Transitions: The Rest of the Season 2006

Spring to summer to fall to winter to spring, skipping summer and fall all together and straight to winter…..something to that Monty Python effect…..

During my east coast NMBS and World Cup race tour, my husband and I found a house on a nice piece of property in Upstate New York. Needless to say after June the race season went from crazy to chaotic. Squeezing in laundry between packing and unpacking the car for another race while at the same time trying to organize a yard sale and a whole life move to the opposite coast is not something that I would recommend to anyone not already on anti-anxiety medication.

Although much delayed, here are my race reports from the last four races of the National Mountain Bike Series now that I am starting to remember where I put things away in our kitchen…..

Altitude vs. Attitude Deer Valley, UT July 8-9, 2006

My teammate, Chrissy, and I headed out solo with no men in tow. It was a long drive from Southern California to Deer Valley. It took over 11 hours and several poor meal choices along the way. The course was a fun swooping singletrack with lots of switch backs. I did not find that the course was technical. After the pre-ride I was feeling strong and ready to go for another practice lap, but thought better of it to save some for the racing.

The beginning of the race was tortuous. After warming up we kept getting delayed because it was taking the pro men longer than anticipated to finish. Then we had to wait for a down hill racer to get pulled off the mountain. He arrived at the start line in an ambulance on stretcher and in a neck brace. I was doing what I could to not look.

But it wasn’t the pre-race distractions that impeded my performance. Whatever I had left in the tank for the pre-ride was not there race day. First, I burned a lot of energy from almost being taken out by a racer who has crashed or has caused a crash at every national event start line. It was the biggest turnout for the NORBA National Series – just a few less than at Sea Otter. The altitude knocked the wind out of me. My legs were not cooperating. It was impressive I actually crossed the finish line without serious injury or collapsing. 57th place is better than a DNF in my book.

The next day was short track. I have not done a lot of short track and I can say at this juncture I was in lust with short track. I just love the complexity of the courses and quickness of the race. Not one moment can be wasted. I had recovered a bit better than the previous day. Pushing myself beyond the exertion puke stage is cool. It was an aggressive race and I felt good with my ability to sneak through the tight bike clusters and turns. I just need to keep building myself up to not implode to finish out the race for the last three laps. I managed a 40th place finish.

Pulling the Season Together USA National Mountain Bike Championships, Sonoma, CA July 14-16, 2006

The USA National Mountain Bike Championships were moved this year from the beautiful Mammoth, CA to the dusty summer tundra of Sonoma, CA at the Infineon Raceway. Mammoth still had a ton of snow and it was not going to melt in time for mountain biking. I am trying to understand the mentality of hosting mountain bike races at car raceways. The environment is not what I would call a “mountain bike Mecca”.

I pre-rode the cross country course in the steamy heat of the afternoon in hopes that it would help acclimate my body for race day. Once again, the course was not technical. It was soft sand singletrack or bumpy doubletrack. The scent of burnt sage bushes was intoxicating.

The turnout for this race was weak. No one likes this venue and the promoters thanked everyone at the start line for attending especially since it was the USA Championships. We took off from the pavement and I was taken out on the first dirt hill. Some chick swerved in front of me and I landed on my side causing a couple of others to go down. Man, I felt badly – luckily not hurt. I got back up and into the race. Maybe crashing helped me. I was having an awesome day. I ended up passing so many racers. At one point the whole Ford Cycling team was lined up fixing bikes and changing tires. I swooped in on the finish line with a big grin. I was so psyched that I pulled off a 21st place –my best placement yet in a national event and the championships to boot! I told Stephen that I could go out for another lap I felt so good – then my rear tire went flat!

There was a day lag between the cross country race and the short track event. I had so much fun on this short track course. There was a series of BMX type burms that we had to maneuver over and then take a squeaky tight “S” turns up to the pavement hill. I tore through everything and managed to hold it together for the first time through the entire 20 minutes of the race minus the last three lap call. 29th place is where I landed. Woohoo! What an accomplishment!


Movin’Out Brian Head, UT August 5-6, 2006

With two cars packed with all our valuables and the moving truck on the way to New York, we headed to the last two national events of the season. We finally finished packing, cleaning and saying good-bye to my Southern California contingent of friends. But we still had to go through our closing on the house over the phone the day before the cross country race.

Exhausted and a bundle of nerves, I was looking forward to beautiful Brian Head, UT. This is my favorite race venue. If I could figure out a way to live here in the summer -not winter- I would. It is a tiny little ski town nestled in the mountains of Utah. It is right next to the breathtaking Cedar Breaks National Monument. Descriptions and pictures do not do it justice. You have to go find out for yourselves.

The thing about Brian Head is that it is a real mountain bike course – not one of those pansy “let’s ride the sandy path next to the highway” courses. There is no pre-riding this course. It is a huge loop of – so long I have forgotten the mileage. It is also really tricky in some spots and the altitude-8,000ft to 11,000 ft plus- will take a swipe at the sea level lungs. I had a tough start to the race which includes a five mile grueling climb on pavement and fire roads. Later, I picked off about 5+ chicks that had dropped me during the climb. The expert men were sent out after the pro women and some of them started catching us – ok me. Most were behaving but one I had to tell off. The big jerk was yelling meanly at me to pull off in the middle the most technical descent. Where I was to move to I am not sure. Keeping it PG let’s just say I let him have a piece of my mind. Miffed, motoring and hanging on by an altitude induced exhausted thread I managed to finish 37th. I learned a great lesson too – finishing is the key because you can never second guess who will have a mechanical or crash out of the race. And several of the top pro women did just that.

The short track race was not my finest moment. And it was just a moment. KABOOOM! That was my legs and the sound resonated to each continent. I blew hard after the 2nd lap. They had the 1st two laps designated as "hot" laps to win dough and the pace was set pretty high. I did really awesome picking my way through the crowds and turns and finding great lines, but I could not hold everyone off. I had no legs and was pulled after 3 laps. I finished 33rd. I was cooked.

Headin’ East Snowmass, CO August 12-13, 2006

As Stephen and I were heading to our new home in NY we decided to make one more stop for the National Mountain Bike Series Finals held in Snowmass, CO. We laid low in Lakewood, CO with my aunt and uncle who were gracious to take us in for a few days before and after the race. We also took some time to visit some of the old trails and friends.

We did a "fun" ride up Mt. Falcon before the race. For some odd reason I thought I was going to be a stellar rider-being pro and all I thought I had the schnizzle to storm the hill. I was coughing, gasping and almost falling over from lack of O2 and pure race fatigue. It was two hours of torture. Plus it was wicked hot. And 80 degrees in Colorado feels like 100 degrees in California. It was so much fun being back in Colorado.

We headed to Snowmass the day before the race so I could check out the race course for a pre-ride. Thunderstorms made it difficult to get out and see the whole cross country venue. One of my race buddy roomies and fellow pro, Caroline, was a terrific race course guide. It sure was a pretty course and real mountain bike trails too! Yeehaw!

For the cross country race, I also had my own Colorado cheering section. Friends Cindy, George, Brittany and Conner made the trek to see me race. It was cool to have them there-it made me feel extra special. I was ready to get on with the race. It was the last of the season and I was going to make the most of it. However, the body was not arguing. Maybe I should not have hit the trails after Brian Head and saved some energy. Sometimes you just don’t figure these things out until you’re in the middle of them. Lungs burning, threatened by thunderstorms and legs shredded I mustered up the rest of my reserves and finished 41st.

The next day the short track event was a very interesting course. It was similar to Nationals- meaning there were a few BMX –type burms. The kick in the pants was the hairpin turn and lung busting climb afterwards. I did a great job in the beginning but it felt like someone kept holding tighter onto my rear wheel for each lap. I had nothing left in the legs or the lungs and I was happy to stay upright. Fortunately I was pulled just before the thunderstorm. Without waiting to see where I finished we bolted down the mountain back to Lakewood, CO-finding out later I finished 43rd.

All in all, I accomplished a lot for my first season of mountain biking as a pro. I would not have been able to get through it without my biggest supporter, my hubby. Without him, I would have never imagined getting this far with cycling. I can only hope that 2007 season will be just as fun and exciting.