Well, things are going wonderfully!  And fall and the off season is in full swing.  Chris and I have officially made the move to P-town and are very thrilled to be here!  For the past month or so, we have had to invade ur friends’ homes because we didn’t have a permanent place of residence.  As of yesterday we are now living in Northwest on the outskirts of Alphabet district.  It’s an awesome place with tons of space and a lot of character.  We are thrilled to be in our own place finally!  A huge thanks to all of y’all that helped us out a long the way  

The off season has been much needed!  I have been commuting to work, so that’s forcing me to ride every day, but it’s nice to be on the bike without doing workouts.  The commute gives me about 1.5 hours of riding a day and then I usually try to run a little at work, which has been a big change.  This last weekend LeeAnn, Derek, and I were able to go down and watch the Portland Marathon and you know what???  It actually made me feel like running!  OH MY GOSH!  Karey wants to run???!!!??  I know…it’s shocking, but it’s true.  So, my goal is to work up to a good 5 k, and maybe even do a race before the end of  winter. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

The TAI women just had a little off season meeting and dinner over at Casey’s place.  It was awesome, and the Deck tacos were very yummy. It’s looking to be an exciting season this next year, with a few new riders and lots of talent!  I’m very excited for what we have in store!

Yes, I’m still alive…

So, I haven’t posted in forever.  yeah, yeah.  I’ve been busy and pretty much not at home..or in Eugene, or anywhere really.  I’ve done a few races, which went okay.  OBRA crit champs at Albany was the most recent race.  It was a blast and some of the best team work I’ve ever been a part of.  The whole entire race was pretty high paced, which I thought was pretty awesome!  There are so many fast nd talented Oregon women racers out there and I was excited that so many came out for crit champs.  Our team made our shares of attacks and chases.  Toward the end Lisa attacked hard and went off the front, causing the pack to chase.  During the last 2 laps, Jill attacked with Pam and I on her wheel, and kept the pace high, peeling off with one lap to go, where I began my lead out.  I exploded around the last corner and sent Pam on her way.  Pam did an amazing sprint and almost got the win!  We only missed it by 1/4 of a wheel.  Pam’s shorts had caught on her seat when she threw the bike…darn shorts!!!!  Anyway, it was an awesome race for us as a whole with a lot of hard work from all of us!

Other than that, things have been going well. I’m tired, but my legs are feeling good.  I’m hitting new peak powers and still working my self pretty hard.  Almost the end of the season, which is pretty exciting!

In other areas of life (oh, you mean there are other things to think about besides cycling???)  I recently obtained a real job!  I will soon be starting a job in Portland, working 40 hours a week.  I”m actually really glad I’m starting right now, so I can get used to the job and commuting and all that stuff before I have to worry about being really disciplined in my training time.  It’ll be good!  So, now comes the issue of finding a place to live.  For the mean time, Chris and I will be staying at friends’ houses and stuff.  We’ll probably get all moved in within a few weeks, but that takes a little $$$$.  Anyway, I’m excited about having a good job!  Hopefully one will come around for Chris.

Anyway, Eugene celebration is coming up this next week and it should be a good race.  One of the last of the year!  Crazy how fast this summer has gone.

That’s about it. I’m boring today

Cascade Cycling Classic from the sidelines

Yup, Cascade Classic did not happen for me this year.  I was planning on it up until the last minute…but my finances ran a little low (that’s what happens when you don’t have a job) and so I failed to register.  I had mixed feelings about it.  For one thing, after witnessing the phonominal women’s field that was out there this week…I don’t know if I would have lasted 1 day.  On the other hand…it would have been awesome to try.

Chris and I arrived in Bend last Thursday and immediately headed out to preview the TT course.  The hill is that stupid hill from High Desert and Cascade…only it goes on a little longer.  And then the rest of it is awesome!  Rolling, down hills, smooth pavement…everything a TT-er could want.  So, basically I’m looking forward to the last part of the TT – which could really end up being a good thing.

Friday we went out and did a couple laps around the Aubrey Butte circuit course – and I once again realized why I didn’t sign up for the Elite Nationals Road Race.  That steep hill is CRAZY!!!  Yeah, it’s short, but man….I don’t think I could race up that 4 or 5 times.  I’m feeling bad for the elite men who have to do 7 laps…yeah…that’s right!  7 laps around that course!  Beastly!

We’ve been around for all the stages and have watched all the OBRA categories (2-4) and the Pro races.  It’s been great fun to be able to go out and ride and do our training and then watch everyone else suffer.  Kinda makes me jealous though…

Anyway, my team mate Scotty has been gracious enough to let us stay at his place for the week and 1/2 that we are here.  It’s great!  And him and his GF michelle have the cutest mini australian shepherd named Bella.  She wants to play alllllll the time.  Even when she’s panting so hard she can hardly breath.

Today we watched the last day of the Cascade stage race.  Aubrey Butte Circuit.  As I mentioned before…tough course.  One beastly little pitch of a hill.  So, Chris and I met up with Lindsay and watched people suffer.  I succeeded in calling the Pro men’s break a bunch of ladies!  Yeah…a little embarrassing and quite hilarious.  We thought the women were doing one more lap than they actually did…so they should have been coming up the hill next.  Well…both fields had a break up the road that was about the same size.  So, here this group of riders comes…and I’m shouting…”ALRIGHT LADIES!!!!  KEEP IT UP GIRLS!!!! Nice job! “   Then they get to me and I quickly realize…those are some masculine looking females!  Yeah, it was the pro men’s break, and the women’s race had been cut one lap short.  I think one of them may have laughed a little about it cause I certainly don’t think he was smiling about going up that hill for the 5th time.

Anyway, I’m ready for some active rest and recovery and some TT nats on Friday.

High Desert Omnium…

…kicked my butt.  But, really, it was on my own accord, so that was a much different feeling from last year.  The crit was fun.  I love that course.  A little technical toward the back side, but not too bad.  There was a great field of 1/2 women that showed up, which was even more awesome!  I ended up trying a couple breaks and working at the front, none of which succeeded in anything but tiring me out.  I tucked in the last couple laps, moved up to the front, and unfortunately was not on the same side as Jade when she attacked clear before the downhill corner.  I knew she’d probably go early and I should have been on her wheel, but at that point, between elevation and heat, I wasn’t really thinking properly.  I jumped when I saw her and ended up coming in 4th at the line.

My penultimate goal for that race was to not sit down when I sprint, no matter how tired my little legs are.  Well, for one thing, my legs felt awesome at the end…they weren’t even screaming in pain really…and secondly, I didn’t sit down. I started right from the 200 and went.  I was gaining on the 2 people in front of me, but unfortunately the finish line came just a little too soon.  Aw well…4th was good enough for some omnium points.

Skyliners time trial course is now my current arch nemesis…I hate it, it hates me.  Sort of an understanding I guess.  It was hot and my plan was to go out quite a bit below my normal threshold level at least in the first part, then hit it at the top and fly on the way back down.  My power data says otherwise.  I thought I was seeing low numbers (which was good) and then couldn’t understand why I had completely blown up at about mile 3.5.  But according to my power file I was clear above threshold almost the entire time, so especially with the heat and being at elevation, it’s not wonder my legs didn’t work once I got to the 4% grade section.  I am frustrated because my time trials have not been successful lately – but then again, most of them have had hills and I tend to enjoy the flat ones the most.  Either way, something needs to be done.  The other thing I noticed about my power was that my torque and power output was extremely inconsistent…I’m thinking some work on efficiency needs to be done?  It was just weird looking at what I actually did on the bike that day, but definitely explains why the outcome was not as planned.

Road Race: much easier than last year.  much. much easier…still got dropped on the last climb, but I didn’t really care. I attacked my whole way through this race.  The pace got slow, I attacked. I attacked down the hill, up the hill (new one for me), on the flats. I participated in pace lines to try to amp up the pace…I was just very active this entire race.  I had two goals for this race.  A: eat and hydrate properly.  I succeeded at this goal and felt amazing when I pulled across the finish line.  B: Conserve, sit in, and not work too hard.  Negative completion…about 1/4 of the way through, I decided I didn’t like this plan.  I figure I probably won’t be able to contend at the finish anyway because it’s right after a beastly false flat, so why not have some fun in the middle.  I know that I attacked at dumb places, but I definitely got a work out in. I knew I was burning matches, and sure enough, 1/2 way up the final climb I blew.  My last match was burnt, all my chickens were out of the coup.  I finished with a small group of women and tried leading out Kristen for the sprint.  It was fun, I made myself tired.

Tonight I think I may be racing the 1/2/3 men at the twilight crit…hopefully I last longer than a lap…

Lessons learned at Elkhorn

Well, it’s been a week since Elkhorn Classic Bike Race and it has taken this long for me to get my self put back together.  It was quite a weekend!

I learned a few valuable lessons, and I will share them with you…just to share a little wisdom and help you all not have to deal with the crap I’ve had to this week.

#1:  Carbon rims and rain don’t mix.  I didn’t learn this from a personal experience, but a friend did…and it’s not like you can really just change your wheels all the sudden when it starts storming and blowing and raining in the middle of a race…but it sucks when you keep going into the wheel in front of you because your breaks aren’t engaging.

#2: You need to eat more than 500 calories on a 72 mile really hilly race.  Yep, that I learned from personal experience.  Mind you,  I’ve learned this before, but my brain wasn’t really thinking properly considering I had 92 women of all categories trying to get to the front before “the big hill.”  I succeeded in bonking hard and couldn’t even get my legs to turn a cadence over 50 on the false flats and rollers on the way back.  I was in bad shape.  Luckily, ayce sphagetti served me well that night (even though my stomach hurt so bad from all the sugar I shoved my face with in response to the bonk).

#3: Good lesson: I love crits.  The crit was awesome.  I kicked butt…rode hard and didn’t give a care about the end result.  One lesson I did learn: listen to the MC call out primes.  I did this when I don’t think many people were and we succeeded in getting a couple primes when no one else knew it was a prime.  Yah team!  Also, don’t let your guard down with 3 laps to go…and better yet, pay attention to the laps period.  Before I knew it I realized I had been too busy paying attention to prime laps and all the sudden there were only 2 laps to go and I was stuck about 15 people back.  Darn it!  Lesson learned.

#4: Bring all of your cold weather clothing to elkhorn race.  This includes Thermal booties, cold cold weather gloves, base layer, hat, etc.  The final day was 48 degrees and raining and below freezing on the top of the mountain.  Luckily the race was shortened to a whole 20 miles consisting mostly of a hill climb up the backside of the mountain.  But it was still pretty cold.

#5:  Most important lesson of all: IF THE HOOD ON YOUR CAR IS FLAPPING A LITTLE IN THE WIND, DON’T DRIVE AT FULL SPEED INTO A 30 MPH HEADWIND!  Or better yet, maybe you shouldn’t drive it at all!  Derek Chris and I were headed back from the race and the hood of our car flew up into our windshield.  I was driving and was able to maneuver the car over to the side of the freeway.  After securing ourselves and the vehicle we decided to get it off the free way and try to make it to the next exit.  About 1/2 mile away we happened upon another group of cyclists from the Veloce team who were pulled over because their entire roof rack had flown off their car (bikes included).  I’m not sure which condition I’d rather be in…

Considering I’ve already dealt with bikes flying off the car, I’d pick the windshield.  We all need new experiences right???  Well, the Veloce guys happened to have some awesome tape and we taped the hood down and taped the windshield for reinforcement.  Miraculously with much debate and indecision we actually drove the car all the way back to Eugene.

Here’s what it looked like:

My new improved windshield

My poor car...

My car is totalled. I found out yesterday.  But, I actually didn’t get screwed by the insurance company, so that was wonderful news.  So, for the while I will be without car.  Finally!  I can use my cycling skills for a purpose!  You mean, I can actually ride my bike to get me places that I need to go and not just riding to a finish line????  Amazing!

Anyway, so those are lessons learned. I think there may have been one more…but I can’t remember.  OH, maybe the last one was….Derek and Chris together for an entire weekend is a lot to handle…but quite amusing.  OUT OF CONTROL!  That’s all I have to say.

Anyway, a whole weekend of fun and games.  The actual race wasn’t too bad, but it was draining.  It’s an off week for me to try to reboot my system.  Cascade is approaching fast as well as Elite Nationals.  Fun times!

Blahdy blah blah blah

You guessed it !  Nothing exciting happening in this neck of the woods.  Chris and I graduated with our Bachelors (me in Music and Chris in Economics) this last weekend.  It was fun and exciting, and thoroughly a let down.  Graduating is so anti-climactic.  Seriously…it’s like…you’ve worked how ever many years for this degree, and then you walk across the stage in a cheap (quality – not $$$) black gown and get a holder for your degree. You don’t actually get the degree because they don’t send those out till they verify that you’re legit.  hmmm…. I don’t now how I would make it more climactic…but something needs to happen.  Fireworks maybe?  Or…something.  Dunno…

Anyway, so I’m officially done with college.  Hoorah!  Now, more time for bike racing…I mean…finding a job????  I’m so excited that this is such an excellent time for job searching.  I mean, jobs are in abundance right?  I should have no problem!  Actually, I have been searching for a job for the past 6 months…so if anyone is reading this and would like to inform me of an absolutely wonderful job where I could actually use my talents and/or skills, that would be superb!  I think Chris is better off on the job search, considering he recently obtained his USA cycling coaching license as well as his Bachelors in Econ.  I think a lot more people are paying attention to economists than to musicians at this point.  Maybe if it were the other way around this economy wouldn’t be in the state it’s in!!!!  (no offense Chris – or any other really good economists out there)…but seriously, maybe if we had a group of musicians running the nation, we  wouldn’t be in this mess! (please no political comments or any of the like…I’m just flapping my lips in the wind).

Anyway, that’s about it.  Due to family visitation and other graduation hoolabaloo I haven’t been riding much.  Thank goodness last week was a rest week anyway…but still, I should be riding more or harder or something.  I feel my lazy body is losing fitness as we speak.  Big race this weekend – Elkhorn Stage Race in Baker City, OR.  Should be a good one with lots of women!  That’s exciting!  I’m just looking forward to the TT and the crit.  Fun times! Hopefully my little legs will wake up enough to get me up and over the hills in the rest of the race.

Well, time to sleep and try to work out some knots in my back.  It’s been a beast lately.

I left my legs on Mt Hood

Well, I got through it, which is more than a lot of people can say!  Mt Hood Cycling Classic was rough, tough, and just plain awesome.  I think some time last year I posted something saying that this next season (current season now) I wanted to do some really hard races that would just kick my butt, because that’s what I needed to get to the next level…Do you remember me saying that?  Well, I said it, and Mt Hood did it for me.  I got my butt handed to me multiple times all wrapped up in a bright red bow…

Okay, maybe no bow, but still…I was whooped.  There weren’t a whole ton of women in the field (35 to start to be exact), but there were some pretty tough ladies out there ready to put the pain on.  It was awesome!

Prologue: So fast – so quick – it was over before you knew it.  This was my first ever prologue.  I did okay…my legs felt really tired still (I’ve been struggling with tired leg syndrome for a week now)…I got through it.

Cooper Spur Circuit Race (Stage 1): Hard.  I couldn’t recover.  I stayed with the pack for 1/2 the race…then hit the steeper section of the hill going up to cooper spur and popped 1/2 way off.  My legs just wouldn’t work.  I also really didn’t feel “in it”.  I was sick of descending behind people that couldn’t descend…and was sick of not being able to recover.  Basically I was being a whiney baby.  And it continued for the rest of the race while I watched 3 riders ahead of me join with another group of 4 riders (which my amazing Teammate Pam was in) and they rode off into the distance, leaving me to wallow in my misery on Cooper Spur.  I finished.  Not near as far back as I thought…but still, this stage was rough for me.

Scenic Gorge TT (Stage 2): AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was ready to put on the pain!  And I did.  At least on myself.  I passed quite a few women on the first hill and just kept it going.  I think there were times where I could have gone a little harder on the descent and last hill…but at the end I was definitely maxed out and it was an amazing ride for me.  My legs felt better than they had the day before…once again…the TT is what I do.  I LOVE IT!

Wy-East RR (Stage 3): BRUTAL!!!!!  Pam and my goal was to make it past the second steep descent with the pack.  We did it…but not without me trying to pop off the back a zillion times.  LEGS!!!! JUST WORK!!!!! PLEASE!!!!  I got popped shortly after the second feed zone about 1/4 of the way up the 35 mile climb.  I chased and chased…and was about to reach the caravan (yes, I was that close)…and I realized…I still have 20 miles of climbing ahead of me…I think I should just motor up at my pace.  Right as I was deciding this, I witnessed an attack at the front anyway, so I gave up the chase and settled into my tempo pace.  I caught one other Total Restoration woman and also caught my teammate Pam.  The three of us rode to the finish together.  It was awesome to have a couple people to ride with this time.  We took our time to make sure we’d be able to make it up the last little bit…and we finished together.  92 miles of craziness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Down Town Criterium (Stage 4): FAST!!!!!!!!  We started out and I knew I needed to be near the front.  I got in a pretty good position through the first few laps.  In order to finish the stage we needed to complete 16 minutes of the race before getting pulled/lapped.  I kept looking at my clock thinking, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.  I made it through the 16 minute mark and just held on for dear life.  I felt so comfortable in the pack.  Taking good lines, fighting for wheels, doing everything I needed to.  Then suddenly, coming up the front stretch (which is a little hill) my legs turned to lead.  I started drifting back a little.  I moved up again through the side stretch (good tips from Bill) – but to no avail, I was slipping back again on the front stretch.  I had hit my wall.  I struggled and then finally popped off again because there was a gap after the big turn at the bottom.  I chased and chased…and then sat up a little. I  rode hard for a few laps and made it with 8 laps to go before I was pulled.  Not too shabby.

My legs feel better now than when I started the race.  Yes, they are tired, but feel good.  Time for a rest week and prep for Elkhorn!!!!

TAI Women are at it again!

Well, it’s official.  My teammates are awesome!  Today was the OBRA Time Trial Championships and we kicked some butt!!!!  It was apretty warmish day – and really nice out.  Not too windy.  Jill, Lisa, and I headed out to the course right outside of Corvallis and where we were met by Pam.  We discussed a few race tactics (which I will have to keep confidential as to not allow any other teams any advantage for next year).  My legs are still not up to par, but nothing a little ibuprofin won’t help.

We started the race and settled into a good pace.  Some of the corners were a bit tricky, but overall it went really smoothly.  All the rotations went awesome, there were no surges and everyone communicated very well!  We finished with all of us together which was also awesome!

So, that’s that.  TAI Women are OBRA Team Time Trial Champions!  (for the Senior women anyway).

Now it is time to relax and try to recover and eat a lot before Mt Hood Classic which we start on Wednesday.  By the way…if anyone knows where I can buy some fresh climbing legs…please let me know asap!  I am willing to spend quite a sum if anyone can provide!

Tired little legs

Well, it officially has hit me. My legs are mush.  This is what my legs feel like:

My Legs

I tried doing the Coburg TT last night…and as you might imagine…if my legs felt like that…it did not go very well. I was almost 2 minutes slower than my time last week.  This equals about 40 watts slower on average with a HR of 15 beats lower than last week.  220 watts felt like 300…and I could not get my HR up above 162.  (which is pretty low for me).  Talk about pain and a little frustration…but hey, it’s alright.  Time for a rest day (or couple of days).

As I was searching for the image above, I found this.

Banana Holder!

So, I’m thinking, next time I should get one of these and maybe some how My legs won’t feel like squashed banana.  Okay, maybe that’s not how it works…but I still think the banana holder is awesome. I wish they made them in the bunches so you could encase a whole bunch of bananas for a race weekend. I always end up with smooshed or baked (black) bananas.

Anyway, today is a rest day.  And I am getting my hair cut.  I’m thinking maybe something like this?

Or this…

Anyway, today is definately a rest day…I’m not doing anything but drinking my coffee and eating oatmeal…oh crap…the oatmeal is still cooking on the stove, I’ll be right back…

Speaking of which, Irish cut steel oats are the best.  They are so much better than regular oats.  At Trader Joes, (and maybe else where), they make some quick cooking Irish cut steel oats and they are definately the best because then you don’t have to wait so long for them to cook.

Anyway, that’s about it.  Rest day today, some riding tomorrow.  This weekend is the TTT so I gotta be plenty rested for that!

Movin’ right along

Well, there hasn’t been too many exciting things going on in the past couple weeks.  Once again, I fail to write in the good ‘ol blog…I know, I know…I’m letting my readers down.  BARE WITH ME! Is it Bear?  Bare?  Anyway, here goes…

Chris and I were planning on going down to Treasure Valley SR in Idaho, but due to the large amount of time and $$$ it would take to get there, we decided to stay here and race in Oregon.  It ended up being an exciting weekend and some fun racing.

OBRA Rehearsal Road Race which also acts as the OBRA Road Championships for the senior women was on Saturday.  We had 3 TAI women there, Lisa, Pam and myself.  The race was sort of rubber-badndy the entire time.  People would go hard up the hills and then let up.  It was sort of frustrating because even on the hills people would slow clear down and then surge causing quite a bit of sketch near the back and middle of the pack.  I tried to stick near the front, which I usually need to do anyway to not get popped off the back if someone attacks on the hills.

1/2 way through the second lap I attacked over the crest of the long hill and 1 woman (Amy from River City Bicycles) came with me.  We busted it down the hill and actually got away for quite a while.  We worked well together and tried our best to go as fast as we could up the hills.  Unfortunately my speed and ability to decend and motor on the flats does not carry over to the hills, especially when I’ve been all out for the last 20 minutes or so.  We eventually heard some one’s carbon brakes coming up behind us, and had just enough time to recover a bit before the pack overtook us 1/2 way through the 3rd lap. +

It was fun being off the front like that, and it’s my first time in a road race that I’ve been able to do that in the “big girls’ field.”  I also felt lucky to have some teammates back in the pack that were doing an excellent job of blocking for me!  Thanks gals!!!!   I was able to stay in the pack after that as everyone seemed a little tired and not wanting to attack. I think a lot of people were trying to conserve their energy for the uphill finish.

We started down the descent and Lisa was forced out front.  Well, we were going for her win, so I motored up to the front from the middle of the pack and sat on the front and drilled.  I stayed up front and kept a pretty steady and fast tempo through the entire descent and up to the 1K.  At this point I’m feeling pretty tired and try to keep going hard, at which point some one attacked.  Lisa was able to hop out from behind my wheel, grab on to someone else and sprinted to the win, also thanks to Pam boxing a few people in on the right side of the road.  I just sat up at the 200 feeling like I had done a good days work and rode easy to the finish.  It was a fun and very successful race for all of us!  It was great to be able to finally pull off some team tactics for a successful win!

Yesterday I raced PIR…it was…interesting, and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what happened.  The race started and I was a few people back from the front…and around the back side in the headwind one of the Sorella Forte women was on the front and started to pick up the pace, then pulled off a little, so I got up to the front and started to pull.  I wanted a work out and so I decided to pick up the pace a little.  Now, at this point, I wasn’t attacking… I just got up front and SLOWLY rode a little faster…23mph???  Then a little harder 25mph as the wind changed…feeling good I kept up the speed, figuring I’d just string it out a little and then pull back in to recover.  I looked back after the first corner and….NO ONE WAS BEHIND ME!  They were clear back…I was like…what the heck???  This is the first lap?  They just let me roll off??!!!???!!!

So, then I had a decision to make.  Do I sit up and just roll with the pack (I really wanted a sprint workout) or do I continue to drill it and see how far ahead I can get.  Well, I went for the second option.

My first PIR ever turned into almost a 40K TT by myself.  I ended up gaining at least 3 minutes on the pack by the end of the race….I was told afterwards that some of the women didn’t even know I was off the front??!!!  I don’t know how that happens, but I guess it happened so early that if anyone near the back didn’t notice, then you wouldn’t even realize I had gone. I also heard that some of the women saw me roll off, but were saying, “We dont’ need to worry about it…we’ll get her back.”  Well…I love to TT and if I get in that situation, I’m probably not going to stop…it’s just what I do.   Either way, it was a good work out, but no sprinting for me.   TT’d all the way to the end.  Good practice for a long TT, I guess!

Anyway, we went and had some good Mexican food after the race to celebrate Jim’s birthday and headed home.  A pretty good weekend and holiday of racing!  Tonight is the last week for the coburg TT.  I’m ready to nail it!  We’ll see how my legs are doing from last night.