Sunday, May 11, 2008

It was a crazy week for me on the bike--highs and lows. I ascended and desceneded Squaw Peak Road for the first of hopefully many times this season. It was good. It was shorter than I recalled but that was probably because I started at the Riverwoods as opposed to work or even home. I did not feel really comfortable descending on those skinny little road tires. After having big chucky mountain tires underneath me it is hard to have confidence in something so thin. It will come though.

Then there was Tuesday--terrible. It was the lowest of low on the bike. The legs felt HEAVY and the bike hated me. I could not stay on the trail up or down. I was so frustrated. I knew it was simply a very off day that we all suffer from, but I despise them. Something that brings so much joy like riding should not be like that, but it happens. Luckily it is not very often.


No biathlon on Wednesday due to rain. And did it ever rain. There was water everywhere. Sometimes it seems like the earth forgets how to handle water for a while. So it all just puddles until the ground remembers "Oh yeah, I need to soak this stuff up and save it for later."


I then tried to be very careful for Saturday's race. Chris commented that he was not so sure he like this "disciplined KC". I assured him that it would be short lived I would be back to overtraning. I have just felt so broken these last couple of weeks. I need to feel like myself again on the bike.


And then it came. Sherwood Hills (race) had a great potential to be very muddy. So we brought our single speeds just in case. They had to plow snow off the course and then compound that with the rain equals a high mud potential. Luckily our race was late enough in the day that the course started drying out and was pretty tacky. There were dry parts that looked as though they should be fast but the sucked the tires in and were so slow. And nothing is worse than thinking you should be going fast and being slow especially in a race. Everyone suffered the same though.


And I felt good. Yes, I finally felt good. There were five of us on the start line--which is a fairly good number for women, almost 20 pro men. I knew everyone there. I summed up my finishing spot and figured I had fourth. We took off and sure enough I was in fourth just as I expected. Then the legs did not get heavy. They felt good spinning. I passed for third. I was stoked. First and second are fast, so third was great. I still felt good and was gaining on second. I caught her and was content to stay there, she is fast after all. Unfortunately for her though, she was not having a good day on the bike (been there). I was able to pass her. I thought for a bit that I may be able to catch and hang with first. By the end of our second lap, she had pulled away. All through the third and fourth lap I was worried that third place would catch me. I was able to hold on for second. I was excited for a good results but more for the good day on the bike. I may not be broken after all.


And a new bike always helps.


my new wheels--well the wheels are not actually new



check on the g2 geometery--lots of front wheel comforting you when you look down

2 comments:

Brad Mullen said...

Way to finish strong. You looked so good and that bikes just looks super fast with you on it. It's great that the Holley's had another excellent day.

KanyonKris said...

Congrats on the race!

As a long time mountain biker coming to road bike only 3 years ago, I know what you mean about the skinny tires. It took me a while to trust that those tires would carry me. But after running over all manner of road debris and potholes, I now don't worry about the tires much.