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 :)

Prepping for Worlds - A report from 'down under'

Well, i made it ... and so did my bags! It was touch and go for a while there wrt flights ... more on that later! First up is a report on the race loop ...

The race takes place in Stromlo Park, just outside of Canberra.  The loop starts out with a short flat section and quickly turns into a series of singletrack switchbacks which lead you up a long 1000ft climb up to the top of Mount Stromlo. Once at the top the trail winds around a bit before heading back down, again all on single-track, a rocky twisty descent. The trail is pretty cool, very rocky (big rocks and baby head rocks) and the corners are bermed so you can 'ride the rails' onthe way down. It's very fun but because the corners are so sharp you can't really get up too much speed. About 3/4 of the way down Mount Stromlo the course starts winding back up again and takes you backup to the top of the mountain again, still on single-track. The course dumps you at the top, on the opposite side of the mountain, and because the course is so exposed (no trees, only bushes) you can see the other riders on the top as well. Kinda cool .... then down you go again, this time slightly more technical with a fun steep rocky descent. I plan to ride that section a few times today :) The course ends by taking you through a bmx type section where you can gain a lot of speed if you work your bike... a fun ending.

While the course does not play to my strengths (lots of climbing but none of it is steep, where i tend to excel ... and lots of descending but I'm not a strong cornerer), it should be a fun time and I am sure that my cornering skills will be killer by the end of the weekend! The course is about 95% singletrack - there are only a few sections that are double-track and none that are road ... this definately plays to my advantage but will make passing tricky. They have a totally seperate couse for the Solos which is good because even with the 400 solos on the course at once, it will be crowded.

It took me an hour and eleven minutes to finish a loop yesterday ... so i'm guessing my lap times will settle right around that ... might be a bit slower due to congestion on the course and lack of passing options ... but we'll see!

By the numbers it looks like this (this is from the course map, I'll confirm with the Garmin today!)
Distance: ~20Km
Climbing: ~2000 ft
Singletrack: 95%
Estimated lap goal: 18 to 20

So now more about my trip here ....

The first leg of my flight was delayed (into SFO) due to fog but luckily they got me on an earlier flight and it looked like I would make it for my connection. Once on the plane, it took forever to take off and then they had to circle a few times around SFO before they could land which meant that we landed 5 min before the connecting flight ... didn't look good. As soon as I got out of the plane i booked it (imagine a full on sprint) to the next gate and made it just in time. OK, in reality they held up the flight for an additional 10 minutes for other connecting passengers :) i was worried my bags wouldn't make it but when i got to Sydney they were there waiting for me ... so it all worked out!!

Thank you, may I have another? 100 miles of Capital Forest

Better late than never :) Here is my race report from the 100 miler i did the other weekend.

The day started off early with a 3AM alarm and sleepy drive south to Capital Forest. When i got there the fog was heavy and it was still pretty dark. Are they sure we can start at 6:30am? Hmmm, seems like it might be still dark. Perhaps I should have brought my lights?

I definately should have brought my lights ... not for the actual race, but to get ready for the race :) It was dark and chilly .. and foggy. The start was casual ... this was the first year for the race and the made the course 2 laps of a 50 mile loop. They had to delay the start by about 30 minutes to let the fog drift off a bit so that we could see the trail ... it jwas barely sunrise when we set off ...

They gave us a running start, le mans style, and just for kicks it was straight up a hill. Nice. It's 7am folks ... we are barely awake, let alone ready to run straight up a hill. But up we went ... and onto our bikes and off to the trails.  The trails were everything they were promised to be. 90% of the course was singletack ... beautiful, twisty, rocky, rooty, singletrack! The climbing surprised me. I was expecting the course to be fairly flat ... maybe a bit of hills. But the course offered just over 15,000 feet of climbing... yup, a lot of hills :)

The first 25 miles were a bit rough for me. I could blame it on being half asleep but the real deal is that i had a cramp in my bum and it was pinching my siatic nerve. Ouch. Every pedal hurt but being the stubborn chick i  am  i stretched on the bike, pedaled through it and kept my pedal strokes even and fast ... eventually it went away (phew). 

The next 25 miles passed in a blur ... fun single track with great descents and amazing climbs. A few stunning views that almost made me do an endo ... great riding!  I was trading spots with a girl from BC for the first 50 miles ... she'd pass me on the climb, i'd pass her on the descent ... and on it went. On the second lap i missed a turn where the course goes two ways (no little pilons to direct me!) ... and ended up doing an extra 11 miles and 2000 feet of climbing ... ouch. That added about an hour ... bleh. You guessed it, I didn't catch the chick from BC ....

But I had a fantastic time and I'd do it again. It was a great warm up for worlds. I finished in just over 11 hours and felt like I could do another 111 miles at the same pace. Not bad ....

Finally .... a race report on my first XTerra

So ... this is really late in coming so I want to appologize up-front :)

My friend Yvonne talked me into doing an Xterra (yes, my first) the night before the race. It was, in a word, FUN! Yup, i think i'm addicted ... here are the fun details.

My strategy for the race was simple: Survive the swim, kill the bike, and fight to maintain my position on the run. 

The race started off with a swim ... Yvonne hooked me up with a wetsuit so i didn't freeze to death in the water :) Don't laugh but it's been a while since i've really swam and i couldn't really remember the whole breathing deal for the front crawl ... so I did the side crawl and the breast stroke the entire way .. yup, the whole 1000m :) It was slow but I did survive. And to my absolute surprise i wasn't the last one out of the water ... i was the 3rd or 4th last ;)

Brian, Yvonne's husband was there cheering and as I left the water he ran beside me and told me .. you're not the last one! LOL. Awesome. :) My transition seemed to be going smoothly until i got the wetsuit to my ankles at which point i could not seem to get it off ... heh. Seems that this transition thing should be practiced ;)

Once on the bike i started feeling more in my element. I was picking people off throughout the technical course and having a blast ... it was great. The course was fun, I finally felt like i could move faster ... ahh... i was really racing.

The bike-to-run transition was smooth (except i forgot to untie one of my shoes so i had to untie and retie one of my shoes! Noobie mistake! No big deal. I went off to the run thinking i had to move fast enough to ensure that all of the girls i'd just passed did not pass me back. I got into the zone. I was having fun running on the trails ... and i started to pass people! Wow - wasn't expecting that. While i've been doing some running for cross training I am pretty far from running shape so i was pretty surprised by this ... Awesome! I was really surprised when i found myself halfway on the running course and picked up the pace.

I finished in a solid pace and was pleasently surprised to find myself 4th!!! Yeah, 33rd out of the water ... and 4th overall ... nice. Apparently I need to work on my swim if I want to take this Xterra thing seriously ;) All of the girls around me finished in 15 minutes ... a solid 15 minutes ahead of me!

Yvonne rocked the course and ended up 2nd ... Rockstar!