Bike Love

I see a few miles of these marking the bike lane on my typical weekend route... Never fails to crack me up...

Ride on... Leslie

Bring on 2010!!!!

It's been way too long since we've posted... but it's because nothing but the usual good life is happening. We had a lovely holiday season, and are now back to training like mad, working hard, and loving every day of warm weather that happens (somewhat frequent in Colorado in the winter, but rare enough to be special).

I started to update the race schedule for this season... will add to it gradually. It's the usual craziness for me, lots of fun ultracycling events. And, for Drew it's two solid chances to qualify for "The Ironman" at St George and at Canada.

First race is coming Valentines Day weekend. 24 Hours of Sebring for me, and 12 for Drew. Last year I did some 325 miles, so this year I'll set my goal at 330, my Stretch goal at 350, and my must do or I'll be irritated at 310. I'm feeling pretty good. It's hard to truly build mileage this time of year, but I have several 6-8 hour rides under my belt and will be starting the year off with a 1000+ mile January again so we'll see! It's really just a great chance to soak in some Florida sun and hang out with Marsha and Robin!

Beginning to begin to plan for the Race Around Ireland. My crew is coming together... and I'm at least starting to wrap my head around the logistics of a 5 day, 1350mile race in another country.

More "soon"...

Leslie

Misc ramblings in the off season...

It's been a crazy busy off season... scattered thoughts:


- We're off to Maui tomorrow! Vacation (and maybe a 10K trail run race) for me, and Vacation and Xterra for Drew. Yup... we're on Vacation!

- We did the 24 Hours of Triathlon as part of Team Gu. TOO fun! 3rd place 4 person team and won some sweet new sunglasses...

- We went to Laramie last weekend with the awesome Linda Guerette and rode the Laramie Enduro Course (or as much of it as daylight and bad directions would allow). This race could be a fun one for next year!

- Schedule for next year is slowly coming together as races start to update their websites with dates... One more year as an ultracyclist then it's time to head back to triathlon... Will try to mix in some swimming and running as cross training through 2010 so that it's not such a shock when 2011 rolls around.

- Weight lifting, core strength, and interval training is the mode through November. Leaves me a little time to play, and I'm making the most of it!


And, finally, here's my cool news for October...


Keep on riding!!!

Leslie

Ring of Fire

Headed up to Portland this past weekend for the 24 Hour Ring of Fire...

Leading up to the race has been interesting. After the Leadville debacle I got back on my beloved RT900 (Artemous) and we've fallen in love all over again. My longest ride has only been 6 hours since RAW, and since I haven't had a chance to sort out my saddle/shorts issues going into the race I was a little nervous how my bum would hold up. Decided to just roll with it and see how the day went.

Drew's sister, bro-in-law, and 2 nephews live in Portland so it was a good opportunity for some kid-hanging. Jen and the kids drove out to the race course Saturday to play with Drew for the day, and then he planned to crew for me through the night. I prepped 5 drop bags with coke, bars, and treats and figured I was good to go for the race.

My race started at 6:41am. There were 6 gals in the race and we were separated by about a minute. This race featured LOTS of climbing and some high desert heat. Start out with a 5 mile climb out of the gate, followed with some downhill, and the some steep short stuff. My inner quads wanted to cramp so I tried to just spin and ease them out. We climbed from the high desert (read no trees and lots of brown grasses/sage) into the forests around Mt. Hood. Awesome views, some fabulous road surfaces, and lots of long climbing. The day loop was 156 miles, and then we came down to do a 26.5 mile night loop.

After 40 miles we had a fabulous decent, and then on more 10 mile climb before dropping back to the plains. The temps rose, and I was holding it together but rather slowly. Filled my bottles at each checkpoint and tried to stay on top of my electrolytes. Just taking the miles. Around 90 miles there was another 9 mile climb, but rather gentle, and wicked hot. Some folks had support crews with them and one of them gave me a baggie of ice. She was like an angel! Then at the top of the climb she offered me a huge bowl of fruit salad. I could have cried at how delicious and cool the berries were on my parched throat.

A nice down and I saw Jenn and Drew driving by. They came out to say hello and offered up a coke and some blueberries (delicious) and a turkey wrap (gag.. not a chance that would get choked down). We turned and got to preview the second half of the night loop. Some short climbs, then a steep downhill and a gorgeous 8 mile stretch by the Deschutes river. Drew and Jenn stopped to cheer a few times by the river. It was well needed as I was pretty baked.

After the river the 12 hour folks turned right and headed to do short loops and the 24 hour folks went by an unmanned aid station and then started a 20'ish mile climb... 4 steep miles and then gradual climbing to 3200ft. I was anxiously waiting for the aid station to get my drop bag. Got there, opened the cooler and there was my bag. SWEET! Wait, so NOT sweet! Someone had drank my coke, ate my bars, took my gels, and left my bag in the cooler with the discarded wrappers. WHAT? I was calmly pissed, filled up my bottles with ice water and started to climb. A mile into the steepness it hit me that I had no nutrition, 30 some miles since I had real food (other than fruit), and miles of pain until the next aid station. I was climbing and crying and finally pulled over. Called Drew and he didn't answer so I left a message saying I needed him to bring stuff NOW. Called my coach just to vent, because I needed to settle or my race would be over. (she was understandably confused). A crew came by the other direction, saw me there, slowed down and lobbed a V8 can out to me. (It was JUST what I needed, and I have no idea how they knew that).

I drank the V8 and got back on and figured Drew would be by eventually so what I needed to do was just settle and ride. This climb was really dispiriting. After a few miles only, Drew and Jenn pulled up with food. YEAH! And Drew said he'd meet me at 7 with my bike lights so just keep on rolling. Eventually I saw my competition coming back at me and they were miles ahead. It was a struggle to hold it together mentally and I just wanted to turna round and call it a day. Hot, tired, way behind, and miserable.

At 7 Drew rolled up with lights and sweet potato fries and I had 2 more miles of climbing. Finally made the top and turned to go down. Drew passed by 15 miles down and I was grinning madly, spinning and refinding my fun. Even saw a shooting star.

Hit the start/finish way behind schedule and started in on my night loops. Still lots of climbing (we had that 5 mile climb at the start of each one). I'd eat at the start/finish line, and then by the top of the climb be dealing with heartburn. Blech! After 2 laps I had a vivarin and a espresso. Struggling to stay awake out there in the slightly cold and very solitary night. I only saw maybe 2 other riders the whole night, because the loop was so long we were all spread out. Had to take a 10 minute catnap before my last lap, inhaled an apple danish and away I went.

YUCK! I had serious heartburn by the top of the climb and stopped 4 or 5 times through that lap with vomitous burps. I could push to a certain level and then it would get worse so I played with that threshold. Daylight started to break and I knew I needed to put my foot into it to finish the lap before 6:41. Going down the river I was holding over 16mph, which was wicked fast for the condition I was in but I made it.

Finished 4th female (of 6) and 7 (of 15) soloists. The night riding treated me well, although I didn;t realize it at the time. I ended up only 18 miles out of 2nd place female after being WAY down from the long loop.

Lessons learned:
- Take Pepto-Bismol often and early when eating then climbing
- Stick with it, things will turn around.
- Bring a little extra nutrition, even when there are drop bags because people can be dorks.

That's the wrap of my serious racing season. Two more fun races to go, a 4 person team at the 24 Hours of Triathlon and then Drew and I are teaming up for a 25 hour MTB race at the end of October. Goals for the next month are to have fun, recharge, lose a little weight and start to lay the foundations for a strong 2010.

Ride on!
Leslie

ps. At the post race brekkie the RD called me up and gave me 2 Starbucks drinks and told the story of how I was riding unsupported, counting on my drop bags, and someone took my stuff... He handled it well, I hope whoever did it was there and was ashamed of himself!!!

Leadville...

In short... I SUCK on a mountain bike...

The race started well... lots of bikes on the start line, so many that we actually couldn't get in the corral... but the gun went off and people started to move and we eased in and were on our way. I hung with Drew the first few miles on the pavement... saw a rainbow ahead. I thought this was a good sign... pretty rainbow and all... but forgot that rainbows are due to sun hitting rain... and we were heading straight towards that rain.

Got to the dirt and settled in for a long ride. Saw the first casualty, a guy down on the side of the road with a likely broken collerbone. Ouch! Don't want to be him! We hit the first climb, which I had prerode the day before, but not with a thousand of my closest friends. Add them in and it was a trackstand/crawl followed by a foot down and group trudge. Okay, no biggie. 3-4 miles up and finally there was some free space. Breathing heavy, but feeling okay. Starts to sprinkle. Starts to RAIN. The trail goes up and down and then hits a paved road and screams down. BRR! Soaking wet and cold.

Then we start going up, and up. Road turns to dirt/rocks/mud/wet. Alternate riding and trudging. My brakes (oh yeah, I have regular old rim brakes) are full of grit so my bike pulls and grinds with every roll. Still plenty of folks around. It's fun, miserable, and goofy. I have to laugh. I dread what comes at the top of the hill, a steep downhill through the powerline that Drew and I hiked up to take a looksee at the day before. I made it down on my bike, but was a total pansy doing it. Everything was slippery and muddy, and there was alot of skidding going on but I knew it was better to ride than hike...

Hit the road at the bottom and saw I was at 23 miles... CRAP! I have 17 miles to go and just over an hour to do it before the cutoff. Between the rain, the mud, and my general suckiness that first 23 took WAY too long! Tried to rally the guys around me to work together to try to make it but they just looked at me dazedly so I took off. Held speed til the next climbs and then realized there was just no way.

Came to a sweet downhill singletrack. Was near the bottom when Lance came up. Pulled to the side to let him by and got a smile and a Thank you. (We're best buddies now, think he'll put me on his christmas card list?).

Pulled into the aid station a half hour late, and they took my chip and wristband. Waited for Drew to come back by then rode it back to town on the roads...

Drew had an okay day, 10:30 for the finish. Slower than planned, but fun all the same.

So? What's next? Will I do it again?

Next up is the 24 hours road race, the Ring of Fire near Portlan in September.
Then I'll end my season by teaming up with Drew at a 25 hour mountain bike race in St George on Halloween. What can I say, I like getting muddy!

Leadville again? Maybe some day. I do really enjoy the MTB despite my lack of skills, or maybe because of it... but I think I'd need a new bike, and to go pre-ride the course several times before I commit to the race again. I do think I'll see about keeping the MTB in my schedule next year, but lowkey as strength rides... maybe a lil 50 miler on a course I ride alot (the Front Range 50)...

Back to the roads!
Leslie

Lance is going to get chic'd!

I get a handicap of finishing under two times his time, right? Off to do the Leadville 100 MTB race on Saturday. (Lance has stated he is going for under 6 hours... me? I'm shooting for under 12)

Training/motivation has been interesting since RAW. It has been fun re-learning how to mountain bike, and rediscovering K... my retro-fun Kestrel CSX non-suspension mountain bike. I've had some great rides where I feel in control and light on my wheels, and some "rides" where I have been in completely over my head and had to push K for miles uphill. I feel pretty strong, and should have the endurance still... but I haven't done a ride longer than 7 hours.

We need to be there early tomorrow to pick up our packets, so the plan is to take a look see at as much of the climbing/downhill as is accessable. I expect that will both give me confidence and increase the fear-load at the same time. But...

I'm going to go into this with the have fun attitude... I'm going to go get greasepaint stickers for under my eyes (like baseball players wear... but the stickers not the grease because as Drew pointed out if I use grease it'll be all over my face by the end)... yeah, that's right. I'll look tough! Just let those boyz try to give me flak... I'll give em a glare and they'll offer to push my bike for me!

I plan on chatting people up as we do the climbs, cheering on the fast guys as they come shooting back towards me (it's an out and back course), and just generally having a blast.

It's going to be good times at 10000 feet!
Leslie

Misc ramblings...

It's been a rough few weeks with work, Drew's appendix, only having 1 car, etc...

But THIS is the week I reestablish my balance. A lil training every day, a solid work day, and some time at home awake... and, it seems to be working!

I am making some small modifications to the end of the season... just not interested in spending 2 days/nights on the bike yet so I'm going to skip the Hoodoo 500 (though it is a most awesome race). Instead I'm planning to do the Ring of Fire, a 24 hour race in Oregon. It will give us a chance to visit with Drew's sister and see the kids and all and be a good, but not overly insane, challenge for me.

2 weeks now until the Leadville 100 MTB race. I've been spending some good time with K (my old school Kestrel CSX bike) and am starting to feel comfortable on him. Still a chicken on downhill switchbacks, and still pretty tired on steep uphills.... but I'll be ready to go out and do my best at Leadville.... and as Michelle says, no mayyet what I get to sleep in a bed the night of the race. Gotta like that!

Finding my balance...

Leslie