Mike's 24 hrs of Adrenalin World Solo Championships, Canmore BC, Canada

The mud was caked everywhere!


The obligatory pre-race photo, with Tommy, our "wrench" for the weekend.
Coming into the last lap...

The mountain scenery on the drive up was beautiful.

The torrential rainstorms soaked the course, and created rivers and puddles in solo pit row.
Sunrise over the last hill on-course.

Tommy gets some much-deserved rest.
A section of the course, between km 2 and 3, where the roots like to jump up and grab you...

The drive up to Canmore for Mike's 24 hrs of Adrenalin World Solo Championship race was absolutely beautiful. We were surrounded by such intense beauty - the mountains seemed to reach to the sky - like jagged, vicious teeth looking to swallow the clouds....

We arrived on Friday the 25th, with time to set a few things in our assigned pit, then suit up to pre-ride the course. Tommy accompanied us to "wrench" for the race, so he and I rode a lap together. Man! Tough course. It was riddled with rooted sections that seemed to sneak up to rip my wheels out from under me, and technical climbs that later would prove to be extremely slick when the rains came in over the course of the 24 hour race.

All over the course we saw signs that warned of bear sightings. Morning of the race brought announcements from the organizers reporting sightings on-course, and instructions to report any sightings ASAP. Ugh. Luckily we didn't see any.

The race started uneventfully. Mike held first place until around 11pm, when a BMC factory rider from Australia took the lead by about 2 minutes or so. Then the downhill slide began. Mike ran into technical difficulties with his light battery, which cost him a TON of time on an overnight lap. That, and his fitness being less than what he'd counted on meant that he slid to 3rd place by the morning. But, to be able to podium in a world championship race with less than 10 hours of training a week, against the Australian national team, is pretty damn good. I'm extremely proud of him. His guts, his talent, his perseverance.

I was actually thinking during the race how being a pit crew is almost as bad as racing. We spent our 24 hours worrying about how he was doing out there - especially when the thunder, lightning, and rainstorms continued to plague the race. I spent time checking the clock: what's his split? what's second place's split? what's he eaten? is he feeling okay? how's his hamstring? WHAT DOES HE NEED? I was anxious - I wanted him to be successful - for his sake...whatever "success" happened to be for him.

A day after the race, in the comfort of our own bed, I asked Mike what the hardest part of the race is. He said it was the hardest thing he's ever done - harder than his previous three 24 hour races and his two Ironmans. THAT said a lot to me. And then it got me wondering why we do this. Why do we race? I guess we could use the cliche: we do it to push ourselves to our limits, to see where that line between the possible and the impossible lies. But this race, with my 24 hours to dwell on all my thoughts while surrounded by perhaps the most beautiful scenery ever, made me realize how blessed we are to be able to do this sport we do. It takes us to some pretty amazing places, to face some pretty amazing competitors, to find out some pretty amazing things about ourselves.

Pretty cool.

Mud, Sweat, and well, Blood

Actually got some blood today (ROADIE ALERT!)
Just 40 minutes from my front door you can see this from the saddle of your mountain bike (I look like a giant bobble-head with this self portrait!!)

"F" trail looms ahead. Gorgeous, but technical for my crappy skills....

The past couple of weeks I've managed to put a day or two a week on the mountain bike. Yeah, I know - weird! It's been a really long time since I spent any amount of regular time on the knobby-tired machine, and I actually have missed it a bit. It's amazing to see how limited I am by my handling skills. Fitness doesn't seem to be the issue - it's figuring out how to maneuver the bike over, around, and through obstacles. My uncanny knack for managing to have my foot in the worst position was getting me down - literally. I kept hitting my foot on rocks, which in one case actually stopped the forward movement of my pedal and then proceeded to throw my momentum forward and up, raising my butt off the saddle in a surprise lurch forward.

But, it was totally worth it... riding out in the middle of the woods with no one else, with nothing but trees, trail, and the smell of the summer surrounding me. Again, I am blessed.

Gate City Grind

Weekend after weekend it seems we're off doing something. The weekend of the 28th and 29th we headed down to Pocatello for the Gate City Grind, a small little stage race that we primarily decided to hit because it's a race in the LAJORS series for the junior team. So, Mike being the great guy that he is, volunteered to take a bunch of kids on our juniors team down for the race. I had originally not intended to go, but figured I'd rather be on the road with him than at home by myself with the kids. Seems that a weekend together as a family is better than one split, even if it involves a lot of travel.

We arrived in Pocatello late Friday nite, or rather early Saturday morning (around 1:30 am). Dave, one of the guys on the VE cat 2 team, along with his wife Courtney, were generous in offering us their place to stay while they were road-tripping it to CDA (ironic). We had to roll out early Saturday morning to get registered for the road race.

My field was small - only 8 of us 1/2/3 women. Two teammates from Bob's made it - Kimberly Turner and Sarah Brown, so it was nice to have some familiar faces. There was one lady from Salt Lake that was supposedly the biggest threat for the weekend. I didn't know anyone else. The road course was suited to me - rolling, with small power climbs. We did 3 loops of the course for a total race distance of 54 miles. We stuck together for the most part, until heading up the starting hill of the 2nd lap. It was then that the Salt Lake girl and one other and myself found a break forming. I worked hard to get a good gap going, and we managed to stay away. At the same place going into the 3rd lap, the SLC girl and I rode away from the other lady, so then it was just the two of us. I was feeling really good, so I did the lion's share of the work for the rest of the lap. I realized that she would probably sprint me for the finish, and I didn't want to do ALL the work for her, so going into the last 3 or 4 miles we rode side by side, knowing it would come down to a sprint finish. With 200 meters to go, she went for it, and I came around her at the line to get the win. Truthfully, I could've ridden away from her at some point before that, but I was nervous about spending all my energy in the road race with the time trial scheduled for that afternoon. I felt like I was definitely the stronger rider, and was hopeful that I could take her in the sprint. It was a risk that I'm glad worked out.

The time trial that afternoon went great. I posted a time 34 seconds or so faster than 2nd place (SLC girl again), which landed me solidly in first place GC for the day.

The crit the next afternoon was awesome. Mike felt like my best bet would be to go from the gun and see if I could lap the field. I took off, and of course SLC came with me, along with Kimberly from Bob's. I looked over my shoulder to see who was with me, and was glad to see Kim - she was sitting in 7th place GC, and I hoped to give her some time advantage by towing her along with me. I drove the pace on the front, which eventually dropped Kim, unfortunately. SLC girl yelled to me that I'd lost a teammate, and I think she wanted me to slow down, because she didn't want me to lap the field and have it come to a 2-up race. But Mike yelled at me to keep going. I put my head down and kept drilling the pace, and eventually dropped SLC girl in another lap or so, then lapped the field. I took a lap or two to get my bearings, then worked my way to the front of the pack again to drill the pace and try to get Sarah a break - she was off from 3rd place by a mere 4 seconds. My plan was to get her on my wheel, take her with me on an attack, and tow her around to get the 4 seconds (and then some) on the 3rd place girl. Unfortunately, the SLC girl knew this, and being a teammate of 3rd place, she and one other teammate managed to do some serious blocking whenever I tried to go. Sarah had difficulties maintaining her position on my wheel. I spent almost the entire race either on the front drilling the pace or off the front attacking. Going into the last lap I drove hard, and sent Sarah off as third wheel in perfect position for the finish sprint - but she crashed on the hot pavement in the final turn up the little hill. She got a nasty case of road rash, but otherwise was okay. Even though the field was small, it was SO much fun to be riding so strong and feel so in control. It was great practice to just sit on the front and push - eager for the Twilight crit coming up in a couple of weeks!

Been a Long Time

Wow, not even really sure where to start catching you all back up with what's been going on over the last couple of weeks. I've been wanting to tell you how my race in Baker City, Oregon went. It was the weekend after Methow, the 20-22 of June. A three-day, four-stage race: a road race on Friday, a time trial and crit on Saturday, and another long road race on Sunday. Because I'm lazy, I'm going to cut and paste the race report that teammate Sarah Barber posted on our team website. For those of you that get bored with race details, don't bother. But, the sum of it all is that I felt great, did great by my standards (8th place GC in a race I wouldn't have even considered attending last year), and had a lot of fun:

If there was ever a doubt in the minds of cycling enthusiasts regarding the identity of the best women's bicycle racing team in the Northwest, it has been erased. The women of Team Bobs-Bicycles.com spent last weekend dominating the prestigious Elkhorn Classic Stage Race in eastern Oregon. The ladies secured three of the top ten GC spots, including the win, as well as multiple top three stage finishes. For details on the high mileage event, read on.....
The Elkhorn Classic Stage Race began Friday afternoon with the 75-mile Oregon Trail Road Race. Conditions were hot and dry as the women's field, which had doubled in size since the previous year, rolled out on the course. The most significant climb of the day occurred at just over halfway through the race, and it was at that point that Team Bobs-Bicycles.com racers Jenn Halladay and Sarah Barber moved to the front of the peloton to drive the pace. The pack blew apart instantly, as a rival racer threw down a vicious attack that saw most of the field falling off the pace. The crucial breakaway formed in short order, and it included THREE from Team Bobs-Bicycles.com, and on only one rival team member. Young talent Ally Stacher joined Hallady and Barber to increase the breakaway's lead to over two minutes by the end of the stage! Props also to Alice Pennington from Veloforma who contributed a lot to the success of the breakaway. With 1K remaining, Halladay left the small group and handily took the win. Stacher outsprinted the rival team member for 2nd place, and Barber rolled comfortably into 4th place. Shortly behind them, Team Bobs-Bicycles.com had Jenni Gaertner near the front of the field sprint, securing 7th place in the stage. Cat 3 teammates Kim Turner and Sarah Brown also put in strong finishes in their races, taking 4th and 5th places respectively.
The next morning, the racers faced a 10.5 mile flat-to-rolling time trial, and the competition was stiff. As usual, the women from Team Bob's Bicycles.com rose to the challenge. Allison Beall strutted her stuff by rolling into 2nd place with a blistering fast time. Teammate Barber was an entire minute behind Beall, but it was good enough for 3rd place and.....the race leader's jersey!! Gaertner and Halladay also finished in the top eleven for the TT stage. Sarah Brown stole 3rd place in the Cat 3 field and put enough time into her competition to move into 3rd in GC standings.
Saturday evening, disaster struck. Despite a confident start with Team Bobs-Bicycles.com all over the front in the Gold Rush Criterium in downtown Baker City, a pavement-soaking rain shower arrived shortly into the race. One thing led to another, and nearly 1/3 of the women's field hit the deck hard on a slick corner. While Gaertner, Barber, and Beall were quick to jump to their feet (and Brown, Turner, and Stacher had avoided the incident entirely), Halladay took a short ambulance ride to the ED where radiology revealed a fractured pelvis. The race was canceled due to adverse conditions, and a tearful Halladay headed home.
The ladies of Team Bobs-Bicycles.com came together Saturday evening, knowing that they had a job to do and all kinds of causes to support. Above all, the goal was to preserve Barber's first place GC and do their best to maintain Stacher's and Gaertner's positions inside the top ten, as well. But the women also wanted to honor their fallen teammate, represent their wonderful sponsors (Vern and Nancy Ward of Bob's Bicycles), and prove that they could thrive under the pressure now upon them. No surprise--the mission was accomplished with ease. Beall took an early solo flier to make the race more interesting and force some chasing by the opposition. Gaertner power-chased the threatening attacks, and Stacher clung to Barber's side on every climb, prepared to do whatever it took to keep the pedals turning. Ultimately, the stage came down to the final climb up Dooley Mountain. Beall set tempo at the front until the closest GC competitor began to attack. Stacher and Barber followed the wheels, opting to let two non-contenders in GC escape a few seconds up the road. With under 1K to go, Barber attacked the small remaining grupetto, and soloed to 3rd place. Stacher outsprinted another rival for 4th. With these results, Barber was the solid GC winner, and Stacher secured 4th place. Jenni Gaertner hung tough to also finish inside the top ten, with 8th place in GC. Kudos to Sarah Brown, who had the "climb of her life" (her words) to hang on to 3rd place in the Cat 3 GC.
All in all, this regional stage race saw the women of Team Bobs-Bicycles.com come together and operate like a well-oiled machine, each part doing its job to contribute to the success of the whole. An extra special thanks goes out to Bev Calder, owner of Bella, one of the most wonderful specialty stores you'll ever find, conveniently located in downtown Baker City, Oregon. Calder set the team up with fabulous host housing, fabulous meals, and prize money equal to that of the men's race. Anyone traveling through Baker City should make the effort to stop in and check out Bella's fine wines, gourmet foods, kitchen gadgets, and more. Plus, Bell is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week....EVEN ON SUNDAYS!!!! ;-)

Methow Valley Tour

Winning a prime lap

Quick race update for y'all: this last weekend (Father's day weekend) we headed over to Winthrop for the Methow Valley Tour, a 3-stage, 2-day race in Mazama, Twisp, and Winthrop, Washington. I really like this race because it is pretty low key, the scenery is beautiful, and the course suits me because it's not got a ton of climbing in it.

Day one started with the time trial at Mazama. My teammate, Allison, crushed it, coming in second place by only one second! I came in 5th, almost a minute behind her and the top four women - sheesh!!! I really need to get on the tt bike. I know that all the women that came in before me spend a decent amount of time honing their TT skills, so I guess I feel okay coming in 5th place behind them..... goal list for next year.

The crit was later that afternoon in downtown Twisp. Wines of Washington had almost their full team there, I think, and Group Health had 4 or 5 riders, and Byrne Invent had another 4 or so. So, Allison and I were desperately outnumbered. My strategy was just to stay in the front to be ready for any attacks. It was a blast! I tried to be as aggressive as I could - either off the front or keeping anyone else from getting off the front. Allison was awesome and pulled through to chase down a couple things, and there were two occassions where I was in a 2-woman break - unfortunately, we got reeled in both times. Mike was on the radio cheering me on and helping me with strategies. Coming into the last lap, I was in great position, but the third corner is tricky, on an uphill, and coming into the finishing straight I just didn't have it in my legs to hold on for the sprint - I came in 7th. But, I was really happy with the way I rode - I felt strong, nothing got away, and I felt like it was good practice for Twilight coming up in July. A few girls, and even some of our guys complimented me on how aggressive I was during the race. That was really nice to hear. Tricia Bailey from Wines complimented Allison and me on how well we worked that race. That's awesome when a competitor compliments your race performance.

The road race the next day was a circuit of 14 miles, which we completed 4 times. Wines and Group Health were apparently working together, so there were about 10 or 12 riders all together there. I heard a Group Health girl tell one of the Wines girls that, "we won't chase any of your riders down." Again, Allison and I were obviously outnumbered. Our plan was to not chase anything that went off unless it had Suz Weldon or Tricia Bailey in it - those were the immediate threats in the points standings. As expected, Wines threw out some attacks - one stayed out - a two-woman break with I think Gina Kavesh and Tamara Bessette - for almost 2 full laps. The Byrne Invent girls and Allison and I did a lot of work to reel them in by the end of the third lap. Going into the last lap, I think Allison and I were both expecting Wines to make a move, and they sure did. Tricia Bailey, Robin Secrist (who was in the lead), and one other rider I can't remember now went off the front after we headed through town up this little hill and up some stair-step elevation. I knew it was a dangerous break. Fortunately, Allison was able to dig in and help bring the three back, and I grabbed her wheel - and the pack re-grouped very briefly until Suz counter-attacked. Crap! I was almost fried from just hanging in there after that first one! Suz stayed out there briefly, and I realized that she just might pull this off, and my chances for attempting a bridge were dwindling by the second. I was thinking I needed to try to bridge to bring it together again for Allison's sake - she was tied with Suz for points. So, I bolted out of the pack as best as I could, and managed to bridge up to her. I worked with her for a few miles, until she dropped me on a little roller - just had minimal legs on me by that point. But, I did manage to keep her in my sight, keep the pack from seeing me, and hold the pack off for a second place finish!! I finished right behind Suz - within a minute or so I think, so I was happy. I've never had such an aggressive race, or believed in myself enough to be that aggressive. I finished in 4th place overall - "In the money" as they say, and Allison finished 6th overall. I think it was a great finish for us, considering we were so outnumbered!

So, all in all it was a fun weekend. Feeling a bit stronger than I was a few weeks ago, obviously. Next weekend is Elkhorn... just hoping I can hang on there, too.......

37 Degrees

I drove in to the parking lot yesterday morning and saw this on the readerboard:

37

And heard that there was snow falling at the Spokane airport. Man, I'm ready to be done with this...

911

I really love my kids.

Today I woke up lazily, after sleeping in unreasonably. Then the kids and I hopped on our cruisers and headed to breakfast at Michael D's. After that we rode along the centennial trail so the kids could do some monkeying around....

Later this afternoon I took the kids up to meet Mike at Farragut State Park, where he and Justin competed in the NIC Outdoor Adventure Race. The plan was then for me to ride home, in a roundabout way, and meet them for the Tri Club cruiser ride.

I headed west on the highway out of Farragut, crossed Highway 95, and then headed through Athol. Hung a left on old Hwy 95, then took a right to head west on Bruner. Funny thing is, I had just been thinking about how much I enjoy riding my bike, how blessed we are to live in an area like this, how awesome it is that the kids enjoy the activities we do, how lucky I am. Scary thing is, I had a premonition...

Riding west on the highway out of Farragut is beautiful. It's a 4-lane road with not too much traffic. But I suddenly got scared when I came across the speed limit sign that read 60 mph, and there wasn't much of a shoulder to speak of. I had a vision of myself getting hit from behind from someone talking on their cell phone, reaching for a soda, turning the radio station. I envisioned myself lying on the side of the road, calling Mike on my cell phone. It gave me chills. Then it made me turn around every 30 seconds or so to see if there was any traffic behind me. If there was, then I watched them intently to be sure that they got into the left-most lane. And I kicked up the speed for the 4 miles to "safer" ground.

So like I said, I crossed Hwy 95 and got myself to Bruner road - familiar territory. I settled into a nice easy pace for the ride home.

Now friends, I know that we've all had training at some point in our lives regarding emergencies. Who to call, what information to tell the dispatcher, what details to remember. I've always wondered if I would be able to keep it all together in a state of emergency. Today I think I passed the test.

You see, a couple of jackasses in a pickup truck decided that it would be HILARIOUS to - yes, you may need to sit to believe this - SLAP ME ON MY ASS AS THEY DROVE BY ME AT 35-40 mph. Hilarious. Hear me laughing?

Luckily, after the initial shock wore off (did that just happen?!), I got the plate number. And, because I actually tend to remember to bring more crap than is ever necessary, I pulled my cellphone out of my back pocket and called 911. God was looking down on me in so many ways this afternoon: I wasn't injured. The 911 dispatcher rides bikes and couldn't believe this had just happened, and patched the call to an officer. The officer rides bikes, is married with kids, and is competing in Ironman. In short, they took my call very seriously.

After spending 30 minutes on the phone with the sheriff deputy giving the plate number, description, and my account, I headed back home. He assured me that he would do everything possible to find the guys. He asked what I would like him to do if he ended up finding them. I asked him what my options were - I definitely wanted to press charges. Then I told him I wanted him to issue them a citation. This means that they would have to make an appearance in court and explain their actions to the judge. The judge most likely would waive jail time and instead give them community service, along with around a $300 fine. It would go on their permanent record as a misdeameanor battery charge.

Now, I know that most likely these guys were just getting their jollies. How funny would that be, I'm sure they were thinking, to see the look on her face if we slapped her butt??? Then I'm sure they were thinking of telling all their friends around a couple of brews. And while I wasn't hurt physically, what scared me was the what-ifs...

What if I wasn't a good bike-handler and it startled me so badly that I lost control of my bike? What if the driver just misjudged his distance an inch or so the wrong way? What if the slapper misjudged his force and knocked me off? I could have been seriously injured, or worse, my kids - my precious children who count on me being there for them - could be without a mom.

I'll bet those guys had no idea an officer would be at their door tonight. I'll bet they had NO idea they messed with the wrong girl. The wrong girl for sure.

See you @#$*ers in court.

Water Levels at Record Highs

The crazy heavy snowfall this winter is now turning to crazy spring runoff, with flood conditions in Lake Coeur D Alene and surrounding area rivers. In fact, the lake has a temporary "NO WAKE" law in effect for the entire lake right now. For those of you familiar with Independence Point right in downtown CDA, you'll be amazed at some of these pictures:

As a point of reference, this is Independence Point during an Ironman start. Note the crowds standing on the "bank," a series of concrete steps that reach down to the water - I think there are about 8 of them, about 24 inches tall each...

Ryan and Alli standing at the top concrete step at Independence Point. The dock behind them is the one they use to load people to the seaplane. The rock bed to Ryan's left is the little man-made "creek" that starts at a fountain about 15 yards behind where I took the picture. For those of you that know, the creek dumps into the lake usually about 10-15 feet down.

This is at the main city parking lot at Independence point. Notice the bench and trash can immersed - these are usually 20-25 feet from the water's edge.

The water is almost over the top steps at Independence Point. These are the 8 or so 24" high steps that go down to the water, so you can see how high it is...

Another shot looking toward Independence Point - you cannot see the steps that are normally there..... the spectators for Ironman would be submerged!

The water almost up to the seawall - notice the lifguard's perch.

Another shot of the water creeping up into the parking lot... This is the one that the kids are posing in with their bikes.

Things You Can See on a North Idaho Road Ride

Funny thing, when you go riding here in North Idaho, you are struck by the beauty of the area. Thought it would be funny to blog about "things you see on a NORTH IDAHO road ride...."

Ever seen a giant cell phone tower disguised as a REALLY tall tree? It's hard to see with this picture, but that giant pokey thing on the top of the mountain across the lake is a cell phone tower that they cleverly attached branch-looking thingies to in an attempt to make it less of an eyesore...

Speaking of eyesores... this is quality property management....

Right next to properties offered for LOTS of money....


Right next to a quaint farm overrun by black bunnies (sorry, can't see them in the picture unless you really zoom in on the black specks...)

And finally, where else but in North Idaho can you come across someone's front yard, complete with a llama, a rooster, a sheep, and a couple of goats.....

Mike's 24-hour MTB Race

A "Before" picture with me, Mike, and Tommy. Mike heard his name over the loudspeaker because he'd forgotten to sign in. Tommy's set to do the 24 hours of mechanical needs, with me set for the food, moral support, and aches and pains...
Everyone lines up to wait for the official starting gun. The start was a 600 meter LeMan's-style run...

Mike grabs his bike from Tommy on his way back from the run...

Midnight cravings for beef stew (don't ask me, that's what he wanted)...

Mike's completed his third 24-hr MTB race, with today's Round and Round the Clock in Spokane, Washington. For quite some time he was in first, about 8 minutes in the lead. Around 2 AM, though, he decided to sleep, noting that the second place guy at the time was a fellow training for Trans-Alp and a seasoned competitor in the elite field at the 24-hr World's. This guy wasn't going to be stopping at all, and Mike realized that there was no way he could keep up the pace without digging really deep. Since this race was just a practice run of sorts to prepare for the World Championships in July, Mike decided to not dig himself into a hole and just finish. Plagued with knee and back pain, the time off the bike to rest allowed him to race a few more laps in the morning. I still need to confirm, but we think he ended up 10th. Not bad for sleeping around 6 hours!

Now it's rest, recover, rebuild, and kick ass in July!