Mt. Bike Now

Well I am signed up leaving me with 3 months to get ready for this race.  This is a great event here in Colorado….100 miles over some of the best trail anywhere.  Last year was the first year this race was put on and it was great, one of the best events I have done.  This race really has the potential to become one of the premier events anywhere and being a non-profit fundraising event makes it that much better.

If you are looking for a 100 miler the registration period is open through the end of March…check it out.

http://www.bailey100.com/

My write up from last year….

Well I can say I finished; took me 12 hours of what was an amazing event that came together in a very short time.  Big thanks to those who supported me; I was able to raise $250 in addition to the $100 I put in.  Also big thanks to all the volunteers who were so helpful at the aid stations.  I am really happy to have been part of this event and hope to do so again next year.

Friday afternoon we went up to Buffalo Creek to setup camp for the weekend and then it was off to the Romer Ranch outside of Bailey.  Senator Chris Romer invited all the race participants and volunteers to his family ranch for some BBQ food and relaxing before the suffering started.  This place was amazing….

First the google earth image of the course for some perspective….this thing is big.

Sarah dropped me at the start in the morning and then went around to a few of the aid stations and took some pictures.  Overall I road strong, but came apart on the climb out of Deckers in the 90 degree heat….it was brutal and I almost quit a few times, but managed to get through the numb hands, sore neck, sore a$$, serious shooting pain cramping, and the mental game going on to finish this thing.

The start…

Coming out the bottom of Sandy Wash.

Me in Deckers at mile 70 feeling really good….this was about an hour away from my meltdown.

Through the last aid station….mile 90ish

Finishing up….

Yeah I think that sums it up.

After doing the White Rim last fall I thought I would have this one pretty easily, but this race course was really hard.  Overall seemed everyone had different numbers on their GPS units, not sure why so much variability, but most people are saying 105 miles with 12,000 feet of gain.

And finally…..

“Andrea Wilson” “Outdoors Inc” There. Now I know you’ve found me…. My coach told me to quote him on this: “Victims! All you see are victims! Cool, the plan is: rest, worlds, Z2 Endurance, rest, open up, let the massacre start” See you all on the 26th.

You local roadie chicks (as well as non-locals, pros, and guys… she beats you, too, on occasion) know who I’m talking about. Though, if you’ve raced against her, you would know her better from behind. She’s a master’s national RR champion, and she’s placed top 10 at Elite Road Championships, racing on her own, against full teams of pro women. Why am I posting about Debbie Milne when I haven’t raced against her in over a year? It all started yesterday. I had a very non-stellar circuit/trainer workout. Coach says if I don’t feel up to it today, I can push today’s trainer workout to Thursday and have the day off. I wake up this morning feeling tired and lazy, so I send out this tweet: “Thinking of postponing today’s trainer ride for tomorrow. I’m still beat from yesterday.” Then, as I’m drinking my coffee and thinking about being lazy for the remainder of the day, I scroll through facebook, and see a post from The Milne: “Really really really dont feel like intervals tomorrow which means they are right on track……” Why does this matter? It’s like this- women’s road racing can be an intimidating place for a beginner. More often than not, the cat 4 (beginner) category races with all of the other categories. Unlike the men, who have the “benefit” of racing against people of  similar experience level, a woman could be lining up for her first road race against a seasoned pro.  If you’re not incredibly strong and fit, you get dropped. If you’re strong and fit, you do something dumb, get schooled, and get dropped. It’s trial by fire, and it will either make you a great racer or make you quit and resolve yourself to triathlons. Ever since my first real road race (Mississippi Grand Prix, 2007), Debbie has administered more 2-wheeled beatdowns to me than any other person I race against. While other women in the peloton resolved themselves to riding for 2nd place when she showed up, I was chasing my ass off with the few others that didn’t take to defeat so easily. For some of us, we thrive on the thought that at some point, we might actually be able to catch her. It’s happened a couple of times. My point? Ever since I started racing, every time I think about slacking off, I think about how Debbie is probably out riding a century, in the mountains, with all of her kids (and the dog), in a trailer behind her bike, never bothering to use the small ring. In the freezing rain. No disrespect for the women I race against now that totally kick my ass and train just as hard, but Debbie was the original “HTFU and TRAIN” person. I could go on, but I have a trainer workout to do.

That title makes little sense, but so do many other things I have done in the past year but I'm going forth with it anyway because it so succinctly sums up how I feel about New Year resolutions. They just seem like a lame excuse to put off a bunch of shit until you are drunk enough to blindly commit to all of it at once. Once the champagne hangover is gone, the list of things that you Resolved to do becomes less appealing. While I have no resolutions per se there are some goals I have for 2011 but I will get to that in a minute. 2009 Before acknowledging 2011 and 2010 I think the long gone 2009 deserves to be payed some respect. 2009 was the first year I was tempted into doing endurance races. I liked riding my bike all day pretty well and obsessing over bike stuff never gets old - longer races seemed like the ticket to fulfilling both desires. Mostly I was over the drive for three hours to race for two at 180 BPM deal. One screw up in a short race and you are done. THEN it is time for the sulky three hour drive back home. I threw my hat in the ring with a 6 Hour Solo at Heritage Park, GA. I slid through the mud for six hours, got a decent upper mid pack finish in the Singlespeed cat, and bought some wonderful beer. I was hooked. This was also the first road trip/bike race Melissa came to me with. I realized after a grand total of zero fights on the trip she might stick around (fortunately she did). This was followed up by the muddy disaster that was DSG 2009. What a clusterfuck....100 pound mud caked bikes and a destroyed trail system led to first of two DNFs this year (still had a 4th place finish which was odd). Next was my 12 Hour solo debut at another Dirty Spokes race in Tribble Mill, GA. DNF at the 9 hour mark due to elbow pain. Knowing what I know now I would have gulped Advil like they were M and Ms and gone on my merry way for three more hours. Woulda coulda whatever, I bitched out and decided to start riding more. This worked. I entered another 12 Hour in beautiful Helen, GA and actually had a solid race with a 3rd place podium spot and few regrets. Never satisfied, I immediately plotted a 24 Solo for 2010. Part of the fun, I was realizing, was wondering if I could survive or not. 2010 2010 sucked way less than 2009. I rode all winter in hopes of finding my groove for the 2010 season. The year went pretty well and I am happy with it. I started the wagon wheels racing blog in 2010...having a blog seems crucial to getting sponsors. It has also eliminated any temptation to write on bathroom stalls or overpasses. What had happened was...

• 2nd place at first race of the year-thought it was a fluke
• Won a 12 Hour a couple months later -rode the last 3 hours in a panic
• First 24 solo-Ouch. Hard. Will do again
• Hot as hell summer riding- Think I had some weird form of solar depression
• Fool's Gold 100-Really fun for a race ruined by 8 inches of rain in 12 hours
• Cross season- Riding for 30 minutes isn't bad but add the running and watch out!
• Powertap for the road bike- sorta lame but road rides rarely get boring now.
• Moved for the 7th time in 6 years-hopefully in this place for a few years.

What was different this year? I tried. I made an actual effort to improve and it worked. Who woulda thought. 2011 There are things I want to do this year and things I can do. The want list includes Trans Iowa, Colorado Trail Race, and the Transylvania Mountain Bike Epic Stage Race. All of these involve a ridiculous time commitment and money outlay which I really cannot justify. The can do list includes everything in the 2011 Happenings column over on the right side of the page. Something that is not on that list is doing the Cheaha Challenge on a fixed gear. This is a terrible idea. The climbs are too steep and the descents too dangerous. I have told other people I would never too it. 100 miles and a good portion of steep climbing on my 1984 Trek. I have done it before but never to this extent. This one would be on the mayyyybe list if there was such a thing. Oh yeah, Happy New Year and thanks to anyone who has been kind enough to give me product or discounts on gear this year.

The honor of "Hardest 30 Minutes of My Four Day Weekend," was a hard fought battle with the Bamacross State Champ race squaring off against digging around in Christmas decorations, hanging close to 20 pictures agonizingly straight in the house, rotating the tires on my car in way too little time before Thanksgiving dinner. Winner: Bamacross I know exactly what to do (I think) as training for cross races. Run a couple times a week, preferably up hills. Short, high power sprints would be good practice. Combining these two and running fast WITH the bike would be super. Knowing and doing are two different creatures, of course. I knew...didn't do. I did well at Sloss Cross so why mess with something that ain't broke all of a sudden? So, after convincing myself cross training was unimportant I gladly lent Eric my cross bike to use as a commuter for the last couple weeks. I got the bike back the night before the Avondale Park race and deemed myself well (enough) prepared. I mean, really, I have pumpkin bread for energy food...guaranteed success. I have done the Avondale race before and most of what I remember is a looooong flat section and a ridiculous steep run up some old stairs. Great fun until your lungs are trying to make an early escape from your chest. We watched the women and old dudes put on their pain faces for a bit then I did a quick preride with Alan before the race to practice my runups. Still dismal. Alan gapped me by about 20 seconds on the big staircase and I was busting it to get up them. Oh well, race time! I was lined up maybe fifteen people back. Starting up front is a huge advantage in these races. From the start I was probably top ten or fifteen the first lap and noticed Alan out front where he would stay for the rest of the race. I was getting burned on the flat sections, but I picked my knife with one gear to bring to this race, so that's life. Hoofed it up the run up and realized and "hoofing" would result in me not being able to pedal hard the next minute or so. Not a good trade so my new strategy was to soft hoof it up the stairs and save my power for the bike. This was working well and I was able to move up through the field the next two laps. Pretty sure I made all my passes on the technical backside of the course and eventually found myself about ten seconds behind Alan. Just. Couldn't. Catch him. He got the win and deserved it, great payback for the hard work he has done for this season. I was able to hold onto my second place to make the top two steps of the Men's 4 race a Bici Coop affair with Chad in the third spot. Congrats to the Porter guys on some strong racing and also Lee and Riley (5th place!) holding it down in the 1/2/3s. Bummed that I have to work next weekend but had a great time at this one and at Parkside Cafe afterwards. Thanks to Brent for keeping this whole deal rolling. I feel I am at a juncture after this race. Rules are to cat up after three top threes and I have two. I will not have a third since I will miss the next race but feel it is time to move up. Not sure if I want to bother with this. Moving up will mean: Getting a real cross bike ($$$$) and training for cross races(nope, focus is on the MTB ultras).... I don't want to do either one. This is really just end of season blather and I will probably just go Do The Right Thing and get my ass handed to me in 1/2/3s. My character could use some building next year, anyway. See you guys then.

The weather was oddly perfect for late November today, high of 75 and the right amount of clouds (have no idea how to quantify that). I hated riding Oak Mountain earlier this year when it was hotter than four hundred hells every Saturday and I felt obligated to ride 6 hours every time for Fools Gold prep but now it has gotten back some of its old charm. I have ridden the trail three times in two months probably with one of those being a night ride last week. Plan was to do a lap with a HRM on to further my quest of finding the perfect gear out there. My goal is to find whatever gear I can go fastest on with the least amount of work on my part. Secondary goal was to ride to the top of Peavine Falls to eat a leftover cinnamon roll. Genius, eh? Ok, not quite genius but a good way to practice changing cogs frequently. RESULTS: The 32/19 was about 4 minutes faster than the 32/20 over the "new" big loop out there which is around 22-23 miles. Should put a computer back on the bike at some point to get a correct mileage. The 19 just feels right and I don't feel like bothering with the smaller cogs I have sitting around. I did not have a goal of seeing two dachshunds trail running today but I was lucky enough to happen upon them anyway. Really, really, really need to get the Reba rebuilt, my fingertips feel like they got stepped on by toddlers for four hours today. Bah. Oh, and preesh to Brandon for getting a bigass cabin for Southern Cross.

Over the weekend I had the privilege of racing in the Merida 24 Hour mountain bike race. I was hoping to use the race to qualify for the world championships in Canberra this year but just couldn't pull the goods for that goal. While I am a little bummed about the result I am not really surprised given my lack of training and preparation for such a big undertaking. Anyway, enough whining about how I could have done better and how I could have trained harder. I didn't. I did however get to ride a top track and even surprised myself with a few good laps. There is also the undeniable pleasure of hanging out with some mates and the camaraderie of your fellow racers asking you how you're travelling at 4am. Gold. By the way, I was travelling pretty badly. The first couple of laps were really good. I got a great first lap and passed a few riders after taking it real easy off the line. I was almost last to leave as I couldn't really see the point in tearing off to only be caught in the mess of riders at the first corner. I rolled out and then hit the first climb a bit harder to pick up some places. All going well so far. Lap 2 was really a carbon copy of the first only that I had a clearer run in the single track and had a bit of fun railing the corners and bombing one or two sections. The sections through rock bottom and 007 were awesome but after 8 hours I was ready for some easy fire road. My arms and wrists were shattered and the dust was choking me. I had trouble seeing out of my left eye and under lights the trails became pretty scary. Nick had been filling me with food and coffee to keep me going up until this point and encouraging me to keep plugging out laps but my resolve failed at 8.30pm. I dropped my bundle big time and decided to get off and have a sleep. A hot shower and some food later I was tucked up in the sleeping bag quite comfortable. I didn't sleep much though. The internal battle raging in my head kept me awake. I could have toughed it out and kept riding. I could have made a few more laps. My mental state was really fragile and it took a huge toll on my physical state with the prospect of more laps leaving me in a very dark place. I was struggling with every little climb and battling through the single track at night meant my lap times were going up faster than my emotional state was coming down. Finally at 2.30am I got up, put on the riding gear and went out for some more laps. I'm glad I did, but boy it hurt. The dust had settled with the dew and I could see again through my left eye. I went out slowly to try and last through the morning until midday. I was a mile behind qualifying and had no real hope of getting back in the game. Each time I came around I would stop for a minute and eat a little and drink as I was finding it hard to eat on course. I had a chat to a few riders during those first two laps back and that was nice. It lifted my spirits quite a bit. As I came around for lap 3 Nick was waiting with coffee and some kind words. I thought he had been asleep but he said he had heard me slip out but had stayed in bed as he thought I was going for a comfort stop. The coffee was great and gave me a little bit more of a lift and saw me through that third lap quite nicely. Really after that the whole thing became academic. I pumped out a couple more laps to total 15 for the race. This sat me in 10th in my age category and 46th overall out of 81 solo male competitors. Not good enough to qualify for the worlds but it just wasn't to be this time. The painful truth that my lack of preparation had meant I had not achieved my goal this time was a pretty bitter pill to swallow. It was made even worse by the fact that it was my mental strength and not my physical condition that let me down. I got to a point where I really did not want to complete any more laps and was happy to admit defeat. Oh well, back to the drawing board and lots more hours on the bike.

No choppy choppy for my knee! The doctor has said that I will not require surgery at this stage and that I should be fine to ride in the Merida 24 hour next weekend. I can't wait. I have nursed my knee for the last few weeks and been really scared to push it hard in case the effort did more damage. One week out though and I can knock over a few big rides over the weekend and then some quiet spins during the week and then it's on. Nick has kindly offered to be my support crew still and whip my butt if I get slack and decide to get off the bike. He is also helping me feel bad about not training by going out and doing 125km on the road bike today with 1890m of climbing and then backing up for a spin around Daisy Hill tomorrow. I managed a run around Camp Mountain today finished off with a single track blast at Bunya and felt really good. At least recovery rate is still very good as if I was a bit puffed I could stop for a minute or two and bounce back strong. I ran into Matt Powell on the way back as he was completing a ride with 3000m of climbing as his preparation for the race next weekend. Luckily he is not in my age category. Unfortunately the guy he was riding with, Jeff Toohey is. I am not even in the same school let alone class as Jeff. He is a machine and it will be good to watch him tear apart the field over the race. So do I have a plan? Nope. If I feel tired I will stop and eat. If I need sleep I will rest. Other than that it is go as hard as I can, enjoy the riding as much as possible and generally have a top time on the bike. I may qualify for the worlds if I am lucky as there are already a number of riders qualified in the field. Overall I and very excited about the prospect of another test for myself. I have been pretty slack in the last couple of months and found plenty of reasons not to train or push myself. This weekend will be a real wake up call and remind me how much I like riding and racing. Giddyup.