Sea Otter TT - Tied for 10th

Today we had the Time Trial at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. The course was the exact same as last year except for that there was not a speck of mud to be found. Instead there were only deep dry ruts that were as tough as cement and completely unavoidable. Just point, go and hope. That is what I did and I was able to ride a clean race to tie for 10th along with Lene Byberg from Norway.

When a race is so short like today (4 entire minutes) every little last thing matters and can therefore help or hinder your final time so it can be fairly nerve racking. You also have to prepare for a 4 minute race the same way you would for a 3 hour race. And then you get done and think "that is it?...I was just getting started!" Well, I guess I will have THAT chance on Sunday during the 3 hour "ish" cross country race. Tomorrow is the Short Track and it is supposed to rain. We shall see.

Sea Otter Super D - Congrats Chris!

Congrats to my husband Chris on his 3rd place in the Super D in the Open Men category at Sea Otter. Not only does Chris support me in every single way with my cycling and racing, but he gets out there and races too. The Super D (descent) has turned into his favorite event and is suited to him perfectly with it being 80% downhill and 20% uphill. Great for those that have a endurance background and rippen’ DH skills. These races are anywhere from 10 minutes to 35 minutes in length depending on the terrain. And the downhill in them isn’t super gnarly stuff like drop offs, ruts and rock gardens although it may contain those things on a minor scale still making it quite challenging.

Chris came in 3rd out of about 40-50 guys and prepared for his race like this:

Tues-Work at Deer Valley Resort then drive to Reno (7 hours away)
Wed- Drive from Reno to Monterey (5 hours) and pre-ride the Sea Otter XC course with me for 2 hours upon arrival.
Thursday- Super D Race Day. Get up and go to the venue, pre-ride the course a half an hour before race start and then hit it.

How did he do it all and still come in third? Well pretty much because he knows how to hammer himself into the ground in every single way every single day. I am proud of him!

Only the Sherwins...

would come across this at a rest stop on our way out to CA!

We Made It

Well, we made it to Reno, NV in 7 hours from the Revolution bike shop Sandy, UT. This is how.......

I Would Expect Nothing Less

We are headed across Nevada today and have the same head wind that we get EVERY year when we do this drive. It has to be 30 -40 mph. We are probably getting a whopping 25mpg (normally its 38 mpg) in our TDI while all these other poor suckers in their honking huge cars are getting 8mpg. Hope our car keeps running. So far so good. Isn't this cool that I can post this while in my car? I feel so special. Ha!

I Just Hate Packing. It is sooooo Laaaameee!!!!!

Endless phone calls, bills to pay, things to wrap up, emails to send, errands to run, un-pack from getting back 5 days ago, laundry to do, re-pack, last minute appts, organize, and oh yah, don’t forget to train too. How is it 12am already? Geez, I wonder......

We head via car (yah same ole car that broke down on me last week…….wish us luck) to The Sea Otter Classic tomorrow in Monterey, CA. Can’t wait to race again!

Toor-key for Dinner

“Aye!! Dat dare……dat dare a wild toor-key!!!!!!” I hear someone yelling. I had passed a big ole feathered friend while riding my bike in Heber City but just chalked the big old bird to someone’s farm animal. I mean really, what do I know? Not much but I do know that dat dare was a wild turkey!! I love Heber!!

Road Race - The Hell of the North

We have a road race called the Hell of the North in Salt Lake City every year. It is a square circuit race with one side of the square having nothing but a gravel and dirt road for about a mile and a half.

I decided to do this race because the coach thought it would be better if didn’t travel down south 4 hours to the local mtb series race and just stay home instead. What a god send that idea was as the thought of packing and leaving again within a 2 day time period wasn’t appealing to me so much.

I raced a couple different categories today and did two races. The first one started at 9am with the women (Cat 1-3). Geez that was too early for me. Those of you that know me know that I don’t even get out of bed until 8:30am or so it felt like a day at the office getting up at 6am. Yuck!!! Then the next race was at 10:30am with the men (Masters 35+). Once race I came in dead first and the other dead last. Nice.

I raced with the Masters men not knowing what I was getting into as I don’t know those guys at all because I don’t frequent the road scene all too much. But my coach and I thought they were a talented and safe group to jump in with and they sure did give me a run for my money. Wow. From the get go the pressure was on and I was like ……oh boy. And may I remind you that I did this race after I did the opposite of “sitting in” in the Cat 1-3 women’s group. I was feeling the burn for sure but kept thinking about my upcoming races and increasing my fitness…..anything to get me through 35 more miles of pain.

I was lucky enough to get to work with some very nice guys for most of the race. At first I thought to myself …..do they even know that I am girl? And if they don’t and I say something will the dynamics change (aka will they drop me). How will they react? I know that guys do not like being what they call “chicked” so I just didn’t know what to think but they were totally cool once they figured out that I wasn’t one of them. They made the race a very very good experience for me. Thanks guys! They were complimentary to me and gave me solid direction on when they wanted me to work (the dirt section of course!) which I was fine with. I was just there to get my training in and not make waves. It was pretty cool to see each of them make improvements on the dirt section on each lap too. They took my lead and learned by watching me I guess and they were psyched in the end about all that they learned on navigating the dirt section…..in that stuff you simply point, commit and go: just pick a gravelly and dusty rut with your 1 inch slick tire and keep pedaling. Don’t stop pedaling and don’t freak out. I almost went down on one of the laps in that section but had what they were saying was a “nice save!!!” What a great day but my chaise lounge is calling…………

Shock and Awe

You would have thought I was the freak of the circus today. In the gym today people kept asking “What happened!!?!” I have really bad road rash all down my right hand side from the Cross Country race (see April 1^st’s entry) and with the way they were saying it I would get scared and be like “what!!!?....what's wrong with me!!” scared that there was something more wrong. Then they would point to the road rash and I was relieved thinking “oh just that....good..” I supposed people aren’t used to a 30 year old plus gal walking around with scabs streaking down the right side of her. But to me a pro cyclist……..it is a pretty normal thing to see really.

What Happened?

How in the heck do you jam a finger without remembering how you might have done it? I mean geez, I know cyclists have to have a high pain threshold but this is a bit nuts. My left index finger is sooooooo swollen. What the heck?

Thank God I Did My Homework

This morning in Flagstaff, AZ I woke up to my phone ringing. It was my husband calling me from UT to let me know that USADA (US Anti Doping Assoc) was standing in our kitchen in Heber City, UT. They had come for a “collection” since I am on the Out of Competition Test list. As some of you may or may not know, when you are on this list, you have to fill out a form on a quarterly basis called the Athlete Location Form that tells USADA, where you are going to be on any giving day for the next 3 months to include training days, travel days, racing days, time at the gym, weddings, normal trips, appointments, etc. Oh ya, that is fun to fill out, let me tell you, but I TRY to think of it as a privilege to be on the list.

Well, as far as USADA knew I was supposed to be home Monday night from the first National race but my car broke down (see entry below). Luckily I had done my homework and remembered late Monday evening to let them know where I was. But because it was so late when I notified them about the change of plans no one (the agency nor the rep) got the message!! I got on the phone with the USADA rep who was at my house and we eventually cleared everything up. Thanks god…a black mark next to my name is the last thing I would have wanted. What a way to start the day. Actually the day was great as I got home in 7.5 hours from Flagstaff. Home sweet home finally.

Why Does My Car Sound Like a Lawn Mower?

NOT the sound you long to hear from you cars engine as you are making your way home across the desert alone. Well almost alone.....I must have had a preminition that something was going to happen because I made it my only goal in life to find someone to road possy with back to Utah from AZ once I found out that my travel partner had to bail on me. I have never been like that before.....that is .....dead set on getting someone to drive with in case something happened. Dana Harrison from Utah was the one to take me up on the offer as he was driving back at the same time I was. Little did he know what he was in for. Well he actually wasn't in for much because THE MOMENT I caught up to him on the road (and I mean THE MOMENT I caught up to him) my VW TDI Wagon died (2.5 years old, 84,000 miles. We travel a lot you could say). So there I was just outside Flagstaff starting to make my way toward Page, AZ and boom, my car suddenly has no power and sounded like a lawn mower. Great. Now what?

I got the car was towed to a killer shop called Ascot Moters out of Flagstaff which we knew nothing about except that they were recommended by some locals. I knew I would be taken care of and felt immediately at home when I walked in and saw all the cycling pictures/frames/card holders and was then given the tour of bikes that were hanging on the wall in the shop. Sah-weet!!

And I was taken care of. Those nice guys got my car in, looked at, fixed and out the door by 5pm that day. Unbelievable. A hose clamp that attaches to the intake manifold had come loose and it was an easy fix. Thank heavens because the nearest VW dealer was back in Phoenix where I had just come from! Had it been a VW part I would have been "stranded" in Flag for a while.

I decided to just call it a day once the car was fixed and took up an offer for a spot on a friends couch for the night. I needed the rest after quite the stressful day plus training in Flag the next day didn't sound THAT terrible!!! :)

NMBS #1 XC - "It's All About Sunday Sunday Sunday"

That is what the announcers kept saying all weekend long about the first NMBS (National Mountain Bike Series) Cross Country race of the season. Too bad I was crashed into after only 10-15 minutes from the race start. I had a rippen' start and was hanging on for dear life in the Top 10 when someone tried to pass me and took me down hard. Ever come to a sliding stop only because of your own skin gripping the dirt, pebbles and cacti on the ground? Oh ya....that felt really good. I went over the bars and landed on my right ride tearing it up good.

After shaking the dust off and getting onto my feet I discovered that the bikes were interlocked in every which way. A big hunk of expensive metal right there. A tug here and a pull there and I was on my way to get back into the race.....of course this is after what seemed like half of the field had passed.

Unfortunately, after I got on my bike I found that my bar stem had been forced 45 degrees to the left from the impact of the crash. Could I fix it manually? I tried. Did I have a tool? I was the tool for not having a tool. Big bummer. So I rode sideways for a lap which was pretty sweet when trying to navigate up and over things and back down rock gardens. Oh ya. I got to the technical zone which was 25 long minutes away and the announcer saw that I was in about 40th place and said over the loud speaker "I wonder if the effort from last nights race got to Kathy" and I am just sitting there thinking "uh..........or...maybe.....just maybe....it could be the small fact that I AM RIDING SIDEWAYS RIGHT NOW!!" Whatever. That comment was slightly amusing to me which I needed at that moment.

Once I got the stem straightened out I got back into the game for the 2nd of 3 laps. That is when my left hand started to go numb and get puffy because of the mere fact that I had poisonous cactus quills in it. I looked like I was getting acupuncture all over that hand or something. But I put that all in the back of my head because everything was working to include me and the bike and I just thought, ok, this is my chance to make my way back up the field. So I just went crazy trying to gain as many spots as possible because its not over until its over!!

Little did I know that it was just about to be almost over again when on the 3rd lap a bolt in my brake loosened up and dropped out. Oh man, what else was going to happen? Never mind I don't want to know. So lap 3 was a lap with no rear brake. Sweet. Oh well. I kept punching it on the flats and then really needed to be careful on the down hills.......one grab for a back brake lever that is just limp can be a big issue and I was choosing to have a "rest of the season" by taking it easier on the dh's and reminding myself as if it were a chant....No rear brake. No rear brake.

After it was all said and done, I fought back through the field and ended up 17th. What can you say? That is racing for you and I at least come away from the weekend knowing my fitness is there.

The one thing about a race ending is that the pain stops once you cross that finish line but that was not the case for me. It was just the start of the pain from the crash because now I could feel it. The guys at Titus were nice enough to pluck out every last cactus quill in my hand and even broke out tweezers to really finish the job. Thanks again guys. My left hand was puffy and lumpy and there was plenty of soft tissue damage to go around on that hand but nothing was broken although I had some doubts. This was also the time for what I call "the pebble check" where you start lifting up your uniform where the blood stains are to see just what you have going on there...... but I just had surface wounds if you can believe it. Several hema-tomatoes popped up over the next few hours in places that just make you wonder what exactly your crash looked like for Pete's sake plus I had discovered cuts in the back of my mouth. Geez, just how did I land in that crash? Weird. Overall I was a lucky ducky and cannot wait to do it again next weekend. Well....not the crash part.

NMBS #1 STXC - Saddle Battle

So like I said, not everything went smooth sailing leading up to the Short Track on Saturday evening. There I was in the dark, on my trainer, near my car, no one around with 2 minutes until staging and I take my bike off the trainer, grab my seat and the hole thing rattles backwards and is totally loose. This is when the panic attack happened and I started searching frantically for the car keys in the dark and then once in I started throwing all my tools and everything around trying to find the right one. Is it 6??? I check it...too big. A 3?? Too small. Oh man time is ticking. How about a 5?? Too big. Ok so I know what one it is now.........but where is it?!!! The most commonly used tool size and it is of course not in its slot in my mess of tools. Ok I tell myself....don't panic.....calm down...it's ok....breathe. And ahhhhhh....I find it. At this point, I DON'T CARE and CAN'T CARE if the seat is in the right position. There is no time to measure to get it perfect. I just eye it, tighten it and go to the line. Whew that was close.

Considering how things went in the race maybe I ought to consider a permanent change hugh (it ended up being 1 cm too far back)? Ha!