View from the other side

I knew back in October that I wouldn't be lining up at 5:30 a.m. to plunge into the vast darkness of a hill climb with 350~ other people come March 7, 2009. Instead, I got up around 5:45 and got ready to spectate at arguably the toughest part of the 56-mile course: the top of 45+ minute hike a bike! At least there are only a few more hills, a fun singletrack descent, and a long bumpy fire road to the finish line after that point. The HAB comes in about 42 or so miles into the event (it isn't a race, people), and after about 8000ft of climbing. The participants (not competitors) are then faced with a mile long climb up a few hundred feet. Most don't ride it fresh, much less after a lot of climbing and mileage.

After breakfast we headed up the hill for a day of mostly singletrack! Started the climb just after 8 am. It was cold at the trailhead. Just over 40. Temps weren't supposed to get much warmer, so I opted for two base layers (my new favorite thing - UA Heat compression layer covered with a wool s/s base layer), arm warmers, knee warmers, and mini PhD cycling socks. Was hoping to stay warm. It was cold up the first few turns. Immediately upon entering the sun, however, I was pulling down arm warmers and wishing I'd worn my sweat band! Ridiculous.

Justin pulled away every now and then



Then he took over camera duties!



Got trackstand?





We made pretty good time up to what is normally "the top". Today we were going to refill our bottles, eat a bite or two, and keep climbing up to view the event. In the meantime we wanted to get a few shots of our new jerseys!



Once up at the top I wasn't sure if we had already missed Luke and our buddies. For some reason I thought it was really close. Only one rider had gone by, and #2 was just approaching the end of the climbing and the short descent to the finish line.



We hung out for a few before hitting the rollers to go over to the burger station at the top of the HAB. Yes, they were grilling burgers, and yes they smelled VERY good.

Traversing




FWIW, yeah, I was digging the cycling cap. It shades more of the face than the visor on the helmet. My complaint is that it makes scanning the trail far ahead a bit difficult. Not sure how to solve that one, yet.



In the meantime, we stopped for a rider climbing and noticed it was Slater! WHAT! He was absolutely killing it in the top 8 or so (I'd lost count). He said he was having a bad race as he went by, but he looked pretty strong and was way up there!



We made it over to the top of the HAB and cheered on the early racers as they trickled in.

The steed for the day



All of a sudden up comes Luke!! He was looking super strong at that point. Grabbed a chip, a cup of liquid, and was on his way! Top 20 I think!





Justin and I headed down the trail a bit to cheer on the riders as they were riding up to the top.

The peak - holding many riders



Up came Scheetz



Then Bruce



Justin did a TDF hill climb cheer



After that we got our gear together and chased down Bruce. Unfortunately Justin got a flat on a rocky fire road descent so we stopped to fix it. We got back up to the final descent for the riders and got to cheer on Jens! He was doing well also.



Time to head back down so we could run errands in OC after that. We took our time descending and had some fun.

I'd cleaned a few things on the way up that I'd never made before, so was stoked on my riding. Felt like I was climbing pretty strong and feeling good, despite putting in a pretty solid week. I was stoked on my technical ability going up a tad.

Justin on some singletrack





Techy climbing (I made this for the first time ever, and I wasn't even really trying. What!)



It's been awhile…



Bonk face



Yeah, it was just before this that I seriously started feeling shaky. Not like Thursday where I just broke down. So, I stopped for a gel shot and finished off my water as a chaser. I walked a bit, then watched Justin do his take 4 and clean a tricky switchback and rocky section.



My rear brake was totally acting up, and while it worked okay, pumping it up after it came to the knuckles wasn't working anymore, and my front brake had started overheating a tad. So, I told Justin I was going to take it easy on the descent. He got some cool pictures!







Don't see this kind of scene often out here, so while I didn't get a rider in the photo at least I got the shot!



I nearly went off a cliff once, and almost hit two groups of riders with about half a functioning brake. I wasn't going fast at all, but when you're going downhill and your brakes don't work it is hard to stop suddenly! But, I wanted to yield the trail to climbers and try the switchbacks. Good times!

Finished up with some berry protein shakes and PB&J, then we headed up to use our shop coupon from the race last weekend and head to REI. I think I correctly predicted that March is probably a huge month for REI. We spent our dividend and then a lot. Oops. We needed clothes, though!

After we hit up two bike shops Justin was hungry again so naturally we went to Chipotle for a late lunch/early dinner.



Got home kinda late and stayed up kinda late, and since we planned on meeting Luke around 10:30 the next morning (the new 10:30) I knew I had to get up somewhat early to get on the road and get in some climbing beforehand. For whatever reason we could NOT get out of the house. I was lagging, Justin was lagging, and we just wound up getting ready really late.

Finally we got out the door. It was COLD. We headed south to hit up the steepest climb in the area (that we know of). Justin only warned me about the "warm up" climb when we were about a mile away from it. What! It was steep, but relatively short. My legs were packed up from nearly 5k feet of climbing the day before and now I had some STEEP climbs to contend with.



Sure, it's less than a mile, but it gets up to 20%+!! Tough with road gearing.

Justin got a Lunch Ride WC jersey!



After the first baby climb



It was really cold (high 40s, low 50s maybe), but I was hot after the climb!



We liked this one since my head was buried in a steep cave



It's totally STIL

As are the rest…



Using my new PI knee warmers. I haven't bought any in awhile, but I seem to go through one pair a year due to holes :\ I really like the new ones.

Pain cave and this is only the first push…



It's probably 18%+ here



The paperboy technique





Works great…until two diesel pumping pickups race by…



FWIW, that isn't the top… and it isn't really flat. I think the lowest grade I saw the entire climb was 17%.

I stopped twice. Justin started mid-hill, so I tried it also. It's tough, but it works. The second time was as the trucks went by. I just couldn't climb in a straight hill, and I wasn't about to get hit, so I stopped and walked for about 15 seconds and then hopped back on and paper-boy'd to the top. Yikes. Felt good to spin the legs out after that!

My HR never got very high, but it was a great force workout.

Ride hard…earn lunch!



I didn't have much left after that, so we called it not long after. Made it short on daily volume, but up overall for the week (not by much, though).

I made some "Ultimate" yogurt and granola.



All mixed up



Sooo good. Protein powder, vanilla yogurt, Bear Naked granola, banana, and blueberries. YUM.

After that we had PB&J again (we eat a lot of PB&J).

I'm pretty stoked on my new "summer" wear. Two pair of above the knee knick's (pricey, but ohh so comfy, I want to live in them), and a pair of short girl shorts! OMG! When I'm standing they almost cover my tan lines. Almost.

I also picked up another nutritional book, since I think I need it. It's about running, but I figured it may have some good info. If nothing else maybe it'll have some good cross training tips for me for this coming fall. "Fast Track: Training and Nutrition Secrets from America's Top Female Runner". The Carmichael nutrition book I read was good, but I think this one by a female might be a bit better.

Justin keeps saying I'm too thin. I eat a lot. On days that we do intervals and hard rides I eat over 3k calories a day. I ate almost 4k calories on Saturday. I ate more on the bike than he did! But, I guess I have a lot less stores now. I'm trying to just constantly have calories coming in on the bike even if I don't feel very hungry. On our 4-hour ride I had 2 Odwalla bars, a Bonk Breaker, a bag of Sport Beans, 2 Fruit Leathers, 3.5 shots of gel, 1.5 scoops of Cytomax, and a trial packet of E2 Hydro. That was after a massive oatmeal breakfast and a banana at the trailhead.

So, if I'm nearly bonking on longer rides am I not eating enough? Not enough while working out? I don't know. There have been nights where I'm just eating food cause I feel like I should, and I eat so much during the day I think I'm giving myself a stomach ache!

Struggling because breakfast is pretty big lately and I'm hungry less than 2 hours later. So then I eat and snack and constantly am thinking about food all day long. Then I want to eat a huge dinner because I love huge dinners. I can't break myself from that. And then snacking after dinner is always good, right?

Seems like too much food! Either way, hoping the female perspective helps me out a little. I'm at the weight now that I want to be at in April-July. No injuries or sickness or anything, just trying to keep myself fueled up all the time.

That's pretty much it. Work, ride, eat, sleep, rinse, repeat.

Oh yeah. I spent Sunday cleaning house (soo nice to know the house is a tad bit cleaner), but Justin spent the day going through his new toy! No, this wasn't the first spin ;) ...just what he needs is to be FASTER.



Oh yeah, part deux - James totally killed it in his Coup attempt, and Ryan did killer also. Check out their blogs for the full story!

8 days, and counting

That's right... It's been 8 days since I've ridden indoors on the trainer! Bitchin'. Luke said that once Build starts it's best to get all the riding done OUTside. So, that's what I've been doing. Sometimes life'll get in the way, but I'm planning to keep riding outdoors unless it's really dangerous weather or I just can't manage it any other way.

With the upcoming time change, though, I hope to be able to do some evening rides where I don't have to work super early or super late at night to make up for my time out. So far they've been understanding, but it's tough walking across "campus", getting ready, riding for an hour or so, getting changed back, and walking across campus again. It's like a time suck!

Justin and I hit the intervals pretty hard on Tuesday. I was left drooling on the top tube more than once doing 5-9 minute V02 max intervals. I made sure to get in better and longer recovery periods than I had the week before.



Weather was nice enough (after our massive heat wave last weekend) to ride in shorts!



Wednesday was a jaunt up the other local hill for some steady Sweet Spot Tempo and shorter recoveries (only on the descents where the HR drops anyway). We did a few power jumps and sprints. Felt totally worked at the end.

I've been eating a ton, and enjoyed an evening out (complete with a Fat Tire and loads of focaccia bread). I had plenty of chicken and rice leftover for lunch on Thursday (one whole chicken breast and about a cup of white/Jasmine? rice). Thought my nutrition was spot on all week.

I constantly WANT to eat, whether I am hungry or not. Not really sure what to do about that. I'll eat a big lunch and then be checking the clock 5 mins later to see if it's time to eat again (going 2.5-3 hours between meals/snacks). I'm literally not remotely hungry, I just want to be eating.

So, Thursday I snacked and had my decent lunch and tried to sit and be ready to hit the hills last night offroad. I'm getting excited since there's more and more daylight everyday. Next week we should be able to get in about 1.5 hours without even needing the lights. Made it about 50 minutes last night before I turned mine on. It's killer being able to ride in the waning daylight.

It was fairly chilly last night (high 50s when we took off), but the sunlight is great.



Sorry, Matt, more Wiens-style jerseys are in my closet now :)

















Luke peeled off just before sunset as his quest for the evening was complete.

It wasn't too long after that I started to feel like crap. I felt like I couldn't see anything. Eventually I realized it wasn't a vision issue, it was a concentration issue. I couldn't focus on anything. The trail features were like 1D. Then I started to have a breakdown mentally. Just got super emotional for no reason and couldn't put out any power. I stopped, and shaking, grabbed for my gel flask and finished my water. I was only about an hour ten or so into the ride. I'd had a massive gel shot before taking off, and cereal and an apple 2 hours before the ride. I'd hydrated well all day. So, it didn't occur to me until it was too late that I was quite possibly mid-bonk. Ridiculous, because I'd felt REALLY strong the entire ride up until that point. I was putting power down, middle-ringing up steeps I'd never made in the middle ring before, and charging the descents. I was mentally feeling good, physically feeling great. The boys beat me up the hills, but I still felt really good.

I finally told Justin I had to call the ride. I did about another 15 or so minutes of Z1 spinning, and was really freaking cold. Temps had been dropping apparently. Once back to the truck I downed my post-ride EAS shake and some water, and felt a little better. I made us a pretty big salad when we got home, and we had some left over pasta with olive oil and lentils mixed in. YUM. Then I got to business making lunch, and figured I'd enjoy some dark chocolate while I was at it.

Oh no you di'int...



Oh yeah. I did.



It was damn good, too.

Today I did a regen spin. It was windy as all get out. Weather says wind gust is 5.1MPH? Pshaw. Other local stations are reporting anything from 13-20 MPH gusts. That's more like it. Made concentrating on the spinning a little difficult. Also, I kept wanting to get up and GO. Reigned it in since I've got plenty of GO planned for this coming weekend!

Parting thoughts for the weekend... tomorrow is the annual event which has basically consumed my fall/winter for the past 2 years. I spent November 2006 to March 2007 training for the little giant, and November 2007 to March 2008 training for its big brother. I got my feathers both times, despite a bit of hardships early on. I don't remotely regret not signing up this year. I set my personal record on the course over a month ago, and that's all that mattered to me.

However, I do wish my buds the best of luck out there tomorrow and hope that I make it out to cheer them on in some of the lower points of the race. Actually, I'll be up midway up the "mountain" so it will technically not be a low point! :)

Make sure to check out their blogs next week for full reports (hope I'm not missing anyone!):

Luke
James
Slater
Monique
Ryan
Jordan

TGIF!!

Dinner and the lunch ride

Justin made some really good pizza for us the other night. All ingredients from Trader Joe's!

Whole wheat dough
Lite mozzarella
Marinara sauce
Steamed lentils
Canned chicken
Bell peppers
Red onion
Mushrooms
Pressed garlic

Before:



After:



It was so good we ate the entire pizza!

Got a few pics from the intervals today (before and after).







We even saw a familiar face!

Time's fun when you're flying…

Back-up title: If I knew then what I know now…

I spend quite a bit of time in a quandry as to where I belong in the racing world. I feel like at local races I am sandbagging, but it is often mentioned to me that these aren't "national level" races, and the competition is a lot better on the bigger stage. I don't have delusions of grandeur thinking I can hold onto Georgia's wheel any time soon (first off, she's probably been racing Pro longer than I've been riding a bicycle), but I also don't feel that good not giving any of the "local" Cat 1 racers a chance at the top step of the podium.

USAC feels that I don't belong in the Pro category, and since their site has been down all day, I can't check on any updated racing info (and I heard over the weekend they changed a few things?).

If I knew in late 2007, or beginning of 2008, that I'd be this serious about racing, I would've upgraded to Cat 1 (nee Expert) following Fontana last year. I would've gotten my butt handed to me at quite a few Expert races last spring, but I would've learned something. I had no idea. I didn't know I should've been moving toward something else. No one told me I was wasting my time. USAC didn't mind that I was winning most of my races, and podiuming the others.

I upgraded a bit too late last summer, so only had half a handful of results that went to USAC, and they were all for really local events. My result from the CA State race is a bit skewed, since I got a flat tire (tire glued to the rim = long tire change). I was 3-4 minutes up on my field and felt great. That's racing. I set my sights on not having a DNF for the race, and accomplished that.

Either way, I am where I am right now, and have a decision to make.

Now, let's back up.

I knew I wanted my nutrition to be stellar leading up to the race since we'd be basically training through. Saturday we were hoping for 3.5-4 hours, so I wanted to have the tanks topped off after a slow week, nutritionally and ride-wise.

Dinner Friday night - yellow sweet potatoes, chicken, and Trader Joes' Brown Rice Medley (super bomb stuff)



Since I mentioned it last week, I thought I'd get some shots of my new oatmeal concoction. I'd eat it more often if it wasn't so loaded!!





While we were packing stuff up I figured I'd shoot for some extra protein in my weekend diet, and I threw together some berry protein shakes for us for after the ride. I need to find a way to make them more liquid and less solid, but they're pretty good.



The taste of the protein powder is fairly overwhelming whether I have yogurt or not (Sunday I didn't have yogurt in there - it was thicker than it had been WITH it, also). Guess I'll have to live with that!

Not too long after we started the drive up north to pre-ride the course a few times!

Justin took some shots of my new bling



Mentally preparing for the start!



Preride shots







Luke











We got in 4 laps. One was race-pace, and the other 3 were mostly SST. I was super worked after the ride, and easily downed my protein shake and some water, then we went to check in and pick up our race packets.

I didn't really look in the bag until we got home, but we got hooked up! A ton of swag!



Cool number plates, free t-shirt, free water bottle (event "personalized"), a bottle of H20 Overdrive, sample of Rapidade (I've never tried it), sample of E2 Hydro (looking forward to trying this one), Gu pack, KMC power-link type deal, and coupons for Rock N Road and ESI Grips.

Figured I'd try out the H20 Overdrive post-race since it's 3:1 carbs:protein.

We both spent too much time on our feet (Justin prepping bikes, and me prepping food, drink, and clothing), but since I was having some pain and discomfort behind my knee Justin had me sit with my feet elevated (laying down) and had me take 4 Ibuprofen. I couldn't feel my feet after 20 minutes, so got up to shower and hit the foam roller.

I had half a cup of Kashi Go-Lean (non crunch) in some milk and went to bed.

Got up Sunday morning after a fairly poor night's sleep (I spoke too soon - the upstairs neighbors have spent the last 3 nights making noise), made some more oatmeal and got together post-race PB&J bagels and the berry protein shakes, along with coffee!

We packed up and headed north with Luke.

We were there plenty early, but we got a pretty primo spot. We hung out and chatted with James, Eric, Ryan, Herber, Jason Ranoa, and the Fletcher's, and eventually Justin and I headed over to the start to watch the Cat 2's take off! It was really warm already, and not even 11 am yet.





Once it got close to 11 we went back to hydrate, have some food, and get changed into race clothes for the warm-up. I did a fairly long warm-up, but spent a good amount of time spinning the legs out, and did a few hard efforts to get the body really warm and ready to go. It was seriously hot out.

Added a few new stickers!





Luke thinks it looks like a NASCAR body!

Slater got this shot of Justin and I warming up



I told Justin good luck and we both lined up in our respective locations. The Pro's took off, and shortly after the Cat 1 men were out of site. It was hot standing in the line, but no worries. We were moved along really quickly, and I think started some time around 12:50. I sort of lined up wrong - I wound up behind someone who wasn't on it when the women started, and then my gearing was a tad off. I worked pretty hard to bridge from the last 3rd of the pack up to the front half. I had no idea whose wheel to grab, but we were all jostling for position on the early climb.

I held on one wheel, went around, held another, went around, held another, went around, soon I only saw Melanie McQuaid and Krista Park in front of me, and we started to pass some of the older Cat 1 men. What!

I continued to hold Krista's wheel where I could, and she and I traded spots for most of the 1st lap. She gapped me a bit in the transition, and I managed to catch back up by the time we hit the feed station. I hit the lap button late, and up we climbed, trading spots here and there.

Lap 2 it got really hot. I had little desire to drink my Cytomax, but continued to take it in anyway since I knew I needed the fluids. This one bottle cage situation is less than ideal, so for hot races this summer I think I'll be trying a weaker mix.

Krista started to pull away a little more than halfway through the lap. I could've dug deeper and held on, but it wasn't really necessary, and my legs were begging for mercy. I sort of wish I would've gone and done a 3rd lap anyway, to see if I could've held off 3rd in the Pro field, but since I wouldn't have been "racing", I'm not sure it would've done me any good. I pulled off after my obligatory 2 laps, and spun around for awhile, after grabbing some ice cold WATER!

Had a good time cooling down with Rachel and Heidi and chatting about the race and stuff. I managed to make it back to the finish line area and catch Justin coming through! He finished 8th out of 24 in his first Cat 1 race, despite cramping up for most of lap 3! Way to start out the season!

We both had a killer day of racing. Sho-Air has definitely breathed some good life into the US racing scene and I'm really looking forward to Fontana later this month!



Since I shoved so much food in my mouth after the race (lots of water, H20 Overdrive, berry protein shake, PB&J bagel, half an In & Out burger - my first taste since 4/04, no joke) I wasn't even hungry until about 8 last night. I enjoyed some "victory cereal" and a small bit of pasta and olive oil.

I slept poorly again last night, but the legs are feeling good and physically and mentally I'm ready to hit the tarmac for some hard intervals this week. No matter what category I'm in come later this month and year, I've got to be ready to hit it and do my best.

This training thing really pays off.


Next up - more food info, and list of stuff I liked.

US Kenda Cup - Bonelli Park

Well, race number ONE is in the books! It was super hot out at Bonelli today (and probably everywhere in So Cal). Sho-Air put on a killer race and started the season out with a huge race (I think I heard 650+? And over 400 Cat 2/3 racers).

Had 7 racers in my Cat 1 race (6 finishers). I finished 1st in my race, and was holding a steady 3rd in Pro/Cat 1 women when I finished (no, I did not keep "racing" a third lap!).

Photos and full report tomorrow.

Looking forward to Fontana!