Great course and a fun way to start EFTA season in RI on the 18th, fun New England race, very technical and you never stopped pedaling. We thankfully got four laps to work out small issues such as stopping on lap one to let air pressure from tires, then again to raise seat and tighten seatpost clamp after it sank and inch over three laps. More »
This past weekend was my first race of the season and I survived. Bear Springs Trap is my favorite Oregon course. It is made up of about 80% pristine single track. It has a little of everything from rocks, shale, buff pine trails, creek crossings, log bridges to technical descents and climbs. Also, Peter the promoter always has a keg of beer at the finish….mmm beer….its not part of it, but still very important. If you want to travel to an incredible race next year, this is the one!
I was nervous and made several trips to the blue room…in fact that was my warm up. I am a slow starter and I tend to ramp it up as I go. Which was no different from this race. I was really unsure where my fitness level was compared to last season. I was the fifth woman up the first climb and once we hit the first descent I slowly made my way to third. It was a bumpy descent and swooped to a climb that many were off their bikes. I knew if I stayed on I could make my way toward the front. I was now in second, but hit a bump which bounced me on the back of my seat causing it to tilt nose up about 6 degrees…OUCH…No problem, I thought, I can handle this. Only like 28 more miles left. I caught my friend Brigette who was in the lead, also on a 29er. Her weapon of choice was a Rig and I was on my Superfly. We rode a lot of the race together, which was nice. She was destroying me on her singlespeed. She kept reminding me how great she felt as I was barely hanging on. Finally, I had had enough of my saddle nose up position….I could barely pedal. I caught back up to Brigette and she handed off a multi-tool and pedaled on. I leveled my saddle and hopped back on. Instant pressure relief. Sami caught me and I had to work hard to get back in front of her, I was able to get a gap and caught brigette. We started on a gravel road descent and I told her to grab my wheel. We were just talking about whenever you start to feel incredible in a race you know that the wall was looming around the corner. I think this is where Brigette was. I felt like I was on the verge of bonking the entire race no feeling of super legs was going to happen to me today. I raced on as hard as my body would take me. I survived and won my first Pro Race! Now I can retire.
It was a great showing for the 29er’s this weekend. Brigette won the Expert Women’s field on her single speed Rig, Jamie who also works and rides for River City Bicycles won the mens sport class on his paragon (sandbagger…time to nut up Jamie) and my friends Marila took third on her Paragon and Shannon Skerritt, top secret 29er crew member, had a fabulous race finishing third in the pro mens field just behind Erik Tonkin and Evan Plews.
Well, we are off to the coast this weekend for a birthday celebration and my retirement party. Have a great weekend!
Well as school is comming to an end, final projects and tests have kept me busy all day and up all night leaving only 1 day to ride this week! My work load was so bad I almost forgot about the WEMS (Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Series) 12 hours of Gears Race this Saturday until I heard the door bell ring and the mail man handed me my newly ordered Hammer Nutrition for the race. This Saturday I am racing the 6 hour event at the 12 hours of Gears race at kettle Moraine Forest Preserve in Wisconsin. This race being a part of the WEMS series is also a fund raiser for the trails at kettle. Looking at the results from last year the race seems to be small but also happens to attract some of the midwest’s great endurance athletes. With many days off of the bike my legs should be well rested for the race this Saturday, or one would expect that they would be. I will post back later after the race with Pictures, Videos and a Race Report!
I was finally able to get a race in at our local race series. The race was held at the US Whitewater center in Charlotte, NC. We have a series that runs a race almost every Wednesday night of the summer. I signed up for the Super Sport class and was glad to see a lot of guys have stepped up this year. We had a large group of about 20 start the race. The course is a lot of fun with a lot of single track, some short step climbs and plenty of technical downhills. Neil (the race organizer) had us start at the bottom of a large grass hill that surrounds the man made river. I managed to get to the top of the hill in 4th place and that’s my position when we entered the woods. More »
This past weekend was one of gluttony.
I tossed to the call of the whippoorwill on Friday night. A nauseating headache from the last minute emergency bike repair would not let me be. 4:30 a.m. wake-up, it’s already 1:00. I thought about hitting the weeds to let go of dinner but was to lazy to get out of my bag. Better hold it down. Go to your breath, relax, sleep. . . it hasn’t even started. I might have to bail on these local maniacs.
The route was etched on a laminated map with a red sharpy, 75 miles of appalachian ridgelines.
The riding exists in another reality. Worldly concerns remain at the trailhead, as does any sense of moderation. You like that downhill? Let’s do ten more and see how you feel. Hysterical. good. Know eat this. Lay down. Tomorrow we do it again.
It’s wednesday and I’m almost better, but my mind is still blown. Does VA really have better riding than NC?
High, high, windy, mountain. Peddle on up, a rode worn down, than covered up, with falling leaves and sprawling moss. high, high, wretched mountain. Oh, what you must have at your core. The story of the ages. worn and battered, refined by time, cleaned with rain. you’re still hanging out. After all these millions of years you’ve still got something left to give these bikes. These multi-thousand dollar mountain bikes. Yeah, you can dance on down, take the screaming line down. taking chances on piles of leaves and piles of rocks. Give me a line, take it with speed.
Unlike everything else under the sun, it just doesn’t get old.
It’s been a few days since I’ve raced the Highland Hex 6 hour race and I’m still really excited about the day. I chose to ride the event solo on my HiFi Pro and turned out a 1st overall in the women’s field (or the lack their of, since there was just two of us). The weather held out for most of the race, although there were muddy sections I honestly expected them to be worse. The course had a lot of flow, fast single track descents that ended in a long grinding climb to the next piece of fast single track. I went into the race without much anxiety and just really wanted to go and enjoy the day. It was after all a Saturday and I was out riding my bike with a bunch of friends, my husband, and others who loved riding their bikes - instead of working at the Geneva Bicycle Center (thanks Jim!). More »
Phil and I headed back home for race#2 of the Wors series. We checked out the course on Saturday and found that it was a fun course with lots of climbing, tight turns, narrow single track, and a rock garden that was like something out of MTV’ s “The Gauntlet 2″. More »
Tread Fest, Lake Geneva, WI. I sat this one out at pulled bottle boy, preride felt good butt knee was giving me problems the morning of the race. That is the second time since 2000 i have gone to a race and not competed, i hope it never happens again. May 21st and i havent been between the tape yet, hopefully I’ll be good to go for Big Ring.
we did get a chance to do some testing of my 29er (see below)
-looks good on a car, rides through pot holes, and you look good sitting on one.
recently ive been working on creating a signature facial expression. you know, air jordan had one so why cant i? obviously its still a work in progress but i had some great opportunities to try them out this past weekend at WORS race #2 in lake geneva.
generally the plan is to have no plan. within the first mile the course traversed and descended the “ski hill” three times before dropping off a death chute and into the woods. by the top i managed the dangling off jesse’s wheel thing im really good at. the cool temps and fast start had me practically choking on my own blood. a bit of inattention and i was gapped after two laps. i managed to regroup and chase with no regard for safety. no brakes through the rock garden. stand and hammer at every possible point. i caught glimpses of jesse every so often so i knew he wasnt too far up. in the end it was jesse in first with myself fifteen down. not a bad start to the series.
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Fisher 29ers |
