It was so clear to me at Jiminy that I was in need of rest. I probably shouldn't have been racing. Well, I don't know if I'd call what I did "racing." It was more like lethargic self-preservation. Earlier in the week, all I could think about was riding aggressively and attacking the hill hard at the end of the first lap to try and instigate a break. But Wednesday I had a hard workout that I didn't recover well from, so by Friday I couldn't even do my sprint workout. (And yes, I've been doing sprint workouts on Friday, I'm still in base training, not race mode yet.) So by the time I got to the race Saturday, my legs felt so heavy and my resting pulse was pretty elevated, so I was unsure if I should even be there. With my whole team there, I would have been more aggressive, since if I didn't finish well, it wouldn't have mattered if I had teammates feeling good that day. It's a hard time of the year! I'm just finishing my second base cycle, have done no vomax-type interval workouts yet, but of course I want to finish well every weekend. Should I have just attacked and tried to instigate more "racing" in our race Sunday, or did I do the right thing by sitting in and hedging my bets for the finish? I don't know.
Well, I was second after KL up the climb after the first lap, but unless my perception fails me, I don't think we were climbing very hard at all. At least it didn't feel hard to me. Nobody even attacked except KL gave a good surge at the top. But the second time up (our finish) things felt different to me. The climbing didn't feel hard or fast, but my legs were very heavy. I was in good position coming up through the feed zone, probably 5th or 6th wheel, and still, it didn't feel like we were riding that fast. I even believed I could win. Then came the final sprint, and I was yelling at my legs, "go! go! now!! SPRINT!!! HARD!!!!" and well, that just seemed to get no response from my waist down. I just had nothing in the legs. So, 10th for me as I watched the winners so close in front of me but oh so far away and I just rolled over the line. In my last moments before the finish, I did think, "You have to pass her to get a mug, get there, get there!!" But even desire for the coveted mug elicited no response from my legs. Honestly, I was tired and I don't think my heart was in it. The "racing" was less than inspired that day, and when I felt I had no real legs to attack or make something happen, I got disheartened and just rolled around with everyone else, all the way to the line.
Sunday I had a great ride with my teammate Tami. We went out with no real aganda planned, and ended up heading out to the hills in Harvard to enjoy the countryside and the gorgeous blossing apple trees. 4.5 hours of riding without looking at my heart rate monitor felt great. Just out for the pure enjoyment of being on two wheels in the fresh spring air.
So it's rest week. I have two concerts and lots of private lesson students and a music boosters meeting and MCAS practice tests to score and.... so much for rest. I rode to school today - what awesome weather! I'm really looking forward to this weekend. After Sterling, I'm off to to NY to race Bear Mtn! I love that course. Looking forward to it! I hope to bring my legs this time. :)
Packing list:
jersey
helmet
shoes
shorts
license
LEGS
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Sturbridge RR
Sorry this has taken me so long to post, life's been a bit hectic. Here we go...
In retrospect, I shouldn't have raced Saturday. I had a crazy week with ups and downs. Medical testing on Tuesday meant 36 hours without food (don't worry - just a check up - and the results turned out very positive!) then Tuesady, Wednesday, Thurs, Fri, and Saturday nights I had rehearsals and performances for the musical 42nd Street, in which I performed on FOUR instruments. Yes, four: flute, clarinet, soprano and alto saxes. It was lots of fun, especially because I played beside some of my former students who are awesome girls getting ready to graduate and head off to college. :) I really wanted to get a picture at the last performance to post on my blog, but when I went to take the pic, I discovered I had left the memory card at home!! Oh, I hate when I do that. So, I'm left with a Kodak moment in my mind and none to share. (Sorry, Dad, I know you hate those Kodak references, since you've worked for Polaroid for as long as I've been alive.) Anyways, so crazy me, in the midst of all this and working, I did not miss a workout on the bike. Even while in calorie defecit from the fasting for medical testing. Ok, I didn't complete all my sprints that day, the anesthesia still had me a little loopy, so I went easy and just did some jumps and spinners. But I rode. Friday night I had only 6 hours of sleep, then I headed off to the race with my awesome temamate Susanne for a 10:15 am start in Sturbridge.
It was only my third race this year, but so far all three times lining up at the start has seemed so surreal. Like I'm on Mars. I feel like I hardly know anybody! There are so many new faces, new kits, new bikes. There's a lot of new blood in the pack. This is a great thing, except when some of these new riders are very strong but wild on a bike. There were some super sketchy bike handling maneuvers during this race. I was truly frightened a couple of times. One girl LITERALLY went across the entire field from the right to the left side on a decent (when we were spaced a little more liberally) without even looking over her shoulder! The majority of the pack was left hitting our brakes while dropping our jaws in astonishment. The same girl locked it up in the 270-degree right hand turn and almost took herself out, and she also took me out of contention in the final sprint with a crazy swerving and slowing up move in the final 150 meters. I was left with no choice but to let up on the pedals and veer to the side, almost crashing and taking out others behind me, like one of my favorite girls, Marianne, who had quite a lot to say after that fiasco. Look, if it's not common sense to hold a reasonably straight line when you're accelerating to 30+ mph on bikes with bodies all around you and nothing separating the skin on your ass from the asphalt except a thin layer of stretchy fabric then you could do us all a favor and at least READ the USCF rulebook, which spells it out for you! Grr.
Under "General Racing Rules" page 35, articles 106 & 107:
1O6. No rider may make an abrupt motion so as to
interfere with the forward progress of another rider, either
intentionally or by accident [relegation or disqualification;
possible 20 days suspension if a crash results].
1O7. Dangerous Rider. Any rider who appears to present a
danger to the other competitors may be disqualified by the
Chief Referee, either before or during a race.
This is from section 4 of the rulebook, which refers to stage racing, but same concept:
4H8 Sprints
(a) Failure to maintain line during a sprint or other
irregularities
First offense: $35 fine and relegated to
back of group
Second offense: $70 fine, relegated to back of
group, and 1 minute
penalty
Third offense: $140 fine and
disqualification
(b) Extremely dangerous behavior in a sprint
$140 fine and disqualification
I finally just looked at the results for that race... turns out her teammate won! Ha! What do you bet she was trying to BLOCK me in the final sprint, since I had outsprinted said teammate for the win last weekend, and I was in good position to win again!?!?! Yes, you've made me mad. Intentionally threatening my safety and that of all the women around me over the finish of the Sturbridge RR? Really sad.
Like I said, lots of new blood this year....
(more to post on Sunday's race, coming soon)
In retrospect, I shouldn't have raced Saturday. I had a crazy week with ups and downs. Medical testing on Tuesday meant 36 hours without food (don't worry - just a check up - and the results turned out very positive!) then Tuesady, Wednesday, Thurs, Fri, and Saturday nights I had rehearsals and performances for the musical 42nd Street, in which I performed on FOUR instruments. Yes, four: flute, clarinet, soprano and alto saxes. It was lots of fun, especially because I played beside some of my former students who are awesome girls getting ready to graduate and head off to college. :) I really wanted to get a picture at the last performance to post on my blog, but when I went to take the pic, I discovered I had left the memory card at home!! Oh, I hate when I do that. So, I'm left with a Kodak moment in my mind and none to share. (Sorry, Dad, I know you hate those Kodak references, since you've worked for Polaroid for as long as I've been alive.) Anyways, so crazy me, in the midst of all this and working, I did not miss a workout on the bike. Even while in calorie defecit from the fasting for medical testing. Ok, I didn't complete all my sprints that day, the anesthesia still had me a little loopy, so I went easy and just did some jumps and spinners. But I rode. Friday night I had only 6 hours of sleep, then I headed off to the race with my awesome temamate Susanne for a 10:15 am start in Sturbridge.
It was only my third race this year, but so far all three times lining up at the start has seemed so surreal. Like I'm on Mars. I feel like I hardly know anybody! There are so many new faces, new kits, new bikes. There's a lot of new blood in the pack. This is a great thing, except when some of these new riders are very strong but wild on a bike. There were some super sketchy bike handling maneuvers during this race. I was truly frightened a couple of times. One girl LITERALLY went across the entire field from the right to the left side on a decent (when we were spaced a little more liberally) without even looking over her shoulder! The majority of the pack was left hitting our brakes while dropping our jaws in astonishment. The same girl locked it up in the 270-degree right hand turn and almost took herself out, and she also took me out of contention in the final sprint with a crazy swerving and slowing up move in the final 150 meters. I was left with no choice but to let up on the pedals and veer to the side, almost crashing and taking out others behind me, like one of my favorite girls, Marianne, who had quite a lot to say after that fiasco. Look, if it's not common sense to hold a reasonably straight line when you're accelerating to 30+ mph on bikes with bodies all around you and nothing separating the skin on your ass from the asphalt except a thin layer of stretchy fabric then you could do us all a favor and at least READ the USCF rulebook, which spells it out for you! Grr.
Under "General Racing Rules" page 35, articles 106 & 107:
1O6. No rider may make an abrupt motion so as to
interfere with the forward progress of another rider, either
intentionally or by accident [relegation or disqualification;
possible 20 days suspension if a crash results].
1O7. Dangerous Rider. Any rider who appears to present a
danger to the other competitors may be disqualified by the
Chief Referee, either before or during a race.
This is from section 4 of the rulebook, which refers to stage racing, but same concept:
4H8 Sprints
(a) Failure to maintain line during a sprint or other
irregularities
First offense: $35 fine and relegated to
back of group
Second offense: $70 fine, relegated to back of
group, and 1 minute
penalty
Third offense: $140 fine and
disqualification
(b) Extremely dangerous behavior in a sprint
$140 fine and disqualification
I finally just looked at the results for that race... turns out her teammate won! Ha! What do you bet she was trying to BLOCK me in the final sprint, since I had outsprinted said teammate for the win last weekend, and I was in good position to win again!?!?! Yes, you've made me mad. Intentionally threatening my safety and that of all the women around me over the finish of the Sturbridge RR? Really sad.
Like I said, lots of new blood this year....
(more to post on Sunday's race, coming soon)
Monday, April 23, 2007
New Team, New Season
Meet my awesome new team for this summer! I'm racing for the new NEBC Elite Women's Team. (Dave Chiu's doing an awesome job with the website!) I'm very happy to have such wonderful teammates this year. And thanks to Dave and Roy from the men's squad for your cheers and support, especially on Saturday. Congrats, Roy, on your win!
Sunday:
We made our first team appearance Sunday at the Miles Standish Grand Prix in Plymouth, Mass. As we lined up for the start of the P/1/2/3 women's race, the announcer said, "Wow, NEBC has a huge team this year!" There we were, all 7 of us, in our red, white, and blue on the line with Brooke there to direct. (Alie, lucky girl, is off vacationing in California, so we'll have to wait for next weekend to race as a complete squad.) We learned so much as a team on Sunday. Everyone attacked, everyone contributed, and we came away with the win. Learning to race as a team will make this a fun and rewarding season!
Although held in the same Miles Standish State Park as the Adelphia Grand Prix in years past, the course was changed to remove the bumpy descent and left hand turn into the downhill finish. This year, the 5-mile loop went around clockwise (the opposite direction), still included the same hill, but also some roads out by the pond. The finish came past the registration/parking area on the right and had a slight rise to the line. I enjoyed the course, but it was hard to get away in the rolling terrain, bumpy roads, and wind. All of us we were active, Amy attacked first and got the pace high in the first lap, then Natalie went off the front with a great move. Neither move stuck, but every effort kept the other teams working and chasing. Both IBC and the Anthem/Blue Cross teams made attacks, and Tami, Suzanne, Ashley, and Cris worked to reel them in. Two Harvard racers and and IBC racer (Sam for IBC, I think... sorry I don't have names, Anna and maybe Eve for Harvard... I will definitely be learning these names this season!) Got a good gap off the front for a couple of miles. I eventually bridged up, but the break was doomed to fail, since we were neutralized when the junior field passed us. This caused the slowest part of our race. Things settled down, and I sat in to rest for the finish. Sitting in is difficult for me, since I love to attack and chase, but I knew my team was working for me, and I had to come through for them. The pace picked up through the rollers a couple of miles to go to the finish. Our team was well set up near the front of the field, with Cris and Natalie lined up in front of me. Then, a Harvard rider went off the front (maybe Eve?) with a hard attack. Our train "broke" and I surfed different wheels as we caught her and the pace increased. An IBC rider (Sam) started the sprint with a very hard jump, and I jumped to her wheel. It was maybe 400 meters out... I stayed on her wheel until the last 50-75 meters or so, then shot past her for the win. We've got some things to work on as a team, but this was a great beginning. I felt much more relaxed and comfortable racing with teammates around me, knowing that they were there to help me (for that race, anyways). I know this is the start of a great season to come!
Saturday:
Saturday at the Turtle Pond Circuit Race in New Hampshire, I raced with my two teammates, Tami and Natalie. Turtle Pond is an 11-mile rolling circuit with a 1 K climb to the finish line each lap. The climb has a "step" in the middle and then flattens out a bit at the top, with a hard drag to the finish line. I like this hill because it's a sprinters hill! And I know if I can get to the flatter section at the top at the front, I have a good sprint to beat others to the line.
The weather was awesome. Upper 60's and sunny! No leg warmers, no arm warmers. I thought the sudden heat might actually play a factor during the race, I was baking before the start, so I made sure to hydrate well before the start (naturally, this strategy led to a bursting bladder by the time we got to the finish). Tami had a mechanical at the end of the first lap, just at the start of the hill, and was left to chase for most of that lap. She didn't give up, but chased hard and rejoined the pack. The third lap, 4-5 of us had a little gap going up the hill, but any thoughts of a breakaway were squelched when the pace car slowed down and honked at us to neutralize at the top of the climb! Oh, how frustrating!! I felt so good up the hill. But I decided I would certainly feel good again the next lap, and I knew I could rail it to the finish line. Tami did a lot of work keeping the pace high for the last lap, since we were neutralized several times during the race and things got slower each lap. With maybe 2-3 miles to go, an IBC/Wachovia girl (I think it was Sam) launched a very effective attack. IBC was all stacked up at the front. I was up there, too, and so was Tami. Nat was on my wheel. Sam got a big gap, but I didn't have to decide to risk it to go after her so close to the finish climb, because Tami was awesome. She got on front and reeled things back together before the final right hand corner before the climb. Whew! I started the climb in the second row, center, on Suzanna's (UNH) wheel. She accelerated a little just before the first step, and it opened up enough of a gap for me to get out to the front of the group. Anna (Harvard) attacked from behind me at the step and opened up a gap. I had to chase. I caught her near the top, where the road flattens out, shifted up, and sprinted past her for the win. Natalie held on for 7th, and Tami, spent when she hit the climb from all the work she did, rolled in at 18th. Yay!
I would like to add one more comment on the weekend....
Anyone want to guess how much moola the winner of the P/1/2/3 women's field earned for her team at Miles Standish on Sunday?? Just venture a guess....
Sunday:
We made our first team appearance Sunday at the Miles Standish Grand Prix in Plymouth, Mass. As we lined up for the start of the P/1/2/3 women's race, the announcer said, "Wow, NEBC has a huge team this year!" There we were, all 7 of us, in our red, white, and blue on the line with Brooke there to direct. (Alie, lucky girl, is off vacationing in California, so we'll have to wait for next weekend to race as a complete squad.) We learned so much as a team on Sunday. Everyone attacked, everyone contributed, and we came away with the win. Learning to race as a team will make this a fun and rewarding season!
Although held in the same Miles Standish State Park as the Adelphia Grand Prix in years past, the course was changed to remove the bumpy descent and left hand turn into the downhill finish. This year, the 5-mile loop went around clockwise (the opposite direction), still included the same hill, but also some roads out by the pond. The finish came past the registration/parking area on the right and had a slight rise to the line. I enjoyed the course, but it was hard to get away in the rolling terrain, bumpy roads, and wind. All of us we were active, Amy attacked first and got the pace high in the first lap, then Natalie went off the front with a great move. Neither move stuck, but every effort kept the other teams working and chasing. Both IBC and the Anthem/Blue Cross teams made attacks, and Tami, Suzanne, Ashley, and Cris worked to reel them in. Two Harvard racers and and IBC racer (Sam for IBC, I think... sorry I don't have names, Anna and maybe Eve for Harvard... I will definitely be learning these names this season!) Got a good gap off the front for a couple of miles. I eventually bridged up, but the break was doomed to fail, since we were neutralized when the junior field passed us. This caused the slowest part of our race. Things settled down, and I sat in to rest for the finish. Sitting in is difficult for me, since I love to attack and chase, but I knew my team was working for me, and I had to come through for them. The pace picked up through the rollers a couple of miles to go to the finish. Our team was well set up near the front of the field, with Cris and Natalie lined up in front of me. Then, a Harvard rider went off the front (maybe Eve?) with a hard attack. Our train "broke" and I surfed different wheels as we caught her and the pace increased. An IBC rider (Sam) started the sprint with a very hard jump, and I jumped to her wheel. It was maybe 400 meters out... I stayed on her wheel until the last 50-75 meters or so, then shot past her for the win. We've got some things to work on as a team, but this was a great beginning. I felt much more relaxed and comfortable racing with teammates around me, knowing that they were there to help me (for that race, anyways). I know this is the start of a great season to come!
Saturday:
Saturday at the Turtle Pond Circuit Race in New Hampshire, I raced with my two teammates, Tami and Natalie. Turtle Pond is an 11-mile rolling circuit with a 1 K climb to the finish line each lap. The climb has a "step" in the middle and then flattens out a bit at the top, with a hard drag to the finish line. I like this hill because it's a sprinters hill! And I know if I can get to the flatter section at the top at the front, I have a good sprint to beat others to the line.
The weather was awesome. Upper 60's and sunny! No leg warmers, no arm warmers. I thought the sudden heat might actually play a factor during the race, I was baking before the start, so I made sure to hydrate well before the start (naturally, this strategy led to a bursting bladder by the time we got to the finish). Tami had a mechanical at the end of the first lap, just at the start of the hill, and was left to chase for most of that lap. She didn't give up, but chased hard and rejoined the pack. The third lap, 4-5 of us had a little gap going up the hill, but any thoughts of a breakaway were squelched when the pace car slowed down and honked at us to neutralize at the top of the climb! Oh, how frustrating!! I felt so good up the hill. But I decided I would certainly feel good again the next lap, and I knew I could rail it to the finish line. Tami did a lot of work keeping the pace high for the last lap, since we were neutralized several times during the race and things got slower each lap. With maybe 2-3 miles to go, an IBC/Wachovia girl (I think it was Sam) launched a very effective attack. IBC was all stacked up at the front. I was up there, too, and so was Tami. Nat was on my wheel. Sam got a big gap, but I didn't have to decide to risk it to go after her so close to the finish climb, because Tami was awesome. She got on front and reeled things back together before the final right hand corner before the climb. Whew! I started the climb in the second row, center, on Suzanna's (UNH) wheel. She accelerated a little just before the first step, and it opened up enough of a gap for me to get out to the front of the group. Anna (Harvard) attacked from behind me at the step and opened up a gap. I had to chase. I caught her near the top, where the road flattens out, shifted up, and sprinted past her for the win. Natalie held on for 7th, and Tami, spent when she hit the climb from all the work she did, rolled in at 18th. Yay!
I would like to add one more comment on the weekend....
Anyone want to guess how much moola the winner of the P/1/2/3 women's field earned for her team at Miles Standish on Sunday?? Just venture a guess....
Friday, April 20, 2007
Yes, It's true
Oh, no! It can't be true!Not the steel-loving, frame pump using, fender-happy, still training on Rolf wheels from 2001 Rebecca that I know....
Oh, but my love, it IS true.
It's ready.I'm ready.
The new rocketship. Aboard this I'll propel myself through space and time.
Let's race!
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