Ready or not ... here we go!

Well, the count down is over and Worlds is here .. tomorrow that is! The feild is deep this year with 400 Solo riders taking on the challenge and vying for World titles so it's going to be nothing if not competative ... it should be good ....

Now for the real question ... am I ready? Well, I have my super star pit manager (Kate) and my super keen pit helpers (Mom and Dad) ready to support me .... I have my bike, my kits, and my food, tools and etc ... I am feeling rested ... and my legs? Well we know once i start up the first hill climb tomorrow!

So what have i been up to? Well, eating bonbons, laying around, and posing for pictures (here is one with my dad) ...

... ok, in all seriousness ... i've been scooping out the course, resting, doing last minute errands, and generally getting ready for the big day - tomorrow!   On Thursday the Canadaian team got together for a lap of the course and dinner afterwards ... here we all are with our team kits on ... getting ready to ride:

The ride was pretty fun ... relaxed pace and my legs felt good. unfortunately 1/2 way around the course my shifting cable snapped (it was a bit frayed) and i was single-speeding it. now, I'm not a practiced single-speeder and didn't think that 2 days before the race was the right time to learn ... so I ended up walking most of the hills for the 2nd half. Seems like a lot more climbing when you are walking :)

Kate arrived between the team ride and dinner and i'm super stoked to have her here! Today we built my 2nd bike, got my shifting sorted out, and tires and tubes all ready to go! Kate did a loop of the course and I did a quick spin, rested, and then went out for some last-minute errands. And now ... we are just getting ready for sleep ...

I won't be posting for a bit but Kate will be tweeting about my race under Monilee24Solo so if you are interested you can follow along there :)

Moving and prepping for Spokane

.... the past 4 weeks have been a blur. We got back from Moab, promptly packed up the house, moved into our new one, and began the long job of unpacking and settling in! Mix this with a heavy month at work and you get ... a quiet blog :)

It's that time though ... prepping for Spokane! I picked up the '10 Faze two weekends ago and and on her maiden voyage I killed my fastest lap time by 3 minutes!!! And I did it 3 laps in a row. Nice. That bike floats. I'm still looking fror the hole where they put the helium ... it climbs like a goat and the descending ... i made up a minute on the climb (25 min) and 2 on the descent (down to 17 minutes). That thing just rocks the downhills. I fell in love the first lap.

I've been taking it out every weekend since and beating my lap times each ride (faster and faster!)... until today.  Today was different ...

The day started out innocently enough  ..but with cloudy skies and a wet parking lot i knew I was in for a wet ride. I was cool with that ... it kinda suited my mood - i needed to release some energy so I wanted something hard. Well, i got it. I made good time up the climb and down the super technical singletrack. Even on the wet roots and rocks I was smoking fast. I was totally soaked and cold ... couldn't feel my fingers ... but I was loving it!

Out onto the road and then it happened. Absolute downpoor. I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me. I am not kidding. It was dumping buckets. What can you do? Keep pedalling. Pedal faster ... my legs weren't super co-operative as they were freezing cold but I kept moving. And then.... yup ... hail! Ouch! that hurt. Little balls of hail spitting at me out of the sky. Not nice. Need to pedal faster!!! Eventually I got back to the car, lementing my lap time when I realized I had tied my best lap time from last year. Sweet!

I can't tell you how dirty and wet I was. It was like i stood under a stream of muddy water ... I'm putting the clothes through the wash for the 3rd time :)

But yeah, ok, now I feel tough enough for Spokane :)

Tomorrow I head out to Samammish Valley Cycle for a final tune up on my bikes ... it's coming fast!

Race Report - Stottlemeyer 60

Stottlemeyer 60 - so fantastic to have a 60 mile race in our backyard!!!

The Numbers:
Miles: 60 (my garmin may not have tracked them all - there was a lot of twisting and turning)
Verticle: ~7000 ft
% singletrack: 90%
Time to finish: 6:18
Place: 1st
# Women: 8

The Race
The weather was typical Seattle spring weather: 10 degress and drizzle.  The start was delayed 30 minutes due to traffic at the Ferry crossing so although we would have been a bit late, we had time to warm up and get everything ready. A quick race breifing later and we were off! the start was downhill and I was strategicly placed at the front ... my goal for the race was to flirt with how fast I could go out and hold it - and see how my stomach held up. Oh, and to win too :)

I was excited to see Kari Studely at the start - she's the one I was trying to catch at the last short race and is pretty fast. I decided to take her wheel and see how things went. I was behind her until the single-track and then found an oppertunity to pass ... and off I went. I was riding my Norco EXC hardtail today and was (if i must say so myself) riding really well. The singletrack was tough - twisty, turny, muddy, and fresh cut.  It was slow going ... but great for technical riders - it was to my advantage as I was having a good day.

After the single-track I followed a group of people down the wrong path (apparently the locals don't like the tags so were taking them down) ... 6 minutes in we realized it was wrong and turned around. Ouch, it hurt to lose 12 minutes, especially when I knew Kari wasn't far behind me coming out of the singletrack. So ... time to buckle down, speed up, and see if I can play 'catch up'.  15 minutes later - at the first aide station, I saw Yvonne getting food. She had passed me as well while I was off playing on the trails. We got in a group down the road and then into the single track I built up a pretty good gap on the group. Out of the single track I caught a guy and we turned right .... wrong way! We didn't get too far but far enough for the group to catch us and it was a battle to pass them all again.

With that out of the way I was full-on in chase mode. I wanted to hunt Kari down. I had no idea how fast she'd be in the longer stuff but I figured worst case scenario would be that I bonk ... and since I was in 2nd anyway I didn't care. Pedal Faster, Pedal Faster .. Pedal Faster!!! :)

30 miles in I found out that Kari had dropped - apparently she got lost too (also lost around 10 min) and decided to pull the plug. Too bad ... but I had a race to ride. I wanted to finish in under 6 hours so I had to keep moving. And so I did. The course was actually 4 laps of ~14 miles each. There was a nice 24% grade climb on the course where I'd eat my Tums, a cliff block, some electrolytes ... and of course my Perpetuem. My eating was going really well and I was pretty happy that I was able to push the pace and hold my stomach together. Very promising for the longer stuff ...

The last two laps I'd keep on catcing up with guys and then trying to chase them down. Sometimes I was successfull but there were a few that got away :) The last lap I turned it up as much as I could ... but I didn't make it under 6 hours.

All in all it was a great day! Frase also got lost and suffered a flat tire and cramping. He pulled it all together to finish at around 6 hours ...

Race Report: Fort Steilacoom

Last Sunday I completed my 3rd race of the 2010 season at Fort Steilacoom. My legs were ready to go and my mind was very eager - I'd missed out on the last race so I was full of racing energy.

Quick Summary:
# laps: 3
Total distance: 25km
Time: 1:41
Terrain: lots of twists and turns, very technical, some good climbs
# women in Open/Expert: 12
Place: 2nd

The Details:
The weather couldn't have been better. I left the house expecting overcast skys and potential rain. While I was warming up the sun came out and the arm and leg warmers came off ... perfect racing temperature. i had a good warmup because I heard it was a shorter course than usual. I was riding my hardtail for a change so I also wanted to try it out in the woods. It's been a while since I've been on a hardtail on the trails ... this wasn't the smoothest course for a hardtail .. but I was eager to try it out - I'm planning to race it at some of the 100milers I do this year.

The start was fast and furious as usual. I settled in behind two women and held their wheels.  At the first turn one of them took the wrong direction (you really had to keep your eyes open on that course) and then there were two. I could hear two other women right behind me. The 4 of us were together up the first climb, which was steep and not so short ... it was also deceiving. There was a 'false top' where we were all still together and then another climb where we dropped the two behind me. Down the descent we made up even more time and never saw them again. I was chasing Keri around the course, playing cat and mouse. She was stronger in the twisty stuff ... I was strong on the climbs and descents ... back and forth we'd go. Finally up a long hard hill I pulled it off ... a good pass follwed by a fast descent! Just after that I bailed on a hard fast corner doing a full-body skid. She passed me and that was the end of that!

It was a fantastic race - i felt really strong on the hills and descent everywhere else.  Project 'race into shape' is coming together :)

Leadville 100 - I'm in!!!

So yeah ... I just got word: I am IN for the Leadville 100!! Whoohoo ... bring on 100 miles of pain and oxygen debt :)

I'm super excited - for those of you who have not heard of this race, check out the Race Across the Sky movie.  What is this racek you ask? Here is a quick summary:

• Distance: 100 miles
• Climbing: 18,000 feet
• Altitude: 9,000 to 13,000 feet (hence the oxygen debt)
• Date: August 14th
• Record setters: Lance Armstrong (6hr 28 min), Rebecca Rusch (8hrs 15 min)

Time to start pedaling faster :)