Erika's Race

My sister's race in Sundance, Utah. Erika is racing pro in Utah and races one of my teammates, Heather Holmes. It was fun to watch and just hang out. Todd and I rode the course after the race, it was a great course.

Lake Tahoe

Before leaving Truckee, CA I decided to do a road ride around Lake Tahoe with Cass. 72 mile road ride, sounded like an awesome idea at the time. Todd opted to stay home...

The views were pretty amazing. We started in Tahoe City and headed clockwise around the Lake. It rained, no problem, we had rain gear. The temperature dropped, no problem we had lots of clothes. We tried to skirt the traffic through towns by taking side roads, that worked pretty well till we got ~40 miles into the ride, around the stateline (right before South Lake Tahoe).

We took a side road, then a nice bikepath that ended in a campground. No problem, Cass found a singletrack. The singletrack turned into a swamp, but Cass saw a road across the way. I am not sure why we kept going, but we ended up crossing a drainage ditch, climbing over cable boxes, sneaking through the back yards of a trailer park and finally cut through a yard and behold we were on a road (in a gated trailer park. The automatic gate almost took Cass out as we hightailed it out of there).

We made it back to the main road, it was raining, the traffic was bad, we rode the sidewalk, and I was getting really cold (~40 something degrees and soaking wet-so much for rain gear). The sidewalk ran out, Cass saw a covered valet parking area outside a hotel/casino and suggested we hang out there for a bit, I saw the Starbucks sign and said Yes. That was the end of our ride, we called Nick for rescue... Cass would have kept going, but I was done with cold and rain. I won $81 on slots (then lost $40 of it), and drank lots of coffee while we waited on a ride.

More views of the rest of our planned route (but taken from the car).

Truckee, CA

This is one awesome place to ride. Thanks to Nick and Cass we have our own personal tour guides. The weather is not cooperating, it has rained everyday (which is not normal from what we understand). Rain and 35-40 degree weather is not fun for long. But we have seen enough to know we need to come back.

Bike Fit/Setup Thanks

I have ridden the same bike for almost my whole racing career. This year it has taken a while to get my new bikes dialed and fitted, we received piece by piece so I had to wait for all my new parts before getting a proper bike fit.

After Sea Otter I had a bike fit on my new bikes (Eddie O'dea had fit me on my old bikes and recommended Karl Etzel at Silicon Valley Cycling Center in California). Now I really love my new bikes! I can tell the difference in the fit. I did make a couple tweaks since the fit, the Racer-X is now set up a little more for downhill control and the Fireline is for pure climbing. I have been testing the fits this week and I really feel I have more control now. Thanks Eddie and Karl!

Todd and I found some great shops to help me fix the other issues.

Thanks to Chuck (Pedal Power in Santa Maria, CA) for helping me out.

We visited all of the shops in a 50 mile radius and this was by far the best shop. He had all the parts we needed to fix my shifting, plus he loaned us tools, cut my fork, gave us pointers, told us where to ride and helped us work on our bikes well past closing. For the first race this year I didn't have a technical and finished well (11th) at NMBS #3. Thanks Chuck! What was different about this shop is that he really loves riding and helping out customers, you can tell as soon as you walk in.

We also found a great shop in Carmel, CA (close to Sea Otter). And again someone who went out of his way to help us out, Rob was very nice to set up my new road bike. I went in to get the fork cut, but he really knew what he was doing so I didn't stop him when he started fixing everything. I assumed I would not get in a road ride for a while, but Rob set it all up and I was able to ride 17-Mile Drive the same day. That was so very cool, I know they were busy. Thanks Rob and Netty!

Bruises from the NMBS#1 (Fontana) race. No bike fit, weight too far forward, too short of a fork = lots of falling.

Hail and Cold Rain in Truckee, CA

Wow what a switch from 103 degree, dry, dusty grasslands. We just drove up to visit Nick and Cass in Truckee, CA. At ~5500 feet it looks like we are in the Colorado mountains with pine trees and mountain views, it is 49 degrees and hailing/raining. Cass says the trails will be in good shape after a little rain. We just pulled in and set up (converted from "car" to "house") and are off to find a brewery and pizza.

A good write up of the NMBS #3 race: http://www.mtbracenews.blogspot.com/

NMBS#3 11th in XC! 15th in ST.

NMBS#3 in Los Olivos, CA. HOT! 103 degrees at the finish of our XC race on Saturday. A heat wave hit this weekend, my last few weeks of riding in CA have been in 55 to 70 degree weather. I had a great race though. My bike stayed together the entire time, my legs felt good, and I didn't put a foot down once in the XC race - what an accomplishment.

Picture: ST first lap, from right to left (I think): Heather, Me, unknown, Amanda.

ST Finish: Heather 7th, Zeph 13th, Amanda 14th, Me 15th.

http://cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2008/may08/NORBA_3_08/NORBA_3_085

Women's MTB Clinic - Los Olivos, CA

Free Los Olivos, CA Women’s MTB Clinic

May 10th 2008

Details

VW Van

So the transmission went out on the VW van again, Todd found this little song: Fun-ky Tranny! Tranny's got the Funk! Fun-ky Tranny! Tranny's got the Funk! Hear my shifting grinding... Makes me take my Paxil! Sound that's now reminding... Me of my funked transaxle! Fun-ky Tranny! Tranny's got the Funk! Fun-ky Tranny! Tranny's got the Funk! Van aint goin' nowhere! Van just isn't groovin' Gonna cost a lot of bread To get my vanny movin'! Fun-ky Tranny! Tranny's got the Funk! Fun-ky Tranny! Tranny's got the Funk!

Sea Otter (11th in XC, ~ 18th ST) - More New Gear

Sea Otter is a huge scale event. Like an outdoor Interbike with races and demos going on all around you, road, downhill, slalom, bmx, XC, etc. It was cool to visit the booths and try out new product. Our team continues to get our bikes built up with the correct parts and work out the kinks. One thing I am very happy with are the Kenda tires. I was stoked with the Dred Head in Nova and the Small Blocks at Old Pueblo, my teammates used the Short Trackers in the XC at Sea Otter (and did really well, Amanda 7th, Robert 22nd), I went with my trusted Karmas. So, I have a good selection of fast tires. If in doubt, or if there are too many things to think about, the Karma will be my tire of choice. It hooked up well in the loose corners and was fast on the paved section (In XC I went from the back of the pack to 9th on the pavement start and felt like I hadn't done any work). This week I had a new 100mm fork which (after breaking it in, in the ST) actually worked great (absolutely wonderfully in fact) in the XC. I only have one right now, they are hard to get a hold of so I swap forks every time I swap bikes. The handling is so nice now, I never lost the front end and never went down (my issues while running the 80mm fork). I raced the carbon Racer-X for the first time in the ST and the bike was awesome, it went uphill like the hardtail but soaked up the studder bumps. The rear shock was impressive. I had a great start, going straight up to the front group, but when I hit the first downhill I didn't have a rear brake, the actuator part of the handle was disengaged from the rest of the brake. I must have locked bars with someone in (or soon after) the start. I rode safe, not all out. With the XC race coming up and my motivation zapped, I spent my energy fooling around with the settings on the new fork, it acted differently on every lap, and finding gears that would work (for some reason my shifting was still a mess). Poor Todd was yelling at me to get going, not having any idea what was going on. I was out there in my own world, at first I was just mad, then I started having fun playing with a new bike, still amazed that it did the power climbs so well, especially when I went off the beaten path. I didn't get to test it on the downhills since I was trying to inch my way through the off camber, loose sections with only a front brake and the front fork was still in the "getting dialed in" process. I think I finished ~ 18th, I was pulled at 2 laps to go. Another new items this week was the Gel Bot water bottle. I highly recommend this method of gel and drink. I weighed the bottles and they are (obviously) a little heavier than a normal bottle, but so much easier than any anything else. You could easily pound the whole shot, but I just had a bit every time I took a drink. I like the liquid delivery too, big solid mouth, easy to open and close with a nice rubber area (no hard plastic to bite on). There is no slop in the valve, no dribble down my face. The grip area on the bottle makes it easy to pull out and hang on to. I really hate riding with new stuff in a big race, but I was excited that I decided to use these bottles; when other girls were fumbling with flasks and gel packets I could pass. I had a lot of passing to do after going from 9th to almost dead last 5 minutes into the XC race when my chain wrapped itself around my cassette. I worked my way back up to 12th after the first lap, but was pretty worn out from riding alone in the wind (and from all the passing) so was only able to get one more spot on the second lap. I was very happy with my start. I lined up last row. They only called up the top 10 then "all other racers", I didn't expect that. I worked my way to the front and by minute 5 I was in 9th and ready to ride there. but oh well... I think I need to go back to the long cage rear derailleur that I have always used (instead of a mid cage) if I want to be able to use the big and big gear combo and not wrap my chain when in the smallest cogs. (If anyone has any advice in this area please send it. And don't say not to use big and big, I gave it an honest try and ended up with a bent derailleur hanger and twisted chain after the first couple races).

NMBS #2 XC, fast legs/two flats

Best race ever - Worst race ever - Great teammates.

Sunday's XC felt so good, I rode with my teammates Heather and Amanda for a while, that was a blast; it felt like we were out for a fun ride. When we passed Todd in the second tech-zone Amanda and I were riding 15th and 16th. Then I worked my way up to ~12th. I could see other riders up ahead, my legs felt fresh and strong, powering up the short steep rises was fun, I was so happy. My tubeless Dred Head Kenda tires were railing the corners and hooking up on the loose climbs. (I talked to Tinker about these tires before my race. He said not to run them because they were too heavy, but I wanted all the extra rubber protection I could get, and they were FAST.)

Almost halfway done, through the rocky section and across the wash, headed to the last section of rollers, and I hear shhhhhhhhh, I had a rear flat. I was in denial, it wasn't flat, it wasn't my tire. But it was. I struggled with getting the tire off, then tried running (too slow), I tried riding (I wrecked), then gave up and changed the tire. When I eventually got the tire off and pulled out the rim strip my teammate Heather (who was racing sick and just finishing for points) pulled up. She offered me her wheel (UCI teammates can help each other). Poor Heather, sick and left out there to put a tube in and get my wheel back together. I owe her one for that.

I worked my butt off and made up a lot of spots, enough for a halfway respectable finish, then in almost the same area, almost to the finish, a second rear flat. That one was even harder to change and took 5.5 minutes. With ~9.5 minutes in flats there was nothing I could do but spin in. I was so deflated. But at the same time I knew what my legs were capable of... Mixed feelings for sure.

I probably burped the tubeless tire, then pinch flatted (rim shaped puncture in the middle of the tread), the second flat was a pinched tube.

The team is awesome, I really like my teammates and everyone is fast. Someone always has a great race, so that excitement we all share.

Sea Otter is up next. The training is there, I just need to show up, I need my legs to show up, I need to stay on the bike and keep air in my tires!