Spokane Race Report

So apparently when you have a 'bruised' bone in your foot, whiplash, and many other bruises, racing isn't really an option ...

OK, now I've got you hooked, here are the details :)

The race started out well - the weather was perfect for me - not too hot. First lap was a good pace, felt great. Lap 2 I had a double flat (ugh) and lost 15 minutes but still finished in a good time. Lap 3 was awesome, started feeling good. Lap 4 I was minding my own business in the single-track when some guy asked to pass ... sure, go on the right. Next thing I know I hear 'oh crap', my handlebars are locked with his and then i am on the ground, with him on top of me. And we were moving at a pretty good pace. The next 2 minutes went like this:
Random dude:  you OK?
Me: (squashed between him, my bike, and the ground): um, can you move off of me?
Random dude: (chuckling) yeah .. sorry
Me: thanks
Random dude: (off me now, dusting himself off) you bleeding?
Me: (checking my Ferrari shorts to ensure they weren't torn), looking at my hip and my arm) nothing major.
Random dude: good ...
Me: can you pass me my bar end?
Random dude: uh, oh! Sorry, sure. (picks my barend off the ground and hands it to me. then after some hestitation:) your bike ok?
Me: seems like it
Random dude: ok, sorry about that, see you later
Me: (still stunned) ok
Later that lap I came up to a climb that I couldn't make and had to walk. Ouch, I must have turned my ankle, I thought. After that I avoided walkking as much as possible ... but didn't give it much thought.

Laps 5 and 6 were great, and I was feeling pretty good. I was a good hour ahead of my desired pace and feeling strong.  Come lap seven my stomach wasn't too happy with me. When you are injured or sustain a crash several things happen: you swell (so you need more fluids), your body temperature goes up (so you need more fluids), your blood gets diverted towards the areas that need attention (and away from your stomach).  All this leads to ... yup, stomach shut down and dehydration.  And so it went. I finished lap 8 at just before 11pm and had to pull the plug. I was determined to recover .. even emptied 7 electrolyte tabs in my mouth for better absorption and drank lots of water. It got worse and worse ... and eventually I got sick to my stomach and had to pull the plug for real. I remained optimistic until about 2am. Yes, i am one stubborn chick.

Several 'low-calorie' Gatorade and many electrolytes later I realized how swollen my foot had become. I had forgotten all about that. I was so determined not to have to go to the hospital for my stomach (no Canmore repeats!) ... and finally I came to the realization that I had to go for my foot. They took a look at me ... bruised hips, knees, and arm - swollen but minor. Whiplash - ouch but ok.  Microfracture in my foot which is basically a bruised bone - really ouch. Ice and elevation, wrap it no running for 6 weeks. blah. On top of that they told me I had a concussion ... my head still hurts!

So in a nut shell ... didn't make my goal of 18 laps but definitely felt that my fitness was there. I completed 8 laps in less than 11 hours and was feeling pretty strong throughout the race. Moral of the story is that you should never crash :) Um, i think I've heard that somewhere before?

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 ...