17 August 2010

Mountain Bike Monday with the ladies!

Last night was the first installment of mountain biking on girls ride night. It seemed like everyone had a great time. There were at least 10-12 women that came out to Sugar. We did it in anticipation of the Chamois Time race schedule for tomorrow. Due to the pissing rain we had all day today, the race likely won't happen. There was agreement though that we should have ladies mountain bike nights more often.

I love this thing!

Apparently I can even update my blog from this phone. How cool is that? I am officially hooked :)

09 August 2010

State Road Race Champion

Well after ignoring this thing for months I suppose I should finally write something. Saturday was the state road race championship. I have a strong love-hate relationship with this race. This is only the 3rd time I have raced it, but the previous 2 years did not go as well as I had hoped. Last year, my chain got sucked up into my frame on the second lap and it took me at least 20 minutes to get my bike functioning again. I had to ride the last 40 miles by myself. The other downside to this race is the lack of participation. There were only 6 of us this year which was still an improvement from the 4 that did it last year, but not really a the turnout you want to see for an 80 mile race. I really love this race because it is one of the longest road races in the midwest, 81 miles to be exact.

With only 6 of us, Sandy, Amy, and I from Mercy, Katie from PRC, Lacey from DMOS, and Rebecca from Colorbiotics. We started out relatively slowly, no attacks through the first 15-20 miles. At first, everyone seemed content to have Sandy and I sit up front, but after a while there was some turn taking. When we crossed the Cedar River the second time, which is probably 12 miles from the start/finish area Rebecca accelerated splitting the group into 2 with Sandy and me in the front and Amy, Katie, and Lacey behind. We decided to work together. I personally thought dropping the group that early was not necessarily to our advantage with 65+ miles to go in the race, but what was done was done.

The second lap stayed pretty tame as well. We echeloned the entire time, each of us taking between 2-3 minutes at the front each time. The start of the third lap is when things got a bit more interesting. Up to this point the 3 of us had stayed neutral through the feed zones and through town, but suddenly Rebecca was pushing her way through West Branch. She almost passed our lead car. Then we got out on the road and you could tell she no longer wanted to work with us, but she made to serious attacks. About 10 miles into the last lap, I attacked up a hill. I was hoping to put some distance between me and Rebecca, but all I ended up doing us gapping off Sandy. I sat up and made Rebecca come around if she wanted to keep the pace up.

She and I rode together the rest of the race. We took turns trying to gutter the other person, but the wind was not enough of a factor to hinder either of us. When I pulled through I slowed way down to the pace that I was comfortable with. I think it was probably driving her crazy, but the worst thing that could happen is that Sandy would have caught up and I would have had a teammate to work with again. After we crossed the Cedar River the last time, Rebecca hung me out front. I did as I had all day and just rode my pace. Finally, with 50-100 yards to go before the last turn, Rebecca takes off. I had been dicking round enough that it caught me a little off guard, but I was on her wheel after 20 seconds or so. After rounding the turn though we still had at least 5 miles until the finish. I just sat there and let her do the work. Surprisingly, she kept the pace up even though I was just sitting back there on her wheel.

As we approached the finish, she started to accelerate one more time. I just took off around her hoping she would not be able to sit on my wheel and recover. After 50 feet or so I looked back and she was just sitting there pedaling. I finally won the Iowa state road race!

Sandy rolled in 3rd, Amy in 6th. In the women's 4 race, Cara was 2nd and Darcy was 3rd. It was a great day for Mercy women.