New toy!

Over the weekend Marcus found a sweet looking boat parked on the road near Juanita so we drove up there Monday to check it out. We loved it and he brought it home last night! Awesome!

It's a 1990/1991 Baretta 22' speed boat with a new 351 engine. Now we're tasked with finding somewhere to put it! Most of the marinas in the area are a long wait for moorage so we'll likely just dry store it somewhere for a while.

I can't wait to take it out for a spin! I'm contemplating ditching the Eugene stage race this weekend to stay around and lounge on the boat. I guess I should probably keep my plans though and do one last race. *sigh* Hopefully the weather will hold for the rest of the month and we'll get plenty of time to play on the boat.

4th at Seward!

The season ending Seward Park Fall Classic crit was Sunday and I ended up with my best finish of the season: 4th! The Women's Cat 4 field was small with about 12 riders, which was a bit surprising to me. I fully expected a larger turnout for this race.

Since most of us had done the hill climb on Saturday I figured we were all on equal ground and probably not quite 100% recovered. We had a great race and there was only one girl that was a bit of a danger. She was very sketchy, couldn't hold a straight line, and kept overlapping wheels. I told myself I'd try to stay up front away from her and I actually managed to do so for most of the race. Vicki from Ti-Cycles got the first prime and another Ti-Cycles gal got the 2nd. One of these days I'll really start trying to go for those.

On the final lap Vicki and two other women from Ti-Cycles broke off the front and I made sure to stick right with them. We launched pretty hard up the final climb and as we started powering to the finish I was expecting someone to catch me from behind but no one was there! I came across in 4th place and surprised the hell out of myself. SAWEET! My best finish of the year! It was even better since Marcus finally came out to watch. Now I'll have to make sure he's there more often.

I'm gearing up to head to Eugene this weekend for the Eugene Celebration Days Stage Race, which will be my last road race of the year. The weekend after is Escape from the Rock and then I think some downtime is in order. Ahhh, what a fun season of racing!

6 miles of pain

After spending most of Friday in bed I woke up Saturday feeling like I had finally kicked my cold so I headed out to Crystal Mountain for the WA State Hill Climb Championship. The course is a 6-mi, 1612-ft elevation gain pain fest up Crystal Mountain Boulevard.

The fun part was bombing down the hill to the start line. About halfway down a little chipmunk sitting in the middle of the road started to get spooked by all of the bikes and did a frantic 'which way do I go' dance. When you're flying nearly 45mph downhill on a bike on sketchy pavement an indecisive chipmunk can be a scary thing. Luckily he darted across the road just ahead of me while I closed my eyes and tried not to look. Probably not the best solution.

I wasn't sure how fast to take off from the start so I just decided to settle into a nice steady pace that I knew I could handle for 6 miles, which was about 9mph. I figured I'd err on the side of caution and save some energy for the top. Before I had even hit a mile the woman 30 seconds behind passed me, no wait, FLEW past me and was out of sight. She ended up with an amazing time of 29:19, which won the Cat 4 race.

Surprisingly enough the ride went quickly and I was more than halfway done before I knew it. Somewhere around mile 4 or 5 the course flattens out and I was able to hit 18mph but I just couldn't will myself to go much faster than that. It doesn't last long and before you know it the climbing starts again. Just when I thought I wouldn't make it much further I finally saw the 1km sign. In the distance I saw a crowd of people, assumed it was the finish line, and summoned all the energy I had to really dig. Of course when I got there I realized it wasn't the finish at all, but the 200m sign. ARGH! At that point I was ready to throw my bike across the parking lot. That last 200m was utter brutality but somehow I made it.

I hoped for better than my time of 36:20 since I figured I'm built more for hill climbing and it tends to be my forte. All in all the race was a blast and afterwards we had a great BBQ and I even won some extra tubes and tire levers from the raffle. Yeah! I turned down doing the weigh-in for the time/weight competition since at my 115 lbs I'd have to climb in about 15 minutes to win that prize.

Gym and throw up...

...are never a good combination. I woke up this morning feeling like I had kicked my sinus infection so I headed to the gym. Big mistake. I just wasn't feeling quite myself and was struggling to hit my normal reps. About halfway through my workout I started getting a bit shaky and I thought throw up was going to become a definite possibility.

Dell, my trainer, stopped my workout and told me to go home and come back next week. I think he's right. Now I'm concerned that my final weekend of local racing may be in jeopardy. I have the State Hill Climb on Saturday and the Seward Park fall classic crit on Sunday. Thank goodness I still have Fridays off from work. Something tells me I'll be spending it in bed :(

Hard work pays off!

I headed south last Sunday for the 10-mile Gear Push TT. Back in March I did the IceBreaker TT on the exact same course and had a slow 32:08 time. This time the weather was much nicer, there was little wind, and I have a new bike and a season of racing under my belt. I still wasn't sure what to expect since time trialing isn't my forte, but I very happily cut nearly three minutes off my March time and finished in 29:19. Yay!

It's still not a horribly fantastic time, but I'm getting there! Back in March I was nearly five minutes from being competitive. In April I did a 12-mi TT on nearly the same course in 35:26 and was about three and a half minutes from competitive. I was slightly disappointed that on Sunday I didn't really average a much faster speed than back in April, but this time I was only two minutes from competitive. I keep getting closer every time! If I get some aero bars and keep riding maybe next year I'll do decently in time trials. The good news is that I definitely improved!

Unfortunately I came down with a bit of sinus infection this week so I've been on the down low the last few days. I started feeling better today and was able to hop in the lake after work for a quick swim. My form is progressing and I was able to swim much farther today, probably because the lake was so calm.

Now it's time to get back in the gym after a few days off. Here comes the pain...

Ahhh....

...damn I love work-subsidized massage. *happy*

Crazy new haircut

Oh yeah, I got a rockin new haircut on Sunday and I LOVE IT! My stylist was convinced I could pull off a pixie and for me less hair maintenance is a good thing. I've had short hair but never this short. Hey, it all grows back anyway so no worries!

Now I can hop out of the shower, rub in some product, towel dry my hair, and run out the door. I can run without hair flopping in my eyes. I can roll down the windows in the car and not have to use 1000 pins to keep my hair out of my face. Saweet!

I signed up for what!? Again!?

Hmmm, it's like deja vu. Last year I signed up for the Escape from the Rock triathlon about three weeks before the event having never done open-water swimming. Hell, I hadn't even swam for at least 10 years. Considering I hyperventilated for most of the swim and had a crappy 1/2-mi swim time of 00:27:25, my finish time of 1:36:47 really wasn't all that bad.

I vowed to spend the winter in the pool working on technique so I could do a bunch of triathlons this year and shoot for a top-20 finish at Escape. Unfortunately it looks like Escape might be my one and only triathlon attempt this year. As it turns out I didn't get to the pool as much as I hoped and the IT-band injury set me back, but I figured I might as well sign up again, so here I am.

I just started running two weeks ago and so far so good but I'm certainly not as fast as I was last year. I'm much stronger on the bike so if I can pull it together I might be ok. I went swimming in Lake Washington on Sunday for the first time this year and flailed around like a dead fish. Then I hopped in last night and despite the chop I only managed to flail around like a half-dead fish. Improvement!

No, really, my swim technique has gotten much better. Unfortunately I just can't quit holding my breathe underwater and so then have to stop every 10-15 strokes to take a breather before starting again. The swim lessons I took have definitely helped. When I'm swimming I'm moving quickly and efficiently, I just need to breathe and keep going.

Good thing bike racing is wrapping up because it looks like lots of swimming is in my future. So just like last year, here I am with about three weeks to go. Ahh, I love pressure!

Can the season be almost over?

I raced the last Thursday night Women's race at PR last week and my legs were absolutely FRIED from the previous day's gym workout. Man was that a painful race! I went for the prime but came in 2nd and went for the win but came in 2nd. Oh well, considering how traumatized my legs were, I was quite happy! I sealed the deal on winning the beginner's series and ended up with some nice swag, including four free entries for next year's racing. Saweet!

The last LWV circuit race was on Saturday and Zoka had a great showing. Jason Williams nabbed 2nd in the 3s and Ian Mulholland got the win in the 4s. GO ZOKA!!!

For the second straight week I nearly got a top-10 finish. This race was F-A-S-T! My computer showed an average of 22mph. We had a field of about 25 women and by the end there were about 14-15 of us still together. Flats aren't really my forte but I hung in there just fine. Somewhere around the 3rd lap of 6 my legs were hurting bad but I managed to stay in there and things got better. I've learned that there's usually a hump somewhere in the race and if you can get over it you always feel better. There was a strong headwind on half of the course so I just kept looking forward to the tailwind section.

Ti-Cycles had 6 riders out there and did a great job controlling the race. Vicki Reinholz from Ti-Cycles captured her 3rd win and won the series overall. She even got interseries sprint points in all the races -- absolutely amazing! Ti-Cycles had a great showing with 5 riders in the top 10.

On the last lap of the race I had a good position on the backstretch but just didn't grab the right wheel coming around the last corner and couldn't match everyone else's acceleration. I rolled across the line with Jill Talcott from Starbucks in around 13th place I think. I can certainly live with that!

I'm ecstatic to be finally hanging with the pack! Unfortunately now that I seem to have hatched some racing legs the season is just about over. There's a 10-mi TT this weekend, and the State Hillclimb and final Seward Park Crit the following weekend. I'm debating heading to Eugene in September for the stage race there but we'll see what happens.

Gig Harbor photos

Photos from Gig Harbor are up courtesy of Amara Boursaw.

Check it out, there's actually people behind me for a change! This is the first picture where I look motivated and determined rather than dead. I think at this point I was the 6th person up the hill. I was just a matter of feet from the breakaway -- argh! Next time...



Here's the finish but unfortunately I got blocked and couldn't sprint. Oh well. Next race I'll pay attention to sprint positioning if I'm near the front again. I'm still waiting to see the official results but I think I was somewhere around 12th or 13th.

Yeah baby...better than a pack finish!

Yesterday I headed to Gig Harbor for the second race in the Lake Washington Velo Circuit race series and my first non-PR race on the new bike. Not only did I get my first pack finish ever, but I very nearly ended up in the breakaway!

The course was outstanding with a 1/2 mile 5-6% hill climb followed by a few rollers, a few descents, and a few fast turns. The Cat 4 women had a great turnout with 25 riders. I showed up very late about 20 minutes before the start and was worried since I had no time to warmup. I lined up in the back of the field and promised myself that next time I'll work on my starting position.

I motored up the hill easily on the first lap and used it to move up to the front. For the remainder of the lap I mostly stayed in the front third of the pack, which is a first for me. On the second lap 5-6 girls broke off the front up the hill and I was shortly behind them. I forgot the 2nd lap was the interseries sprint; hence the fast hill climb! At the top there seemed to be a false flat and I tried and tried to catch the breakaway but just couldn't quite get there -- damn! I was that close to being there! I ended up getting stuck between the breakaway and a small chase group behind me so I decided to soft pedal, save my energy, and work with the three girls behind me.

Our paceline had a rider from Starbucks, TiCyles, and TGH and the four of us did a nice job of staying away from the rest of the field but we never did catch the breakaway. We pacelined together the entire 2nd lap until the TiCyles rider lost her chain on a corner. What a bummer! I never know what to do in those situations. I hate to ride on but we were ahead of the rest of the field and had to leave her. When I sprinted back up to catch the other two girls I finally saw the rest of the field behind us and it dawned on me that we were ahead of most of the field. Wow! It was surreal realizing that half of the field was behind us. Sweet!

After the 3rd and last pass up the hill three more girls caught up to us and we had some extra help for the rest of the lap. Jill Talcott from Starbucks is great and kept shouting at everyone to keep us motivated. The only bummer in the entire race was that we blew right through one of the right-hand turns because the corner marshall was up the street and not at the turn. Luckily we realized it right when we missed the turn and were able to get turned around without losing too much time. Once the guy saw us miss the corner and we yelled at him that the Men's 3s were coming he quickly got back there.

It was curious to me that when we finally hit the 200m mark no one really seemed interested in sprinting to the finish. Points were being given out 10-deep and I was pretty certain there weren't 10 girls in the breakway, which meant some of us would get points. I felt strong and really wanted the opportunity to sprint, but when everyone finally pushed a bit I got blocked on the right side of the road and couldn't get anywhere. Ah well. I've never finished with lots of other riders before so I'm not really used to paying attention to my position for the sprint.

Results aren't posted yet but I think I ended up somewhere around 12th or 13th, which is the best finish I've ever had in a race! Too bad it took me until the end of the season to get there, but at least there's a few races left. It was exciting to finally work with a great group of riders and be up front. I was so excited I felt like I was on speed the rest of the day. I can't wait until next week's race!

Prime + 2nd place!

I was stoked to get out and race the new bike at PR last night. We had a fairly large turnout with 8 beginners and about the same in the Cat 4s. We did one neutral lap through the escape route then one more racing lap through the escape route before staying on the flats. After the hillclimb on the second lap I shot off the front with another girl and we ended up way ahead of the rest of the field. We slowed a bit to let the rest of the pack catch back on. I felt like I was pushing the pace most of the race and stayed up front much longer than usual.

I'm not normally a contender for primes, but when the bell rang I decided I was going out for this one. I made sure to stay with the strong riders and once everyone took off I turned on the after burners and snagged my first prime! I can't believe how much more sprinting power I have on the Ruby -- it's amazing!

Usually on the final lap of the race I sit in the pack and wait for the sprint to unfold but I felt very strong last night and figured I would test my legs and my new bike and try something new. As soon as we rounded the last corner I attacked and much to my amazement when I turned around I had opened a huge gap! The only problem is that I might have been just a tad eager and about 200m from the finish my legs started to fade. The pack was closing in so I tried to dig but another girl bridged up to me and got the win by a matter of inches. Dang! I think if I had waited about 2-3 seconds before I launched the attack I would gotten the win as well.

Hey, I can't complain about a prime and 2nd place. This is the strongest race I've had yet! It's official now that I've clinched 1st place in the beginner's group! I feel thrilled with my improvements since I could barely hang onto the pack the first few weeks. Last night I felt like I was pulling everyone around and a few girls asked why I wasn't racing with the Cat 4s. I swear I really did suck when I first started.

I'm looking forward to the Velo circuit race tomorrow. New bike, stronger legs, more determination! I swear I'm getting a damn pack finish this time!

Vacation!

For the first time in a while I'm on vacation -- woo! My mom flew into town yesterday and is staying until next Friday. We're going to spend some time relaxing on the deck and getting a front-seat for the Blue Angels. I love Seafair! On one hand it's nice to be on vacation but on the other I'm not really sure what to do with my time now. My mom isn't particularly athletic so I can't drag her around biking and hiking. Haha. Maybe I'll use it as an excuse to catch up on some house sketches and reading.

I can't wait to race at PR tonight with the new bike! I'll have mom there cheering me on so I have no excuse not to win!