Two more down, three to go.

The Head Tilt - verification of mighty suffering.

Get off your brakes!

Last weekend I got in another two good days of 'cross racing. Saturday at our local series, and Sunday in Sacramento.

The local race was a new venue and one of the funnest courses I've ever ridden. It was a lot of grass, a nice sand pit, some fun decending and off camber turns, fast barriers, and 2 sets of stairs to run up. It was mostly all up on the way out, and down on the way back. I love courses like that, where you can just flog yourself to the point of "I'm-going-to-die", recover, and then do it again. My legs felt so-so, but as per usual at these Reno races there weren't to many ladies present so I was able to get the W. I won beer and money, which is good because otherwise I would've been hard up to come up with gas money to get down to Sacramento the next day!

I'm currently sitting 2nd in the Sacramento CX women's A series standing, so I wanted to have another good result there and keep it that way. The course was okay, flat grass, one set of barriers, ho hum. Not very interesting, but good for training the power with all those constant accelerations out of the turns. We race with the jr. men, and I made the bad mistake of starting behind one of them. The kid looked fit, but he had the slowest start of almost anyone there. I had to make some kamakaze passes and dig deep, but I managed to bridge up to the leaders! Wow, that pretty much shocked me right there. There were 4 of us in the lead group - myself, Emily (from last weekend), Joan Gregg (who has never failed to totally whoop me), and Linda Elgart, who was riding super strong. I was tired from the day before, and mostly sucked wheel. I took a couple of pulls, suffered, got gapped off a couple times, caught back on, suffered. On the last lap I got gapped off and couldn't get back on, so I pulled off another 3rd place. The podium was identical to the first Sacramento series race of the year, but instead of getting dropped by Emily and Joan, I hung with them! Woot woot! Hells yeah, I actually AM getting stronger! The training my coach has had me doing is really going to have me peaking for nationals! Not that I ever doubted it, but it's totally radical to be able to see some substantial improvement.

Next up is the NCNCA district race in Golden Gate Park this weekend, and then I begin my northern odessey to the land of mud and cowbells (aka Portland, followed by Bend). There are over 80 women registered for nationals!

Need a Lucky Penny

Ever since, oh, August I've had some rather terrible luck at the races. OK, OK, I don't actually believe in luck or karma or divine intervention, but this is getting ridiculous. I've gotten flats at 5 races since then. It doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider the time and energy and financial resources that have gone into them it's a metric shit ton. Seriously. And on Sunday an ill-timed flat with 2 to go cost me a win.

I ended up skipping the BASP race (tired, broke, lazy) and just heading to Folsom. Not nearly as big a turn out, but one girl there totally smoked me at the first Sacramento CX race, so I figured it would be a good test. She had raced the night before, so I'm sure she was pretty beat, but I got a big gap and it kept grown. You know what was utterly and totally amazing? I was fastest on the run-up, and through the barriers! I suck at running, and am usually just in survival mode, so this was a big deal, and it helped grow my lead and confidence. Until . . . I learned what happens when you forget to unclip before a barrier. No endo, but a nice slide. That kind of killed my lead, but with 2 1/2 to go I dug deep and increased my gap again. And then . . . I pinch flatted my tubular. Again.

Okay, let's see here - isn't the whole POINT of a tubular that you can run low tire pressure and not flat? Well I may not be a feather weight, but I'm not a porker either. And now that's TWICE that I've pinch flatted my tubular while running about 30 psi. WTF?! I'm over it. Selling the carbon wheels, this is ridiculous. Obviously I'm just not finesse enough to run tubulars. That's fine. Hmph.

I wasn't too far from where my wheels where, but by the time I ran/gingerly rode over there I'd been passed. Swell. Got a fast wheel change from my pops and started chasing, but with 2 to go I couldn't get it back. 2nd. Not bad. Won a little cash and a tube of women's specific Hoo Haa Chamois Cream. Sick.

So there is good news out of this - my fitness is great! I know my closest competitor was tired from the race the night before, but I think if she'd been fresh I could have hung with her. Maybe not necessarily dropped her the way I did, but not get so totally smoked by her as I did earlier in the season. This is excellent, excellent news. This weekend brings a double header - Sagebrush CX on Saturday followed by Sacramento CX on Sunday. And a good chance to test my legs against awesome competition! This time I'll be tired and she'll be fresh, so it'll be a challenge indeed.

Decisions decisions

I'm lagging in the news update blogging department. Where to begin?

Well, going back two weeks (has it been that long) and our Santa Cruz trip! While it mostly revolved around my cyclocross races (more on that later) good times were had by all. Cody got to hang out and drink beer, he even raced the costume 'cross race! and we hung out at the ocean.

The racing was rad, though my performance was just so so. I always spend the whole race recovering from my meek little starts. And to be perfectly honest I don't have the fitness to recover well from bad starts. I can get around a few people, but by then the people I want to be racing with are long gone. I need to either a) start more aggressively, or b) be so freakin' fast that I can catch and pass the leaders even after a bad start. Right, well, it seems that option B is unlikely to happen anytime in the near future, so I'm just going to have to be more of a bitch at the start of a race. Anyway, the courses were awesome and it was a total blast, I just wish I could be a weee bit faster. I feel like I'm approaching the next level of speed and fitness, it's just slightly outside my reach. But feeling that it's so close, so attainable, is good motivation to keep working on it. At any rate my mounts/dismounts/barriers have improved dramatically. So one step at a time, right? Haha, get it?

Moving on!

Last weekend I skipped the local 'cross race (sad, I know) and went down to Berkeley for a meeting and ride with my new road team, Touchstone Climbing. It's gonna be a great year for us, I think! Hoping I can get my shizit together for the upgrade, this perpetual state of 3ness is getting a little tired.

And now . . . ? It's been a good week of training. I had a gnar ride yesterday (see previous blog post), then tried to ride in the Outlaw 'cross race this morning. Bad idea - my legs were totally thrashed from my intervals yesterday, and my run the day before. Ouch! Did one fast lap then just cruised around and worked on my cornering for a few more, then called it a day. I've always had a hard time convincing myself to suffer at 8 AM on a Thursday. So now I'm debating on what to do with my weekend. I have a little bit of a scratchy throat, and have been feeling just a touch under the weather this week, so I'm feeling really cautious about subjecting myself to anything that's going to make it worse. On the other hand, the BASP night race is on Saturday! Fun fun! And on Sunday I'm debating on if I should do a big long road group ride with my new team (fun! But not necessarily the best training for 'cross) or if I should head to Folsom and race 'cross again. Or, the really lazy option - stay home on Saturday and go race in Folsom on Sunday. Jeez, aren't my weekend plans enthralling?

Seriously, though, it's hard listening to everyone talk about base miles while I'm still in cyclocross mode. It makes me want to drop everything and start training for road season. But I won't! I'm having a blast racing 'cross and I'm not calling it a season until I get that top 30 at nationals. My road season will just have to start a little late.

Training Like it's My Job

I went for a hard ride today. "Hard as you can go" intervals and lots of saddle time. The weather was gorgeous (a little too gorgeous for November, really). I live on top of a pretty brutal hill (brutal at the end of a long hard ride, at any rate) and it was one of those spectacular rides where I almost wanted to get off and walk the last 100 yards. I get off the bike and immediately want to consume my body weight in food. After chicken and dumplings soup (thanks Mom) and chocolate milk I take a hot shower, totally dull with fatigue and contentment. The only thing to spoil it? Dragging myself off to the office afterwards. Like, the real office, not the "I-wish-my-job-was-racing-bikes-and-the-great-outdoors-was-my-office" office.

Someday . . .

New Resolve

I had a really nice ride last night - just zone 1 stuff, cruising on the cross bike, nice. And it was like, 36 degrees out by the time I finished (2.2 degrees celsius for you euro types). Weird, huh? It was cold out, and I actually liked it. What the hell is wrong with me?

Well, whatever it is, if it can stick around for the next 6 months I'll be stoked, 'cause it's only getting colder from here on out. So I'm resolving to spend as few days on the trainer this year as possible. Unless there's like, 4 feet of snow or an ice storm, I'm going to stick it out. I need some heated insoles . . .

This weekend we're heading down to Santa Cruz for some Halloween cyclocross, beach camping, mountain biking, and relaxin'. My boyfriend is apparently the only person in the world who doesn't thing that Santa Cruz is like, Camelot, so try as I might to get him pumped on going on a mini vacation with me he's just not giving me that stoked-to-be-pumped response I've been looking for. Well pfffft! Fine, I'll DRAG him down to horrible, miserable, sunny Santa Cruz and FORCE him to camp at the beach, an BELITTLE him into riding his bike on totally wonderful UCSC singletrack - poor guy's got a rough life.

But now I'm getting ready to go ride my MTB with Miss 2nd in the Nation, Carla-Swart-beating Lizzy f'in English. I don't think she'll hurt me to bad . . . but part of me hopes she does.

Turns out . . .

. . . it's an infected blister. The heel, I mean. The spider bite's still a spider bite. So even though it hurts like a sonofabitch (kept me awake for most of the night, whimpering like a total nancy and feeling sorry for myself) I can do whatever I want and not worry about furthering an injury. And I got some antibiotics. Oh yeah, did I mention I went to the doctor? Good thing they didn't have to lance it or I'd be eating plain rice for the next 2 weeks. Yeah public option!

Dr. Marian

Been getting heavily involved in self-diagnosis these last couple days. First of all, there's something wrong with my left heel. After much Googling of symptoms I've decided that I have calcaneal bursitis - inflammation of the bursa that covers the area where the achilles tendon attaches to the calcaneous. It fits - redness, swelling, PAIN. I wore these old running shoes last week when I was up at Northstar marking the XC course for nationals, and they caused a pretty mean blister. Changed shoes for the next couple days - lots of running around, followed by going for a run on Tuesday. Woke up in the middle of the night last Thursday feeling sort of . . . ouchie. WTF? Thought maybe there was an infection or something with the blister, but it's not ooozie or anything, just painful. Like, when I accidentally kick it with my other foot I want to sit down and cry. Ice and Ibuprophen, don't let me down! It doesn't hurt when I ride, thank goodness, but running and, erm, walking (with shoes that cover my heel) hurts. I may be racing 'cross in my birkenstocks at this rate. Grrreat.

Next - the mean-ass spider bite I got on my . . . ass. Okay, no, it's on my upper, outer, right thigh. But it sucks. Also decended on my on Thursday night. Have determined that it is not from a Brown Recluse, or any other spider that delivers necrotizing venom, thank you jeee-sus! I've come to this rather relieving determination because of the lack of "pus", and "white ring, surrounded by red, around the bite zone, giving it a characteristic bulls-eye target appearance." Okay, that's not actually the quote, I'm paraphrasing. But no pus and no white ring. But I have a big swollen painful-itchy red area on my leg, and you can see it bulging out in my spandex. Grrrrrreat. And this one hurts too! I grabbed my hoodie this morning and the zipper whacked my leg right on my big puffy-ass bump. More sitting, more crying about it. If it doesn't go away in 7-10 days (business?) I'll have to bite the bullet and amputate my own leg. Orrrr . . . go to the doctor. In the meantime, more Ice, more Vitamin I.

Umm . . . what have I done to deserve two gimpy legs in one week? Stupid spiders, that's what I get for not killing them. Stupid nationals, that's what I get for volunteering and running my freakin' tail off for 5 days getting shit done.

So, I know Googling symptoms is a Bad Idea, but when you've got no health insurance and no credit card your options are seriously limited. Jeez, it's amazing I've survived as long as I have.