Race Season Over - Maybe, Maybe Not?

I took Mandy to pre-ride The Canyons race course today. Let me preface this with I had a mild migraine when we left, was waiting for my medication to work, and was not feeling my best. When we got to the course we rode up the little paved hill, and I was very surprised to see Mandy scoot right up the hill. At the top she announced she did it in 2 and 1! Wow! I have become used to her walking hills and was very happy to see her make it up without any problems. I thought this was a good sign of how the pre-ride was going to go.

We got to the top of the hill, I zeroed out my computer and we started to ride the race. Now for those of you who have ridden the race course you know that the half lap has some descent climbing. As we started Mandy did pretty good, but it did not last for long, and soon she wanted to get off her bike and walk. It was not too steep, but Mandy was tired and it was hurting. I offered her words of encouragement, and this is where everything went wrong.

Mandy did not appreciate the encouragement or the "you can make it to the dip right up in the road". She became belligerent or may I say very independent minded and out right refused to ride. Now normally this would not be a problem, but it was 7:30 and the sun was going down and we had just started riding the course! I told her she needed to get on her bike or walk her bike, but we needed to go. She then informed me I could not make her go. Again I told her to go, and again she outright refused, but this time with some back talk involved. I don't know how it happened, but I actually remained fairly calm and told her no she had the choice to go or not to go, but there would be consequences if she did not follow my instructions. I then laid out the consequences for her choices. And to leave out a lot of detail let's just say by 1.29 miles Mandy had lost having hot cocoa at Starbuck, the allowance I owed her from the past 3 weeks and all of August's allowance. Goodness this girl is very strong willed! Luckily Mandy's strong will is also, what drives her to finish all of her mountain bike rides despite struggling towards the end of the season.

About mile 2 things started to get better for Mandy, and with that her willingness to cooperate changed. The frustration of climbing left and she was much more willing to learn how to let others pass and what to expect on the ride. Of course by this time I had decided she was not going to race Saturday. I definitely was not going to pay for someone to race when they did not like mountain biking.

Around mile 2.5 the course starts to go downhill and things got much better for Mandy. At this point she was very attentive. We went down and I had her follow me so she could match my lines and make sure she was safe on the course. We rode and I would describe what she could expect at various parts of the course, how she should ride it and the best line to take. She did great, and listened very well except for once. There is one part on the course you make a right hand turn and you are going down a bunch of rocks. I stopped Mandy and told her she needed to walk this part and then I rode down it. As I rode down she said "I thought we were walking this", and I told her she was walking it, but I was going to ride it. I stopped at the bottom and turned around to wait, and low and behold Mandy is coming down very carefully riding her bike! I can't say I was upset, because I wasn't I was actually proud to see her ride it so well. We continued down the hill to the bottom of the course, and by the time we got to the bottom Mandy had a big smile on her face and was loving the course.

I am glad she was happy by the end of the course, but I am still not convinced she should race Saturday. It took her an hour and thirty minutes to ride the course, and when we met some friends of hers that are in her division at the bottom of the course and I mentioned to their dad how long it took us to do the course, she was very embarrassed. We headed to the car, and Mandy told me how much fun she had going down hill on the course, and she wished she did not have to go up hill. Of course I explained that in order to go down she must go up. We had a good talk, Mandy apologized for her behavior and asked to please race on Saturday. We talked for quite a bit. I told her racing was supposed to be fun and if she wasn't having fun then I did not want her to race. I told her if she raced she had to race with it being okay to come in last, to have everyone pass her and possibly to lose her overall 3rd place division. At first we she wanted to race, but we went over everything again and I told her to think about it and get back to me tomorrow. So right now it may or may not be the end of the race season for Mandy.... I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

The Canyons Pre-Ride

A group of us went up to The Canyons to ride the course. There was Tiffany, Jolene, Mindy, Gayle, Sally and Dale. We also, saw Gigi, Ruth and Theresa in the parking lot, but that was the last time we saw them.

The new race course is a blast. There are some skittish areas on the half lap, but for the most part it's not so bad. I loved the full loop and the down hill was fun, fast and smooth. I don't know if I can explain it detail by detail, but there is some up, then down, then slight up and then a lot of switchbacks up and then back down. For a ride it was fun, for a race I guess I will find out Saturday.
Tiffany coming up the trail.
Jolene heading up the trail.

Gayle making around one of the switchbacks.Mindy clearing the switchback.

Sally coming down the last part of the trail.

Jackson Day 3 - Race Day!

Mandy's Race

Mandy was ready for her race. She was excited, because she had rode it the night before and liked the course and thought it was a lot of fun. Mandy got off to a good start and was doing well. When I passed her on the trail she let me know she had gotten off to a good start. That was last time I saw her. As I went through the course I saw she was staying with most of the group in her division and doing pretty well. I was pretty sure I would see her at the finish line when I got there.

When I got to the finish Mandy was not there. Of course due the Deer Valley scare I was a little worried, but soon riders from our team started coming in and letting me know where she was. When Mandy finished, she was discouraged and disheartened. She had weeds in her bike and looked like she need a good hug and a talk.

Mandy's race did not turn out how she hoped. There were a lot of people passing her and she kept having to get off her bike and then when she tried to get back on more people would come. She slipped off the trail and almost fell to her death on the cliff (those who do not know this course there are no cliffs on this trail only steep slopes)., but she didn't fall to her death and was able to get back on her bike and ride. Her feelings were hurt because everyone yelled to get by. She came in last again and was very discouraged.

My guess is most of the people were pretty polite, and just loud in passing. This is the first time Mandy has been passed by adults, and it can be very intimidating and overwhelming. I didn't think about it before the race, so I feel bad I did not prepare her for all of the people that would be passing her. We've talked and hopefully it helped. She did tell me she was done racing after this year, but then she said she wanted to race in St. George next year, so I guess we'll see. I always leave it up to her.
Mandy off to a good start.
Coming across the finish line.

My race got off to a tentative start. I had been in the bathroom a lot before the race and I was not sure if it was nerves or something I ate, but it sure seemed like something I ate. I was a little worried as my stomach was definitely not agreeing with me. Turned out Jolene was having the same problem, so I am thinking food, water or something else.

We started this race with the beginning women. I got off to the start really well, although going up the hill my legs were a little tired and not wanting to go. However my brain took over and the legs went. I stayed at the front, but could hear the group behind me. This trail makes it difficult to see who is directly behind you , so I kept going and all I could hear was the person breathing behind me. This was good, because I was breathing, but knew I could turn it up if I needed to. I kept going and it was not long before we came upon the 10-12 group of racers. Passing these racers kept us on our toes. They were good about letting us pass, but they did not quite know how to move out of the good line. I learned I can go over very tricky routes when I need to. I imagine by the time we got to them they were pretty frustrated with being passed, but they were all good sports and let us by.

After passing some of the 10-12 group we finally hit the switchbacks and I saw it was Tiffany following closely behind. This was okay for me as she was not in my division and I could settle into a good pace. We rode most of the uphill with me leading the way until just a short distance before the 10-12 turnoff when I had a slip and told her to pass. I then followed right behind her and up the first steep singletrack we went. I kept with Tiffany for the uphill until I bounced off the trail, and at the same time three riders came up right behind me and asked to pass. Of course it is okay as I am off the trail.

I continued going, following closely behind Tiffany, but she started to slow up on the hill. She asked if I wanted to go in front, and I almost did, but we hit a section of downhill, and I knew she could fly on the downhill, so instead I stayed tight on her wheel. Tiffany is good on the downhill, and I used her to draw my lines as we went down. On the final down she came out first on the road and then I came out a little bit later. There looming in front of us was the hill.

As we headed up I went by Tiffany and told her we are going to climb this hill all the way to the top. She agreed, but I could tell she was not convinced--the day before she only made it half way. Going up we passed a lot of people and kept strong to the center line. At times this was difficult as people were walking up the middle and they were not always quick or willing to move out of the center to let you pass. Luckily they eventually did and both Tiffany and I made it all the way to the top. However, the first minute of going down was tough. I actually stayed in my granny gear as I rode just trying to recover from the hill climb.

This time on the downhill I led up until we hit the 12 and under portion of the downhill and then had Tiffany pass for the remainder. As long as she was not in my division I was fine with her going ahead, especially since the down hill is her forte. We both finished and it was great having someone to trade off back and forth with and encourage each other along the way.

Getting off to a good start.

Finishing the race and happy.

After the race we had went down to Jackson to have some fun.

Time for some grub.

Happy faces now that our tummy's are full.

Mandy & Royce on the chair lift towards the Alpine Slide.

Royce going down the slide

Mandy posing in front of a huge statue.

The boy scouts collect these elk horns and sell them.

Watching the evening town square shoot out.

Time for dessert--a good way to end the day.

Jackson Day 2

Second day in Jackson and more mountain biking. Today was the pre-ride of the race course. I left the family and went to the course to ride by myself. I was not on the trail by myself for long. I ran into riders from the moment I got there until I left that I knew. I actually hooked up with Jason, and the group he was with and rode most of the course with them. It was nice to be with others on the trail and not by myself--I am still skittish on the downhill since my crash at Solitude, hopefully that will be gone soon, I hate riding overly cautious.



After I finished my lap, I called Royce and he and Mandy came to ride the course. Royce took off to ride the race course while Mandy and I rode her course. Mandy does half of the course we do, and she did an awesome job. I was very impressed how she cleared most of the rocks, and she worked really hard at riding instead of walking. One of the things that impressed me the most was how she cleared both zig-zag bridges. I had to practice last year before I could get across them! Mandy had so much fun on this course, when we finished instead of waiting for her dad to get back to the car she decided we should ride the 4.5 miles back to where we are staying.


Jason, Jeff, and Mikey. Met them on the trail and hooked up for the rest of the ride.

Royce taking off to do the race course.

Mandy preparing to ride toward the course.

Mandy working on clearing the course. She did a good job.

After the ride, mud on the legs and she didn't mind.

Jackson Day 1

Technically our first day in Jackson was yesterday, but we arrived in the evening and did not go out and do anything other than some small grocery shopping. Today was a day of what we should do. Of course we decided to go mountain biking. After visiting one of the local bike stores, getting a trail map, we headed to a trail that was supposed to be a Mandy type of trail.

When we arrived we were a little confused about what trail we should go on. After asking a rider that had just come down the trail, we got some directions and headed off. However, we ended up taking a bit of a wrong turn as we heard a trail in our head and could not remember which way we were supposed to go, so we turned onto Hagan's--the wrong way! Mandy did great, but because we did not go the right way we had a huge hike a bike, so big that Royce had to take Mandy's bike up for her.

After we got up the road we realized we had gone on the wrong trail, and we were supposed to go on Putt-Putt. We continued up the double track we eventually came to Putt-Putt. This was a fun trail. A little bit of up, and a lot of down--of course if you ask Mandy she may think there was more up. Note to self and others. When you arrive at the top and it is flat do not, I repeat DO NOT tell the young rider that it is flat from here, especially if you have not been on the trail. The young rider will take it literally and not understand that at this point it is flat, but down the trail it could change. There were a couple of times I said this and we would ride and then all of the sudden it went up...oops. After we finished Royce and I took turns riding the trail by ourselves. A lot of fun, simple trail, great for the family.

Looks like my Superfly may have a crack in it again! It is under the clear coat, so I am not sure. This was the start of the day.
Mandy was not happy about going in the flowers for a picture she was determined she would get stung by a bee. Look at all of the flowers, very beautiful.

Royce taking off up Cache Creek trail.

Royce coming through the trees on Hagans trail.

Mandy coming through the trees and hikers not wanting to wait.

This time in the trails by herself.

Royce crested the hill and then went off the trail. I know I shouldn't show this, but it Mandy and I were right there, and it was really funny.

The hike a bike on Hagan's - this is 1/4 of the way up.

Coming across one of the flat sections--almost a smile on her face.

Coming across the trail.

View from the top.

Checkout the horses in front of the Cowboy bar.

Solitude ICup State Championship

What a great morning for a race--perfect temperature and great course. The race started out going up a road and down single track. I rode downhill fairly tentative--I was being cautious due to my already broken nose. Once I hit the new part of the up hill I settled in to a good pace and rode--my legs felt good. On the downhill I felt great and as I went down I became more confident in my skills and less concerned about falling and hurting my nose.

The second lap I felt good, but I am pretty sure my body was tired. I slipped on a couple of uphill switchbacks, and I was talking with Patty as we rode up the trail--you cannot have conversations when you are at race pace. Since we were in different categories we stayed together without the pressure of losing our positions. As we headed into the down hill Patty let me in first since she felt I would go faster. I was feeling good this time around on the downhill and went much faster than the first time. On the down I passed Hayden on a rocky section and continued to feel confident, and then it happened. Somewhere a rock, a turn or something caused me to fly off my bike. I went down hard, on the left side of my body and hit the left side of my face. Luckily I did not hit my nose--just by it. I quickly jumped up, and let everyone that was around know that I was fine and to not tell my husband. I jumped back on my bike and continued down As I rode I discovered my seat had twisted to the side. Since it was near the end of the course I kept riding and finished with a crooked seat.

At the finish line I was pretty dirty and dusty and the people noticed my arm was ripped up--so much for keeping the crash a secret from my husband, I didn't even notice it, although there was a lot of blood. I was directed over to first aid where they actually took a hose to my arm and legs to get all of the dirt, rocks and blood off me. Once they were done it still wasn't clean enough so I had to go and scrub the dirt out of my wounds in the bathroom. The ladies in the bathroom were less than thrilled to see me grit my teeth and scrub out the blood and dirt. After I was done back to first aid to get bandage upped. Oh, and after all that I ended up in first place.
Sally and me on the podium. Dorthy had to go or she would also be on the podium.
Next Day - Sore and bruised, but anxious to get on my bike.

Broken Nose, Birthday and Rock Climbing

Tuesday
Was in the championship softball game, second inning of tie breaker heading into the third. Runner is coming into home-first throws to home and I go in for a low tag, because the runner is supposed to slide--runner did not slide and I took it hard to the face. I ended up with a whiplash, 3 stiches and a broken nose. Saw the nose doctor on Friday and he said I had to wait for the break to heal inside and then he would do surgery--my septum is now deviated from the break. Oh, and riding a bike I found out I breathe more through my nose than I thought. Solitude is going to be interesting.
I put on make up so you couldn't see my black eyes. It doesn't look bad, but it sure does hurt!
Wednesday

Mandy had her 10th birthday. A day full of skating, swimming, cake and the movie Harry Potter. Oh and she got the guitar that she has been asking for, for the last 2 years!

Friday

Mandy has been going to the Quarry all week for climbing camp. Here are pictures of her climbing.

Mandy climbing up the white sections.

Doing the king swing.

Moose Crossing

Went to pre-ride Solitude tonight. Love the new course it is a lot of fun. Jen and I almost ran into two moose on our way towards the upper loop, just before the up hill climb begins. They were about 2 years old and were probably siblings. I don't know how long moose stay with their mom, but luckily we did not see a mom.

Blurred, but I got the picture.
Jen enjoying the trail.

Quick break for a picture-don't know who the rider is in the background.

Snowbird Icup Race

The morning of the race started out a bit sluggish. For those of you who do not know, I play on four softball teams. Right now we are in tournament. Three of the teams I am on are very competitive and we usually place in the top two of our division, one of the teams is a family team and we are not the best, but not the worst. Last night was the family team tournament. We played at 7 pm and if we won we kept playing until we lost. I was not worried about playing all night due to our past games, so I did not get a sub for the night, instead I showed up to play. Well you guessed it we played all night. By the time we finished I had pulled lmy eg muscle and did not get home until 10:30 pm, which meant I did not get to bed until 11:30 pm. By the time I got up, drove to Snowbird and got to the start line I was feeling very tired and unmotivated to race.

It seems being unmotivated to race only plays a small part in how I ride. As we worked our way up the line to the start I started to get the nervous, anticipation feeling. My competitiveness was starting to kick in. At the start line it was the normal joking and then it was down to business. As we started I took off. I could feel the hang over from playing the night before, but that was okay I still was going to pull to the front, and I did. Mentally I was not completely up for this, but apparently I have a stronger drive than I realize.

I ended up at the front of the pack, but Jolene was right there with me. I could hear her as we rounded corners, and by this I mean we actually were talking about the race and the course. We pulled over together twice to let a couple of young riders pass, we talked about the course and how we did not like a turn, we discussed whether I was going fast enough or not--I decided I was, especially because I knew we had another lap to do. We talked back and forth throughout the entire first lap and stayed together the whole time. We had more than one spectator comment that we should be racing not socializing, and apparently Royce felt the same way. I disagree it was nice to have someone close that first lap.

The second lap was a little bit different. This lap we were not as close, but we were still pretty close. We rode fairly close together throughout the first of the single track and then we came to the new section of trail. I kept pretty steady through here and then when I hit the switchbacks I finally got into race mode and decided to turn up the pace a bit. This turned out to be a necessity for later in the race.

Going up the switchbacks I could see Jolene behind me instead of hear her behind. At the top of the hill I hit the dreaded gravel road. My first time down this hill Jolene caught me and stayed right behind me, the second time down I rode it much better and did not see her the entire time, although I knew she was close behind. By the time I got to the bottom under the chairlift/tram I saw Jolene closing the gap. Once again I picked up the pace a bit as I climbed the road to the single track. It was about this time I heard wheels coming up speedily behind me. If Jolene was going that fast I would be happy to let her pass me. It turned out to be a young boy going through some voice changes--he sounded a lot like her, I sure hope it changes for the better.



Heading down the single track to the finish all I could think was don't screw this up, and of course about the time I thought this I screwed it up. There is a large bridge you go over and then you go to a little up hill that has some rocks you need to clear. I have never struggled to get over these rocks, but this time I lost traction and ended up off my bike. I was sure Jolene was going to get me right there and pass me. Lucky for me she did not, but she sure did get close. Glad I had put a little bit of distance between us.

I continued along and kept pushing hoping to increase the distance between us. I know how good Jolene is at sprinting at the end and I really did not want to have to sprint against her. I ended up on the road to the finish first and pushed it up the road. I crossed the finish line and just stayed there exhausted from the last little push. Jolene crossed 15 seconds later. We both hung on our bikes for a moment, gave our congrats' and moved on. I then took off to meet Mandy.



A final note. Apparently Ed has forgotten the 35+ division and the sport women division. We stood in the rain patiently waiting for him to call our division and names. After a bit we realized he was talking and it appeared podium was over. We had to get his attention and sure enough he had forgotten us. So we have now gone from getting our awards last, to being totally forgotten. Ed, I think you owe us and we need to be called first for the rest of the year at awards. ;-)
Racers lining up to the start. Having fun at the finish line before we start to race. Congrats and exhaustion at the finish line.
The forgotten podium in the rain. Mandy's Race

I would venture to say Mandy did not have fun at this race, and I guess I can't blame her if I was in her shoes. She is a funny little girl, she loves to go to the races, but struggles doing physical activity during the week. Today's race though I think she started with less than a happy face.

Mandy at the start line.

I dare say she got off to a good start, but this course is hard and the majority of it is climbing. On my second lap I saw Mandy on the new cut trail walking her bike just coming out of the trees. I gave her advice for the downhill and then did not see her again until after I had finished.

Starting off good.

After my finish I went and met Mandy. She was coming up the hill from under the chair lift/tram. Needless to say I did not come upon a happy campier. She is very discouraged about always being in last, and walking her bike so much. As we walked and sometimes rode the last part of the trail Mandy vented and let me know exactly how she felt about today's race.

She was very mad I did not tell her how hard the trail was. I should have told her it was mostly uphill and not very fun. She thought the down hill was not fun and boring on the road, and the other part was hard because of the rocks. She did not like the down hill at all. She was mad I had wasted her day, because she could have done better things with her time. When we got to the road and I was riding by her towards the finish, she asked me to go ahead because she was embarrassed to ride with me. I went ahead and she ended up eventually riding through the finish.

I had her stay for podium and as you can see there is a very unhappy face. Eventually the unhappy face disappeared with recovery of a Big Mac, fries and a drink. Well deserved after all she went through.

I struggle with having Mandy race. She likes the races and at the same time she hates them. She gets very discouraged coming in last and talks about what a horrible rider is. I worry because I don't want this to have a negative affect on her. I get her to ride her bike but not often enough--not from lack of trying. Yet she loves to ride when she does, loves going down hill and of course hates going up. The race courses are hard and she isn't skilled enough yet for them. So what does a mom do? She likes it, she doesn't? She has fun, she doesn't? Does she keep racing or does she stop?
The 12- under podium group.

Cold, tired and ready to go home.