Great Race

Hey Everyone-

Well, not sure what my last post read, I think it detailed all my crashes and the fact that my knee was not working correctly.

I had posted a group ride for new riders on MORC (Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists Forum) and we had a great turnout. I was unsure if I would be able to ride but I just took up the back and kept it slow and steady. The ride was at the MN River Bottoms, which was the perfect trail for getting the knee back in working order. You can bypass all the technical stuff and it is a nice flat trail. It was a wonderful day!

So Saturday came and it was time to head down to Red Wing for a pre ride of the XC course and to watch some crazy friends race on the Down Hill course. The preride went quite well. I few of my fellow lady riders came along and we had a great time. As far as riding. I was a little nervous due to the knee and it was showing in my speed and technical abilities, but regardless we hit the loop twice and I was feeling pretty good.

The Down HIll race was awesome, I still think Down Hill racers are nuts. A friend Josh lost it and hit a tree, he hurt his back and his (r) wrist but that didnt stop him for taking the 2nd plunge down the narly down hill course. YAY to Josh, Steve, Rich and all the other brave Down Hillers. WAY TO GO!!!!!

afterwards, 4 of us went to Kings and had some great Burgers and a Beer and man were we ready for bed and the big day.

MUDDY RIVER ROCK N ROLL

I have to say that this was the funnest race I have done to date. The course is excellent, some nice twisty singletrack. Quite a few climbs but they are doable (you have to work alittle you know). The "Washing Machine" Which is this crazy ribbon of up/down hill sttep switchbacks. You get mad momentum which carries you through all of them, and at each turn downhill there is a nice sized tree you have to shimmy around. Pretty exciting stuff.

Though it was definately all of the 91 degrees! You know a wonderful course when the screaming heat doesnt stop anyone from racing.

I fared very well, Andy and I both took 2nd overall and 1st in our age groups. Thats a pretty sweet turnout if you ask me!!! Though my 2nd overall was only within the ladies, if you bunched me in with the guys I took 38th out of 60, which is still not to bad!

My friends Nita and Neal did their first race and they both were very happy. Its so awesome to introduce new people to this wonderful sport. If you race once, you will totally be addicted so watch out before you come hit up the trails.

OWIE

Well here I am, a few weeks since my last post and I am all excited for the Memorial Park race this weekend. It has been 4 weeks since I last raced and I cant wait! Oh Wait, I went riding some this last week and the trails were not very nice. Crash #1 at Thursdays Womens Ride involved a slam of my ars into a nice pointy rock. Leaving a very nice softball sized bruise to remember it by. Crash #2 at Mammoth (The feared trail of the twin cities) involved me forgetting to clip out of my pedal and slowing tipping over and over into a dry, rocky creek bed. Not to cool, I almost got pierced by a branch. My hand hurts and my (r) knee was hurt. Crash #3 small jumps over and over and over again, ah where did that log come from. OH SHIT i think thats me upside down flying through the air, what is that?, oh its my bike now in the air, SHITTTT! OUCH, okay this one hurt the worst!

It felt okay after the ride but when it came time to drive home the action of pushing in my clutch at every flipping light on the way home aggravated the injury to the point of having me in tears. I was seriously thinking about hitting up the ER lastnight but opted for calling the BCBS Nurse Line. They are always so helpful. Since I started this Mountain Biking Sport, myself and the nurses at the hotline have become very good friends!

So I decided to play hookie from work today because I couldnt walk last night, and this morning I was looking quite gimpy. I got in my car, pushed in the clutch and ohhh the pain, its baccccckkkkk! So needless to say I stayed home and have been keeping my leg up. Hoping and Praying that it will be better.

This week I have scheduled to take a group of new mountain bikers to the MN River bottoms for a meet and greet ride, Thursday was a group ride with the ladies where we are planning a happy mooning event. HEHEHE! and Friday was a day I was taking a future racing chick out to Memorial trail for a preride and Sunday is the well awaited race. So needless to say, a very busy week where I am in much need of a working knee and I again hope and pray that i will be able to take part in all this good stuff.

Oh so Tired

Hey Everyone-

So I rode to Lebanon on Tuesday, did one lap and headed home. It was the toughest ride Ive had in a long time. The weddings, booze, and icecream from the weekend did not have a positive effect. (go figure) I then joined a MORC Ladies ride at Elk River yesterday which went fabulous. I was Happy to feel strong and fluid again. I so love that trail!

Hillside Rocks

So my friend Jodi and I went to Elkriver yesterday to ride the Hillside MTB trails. This was our first time and it took 80 mins to complete the 7.25 mile loop. Now at Lebanon we can finish off the 10 mile loop in 35-40 mins.

Elk River is absolutely amazing, there are short-fast climbs, tons of uphill switchbacks (which are my specialty), some nice steeps, and a whole lot of roots. It gave me a chance to test out my up and coming cornering abilities. It went well, I had a great ride and was proud of the rate in which we hit it for the first time out.

We started out going " YAY, this trail rocks, lets do two laps" Then as we progressed and hit more and more hills we ended up " A Beer and some dinner sounds good" Yep, Yep and off we went with a plan to hit up the trail again on Monday.

I worked on getting my knee out for stabilization and getting down into my handlebars while cornering. This technique made me feel much more at my center of gravity and I was definately able to take the corners faster. I also hit everycorner no matter how sharp or steep, which, if you have ridden with me, is quite amazing!

I watched a video at bikeskills.com which showed you how to do up & down hill switchbacks and positioning for steeps. I have actually watched the video 3 times and this was the first time out that I was comfortable with everything else on the trail so I was actually able to apply the downhill switchback techniques. It worked wonders, its all about picking your lines as usual but I wasnt able to incorporate that with my cornering until now. This is a great big step forward in my skills and Hillside was a perfect place to try it out!!

The other thing I have been working on is getting out of my saddle and putting my weight over my rear tire. I have been hitting the tops of climbs out of my saddle which creates greater power and a quicker climbs which is awesome, its starting to feel natural. I also worked on getting my ass over that rear tire while going down those steeps. This is turning out to be alittle tricky as I have a wide seat and wide thighs that dont want to spread to let my seat through. With a little practice I think it will work. As of now, I was just happy to get my backend back a little bit.

This is it

This is my first attempt at blogging. I think it will be fun to watch it progress if I am able to stick with it. If you don't know me, I am a bit of a procrastinator so this may be my only entry.

The MNSCS MTB race season started in May. I've participated in two of them so far, Steeplechase and Mont Du Lac.

Racing is a wonderful experience and I would recommend it to everyone. I race in the citizen category which is for beginners. Yes, I am a beginner! I have been riding my bike again for about 4 months. It is amazing the leaps and bounds of progress you can make on a bike. The sad part is, I went on a women's group ride last night and the 3 newbies (their 2nd time on single track) Did everything I did! Its taken me 4 months to get where I'm at, then the Newbies come in and knock my socks off. They all said that they never would have rode the track had we not all been there for them, maybe I should have found a group early on and I would be that much further into my progress. Oh Well, you cant change the past and I am getting more confident everyday.

Each time I hit the trail I am working on a new "problem" area. So far I have worked on my cornering, technical rock garden skills, steps, and log piles. Each time one area starts growing in skill level another area seems to fall off all together so I am usually working on something new every 2 weeks. I feel that it is keeping all my skills at the same level.

I am finding that I am a complete chicken on my bike, I had a few major crashes last season and I am finding it very hard to break through the mental block of fear. I need to work on my down hill skills and on pushing my limits a little more. There is this stance, not sure what it is called but it is where a persons body squares off with the bike, they do it going down hills, Yeah, I don't do that. I think that I need to get out on the street and just practice all those basic skills I'm supposed to have, but I do not. Another thing I am currently working on is getting down into my handlebars and into the trail. I just got to remember that dang center of gravity.

I want to give a shout out to my friend Paul Hansen- He is a Pro Rider for Team Bear Naked/Cannondale. I have been posting my photos of the races on his site and following his career. Its pretty cool, check him out and check out my photos of the races.