The New Green

Cycling is a small world that exists and thrives on mutual support, even as we race fiercely. In this vein, check out the launch of Mo and Matt's new team, MM Racing, at Wheelworks on Friday, October 3rd from 7-10 pm. They will be unveiling a new title sponsor and conducting a raffle. Come enjoy beer from Harpoon and prizes from Embrocation Magazine, Chinook, Michelin, Mad Alchemy Embrocations, Pedros, Bowchies, the Atomic Cafe and a rapidly growing list. You can buy raffle tickets on bikereg.com. Get ready for some mud this weekend in Vermont! Fantastic field: the usual suspects, Canadians and even some West Coasters, lots of strong newcomers, and much-missed racers returning to cross after other adventures. Pack the rubber boots!

Fogelsville Cross: I am in the Mix!

With the Portsmouth/Suckerbrook doubleheader out of the question, I opted for a UCI race in Pennsylvania that was just as close as New Hampshire (if hell traffic could be avoided). I figured the field would like be as deep or less so than at Suckerbrook, that there would be fewer people against whom I would benchmark myself, and that maybe just maybe I could pick up some UCI points. I was very nervous. Because of this long break, I feel a bit like a stranger in this sport that is extremely familiar to me, even though the pre-race parking lot abounds with friendly hellos, catching up with Velo Bella teammates and crew, and seeing photos of - even meeting - new babies. Aspects of it seem strange, as well as repeated, like the conversation “Do you think it’s better to run or ride the sandpit…” Sometimes this outsider perspective can give you the sense of humor about the sport you need. In 2005, when I took a big break from cross then returned for the final Rhode Island weekend, I remember laughing (with affection) at my Gearworks teammates as they stressed over whether to race in leg or knee warmers. This is bike racing – it’s supposed to be fun! I was nervous about my fitness but more nervous that I would be afraid, not have my head around racing, not enjoy it. My plan was to ride easy off the start, then try to do the last few laps faster if I had it in me. Off the start, my main incentive for giving it any juice at all was to avoid crashing. Mo was quickest and got a gap, but I was there. And surprisingly, I was there for the first 2.5 laps of the race – riding with my teammate Dee Dee (back from having a second child) and cross upstart Laura van Gilder (welcome!) in the group sitting 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and closing on leader Mo. The course was all grass, twisty with lots of up and down, a barrier set and a sandpit – much less technical than the mountain-bikey Farmington. Mechanic Morgan was there in the pit, issuing supportive words. I was hardly technically fantastic but I could feel myself gaining a sense of balance on the bike and was having fun. For those 2.5 laps I felt utterly comfortable, even while I tried to avoid standing up and accelerating at all costs, given fitness limitations. I did overextend though, and experienced some going backwards mid-race, falling out of the group and riding in for 4^th. Dee Dee, Melanie, and I will need to play our cards better this season, use our numbers to out-fox van Gilder since there is no way we will outsprint her. No free rides! So while now I am left thinking “If I had not spent this one match (I went to the front a few times when Dee Dee and I had a gap on LVG), maybe I could have stuck in that group, maybe I could have fought for the win (LVG takes it)….” But then I remember the goals of the race, the context and I think with excitement and relief, “sweet, I am in the mix and getting stronger.” On to Vermont. Pictured: recovery dinner and dinner for my aunt's dog. I almost collapsed at the dinner table, that's how tired I was.

Jones is back

Planning this weekend trip to Fogelsville Cross, caught up with details such as subjecting dear Bob to gluing tubulars (only to get new wheelsets a week from now) from a disorganized collection that appears to be 50% tires with slow leaks, I failed to recognize the potential for excellent closure on this injury. I had made plans to stay with my Advil teammate Reem in New Jersey. Letting myself in, a cat peaked through the door – it sure looked like Jones, the 16-year-old cat gone missing on Memorial Day weekend when I was last here, presumed dead. And it was! As I looked around the house I started to remember, hey the last time I was here was right after the broken leg, hanging out as my teammates raced Somerville, lying on this couch elevating my leg, hauling myself backwards up the stairs, and reading about conservation finance (this is the coping mechanism of immersing oneself in work). We went to Whole Foods, the site of my first big empowering outing with racing friends who picked me up and drove me and my car back home. This time I was running down the isles to pick up forgotten yogurt. Reem and I went for an excellent spin on surprisingly rural roads. This year I think I might adopt the “Friday ride once you get there” strategy, as though you just flew in. It was closure on my short unrealized road season too, and so nice to catch up with Reem. Advil won’t be around next year. Such is the tide of racing and sponsorship, but Reem, Mara and Heather outght to feel great pride in what they built and accomplished. Thanks to all the individuals and sponsors who made it happen this year. This morning I’m enjoying an excellent cup of coffee at my aunt’s, who reminded me it had been a long time since she’d seen me, after I canceled on Memorial Day weekend. So there we are, splicing complete. Onward!

Dose of Cross

Turns out the Winding Trails Wednesday night series is a full-on race, with numbers, singletrack and trails, off-cambers, barriers into run-ups, a log obstacle, and lots of sandy corners! I rode around a bit and thought "yikes, what have I gotten myself into!" First time really on the cross bike, first time offroad... In spite of being quite hurried in the parking lot due to Hartford rush hour, I switched to my loosest set of Crank Brothers pedals. I probably made a bad call as an athlete - I had two alternate workouts, one a microburst of linked mini-sprints and the other this cross race - and pretty much ended up doing both. They tended to different needs: the microburst I'm crediting for recent gains in fitness and the fact that a single hard effort does not doom me as it did just three weeks ago, but the cross workout essential too to test the leg and begin the process of becoming smooth and confident on the bike. Plus so often these Wednesday things are not really races, but people riding around practicing. So I ended up training on the road, then jumping into the car for the cross race, intending to roll around and practice barriers. Then all of a sudden I was pinning on a number and signed up for a 45-minute race. Warming up I was delighting in the fact I will be using compact cranksets this year for cross - I was so overgeared - and at this point in my recovery I can generate any power at all due to cadence not force. On the line, I reluctantly started on the front row. I was quick off the line somehow (probably due to gear selection) and 50m into the race, the lead rider slid out and crashed in the holeshot corner and there I was third or fourth wheel, nowhere to go and airbone. While flying, I made note to unclip. Bike was a bit messed up - welcome to cross - but I got back on, a bit freaked out ("um, ok, good to get that first crash out of the way..."), and rolled around for a few laps. When the guys came around lapping me I put in a few efforts to stick. Gradually I gained some confidence and by the end I was smiling negotiating the sand and remembering the lines through the roots as dusk arrived.

Live from New Haven

Neglected this blog (too busy watching Tina Fey) but it lives. GMSR-preventing events have settled and everyone is well, but when a race is just for training it did not make sense. I even got to see the brother unexpectedly, who arrived from Alaska where he reports on state politics on the day of the Palin pick. He said he had not ridden a road bike in 8 months, just spent 3 weeks with legs cooped up in a kayak, and there he was on my hard day, challenging on the hills on my time trial bike! I was really hoping he was fit... Also in the department of unexpected positives, I attended a friend's annual birthday party that I've missed a number of times since the inaugural one 26 years ago. School started in a frenzy, reminding me of the blessing and curse of having an effective overdrive mode. The pace is a stark contrast to my recovery existence, but energizing. On the bike, after training in a vacuum, I returned to the Yale ride to find myself feeling significantly more like a bike rider, the baby kangaroo jump growing. I am looking to cross with optimism and trepidation in maybe equal parts. Wednesday I will try it out in a training race (this is not the year to repeat my first-time-on-cross-bike-as-race habit). The doubleheader of Suckerbrook and Portsmouth Crit that the promoters magnificently arranged so it's possible to race both in a single day bonanza is going to be too much for me this year, regrettably. No world record attempts, in fact I'll be "racing sick," guarding those matches like never before. Less is more this year, with travel and training, quality over quantity, that is the plan!

Update

Life happens and I won't be racing GMSR this year. Not part of a calculated strategy to enter cross as complete wild card, but let's pretend it is. Such an awesome race; good luck to all.

The New NRC: No Ridiculous Cost / Carbon Emissions / Country-Crisscrossing

In addition to my sharp friends, even cyclingnews is evaluating what the NRC really means these days. Easy for me to sit back and criticize from my armchair of injury, but it sure seems that there have been few races where all the big guns duked it out. Notable exceptions would be the recent road and crit nationals (well, minus Olympians): and power to Brooke Miller who won both plus Jen McRae who pulled off 4th and 3rd. But even the Women's Prestige Series (and again, hats off to Aaron's for their awesome sweep of the series) seemed more dilute than last year, with a one-day crit replacing Tour de Toona, noticeably missing Webcor and other West Coast teams. OK EVERYONE did seem to be at Nature Valley, crashing on wet manhole covers in a field of 150 when PEI would have been much better racing... I've thought before of a series built on great races that support the women's field - because some promoters really do go out on a limb to do things like offer equal prize money, then find their events barely attended - but what is the new $4-a-gallon gasoline/"economic downturn" bike racing? I am sure the sport will rally but it sure sounds as though a lot of teams are folding, that things are looking a bit dire. Maybe it really is the old school approach, the Alison Dunlap/Katie Compton cyclocross approach, the aspiring "pro" approach, the less is more, where you hone your skills locally, the level of regional racing rises, and you hit the big races in your area and if you are ready, the BIG glorious races nationally. In New England for instance, we can do pretty well with Battenkill, Hilltowns, Bear Mountain, Fitchburg, Thater, Green Mountain, Housatonic Hills (ok what am I forgetting), then zipping up to Montreal to pretend we are in Europe. No news here but maybe racing is going grass roots, or should.

Ze 5 Minute Blog

This blog is really turning to drivel but the last entry was so boring I have to add another. I will note that others are racing in the Olympics and at road and crit Nationals, riding tandems across the country, and kayaking in the Arctic circle near the Brooks range. Not to mention live coverage of synchronized diving and beach volleyball. How much rather would I watch even pistol shooting or weightlifting, not to mention soccer or rowing? Training away here. Take note I have even improved my epic hill ride, adding 15-minute dirt climb! Riding with a power ceiling so doing some quality 50rpm climbing, good for these weak legs. No joke; I honestly think I might handcycle faster than I can ride now. You try it - take your perfectly healthy leg and put it in a walking cast for 7 weeks and see what happens. Still at the gym, not yet bringing my own gallon jug of water (evidently the true sign of status) or drinking raw eggs for breakfast. Next stop GMSR, a good quality sufferfest!

Tour of the Hilltowns!

There is method to my madness of showing up at one of New England's most challenging races when I absolutely lack race fitness! First, I am going to have a bit of fear jumping back in the pack and would like to get this out of the way as soon as possible, so I can actually race my bike a bit at Green Mountain. I would much rather race Hilltowns, with a flat/downhill first 20 miles that I thought I could hang for followed by a decisive 3-mile climb at mile 20 that shatters the field into groups than a race based on a top end (of which I have none) or a race to every corner. Ideally I would be able to ride at the front for the flat part, ride my own climb and hopefully have a bit of company since I still have some threshold power, then ride in a paceline in a small group. It would be a good test for the leg. And well, mission accomplished! I just about got blown out the back early in the race with one fast surge, but descended at the front since there is so little to be gained by racing this section, then watched everyone surge up the start of the climb, and pedaled my way up from last place, catching a few people, then rode in with a terrific little group quite understanding of my limitations! I was completely dragging by the end, struggling just to maintain 150 watts, and there were massive hills on the course that had not been there last year, but it was awesome. My leg only started to knot up once, but it recovered and did fine with the bumps and standing up. Great to see everyone too. Hats off to the other Anna M. Now I get to go home and train! Pictured: A clean bike is a fast bike, or at least a clean bike.

Cat 4

When I was a kid, I used to tease my brother, who was fanatical about biking and the Tour, by shouting "biker!" whenever a cycle-tourist rolled past our house. He'd race to the living room window, expectations deflated when someone mosied by in full blaze yellow. We still say it. Back on the bike, and in New Haven where drivers on cell phones in SUVs race you to every red light, I am now happily wearing my blaze yellow vest. My Achilles/calf is slowly limbering up from rubber-band status, the switch from Shimano to super-loose Crank Brothers pedals is working and I felt able to spin today. I can begin to imagine pedaling hard, even standing up, not so far from now. Not quite Hilltowns-worthy... In the meantime, I am trying to learn how to swim better. I watched this video of an Olympic 50m free, laughing at the idea of it as instructional video and at the boxer-like posturing of these sprinters. This one that seemed a bit better. Or you could try to recover like Dara Torres. Swimming, resistance stretching, physio ball, they are all refreshingly new.

Way to go Leg!

Quick because I am going pedaling but doctor's appointment today and I AM OUT OF THE BOOT! X-rays showed "a surprising amount of new bone formation." I can do everything except go running, but even that I can probably start in a month or so. Way to go leg! That's more like it! The straight-talking x-ray tech didn't disappoint (last time she told me I was in the "baby stages of healing"), exclaiming "wow! look at how much muscle you've lost!" Wow indeed and that's the next project but hurray for now. Thanks everyone.

Update from Training Camp

My recovery is suddenly getting fun and interesting, a project to reinvent myself improved. I seem to be done with the freak-out period after those mediocre x-rays, now I am being less drastic in adding new activity (my recovery has been filled with overdoing it, then backing off) and starting to see some gains. One endeavor has been, in the words of a friend, "working on my physique." I have a New Haven friend to thank for the lifting, since after an unsuccessful too-early foray to the gym, when just the walking involved with Yale's expansive gym proved excessive, I was ready to give it up. But he urged me to try again, after more healing, and the routine of working out in the gym around motivated people, followed by a nice time in a coffee shop, that was priceless. Since then I have been doing upper body lifting and core strength three times a week. The gym here in the Berkshires is great, and funny. It's me and a bunch of retirees, some of whom are really fit and some who are not. Power to them. One guy was sitting on a weight machine completely absorbed in a library book (a guide to camping). I said "looks engaging," to which he replied "yeah, tough to get the lifting done!" Others are lifting in khaki pants. But we are all in the same boat and this group has been supportive. I am also thankful to the office for storing my race bike, which enabled mobility, huge given that I've been "house-sitting" or whatever you call it - watering plants and picking the flowers off the cilantro plants in the garden - this week at my mom's with no readily available rides by car. I'm going to build up an old cross bike as a commuter bike, put a rack and panniers on. I was finally allowed to swim at the six week mark, and it was fantastic, free to be boot-less in water. I was also happily shocked to see I can actually swim, though I still make note of "swam this far without stopping," as though I wrote in my training log "rode one hour without stopping!" All this is good but I sure hope the bone is healing. I find out tomorrow. This morning I am riding down into Connecticut where I can get a ride back to New Haven (should be nice to visit my life) - actually a sizable ride, so I hope everything feels good. Nice job New Englanders at Fitchburg!