Today marked day one of maximizing not racing in Kentucky: doing homework; organizing papers, bike parts, and clothes; rearranging furniture; cleaning the car; replacing the saddle on my commuter bike (pictured); doing core work at the gym; going for a pedal up my local hill; and even writing a few postcards. And drinking tea. I wish I could zip my way out to the Bay Area Halloween Race this weekend (or is it next?) - seems like a cross classic not to be missed. Racing in animal feet with tiaras etc. Following that election, hoping people (well, those voting for my candidate...) don't get lazy and forget to vote. Get that done and start solving these economic woes. Bike racer me rejoices in low gas prices; enviro me bemoans the loss of incentive for renewables.

Beyond my Shadow Podium

Mental framing of the race weekend far superior to last week! I recovered from an entire week of grouchiness and falling behind with life and raced what I think were my best races. I was in the mix - in fifth and almost thinking I could make it up to the front - for a short while both days, then fell back to 8th. Sure I made some errors (lame on Granogue descent), but I rode solidly and I just think I am 8th-place strong right now. I sure wish I were faster. I hate listening to the announcers call the race ahead of me, with racers/friends I normally consider my peers/rivals duking it out while I am just doing my own thing missing out on all the fun and drama. That said, New Englanders Rebecca and Mo are riding superbly, Dee Dee has not missed a step with the new kid, and LVG has absolutely raised the bar with her awesome leap into cross. Still 7 weeks to go... I traveled down from CT to Granogue with Utah teammate Kathy Sherwin, who is also on her way back from injury (a mangled broken hand that cut short a breakout mountain bike season). She is doing a better job keeping recovery perspective, holding onto the gratitude of just being able to race again, mindful that it's a long process to rebuild the confidence and fitness you had before. Not to mention that it's nice to experience the outsider's wide-eyes, to travel with someone who actually has excitement for crossing the GW Bridge (for the first time!), to be excited for someone's first experience of the awesome venue of Granogue (even while she then proceeds to kick my butt on the bike...) We stayed with my college friend Andrew (cousin of Dee Dee) and hashed out the implications of our Myers-Briggs typings for our racing endeavors and the perpetual puzzle of the racing-work-life juggle. Good fun. All except the drive home. Pictured: shadow podium at Wissahickon (I won), real podium at Wissahickon (I wish), the fork I broke driving under a tree branch arriving at a race two years ago - reminder to avoid frazzle, my cracked bleeding finger burn in essential shifting spot - I am skipping Kentucky so it can heal, should have taken 287 on the way home, that GW Bridge, and Kathy at Granogue.

Perfect Storm in Gloucester

Had to skip the race coverage on this one I was so abysmal. Saturday I was ok for a while, then gave up. By the end I was just gunning it into the sandpit for kicks not caring much if I had a big yardsale. Sunday I probably raced my best race possible and that's all you can do, but I sure miss racing in the fun part of the race.

LXN Junkie

Watched the VP debate on the big screen at school (bad idea as I was exhausted all day Friday). Pictured following the live pundrity on computer. Not to be divisive, but how do you like my socks?

And a bike...

Blog has been so sorely lacking in pictures but no excuses! This one thanks to Mark Suprenant. Vermont is such a star. Relaxing weekend at home storing up on travel energy and doing schoolwork. Yale ride this morning. The racing bonanza begins soon!

Vermont: Grumpy and Satisfied

I was psyched for the mud but given unmatched wheelsets and lack of a pit crew beyond the good will of friends, to my relief the 2008 New England Verge Series kicked off this weekend in Vermont with a surprising lack of deluge! Tentative about my fitness, aware of capacity to blow up, I started very conservatively Saturday. Combine this with the fact my body was feeling pretty shut down, even at the Wednesday training race, and there you have me in about 20th place off the line. I started passing people, but the first time up the dirt BMX hummocks, a rider dismounted right in front of me, forcing me to run and lose about 4 spots. I swear unless you are riding a 46-tooth chainring, getting up this is about timing and conserving momentum. For a long time I was riding around in about 11th place, chasing the pack of 5-10. By the last lap I had actually opened up and was gaining ground. In 7th and hoping to make a run for 5th, I was forced to run the hummocks again, then the rider crashed right in front of me. I hit a foot-high rock obscured by grass head-on, astonished I had not wrecked my wheel (nice goose egg on the shin instead). Two riders flew by. At this point there was smoke coming out my ears. I recovered two places, using not the best of manners to secure the front position into the final barriers. Teammate Amy rode away, followed by cross newcomer Lea Davison, then Rebecca, Mo, and Amy Wallace. Sunday I told myself I would start hard and so what if I blew. Started in 4th and finished in 4th, just a solid ride with no mistakes even if I wasn't railing it around the corners. That's more like it. Lovely to be back in Vermont! Pictured: chasing Rebecca Wellons. I could keep up on I-89...

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.