Race Report: Cross Crusade #7 and SSCXWC

Race day number two in the, now-infamous, "Three in one week-end" race week-end was even muddier than day one.

I loaded up the 'baru with the newly assembled roof rack, complete with clashing red bike tray (my car is a maroony-red color). I borrowed my friend Chapell's singlespeed (remarkably exactly my size) and placed it in the trunk and put the Felt F1X on top

The second day of racing brought very similar (mud, rain, wind) conditions, only this time there was no relief inside buildings, the first race was 15 minutes longer (1 hr. total), and the mud was deeper and pervaded the entire course. The terms "stuck in the mud" "peanut butter" and "OMGWTF" come to mind when describing how hard it was to churn through the terrain. The competition was stiffer, and I ended up somewhere in the middle of the pack almost instantly (thanks to the fact that I didn't get a call-up... boo!).

No matter, because it was delightful playing in the mud with my bike. I've learned not to be afraid to ride someone's wheel through a pancake-y mud puddle... though I come out the other side nicely peppered. And, I managed not to wreck in the mud, only by the slimmest of coincidences. At one point in the course, you crest a tiny rise and the course proceeds along an off-camber section at the bottom of which is a fence. The mud was so slick, that it was only a matter of pedal strokes before you actually slid down the embankment and came shoulder to chain-link with the fence and were forced to dismount, shoulder the bike, and run this section. Well, a fast guy was passing me at this exact moment, and he being heavier than I, slid faster down, his front wheel catching my rear wheel, sending my bike onto the ground and me flying at the chain-link fence. I thought I was going to face-plant in the mud. But before that could happen, his arms impossibly shot out, encircling my waist and holding me suspended in the air above my bike. We stood entangled so for a moment before “thanks” and “good jobs” were exchanged and then we were off and running up the mud slope. Thank you, nice guy... That was that race.

Within ten minutes of finishing, I needed to have a wardrobe change, a bicycle change, fix my broken mountain biking shoe (a bolt that held the strap on had gone missing during the mud-fest… thank god for duck tape ☺), down a Cola Clif Shot (caffeine required!!!)and line-up for pre-race instructions. I jumped into a giant puddle for a “bath”, grabbed my borrowed singlespeed bike, and took off for the car. I needed to strip off my muddied PacPower speed suit and put on a pink dress and matching boa. This was standard race attire for the SSCXWC (don't question it). Imagine 250 men and women in recycled Halloween costumes, riding singlespeed bikes around not-your-average-muddy-cross course. There was a bacon hand-up, where spectators offered popcorn and bacon to the riders. A ride through a “thunderdome”, in which people in swings above the riders used foam clubs to try and knock us off our bikes. The course, in addition to the barriers and run-ups, had a shortcut purported to cut 40 seconds off your ride. To take the short cut, I would dismount, hand a guard a dollar, and run through a school bus front to back, slap a "stripper" on the butt, and exit, remounting my translocated bike.

I musn't forget to metion the three "Borat" riders, one of which I got to "draft" off of for a half lap. That was nice. There was also a section were an enebriated fan ran out in front of me with beer in hand and pants falling down, yelling "follow me, follow me, I'll show you the line" before slipping and face-planting in the mud... I almost fell off my bike laughing.

The actual race part was a little confusing. It was hard to tell men from women between the mud, the costumes, and the mayhem. The men got a slight (3-second) lead on us to get to their bikes (so we wouldn't get trampled? I forgot to mention that at the start, bikes are layed in a field and we have to run and find them before hitting the course). And I hit a bottle-neck at the first set of barriers. A few laps in, I realized I was sort of surrounded by other three or four women racers and we started to have fun with it. Passing and re-passing as each of us found good lines through the mud and turns. I had no idea how I finished (very sure it wasn't first), but that really wasn't the idea of the race. The idea: Awesomeness and Fan-funking-tastic-time.... see the write-up/video on Wend Magazine for a full description of what I am talking about.

Wrap-up: Thanks for the cowbell, the bacon, the jiffy-pop, the beer hand-up, the drunkin' mooning, the crash-save, fantastic friends for coming to watch and cheer (you know who you are!!!), the mud, my first time ever riding a SS (on a borrowed bike no less...props Chapell), my team (I forgot to mention the role that my teammates had in helping me make the wardrobe change... many hands, and strange looks). In the end I was 12th in the Crusade, 3rd in the SSCXWC, and cameod (heckled) in cyclocross magazine....

"Visions of a Golden Speedo keep her going"
Photo courtesy of Janet Hill @spotshot photography

Race report: OBRA Cyclocross State Champs

Teammate Todd Dye captured by OregonVelo

The picture says it all... Giant mud puddles, foreboding skies, flat and fast racing at the Willamette Valley Cross Series #3 and the Oregon State Cyclocross State Champs.

I thought I would get lucky on this one. While I was loading the car, the skies were clear. I wasn't even wearing a jacket. And my last thought was, I should "probably" put the water proof jacket and the rubber boots into the trunk. Yep... I would need 'em.

I arrived early enough at the Oregon State Fair Grounds to watch the the Men's Bs and juniors race. The coals were hot and dead meat was simmering on the grill in no time. And then the sprinkles started. Then the rain picked up. Then the wind started whipping around. And then it was time for my race.

I had pre-ridden the course, so I knew what I was in for: riding in and out of stock buildings to provide some relief from the rain/wind, a deep sand pit that required a timely dismount and run-through, muddy 180° turns, loose sawdust, a gravel patch, and the piece de resistance... the indoor BMX track. And mud.

Lots of mud to be exact. Serena Bishop, the leader on the first lap, went down in it on a turn and promptly dropped a few places. I nearly slid out so many times, I lost count. The worst bit turned out to be the entrance/exit of the sand pit. The sand was so deep and heavy that your feet were lost in it. The pavement after the pit was a slippery mix of sand and rain that turned the remount into a cartoon-ish version of someone running on marbles.

I lost some time at the start of the race because of a crappy line in a mud pit. Within half a lap I was firmly in third, chasing 1-2 (Serena and Alalia Berry of Gentle Lovers) about 40 seconds ahead of me. Each lap I kept carving out more of their lead, especially on the straight-into-the-wind sections where they slowed, jockey-ing for position. It looked like they weren't working very well together on the straights, with Serena in front most of the time. She would later tell me that they could "feel" me getting closer on each lap. I am intimidating that way.

Eventually I caught them (with tremendous cost to my poor legs). And for a brief time, I pulled ahead. But they both had the advantage of knowing on which sections you could gap a rider (I had done almost the whole course solo). And Serena made a brilliant move just before the sand pit that put her firmly in first place. I was forced wide on the gravel section (into a terrible line) by Alalia cutting the corner on me. And so in the end, my chase was for naught as I finished in third. Though I did provide some excitement for the spectators with my chase and catch!
Big muchos gracias to my team (for cheering) and Felt... Pacific Power/Blue Sky Team purchased some Felt bikes to encourage more women and juniors into cyclocross this year. One just happens to be my size and the newer model of my Felt F1X, the F75X. So, I got to dirty up a bright and shiny clean white bike (check it out below)! The geometry was identical to mine, but slightly lighter. The result was that I got to really throw this bike around in the mud on the course! Excellent.

Results: ended up third in the state among Women's A, second in the WV series, and a podium cameo on Velonews.com!

Getting ready to run through the sandpit... oregonvelo was there.

Ignite Corvalis 2, a.k.a my Thursday Night

I'm checking out my twitter feeds yesterday afternoon. I notice a number of tweets from a "Beer Bus" mentioning that many people from Portland are actually on a bus with beer and wifi that is Corvallis-bound. My first thought was "they have to offer Portlanders beer to entice them to come to Corvallis". But then, I became curious as to what exactly they were coming for. Answer: WIN09 and Ignite Corvallis 2. Click the link to find out exactly what was going on... but I was very interested.

I had seen twitter-fuss about Ignite Corvallis 2 about a month ago. From the website I got the impression that this was the MOTHER of all WIBC events (for the newbies, that is "Wouldn't It be Cool", WIBC). Basically, people from the community get 5 minutes to present a 20-slide powerpoint that is on a 15-second timer. The topic: anything that you feel like talking about. Presentations need to be compelling, entertaining, punchy, and not-necessarily-meaningful. I really wanted to give one (I'll hold my subject for the eventuality that I will get to present someday)! But, I had missed the call for applications. And at the time, I put it beyond the back of my mind and that was that.

Then I see the message about it being last night! A mind-check of the things I have to do suggests to me that there is nothing that can't be put off until tomorrow. I love it when this happens, makes me feel so important (not!). I peace out of work around 6:00 and head over to WIN09... conveniently located on OSUs campus for my walking pleasure. At WIN09, I munched on baked brie, chicken skewers, made a salad out of the dipping veggies, and perused the room for interesting people to talk to. I met a guy who works for Korvis Automation, a company that makes Affymetrix machines (very interesting to dorks like me). He was excited that I knew more about the technology than he did (in all fairness he was an engineer from a different arm of the company and was also great fun to chat up). I received some yummy treats (pumpkin chai cupcake) and unsure-of-the-yumminess-factor treats (bacon cupcake) from a woman that is trying to open Rocket Queen Cupcake shop in downtown Corvallis (still needs a little financing).

After the poster session/chattyhour, it was time to set Corvallis on fire... er, Ignite Corvallis 2. Most presenters did not disappoint. One guy offered a Masters in IT in 1,680 characters by boiling down the 12 classes of his Masters program into 12x140 character tweets (I now have a masters in IT :-). Another guy introduced us to "train porn"... the cult practice of trainspotting, no, taking good pictures of trains. His was especially entertaining because every slide could have been turned into a "that's what she said..." moment, by design. Even the mayor got up there for his 5 minutes... comparing our community to a garden (not a huge stretch of the imagination given the number of gardens in this community!). Other memorables included a woman talking about her mid-life crisis spent couchsurfing around Europe and a guy who compared social networking to sex with a funny yet clear message that the best social networking (sex) is achieved by giving, listening, learning, relinquishing some control, and ending everything you say with the words "in bed", as if you were a fortune cookie.

All-in-all. Funny, fantastic night... amazing to be surrounded by so many people who embrace the WIBC spirit! Sorry you missed it? Ignite Portland 7 is Nov. 18. And even better, there will be a Beer Bus w/wifi going up from Corvallis. I'll try to post info about this when I hear it. And I hear that Ignite Corvallis 3 is in the works. They probably need help making it bigger and better... so get your proposal ready!

Week-end preview

I have an epicly fun week-end coming up. More funner that I had two weeks ago with the race double. How's that possible you ask... because I have three races this week-end! Three times the cyclocross fun.

On Saturday, I have the Willamette Valley Series #3, a.k.a the OBRA State Championships. Word on the street (and by street I mean the race flyer) is that the course will be coursing through three buildings... interesting! There will also be Belgian Waffles and Belgian Fries on hand and a Hopworks Beer Garden adjacent to the course. I feel some more heckling coming on. Hopefully the beer tent won't be next to a jump so I won't be shamed into attempting it and faling flat on my face like last time!

On Sunday, pull your socks up, because I am going to race at Cross Crusade! This CXfest is probably one of the most attended CX events in the Northern Hemisphere. It is being held at the Portland International Raceway this week-end. Last year, I raced at the PIR when the USGP came to town. But since, I will be leaving town (to have early Christmas with the Sister in Las Vegas) that week-end, this is my only chance to toss myself among the motocross bumps.

Did I say three? Oh yeah. Within ten minutes of my glorious finish on the Cross Crusade Course, I shall don something pretty and pink and hop onto friend Chapell's single-speed CX bike for the magic of the Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC). Cool.

Reporting back: Part 2 Mac Forest 15k

Thought I would post this before another awesome week-end began, commenced, convened, took root, you get the picture. It's been almost two week, which is just long enough for my hip flexors to loosen-up, my black toe-nails to fall off, and my bruises to turn from nice deep purple to yellow.

Sunday morning. Post-cyclocross crash. Post-early morning mocha. No rain! Actually, kind of sad about this. I joined Dave, Stacey, and Syd at Dixon for a carpool out to Peavy Arboretum (how very green of us). At the race site, I ran into friend's Jeff and Meghan, at which point Jeff informed me that he was going to run with me the entire race (yeah) and Meghan told me about a famous ultra-trail runner woman that was entered (not Meghan). Oh (eyebrow raised)?

They were playing funky-town music over loud speakers to get everyone in the mood. Syd and I got our groove thing on while waiting in line for the Johnny-on-the-spots. Before I knew it, race time was here. I lined up near the front, pretty sure I would be finishing in the top 30 or so.

And we were off... the first part of the course (as you can see from the elevation profile) is somewhat mellow looking. It goes along a fire road for about a mile before diving into single track on Calloway Creek Trail. Then the ankle twisting turns and undulating little ups and downs begin. Jeff was nowhere to be seen, but I settled in with a cute tall guy from Eugene named Rob (he's married and we are now FB friends). He would catch me on the downhills and I would lose him on the ups.

Then the real "up" begins. Someone asked me a couple of weeks before the race if it was hilly. I replied that it was less "hilly" and more just "hill. Again I refer to the elevation chart. My race plan from the start was to run slightly too easy on the first few miles so that I could really work the giant climb to the top of Powderhouse Trail (1300'). And that is exactly how it worked. I missed Rob weakly-jokingly calling out "wait for me", but instead eased into my uphill mojo, passing numerous people. Leaving them to wonder how I was doing it.

Then the downhill started, and here is where I suck. My high center of gravity, long stride, Morton's toe, sense of personal safety all prevent me from letting loose down Bonsai Trail (refer to the 1100' to 500' nose-dive that the course takes which, despite the drawing, does not involve a negative slope or any sort or rappelling). Jeff passed me near the top, with a "I didn't think I was going to catch you" and "Come with me". Yeah, I'll work on it.

Here's the thing.... my realistic goal was to complete the 15K sufferfest in 1:10:00 and to feel really good on that awful last steep climb that comes in the final mile. And I felt great. The PF was a tiny bit sore, thanks to an ankle bauble at mile 8. But, I felt awesome, and I hauled into the finish line, almost catching a few of the myriad that passed me on Bonsai. And I finished in 1:09:36, 32nd overall, and 4th female.

And I had an awesome time. Even more awesome was the noodles and tomatoes and cheese sandwich that I had for lunch and the Sunday afternoon football game that I watched through my eye-lids (napping) that afternoon!

And guess where I got the picture of the elevation profile? The sadistic race organizers who came up with this course put it on the back of the race shirt. Guess they figured if they put it with the course map, no one would race.