"The rest is silence."

Well, today was my last race of 2009. It's been a pretty long season, and I think it's been a good one.

I am really glad to be done. Today was a difficult race. First of all, it was my first race in a long time that I had no competition. It's always difficult to push through pain and lingering sickness, but when you are out there alone it doesn't make it any easier to keep pushing! I had a few strong moments, but mostly I was just waiting for the finish line :)

As always, the singletrack was awesome, but pushing through the fire roads was tough at times.

I plan on taking about 7 days off the bike entirely. Justin is already balking. Me? I'm looking forward to the planned break. I need it mentally, physically, and emotionally. We've got some fun stuff planned, and then, I am sure, sooner than we know we'll be back to training.

For now, let's break it down. One last time.

Last week, I had a head cold. It started to come back on Saturday, which I wasn't really stoked about. A day of full rest, and I was back to my wacky insomnia.

Justin decided he wanted to spend the weekend camping up at the lake with his mom. So, we drove up Friday night. I stopped to get some ice and beer on the way up and had a super unfortunate event.

The remnants (keep reading...)








We got up there, got set up, and got to making dinner.

James and Ryan, these are for you!





"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat."




The rest of the remnants... I'm still really sad about this.



I had packed our coffee mugs, and just driving across the street to the grocery store the bag must've gotten all up-ended and out fell my coffee mug when I opened the door.

The view from camp on Saturday



Justin and I left from camp and pre-rode the last half of the course -ish. It was good times. My HR was a bit higher than my RPE, but the legs felt good. My head cold wasn't feeling so hot, though.



We finished up with just about an hour thirty, stopped by Bear Valley and talked to Derek and Steve, and headed back to camp to eat and "ice bathe".





I took a short nap, then we registered. Then it was time for dinnah!!!



I was so hungry I didn't even get a shot of the finished product.

I actually woke up super nervous today. Even after I got Joy's email that she was out due to illness, I expected Natasha, or Heather, or some un-expected Euro-Pro to show up. I stood there by the Pro Women 11:01 sign and no one showed up. Except Larry Longo. He wanted to race Pro Women. Lucky for me he stayed in his own category!

I struggled a bit between feeling sick, feeling tired, my legs just not showing up at all, and wanting to still make a good showing, despite being the only Pro female out there!!

My time was respectable, but not great. I soft pedaled a few descents, and basically just got through it.

I was thoroughly trashed in many ways post-race.





Oops, deleted my victory dinner picture. Yogurt, granola, blueberries, whey protein, and red wine. By myself. Oh ya.

2009 - thanks for the memories.



PS - 20 points to whoever can name the quote in the title.