Strasburg Road Race

I wasn't going to write a race report because Sonja pretty much covered everything in her blog, but since it was my first race of the '08 season I figured why not.

Sonja and I made the trek up to Strasburg, PA last Saturday for a 22-mile road race.  Yes, we are crazy and drove 2 hours to race for 22 miles which took us just over an hour.  Oh, but wait, then we had to drive 2 hours home so that's a total of 4 hours of driving for 1 hour of racing.  Pretty crazy since there was a crit right here at UMD.  (We didn't race local because there was only a Women's Cat 3/4 race and Sonja is a stud Cat 2 now.)  Anyway, I am not one for detailed race reports so I will only give the highlights:

• Sonja attacked 3 times, but I was mid-pack and didn't see her go.
  
• When I finally noticed her missing (after her third attempt) I went to the front and tried to pick up the pace to reel her in.  Who knows if I actually succeeded in increasing the tempo but it sure felt like it, at least to me.
• I realized that the break was only gaining ground so I went back to mid-pack.  Also, I am definitely not the strongest rider out there so too much effort for me at the front would have led to my getting dropped.  (Sidenote here:  How in the hell did Christine W do so much work at the front and still get 3rd in the field sprint?  That girl is a beast!) 
• I got run off the road and took a detour thru the grass.  Sara Z commented to me after the race that she saw me offroading and was thankful I was a cross racer or else half the peloton would have gone down.  That made my day.  Thanks Sara.
• I really screwed up the sprint but I finished 16th and with the pack which I am extremely happy about.
  

So there you have it.  The first race is in the books and I didn't get dropped, which leads me to my goals for the season.  I am not chasing upgrade points.  In fact, I wish I had not been upgraded to a Cat 3.  I do have some races marked as "A" races that I would like to do well in, but my focus is on cross so I will also be doing more mountain bike races this year.  My goal for road is to ride strong, ride smart, and try my best to be there at the end.  I think I accomplished those goals at Strasburg for the most part.  One thing I realize is that I need to work on my positioning in the pack and picking better wheels to be on for the sprint.

Results here.

Welcome

My friend Laura out in Woodland Park has a new blog.  Yipee!  Check out her synopsis of last night's American Idol.  Very entertaining, that is if you are an American Idol freak like me.  I agree with most of what Laura says, but I would have rated Brooke a lot better.  She's one of my favorites.  I was also very impressed with Amanda O.

Contest

A bottle of wine to the first person to tell me where this photo was taken.

Rena

Jen's dog Rena is staying with us for the week. We've been keeping her busy, from hiking the Potomac Heritage Trail...
... to helping the Chicken blog.

Kelley Acres Ride 3/09

This week's KA ride happened on Sunday instead of the usual Saturday. Saturday the weather was being too uncooperative for any long rides to happen outside. With that said, I did manage to ride my trainer for over 2 hours while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just what I needed the day before Chris decides it's time for the death march known as Lambs Knoll.


Chris was riding so fast up the climb that she's just a blur in this photo.


Unfortunately, my bike decided after Lambs Knoll that I was done. It somehow turned itself into a fixie and I was forced to take a short cut and pedal all the way back to Chris', literally. Back at the Elephant I was pouting due to my shortened ride.


Sonja and I waited at the house for the gang to return from their ride because Fred had made mac and cheese and we wanted us some of that goodness. Chris has more pics and more bloggin' over here.

Some family pics

Do I look more like my mother or my father? Growing up people always told me I was the spitting image of my dad. People now say I act just like him.

My sister Valerie and my mom Doris Sue

My cousin Liz and my dad Raul

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Happy Birthday Mom!

67 and counting.....

Dog Is My Co-pilot

Another weekend of good training rides. Sonja, Hank and I covered nearly 5 hours on Friday meandering thru the suburbs of Maryland. Yes, this was only supposed to be a one hour ride for me, but this is what I get when I agree to ride with Sonja on a little "out and back on the CCT." Yeah right. Saturday we skipped the Kelly Acres ride because we are wimps and decided to ride up to Great Falls for some hill repeats with J-Max and K-Lo. Brutal I say, especially the 2 repeats up Brickyard. Sunday was a chill Arlington Hills ride again with J-Max. I think I rode a total of 10 hours this weekend. Maybe that does not seem like a lot to some of you, but this chicken was in bed by 8 last night because I was so tired. Thankfully, today I only had to spin 45 minutes so I just rode the ss to work and home and that covered it.

After riding Sunday we had a play date with the white dog. We picked her up and off to Rock Creek park we went. She loves fetching sticks out of the creek and the bigger, the better.

Throwing sticks.

When we got her, she seemed ok but I'm sure she felt much better after this...

What did this dog eat?

Sorry for that nasty picture, but Mom, you asked for it. On the way home Azu took her co-pilot job seriously.

Dog is my Co-Pilot

Afterwards we stopped at Finn's for a little refreshment. Yes, I have sworn off alcohol, but the temptation of a Belgian brew was too much for me to resist. We enjoyed our time chatting with Russ. Sonja has more (and a better picture) over on her blog.

Russ goofing off for the camera.

Russ promised me more lucky water bottles. Yes, I race with Russ' used water bottles for good luck. Everyone's got a good luck charm, right? Mine are the waterbottles. I discovered Liz Hatch had a Texas quarter glued under her saddle when I was borrowing her bike. Sonja claims she doesn't have one. Let me know if you have one.

Diet Day 4 (of 9)

Today is the 4th day of my cleansing diet. I'm not supposed to eat real food on the "cleansing" days (days 3 and 4) but the way I see it, the human body needs more than 500 calories a day. Therefore, I ate 6 boiled eggs yesterday to supplement the "dog treats" and liquid they give you. I have given up all processed foods and alcohol, but I'm still having my coffee. You can't take that away from me. I guess my body will be free of toxins (except caffeine) after this diet, but my cholesterol will be sky-high. The hardest part about yesterday was sitting at my desk all day. I actually felt better when I walked to the gym at lunch and wailed on my chest and triceps and when I rode the rollers last night. Thankfully I do not have to work today and can keep myself occupied and my mind off food.

I'm not really doing this diet to lose weight, although I hope that it serves as a jumpstart into some better, more healthy eating habits. And I have to be honest here, I could stand to loose a few pounds. Back when I was a runner I weighed between 115 and 120. I had the skinniest legs around and my abs weren't too shabby either. At least you could see them as they weren't covered in the layer of fat they currently reside under. Oh, and did I mention my bra fat, you know that fat roll you get from your bra? When I took up cycling in 2006 I had no power. Not sure if this was a function of weight or not training hard on the bike. As I transformed myself into being more of a cyclist I started gaining weight (now about 130) but along with the weight came more power. With each pound gained I seemed to be able to stay with the pack a little longer until I finally worked my way up to not getting dropped at every darn race. I was even gaining weight while training harder on the bike, but of course, running less. It seems with cycling, at least around here, you don't need to be as concerned with weight. Yes I know, people spend all kinds of money on lightweight components, but unlike running, you can get by with a few extra pounds. Every pound in running is an extra 6 pounds of pressure on your knees. And it's not like we are scaling the Col du Galibier in our races. Except for a few of the road races around here, everything is pretty much flat.

So I'm not saying I'm fat or out of shape, but herein lies the problem... none of my clothes fit me anymore. I've had to wear jeans to work because they are the only thing fitting right now. None of my suits will fit over my fat a$$. I've even been wearing Sonja's pants because (gasp) they fit me... a little long considering she's 4 inches taller (yet only 10 lbs heavier). The prospect of buying a new wardrobe is quite an expensive one and I've got my eye on a set of carbon tubies so I don't want to buy new clothes when I have perfectly good ones already. And not to mention how much I hate shopping when it's not done in a bike shop.

I think 125 would be a good weight for me. I just have to be smart about it and not lose any power while I'm at it.

Anyway, I can see that I'm rambling and it's time to get ready for my ride.

Fun with Food and Friends (and a little bit of training, too)

After suffering thru sickness most of last week, I finally made it back on the bike. Jen decided to make me really suffer for taking time off by coming over and having a roller party on Friday. Well, she and Sonja were on trainers. I was on my rollers. She led us thru 1:30 hours of hell. I was so exhausted near the end of the workout that I rode off the rollers twice. Jen decided that I had not suffered enough so the three of us met up again Saturday for a ride up to Great Falls. Several hill repeats later and I am toast. My reward for all this was dinner. Turns out that Jen is a great cook and offered to whip up something special for a Saturday evening get-together.

Jen in the kitchen. She's as good of a cook as she is a bike racer, and that's pretty darn good.

Jen invited some friends over to the party. It was a pleasure meeting Tom and Eric, and getting to spend time with Anne. I'd met her at a race earlier, but didn't get to spend any time with her. She is a hoot and had me laughing all night long. Oh my gosh, some of the stories she and Marni were telling.

Tom, Eric, and Anne.

Azucar was on her best behavior. She only took one piece of bread off Anne's plate during dinner.

Marni and Jen with a hungry Azu looking on.

Jen prepared a pasta dish with chicken and chorizo.... so very yummy. The full dinner menu consisted of hummus and bread as an appetizer, pumpkin/squash soup, a nice salad, the pasta, then ice cream and cake with fruit for dessert.

Chicken/Chorizo Pasta

We participated in the customary "sobre mesa" after dinner. So many stories...

Typical sobre mesa.

I want to thank everyone that came over and contributed to a very memorable evening meeting new friends and getting to know others even better.