Do Overs - Round Valley

I did the second race for the USCS series last night at Round Valley.  It was a great course and a lot of fun to ride on.  I have to say if you have not had an oppurtunity to particate in one of the USCS races you should.  They are low key, fun and your kids can race for only $5 dollars--who can beat that.

The start time for the race was 5 pm--different from what I am used to, but apparently my body was okay with this.  We started off with a pretty good group of sport women.  I like this series, because it breaks the up the women's sport division into sport and 35+--although we start together we do not compete against each other. 

As we took off from the start line some of the gals blasted off the start.  I actually started at a reasonable pace and then picked it up--I wanted to take this race at an even pace, so I could ride after and prepare for the PC50 coming up.  During the shake out loop, not to my surprise Sally went blazing by, perfect, now I have my carrot to chase.

For the entire first lap I could see her just ahead--which was fine, because my goal was to turn it up on the second lap.  By turning is up I mean on the up, because anyone that knows Sally they know she can down--like me her favorite thing is to see if she can go down without using her brakes.  I think this may be where a broken hand can be an advantage because you do not want to brake, because it will hurt.  Oh, yes did I mention Sally was racing with a broken hand!  And apparently it did not affect her mountain biking skills at all, because I never caught her.

During the second lap I turned it up and I kept seeing Sally up ahead.  I pushed on the hills and pushed on the downs hoping I could overtake her--no dice.  That girl is sooo fast. On the final climb and descent the majority of the pros started to do their passing.  This was the one place I was hoping to not run into the pros, there is passing, but it is tight.  Thinking I could still see Sally I didn't want to lose much time, so passing without pulling over became tricky.  Thank goodness the pros were so skilled.  As we went up I would go close to one side of the trail and they would hop over and pass.  As a side note, can I just say how amazing it is to watch them climb with such speed it's like I am standing still as they go by.  I wonder if it looks the same to them, the me standing still that is. 

At the top of the final climb is a straight away, then you go down into some semi rocky switchbacks, then you got to another short straight away and into smooth switchbacks.  This is where I wish I could have my do over.  Hot after Sally and hoping I could catch her I hit the top of the climb ready to push it hard on the down.  I am not sure where, but somewhere on the descent I was overtaken by a pro rider and passed.  It had to have been on a straight away, but I am not sure where.  What I do remember is following him for just a little bit as we skidded through some of the upper switchbacks.  Sometime during that period another rider wanted to pass.  We hit a straight away I said pass, but no pass--I took off and we headed downhill.  The rider stayed close behind me, and I was surprised.  I had passed another rider behind me on the down and left him far behind and thought this rider was him.  I couldn't believe the skills the rider was displaying as they had not been present when I had passed him on the downhill before, so this greatly added to my confusion.  At this point I began to wonder if the person behind me needed to pass, was I holding them up or were they fine staying behind me.  I kept going not quite sure what to do.  All of the sudden as I was trying to figure this out.  I hear "Kendra I can't pass without taking both of us out you need to find a place"  My internal response is "yikes"  I am holding this person up.  I immediately pulled over so he could pass feeling awful knowing I had held him back.  As I pulled over I hooked a tree/bush branch with my handlebars and immediately went over my bike.  A few curse words were dropped, I jumped up got on my bike and  took off.  A little shook up as I went down I lost some of my momentum and smoothness on the down--I hate it when crashes do that to you.  I finished, feeling strong and happy with how I did, but with ripped up skin and bruises on my knees and arms.....ugh.

I found Sally and learned she was actually 5 minutes ahead of me!!!  I don't know who it was I kept seeing in front of me, but it obvsiously wasn't Sally (or at least some of the time it wasn't).  I found the rider and apologized for holding him up.  I felt awful, and it wasn't because I knew him or that he was a pro, it was because I held up and rider and I never want to do that.  I don't know what I could do to do it over, but I want a do over.  I want to let this rider pass, and I want to avoid the crash.  I know how frustrating it can be to not pass, as the last two races I have had riders intentionally not let me pass and it held me back from my competition.  In my case I continually asked to pass and was refused, in this case I didn't refuse, I basically just messed up.  

On a brighter note.  I took 2nd place!  Very excited about the win and about how I rode.

Draper - Laying it Down

I listened all night and into the early morning as the rain came down.  I wondered as many I am sure did whether the race would be delayed or post-poned.  Early in the morning the first tweet came in "Well, no snow out here.  Very light rain."  Then the next "No rain now. Clearing. Walked part of trail. No tracks. Sand drys quickly."   Eventually another tweet came letting us know the race was delayed an hour.  Hmmm... maybe the race course wouldn't be too bad, I was skeptical, but thought I may as well go and give it a try.  I liked this course and felt like I could do well.

Upon arriving to the race, I immediately realized the condition of the course was going to be the least of my worries.  It was cool and breezy--the cold part would not have been so bad but the breeze chilled you to the bones.  Just standing in line all of us in the women's sport division were chattering from the chill.  I could not wait for the start just so I could get going and get warm. 

My start went really well this time.  I went off the front, but this time I held it for at least a mile, and then somewhere just before we entered into the Equestrian area Ali passed me.  She was looking strong.  I had now worries about the pass, I was just thrilled I held the front that long.  As we entered into single track Jen soon came up on me and I let her know to let me know when she needed to pass (I figure you can pass and if I am fast enough I will pass you back).  She waited until we hit the double track and then up the hill she went.  My last words to her "see ya' at the finish".

I kept going strong and was surprised to not hear any other sport women come up on me.  In fact I didn't hear anyone until we hit the double track downhill.  I was able to hold the next rider off until we went into the switchback uphill climb--amazing!  And actually it was good she passed me here, because I definitely needed to pace myself in this part.  As I went up I could see Lyna behind me--I didn't know how long I could hold her off, but I sure was going to try.  Eventually she caught me on the down just before the half lap--snuck right by me, it was awesome.  Even better, I held with her.  My goal was to keep her in my sights for the rest of the race.

I was doing great at my goal, and then it happened.  I went into a downhill switchback that had a trench on the inside, a little percarious, but very easy as long as you hit it right.  I hit it right and then all of the sudden I was down, and I was down hard.  Not seconds after I hit I jumped up grabbed my bike and sent the two riders behind me on their way.  I went to get on my bike and saw my handle bars had turned around.  I went to turn them back and discovered they were stuck!  I tried and tried, but could not turn my bars around.  The course marshal came to help and he could not get them to turn.  They were stuck and they were stuck good.  It took some time, but eventually with some prying and jimming the course marshal and I were able to turn them back, but not without some damage to my bike.  During all of this I lost sight of Lyna and was passed by another rider in my division.  I took off and did all I could to catch everyone.

My poor bike.

I felt a lot of frustration welling inside of me as I rode.  I had wanted so badly to do well at this race and here, once again, I had crashed and had lost a significant amount of time.  There was a lot of encouragement from friends on the course and thanks to them I was able to stave off the frustrations here and there.  I tried hard, but never did catch the other riders.  I did see them, but just wasn't able to catch them--oh the frustrations.  I crossed the line in sixth place, and rode a good ride, but I felt a lot of frustration from the ride which I just could not seem to shake.  It was hard feeling so good and riding so strong and then to watch it all slide away due to a stupid crash. 

The reality is this is mountain bike racing and these things happen.  There are flat tires, chain suck, crashes and who knows what other mechanicals--all of these are a part of racing.  And although we don't like them and we wish they wouldn't happen they are part of what makes a race, and draws us to the next race.

As for me and my frustrations I should have remembered how much I accomplished this race instead of focusing on what I loss.  As I read through this I realized I stayed near the front for a really long time.  Not only that I kept with the front part of the group up until I crashed--that is huge.  I wished I had thought of this at the race.  Oh well.  For now I will celebrate my accomplishments and prepare to do it all over again.  Well, at least as soon as my sore muscles will let me.

Me with my trusty steed.

Proof mud was flipping everywhere!

My bike looks muddier than me!

My Quirkiness



Proof of my quirkiness.



All of us have quirks, and I sometimes wonder just how quirky are mine.  You see I have a few weird things I always do.  Example, I always count the stairs when going up or down them.  I can tell you exactly how many stairs we have on each level at our house.  However, I do not count stairs just at home I count them where ever I take stairs.  Sometimes I will try to trip myself up and skip stairs, or take them in a hurry.  This seems to work and then I don't count them, but under normal circumstances I count them.

Another quirky thing.  I plan out my route as I am driving home figuring out which is the fastest way to go home.  This means I know how each stop light works.  You see, not each stop light has the turn light at the same time--some turn left right when the green light first goes on, others turn left after you have been waiting a bit.  And then to add to the mix in the early morning the left hand turn is different before  7 am and different after--and yes, I know when and how all of the stoplights turn on my way home!  So of course I am watching as I drive to decide whether it would be adventageous for me to turn left or go straight to get home.  And it is not about the distance I take going home, it is about how quick I can get home.  Sometimes the quickest way home is the longest.



These two quirks nobody knew about me until now, but the one that is noticable and makes my husband laugh is how I eat frozen M&M's.  You see I am not a big fan of chocolate--basically I could take or leave it.  But I do like frozen m&m's.  They are crunchy, and you really can't taste the chocolate.  Here is the quirk--I separate my m&m's by color.  Each color is placed into a group with the same color, and they cannot touch each other.  After doing this I eat them in a particular order--in my mind the yuckiest to the best.  This is brown, yellow, orange and red.  Blue and green tie, so whichever one has the most I save for last.  Give me a bag of m&ms and I will save it for later, I just can't eat them out of the bag.  Quirky I know, but I also eat my pizza backwards.  Anyone else have some funny quirks, or is it just me?



The 2 Soldier Hollows

Mad Dog Race Team 2011 

I didn't write about my race last week, there was not much to write, because I failed to show up.  I was there physically, but mentally I did not show up.  I had a very bad attitude about the course, and basically was only riding because it was being sponsored by Mad Dog--poor reason I know, but I did show up.

Since my attitude was so poor, I did not feel competitive and was there to try, but not hard.  It took a wrong turn, and losing a spot to change my whole perspective.  It was at that point I started to ride hard.  After the race was over and I had time to reflect, I was very disappointed in myself.  I wasn,t fatigued or coughing off the finish line.  In fact, I wasn't anything I should have been--I was very disappointed I didn't give it my best.  Giving it my best I wouldn't have placed different, but at least I would have put forth a good effort.  With all this reflection I decided the next race was not going to be a repeat.

Muddy results.

Lining up for race #2 at Soldier Hollow, I was very nervous.  You see, since I had decided I was going to try really hard my nerves got the best of me.  Not so much about placing, but about being able to meet my goal.  With that said, can I just say when you are nervous and you are waiting for Ed to call your division up it is just pure torture--it also, causes many problems with the bladder.

Once on the line my nerves calmed down and I took off.  I rode strong and felt good the whole race.  I did have one small wipe out at the top of the course with the mud.  Because of this I ended up running three switchbacks that were loaded with water and mud.  I don't know if this was a good idea or not, but I felt it would be better than crashing--either way I would lose time and I really didn't want to find out the hard way.  I crossed the finshed line and felt great, I had tried hard, and had the typical I rode hard cough.  Results were good and best of all I gave it my best effort.  Goal from henceforth, no more bad attitude; ride hard and have fun.

Sport Women Podium

Picture by Kay Hutchings

Picture by Kay Hutchings

Picture by Kay Hutchings

Picture by Kay Hutchings

12 Hours of Mesa Verde Redemption

This is my second year doing 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, and I had one goal in mind for this race--to greatly improve from the year before.  Last year when I did the race I was fresh off of my heart surgery.  I thought things would go well at that race, but well let's just say that was when I learned the upcoming year was going to  be a year of recovery.  For me the race this year was a pinnacle, a turning point from where I have been and where I am going.

This year I raced with some great gals Sally and Heather--our team name Cranky Cowgirls (theme for the race was western).  Heather started us off, with Sally second and me third.  Heather and Sally killed it on their laps and then it was my turn.  I started out strong, in fact a little too strong.  I was going to hard at the first and was worried I would end up blowing up.  I kept telling myself to slow down a little bit, but no go, I kept going.  Eventually I did settle in and started going at an even, fast pace.  About half way through the course I looked at my time and saw I was ahead of my goal--I was feeling great, everything was falling in to place.  Then it happened, I crashed!  I didn't just crash, I flipped my bike and landed hard on the ground with a huge grunt, startling all of the people behind me.  I jumped up, moved my bike off the trail and let a train of people ride by.  I saw two women in our division go and began to panic--what if I lost our place, what if I ruined everything Sally and Heather had done.  As soon as the trained passed I hopped on my bike and proceeded to catch up.  In less than one mile I crashed again!  This time nothing major, but once again I had to let a train of people go by and fix my brake--ugh, all that time lost.  From here til the end I flew, hoping to make up for lost time.  Results, I improved my lap time by 15 minutes from last year!  Of course all I could think was if only I hadn't crashed how much faster my lap time would have been.  My biggest concern, not letting my team down.



 I wish I could say my second lap was great, but alas it was not.  Both my laps were in the heat of the day, but my second was in the prime of the heat.  Coming from 40 to 80 degrees just does not seem to agree with me--I can't wait to for it to get warm, so I can start to acclamate to the heat.  The other issue, I drank a very heavy milk product inbetween laps.  I know better than to drink milk during a race, I don't know what was I was thinking--I guess you could say I wasn't.  Needless to say when I left for my second lap I was sick,  all I could think about was throwing up, I even tried about mile 3, but without success.  I felt so miserable, my legs didn't want to go and I all I could hope for was to get through the lap and not lose our place.  My goal had changed from killing it on my lap to making sure no woman passed me and I passed any woman I could see.  I felt so miserable I was sure it took me an hour longer to do this lap.  Lucky for me that was not the case.  I only lost us 8 minutes, and no women passed me....whew. 

Heather coming in on her final lap.

Heather wrapped us up with the final lap and our team held on for a poduim win of 5th place.  The teams this year were much faster than last.  To put it into perspective the first two teams were retired pros and pros, and beat last years times by over an hour.  I can't begin to say how cool it was to race with Heather and Sally and podium.  What a great comeback from last year, and what a fun, fun race.  I am so looking forward to returning and racing here again.

Awesome team mates, awesome team!

Last Day of April

I had great plans for mountain biking and then woke up to this!

Not to be deterred by the weather we met up and decide it was time for a long road ride.  About 13 miles into the ride we passed Patty, so she turned around and rode with us until she reached the outskirts of Payson.  The ride was long and fun--53 miles....so take that snow you are not going to ruin my day!!!

What Happened at Cholla?

I was actually nervous before the race started.  I am not sure why, because I did not have any expectations.  I knew I was still not up to being as fit as my competition, and I would be lucky if I could hang with them, but for some reason I was nervous.  Sally thought it was because we had to wait around for the start and I tend to agree.

KC & Chris's dog Texas making himself home on my chairs so he could watch the race.

Weather conditions were great for the race, except for one minor issue--the heat.  Had the race started earlier the heat was manageable, but since it was later...well, it was not so manageable for me.  When we started the race it was approximately 82 degrees.  Now this is not so bad except apparently some parts of the course were 94 degrees as I was soon to find out.

It was hot enough for the lizards to sun.

I started out the race in true fashion fast and at the front.  Now this is not unusual for me, because I seem to have a fast start, but it doesn't get much faster from there and about 15 seconds from the start people start to pass me.  However, this time that did not happen.  I was a little stunned.  There was some jostling for place going over the slick rock, and I was doing great.  I continued to be near the front until we started to climb.  At this point others began to pass me.  I was okay with this, because we stayed close together and I felt great.  I was pushing it just perfect.

Over the slick rock.

A little more than half way through the first lap.  I hear a cute, little voice behind me, saying she is just pacing off me....it that's okay.  Of course it is okay, I didn't mind, it's always nice to have a little company.  I could see the whole pack as we rode, and was ready to put a few riders behind me.  However, the trail conditions made it difficult for me to pass and then all of the sudden it happened.  We were in this canyon, gulf, gully, I don't know what you want to call it, but all of the sudden I got very, very hot.  I was heating up from the inside out.  I backed off making any move for a moment and just hung with the group hoping my internal heater would cool down.  No such luck.  I continued to get hotter and hotter and as I got hotter I got slower.  Realizing the group was starting to pull away from me and I was not cooling down.   I let my pacer know that she would need to make her move, and she did.  In fact she made such a great move she took 1st place!!!  Something she needs to be posting from the mountain tops--or at least on facebook.

As for me.  Well I never cooled down, but I never quit.  I pushed as hard as I could, but my body rebelled and I heated up each time I tried to push it.  I finished, but I honestly do not know what place I took.  I know it was 3rd to last, but that's all I know.  I was so toasted when I crossed the finished line, all I was concerned about was cooling down.  The cool part of the race  Although I got very hot and my body couldn't handle the heat, my body could handle the race.  It felt strong, which has me looking forward to more races to come.

JEM Trail

After every good race is a well deserved ride.  A group of us decided we need a good cool down ride and headed over to ride JEM.  The ride was beautiful and perfect.  We had a nice little breeze that kept us cool, with perfect cloud coverage.  The down was awesomeness and by the end there was nothing but smiles and huge grins.  What a perfect way to end the day.

Fun Days

So happy to see the sun out today and the weather cooperating.  Couldn't wait to take advantage of the good conditions, so a small group of us went on a 21 mile mountain bike ride.  We started out going up Indian.  If any of you are familar with this trail then you know it is a great fun downhill trail.  Well, it turns out it is also a great, make you sweat bullets, kill your lungs uphill climb.  I was surprised at how difficult it was, and now have a new goal of conquering this climb.  It is not a long climb, but there were a couple of hills I did not clear--nothing bugs me more than not clearing a climb.

After climbing we rode down only to see that a part of our favorite trail has been bull dozed taking away from the beauty of the trail.  It was so sad to see all the trees down. It actually took us a minute to figure out where the trail went  because the bull dozers have wiped it out.  We kept telling Sally how great this trail was, and it was, but not as much as it used to be.

We could have ended after coming down from the BST, but we still wanted to ride, so it was back to climbing.  Up the race course and up to the alter we went.  I can't remember when the last time it was I did this much climbing.  The fun part about climbing, you can visit with the people you are riding with and you get to go downhill!  I love going down the trails in the foothills, they are sooooo much fun.  Of course by the time we got to the bottom it wasn't enough and we took off for the final down of Dragons Back.  Have I ever said I much I like this down--probably every time I ride it.

I had such a great time riding the foothill trails and any other trail we could find.  I am still smiling from ear to ear and dreaming about riding the trails again.  And of course true to fashion since I was so busy having fun I forgot to take pictures, except at the alter.

Is Yoga Babe Certifiable? Longboard Collision!

The weather report had a high wind advisory this, morning, but it wasn't supposed to start until 10 am, and I was sure the wind would miss or arrive late to the area.  So with that in mind I called Yoga Babe to make sure she still wanted to ride and then got ready.  By the time I was ready the wind had begun.  Oh well, I guess the weather report weather report was right.

It is very rare I can  find someone to ride with me in less than good conditions.  I was ecstatic when I rode to Yoga Babe's house and she was still on board for the ride.  We took off in 21 mile an hour winds, or so that is what Yoga Babe said and I believe her.  The wind at one point was so strong I rode my bike tipped at an angle to it wouldn't blow over.  Poor Yoga Babe is about 30 pounds lighter than me and ended up getting blown into the dirt on the side of the road.  Luckily the worst was only for a short part of the ride.  Mind you we had head winds a good portion of the ride, but only the one part was strong enough to blow us off the road.  So glad Yoga Babe came out with me, and now she can be part of the certifiable club of riding in less than perfect conditions.


Longboard Collision

Eventually Yoga Babe and I parted ways, but I was still in the mood for more riding, so I took off up the Canyon. I didn't expect much traffic on the trail as the winds were pretty good.  As I rode up I could tell the ride back was going to be tough as the wind was literally pushing me up the trail.  Which is gret as you are going up, but coming back was sure to be a struggle.

As I was trying to decide how far I would ride I saw 4 to 5 long boarders coming down the trail.  They were in both bike lanes, and not budging, since no one was in the pedestrian lane I went over to the pedestrian lane to avoid being hit.  Apparently the pedestrian lane was not safe as it should have been.  One of the long boarders came around into the pedestrian lane heading straight for me.  I had no where to go.  There were boarders on my left, bushes on my right, a boarder headed straight for me and about 2 seconds to react.  My reacation to use my famous swear word with "Holy" in front of it, skip around the board then collide with the boarder.  Thanks to my mountain biking skills I was able to avoid a straight on hit, and did not get knocked off off my bike. Only the right side of my body hit, but boy did it hurt.  Major, ouch!  I hope it hurt as bad for him.

I know that's not nice, but it really hurt, and he shouldn't have been in the pedestrian lane at all!  Of course after we hit I thought of telling him how he shouldn't have been in the lane, instead I just asked him if he was okay.  He was, so I rode on.  On a side note, he did end up off his board, which gave me a little satisfaction.  

The rest of my ride was uneventful, thank goodness, but it makes me wonder if long boarders should be allowed on the trail.  I have heard stories of them almost hurting people, and being impolite.  Personally I have never had any problems with them.  Some close calls, but no problems until today, which of course makes me wonder.  Do you think long boarders should be allowed on the trail? Or is there another solution--perhaps and even, odd day?  I don't have the answer, but something needs to be done so no one gets seriously hurt.

DZ-Nuts In Heat

I am sure most of you have heard about Dznuts and Bliss, Chamois Cream but have any of you tried Dznuts In-Heat?  I first learned about it in the Cycle and Style Blog I was somewhat sceptical it would work, so I decided to find out for myself.  Unfortunately right about the time I bought it was cold enough outside I didn't want to find out if it worked or not.  For some reason experimenting in 20 degree weather does not seem all that appealing to me.  So, I waited until the conditions were right, which turned out to be this last week.

First test of the product was Friday.  I went out for a short road ride with the temperature 39 degrees.  I had on 2 armers, a vest and my shorts.  I put the high In-Heat on my legs and took off for my ride.  At first it was a little brisk, but within a few minutes of steady riding my legs were warm and I could not feel any chill.  My ride was short only 1.5 hours, and the temperature outside increased by 10 degrees by the time my ride ended.  Results, my legs stayed warm the entire time.

Next test--a longer ride.  I went out for a 55 mile road ride with  a climb and descent on Suncrest.  My friends were all in leg warmers, but I was in shorts.  In fact, I was the only rider that day in shorts.  I am sure many riders thought I was nuts, and maybe I was, but the In-Heat worked.  It was about 42 degrees and stayed that temperature most of the ride.  I was warm the entire ride including the fast descent down Suncrest.  The In-Heat lasted the entire ride and I probably could have gone longer.  Bottom line if you don't feel like wearing leg warmers or extra layers use Dznuts In-Heat.

Oh, one final note.  Don't to forget to wash your hands well and immediately after putting it on your legs.  You don't want to accidently get some in your eyes.