if it was the right one... but yesterday was positive and I hope Lake Geneva is too.


Thanks to all the elite girls who gave their advice. And thanks to all the sport girls for cheering me on and making me feel good about my decision. It was awesome to hear my name all over the course!

Palos Meltdown

The Meltdown is just around the corner. 334 racers are registered right now. Twenty some spots left for citizen and just 40 left in sport. So hurry up if you want to race those categories.
I believe SRAM is sending over $5000 worth of product, so that's cool.

A wreck.

My bike and body are wrecks.
My foot still isn't fully healed from hitting the tree a couple weeks ago and yesterday I bruised my right thigh pretty good.
My bike needs a lot of crap maintained and I'm just not in the mood. The Industry Nine wheels continue to piss me off. I either get ghost pedaling or the rear wheels loose. I get maybe 2 weeks time of perfection and then back to adjust. ANNOYING.
The whole bike is creaking- housing, bottom bracket, headset. Basic maintenance. But still, boring.
As far as my body... 10 miles at the mesa yesterday with John, Bubba, Goat, Mitch, Gage and Ryan and I'm spent. It seriously made me rethink my choice of moving up.
I fell over the first log crossing. That didn't do anything but make me dirty.
Then while the others rode over the log ride I went to turn around. Tight turn, slow speed, front wheel hits root, my thigh lands on said root, saddle slams into inside of thigh and OW. I'm trying not to be a big baby about it (because I am) but it throbs, it hurts to walk and pedal. I'm so annoyed that something so stupid can be this annoyingly painful. However, I am glad I don't look like this:



I still plan to ride later. Road (that hasn't seen pavement for over a month- what a shame), MTB, who knows. The only thing for certain is I will sweat my ass off. Hello it's 86 but feels like 95. High of 96 and I'm sure will feel like 108.