Roadies

Guess what... it's my last week of school!!! And as weird as it is that my first year of college is over, I am looking forward to a good summer of racing bikes :)

This weekend we are ending our collegiate road season (my first road season ever) and even though i've had to sit out of a lot of races (i'll explain in a minute) I have learned a ton about road racing and had lots of fun. But I'm more then ready to race my mountain bike at the Mellow Johnny's Classic Pro XCT in 2 weeks. Yay!!!

So as most of you know i've had a pretty rough year so far. I was finally finally finally diagnosed with 4 ulcers in my stomach in late March and as soon as I started treatment I felt way better then I had in months. But then I had a reaction to my medication and spent a few days really sick. So I got some new meds and was feeling good until I started feeling bad on one of our race weekends and some strange symptoms put me in the ER where they said I had a kidney infection. So I got that taken care of just in time to have my first big crash of the year coming down front hill. I walked away with road rash on all my limbs, four holes in my hip, and a rock stuck in my knee. So I am slowly healing and limping around campus. Needless to say my races haven't gone as well as I want them too, and as hard as I try to push through the pain I have had to sit out of a few. Don't worry I'll be back soon. But hey, it's better then last year right? I guess I just have bad luck or something... :)

So other then my epic fail of a season the FLC team has done remarkably well with wins every weekend, and in every category and type of race. We are definitely set up well to rock nationals in May! There are some great detailed race reports from each weekend on the team website (it's over on the side of the page) if anyones interested in how everyone's doing. And here are some pictures :)

Hill climb time trial in Golden

Racing a crit

Cheering for our teammates

I guess that's all for now... I will be sure to post a good race report after MJ's. I'm hoping i'll be able to kick some butt since I'm coming down from altitude the day before ;) except it'll probably be 110 degrees and I'm still used to the nice cool colorado climate. Oh Texas...

EPIC!

Quite a lot has been going on and I know I haven't kept up with my blog, so sorry! So first of all some big news... I have found an amazing local Durango team and coach who I will be racing for while i'm up here :) The Get Out Performance Team is a great team and organization that coaches and supports athletes in many different sports of all ages and Kricket Lewis, who I have been working closely with for a few weeks now has been great at kicking my butt back into gear as racing fast approaches! Their website is http://www.outbackadventure.org/getout-durango/ if you would like to know more :) 

Speaking of racing, I did my first ever road races last weekend as our collegiate road season kicked off. They were both crits, one in Boulder on Saturday and one in Laramie, Wyoming on Sunday. I had so much fun (but don't worry I am still and always will be a mountain biker at heart :) and it was great to get to travel and race with my team again. I honestly did not feel totally prepared for the weekend, since my early season training has been thrown off due to some health issues, which we now suspect is an ulcer in my stomach :( But some hard efforts these last couple weeks put me in a pretty good place fitness wise. 

In Boulder I felt great at the start and took turns with my 4 teammates at the front of an about 15 girl field. There were a few surges but no attacks got away at first and I was just sitting in trying to get used to the whole feel of road racing. About half way through the 30 min crit a crash took out about half the field, including 3 FLC girls (Lauren got a little scraped up but everyone was okay!) After they jumped back in Kaila attacked and Tilly, Brittany, and a CU girl went with her. I was sitting further back in the pack and couldn't get a wheel so I stayed in the pack to counter any attacks and slow down the field to give our girls the best chance to win. So after sitting up front for the rest of the race on the last lap the field attacked hard and I just didn't have it in me to stay with them. But they couldn't catch the break and Kaila took the win, with Tilly and Brit in the top four. I believe I rolled in 10th but I was happy to have helped my teammates get away since working with a team is not something I am used to in mountain biking. Everyone from FLC did great, with Griffin taking the C Men win, Ryan 2nd in B Men and Missy winning A Women! 

Saturday I was having some major stomach pains and just couldn't push hard because of it. I got dropped within the first couple laps and thankfully had another girl to work with and take turns pulling in the head wind. Our team did pretty well again with top places in all the races and Sarah winning the A Women. Overall a great experience for my first time racing on the road and I hope to improve over the collegiate season!

<3

So one more note, I finally finally finally got my new race bike!!! It is a Specialized Epic Expert Evo and I am loving it :) Got a bike fit tomorrow to get it dialed in and hopefully I will be riding it on the trails very soon!

Back in D-Town

Sooo, I finally caught the winter crud traveling around campus :( I guess one thing you have to get used to living in the dorms is sharing germs with everyone else. Yipee. Anyways, being off the bike for the past week has given me plenty of time to rest, study, and gripe about the noticeable lack of snow. (Even though it's nice to be able to ride outside in January, I seriously miss skiing!!!). My family back in Texas misses skiing probably a lot more then I do, seen by my dad's latest purchase, a Nordic Track.

Oh, and I also want to say congrats to my little bro who completed the Houston Half-Marathon yesterday in 1:43:25. Not to shabby squirt :)

Many of you know we recently said goodbye to FLC's head coach Matt Shriver, who took a job as a liaison for the Trek/Radio Shack team. So we now have two new coaches for road season this year, Chris McGovern and the women's coach, Jimmy Kight. (You can read all about them at http://cycling.fortlewis.edu/ which, by the way, is the official FLC team site where you can keep up with everything that is going on. I just realized I never put that up :) So far they have been awesome, setting up team training, individual coaching programs, and spin scans for every athlete among other things. I have no doubt they will lead us to great things this spring!

Speaking of road season, I do admit I am excited to try my first crit, however I'm still positive I will never be a true roadie. Mountain biking is just too much fun :) Our first race is coming up on March 19 (A race in Boulder, CO on Saturday and a race in Laramie, WY on Sunday. Can you say road trip?) which will be my first road race ever so I will let you know how that goes... Base training is going well, until this pesky cold came along, and I am still loving getting to ride in the mountains EVERY DAY :) haha I hope i never get tired of this place.

Happy New Year!!!

It's 2011 and it's gonna be a great year :) Some exciting changes may be on the horizon so i will keep you informed!

My brother Harry and  I in front of gorgeous Mt. Crested Butte

So far winter break has been going great, starting with some serious nordic cross-training in Crested Butte with the family. Only a few minor injuries were sustained. Those of you who know my family all know they are just as accident prone as me :)

We got back to Texas just in time to ring in the new year, and I am looking forward to getting some nice base training in this last week before I head back. Sources in Durango informed me it got down to -26 degrees today!!! And along with the multiple feet of snow they've gotten in the past few days it means that I will be putting in some quality trainer time. At least I have tons of awesome friends who will suffer along with me :)

Hope everyone has a great year in cycling and in everything else!

Collegiate CycloCross Nationals!

my bike <3

Right off the bat I just have to say this was such an adventure! We got to Bend, Oregon late on Thursday and headed right over to our houses. We got our first look at the course on Friday, with a noon practice on a pretty muddy course with some icy patches. The start shot you up a hill and through some rutted sticky mud. Then a turn past the pit, and through the gigantic puddle. They even pumped it out a few times over the weekend, but it was still about a foot of freezing standing water for 100 yards. The next stretch was on grass, and the mud was almost unbearably deep, and just held your wheel no matter how hard you pushed. We went trough a U-turn onto a short pit of pavement, up the first steep banked corner, and through a parking lot. The next section was a bit icy, and consisted of some sharp turns through the trees, and into another muddy straight stretch, followed by 2 little drops and run ups, which were mostly rideable.  Now back through the pit and the giant puddle and across to the second half of the course. This stared with a fast grassy off camber section and the barriers. Immediately after the barriers was the steepest hill, which was rideable only if you had your gearing right and got enough momentum after the barriers. After dropping down there was pavement, then more deep peanut butter mud, and the flyover, which as super fun! After a bit more struggling in the mud it was up the stairs, another small drop and hill, and then back on the starting road and through the finish. It was overall a super fun course, but pretty tough! Especially powering through all the mud!

MUD!

team set up

practicing on the run up

Saturday we were up bright and early for 7 am practice, since races ran for the rest of the day. While we were out on the course in the dark, in the mud, in the cold, while it was sleeting, I couldn’t help but smile, because really, who does stuff like this? My friend Mary must call it psychocross for a reason :) Unfortunately, I am still trying to recover from my crash at mountain bike nats, and I only got in 2 laps before I stopped because of the pain. I was really hoping I could rest it up and it wouldn’t inhibit my race the next day. Other then riding, we mostly just spent Thursday and Friday resting, watching races, and exploring the venue. I really enjoyed having collegiate and regular nationals together, since it draws so many fans, and I got to see friends race in the junior and U23 categories.

Sunday was race day. We were at the venue by 6:30 to warm up for an 8 am start. We had the wood fire stove going in our team tent whole we were on the trainers to keep it nice and toasty. It wasn’t nearly as cold as I had anticipated it being, and I raced in just a skin suit and leg warmers. I lined up towards the back of about 30 D1 girls, and right away barely avoided a crash at the start to move up in the field. Over the next four laps (45 minute race time) I battled to move up the field. My strongest sections were always the technical parts- corners, hills, barriers, stairs. But I tended to lose time on the straight muddy sections, so building up that power is something I am definitely going to work on! I avoided any major crashes, and only stumbled a few times. I ended up finishing 9^th behind four of my teammates, with Ashley from Appalachian State taking the win. We swept 5^th through 9^th, and came across as if we were in a team time trial. I was happy with my result and celebrated with my girls while we got warm again :)

Rotem sitting by our wood fire stove!

Jack going through the giant puddle

The boys raced next and had a very similar race. Jack was up in the front group until a flat forced him to the pit. They finished with Colton, Eric, Rotem, and Jack in the top ten and the rest of the guys not far behind!

In the end, Fort Lewis fell just a few points shy of Lees-McRae to take silver in the team omnium.  It was still a great showing by all riders, and we will just have to try harder next year!

After the racing was done, and the trailer packed up, we began our second adventure- trying to get home! Our scheduled flight from Oregon was for 2 on Monday afternoon, but as soon as we arrived at the airport it was delayed. The time kept getting pushed further and further pack, until we left at 8pm for San Francisco, after 7 hours in the airport. By the time we arrived, we had missed our flight to Denver, and were stuck till the next morning! So we tried to get some sleep and left for Denver at 7. By now our group was pretty split up, and the last of us left for Durango at 5, and finally made it home about 6:45. During our 30 hours in various airports we found many ways to entertain ourselves (including studying for finals of course!). But my professors were awesome, and exempted me from everything I missed :)

 So that’s pretty much everything about our weekend. We just got out on winter break, and the snow is dumping! So time to get in some skiing before starting base for road season, which I am going to try for the first time soon!

Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals :)

First off I have to say I was really excited to get to go to nationals as a freshmen, and it was a really great experience (I could do without the drive to California though haha).

So we got there on Wednesday, with time for a quick preride of the XC course. It was a really sweet 7-mile lap. The start was on a super gravely hill, which proved to be pretty sketchy, and it climbed for a while on double track, with one really rocky technical uphill section that was pretty short. The descent was so fast and gnarly, pretty rocky but nothing too big, and lots of sharp switchback turns. I really enjoyed it and was definitely able to catch some people there.

Our first race was Friday morning at 8, so we were on the trainers by 7, freezing our butts off and waiting for the sun to come up. I started off okay, struggling a bit on the climb, mostly because I was so cold. I caught back up to some of the girls by the second lap, and started climbing again. I mostly sat in the same spot from here on out, shuffling positions with a few girls for the rest of the race (which was 3 laps, about 21 miles). I pushed pretty hard and was feeling okay, but not great. It was definitely a mental race for me, and I didn’t do quite as well as I had wanted to, ending up 16^th out of about 30 girls. This was my first time racing in a field where everyone was older then me, and I definitely learned a lot! The rest of our girls did great, with Sage coming in 2^nd, and 3 more in the top ten. Our Boys also had a good race, Rotem won and everyone else had a good finish!

the girls warming up

Saturday we are warming up at 7 again for short track. The stxc course went up the same start hill, but turned off sooner and went into some really twisty singletrack in the trees, and then down some switchback on the face of a hill and through the plaza before making a sharp right turn into the gravel at the bottom of the start. I was at the back at the start line, and right off got involved in a pile-up. But I was feeling awesome today and quickly passed up most of the field to sit in 7^th with 4 laps to go. I was feeling so great, just giving it everything I got. It definitely helped that so many people were out cheering. I big group of guys from another team were yelling, “go pink bike!” every time I came around which was really cool! As we went through the plaza on the last lap I caught the girl ahead of me and hammered it around the corner… and then I crashed so hard… and the other girl ran over my hand. So I jumped up and ran across the finish line in 7^th. Which I was still really really happy with, but 6^th would’ve been nice. My arm hurt really badly so we went over to the ER for x-rays, which thankfully didn’t show any breaks. I am still off the bike as of now, and still checking in with the doctor to see if anything is wrong, but definitely feeling better. Once again FLC dominated, with Sage and Rotem taking the wins and the rest of the team finishing great. Mountain cross in the afternoon didn’t go as well, but our gravity riders put up a fight for sure.

passing up some girls on the switch backs!

sweet skin suits

after the hospital run

Sunday was downhill and our riders did really well, Sage won women’s and Sam podiumed for the guys. And…. OUR TEAM WON!!!!!! :) for the fourth year on a row!

Division 1 podium 

National Champs!!!

all the girls :) 

After a quick stop at In-and-Out Burger we headed back to Durango. I mostly slept the whole way back, which was nice :) now it’s back to school and then cyclocross season starts Halloween, but I will probably have to sit out a few races.

Go Skyhawks :)

Cross Time!

Got our new team cross bikes in :)

Can't wait for cross season now!