US MTB Nationals - Granby, CO

On Thursday before US MTB Nationals I hopped on US 40 out of Heber and 6 hours later I had made it to SolVista Basin for the second year in a row for this big event. I love driving directions like that. Short, sweet and easy as in "Get on highway, drive long time, you are now there".



Ahhhh, if only the course were like the directions I just described of short, sweet and easy! Check out this first climb. Doesn't look like much here but it was a lung and leg buster. Nothing like hitting that right out of the start gate!


No, but really the course was great. I expected somewhat of what we had last year (straight up and straight down) and was pleasantly surprised to find just the opposite with more punchy climbing and descents, berms galore (fun!!!) and fresh fresh FRESH cut singletrack (read: better hold off on eating a lunch before preriding or you WILL see it again). It reminded me a lot of what we ride in Utah with a lot of the course sporting moon dust and it being pretty open for the sun to sear. All in all, a step up from last years course indeed.

Alright so the course wasn't SO great though that I wanted to pre-ride it again on Friday. Instead I took a venture off into the woods out of Fraser and found some true gems.



And jumps!! Yep........I went around. : )

Too bad I was feeling like total and complete JUNK on this day. Legs and all. What the heck was going on????? I had nats the next day for crying out loud!! I don't want to feel like this the day before. Plus WHY was I feeling like this the day before? I had done everything "proper" to prepare. Sometimes that is just how it goes though. You prepare the same best you can and sometimes you win and sometimes you don't....literally. Let's hope for better days ahead, namely Saturday and Sunday!!

After the early ride I got settled in the team house in SolVista. Got to meet some of the team that I hadn't met yet, greeted those that were just arriving off the plane and got to meet some other great people that weren't on the team that I have heard about a ton. Nice to put a face to the name you know? GREAT vibe at the team house for sure. Plus met Brian Alders who has my exact car/truck down to the interior and year. He gave me all kinds of tips for travelling in the ole 4runner with bikes. A super highlight of the weekend for sure when someone who is as serious as you about cycling can give you car tips!!

CROSS COUNTRY
So I guess my legs were listening somewhat to my perplexed brain and they decided that "no, they shouldn't feel like shat right now and yes, it was time to get - r- done." It was now Cross Country race day and the legs were in my court.

The base of the ski resort and home to every last industry tent and trailer for the weekend.

Game on!! Had a great start even though I was near the back row of the 31 ladies. I maintained a solid pace choosing quite the lovely section to pass people on each lap. That hurt but it had to be done! I really enjoyed most of the course and was looking forward to each section as they came up. The downhill was especially fun with its wide swoopy turns and berms.

I was sitting in/near the Top 10 until the last lap when I slowed down. Not on purpose though. Just spent. Could only push so hard and when that happens, you get passed. I ended up 12th which is a step in the right direction for the year. I only thought I would get faster as the season progressed and I did!! Yes!! Is is my best placing at Nats? No. Was it better than last years placing at nats when both my parents were extremely sick? Yes. I am satisfied as I move forward.

SHORT TRACK

This was one of those days where you simply wake up and you know you got it. Your legs are good, your mind is good and you are relaxed, calm, cool because you feel the energy inside and YOU KNOW its going to be a good day in the saddle. I have been doing this long enough to know this feeling and I was pretty psyched!!!!

Got the dream warm up in where you are feeling the love, life is good and you know you are ready to and can take on the world.

Then the dream came to an end.....

Gun goes off, made a poor starting position into an awesome position (things are still good) and then in the second corner not even 15 seconds into the race I take MYSELF out. NICE.

I simply slipped while taking a corner too aggressively. Duh. You can see the slippage here in the lower right corner of the picture. I went from Top 10 to mid 20's in the blink of an eye. Oh and "P.S.", the slippage wasn't just a quick one.....it was this long drawn out ordeal until I finally fell. Good lord, learn to ride a freaking bike will ya!

When I got back on my bike, I have to be pretty honest, I was very disheartened as I had my work cut out for me - even more so now. The little bad inside voice told me quit (which I never have willingly) and call it since it was going to be impossible to make my way thru the field especially on this course in this 20 minute race. But that voice was quickly stomped on as I made the conscious decision to make the impossible possible. There was now none of this "Hoping, wishing, trying" there was only "Doing". And I needed every second as I dashed off and up the course to catch those that already had good gap on me!!

This is where the good legs and day comes in. I pushed beyond the limits that I even knew I had. My mind and legs allowed for this on this day and in the end I was not only able to fight all the way back up into 12th before the the race ended I was able to do it and be proud of what I had accomplished given the circumstances.

After the race - this was now the time to reflect on the shoulda, woulda, coulda. Maybe this was the moment that I really really needed to see that I can and will do it. Maybe that slip in the corner was the best thing that could have happened to me. Maybe all that nasty retirement talk swirling around in my head is just that bad voice that I need to push away again because this is TRULY what I want to do. It has just taken a long time to get back after the death of my parents in late 09. I think I just needed patience all along and it took todays "victory" to see that.

Maybe the fire is still burning inside a lot bigger than I ever thought it was!!! Going into the weekend part of me thought these may be my last races ever. I have been fighting for so long to get everything back, to get my life back in order, to get my fitness back after a too hard 2009 and maybe this was the sign I needed that this can and will be done! One thing for sure is that I will never get my parents back on this earth but I can get my own existence, fitness and fire back . In fact, its all already here but I just didn't know it because I couldn't see it! Now I see it and any questions I had about racing have been answered.

See you at the races!!!

Mafia Racing members (me, Becca and Meghan K)

UT State MTB Championships - Solitude, UT

After getting back from WI, I was able to be home for a while and lucky for us, our great buddies from Santa Barbara had come into town. It was fun to get out on some great rides with them!

Eric tearing up Round Valley


Chris L, triathlete. We need to get her racing mtb!! She'd be awesome!

Brooks dad was riding so well. We were all very impressed since it was his 2nd time on a mtb.

And Kristin, a Boston Marathoner, enjoying some time on the bike.

But in no time flat it was down to biz-nass yet again with the Utah State Championship race coming up at Solitude Ski Resort.

I have always loved the riding at Solitude. I think one of the best things is buff, well cared for singletrack in a beautiful alpine setting. It is just amazing and the race should be super FUN.

The start of the Pro Women's UT Championship race

The race started great and I was feeling like myself again! What a awesome feeling that is!

We had the Slyfox cash zone there too.

By: Ryan Keating

That was a sight enough to put a smile on anyones face which is exactly what I was laughing at here.

I was feeling good enough to have my nose out front the entire race.......up until the last lap. At the start of the climb I was passed by Zephanie Blasi, a teammate from last season on the Kenda Tomac MTB Team and local Pocatello, ID ripper.

She had a burst of energy that I could not match despite my best efforts. I kept her in sight but that was not good enough to take the Utah State Championship win. 2nd place would have to do today.

By: Ryan Keating

Pro Women's podium.

Next up is the US MTB National Championships in Granby, CO.

Pro XCT #4 - Mt. Morris, WI

Wow, Madison, WI is cool. Never been there, heard all about it and....yeah, its a great place for sure. A tightly knit community with bicycle paths all over linking the city up at every point, bars, great food, coffee shops, co-ops and a great atmosphere are all part of what makes it amazing. Yet again, the reason I love my job is getting to go places like Madison where I may never have had the opportunity to go to in my life!

And actually, I paid a whole $10 to get there. I had a bunch of unused cyclocross flights from last year that I couldn't use due to life circumstances (see sidebar if you need a hint) and they were all going to expire mid July. So I combined them all in order to head to the the next Pro XCT race at Nordic Mtn (NE of Madison by about 2 hours).

And the really best part about going there was that I was about to meet some of my new teammates for the first time! Meghan Korol lives there smack dab in the middle of all the action but we had yet to get to the same race. And Stephan Ettinger, our U - 23 wonder boy, was making his way from MT to for this lovely event too.

I got to Meghan's after one of the best flights ever on Southwest. Not only did I get the exit row, I sat with 2 of the funniest people ever. We all didn't know each other when we got on the flight but we sure did by the time we got off it! It was perfect, the flight went by fast, we laughed the whole time, told stories and I kept getting FREE adult drinks from the flight attendant. We got to WI in no time flat! : )

I gotten eaten alive by mosquito's as I built my bike up but being lead around Madison by Meghan and biking around one of the many lakes in WI made up for it.



Road right past the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center (a Frank Lloyd Wright building) on one of the bikes paths there too.

We also swung by Machinery Row Bicycles where Meghan and her boyfriend Dave (what a great mechanic!!) works. It was an absolutely incredible shop. I have never seen so many bikes and gear in my life. The shop was well laid out with plenty of mechanics to answer any questions or work on your bike. Incredible place.

Oh and just outside the shop was this little ditty. Yep, a place right off the bike path for you to work on your bike in case of a mechanical. Note the bike stand in this picture.

And then the vending machine of bike parts, clif bars, etc in this picture!! Amazing!

And I just didn't have enough of Madison yet so we cruised up toward the capital and over to yet another lake. Check out the sun setting.

And the moon above the capital. This place was showing itself off!!!

Well not really.....I had a bit of a mishap. At the very end of the ride/tour my crank arm slipped and came loose!! Didn't come totally off but had to walk it home. And I will tell you what...having a mechanic at home to ease my mind that it was NOT a bottom bracket issue or something like that was certainly nice since we were leaving for the venue first thing in the morning! Or well uh....at least leaving for the venue after going to the bike shop to make sure my bike was going to work, going grocery shopping to load up for the weekend, having Stephan leave his wallet at the bike shop (these kids - hahaha!), packing the cars, getting gas, etc. So after all that we finally drove on up to the venue to check out the course.

The pic below is Nordic Mtn where the race took place. A bit different than those high altitude races with straight up straight down kind of action on the west coast! But don't let this pic fool you too much, there was plenty of climbing snuck in there. Short punchy climbs through dense forest and steeper twisty and techy downhills throughout the loop made for a quick loop of no rest. I would liken this course to a World Cup course.

CROSS COUNTRY

By the time we warmed up and started the race at 11 am it was already 82 and humid. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE humidity actually but today it didn't love me.

Dave and Meghan - our wonderful hosts/teammate/mechanic/support crew/tour guides

So yeah, about that humidity. This was a first but it happened. I hit the wall at about the 1.5 hour mark. The first part of the race I was amped, making up ground, getting through the pack, had that fighter instinct to kill it and then it was like a switch was flicked and the lights went out. I found myself at that point with a super high heart rate (anaerobic zone) but if you had asked me at that moment what wattage I was putting out I bet it was around 150. The heart rate wasn't matching the effort in the legs at all. I have never had that happen. I then started to dream and obsess about the cold water ski pond that was at the bottom of the course. We still had 2 or so laps to go and we would ride past the pond and I wanted to stop SOOOOO BAD and just jump in each time. I was overheating bad and getting worse.

Between that, the humidity, the cold chills, I should have known what was going on and perhaps I did but just pretended everything was ok as I drifted backwards each lap. I wanted to just go get in the air conditioning and/or get in that cold pond. I became more obsessed with the lake than racing. Oh wow, I just called what I did "racing" those last few laps....now that is funny. Let me clarify.......I was mearly riding. I will slow down but I will not quit!! Something inside said this is not right which was a first in my career and so I listened and backed off mid race - another first. I have learned to listen to those inner race voices at times because sometimes they know best even though you just want to beat them down and pretend all is well......which I did to a certain degree. But I did have a sneaking suspicion that if I pushed beyond what I was feeling I was going to do damage so I slowed way down which sux but I believe it was the best option unfortunately.

So after a not so stellar finish with the temp now in the 90's, you could find me in the lake - helmet, shoes, glasses, EVERYTHING still on. The water skiers were getting a kick out of the crazy fully clothed bike racer hanging out in the water!! I was the happiest I had been all day!

Like I said, that lake was calling me and I forgot to mention, I really am not a fan of pools of water, ponds, streams, lakes etc. I like to LOOK at them but usually do anything I can to stay out of them! So the fact that I was dieing to get in one says something.

SHORT TRACK

The next day we had the Short Track race which I wasn't too concerned about over heating in. I could handle 20 minute all out effort. I did make some modifications to my warm up though, broke out some ice and was extra cautious to stay cool as possible up until the start.

My start was dreadful too.

Not sure what happened but I think I was almost last by the second corner. There was some kind of hoopla going on up front but I couldn't quite make out what had happened as I focused on my race.

My glasses slipped down on my nose from the humidity!!

But I was so annoyed that I was almost last that I just gunned it, even more than the all out effort that you have do in order to survive the race. The big effort paid off though because I was able to make a ton of passes and land in 12th in the end after suffering like a dog.

And where did I go after? The pond again! And it felt GOOOOD.

The rest of the afternoon was first spent trying to find Milty Wilty (known for its custard) and then the rest of the evening was spent hitting Madison with Meghan, Dave, Stephan, a slew of U-23 nats team and a bunch of others. It may have involved lots of beer, bars, bikes, barfing (not me), broken bottles and almost a brawl (not really but it rhymed!!) but we did manage to stay outta trouble somehow.

We stayed up till 3:30am and I had to leave at 4:15am for my flight!!! I just ended up staying up and leaving a bit early for it and didn't even bother trying to sleep. It was pointless. Ugh, haven't done that since.......oh........college maybe. But man it was a fun night!! Now I need to put my pro "hat" back on and go to bed at a reasonable hour for another 15 years until I do this again. Once every 15 years isn't so bad! : )

Here is a quick video of the races that weekend starting with what I call "Lake Obsession" now:

Intermountain Cup #8 - Logan, UT

Immediately following the race in Vail we headed home to WA to take care of some family business. This was the first time I was home since my parents funeral in November and it was hard. Hard not to call them to tell them I am going to be there and hard TO visit them...not at their house but at their grave.

Their graveside was more beautiful than I remember, lush with trees, flowing streams and a blooming rose garden too. I was happy for that. It is so amazing to me that this was reality as I stared at a plaque that now represented my beloved parents. There is something to be said for being gone in another state and not fully understanding the scope of things until you go "home" and realize there is no one there to greet you with those loving open arms as a parent would. Reality struck when in WA that is for sure. My parents are gone in body but definitely not in spirit (thankfully!!).

On top of that reality was the reality that Chris's mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. All signs are pointing to good places at the moment and she is doing everything she can to get her body into fighting mode. I am proud of her for everything she is doing right now to combat this and will continue to sending healing vibes her way as she undergoes treatment for the next 5 years.

I did get some riding in too while I was there. Seattle is so lush green!!!



But there is a reason for that too. I think I missed 2 huge storms by about a minute. I was one lucky ducky.

Speaking of rain....holy cow when we got home there was nothing but storms galore!! Yikes!

The calm before the storm from our deck.



Not too long afterwards the storm was here



Lightening



Another shot of lightening



The bad part of the storm clears out leaving just massive rainfall. Yep......it's June alright. Hmmm????



As for the race in Logan. It was a beautiful day!!! Probably one of the hotter days that we have raced this season. It was also pretty much the first weekend that it was beautiful out. The drive up to Logan was awesome just seeing ALL the outdoorsy people doing their thing or getting ready to do their thing from camping, motoing, kiteboarding, hot air ballooning, road biking, para gliding and....oh ya...mtbing!!!

Oh also forgot to mention that I woke up early this AM and saw a BOBCAT at our next door neighbors house!!!! Here kitty kitty kitty. I have never seen one of those in the wild let alone 50 feet away from my house!!! Anyway, that was pretty cool although it was only cool because I had a house protecting me. : )

The drive up to Logan.



I hadn't pre-ridden the course yet so when I got there I got on it to see what I was up against. That is a total first for me to do that the day of the race. It was a good choice though as I needed to know the course because the last time I raced there was in 2004. It luckily made for an excellent warm up too. 10 years into this sport and still having "firsts".....always learning or trying out new stuff I tell you!

The course was the same for the most part which was a good thing because its still fun with windy tight singletrack through dense trees that eventually spit you out into open fields making you fen for yourself as you gage your pace. Short laps too which I like. A hot 1 hour and 45 minutes later I came across the line in first!

Next up is the Pro XCT in WI this weekend!!

Teva Mtn Games - Vail, CO

Been enjoying some time at our new house now that we are not on the road a whole ton. We have these "meese" that keep appearing by the house too! Mom and her two babies. The babies are no bigger than your average dog. One was running around mom, bounding around and the other was sticking RIGHT by moms side. SO CUTE!!

Just mom moose



Mom and one baby



The week cont'd to be good. It is always nice to get fun surprises in the mail!!



And then there was .................RACE DAY

Like I said, it was a great week, had a great race on Monday where I felt like myself again for the first time in a year or so and I was really looking forward to racing at the Teva Games. That was........until I got to the very first corner of the race. I thought I was gonna die. Weirdest feeling ever came over me as I pushed into my race zone.

The women's start

Every fiber in my body was telling me to stop as I cont'd to force the effort into the pedals. I couldn't believe what was happening! I had to play mental games like nobodies business as I forced myself through the next 2 laps of a 3 lap mountainous race. It was excruciating really. I kept asking myself how I was going to actually finish the race when my body clearly wanted me to stop. But its not in me to stop. Not part of my stubborn DNA. I had to keep moving forward the best I could although it felt like each pedal stroke was getting me nowhere. I felt just terrible. I was searching for someone by the name of Kathy inside what seemed to be empty shell for those first 2 laps. I suffered like a dog and I couldn't tell you why.

After sticking it out I finally found myself somewhat on the 3rd lap...but little too late. I was miraculously in 10th and attacked hard for 9th on one of the last hills. The attack didn't stick but at least I had come around back to my old race Kathy!! Better late than never. It is races such as this that make other race days seem like a cakewalk. Hopefully I have now gotten that one race that I always have every year like this, out of the way.

I ran into the Mafia Baseball Team before my race!!

The Teva Games has all kinds of things going on!

Flipping on the rope - seriously?! Wow!

Intermountain Cup #6 - Draper, UT

I have been waiting a long time to feel like I did in today's race. It was one of those "no chain" days. Wow, I live for those. I think its been about 1.5 years (right before the parents got super sick) since I have felt the love like that in a race. I felt like ME again. I had the fire, the punch and the power!!!! All the stars were aligned for me to come away with another win.

The race course was 1,100 feet elevation gain per lap and we did 3 laps on a extremely nice and mild day on awesome singletrack. I hope there are more race courses and days like this!

Afterwards the wind picked up enough that Chris could go Kiteboarding with a bunch of buddies in Deer Creek Reservoir.

The kiteboarding launch area

Intermountain Cup #5 - Midway, UT

We finally got back from sunny CA and the weather wasted no time in welcoming us home........



Seriously? It's like summer or something around here and the sun should be blazing, flowers blooming.

Being home was weird since we had been in our new house a whole 14 days total before we left for 5 weeks. And now here we were back getting used to things all over again. I even at one point told myself that I needed to put a project off until I got home. The kicker was that I WAS home sitting on my couch. Change is definitely an interesting thing although it hasn't affected me too much since I am used to being at different place every other weekend.

RACE DAY

The morning of the race I woke up and it was cold, dreary, snowy and just plain yucky outside.

We had the heat on, the fireplace going and I was happily warm and extremely content. The thought of getting outside in that nasty cyclocross weather to race wasn't entirely appealing since it was May but I drug myself out the door to go ride in circles with a bunch of other crazy people that wanted to do the same thing.

Driving into the venue at Soldier Hollow looked like this.....not too bad by this time really as it was warming up some. Note the snow in the background that forced the promoter to re-route the course a bit.



I was reminded quickly just how much extra time you need on days like this to prepare for the race. Between fiddle farting with bike stuff and changing clothes 500 times, I manage to squirrel away most of my warm up. Yeah...not so pro to say the least. Whoops.

The first lap was a slippy and slidey one, especially since most of us showed up with "dry" condition tires. I just see that as optimistic, but again it really was.....not so pro. And I almost paid the price for it too as I slid sideways on one of the first corners on the race but was able to keep it upright somehow. You don't have to tell me twice to slow down!!!



So if it wasn't the corner telling me to slow down it was going to be the altitude on this day - or at least it was going to try. Here it was my 4th day back at altitude after 5 weeks gone and the 4th day back is always my worst. Sweet timing. Again, not so pro since I could have come back to altitude a lot earlier.

And, yes, I suffered the most extreme hurt that one can feel while racing at altitude after being gone. My legs were on fire looking for all that oxygen that CA had to offer and so were my lungs. I was breathing as deep as I could trying to make use of every inch of my screaming lungs.



I honestly thought I was gonna die during the whole race. Yeah, racing hurts but this was to the extreme as my body screamed for oxygen. The word misery comes to mind actually.



But apparently I am stubborn enough and know how to suffer with the best of them enough because I was able to put down the right amount of wattage to come across the line in first place. I have never been so happy to breath again normally!!!