Ouch

I ripped my poor legs to pieces this weekend.

Yesterday was a brutal 60 mile road race in 36 degrees and snow/rain. My feet were numb at the end, and by that, I mean the entire foot from toe to heel. I was the lone Hagens rider, so I had to battle it out alone against 5 wines and 3 group health.

There were 2 significant climbs on the course, and after the first one on the first lap, about half the field was gone. Wines proceeded to relay attack for the entire race, and no one else would help with the chase. There was a lot of bitching and yelling, which I'm not used to in bike races, especially in races where I do a TON of work.

So more relay attacking, more of me going hard up the hills to try to get rid of people. On the 3rd lap, we were down to 5 - 2 wines, me, a group health, and a new cat 3. We worked together until the last hill, and I punched it towards the top, dropping everyone except Tricia from wines. But Tricia hadn't done any work all day (because she had teammates and didn't need to), and I had burned a lot of matches chasing down attacks and dropping people. I waited for her to launch the sprint this time, but my poor little legs couldn't follow, and I got 2nd again. What is with this 2nd place curse?

Then today I geared up for a 20k TT. It was 34 at the start so the race was delayed an hour. I was feeling mentally cracked and my legs felt like craaapppp during warm up. They continued to feel like crap through the whole TT, but I did the best I could. I had an early start time, and after I passed the other women within the first 5 minutes, I was completely alone. It was nice to ride solo, though, and I felt a lot better after - mentally, at least. I rode with the powertap so my placing wasn't great. Finished it off with 45 mins of E on the road bike.

Mickey's Pants

I can paint a wall, damn it! 

Our new shop is opening soon, and we are busy getting the new space ready.  TH didn't think I was capable of painting a wall for some reason, but I insisted, and I proved him wrong.  

I must say, the "Mickey's Pants" red looks quite nice.  Still needs another coat, though.

Another Bummer

The race today, at Tour de Dung, was flat and boring.

I had my new wheels, which was really exciting for about half a lap until I got a flat. Because the race was so flat, there was nowhere to catch back on, and despite my valiant 14 mile TT effort, I was left in the dust. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to catch back on. I wish I had a better sense of urgency at the time.

Oh well. I don't know how well I would have done anyway. Legs felt good, though! Somehow they came around these last few days.

I will put the 23mm tires on my wheels now. I also won't use tires that were sitting behind a dresser for a year.

Who gets front flats, anyway?

Drool in Glue

I wonder if drool changes the adhesive properties of tubular glue.  

I am pre-gluing my rims, and I keep drooling in the glue because they are so sweet.

Zoom zoom these wheels wanna go fast!  

Zoom zoom I wanna go fast!

New Bike, New Wheels

My new wheels, Edge 1.68s with DT190 hubs, finally arrived.  Yeah ceramic bearings!  Totally unnecessary...  And my TT bike is finished, so it's time for pictures.  

Please feel free to take a moment to puke because both of them are SICK!

Bummer

The race today was canceled.  This was probably good because at 8:30 (when the race was supposed to start) it was still 33 and snowing.  Even if we had raced, it would have been miserable, more so than yesterday.

It's a bummer, though.  I was looking forward to it since there is a hill on the course, and I think I would have felt pretty good.  Now I get the day off, though.  

We should have gone skiing.

Mason Lake 2: Yuck

 I think I can finally feel my toes again.

It was pouring rain and cold - 41ish.  The field was smaller today, probably only 10 women and 10 men, and a lot of people dropped out.  My legs were feeling pretty zapped because I did TT intervals yesterday in an effort to get ready for the upcoming stage races or something like that.  About halfway into the first lap, my glasses started fogging up, so I took them off, but there was still a lot of road spray and I couldn't see ANYTHING!  During the 2nd lap, a deluge of water went into my shoes and my feet were suddenly soaked.  My hands quickly followed suit, and by lap 3, they were pretty frozen.  I started thinking of ways that I could crash so that I wouldn't have to race anymore, but none of my options seemed very appealing, so I stuck to it.  

Jen, Tricia from Wines (who won last week), some random Idaho girl, and I got in a breakaway, but the men chased us down.  Some yelling ensued, but it felt like I was in a parallel universe because I couldn't understand what was going on or why there was so much yelling.  I've been reading Into Thin Air, and I felt like one of the dudes stranded on Everest where nothing really made sense.  This happened a few other times when the officials came to yell at us but I have no idea why.  Rain clouds my brain.  

So then on the last lap, Tricia attacked again.  My legs were pretty dead at this point but I went with her and so did the Idaho girl.  We worked together until the end, and I couldn't feel my hands at all.  I had nothing in my legs, so I just waited for the finish.  The other two looked pretty dead too, but I slowed my breathing and pretended like I felt ok.  I launched my sprint a little too early, and I got a gap on Tricia.  I had her at 200m, but then I promptly died, and she passed me. :( I got 2nd again, but I was a lot closer this time!  We even beat the men!  Jen did well, too, winning the the field sprint and coming in 4th.  

Looks like tomorrow may be worse!

Chip chip chip

Just chipping away, one day at a time.

Erin and I are going to dinner soon to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. What fun we have had over the last 3 years!

First Race: Success! Sort Of

Today was the first race of the season, Mason Lake 1.  My legs felt a little funky because I did too much Trigger Point yesterday, but once I got moving I felt ok.

It was SO nice to have teammates to go to the race with!  That really helped ease my nerves.  The skies opened up, and it was a nice sunny day aside from the wind.  

It felt really nice to get back into racing.  I felt pretty comfortable in the pack, and I did a pretty good job of staying towards the front.  They combined the 1/2 women with the masters men, which changed the dynamic quite a bit.  We couldn't do a lot of work in the beginning because the men would just chase us down.  A mens breakaway got some distance, though, and on the last lap, the other guys sat up and let us do our own race.

Beth was in a breakaway, and as they were getting caught, I attacked.  I feel bad because I attacked a little too early and it looked like I was chasing her down.  That was NOT the intention!  Then there were 3 of us, 3 wines chicks and 2 others.  We did a rotating paceline for awhile.  It looked like everyone was pretty tired, so I attacked with maybe 5 miles to go.  

1 wines rider came with me, and we worked together very well to get a good gap.  It sounded like she was breathing pretty hard, and I knew she is a good sprinter, so I tried to attack her with 1k to go.  That didn't work, and my legs were fried for the sprint, so I got 2nd. 

We still have some team tactics kinks to work out, but it's just the first race.  I also need to keep practicing my sprinting, but it will come.  

But boy oh boy was it FUN!  It's great to be back in the mix.

Getting Faster Pains

Sometimes, actually frequently, when I ride my bike really hard, I get these pains in my legs.

I don't know how to explain them. They feel like growing pains. I usually describe them as achy. It's this dull, constant pain in my quads, glutes, and basically the whole lateral sides of my legs.

Now my legs are really achy. I hope they are GETTING FASTER pains!