Cholla Race

This race was Saturday April 12th, I didn't write about it quickly, but here is a quick update. Mandy did great at the race. She took 3rd out of the girls and 12th overall. The route for the 12 and under was somewhat difficult. They started out riding down the road, and then they have a steep drop down a hill that has a big rut in the middle of the road. Mandy got off her bike and walked this hill, which was probably good, since she had not pre-ridden before the race. After that it was taking off around on the dirt road. Mandy did great and passed quit a few riders here. As she headed towards the end she got off her bike and walked up an enormously steep hill and then jumped back on to finish the last few feet of the ride. Way to go Mandy!!!

Mandy riding the course.

Mandy pushing her bike up the steep hill towards the finish line.

I wish the race had gone half as good for me as for Mandy. I changed divisions and joined the 35+ division. This division has a lot of great riders. I moved up so I would become a better rider by following and learning from them, and of course with hopes that eventually I would get good enough to beat some of them. My race started out exactly as I hoped. I stayed to the back, because I new I had different lines than most on the slick rock and I was going to use this to get me ahead of others, and it worked. I passed 3 women right at the first using my lines on the slick rock, as I was preparing to continue on I all of the sudden had mechanical problems that stopped me dead in my tracks. I jumped off my bike and inspected it to see what was the problem, and found out my front brake cable had gotten caught between my tire and front fork. Okay, this is not so bad. I pulled it out and took off. Unfortunately the time it took for me to find and fix the problem I was passed by one girl. Which meant I now had to take off and go full steam ahead. Which I did. I did fine for about 2 miles before eventually slowing down due to asthma and lack of oxygen. I was passed by Meri Bruin from the same team as me (she is in womens beginngin division and rocks at riding) about this time. She rode my tail for quit a while unknownling to me it was a teammate. Which is funny because when she passed me I was so happy it was her, I thought she could take over and catch the others. I kept going until the hike a bike hill. I didn't do too well getting my bike up the hill, and got passed by another rider. But was not worried, and rode right on her tail until the dirt road, where just as was getting ready to pass her, started to have front cable issues again. This time it got worse and worse and the cable pulled in if I bumped a rock or turned sharply. At the time I did not know why, but after the race I figured out it was due to the nobs on my tire pulling the cable in. Eventually the cable pulled in to my fork caused so much trouble I ended up walking about 2 miles of the race. This was discouraging and at some points because I got passed by a lot of people, including 3 I had passed from my division! The worst part was towards the end when some started making comments that I did not have much further to go. At that point my frustration took hold and I shouted to about 5 riders that my bike had mechanical problems, not that I couldn't ride the route. Anyway, I was able to get on my bike the last mile--probably because it was flat and straight. I ended up 7th out of 9th which was surprising, because I thought for sure I had been passed by most in my division. I have gotten my biked fixed, and I can't wait for the next race.

Going up the slick rock with a big smile on my face having just passed 3 riders!

Fear Factor

Today I rode the Provo Canyon Race Loop Trail. This trail is a single track with up and down rolling hills and a gravely downhill drop. For those who do not know, downhill can be a little scary for me. Some downhill no problem, Bobsled I did not have any problems, I went down it without stopping and loved every minute of it. Downhills near edges and with gravel frighten me. More often than not I will walk down the hill. This is what happened today. I came rolling up to this hill began to go down, began to skid and then got off my bike and walked. I went around and again the same thing, except this time I looked back and looked for the line that would be safest for me to go down. I picked it, and then decided I would do one final loop and give it another shot. I went around, and had a nice pace as I came to the hill. This time I hung on, went light on the brakes and went for it, and I did it!!! I went down the hill and took the turn without any problems. I was so excited about it I let out a big "I did it!" and a "wohoo". The feeling was great, so great that I had to do the loop one more time. I did the loop again, and again I hit the hill without any problems. I had the biggest smile on my face that lasted all the ride home, and for quite a while at home.
Downhill view of the hill I conquered.

Time Flies

Camp was awesome. I was sooooo busy riding all day I did not have the time I thought to blog about the experience. Camp started every morning at 9:45 and ended anywhere from 4 to 6, and then we were out riding the trails, until about 8. That gave me enough time to go back to my room shower, go out to eat, and get back to sleep.





I learned a ton at Gene Hamilton's BetterRide Camp, and since going to his camp I can know get over obstacles I could not get over, ride slick rock with out any problems, and my turning on corners and switchbacks is a piece cake. I descend better on downhill, but still have a ways to go, before I feel completely comfortable. Another cool thing I learned to do was jumps, and I have done some. Who would have thought! I never would have attempted a jump before this camp, now I am trying and working on my form.





The camp has also helped me with my xc racing. I can now hang with the rest of the pack.




This is the gropu at the trail, reviewing what we learned and going application of what we learned.

Fruita Mountain Bike Camp

I am in Fruita, Colorado for a mountain biking camp that begins tomorrow and goes through Sunday. I am very excited for the opportunity to learn the correct way to ride and to improve my skills.

A side note about Fruita. Although I have not had the opportunity to see much of the area, I have found something very cute. Today I have been called sweetie, dear and hon' all by women much younger than me. I wanted to giggle, because this is something I have heard from older women, but have not heard from young women in their 20's. I find it interesting. They say it with such ease.

Anyway, I am excited about camp, and can't wait to report back.

Road Ride

Went or a road ride today. The weather was a little brisk, but clear and sunny. I took a lot of back country roads, and it sure felt like it on some of the roads. At times I thought it would be better to have my mountain bike instead of my road bike. There were a lot of pot holes and gravel, some pot holes were so deep and big cars had to go completely around them.

I wasn't the only rider out today, there were a few, but not a lot. The end of my ride I hit part of the Provo Trail. On the trail I saw more riders than I had seen on the road. I only ride a small part of this trail, because it has a speed limit of 15 mph. Today I was averaging 18 mph. This is good. Although it is not as fast as most cyclist it is 2 mph better than what I did in November. I hope someday I can average 20 - 25 mph.

I finished my ride in 1:59, with about 5 minutes going to stop light waits. I went a total of 30 miles, which is the furthest I have ridden on my road bike. The cool part about this ride I am ridng with more confidence and I was able to access my water bottles and drink without having to stop. This ride also showed me I need to up my distance and endurance.

First MTB Race

I had my first Mountain Bike Race this week in St. George, UT. It is part of the ICUP series.

Thursday February 28, 2008

Went to pre-ride the race course. Thought I would ride today and take Friday off. Started off well, and I was able to practice the turn I had been having trouble with a few times, and continued on with the course. Dropped into the first wash and came out. This is where I started to have problems. The course was not completely marked. I had a choice go left or right. I had ridden the course before, but couldn't remember, so I guessed and went left. This turned out to be a wrong turn. I ended up going up the downhill portion of the course. Once I got to the top and found out I went the wrong direction I continued to back track the course. I ran into the man in charge marking the course. He pointed me in the right direction and I continued on my way. Eventually I got to where I had originally gotten off course and turned back around to do the course in the right direction. I did okay, but after riding the course I decided I needed to ride it again the next day .

Friday-February 29, 2008
Rode the trail today at 10 am. Went well. I only had a moment of uncertainity on the trail, and then went forth. I did the trail in 56 minutes, and felt a lot more confident about riding it in the race. Wish I had another day to practice. Took Mandy out to let her practice her race route. Had a little bit of a stumble on one hill, but she got up and conquered the track. I noticed she had slicks vesus nob tires, so we went to Red Rock Bicycle store and bought new tires. They will work a lot better on the dirt than the ones she currently has.

Saturday-March 1, 2008 Race Day
Race day! I raced in the beginning womens division, which was somewhat nerve racking for me, because all the women I raced against were younger than me. Mandy raced in the 9 and under division. We raced at the same time, so I did not get to see her race. I started out quick on the race, but it did not take long for some of the riders to catch me. I kept going strong, but kept an okay pace. On the first hill (which was small) a rider came in front of me and I hit her tire. This caused my bike to stop, and I had to run up the hill. This allowed everyone in my division to leave me. I caught up to a couple of the riders, but only saw the rest from the distance. I tried to catch up, but was not successful. I ended up taking 6th out of 8th. Not too bad, but I hope to do better in the future. Mandy took 2nd in her division. It sounds like she had some of the same problems I did. A rider fell down in front of her, and she stopped to make sure she was okay. Otherwise, according to her, she would have placed 1st. I am proud of her for being a good sport, that is much better than taking 1st. Thoughts
I learned a lot from my first race. I think I need to push harder than I did. My legs were somewhat sore during the ride, and I think I need to not ride so hard the day before the race. Pre-ride is fine, but I should take it easy not try to go fast, which is what I did. I also, learned I need to not let others around get to me. Some of the riders can be very intense and this kind of threw me.

Frozen Hog 2008

I got to particpate in the Frozen Hog 2008 mountain bike race February 2nd. No, I did not race, I volunteered, and it was a lot of fun. The week of the race was getting the trail ready for the race. We had a lot of snow, and we had to go out every day to stomp down the trail. I did a couple of hours for 3 days, but Bruce Argyl spent 8-12 hours a day on the trail. If it wasn't for him the racers would not have had such a great trail to ride. On Friday the day before the race Mike came through with a snow blower. Wish we had thought of that before it sure would have saved Bruce's back.

The day of the race was perfect weather. The snow let up and it was cold enough to ride a solid trail. The volunteers showed up between 7 and 7:30 in the morning to get ready for all of the racers. We had registration, waiver forms, and swag bags to hand out. Promptly at 9 am the race began. The racers all started with happy faces raring to go. There were approxiamtely 100 racers. Racers started coming flustered and pushing hard shortly after the 1hour mark. The course was definitely challenging, and by all reports from the racers fun.

This is a video of the race http://youtube.com/watch?v=h8W_WI4s_G0 shows how much fun the race is.

Here are some pictures of the race http://www.zazoosh.com/events/119 and if you go to http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/UMBphpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4061 you read about the race on the forum, this is one post of several that were posted about the race.

Surgery

I had surgery this week. Nothing major, but enough to keep me from working out for the entire week. As crazy as it may seem I am going stir crazy. I miss going to spin class and cannot wait to go back. Unfortunately that may be another week. It may be a week before I can get on a bike. In the mean time I will go on the recumbent bike, or treadmill. It is not as fun, but better than nothing.

Spinning

It has been 5 weeks since of snow and frozen ground, and 5 weeks of not being brave enough to ride in the snow. Instead I started spin class...and I love it! It is getting me in shape for cycling, and I am meeting more people that cycle. It has taken about 4 weeks for people to warm up to me, and include me in the group of regulars, but now they see I am going to keep coming I am accpeted.

Spinnig is almost as addicting at riding my mountain bike. I seem to go nuts when I can't go to class, and when I can't I always get on my trainer at home and ride. Although I enjoy spinning, I can't wait for the ice to melt so I can go cycling.

Night Riding

I went on my first night ride on my mountain bike last week. I was excited and nervous. Nervous of course because it was at night, and I am still a beginner--excited for the new adventure. When I got there I got a light put on my bike and then was ready to go with the rest of the group. My nerves kind of got the best of me at the first of the ride. I had a hard time riding the trail and was very unsure of myself. I teetered and tottered through the switchbacks and my bike went off the trail more than once. As the ride proceeded my confidence gained and I started to feel the joy of being out on the trail in the dark. The trail in the dark is much different than in the day. The colors are different, the climb feels different and you view the trail completely different. Things that would normally slow me down in daylight did not seem to affect me the same in the dark. I found my confidence was greater. I went down the trail without any fear of rocks, dips, turns and berms. Normally on a new trail I am tentative, but this time I went down the trail and felt comfortable and confident. The light on my bike was just right to show the trail ahead, but not too far. I focused on the trail ahead, not everything around the trail. I am sure this contributed to me doing better on the trail. When the ride was over, I was tired and exhilarated, and I can't wait for the next time I can go out in the night and ride.