East Coast Post #3, the Grand Finale

Lets say this.  I've had a half blog post written.  I've been racing so much this year I'm bored of writing race updates.  I don't know if it's the weekly update I send to my sponsors, but readers, you can't possibly want to read a boring race report every race, do you?  And not to mention I'm SO behind, that I might as well tell you this:

I finished up my East Coast trip in Rochester, NY.  I had the chance to ride around along the Erie Canal, a small piece of US history.  Aside from racing, that might have been the highlight of the weekend!  Everything seems to have come together this particular weekend.  I'm sure lots of you watched the races online, or watched the highlights.  On day #1 I started out hot, tried to stay consistent and hold the pace at the front, fell back and finished 3rd.  It was my best finish yet for a C1 event and I couldn't have been happier with it!  It helped give me the confidence I needed to believe that I can ride in the front of the race.  Sunday my legs told me I put in a really hard effort on day #1 and I was able to hold on to a 4th place finish.  

Instead of boring you with the play by play and recap from this particular weekend, how about we finish with some photos.  

There always has to be a photo with the Rock Lobster

cute "village" I stayed in

The most awesome rental car ever!

So much stoke on this podium!  First C1 podium!  Photo Credit: Dave McElwaine


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East Coast Post 2.5

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Harpoon Brewery, so many options, even Cider for this Gluten Free girl.

After Providence it was off to do a little exploring in Boston.  I learned a few things for the three days I spent there.  Monday I spent half the day sleeping, then cruising around the suburbs for a recovery spin, hung out with  my Cousin’s (by marriage) 3 year old daughter, and slept hard that night.  Tuesday I had this grand plan for a bike ride, after my bike was fixed (remember I had to pit to my "b" bike on the 2nd day of Providence).  I was recommended to head to the Ride Studio Café in Lexington, MA to get my bike taken care of by Mike Berlinger.  Brendan, aka cousin, drove me from Melrose to Lexington and my plan was to go for a ride and do some intervals out there and then ride back to the house. 

First things first, if you are ever in the Boston area, and you love bikes and are addicted to coffee, you HAVE to go to the Ride Studio Café.  This place is the coolest bike shop/café combo I have ever seen (and the first)!  Bellingham needs one, really bad.  Mike took amazing care of my bike and got her back into working order and he even planned a route for me!  He mapped out the route, and we sent it to my really smart Garmin 500 (hint of sarcasm).  I turned on my courses function and went about on my ride.  It was working great, I ended up on a road and the map function told me I wouldn’t turn for another 15 miles, awesome!  About 3 minutes after seeing that I encountered a stop sign, and could only turn left or right.  This is when everything went seriously wrong, I mean seriously wrong, and all of the sudden I was off course, no matter what direction I rode.  

Keytar Bear is his name…so I hear.  A Boston Staple.

Sometimes I like to pretend I know where I'm going, most of the time I have no idea.  I rode and I rode, thinking I was going somewhere and I would find a beautiful marvelous road to do my intervals on.  Then I ended up in some small like town that looked like an easy place to get lost in.  That's when I decided I should call Mike.  He gave me a great road to do some intervals on, it went by the Hanscom airport.  I went back and forth, back and forth, and then it was time to go home.  I was pretty convinced I followed his instructions very well, and I come upon a road that looked quite busy, and wasn't very bicycle friendly, so I went straight across it, and into a line up of cars stopping at some guard shack.  I decided since I wasn't a car, I didn't need stop, and I just cruised on by.  Then I heard a "MAM, MAM, MAAAAAAM, STOP!!!".  First off, I'm not a mam, but I did stop.  Then this man in a full on Military outfit came running at me.  He asked me for some ID and my first response was "well, thank goodness I brought that with me today", because sometimes I forget things like that.  So I dig into my back pocket, pull out my plastic baggie and hand him my WA state drivers license.  He looks at it with a confused look, then says to me "do you have a military badge" and now we trade looks and mine becomes extremely confused and I respond with "a what"?  He quickly responds as he points to his lovely outfit "This is a military base, you need a military badge to enter, you are not welcome here".  I reply "Well, clearly I'm not from here and I'm very confused".  He then asks me where I'm trying to go and he points me in the right direction, yes he tells me I need to go ride on that really busy looking road.  I told him it didn't look very bike friendly and that couldn't possibly be where I needed to go.  He firmly told me it was, he was correct.  I eventually made it back to the shop safe and sound, after having some words with a women on the side walk who told me I was going to get a ticket for riding my bike on the side walk.  

The next part of the journey was getting from Lexington to Melrose, and a journey it was.  I only made a few wrong/missed turns, but eventually (1 hour to be exact) I made it back to the house.  That adventure was really very exhausting.  I decided my next days ride was going to be in circles around the house.  And that's just what I did.

Wednesday was my all time favorite day.  I took the subway into Boston and spent the day cruising the streets of Boston by foot and bike.  We stopped by the Harpoon Brewery, took the subway to the college district (okay I know it has a better name, but I was surrounded by college kids), saw the water, drank terrible Starbucks coffee and smiled the entire day.  

History, or something

Need a good giggle?  Bike Share in Boston, SO MUCH FUN!  As you can see by my face.

Thursday I made the trek to Rochester, NY for the final weekend of racing on the East Coast!

East Coast Post #2 - Providence

Well, it appears I’ve done a fantastically wonderful job at neglecting to entertain and update my blog readers, although if you follow me on social media, or follow race results, you know what I’ve been up to.

Lets talk the second third of my east coast trip.  Providence.  I don’t know if you remember or not (well you probably don’t), but if you look for my blog post from this race last year you will read all about how homesick I felt.  This year was no different.  Usually around the 10 (+ or –) days of being gone I start to miss home.  Saturday morning of Providence I felt…anxiety, homesick anxiety.  The weather forecast called for rain, and the first rainy/slippery race of the year is always a tough one, you never know where your skills are going to be.  Also, not to mention I read all over Facebook about how “dangerous” the course flyovers where.  I was nervous, I was homesick, and I wasn’t motivated to race.  I arrived at the course at my usual time, pre-rode, and it turns out the course was rockingly awesome!  Yes, the first flyover was a little on the steep side, and if you didn’t have a good start you would be doomed, because a pile up was bound to happen!  I did my usual warm up on the trainer, and about 45 minutes before the start of our race, it started raining.  When the rain fell, and fell, and fell there was something soothing about it, my anxiety calmed, my homesick worries went away. 

With such a stacked field, I didn’t get a first row call up.  I scanned the front row and knew I wanted to line up behind Gabby Durrin, she’s been having the best starts, so I knew she would be a good wheel.  As soon as the gun went off, I was happy to be behind Gabby, because as I anticipated she had a great start, and went into the first corner in second with me in tow.  We hit the first flyover with just a couple people around us, and made it out cleanly, while a pile up happened behind us.  We got a little gap, and was joined later by Katie Compton and Helen Wyman.  Katie did her usual thing and powered by us, and then Rachel Lloyd joined up, and Gabby fell behind.  I found myself slipping and sliding through the corners on the wheels of accomplished racers, Helen Wyman and Rachel Lloyd.  I was ecstatic with how I was racing, actually words can’t express the joy (and sufferieng) I was going through while racing.  Eventually the hill on the backside showed my weakness and Helen and Rachel where able to gap me every lap on that hill, I would make up a little time on the rest of the course, but come the last lap, I just couldn’t power up that hill like they could.  I finished in 4th place, and I couldn’t be happier!  I finished the race smiling and felt like I accomplished what I had come to do.  That night I joined the WD40 crew for a fabulous dinner.  Thanks guys!

Saturday left me with a sense of relaxation for the race on Sunday and I went in with absolutely no nerves and no anxiety.  I did what I needed to do and on Sunday I could race worry free. 

Sunday was the opposite of Saturday.  There was not a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining bright, and the course was dry, hard, and fast as ever.  I knew today would be harder in terms of pedaling compared to Saturday’s race.  I knew I needed to have a good start as well.  My start was so so, nothing amazing, but not horrible.  After about the third turn and into the off camber section I was probably back somewhere in the 10-15 places, and I pedaled my booty off on the off camber section to get by racers to get to the front of the race.  This is when I realized my bike wasn’t functioning correctly.  My shifting was ALL OVER THE PLACE.  Actually, it wouldn’t shift.  Since it was the beginning of the race and there were so many racers clumped together, I didn’t want to pit and get stuck behind riders I didn’t want to be behind.   I once again found myself riding for the third podium spot with a couple of other riders.  After two laps of clanking and jenky shifting, I decided it was time to pit since there was enough of a gap in the group.  I got onto my “B” bike and it was back to smooth shifting, but I had to work hard to chase the two riders I lost when I pitted.  It was fun (but hard) racing on Sunday.  I had to use some tactics and some thinking while racing, which is always fun, but, not my favorite part of racing.  I was outsmarted, out rode, and out powered and rolled in for 5th place. 

I’m SO excited to finish in the top 5 for 2 races.  I finally feel like my legs are under me and have the confidence that I CAN race, and not just follow wheels and hang on for dear life. 

Post Providence was somewhat of a show.  I wasn’t sure when I was going to Rochester or HOW I was getting to Rochester, but I knew I would be better off having only one bike with me for the week.  After finishing up my race on Sunday I worked to get my bike and wheels to different people who where headed to Rochester, it was exhausting.  The week between Providence and Rochester deserves its own blog post, I can’t possibly bore you with a 20minute post!  Stay tuned!

Thank You WD40 for all of your help over the weekend!  It wouldn't have run as smoothly without you there!  

Bwastin. Or something like that.

It's been a rough life the past week.  Last Thursday I hopped on a plane heading to Boston, raced my bike over the weekend, and have done literally nothing but sit on my butt, eat, and ride my bike for the past 4 days.  Did I mention sleeping in until 9am too?  Which means, I've been getting at least 10 hours of sleep a night, compared to my measly 6-7 while at home, I feel like a princess.  The hardest thing I have done all week was decided what to blog about for this post, because lets be real, you don't want to read race report after race report after race report. That would be quite boring, in my opinion.  So instead I'm going to brag to you about my awesome time out East.  

It started with a late plane into Boston (11:30pm Thursday night).  Chris and I then piled all of our luggage into the shuttle to take us to the rental car company.  The shuttle was empty, and there was a ton of room for all 100 pounds of our luggage.  Then the shuttle started to make multiple stops, and before I knew it I felt like I was in a clown car, seeing how many people and bags of luggage can we get onto the shuttle.  I believe I took a picture.  One reason I have Chris around with me (besides for his mechanical skills, and keen sense of direction) is because of his membership perks he gets from being a part of the Firefighter Union.  We're fancy and he's a part of "The Emerald Club" at National.  You know what that means?  Discount on car rentals AND we just show up and pick a car (after we have reserved it online of course).  It's awesome and easy.  Thank you IAFF for having such awesome perks for my husband.  After picking up the car and heading towards Chris's cousins house, I discovered a valuable lesson when using GPS.  It doesn't work in tunnels, or Boston.  Boston has a lot of tunnels, and a lot of roads and freeways.  It was confusing.  A 25 minute drive turned into a 40 minute drive.  Good thing we made it there and had a lovely nights sleep.

The new kit in all it's colors!

Friday we visited with Cousin, had breakfast, built bike and headed up to our Host Housing for the weekend in New Hampshire…at the beach!  Saturday was the big race day, okay moderate race day since it's only a C2, BUT HUGE FIELD!  It's fun to see how big the fields are out here on the East Coast.  It's really great!  Saturday I had a less then stellar start to the race.  I don't know if it had to do with starting in the 2nd row instead of the first (like the rest of the races I've done), or just a bad start.  I was able to catch up to the front group, only to find myself suffering/not having a lot of fun.  The front group consisted of about 8-10 riders, and it was a very tactical race.  I had a hard time trying to find a good position, and had a bad mental 'ttude. With 2 to go I really wanted to pull out of the race, I was suffering!  On the last lap there was still a large group of us, and with about 3/4 of a lap left, there was an unfortunate crash in front of me and Crystal Anthony and Meredith Miller where on the ground in a cloud of dust.  I figured they would get up quickly and pass me, but as it turns out, Meredith cut her leg straight to the bone, she had a knarly gash right below her knee.  I hope she heals up quickly, because stitches SUCK!!  

I ended up 5th for the day.  


Sunday I was hoping my legs would have opened up a bit, they did, so that was good.  When the gun went off I felt like a hard a great start, until the top of the hill when I got boxed out of the turn, and my start on Sunday made my Saturday start look divine.  Before I knew it I was back in the 20's working my way through the field to catch the front group.  This day was weird, the front group was extremely split up after 1/2 lap, and I ended up catching some riders who where dangling off the back.  I stuck with them for awhile, and then we approached a crash which held up about 3-4 riders, with 2 up ahead.  Next thing I knew I was riding 4th wheel and feeling pretty good.  That went away quickly when I passed the pits and realized I needed to pit and was having a mechanical.  :-(  I rode half a lap on my mechanical, losing a lot of time and A LOT of positions,  I pitted for my B bike (even though I contemplated just calling it quits, thank goodness for Chris yelling at me to get off my bike and pit) and tried to chase as hard as I could.  I could only do so much before I ran out of real estate and finished 9th.  Wa WA Wa.  After the race I only had a small panic attack.  It was hot, dry, and VERY dusty I was having a hard time breathing when I finished.  

Thanks to WD40's dry lube my bikes ran smoothly, riding American Classic's carbon tubulars I was comfortable enough on the rocks and bumps, and of course my Rock Lobster frames shredded the grassy turns.  Spy Optics happy lenses protected my eyes from the bright sun and kept them happy.  My KASK Vertigo helmet kept me and cool and protected (in case I crashed).  Of course without GE Capital and SSC none of this would be made possible!  Thanks to my wonderful awesome partners!

There's something really awesome about finishing up a weekend of back to back racing.  There's that sensation of relaxing, you know you put in your hard work and effort, and now you get to hang out, relax and decompress.  It's even better when you know the week ahead consists of doing absolutely nothing.  I've been looking forward to this time out East for SO long.  I planned on Monday for Chris and I to do a recovery ride and then head into Portsmouth to hang out and let him see the cute little city/town.  It reminds me a lot of Fairhaven back at home.  If you recall last year when I was Portsmouth I slugged on an awesome pair of Seven jeans.  I wear them all the time, I love them.  This year I splurged on a pair of Frye Boots.  I love them too, but unlike last year, my prize money covered my jeans, prize money did not cover these boots.  :-)

Monday night Chris left me to head back down to Boston to catch his early flight out Tuesday morning.  I have really enjoyed having Chris around with me on these weekends, it makes it that much harder when he leaves.  Last year traveling alone I was used to it, and now this year having him around for every other weekend feels like a tease.  I see how wonderful it is to have him around, and then he's gone, it's hard.  I like company, so having him around really keeps me company!  

#rocklobstercycles #clementcycling #fizik #lizardskins #amclassicwheels 

The beach!  Last year it was sunny and beautiful.  This year it was just a tad bit wet...



Life on the road

It's truly official, Cyclocross season is FINALLY here!  As mentioned in my previous post about my new sponsors, there has been quite a lead up to this season.  I have been thinking about this season since February!!!  No matter how much you say "I'm ready", I don't think we can truly be ready.  The season starter of CrossVegas was a little disappointing, the whole slipped bars thing, Colorado didn't prove to be that much better in terms of my legs, and then I went to Wisconsin.  

Back Pedal.

Home from Colorado on a Monday, early flight out, get back home in the early afternoon, get a massage, unpack, do laundry, you know, the usual.  Go to work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and before I know it, it's time to fly out to Wisconsin.  Is this how my life is going to be for the next 4 months?  Pretty much!!!  I had the most fantastically stressful trip out to Madison.  For those that know me well, they know my anxiety level is high.  Like…really high.  Add travel and racing to the mix, and I'm a hot mess!  Needless to say, my flight was delayed 20 minutes (I had a connection to make in Minneapolis) and Delta decided to charge me $150 for my bikes.  I was bummed, because I have the whole Delta Credit Card and I thought they would treat me well with that (I know high hopes).  bummer.  So now, I'm sad I paid $150 for my bikes, my plane is delayed, and I'm a ball of anxiety, for 4 hours.  The anxiety didn't calm down once I landed in Minneapolis, even though I had plenty of time to make my connection.  I ended up leaving my cell phone in the bathroom stall, didn't realize it until about 10 minutes later and halfway to my gate.  Once I realized my phone was missing I turned around and started sprinting through the airport, backpack and rolling carry on and all.  I had visions of me tripping and smashing my face onto the concrete floor.  I'm happy to say, my phone hadn't been touched, I made it to my gate in time, and had a safe flight to Madison and all my teeth are safely in my mouth.

I've mentioned this before, I'm quite a sight at the airport with all my luggage.  Unlike the pro teams, who have vans and mechanics to drive their bikes around the country, I lug mine back and forth on the plane.  I hate it.  That means I have to take my bikes apart, pack them into a bike box, hope TSA and the airlines are good to my bikes, and then rebuild them once at my final destination.  It's a tough, not-so-glamourous, do-it-because-I-love-it life.  Not to mention the hilarity of such a small person carrying all that luggage!  

Back to Madison.  I quickly put a bike together, and went out for a spin/opener ride along a lake I can't remember the name of.  :-)  It was a beautiful evening, and I made it back to my host house before dark, went grocery shopping, and had a great nights sleep.  

My favorite little team hosting me for the weekend/s!

Saturday was the big C1 race with equal payout, which is AWESOME.  The race promoter Renee has always pushed for equal pay to the women, which is so amazing to have someone like her working the races for us.  Thank You Renee for your weekend efforts, they really shined and I appreciate you!  The course was laid out in the fields around Trek's headquarters in Waterloo, WI.  It consisted of lots of twists and turns on some fantastic hilly and flat terrain.  There where some good off camber descents (wish it was muddy) and lots of flow.  I found myself battling with Nicole Duke and Crystal Anthony for most of the race.  Nicole, who is coming off walking pneumonia, faded back and it was Crystal and I left to battle it out.  We kept attacking/pushing each other, and she eventually got the best of me on the long start/finish straight away.  I closed the gap on the techy stuff, but it wasn't enough!  She finished 6th and I finished right behind her for 7th.  Post race we decided we probably should have tried to work together and attempt to catch the gals in front, oh well, next time!

Sunday the course varied a little bit, the techy descent became a little more challenging with a few more turns and loose ground.  The first couple of laps I couldn't get out of my own head on those downhill sections.  I slightly slid out the first time on the downhill, I think I let my head get to me when girls where trying to pass in awkward places.  After that I tried to stay as close to the front as I possibly could, and finished the race in 6th.  One spot better than Saturday!  My results literally just keep climbing the ladder!  

The following day I had the opportunity to hang out in Madison for the day since my flight home wasn't until 5:30pm (oops..that put me home far too late).  I slept in, took apart one bike, hopped on the other and did a small recovery ride before packing up the rest of my stuff.  The day brought beautiful sunshine and warm temps.  Madison really never disappoints.  

Just my bike, the lake, and some sunshine.

Bittersweet Colorado.

Literally every time I go to Colorado something happens.  Colorado and I, we don't get along!  Last year for this race on Saturday I couldn't stop crashing in the loose ground, and on Sunday I broke my wheel.  Nationals..if we read my blog post about nationals here, you will remember I spent the weekend of Nationals puking.  Colorado seriously hates me.  I debated about not going to Colorado and racing Starcrossed at home.  It was a HUGE payout, but the C1 race on Sunday was calling my name.  

Way back when (which was probably the end of August) when I was booking tickets to Vegas, I knew I wanted to go directly to CO from Vegas.  I was looking at flight tickets and I couldn't find a flight that was reasonably priced, I kept thinking "holy smokes, that much for a two hour flight PLUS luggage"???  Chris was racing in Vegas as well, so I knew we would have 2 bike cases and a lot of luggage.  Needless to say, I was concerned on the financial cost of flying everything to Colorado.  Someone then mentioned to me about driving, I thought "thats not a bad idea, I won't have to break my bikes down, it's 10 hours, if we leave early enough we can get there in a reasonable time".  I can't lie when I say that was the worst idea I have ever had in my entire life.  The night before we were supposed to leave I freaked out and told Chris I wanted to book us tickets out of Vegas, I didn't care the cost, I didn't want to drive anymore.  I panicked, like really really panicked.  I had a moral dilemma, I didn't want to drive, but I couldn't bail out on the people we were going with, so we stuck with the original plan of driving, and I hated every minute of it.  We left Vegas at 930am and didn't arrive into Boulder until midnight.  Lets leave it at that...

Saturday I knew would be a rough one, and it was.  I tried to do my best to keep my mind open and use the race as an opener for the big C1 race on Sunday.  My legs sucked, they had one speed, they really truly sucked.  On the bright side, I did way better at this course than I had the year before.  While warming up for the race on Sunday I was pretty convinced I was going to suck even more than I had on Saturday.  I only slightly panicked to Chris (he deals with so much).  Turns out, I didn't suck that much and I finished 8th!  Only one spot better than the day before, but my legs felt snappier than the previous day.  That's success to me!  

Photo Credit: Kenny Wehn 

Sunday night we had dinner with my favorite CX couple Nicole Duke and Ben Berden, then went back to our fabulous host housing (thank you to the Needy's) and packed up the bikes and are our bags and flew out bright and early Monday morning (I will leave out the part about how Chris thought he was going to miss the flight).

Thank you so much to all my sponsors, if my racing wasn't fantastic, my equipment was truly dialed, from my Rock Lobster frames to my American Classic wheels (LOVE) glued up with the trusty Clement tires (I ran MXP's both days, they rocked that Colorado dust, marbles, and grass).              

Check out my custom KASK Vertigo 2.0 helmet.  So comfy and SO good looking!  Plus a little Clement PDX love tire choice (actually rode MXP's during the race).