My First Time (Racing) - Part 1 of 2

Here I am about to ride my first road race. My life-long dream is about to come true.

Trying to get any work done on Friday was nearly impossible. Race day was tomorrow and I had so much going through my head: race strategies, wondering if I would bail during the race and wondering if I could I keep up or would I get dropped? Everyone in my family seemed to be holding their breaths in anticipation as well, they all sacrificed a lot so that I could realize a life-long dream: to race competitively on a road bike team.

I was excited to wear the black and gold for the first time (Rob loaned me a Body Concepts jersey because mine hadn’t come in yet) and to top it all off I had found a black and yellow Livestrong helmet that was on amazing sale at Bicycles Plus while my wife was out on her first mountain bike training ride with one of our daughters.

The morning of the race was hectic with getting gear ready, packing up the family and making sure that I had the proper nutrition for before and after the ride. It was cold and damp with thick fog greeting us as we opened the garage door but nothing could deter my excitement, in just a couple of hours I would be racing!

Warming up in the rain.

We arrived at William Land Park and I began setting up the rim trainer while my family all worked to make sure that Jax was entertained and comfortable. It was incredibly cold and I wondered if I would have to cover up the BC jersey I wore so proudly with a jacket. That was answered soon enough as I ground away on the trainer and my body heated up. It even rained some as I warmed up but my concern was no longer for the cold or wet but for the slick road conditions I would encounter in this kind of weather.

With about 15 minutes to go I got off the trainer and headed towards the starting line to see if I could find my teammates.  Shortly after arriving, Patrick, Felix (who was on a wait list hoping to get in), and Randy showed up.  Randy had us take a lap around the track to talk how crits work and what our strategy would be and as we were riding John caught up to us. The strategy was to use the primes (a race within a race where small awards given to the first finisher on certain laps) as practice for our lead out so that we could give one of our riders a serious chance of winning on the final lap.



Felix was not able to race with us but stayed to support the team.

As we finished our practice lap and got back to the start line, almost everyone was already lined up. Felix found out that there had not been enough places available and he would have to sit the race out. He did stay and helped my family cheer the rest of us Body Concept Racers on.

John, Chris, Randy and Patrick of Team Body Concepts.

Just before the start Randy was able to squeeze into a spot close to the front with the rest of us staggered behind him. We waited as a cluster as the race official went over some basics of crits –things like “Be careful on the wet track”, “Hold your line in turns”, “There are going to be 2 primes” etc.

As the minutes ticked down to seconds for the race to start I, surprisingly, found that I wasn’t nervous.  I was focusing more on what we talked about during our strategy session and how I needed to be prepared to get off to a fast start so that I wouldn’t lose my teammates during the initial acceleration. I must have been REALLY focused because I don’t even remember how the race started. I could not go back and tell you if a bell had rung, a gunshot gone off or if someone had called the start by voice. All I can remember is the mass of bodies and wheels surging forward en masse and I was a part of it… to be continued in part 2.

The official gives a final run-down of rules just before the start of the race. I was riding in the Cat 4/5 35+ race.

For more images of the race visit: http://www.grovetribe.com/CalAggie2011Gallery.html

and be sure to check back in here tomorrow for more on the race! 

January 29th Cal-Aggie Crit Photo Gallery

At the finish with Jax covered in road grime

I survived my first crit and will be blogging about the experience tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is a photo gallery my wife put together:

Cal-Aggie Photo Gallery

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!

Well, things have been pretty quiet here on the blog which reflects the frantic chaos our lives have been the past few days. We always have a lot going on with the usual crazy fare for our family and then you add my first road race - the Cal Aggie Criterium - and you have a recipe for blog neglect.


I apologize for missing a couple of days but I promise you that there will be quite a few blogs to follow (hopefully with lots of pictures) about my day at the races. I am off to eat a good breakfast, bundle up against the cold and pack the car for a day at the races.

Cal Aggie Criterium: First Race Anticipation

This weekend will be my first road race at the Cal Aggie Criterium in Sacramento.  Up until Monday, I knew the race was coming, but I didn’t think much of it.  Then it hit me.  OMG, I am racing this week!  I am both nervous and excited. 

I am nervous for several reasons.  The race is a crit, and crits can be a dangerous.  Will I perform well?  Am I going to do something stupid?  While I am still nervous I have managed to settle a lot of the nerves by thinking about team strategies, visualizing how those strategies might play out in a crit, and imagining myself in different roles in that strategy.

As for the excitement, there is nothing I can do about that but embrace it.  I have been enjoying being a part of the Body Concepts Race Team and I can’t wait to get out there with the rest of the team and start racing!

2011 Cal Aggie Crit Course Map

The Cal Aggie Criterium will be held –Rain or shine!- at William Land Park in Sacramento in January 29, 2011. Registration will be located at the south end of the course near the end of Sutterville and Freeport. The morning of registration will open at 7 am and will close about 15 minutes before each race. USAC license is required and they will be available at the race. One-Day licenses will be available for Cat 5 men and Cat 4 women.

If you want to see who is racing (Yep, I’m on the list!): https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/events/tools/registered-athletes/index.xhtml?categoryId=37135&conversationId=959448

If you want to see how a favorite racer fared (God, please don’t search me! My first race won’t be pretty…), then check out this link: http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2011-

Official Race Flyer: http://ncnca.org/sites/default/files/01/07/2011%20-%207:55pm/cal%20aggie%20crit%20flyer%202011.pdf

Sun Shines on Sierra Nevada Race Series

After weeks of cloud-filled skies the sun burst through to shine on the first ever Sierra Nevada High School Race Series event. The crisp morning air was filled with the sounds of excited racers and supporters preparing for the first race of the season. With hosting assistance from TBF the Sierra Nevada High School Cycling Organization enjoyed a spectacular and very well-attended race.

 

An emotional victory for one young racer.

The well-organized event was held on a short track course at the Granite Bay California State Recreation Area and included free food and swag bags for the racers, music, vendors and lots of cheering fans.  All the races went smoothly (relative term in a mountain bike race, after all) with the only notable occurrence was when one racer pushed themselves too hard and had to receive a bit of support from the rapidly responding medical staff. The rest of the excitement remained for the fast-paced efforts of young riders giving the crowd their all and working their hearts out for the team.

 

Young women not afraid of some sweat and dirt. 

Although the event lasted well over 7 hours it was all over too soon leaving everyone eagerly anticipating the next event: The Granite Bay Epic Cross Country held on February 5, 2011 in Granite Bay, CA. Hopefully, clear skies will once again prevail.

For a full gallery of this event complete with action shots, winners and the folks who help make it all happen please visit http://www.grovetribe.com/SierraNevadaGallery.html.

Dirty Secret

So I figure it is time for me (Dawn) to fess up. I have a dirty little secret... or rather, maybe not so dirty. I've loved cycling since I was strapped to the back of my dad's ten speed and we would go for day-long family rides. Between family picnic rides to my own (mis)adventures I almost always had a bike of some kind in my life. I loved the freedom. I loved the speed.

As soon as I had my first mini ten speed I learned how to ride it without hands. (I even had to learn how to turn corners as I would ride home several blocks with my hands full of my Taco Bell lunch and drink.) I've been hit by a car on my bike. I used to love sneaking into the local Catholic girls high school and ride my (heaven help me) ten speed up and down the stairs. (How the wheels stayed true through that I have no clue.) I've ridden from the Fabulous Forties in East Sacramento to West Sacramento and back in the dark on my bike. As a pre-teen I've experienced nasty road rash in the middle of a 103 degree Sacramento summer and had to ride home, alone, several miles. I grew up and used cycling to help recover from a bad episode of CFS. I've ridden to and from school and work on my bike. The point is, there is so much I have experienced on a bike but -here comes the dirty secret- I've never ridden off-road on a bike.

I guess I was a roadie before I even knew what a roadie was and I still am. After my Effie was stolen I mooched rides off of my husband's road bike and it has been a couple of years since I have had my own ride. (Honestly riding his bike was more torture than fun.) Then through an odd twist of fate I found myself in possession of a Specialized Rockhopper 29er. The story is a sad one with a silver lining but even though the bike was not intended for me; it fits and now it is mine.

So now I start a new chapter in my cycling life; an old lady trying to lose the pounds from her latest (and last!) pregnancy, just now learning to play in the dirt. It will be interesting to see how this goes. Please, try not to laugh as you pass me on the trails. I have the GroveTribe name to uphold.

Folsom High Cycling Team Kick-Off

Here I am with one of our future racers listening to Coach Jason McMillen.

Well folks, race season is here with the first race this Saturday (January 22nd) and the Folsom High Cycling team got quite a kick-off. Held at the Folsom High School multi-purpose room, the tables were packed with blue and red clad riders and their families ready to soak up a lot of good information and some good eats provided pot-luck style.

First up to the podium was Coach Jason McMillen. As dishes were being delivered to the long buffet tables coach spoke on the importance of proper nutrition and eating “safe” on race day.  Stick to what you know gang, no trying out the new habanero omelet recipe mom got off mrbreakfast.com and no harking down a whole bunch of Jimmy Deans to weigh you down as your running the gauntlet either. When asked by a rider about burritos as pre-race fare Coach responded with a quip about “mosquito abatement” (take note Vector Control).  The talk quickly turned to race strategy with coach encouraging the riders to stay at the front as long as they can, “and when you can’t stay out in front any longer, just tell yourself that you can!”

Ummmm... speaking of bike repair.....

The importance of bike repair and maintenance was also touched on with Coach stating that riders should keep their bikes clean admonishing that they should be able to “eat breakfast off of the drive train” and that clean bikes would get serviced first on race day. (I’m still trying to picture eating a Habanero omelet off of a drive train, hmmmm, maybe I should stick to bagels.)

Coach then introduced the Sierra Nevada High School Racing Series; a project close to Coach’s heart -especially since he is the main driving force behind it. The Sierra was created for Northern California youth racing after McMillen recognized that travel and race costs of the NORCAL series was financially punishing for riders families. Coach encouraged riders to consider racing the NORCAL series as well. “Treat NORCAL like sectionals. They are optional.” For those looking for the challenge of racing with serious competition, Coach recommended the NORCAL races and was especially encouraging of riders who were considering attending the Sea Otter Classic; a massive cycling event “with over 60,000 people and every kind of biking you can imagine.”

 

Next up was Mavis Lombardi with some tips for parents taking their riders to events. She stated the importance of proper hydration; urging folks to bring plenty of water and Gatorade (as well as “carb snacks”) in their own coolers for Saturday’s race. In addition she encouraged folks to bring seating for themselves and their riders as well as a comfortable change of clothes for the riders to change into when their racing is done.

She also asked that parents be willing to help set-up or break down if they were able. Mavis encouraged folks to visit the website http://www.sierranevadamtb.org/ if parents need information about race times, etc. and gave kudos to hard-working Carrie Cane for all of her work on the group’s non-profit status and encouraged parents to pick up fliers for the upcoming meeting of the Sierra group on January 24th. Right along side those nifty fliers was a table load of shirts and water bottles courtesy of one of the team's sponsors, Bicycles Plus.

To give a short talk on the perspective of race-day from a rider’s perspective was Kayla Bruce, Folsom High School Cycling Team Captain. Kayla again encouraged riders to have their “safe breakfast” to fuel up because race day is not like an ordinary ride. “You go harder and use more energy because of nerves and adrenaline.” She cautioned parents that their riders will want to rest the rest of the day after the races and “we are tired and grumpy” and want to have a place to chill and relax and talk to the other riders as they decompress from the excitement. She ended the talk with entreating families to treat the riders to a big “favorite meal” to end the day.

Mayor Andy Morin, wearing a red Folsom Bulldogs hooded sweatshirt, spoke to the crowd discussing plans for even more local  trails to make the mountain biking populace happy as well as how proud the community is of how well the Folsom High School cycling team represents its community.

 

The dinner, coordinated by Bridget Bruce, Tammi Sevy & Connie Wamhoff – thank you, ladies!, was held during a break in the presentations with the food tables quickly becoming inundated by waves of hungry riders and their families. Pizza, pasta, salads, chili, cookies, brownies and, of course, Gatorade proved to be pretty darn edible fare with only a few scraps left by the end of the night.




Carrie taking a break from paperwork to refuel.




My wife caught me on film eating one
of her awesome brownies before dinner.

 

The real highlight of the evening was an amazing video presentation put together by Coach McMillen. A combination of photos and videos put together in a stunning graphic and musical display served as a documentary of the team’s experience and showcased pictures of most of the team riders and ride leaders. When asked how he managed to find time between his busy work and coaching schedule to put something like that together Coach replied that he subsists off of only three or four hours of sleep a night. (Yep, McMillen and Martha Stewart: working hard, sleeping less, changing the world.)

So now that you know that this epic series is happening right in your backyard, come out and join the GroveTribe and as we experience the inaugural race of the Sierra Nevada High School Race Series to root for the Folsom High School Cycling Team!



Coach McMillen & Mayor Morin.

Well-dressed dignitaries abounded,
including Principal Kathryn Allaman.

Even the clean-up crew had class...

Portion of Bike Trail Closed

Public Notice

Paved Bike Path at Lake Natoma to be Temporarily Closed for Construction Project.

Managers at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area announced that the paved bike path along the north side of Lake Natoma will be temporarily closed due to construction activities along the trail from January 24-27and January 31-February 3, 2011. The trail closure will be in effect on those days from 7:00am until 4:30pm. The specific section of the trail to be closed is the portion of the trail along the Orangevale Bluffs, from the intersection of the Main Avenue access spur to Negro Bar.

The trail closure is necessarily in order to install a low rock barrier wall adjacent to the trail along the base of the Orangevale Bluffs in order to help protect the paved trail and trail users from rock fall that occurs along this section of the Bluffs. Heavy equipment will be used along the trail to install the rock barrier and during the installation it is necessary to close the paved trail to provide for visitor safety. The concrete rock barrier will be three feet tall, relatively unobtrusive and will not affect trail use once installed.

Trail users will need to find alternate routes during the closure period. The paved bike path along the south side of Lake Natoma will be open and available as a detour or alternate route. Bicyclists and other users may want to cross to the trail on the south side of Lake Natoma at the Historic Truss Bridge in Folsom at the east end of Lake Natoma or at Hazel Avenue at the west end of the Lake.

The paved bike path along the north side of Lake Natoma is part of the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail and provides connection from the American River Parkway to Beal’s Point at Folsom Lake. State Park managers realize this is an extremely popular trail and bike route and are only closing the trail temporarily in order to implement this public safety project.

For further information contact Folsom Sector Superintendent Ted Jackson at (916) 988-0205.

Levi Leipheimer's King Ridge GranFondo: There's A Reason The Server Was Slammed

My number from last year's GranFondo.

In September of 2010, a friend convinced me to sign up for Levi's GranFondo (which my wife affectionately calls The Grand Fondu).  Tickets had sold out long ago so we had to scrample to pick up tickets from people who had pre-purchased the tickets but were not able to attend. 

GranFondo Crowd. This is a very popular (and fun!) event.

The scramble didn't end there.  While I had been training 6 days a week, I had only been riding about 28-35 miles per ride.  Having spent about five years living in Santa Rosa, I knew I had my work cut out for me to get ready in time. 

Doing the ride was awesome!  I always loved riding out there and really missed it.  Getting back out in all of the familiar roads, taking in the scenery, and enjoying the never-ending stream of riders (there were something like 5000 that year) was the most enjoyable ride I had ever done. 

Registration for the 2011 Fondo was opening this past Monday at 9am.  I kept debating whether to sign up again.  I really wanted to go back, but with this years race focus, I wasn't sure if I should do it or not.  At the last minute, I decided that I should go back. 

Bad iPhone pic of me at the event.

At 9 am sharp, I tried to register.  50 minutes later I was still trying to register, but their website kept barfing.  Eventually the host company pulled down the entire site thinking that they were trying to be hacked (despite warnings from the Fondo camp that they were going to have a high volume of traffic at 9).  I had to get back to work and go to a meeting.  I left not knowing if the site was going to be up again or if, the site went back up, it would fill before I could register.  After the meeting I saw a notice on facebook saying that they closed down the registration and were going to try again at 4pm.  I wasn't able to get back to registration at 4, but I was able to try around 5.  Still no luck.  I check facebook again and find out that their backup plan wasn't able to handle the traffic either and were going to try again Tuesday at noon.  Argh...  Finally, thanks to an assist from my wife who was able to be at the computer at noon, I was able to register. 

We are all eagerly awaiting the start.

Up until we finally registered, I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision.  With each delay I was thinking that maybe I should just skip it this year.  After the registration, I was happy we did.  I can't wait to get back out there and see what I can do with a race season under my belt.

The Good, The Bad and The Muddy: Folsom High Cycling

Angus painted up after Saturday's ride with FHS Cycling Team.

One of the things that has continued to impress me about the Folsom High Cycling Team is that many of the kids have great attitudes and work really hard.  Today was no different as I saw a number of kids - many faster than me- working their tails off powering through sand and mud, aggressively descending, and pushing their bodies to the limits. There is a lot to be proud of and it is great to see. They are definitely in the “Good” column of Folsom High Cycling.

Then there was the group that I was with today…  Meh, not so great. About three quarters of the way through a long loop a sub-group of kids stopped (the other group was far ahead).  I was running sweep so I stopped as well.  I mentioned to them that the rider leading the group was starting to get out of sight.  Nothing… They just stood there. When I tried to encourage them to get moving again they mentioned something about waiting for the fast group to come around again and joining them. None of them seemed in the least bit interested in getting back on their bikes and doing what they had come there to do: ride.

I had a tough dilemma before me:  the kids didn’t want to ride and I couldn’t leave them.  I decided to wait to see how long it would take for them to get going again.  15 agonizing minutes dragged by before one of the kids mentions something about getting cold and wanting to ride again.  Taking advantage of that I told them it was time to get going. Finally, the group was on the move again. 

We finished the long loop and then we were supposed to start doing several loops on the short track.  After one lap (about a mile) they stopped again.  The rider leading the group mentioned he was going to do another lap with a strong and obvious implication that the group was to follow.  No one moved and he ended up riding the first loop alone.  He came back and did another lap, as if expecting at least some of the kids to join him on the second lap.  Again, no one followed.  In yet another attempt to get the kids moving again, another ride leader and I mentioned a few times that we were going to do part of the short track, climb a hill, and then return.  We repeated it several times with the expectation that the group would follow and we began riding away slowly.  And guess what!...  No one followed.   

Honestly, the ride left me a bit disappointed. I know that all can’t be sunshine and roses, I’ve seen so much to be proud of in the Folsom High School Cycling Team, but it was a blow to the joy of it all to see a group of kids not appreciate what they had before them. If there were high school cycling teams when I was in school, I would have been all over it, riding as often and with as much heart as I could.  Most of these kids aren’t riding cheap bikes, many of their parents were able to invest a lot more money in these bikes and equipment then my parents could invest in mine.  I could only have dreamed to have such opportunity and equipment handed to me when I was their age!

From my perspective, I saw this one group of kids unwilling to participate in an awesome opportunity.  Their parents cared enough to go without money and time so that their kids could have something good in their lives and they were wasting that opportunity, squandering that token of affection from their parents and right along with it wasting my time –as faithful readers of this blog know is incredibly precious for me, especially with a baby son waiting at home wondering where his dad is- and limited resources.  I have kids at home that would love for me to spend the day with them.  Instead I am out sitting in a valley with a bunch of kids with expensive bikes and gear that don’t want to ride. 

I can only hope that something, sometime –hopefully soon- will click for these kids and they will see that this is a time and opportunity in their lives to seize and live to the fullest. I can only pray that something that I can do or say may inspire at least some of them to make the most of what a community of caring adults can give because very few things in life can give the fierce and primal satisfaction of coming home with a bike so wonderfully painted with mud.

Adventures in Race Registration

The race season is kicking off and registrations are starting to open up.  I had done a few races last year but this year I was going for a full race schedule. The other night registrations for several events were to open online at 7 pm. I was excited to start registering for my first few races of the year and apparently so was about a million other cyclists.  As I tried to register there were long pauses on the website and timeouts.  Eventually the site stopped responding with 3 races in my shopping cart.  ARGH!!! 

What was supposed to be a quick few minutes online and then a rare evening that I was free to hang out with the family turned into me being chained to the computer, afraid that I would miss out on registration. What do I do?  The family is waiting on me and I have already burned 45 minutes into this endeavor.  I decide to wait a few hours and try again.  If the race is full, so be it!  I can’t waste any more time on this. 

About half an hour goes by and I ask my wife should I try one more time really quick.  She says to give it a go. (Her favorite motto is: “He Who Hesitates Is Lost”)  I was in luck as the site started responding again, it remembered my cart, and I was able to complete the transaction in less than 5 minutes.  I heard that a few hours later many of the race categories filled up, so I guess I might have dodged a bullet there. 

So now I know that race registration is a race in itself and I have to be on the ball to make sure I can get registered for all of the races I want to ride this year. Thankfully there is a member of the Body Concepts racing team that does a great job giving us all heads ups when race registrations are opening up. I have found myself eagerly awaiting his emails. (Many thanks, cycling brother!)

Catharsis through Cycling

There is so much going on that I have little to no power over. Between world events that I have no say in to the chaos that can be my personal life -juggling kids and exes and everything in between- things can get pretty overwhelming at times.  I could rail at the world, declaring that it’s “not fair” or that “the Universe is against me”. I could harbor anger and resentment because of some unearned sense of entitlement. Instead I ride.   

My cadence becomes a hushed meditation; I focus on the sound of my puffing breath as it cleanses me both physically and emotionally. My anger works away, the adrenaline used instead to make my body stronger pedal-stroke by pedal-stroke. I am able to think about things and find a calm center in a storm of emotions or fears.  

When faced with a world that seems unfair, angry and even frightening; I work on being stronger, faster, better.  Because the one thing I can change; is me.

How Not To Draft

So the other day I was telling my wife about a frustrating ride in which someone our group tried to pass on the trail decided to tag on to our group and make our lives miserable. Her response was, “Sounds like a blog to me.” So here it is gang, if you want to piss people off then here is your instructional guide on “How Not To Draft”:

·         Be a leech. Tag on to a group you don’t know without having a clue how to ride and draft in a group.  As mentioned above, we were happily riding along when we tried to pass “Mr. Leech”. As we passed him he jumped onto our paceline. He would never take a turn pulling but at times, from the very back of the line, sprint forward past the entire paceline only to slow down and go at a slower pace once he was ahead of us. This forced us to pass him again only to have him repeat the pattern. All of us were getting frustrated and our torment only ended when he went in another direction. Later, we all decided that if confronted with a similar situation we would do a more disciplined paceline of 30 to 60 second pulls at a higher output so that the offender would fall off the back.

·         Be a hummingbird. Flitting forward and back at inconsistent speeds that doesn’t match the rate of the paceline. Make everyone wonder if they should pass you or just end everyone’s misery and throw few tacks at your front wheel.

·         Be a “Johnny Come Lately”. Suck away at everyone else’s energy like some lycra-clad vampire wanna-be, never taking a turn pulling the rest of the group. Then, as you near the finish, sprint forward using the reserves you sucked away from everyone else for your self-gratifying “strong finish”.

·         Be a sidewinder. Instead of keeping a nice straight line, weave side-to-side  so we don’t know what the frick you’re doing and we all live in fear of you clipping our wheel  or other some such nonsense. High energy output doesn’t have to equal frenetic freak-out. Chill out, calm down and hum a mantra or two.

(Please note that this instructional, while tongue-in-cheek, is meant for group rides and not for actual race-day where team strategies may actually play into one of the categories.)

Body Concepts Race Team Skills Clinic #3

For the third BCRT (Body Concepts Race Team) Skills Clinic we talked about race strategies.  First, a quick run-down of what we covered so the rest of the blog –hopefully- makes sense so here are the concepts we covered:  

Attacking - This is where you will see a rider breakaway from the peloton, charging out ahead to get separation from all the other racers and is done for a few reasons such as creating a gap to the peloton, wearing out chasing riders so that your team can "rest", or to attempt a solo breakaway.

Blocking - This is NOT where you cut people off and spread yourself across the road so that no one can pass.  This is where you are intentionally and, if you are sly, slow the pace of a group without them knowing what you are doing.  If you are in the peloton, you might do this to make it difficult for the peloton to catch attacking riders if your team is represented in the attack. 

Bridging - Other riders have attacked and created a breakaway, but your team is not represented in the breakaway.  You will want to get a teammate up there or get the peloton to pick up the pace to reel in the breakaway group.  Work with your team or riders from other teams to close the gap.  Just be wary of who you are looking to for help.  If the person you are asking for help has a team member in the breakaway, that person may not be motivated to help you and will probably block you instead.

Lead-outs - The race is coming to an end and, if you are lucky, you have some teammates with you and can organize a high speed paceline to get the sprinter of your team close enough to the finish that the sprinter can take over at the end and get the victory. 

Okay, now that we have covered that stuff we can get to the blow by blow of the practical applications of these concepts during last Saturday’s clinic. For this clinic we had two different finish lines: one was a downhill finish and the other was an uphill finish.  I can't remember the exact numbers but things worked out that we were able to divide up into three teams with about 5-6 riders per team. They were: 

Cat 5 Men - This is the beginner team (where you will find me)
Cat 4 or lower
Women - all categories

We did four races.  Before each race we would come up with our race plan.  That involved deciding who our sprinter was going to be and which riders would help the sprinter finish.  We also designated riders that would cover attacks and lead attacks as well. 

Let the games begin!

From the first "Go", talking about the plans and actually getting to implement them are two different things entirely. Just because we had our plans all worked out in our heads didn’t mean that was how the action would actually go down.  

With the first race I was assigned to cover the attacks, which was difficult because everyone was unsure of what they were doing.  Some people took off hard while others were watching to see what other riders were going to do leaving me to wonder, “Is that a break in front of me or did they just take off harder than everyone else?”  As the ride progressed I started figuring things out and I managed to bridge up to a break and stuck with them until the end. 

On the second race I was the lead rider for the paceline that would deliver the sprinter.  As everyone took off it was difficult to figure out what pace I should be setting.  Our course is so short that every attack has a chance of going all the way.  As we got started everyone began to separate out and it was difficult to tell if I should sit still and let the other riders cover the attacks or if I needed to pick up the pace to get our designated sprinter into position. Everything was going okay until we moved to implement that part of our plan that involved starting our paceline.  I was supposed to take off at an easy pace to make sure the line stayed together.  However, I was pumped!  I took off hard and lost the rest of the line :(  Still, we recovered and got our sprinter in position at the end.  We didn't win but I still felt good that we executed the strategy and I learned that one of my personal lessons was controlling the rush of racing and not losing my head to the excitement.

On the third race we were on the attack.  If the first attack didn't work I was to position myself so that I would be in the group that caught the attack and would instantly launch another attack.  As the first attack was caught, I launched and managed to get great separation.  I am on my own and now I am in time trial mode until I am caught or until I finish.  One problem, getting the separation cost a lot of energy and before I could recover from the first surge, I was faced with an incline (not that big, but anything is big when you are tired and riding all out).  After completing the climb I was beat; I wasn't caught yet but I didn't have a lot to continue the pace.  I slowed my pace a little to try and get some recovery so that I could do another burst.  This is where I made a mistake; I was focused forward, not on when I was going to get caught.  I didn't see the two riders catch me until they were already past and I was too tired to get the momentum going to catch their rear wheels.  If I had seen them coming I might have been able to build up enough speed before they passed to catch a wheel.

For the fourth race I was going to lead the paceline at the end again however the execution didn't go as well.  I ended up finishing second but that isn't where the lead-out person should be!  We didn't do a good job communicating and the paceline fell apart.  As we approached the uphill finish the rest of the riders in my paceline weren't passing me and I couldn't take the time to look to see where they were, so I rode as hard as I could to the finish. More lessons learned for next time.

I did regret that I didn't get the chance to be the sprinter, but I realize that I will get my chance. I learned so much in one day with attacking and covering the attacks being my favorite part of the clinic. It was a blast getting out there and mixing it up and now I can't wait for the race action to start.

I've got to cut this short, I need to go register for a race!

This Is What Cycling Is All About: Folsom High Cycling Team



Here I am with the littlest GroveTribe member before I had to get to work scoring the practice races.



The Folsom High MTB Team met at Willow Creek Reservoir to do a simulated race on a short track that will be used during race season.  Parents and ride leaders were invited to see what their kids were up to along with helping out if needed.

We came to check it out thinking that we would be able to sit back and enjoy the racing on what was supposed to be a relatively warm and sunny day (for January).   Well…  The forecast was wrong.  The sun never came out and it was bitterly cold.  The family stayed for a bit, but it was much too cold for my youngest to be hanging out for any length of time. The coach asked that I help with scoring, so I swung by the house to drop the family off in a warm house, and headed back out to the meet.  I also grabbed my helmet, gloves, and shoes just in case I needed to hop on a bike for any reason.  

One of the parent volunteers and his son supporting the older brother.

There were two simulated races that day which were being used to get an idea of where the kids stood in relation to the other kids so that, on race day, they would have a better idea of how to divide the kids into categories.  The first race was primarily for the newer riders who did two laps on the course.  The new riders did really well and as they came around for their lap, parents and volunteers would yell out encouragement to them.  I was really impressed by the friendly environment.  Parents weren’t yelling at each other.   No one was admonished or pressured about their performance.  This is an example of how sports should be for kids.

First batch heads out for warm-ups.  (I was too busy
scoring the race to take more action photos.)

The next race was a much larger group of the more advanced riders who did three laps of the course.  There was spirited competition as the riders battled it out for their place on the lap.  Scoring individual riders as they jockeyed for position was a challenge. Numbers, bodies and bikes sped by in a chaotic blur of teen spirit. Thankfully, I had two people helping me spot the numbers so that all I had to do was to write down the order the numbers were relayed to me.



I had a great time out there in the freezing cold and the eager performances of many of the riders were great to see -we have some real potential “Armstrongs” out there- but even better to see was the support of so many of their family members. There were parents, siblings, volunteers like myself and friends all coming out to make a cheering crowd; fighting the chill with the warmth of their support and encouragement. It was joyful and uplifting to experience and that is what cycling is all about.

 

Living Strong with CFS

Dawn with "Effie" on winter ride.

For twenty years, I rode a blind roller coaster, not knowing where I was headed and what shape I would be in when I got there. From the time I was a teenager I was struck with disabling periods of illness that left me dizzy, weak, with migraines, painful glands, massive hair loss and literally hundreds of other symptoms.  The illness had been a mystery for so long that my family and I had begun jokingly calling it “Steve” in our “Over the Hedge” reference to anything that was unknown.  It was only last year that I was finally diagnosed and – although I still ride that roller coaster- the blind-fold has been removed.  After finding an amazing doctor that actually listened to me, after almost a year of every test you can imagine (treadmills, MRI’s, CT’s, more blood taken than a Blade movie…) I was finally diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

There is not nearly enough room in this blog to explain just what this illness can do to your life. Sadly for me, the earlier you get a diagnosis the higher your likelihood of recovery. I think I missed that window a couple of decades ago but I refuse to live a life “half-lived”. If you think CFS is just about “being tired” as the asinine name suggests then please learn a little bit more about this illness by reading the award winning New Yorker article "A Hidden Illness" written by Laura Hillenbrand (yes, the author that wrote “Seabiscuit”, the one that became the movie, and the new book “Unbroken”), her experience as written in this article is amazingly similar to what I myself have experienced.  If you only have time to read one article this week, stop reading this one and read hers instead. (Then come back to this one later.) http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/Hillenbrand.html



Single mom, no bike.

For those that know me, I am a farm-raised kind of girl who determined her self-worth by how hard she could work, by how many hours she could labor and sweat without rest. I struggled to maintain that identity the whole time I was ill, unknowingly further harming myself. I just could not understand why I felt so exhausted, I was not a lazy person. I had fallen so far down into the “pit” that just walking a partial block was too much for me to bear. Then came a divorce and I was solely responsible to support and care for two young daughters. I did the best I could and was able to function to care for them, but that was about the limit of the quality of my life. 

Then I met Chris. Chris was an avid cyclist and an incredibly active man. I doubted my ability to keep up with someone like him while I struggled to walk a block. This and other obstacles did not deter him from pursuing me and I felt that if he was willing to weather the storms in my life than the least that I could do was meet him halfway. His love of cycling and his desire to share it with me helped me to overcome my apprehension and I started to ride with him.

The first ride pushed me to my limit and left me shaking, dizzy and disoriented. We had gone only 6 miles. I was ashamed and I felt that surely Chris would not have the patience to put up with a woman so weak. To my shock, he held on with me and his refusal to give up on me fueled my fire. Don’t get me wrong, riding with Chris is tough because he COULD… NOT… GO…. SLOW! He would always assure me that he would just ride ahead and ride back to meet up with me but I hated being left behind, it was too much of an analogy for how I had lived my life for so long with CFS. So I did what the stubborn farm girl in me always did when challenged, I hauled ass. Months later I had managed to barter for a nice little hybrid and I was pulling thirty and forty mile rides averaging 17 to 19 mph. I named the bike “Effie” because on her I felt “effortless”.  On straight-aways I could maintain 22 to 23 miles per hour and on downhills I was a brick that knew no fear of fast curves. In that way I was able to keep up with Chris aka “the Kite” and rebuild myself into something of an athlete.

For a while, I forgot I had this mystery illness. I worked teaching at a smaller local college, often commuting on Effie and for play I ate up the trails with a joy of freedom I had never before known. Then Effie was stolen and, for a while, I lost my heart.

Looking back, I can’t help but think that the electric shock I felt in my heart when I discovered my beloved bike was gone had jump started “Steve” back to life. A few months later I became ill with pneumonia and fell right back into the pit that I had thought I had forever escaped.  Illness, miscarriage, disability and bankruptcy awaited me in the pit and it seemed that every time that I could start to climb out again I was caught by the ankle and pulled back down into the sulfurous depths.



Newest (and last) Grove addition.

Pregnancy with our son was a blessing of good health as my CFS went into a short remission but the -100% natural- delivery depleted everything I had and I was once again in the hole. Now I was at home, chasing a very active baby boy (who seems to ignore the idea that babies need lots of sleep) at my not-so tender age of 38 with a full onslaught of CFS symptoms while my husband went to work every day to support our large, blended family. Honestly, it is hard to want to keep fighting when you are that exhausted.

Then my father-in-law, ironically also named “Steve”, posted a guest blog and introduced us to the www.livestrong.com site while talking about his own challenges to be healthy. Thinking of the considerable challenges he lives with, of how hard he fights to stand back up every time his health and heart faltered how dare I wallow in the “Pit of Steve” and not fight back too? Newly armed with a diagnosis –and with that a better idea of how to manage living with CFS- and a new account with the Livestrong.com website I began to track what I ate, what I drank and what I did each day. As Steve (the good one) urged in his blog article I was brutally honest with myself and I logged in every day for two weeks. I learned so much about not just what I ate, but how I ate. I was able to whittle away too-large portion sizes and limit the vices that packed in the calories. I went from an average of 2,000 calories per day to under 1,700 per day. I have lost three pounds in those 14 days.

The exercise is trickier; I have to be careful not to exhaust my small reserves. For two weeks now I have been slowly ramping up with yoga and then added Tai Chi. Now, I am ready for more. Today is day fifteen and will be my first gym ball workout but all of this is just working up the strength and breath to get back on a bike. We have not yet been able to afford to replace my beloved hybrid Effie so I am stuck with loaners but anything that gets me back on the trails is a worthy steed indeed.  

Before I wrap this up I wanted to thank Eric Taylor for sharing his story with us. His misfortune with his bike inspired not just a blog about his challenges but yet another blog about some of my own trials. This spring, Eric, I will see you on the trail! Stay strong.