Iceman Cometh and my Season Complete!


With over 4,600 athletes, this is the largest race I've ever competed in. Couldn't be happier with finishing the 27 miles in 1:43, only 6 mins off first place, Olympian, Chloe Woodruff. Came in 9th out of over 400 women. I was in wave 57, the last wave of the day, the Pro/Cat 1 division of only 21 girls. I was excited and nervous as the announcer started calling off the names and accolades of a few of the girls, Olympians, World Champions, National Champions and I thought, this is so cool lining up with some of the fastest ladies in the world, time to find out what I was really made of. The Goal was Top 10 to make the money.


For the first several miles the pace was steady, girls jockying for position, playing it safe, I was in the middle of the pack. A girl spilled it in a sand pit, taking out several others just in front of me, I couldn't squeeze past as the train was going by in the other lane. Waited for the mess to clean up and put an effort in to catch back to the lead pack. Was sitting in 9th position for the first 7 miles of firelanes, feeling good. Was stoked when we entered the first section of single track, usually where I get to relax. Unfortunately the girl who ended up taking 2nd was just in front of me in 8th position and her handling skills were not on par with the leaders. The rest of them pulled away and when we popped out there was a gap. She was so powerful that was able to catch up easy while I had to exert a tremendous amount of effort to get there. This happened a few times, single track, double track catch up. Legs were fatigued and I wasn't able to recover in the draft in time for the set of hills that emergerged. Lost them at mile 9.


Next 4 miles I'm completely alone, it's a struggle holding pace with no help, I was bumming pretty hard. Then I passed Bill Street and Dallas on the side of the trail, Bill had a mechanical they were trying to fix. I prayed that they would catch back up to me before the 2nd wave of girls did. Sure enough they did and had another girl with them. So now I'm rolling again, recovering from the earlier lonely miles, sitting in 10th. Bill and Dallas worked together trading off the lead and I was able to hold the fast pace. We started another section of single track, I made sure I was in front of the girl, we put a gap on her in that section. If the boys and I could maintain 20mph + in the fire lanes, I knew she wouldn't be able to catch. The last 3 miles I wanted to pin it but Bill coached me to calm down, ride solid, not get crazy as there were a few good hills left to save energy for.


There are always things you are going to wish you had done differently, strategies, luck, if onlys but I am so happy with how it all turned out in the end, thanks to a little help from my friends. Looking forward to a couple months off and fat biking for fun. This marks the end of my first full year of training year round and "making a go of it." I'll be back, ready to attack in 2017 so watch out!

Bringing it back to where it all began

Treadfest 2010 was where the obsession began. Fully geared in gym pants, a tank top, tennis shoes, a helmet that hardly covered my head and riding an old hybrid commuter bike, I raced in the Cat 3 division of the Wisconsin Off Road Series Race at Lake Geneva and my legs just about fell off. One and done, I was hooked. Plenty has changed and somethings stay the same. I live for slicing singletrack! Made dozens of friends, met the man of my dreams, found a couple helmets that fit, riding the cushiest speed machine out there aka The Niner Rocket and making the top spot on the podium. My legs still just about fell off. Today was a great day. Broken Spoke Teammates riding their hearts out, Ryan took 10th, Little Bit was 1st of the 12yr olds and My mom even made an appearance! Thanks to all the usual suspects Broken Spoke Cycling Funkier Bike USA Gary Smits WORS TREADFEST 2016

You are capable of more than you know

You are capable of more than you know. 3 years ago today I crossed the finish line of the Dakota Five-0 Race/Ride/Tour, dropped to the ground and wept. The joy I felt in completing the hardest thing I had ever done was so overwhelming I couldn't hold it in. I had ridden 50 miles in the Black Hills, climbed over 7,000 ft of steep, long, unrelenting assents, pushed past the fatigue, the pain, hunger, thirst, and cramps in muscles I didn't know existed. It was as mentally challenging as it was physically. I came in 13th overall at 5hr and 13 mins. I was ecstatic at this result. The girl who took first beat me by a whopping 45 minutes that day. These girls at this race were the "real deal." 

Never did I imagine that 3 years later I'd come in at 4hrs and 34 mins, dropping my previous time by 40 minutes, and securing a 3rd place overall, out of 113 women. The race was still as tough as ever. I came in unknowing as I'd been training for 20 mi races all summer. Used to going 1 1/2 hrs above the red line and done. Most of my races on flat courses. Were my legs strong enough for this kind of elevation? would I have the stamina to triple my normal race time? Well, we'd find out soon enough, I was gunning for top 5 but wasn't going to stress about it. Felt strong morning of the race and paced well with one of the lead packs for the first 10 mi climb. Road the first 30 w one of my fav riding partners, Mr Marty Tank. Jammed the flowy pine sections, sprinted the fire roads and held steady climb after climb. After 30mi I had to let him go as I could feel the fatigue setting in. I had been rolling in a strong 2nd position until mi 34. Girl came up on me and I stuck with her for a bit until we came up on the worst hills of the day. I had to let her go as I was starting to bonk and knew if I tried to stick, I'd run the risk of blowing up completely. She informed me she passed the next closest girl at mi 18 so I knew I had plenty of space. So I slowed the pace and played it safe in the last fully exposed technical section. The type where you make a mistake, you're headed straight to the bottom. I couldn't get to the final 10 mi decent fast enough. Once there, the fun began as I blazed down and around. With only 6mi to go my shifter fell off. I just started laughing. If that had happened anywhere else in the race, I'd be toast. Only 6 to go, all down hill, who needs gears! 

Made it to the finish and there is Ryan, the love of my life, cheering me to the end with a big old grin on his face. My world was complete. Amazing weekend, Ryan ended up 10th overall, Wisconsin boys brought the heat w 5 top 10 finishes and we got to hang with some pretty cool cats. Thanks to 212 crew for letting us tag along, Broken Spoke Bikes for my Niner Rocket and Funkier Bike USA for keeping me looking cute!

You are capable of so much more then you know. Yes, YES YOU ARE!

Are you Hurt or are you Injured

Are you hurt or are you injured?

That's what my soccer coach would always ask if I went down. If you're hurt, you play on. 

Less then 5 miles into the Ore 2 Shore 50 Mile Mt Bike race, I went down hard. Getting up from the crash, was I hurt or injured? I got back on as I was only hurt, unfortunately the bike was broke. My brake and shift lever were spun backwards. I slow peddled to the next aid station and had it fixed. I lost about 10 minutes in the ordeal. My goal for top 5 w...as lost. 

Do I quit? Do I just take a ride? Or do I play on?

In soccer, the game doesn't end just because you're down 8 to 0 with no hopes of winning, you play til the end, until whistle blows. I decided to fight, if not for 5th, maybe I could recover a top 10 finish. I had the legs so I turned them on. I spent the next 30 miles battling my way back, maneuvering past hundreds of racers. Burned all the matches I had as there was nobody I could work with. I finally hit a paved road section and hooked up with a group of 9 riders that were clipping at a pace I liked. Worked with them for several miles until we hit the fire road. 3 of us broke off the front and I managed to work myself back to 7th position. 

The entire race I had a slow leak in my rear tire and I was hoping it would hold but with 10 miles to go, it was flat.  I had to pull off to shoot a co2. Stood there as several girls passed. I got back on, the tire held for about 3 more miles and I caught a few back. How many places I could recover? With 7 mi to go, I was full flat again with no choice but to ride it out as is. Frustration and exhaustion were getting the best of me, I started to have what felt like an asthma attack, couldn't catch my breath. Had to talk myself into calming down. Just finish, ignore it and finish the race. With only a mile left several more girls flew past me. Aaarrgg. Crossed the line and there were my friends and Ryan. They were there for me and that's what really matters. I ended up 13th overall and finally some luck of the draw, was 1st in my age category. 

Are you hurt or are you injured? FINISH THE RACE.

 

 

Post Crash Traumatic Stress

10 Days prior to The Original Growler Endurance Mountain Bike Race, I went down hard while blazing down a hill during a road ride. The Gravel got me. I had been nursing a severe gash on my elbow that called for stitching of the tissue as well as the skin. My plan was to wrap it, down some pain killers, grin and bear it. 

The day prior to the race we went out to pre ride some of the course. The section we ventured on first was fully exposed with a nasty drop, we were WAAY up there. I started having a panic attack, hyperventilating and had a full blown meltdown right there on the trail. Apparently my arm had been recovering faster then my mind. I was having a bad mental block. So worried about crashing that I couldn't focus on riding. It was so bad I didn't think I'd be able to race. We had to double back to base camp. I sent Ryan on his way to get his pre ride on and I took some time to regroup. Eventually I ventured to another part of the race course that was not exposed. There were many features, crazy technical climbs and descents, I took my time and worked my way through them. 

The next morning I decided to go for it. The plan was to just walk the obstacles I wasn't comfortable with and incorporate the brakes more on the descents and not get upset about it. Anna Ganju once told me, "better to walk away and be able to bike another day" As the race rolled on I found myself in a few different trains and was able to watch those in front on how they handled certain techy sections, and was able to clear the majority of the boulder climbs and descents. I was happy with how my Niner and I handled. Bike just rolled right over everything. I took it easy on the descents, pushed the opens and maintained a solid pace on the climbs, making sure I had enough in the tank to be able to power through the technical sections with confidence. The course was gorgeous and super fun. I came out of the race smiling like the happy, dirty, little Diva I am. I managed 37 miles, 4,500 ft of climbing in 3hrs and 40 minutes. Toughest course I've ever ridden. 

I'll be working on my head game over the next couple of weeks in hopes that the fear will subside as I prepare for some of the major Wisconsin Off Road races coming up.  If you take a nasty fall, take your time in coming back.  It's ok to rely on the brakes for a couple months until you get your mojo back.