The boyz ride in Poor Farm Cup race

Ashland, VA April 2006

After what seemed like an eternity of winter and many months of winter rides, the first big race of the season was finally upon us. The Poor Farm Cup hosted by Richmond Multisports. The weather forcast was not looking too promising for Saturday...rain, heavy at times w/the threat of severe storms, hail, etc, etc. Great...perfect weather for driving!... We awoke Sat morning to a thunderstorm. Things subsided by 9:30 a.m. or so. After dropping off the spoiled pooch, we met Skip & Moe, piled into the Jeep and headed for Ashland. As we drew closer to our destination, the rain got heavier. We thought it may stop once we arrived so we could pre-ride. Mother Nature had other things in mind.

We arrived in Ashland approxl 4 hours later. Still raining hard so the pre-ride was not going to happen. Plan B. - Find a bike shop. We dropped in on a local bike shop by the name of Agee's. Skip wanted to get a fender and some 29r tubes. Warren & I needed some tubes as well. I had a flat on my bike from the Thursday night ride w/ the boyz at Explore Park so I decided to get a tube to fix the flat just in case I decided to pre-ride. Back to the hotel we went to start fashioning fenders and fixing flats. After the bikes were ready to roll, we wandered over to Applebee's so the guys could load up on their pre-race meal.

Upon returning to the hotel, the skies opened up again. Yuk more rain! Sunday was looking more more like it would be a soupy, sloppy mess! Boy am I glad I'm not racing this one. (previous post..Stupid Knee, yada, yada, yada...can't race the first race) We settled in for the evening. We flipped between the NASCAR race and the NHL playoffs to pass the time. The hotel was hooked up w/ internet access, so Skip kept us informed on the race status. Lights out. I don't think anyone slept great that evening. Around 3:00 a.m we were awakened by the loud people in the room next door! Great..don't you people understand that these guys have to race in a few hours? They need their rest! Geez.......

The alarm went off way too soon Sunday morning. We awoke to foggy skies, temps in the 50's and mist. Skip went downstairs & ran into some folks organizing the race. They needed people to preride & check the course conditions. Skip volunteered himself & Warren. After breakfast, we loaded up and headed to the race course. Skippy & Warren pre-rode while Moe & I hung out in the Jeepster. We did some reconiscance to locate a hose but that was about the only time we left the vehicle. It was pretty nasty out. Skippy & Warren came back with a full report. Surprisingly the conditions were not too bad. The race should be pretty fun. Skippy even said I might be able to race! Nah..not this day...I know I'm not quite ready to race & did not want to risk another injury. Instead Moe & I headed back to the hotel to check out and returned to meet back up w/ the boyz.

Ron & Todd met up with us. The boyz went on to warm up while Moe & I staked out our viewing spot among the other wives & girlfriends. I told the guys I'd play water girl. Moe was their timer. I had pre-race jitters waiting for the start & I wasn't even racing. I can't imagine what the boys were feeling. Although they all seemed pretty relaxed & ready to go. My advice to them was "Go get em!"

Expert class went off first. They did a LeMans start. This is when everyone lays down their bike on the ground & then they line up approx 20 feet or so behind their bike. They count down, tell the racers "Go" and everyone runs to their bike, hops on & gets going. Ron & Todd looked very strong at the start. Ron got tucked into the 1st half of the pack but he would work his way up.
The Single Speeds were next. "Go" Skippy got a great start running but once everyone was up and running, it was clear he would have his work cut out for him. Warren also had a strong start.
Following the Single Speeds were the Expert Women. I knew a couple of the girls racing. Celeste from Conte's & Dilcia from Innova Sports (not sure of the team name) I had raced with these girls in the Virginia State Championship Series in 2004 and at Douthat in 2005. I hoped they would place well in the field of 8 or so women. They had some stiff competion so they would have a tough day ahead of them.

Approximately 35 minutes into the race, the announcer started rattling off numbers of some of the experts coming through. We kept our eyes peeled for Todd. Sure enough, up he came. looking very strong. I handed off a bottle to him & Moe shouted his time check. He was looking good. Ron was along shortly after. He was looking very focused. He did not take water & I'm not even sure he heard the time check b/c he had his headphones on. We waited a little while longer and up came the single speeders. Skippy was in second and looking very strong. After Skippy went through, we thought Warren would be along shortly. 2minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes...where is he? Finally he came along. As I handed off the bottle, Warren informs me he had a crash. I look down to see his knee bleeding. Ewwww...Just hang on honey..keep moving! On came some of the women. The first few looked strong & fast. One was even riding a Single Speed. You go girl! When Celeste & Dilcia came through, they looked spent. Maybe the course was tougher than anticipated. EEEK

After a couple more laps, time checks & fresh bottles, the leaders start coming in. At the last time check, Todd was in 3rd but we were not sure how far back. As the leaders came in, it turns out Todd was able to get into 2nd position which is where he finished. Rock on! Ron came in around 6th. Skip came in 2nd for the Single Speed dudes & Warren placed somewhere around 14 for the Single Speeders. Not a bad day for our first major race of the season. 2 on the podium. Woo hoo. Great job Boyz! Next up for some of the guys...Greenbriar, MD. Warren & myself are working towards the Tour de Tomlinson to be held in West Virginia in May. I've got lots of base miles to go to get back into shape from the knee injury but so far so good. I think I'm right on track.

Tape sabotage

Well, another beautiful evening for a mountain bike ride. We assembled in the parking lot & started on our 2nd chicky mtb ride. We had 4 ladies in attendance. Sorry I forgot the camera so no pictures here.

Before we started to ride, we noticed Angelia's bike looked a little different. " Hey, what happened to your bar ends & your kick stand?" Apparently Skippy gave her too much grief about the bar ends, so off they came along w/ the kick stand.

Upon closer examination, I noticed an excessive amount of electrical tape wrapped around her grip shift on the left hand side. What in the world? Apparently Angelia's husband didn't want her to have to focus on shifting gears..so he affixed the gearing so it remained in the "granny" gear all evening.

Anywho..after a good laugh about the electrical tape, off we rode. We did two laps around the beginner loop. Very smooth. Everyone cleared all obstacles, switchbacks & hills w/out a hitch! All shifting was working smooth,...well except for Angelia's b/c HER BIKE WAS TAMPERED WITH SO SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO SHIFT!!!!!!

We checked back in the parking lot for late arrivals, but it was to be just the 4 of us. Since the beginner loop gets old..I asked.."who wants to try part of the intermediate loop?" Is it hard? Is it scary? Nah..we'll be fine. So off we started down the first part of the intermediate loop. We rode the first downhill which was mostly smooth..a few bumps here & there. The left hand switchback gave a couple of the girls a bit of a fit...it was quite a sharp turn at a funky angle. A little scary but not bad. On we rode until we got to the large bridge before the first climb. Uh OH..are we gonna climb THAT? I started up it just to test my knee. I decided we would save this for a future ride. So we turned around and headed back up the climb. Once again everyone did an awesome job negotiating the roots, rocks & turns. We ALL DID THE RIGHT HAND SWITCHBACK ON THE WAY UP! WE TOTALLY ROCKED!!

Up we climbed. Jen led the way follwed by Moe, Angelia & myself. Angelia started to tire about 3/4ths of the way up. She dismounted only once, pushing a mere 50 feet before getting back on and cruising up the to road. Way to go! We rode back to the parking lot. Angelia was kicked..but a real trooper. Jen, Moe & myself decided to do the beginner loop backwards for our final lap. What a trip. Things are waay different going that direction. Once again, everyone negotiated the trails like pros. Another fun evening was had by all. Maybe we'll try the int loop again. See ya next week!

Chickys explore Explore Park

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Tonight was our first night for the all women's ride at Explore Park. Weather was perfect. Low 70's, low humidity, light breeze. A perfect evening for a mountain bike ride. This ride was "geared" for the 1st time mountain biker or female biker who is intimidated by riding w/ the boys. We had 6 riders attend of all ability levels. Some had experience riding trails while some were back on the bike for the first time in many, many years.

We headed out on the beginner section at Explore Park. When you hear "beginner" you think..oh..flat, rolling, no roots...piece of cake! Well not so at Explore. While the trails are not super hard, they're not super easy either. Especially for the cyclist who has done most of her riding on the roads. Those doggone roots, rocks, and switchbacks can be darn-right terrifying!



Well we were not going to let this spoil our fun. Angelia, Moe, Jen and I started out for our first lap. We ran through the first section w/out a hitch. Then came some of the slight ups & downs. No problem. We dogged a little bit on the climbing switchbacks but everyone was still upright & smiling. (breathing a little hard, but still smiling) We re-grouped in the clearing before the last section. Everyone did great on the last section, despite the roots at the beginning. We decided to go back to the parking area to see if anyone else was coming. Sure enough, two more joined us...Kimberly & Missy.

After brief introductions, minor helmet & seat adjustments, we were on our way. We went on through the first section. Jen & Angelia went on ahead as Missy & Kimberly worked their way through the first section. Kimberly has been riding mostly road & Missy had not cycled in a looong time. They had super attitudes about tackling these trails. It was not easy but no one complained & they both smiled (most of the way) I went back to assist Moe w/ her chain..for some reason everytime she tried to shift before the steeper sections, she would throw the chain. No worries though, she snapped it back on & away we went. After finishing out the section, one of the first timers exclaimed "That was fun!" . (woo hoo..do I hear the words of a convert to mountain biking?)

We decided to do some exploring on the roads...(this was a bad idea) I remembered from our night rights in the winter w/ the boyz going down a gravel road that paralleled the river. Well I failed to mention to the rest of the girls that I am directionally challenged...not to mention the fact that we rode these gravel areas in the winter time in the pitch dark w/ headlamps to lead our way..so things looked totally different w/ daylight. Anywho we started down the road towards Mt Union Church. Jen went down first. I took my time & noticed Moe & Angelia waiting at the top of the hill. I hollered to them to come on...it won't be that bad....No sooner had we gotten down to the bottom of the hill when we realized..it leads to nowhere. Now I felt horrible. We had to climb up this steep hill! Well we all did just fine...spun up the hill, no biggie. We then decided to go down a different road that I thought would take us down by the encampments & the river. We cruised on down & lo & behold....a bathroom!!!!! Woo Hoo..no woods for these chickys! After our stop we started to head down to the river when the sign said...No Bikes beyond this point......Crap..that' means we gotta climb again. Back up we went.
Moe threw her chain again...no biggie, we can fix that. We spun back up the hill again. (I'm sure everyone was cursing me at this point...what's this crazy girl trying to do? Kill us?)

We decided to stick to the trails. Whilee Angelia, Jen, Moe & myself were busy climbing these hills, Missy & Kimberly were just cruising around the parking areas...they had the right idea. We met back up w/ them. They decided to call it a night but said they would definitely be back. The remaining 4 of us decided to do one more loop before daylight turned to dusk. Everyone went through the last lap much quicker & no falls or crashes! Way to go ladies..You all rocked!

Next week we'll be back at it again. Thanks for the comraderie & the fun ride!

STUPID KNEE

I was sooo excited to find Diadora Chili Women's MTB shoes that when my 2 pairs (on sale at a huge discount from the Performance catalog) came to my house, I could not wait to change out my cleats and try them out on the bike. In the middle of markng my shoes for the correct cleat position, CRACK! followed by the inability to straighten my leg and put my full weight on that knee, not to mention the gut wrenching pain. Oh Cr#@! This is not good...what have I done? (if you ask my husband, this part was a tad more dramatic than the way I've described it here)

Well after a trip to the Orthopaedic doctor the next day, a few manipulations of the knee by the doc,and lots of x-rays the verdict was in. A sprained LCL. (lateral collateral ligament) This connects your thigh bone to your shinbone along the outside of the leg. Well the good news is it was only a "mild" sprain..Grade 1 on a scale of 1 - 3. And it wasnt' the cartilage which I thought is was...(old injury, surgery 18 years ago to repair it, yada yada yada)

The bad news...no biking - at least for a little while. The physical therapy is coming along well. They've upped the weight on my exercises and increased the reps. I rode w/ Moe on Sunday. We did 21 miles down to Greenhill & back. I had a very minimal amount of discomfort. I can't hammer through hills just yet..but that will come. It just felt good to be back on the bike after almost 2 weeks of no riding/spinning at all.

This was certainly not the way I wanted to start out my season..but that's the way the cookie crumbles..(or my knee in this case).