Truely Gritty

This post is late. I have spent most of my non-work time with family commitments or working on my bike (i.e. helping Chris work on my bike). The BB was shot. A jockey wheel need some cleaning and lubing. New chain and chain rings--which may not be compatible with my cassette. Replace derailleur cable. That was just my bike which only made it to Barrel Roll.

On the start line

I  DNFed. I was not taken out by anyone but myself or my bike as the case may be. I was feeling good. I was racing smart. But while I was having a good day my beloved bike was having the worst day in its history.

As your probably have heard, the 10% chance of rain started a short 30 minutes into the race. And that 10% chance must have been the 10% of the area that encompassed the race course. As it rained continuously. Not a hard rain, but nice and consistent. I actually did not realize how wet I actually was for quite some time.
My bike started having issues early—about half way through Zen. The chain kept getting sucked up between my crank arm and chain stay. There is little room there and I am surprised the chain even fit. None the less, it happened repeatedly. I fell over once on a steep section of the trail even though I got out of my pedal there was no place to go but down. I started losing spots as I was pulling my chain out and/or attempting to clean and lube my chain. (Luckily at the last minute, I opted to carry lube and a rag with me as opposed to just having it at the aid stations. See smart racing.) I would climb back just to lose positions again. (Thanks Dave for helping me out.)

Leaving Zen after cleaning and lubing my bike

I caught back up again. And things started to look good. The chain was lubed and running smooth…for a while. I came up on Lynda on Rim Runner. She was emotional about everything. In my simplistic mentality, we talked about rerouting the course and just heading back. We spoke to Eszter (and Christine) and it seemed like a plan. We made our way to Barrel Roll. I was a bit behind as my chain issues were back and tore off the metal guard on the chain stay. When I rolled up they had given their names and were headed to Lynda’s house. Here is where it dawns on me that I am taking a DNF. I am not so sure about it. They all ride away and I remain there thinking.

DNF or go on?

 I make a half hearted attempt to ride Barrel Roll. I am cold now. There is standing water on the entire trail. My bike lost its protective cover on the chain stay already so any chain suck will start digging into the carbon fiber stay. I ask myself what I am doing. I start to choke up. I turn back on Precipice and give them my number. I am done. I pansied out. I quit. I was not happy.

Then Carson and Karl came by in Carson’s impeccably clean vehicle asking if I needed a lift. (My knights in a shining SUV.) They had dry clothes and blankets—giving Chad, Brady and myself a lift back.

Chris a finisher with True Grit

Clean and getting warm

Note to self—things that I did right:

1.       Plenty of recovery (Sunday off, Monday off, Tuesday hard ride, Wednesday easy  with a couple of shorter hard efforts), Thursday and Friday off
2.       Stayed relaxed and rode behind Lynda and Eszter at the start. Kept (tried to) keep them in view.
3.       Drank calories from the start
4.       Remained calm when I fell back and slowly reeled people in

The Aftermath

We are beginning to assess the damage. It is not looking good especially for Chris. His prize money and then some is pretty much spent. As an example, here is where a brake pad once resided. Amazingly it stayed in place after wearing thru the spring.

March Madness

As we rode into town the weather looked ominous. Chris comments that we should have gone to Moab. I shrug my shoulders. I had thought about it. I got up early and checked the weather forcast for Moab and compared it to Provo. Both were windy. Moab had sunshine and would be warmer, but Provo was not supposed to be too chilly. We had plans to ride at home and I did not think the weather looked so much better to be worth the drive.
The original plan was to ride from Springville into Provo. But the high wind advisory had us change our mind. The wind was from the South also so we would be feeling its wrath on the way back as opposed to when we were fresh. So we opted to just meet everyone in Provo.
There was a small group that steadily diminished--Carson, Keith*, Phast Dan*, Adam, Larry, Chuck and Jon (though I never saw them), Chris and myself.
We hit just about everything twice. We even tried Bonneville by Bridal Veil. We got a little ways up before hitting snow. Chris and I rode for close to four hours before throwing in the towel. Phast Dan was not done though and headed back out when everyone else was done--and he was on a single speed with a 19. All I have to say is I am a wimp.

I was glad I had thrown on a new rear tire. The Maxxis Ikon had more bite. This week was great. I rode outside on dirt five out of six days. And the day I took off was not even a day that I couldn't ride but a day I consciously took off the bike. A week like this in March reminds me how good life really is.

* Rember when these guys used to update their blogs? Um. That was cool, huh?



It is official

First installment of trek 29er crew shwag. This time of year is exciting!

Another Flat

Chris found this in his Maxxis Ikon this weekend while fixing a flat (obviously). I don't know any tire could have withstood this.

I lack discipline

As  a MTB I lack discipline. I think some may find it surprising, but I really do. I am well motivated to train and ride hard.  My struggles and lack of discipline are in recovering.
I had chocked this up to a simple fact: I cannot recover on my MTB . And for obvious reasons, Chris HATES the idea of me road riding. He was bound and determined to prove me wrong.
Yesterday, was the day. Bonneville Shoreline was the proving grounds. I rode easy for two hours. My goal was to keep my heart rate below 140. Chris "allowed" short spikes above that but was constantly asking me how I was doing and where was my heart rate. The first 30 minutes were torturous. Seriously, why would anyone ride like this? Oh, yeah to recover. It did get better and became a bit enjoyable. In the end Chris was right, I did it. I finished our two hour ride having kept my heart rate in my recover zone and feeling unstressed physicially.
Today is the true test though. Will it have been worth it? Will I feel good?

Denied

Chris and I had grandiose plans after the Red Rock Rampage. We stayed down in St. George through today (Monday). We were denied though. We woke up this morning to rain. We thought we could be patient and wait it out. It surely could not carry on like this. It did. So when 10 am came and it was still raining and did not look as though it would let up, we left defeated.
Ah...it was worth a try. Yesterday's weather was pretty nice. We had an opportunity to pre-ride almost all of the Tru Grit course.We cut out the lower portion of Bear Claw Poppy but did the rest--assuming we stayed on the course.  We rode on and off with a variety of individuals including the younger Gibson bros (Chuck and Greg), Kenny and Heather, Duff, Chad, Sarah and Noah. With this group we could carry a nice pace. I was surprised at how technical some of the course was. Nothing too crazy, but quite a few obstacles that can be intimidating. I am also glad that we are hitting Barrel Cacti and Zen early on as opposed to the end.

 Our drive back was snowy and slick. Chris did point out that this is the first trip we had to take with winter driving conditions, so we can't complain too loudly. It was a great weekend. Thanks to all with whom we shared it. It was great seeing you and/or spending time with you.

And some photos from the race:

Zazoosh

Zazoosh

Zazoosh

Photo by Jen Hanks

Photo by Jen Hanks

Photo from Jen Hanks

ICUP #1 for 2011

The season has officially started. I think it is off to a good start. The Red Rock Rampage was yesterday. There were a lot of women racing. I lined up one of seven which is a decent sized field for my class, especially with two regulars out on medical leave. (We missed Erika and Jen.) The Expert and Sport Women had double if not more. That is so exciting. It is so cool to see MTB growing among females.
I finished behind Lynda, Sarah and Erica. While I would have liked to finish on the podium, I have so much respect for each for each of my competitors. I was pretty close for a bit but then lost some time. It is obviously early in the season and I hope to get stronger. But I did feel good. After struggling last year, I am really pleased with how I felt.

Lydia, Erica, Lynda, Sarah, KC

And the weather! Seriously I don't think it gets any better. As Chris put it, he never even thought about the weather during the race. It was never hot climbing. It was not cool descending. It was not windy. I could not have asked for anything different. What a great weekend to be in Utah's Dixie.
And did you see Phast Dan?