Somerville...yay...

The aftermath of Bike Jam was worse than we had originally imagined. Ky ended up going to the hospital this morning (instead of joining us at Somerville) to find out that she had a massive infection from the road rash and a hairline fracture in her ulna. Not good. But, she's in good spirits and recovering with the help of her various minions. It's always good to have minions.

Somerville was....HOT. Really freakin' hot!! But, it was also fun.

I wasn't sure if I was going to race. I woke up Sunday morning with a bad pain in my right hamstring tendon. It hurts to lift my leg up to 90 degrees (kinda the way you do EVERY time you pedal a bike!). Pair that with a sore shoulder that aches when I pull on the bars, I was sure that I would be sitting this one out.

But, I love this race and really needed and wanted to get in there and give it a go. So, despite some wincing on the trainer, I Biofreezed the crap out of my body and headed to the start line with Alaina, Arley, Becky, Kacy, Leah and Robin.

For whatever reason, my leg didn't hurt during the race. It hurt again as soon as I stopped, but during the race...zero pain. Schweet.

I felt pretty good today. I moved about the field comfortably...I went to the inside, the outside, the front-ish, the middle, the back...I wanted to feel good during and, more importantly, after the race. Even though I contemplated jumping a few times, I held back because I was afraid of tweaking my leg the wrong way.

So, in the end, I stayed in the pack and finished strong with the field for 24th. That's 15 places higher than last year! :) I am glad that I raced. I am glad that my leg does not feel worse from racing. I am glad that my teammates are the best teammates (and some of the best friends) I have ever had. I am glad that Sara was there - cause she's the bomb. I am glad that we all stayed safe, upright, and bruise-free today. I am glad that I love riding and racing my bike.

Bike Jam...aka...Crash Fest 2011

Well, yesterday was a rough one. The majority of the team headed down to Baltimore for Bike Jam. This has typically been a race that I have really enjoyed. Even though it has a reputation for being crashy and sketchy. Still - I've always felt like I had good legs there and enjoyed it.

Yesterday was a different story. While I still like the course, I have a hard time understanding how this race seems to be jam packed with crashes - that often send folks to local area hospitals.

The race started out fine...Alaina and I did exactly what we were told - went to the front to hold pace for the first lap. As we came up the slight rise to the finish line, we heard it. The sound of carbon on cement and the inevitable tumult of crashing noises that followed. Knowing that we had a total of 9 riders in the field, it was inevitable that at least one of us had gone down in that massive pile-up. Unfortunately, it was Ky - who suffered some pretty severe road rash on the right half of her body and a helmet-crushing slide into the curb. She fared better than my dear friend Cass, who went to the hospital on a stretcher and was later confirmed to have several broken parts (rib and finger), gashes big enough for stitches, and a possible concussion.

A few laps later, we again heard the sound of trouble when a tire blew to the right of me and a domino of riders took me endo-ing over my bars. Oh joy. I have to say, I'm glad we did those tumbling drills early in our training sessions with Mike. Not to be too self-satisfied or anything, but I definitely gave myself a 10 on the style chart for my excellent roll! I came away with a scraped elbow and lots of bruises, but nothing else. Mitch found herself less well-off with some bone bruising and major contusions on her back.

By that point, my impetus to race hard and take chances was pretty low. Still, I took my free lap and got back into the race. We tried to continue our "tactic" for the day - we spent a lot of time at or near the front and trying to keep Arley protected and trying to move her up. But, I was pretty blown. Mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I KNOW that there are individuals out there that could simply ignore the fact that people were hurt. Who only care about themselves and "their" race. But, I am not that person. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about Mitch, Ky, Cass, etc. It took the wind out of my sails at the end of the race. I was happy to finish, but I am far happier to know that my teammates and friends are okay.

The bruises, scrapes and broken bones will heal, we will all go out there and race again (Monday, to be sure), and we will continue to love the bike.

Minor Make-Over

I went to the hair salon to get a trim....

Hehe....

Maxwell's Road Trip...

Maxwell demanded a road trip. He said that he was tired of just sitting in the living room and wanted to get out and see the world. So...we packed up the car and used his itching hooves as an excuse to head west to Michigan for the Tour of Washtenaw. The Tour - a 55 mile Roubaix-style road race in Saline - was just another excuse to visit with the family for a few days.

Sara and Maxwell prepare for departure.

The drive out to Michigan with Sara and Maxwell was awesome. We laughed, we cried, we sang, we oinked, we did crossword puzzles. We kept ourselves highly entertained for nearly 10 hours and were thrilled to arrive in Michigan.

Maxwell ARRIVES in Michigan!

Maxwell at the Mini-Tower...he was so happy!!

Unfortunately, Michigan realized that we had arrived and wanted to spend time on our bikes, so it promptly provided us with the WORST weather possible. For the majority of our stay it was cold and rainy. And, by cold, I mean COLD...upper 40s, low 50s, etc. The best day of the trip was the day of the race (thank you, weather nymphs!) when it was drizzly, but warm.

Shot of some of the roads at the Tour of Washtenaw...

The race was fun - if, by fun, you mean painful and awesome. We had some diabolical plans that worked pretty well. We hit the first dirt section (photo above) and gunned it. By the end of the first dirt section, we had but the front of the field down to 7 riders - including all of the gals that we had our eye on (Kim Chapman, Alicia Trevino, and Kathleen Tipler). The race was tough and ended with an uphill sprint finish. I managed, with an AMAZING amount of work from Nikki and a wicked sweet leadout from Ky, to snag 2nd place.

Once the race was over, we turned our attention to more fun things...like eating and drinking in Ann Arbor, visiting Greenfield Village, and spending quality time with the family.

Perhaps the best part was paying Hedbanz. Might I recommend this game for all college students - we have already figured out the best way to debauch a perfectly good children's game into a wildly awesome drinking game.

It was awesome to see my parents, my brother and sister-in-law and the niece and nephew. Not to mention meeting Franklin D. Barker. :)

I think another road trip is in Maxwell's future. Who knows where we might go next!

Recent Awesomeness - Photo Style

A picture says a thousand words. That's crap actually, pictures can't talk. Duh. But, these photos are pretty rockin....

Muddy Warriors post Tour of Washtenaw...

The Jeffy Cup

Jeff Cup Road Race...how I love thee - when you aren't held in 40 degree rainy weather!! :)

This race is really pretty awesome. The course is wonderfully rolling, with some wicked fast descents and some nice, leg-crushing climbs. It attracts nice, large fields of strong women - especially when it is held as a Nature Valley Selection race.

It was a tough day for the Warriors, though. Kacy was sick, Nikki woke up to a dead car, and Mitch and I had both been off the bike for two days before the race. I spent most of it on my BEHIND sitting at Awards Ceremonies, Exams, Graduation, and driving the 6 1/2 hours to Charlottesville. NOT the best way to start a 50 mile hilly road race, eh?!

Anywho...Alaina, BChan, Leah, Mitch and I lined up with about 45-50 other Cat 1/2/3 women for the race. The field included some major team presence with the Virginia Asset Group, Vanderkitten, ABRT, and Synfit with 4 or more riders.

The first few laps were tough but controlled. Very few attacks occurred until the end of lap 2 and into lap 3 (thankfully for me because my legs opened up at the end of the 2nd lap!). Still, most of the attacks seemed to lack conviction. Including the one that ended up going away. Heading into the finish of lap 3, one rider rolled off the front and was essentially never seen again. Not sure what happened, or why no one seemed to organize a chase, but she ended up soloing 20 miles to the win. Don't get me wrong, some girls were chasing, but it didn't seem like there was anything organized going on. It was strange because it was just Alaina and I at that point with no reason to go to the front and work, so we relied on the larger teams to respond. But, they didn't. :/ Alas!

It was a tough race and Alaina had a great finish for 7th. I'm not sure where I ended up (somewhere in the middle)...but I feel like it was a good test run for Washtenaw this upcoming weekend!

Very much looking forward to our road trip home to the mitten and racing with my brother!! :) YAY! Bring on the dirt!!

Pain Mountain

This past weekend was the Tour de Ephrata. It's a fun race. Well, at least, the road race was fun and the crit was fun. The Time Trial - aptly named Pain Mountain - was...well...painful. It would be inappropriate to call it Moderately Uncomfortable Mountain. Or A Wee Bit Tough Mountain. It is very accurate to refer to it as Pain Mountain.

Now, not being a particularly light weight climber, I was significantly worried about this portion of the race. Turned out to be my best placement of the weekend and helped to put me into the top 10 on the GC, which was cool. This is not to say that I rocked it. More fitting would be to say that I did a typical Porkchop move (some have seen this on the Wall climb in the past two years), where I sat my butt in the saddle and used every muscle from my heiney to my toes to power my way up most of the steep sections. I figured that if I stood up too much, while I might go a bit faster, I would blow out my quads for the Crit. Didn't want to do that!

In the end, I ended up 8th on the TT. At the end of the crit, I had moved from 14th in the GC after the Road Race to 9th! Kewl.

The team had a great weekend...we came together phenomenally in the crit and Arley ended up with a 2nd place finish and a 5th in the GC.

Overall, considering the stiff competition and the challenging courses, we had a great weekend to put two riders in the top 10!

My Hero!

So, I have to do a major shout out here to my big brother who took his first WIN in a mass-start race over this past weekend!!

CONGRATS, BRO on taking the top step at the Cone-Azalia!! I know that it was a major event on your list and I am so proud of you!!

Can't wait to race the Tour of Washtenaw with you! WAHOOOOOOO!!!!

xoxoxo