milestones

I am happy to say that I have officially finished the entire first draft of my masters thesis. Sure, it will probably come back to me all marked up in red pen but I'll deal with that when it happens. I'm thrilled about what I've learned about hydration in endurance sports in the process and have even discovered some pretty key findings through this study...More on that if/when it's published someday, I'm hopeful that it will be...I wish I could say that I'm free for spring break now, but, no. I've got two term papers to write now..AARGGH! Well, before that my reward will be to blow off some steam...time to ride!

yesssss!!

Finally, after attempting my workout twice and failing..I got it today! Good feeling...now hopefully I can do it again tomorrow. Next week is spring break! I want to be able to ride a lot. I just need my legs to cooperate. Last year I got a 30-hour riding week over spring break. I doubt I will even get close to that this year...I'm starting to think I should race XC instead of endurance this year, yikes.

frozen

...ugh! Go away cold. Yesterday was incredible....we rode @ Conyers in shorts! Today, not so much. I was supposed to do a long hard/intense workout today and failed miserably. Between the relentless wind, cold, and me not feeling great anyway it was the ride from hell. My HR wouldn't budge and if I had a powermeter it would have surely told me that I suck. Thank goodness Monday is my rest day....I have a ton of work to get done this week and I want to retry my workout on Tuesday.

Dirty Spokes Endurance MTB Race Series

12/6 Hour Mountain Bike Races (4 Events In The Series):

March 14th, 2009 - Heritage Park, Oconee Co., Ga. - Race #1

May 2nd, 2009 - Fort Yargo State Park, Winder, Ga. - Race #2

July 11th, 2009 - Tribble Mill Park, Gwinnett Co., Ga. - Race #3

October 10th, 2009 - Unicoi State Park, Helen, Ga. - Race #4 (Series Finale - Double Points
Race - Helen Fat Tire Festival - See Below)

Dirty Spokes will be handing out "Custom Socks" and "Pint Glasses" at the Dirty Spokes 12/6 hour races this year with your race registration.
Race #1 "Custom Dirty Spokes Socks"
Race #2 "Custom Dirty Spokes Pint Glasses"
Race #3 "Custom Dirty Spokes Socks"
Race #4 "In The Works"
Custom Socks will be different from race #1 and race #3.
If you are interested in purchasing a t-shirt you may do so for $5.00 (t-shirts will only be available to be purchased before "late registration" deadline for each race via active.com).

The Helen Fat Tire Festival (Dirty Spokes Race #4 - Series Finale) is an all inclusive mountain biking event geared for family fun. The three day event will include; group rides for all ability levels, bike games, kid's rides, safety programs, live music, food and expo area, and a 12 and 6 hour endurance cross country mountain bike race hosted by Dirty Spokes Productions,LLC. The event will raise funds for SORBA's Trips for Kids program and benefit local trail development of White County as a Regional Bicycle Destination location. The beautiful Unicoi State Park and Lodge will be the event lodging host and venue (we would highly recommend making reservations soon - Unicoi will fill up fast in October ).. For more information check out: www.helenfattirefestival.com

Neutral Support for the Dirty Spokes 12/6 Hour Mountain Bike Races will be provided by: Addictive Cycles (www.addivtivecycles.com) / Conte's Bike Shop (www.contebikes.com)! Addictive Cycles will also be cooking up some hotdogs and hamburgers at the mountain bike races - bring your appetite!

MTB race season is coming!

March 14 is the 6 hour race at Heritage Park, put on by Dirty Spokes Productions. I'm not sure I'll have my new bike and equipment by then but that's OK. Luckily the Soma Juice is proving to be a decent bike...it will be quite a shock (in a good way) to drop 7+ pounds just off the bike alone when the Rotwilds arrive!

I'm planning on doing the entire Dirty Spokes race series, but I'll be training right through them in the hopes that the race-pace efforts will get me ready for the faster-paced 100 mile races this year.

Also, the 9th annual BURN 24 hour is ON! Memorial Day weekend....The Brushy Mountain Cycling Club is taking the race over and it will be awesome. The trails are incredible. I believe I'll actually be racing on a team for this one!

warning: sexy material

Have you VOTED?

While you are checking out the Breck Epic blogging contest, you should also be voting for Tomi

VOTE FOR TOMI

No, I'm not getting anything out of this endorsement either....I don't think?

I'm pretty sure you have until March 15 to vote, so better do it now while you're thinking about it.

random thoughts

I rode my fixie yesterday for the first time on a training ride. It was such a different (pleasant and not stressful) experience from riding it in Atlanta traffic...anyway, I got thinking about training, and started to realize how lucky I am. Not only do I have one of the best coaches in the whole country, I am able to learn more about athletes and sports nutrition from one of the best people in the world everyday. There is so much out there that is being researched, especially in endurance athletes, it's fascinating. As if that wasn't good enough, I have access to the knowledge and systems of Wobble-naught and Dartfish video analysis. It makes no sense that athletes in other sports go out and constantly refine technique, but (relatively) so few cyclists and mountain bikers care to work on pedaling technique and form. Eddie has gotten very good at what he's doing with the fitting and video analysis, I'm very impressed with the way he's come to articulate what the body is really doing and what the rider really needs to focus on to produce more power. And if that still was not enough, I'm so fortunate to be riding with one of the best mountain bike teams in the world. I still can't believe it, and I'm really excited to get on with the racing this year. So anyway, I guess my point is that I'm really lucky to have all these tools to help me through training and racing. Does this mean that I'm actually going to win a national championship race? Uh...I wish. I still have way too many day jobs...but I can keep trying! :)

Get out and VOTE

For the Breck Epic

OK, this is a blogger contest. Clearly, we all know who has the most entertaining blog.

VOTE FOR DICKY

No, I'm not getting anything for this endorsement...but I should.

Pine Log: 3, Me: 0

Today was my 3rd attempt at riding Pine Log. It ended in almost 2.5 hours of bike-whacking through briars. UGGGGH. Not my idea of a good time. I'm not going back there unless it's with someone that actually knows how to access the good trails.

I'm a complete PowerBar junkie. My current favorites are the Gel Blasts and the Energize Smoothie Bars

Typical Pine Log road that leads to nowhere. It also happens to look just like 90% of the other roads out there that also lead to nowhere.

One of many dead ends. However, this is the one that ended in the 2+ hour bike-whack nightmare.

Me, dirty

Soma Juice 29er with Ergon grips. I love this bike!!! I can actually do a wheelie on it, I've never been able to wheelie a 29er.

Post-bike-whack shins. Ouch.

24 hour solo withdrawal?

No, it can't be. But, I must say that watching the 24HOP results online is making me quite envious of that feeling you get on the sunrise lap when you've been up all night on the bike. I'm sure it's even more beautiful in the desert. Ah...I kind of wish I was racing.

Great job to everyone out there, thanks for keeping me occupied! :)

OK, off to do my ride!

One race down....

Recap of my first ever road TT....

I woke up on time, but got there too late to warm up. Why, you ask? Hmmm...I don't know, maybe too much coffee and pre-race facebooking....oops. I really should have warmed-up, the race was only 9.4 miles long!

Anyway, on the way there it started pouring rain. That made me glad that I wasn't out there warming up because it probably would have just made me cold, wet, and miserable. I didn't really care enough about this race to arrive early with a tent and a trainer so it was what it was (if that is a saying?).

I had just enough time to pee and then take my spot in line to start at 9:12 am. Luckily the rain had stopped but it was still chilly and extremely wet on the pavement. I had no idea what my strategy was going to be, except to 1) go hard and 2) not blow up before the finish line. Simple.

I went out fairly conservatively, mostly because I was not at all warmed up...my legs were slightly protesting early on but soon I settled into a rhythm. My HR monitor was not working so I stopped and restarted it 3 times before it finally started recording around minute 11. I really needed that HR to gauge my effort as adrenaline was going strong and I really didn't want to blow. The turn-around was probably not as bad as I thought, but it was wet and tight so I took it pretty slow through it. I was passed by a few guys but was able to go harder on the way back and even passed one guy....I almost puked afterwards but was able to hold it together. I backed off a bit on the incline towards the finish but was able to hammer it out once I caught sight of the finish line.

My time was 26:50 and I was OK with that. Could I have gone harder? I don't know, probably..but I'm pretty tired still, 8 hours later. I'm sure I could shave some time off with an aero setup (I rode my road bike), aero helmet, and skinsuit ;) A 30 minute plus (instead of a 5 minute) warm-up would have helped me to have a stronger start, also. Concentrating on my form and pedaling technique definitely helped me, though.

At the time I saw the posted results I was in 2nd place out of a lot of Cat IV women...but there were still about 14 more to go. We'll see what the final results say. I think I will sign up for several more of these since there is now a Georgia TT series. It is really good training and it's fun to do something really short for a change.

T-19 hours

I'm very excited to have this over with! I'm not sure why I get more nervous about "stupid" races, as I'm calling this one....than the bigger ones. I start at 9:12 am and Eddie starts 30 seconds after me. I'm wondering how long it will take him to pass me...my guess is less than one minute :)

OK, I'm going out now for a "pre-ride" or whatever you would call it for a 9.5 mile TT. All I know is that it's sunny and gorgeous outside and I'm really happy that the weekend is finally here!

Happy

Life is good. It gets better every single day. It's crazy sometimes, but I'm trying to just go with it...I really do believe everything happens for a reason. I have no clue where I will be in six months but that is exciting. The possibilities are endless.....

hmm, this is weird

I'm signed up to do the 9.5 mile road TT this weekend, though, it doesn't really feel like a "race" to me. There is no advanced prep, no taper, and..well...I have no idea how to ride a TT! My bike is not set up in a time trial position, it's just a plain old road bike with a road style bike fit. I am basically doing a series of 2 hour workouts this week on the road bike with varying degrees of intensity. I must say, though it is not my forte, I'm becoming a fan of short and intense! It definitely works better in my busy schedule. I've got the endurance part down, maybe I'll actually get start to get faster...I guess we will see. The TT promotors aren't posting start times until Friday morning, so I will just have to be patient.

Good luck to everyone racing at OP (especially Team Topeak-Ergon and Tomawickiwicki---go SS!!!) and Mas o Menos (go Danielle!) this weekend!

"L" is for....

Loser?

Yes. Wait, no, "L" is for Lost. That is what happened to me on the ride today. Anyone that knows me is shaking their head, I know. I was supposed to be riding the Fool's Gold 50 route and I freakin got lost. That is practically like getting lost in your own backyard...that's how stupid it is!!

I started out with Eddie, Mark, and John up to Cooper Gap but had to run back to the car...plus, I had to do an hour of structured intervals so I was just going to do those and then meet up with the guys on the singletrack. Well, after my intervals I don't know what my problem was...but nothing looked familiar. I am so used to following others around in the woods and unfortunately we had to take all the route markings down from the race. So, I started backtracking, would take a trail connector, turn around, repeat....and all of a sudden I'm just riding around in circles wondering how on earth I could miss them. It turns out all three of them had split up to look for me around the same time that I was in the vicinity....it was just a fluke and I happened to miss all of them. I just kept riding and started to ride the course backwards hoping that I would eventually see them. Nope. I got confused because the 2007 and 2008 courses were slightly different so I didn't know where I was and where the guys would be. At the 4 hour mark I just went back to the car because I didn't want to make them come looking for me. As I was heading back on the trail I heard all the helicopters (rangers were playing around) and I was certain they were looking for me :) It turns out they weren't and the guys showed up about an hour after I got back...still, it was a great day to ride and the Juice rode well today! No, I didn't take any pictures..and I was so stressed most of the time that I hardly ate or drank anything during my four hour ride. Taco Bell tasted pretty darn good afterwards!

Heat wave!

Yeeeah! It was in the high 60's today and I got to ride mountain bikes in shorts and short sleeves! Finally, we are getting our turn for some relief...I was starting to get very very grumpy last week with the steady freezing temps. Today was my first real ride with the Soma Juice 29er on a true mountain bike trail. I was really unsure about how it would handle since the geometry seems quite different from my previous 29er...this bike steers quicker and handles differently in the turns. I'm very happy with it. I can turn better through tight switchbacks, that is the one huge improvement that I've noticed. It also seems to climb and descend well, even though it's not the lightest frame around....not that I am a weight weenie, I rode and raced a 26lb. steel singlespeed for over a year! I also like the 1x9 setup, so far I haven't encountered many situations where I really need a big ring or the granny gear on the 29er.

Tomorrow is another mtb ride...Fool's Gold 50 route....pictures will be taken, for real this time! Then, it's off to prepare for my first road TT that I'm doing next weekend...yikes. I have no real expectations except to see what I am or am not missing...I have never done a TT but I am a sucker for utterly painful things and this sounds like it may qualify!

just a little bit.....

Some of the goodies in the "box" thanks to the sponsors of Team Topeak-Ergon!






...and I haven't forgotten my new socks!

Rest week!

In my weekly training notes it said "Recovery Week" which was great news to me. I haven't had a full rest week in awhile and am feeling the effects a bit. Not to mention, this is a big week for me to get the draft of my thesis complete...just a little stressful to say the least.

OK, off to spin and work..then I will divulge the details of the "box" later!

fail

Intervals didn't happen today, I guess legs were tired. I also had to make a trip to the Emergency Vet in the middle of the night so I didn't get the best sleep last night. That's ok, luckily Porter seems to be doing better now and I still got in a long road ride. Eddie, feeling fresh, decided to take us on a tour of steep hills in Buckhead during the last two hours and I got worked. Right now, I can barely touch my toes..not that this is a new thing, but it's even worse today! Everything aches so I'm trying not to move much. Luckily I have no social life lately so I can drink a beer on my own couch, work on my thesis in my PJs, and snuggle with the boys :) I have to get reaquainted with the foam roller and I am getting a massage this week!!! yay!

OH YEAH!

Today: Sunny, with a high near 60. Southwest wind between 5 and 10 mph

YES! Finally. This means I am waiting to ride until 2pm so I can actually FEEL 60 degrees today.

OK...back to working on my thesis, it's thesis time... (in my best Flight of the Conchords voice)