Kent Park is this Sunday!

So, like many of you, this is my favorite early season race. When I first started racing in 2006, it was my second race ever. I was very disappointed that it was canceled last year. Aside from being excited because it is Kent Park, I have a new sense of pride this year for this race. There are more than 20 women signed up AND 8 of us are racing for ICCC. This will be the start of a great racing season!

Ride 3.14.10

Robin and I went on a road ride this morning with Kevin and Brit. We had thought about heading out on some gravel with the Hopson crew, but with my knee is limbo and Robin having raced yesterday.... we thought a road ride would be the smart choice!

Anyhow, we rolled out a bit after 10am, under cloudy skies, into a NASTY NNE headwind. Battled that all the way into Cedar Bluff. But after turning around it was SO worth it! On the way back home the sun even came out.... simply beautiful. It's amazing to be out on dry roads, with the sun shining.

I got Kevin at a stop ahead sign, by boxing him in behind the girls (hey! whatever it takes!), and jumping real early. he got me on the next one though.

Great ride and good times. Hopefully in another week my knee will be back to 100%.


Here are a couple videos of the wonderful conditions.

1st Race of the Season

Today was the 2nd installment of Bart's Spring Classic Series. Kyle and I had both intended to race it, but a nagging knee injury kept Kyle sidelined. Instead he served as corner marshal and coached me as I raced. Conditions were great for an early season race. Rain, low 40s and a stiff wind. There ended up being 5 women that did the race, 3 cat 1,2,3 and 2 cat 4. Bart sent us off with the cat 4,5 men. We were to do 4 laps. Lisa for PRC and I rode the 1st lap together, right behind the men. As the 2nd lap started, I missed grabbing the tail end of an attack and found myself in the chase group with 4 guys. Lisa managed to hang on with the lead 3 guys. That was pretty much how it stayed for the rest of the race. Kyle would give us a time break as we came around the back side of the course and it pretty much stayed at 30 seconds. So, I was kinda bummed that I missed out the move that separated us, but it was a good race all the same. I don't mind taking 2nd place.

All in all it was a great race. I appreciate Bart taking the time to have this series so that some of us who haven't been on the bike in awhile (like not since Jingle Cross last year :) can ease back into racing again.

3/6/10 Ride

We went out for a ride today.... planned on just a little gravel. Started out quite nice. Sun was out, temps were up, roads were dry.

Then we decided to see how far we could get on Swan lake, since the the water was down. Well, the road was a little damp at first, but not terrible. It lured us in. Quickly it turned to a mix of snow, ice, and mud... We pushed onward.

Soon it was a slog, but it was more fun to just keep going and see how far we could get. Then we started seeing snowmobiles! Then a few token rednecks in their trucks. The trucks turned back, we pushed on. As the sun went behind the clouds and the wind picked up, we though it best to turn back at the second significant water crossing. It was fairly frozen over, so we could have gone on. But, with the weather closing in and the fact we were soaked, we made the right choice.

The ride back back was actually better. Although it was soft and soggy, we were so wet that we weren't trying to pick drier lines. Got back into N. Liberty and stopped at Casey's. Thank God for that place! The looks we got from the other customers were priceless, as we ate some type of friend potato goodness and drank a cup of coffee.

All in all, great ride. 5 hours on the bike. Who knows how far. Sweet.

Tried ou the video thing today. Need to get a little better at it. Note the gentleman in the second clip, on the side of the road just shooting a handgun at nothing in particular. At least he wasn't shooting it at us!

New Bike Hotness

So, we got my new MTB pretty much put together and ready to roll. Had to take it down to the shop tonight to get the brake hoses cut and let the guys drool over it a bit.

Of course we had to throw it up on the scale to see how it came in. Here are the results: 18.98lbs! That is with pedals and a bottle cage, so no cheating! Crazy light considering it has an XT cassette and not the lightest pedals out there.

Pretty sweet for an aluminum hard tail that is build up pretty solid. Can't wait to get it out on the trail.

Gotta thank Kyle for putting together this sweet package and the guys at Geoff's for working to get me the Yeti frame. After being on the ASR last year I knew I wanted another Yeti. The fit is spot on and I know the hard tail is going to be a rocket. Many thanks also to Magura and Syntace for their great components again this year.

Now... if that pesky snow would just melt! At least Kyle and I have been getting a lot of XC Skiing in. (Got skate skis for Valentine's day!)

Syntace and Magura are on board for another year of hooking Robin up with their sweet parts. Expect her to be sporting Magura Marta SL brakes, a Durin SL fork, as well as Syntace cockpit components.