VA Cyclocross Championships

So, this year for Thanksgiving, my significant other and I decided to get away together and enjoy some alone time.  We packed up and headed towards western VA for some mountains and solitude.  We ended up doing a couple of gravel rides with some spectacular views!

Mountains and cows as far as the eye could see!

We rode about 32 miles on Thanksgiving in one of the most beautiful rolling valleys I have ever seen.  We crossed the Maury River and climbed a couple of mountains before heading back to our cottage.

Such a beautiful blue sky.  

On our way back, we ran into some old friends.  I feel like if we ever go back, we should bring them some green flamingos to match!

Pink Flamingos, a flower, and a Warbird!

Roads like these are what I live for.  Crunchy gravel, beautiful scenery, no cars around, and cows to keep us company!

#roadslikethese

 My pups enjoyed all the gravel roads as well.  They were pretty zonked after their long morning walks to watch the sun rise over the mountains. 

B&N snuggling by the fire.

On Friday, we made the mistake of doing part of the Devil's Backbone Mountain Cross loop.  It was 22 miles with about 3,400 feet of elevation.  It did take us to my favourite stone church.  We even had time to stop and take a couple of photos.

This church is the most adorable thing ever.

 And for the first time ever, I was able to get up close to the bell tower.  It is seriously gorgeous.  These photos do not do it justice at all.

Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

We had already decided that since we were going to be relatively close to Charlottesville that we were going to race the Virginia State Championship Race in Keswick on Saturday.  I had signed up for the Master's and the Cat 3/4 women's races.  Dane had signed up for both the 4/5 and 3/4 men's races.  We were a little late leaving Saturday morning and only had about 45 minutes from jumping out of the car to the start of Dane's first race.  

I was luckily able to get in two laps of pre-riding.  The course was rough cut with some debris (mostly sticks and woody weeds) in the corners here and there.  There was a muddy creek crossing and a LOT of sharp, narrow corners.  Two relatively long climbs and one super fast and swoopy descent.  It looked like racing it was going to be fun.

Dane's race was pretty spectacular.  He had a decent start, settling into 12th place after the first lap.  I had told him my former teammate from Dire Wolf, Adam, was going to be there and that since they were so close together at DCCX, he should set his sights on him.  That seemed to be sound advice, since Adam was pretty close in front of him.  Lap after lap, Dane kept gaining on that group until he finally passed and dropped them.  I was so proud!  He ended up in 6th place and had his best race of the season.  According to the results, he was only 17 seconds off first place! 

After finding one of my competitors, Lindsay, we decided to head down to the start.  The men's race ran a bit long, so they were starting us about five minutes behind schedule.  The whole thing was a bit of a cluster and there was no organisation or call ups.  The start line was a bit of a free for all.  Which, I suppose is fine, since there were only 7 of us in the Master's race and 5 in the 4/5 race.  There were some juniors, too, but I have no idea how many there were.  They started after us and I am pretty sure I never saw them out on the course.

One thing that I noticed was that for every group on the start line, they had a different starting number.  So, the Master's were all 600's, the 4/5's were 500's, etc.  It made it REALLY easy to figure out who was in your race.  MABRA take note!

I got to know everyone in the Master's race as we waiting for the officials to get their stuff together.  There was no chip timing, no announcer, no music.  It was strange and VERY inefficient.  

Anyway, the whistle blew, and I actually had a REALLY good start!  I replaced the pedals on my Kona with some fancy new Race Face ones that had amazing pins.  I honestly think this helped quite a bit.  The Wellgo's I had got for the Kona have new pins that are not very grippy and I had been unhappy with them.  The start was a slight grade uphill into a right handed turn that went straight up a climb.  At the top of the climb, I was in fourth place and was quickly able to pass two of the ladies in front of me to claim second after the creek crossing.  A HUGE thanks to Dane's post-race advice on the best line for the creek crossing.  

Now for the "It Could Only Happen to Me" part of this race report...  As I went over the barriers, my right shoe came untied.  I could feel it slipping as I hopped back on the bike.  Whoever was behind me, yelled at me that my laces were undone.  I had zero time, as three gals were right on my wheel.  So I just lifted my foot and stomped on my lace to keep it out of my drive side.  I was doing really well through the sharp corners and around the pit.  Dane was there cheering me on and I stopped paying attention.  

My right foot came off the pedal as I dabbed on a corner and as I put my foot back up, my lace got caught in my chain ring.  "F#CK!!!!!"  (Sorry to all the juniors out there!)  I am super glad I did not eat it.  I was able to brake quickly and fall to the left with my foot down.  As I was tying the lace back up, I got passed by EVERYONE.  I could hear Dane yelling for me and telling me that I could catch back up.  My legs did not believe him (whose idea was it to do that much climbing the day before a cross race?!).

I could hear teammate Peter Schultz in my head telling me to never stop racing and not give up, even when you think there is no shot (where was this advice at Sykesville!?).  I hopped back on the bike and mashed harder.  Crossing over the second creek crossing, I remembered Dane's advice about not braking, that the grass would slow me down enough for the 180 coming up.  I laid on the gas right before the crossing and kept my fingers off the brake levers.  I was able to catch the last woman that passed me on the climb after the finish straight.  The fun swoopy downhill became my friend as I hauled down it without touching the brakes.  

I caught up to my friend Lindsay and battled with her for a bit.  I was finally able to out maneuver her on the sharp corners and kept on going.  At this point, I assumed I was maybe in 5th place, but probably 6th.  I was not going to give up and kept hammering through the course.  On the last lap, I could hear someone behind me breathing hard.  I would lose her on the corners, but she would catch up on the straights...  This is the story of my life!  As I passed the pit for the last time, I heard Dane yell that someone was on my wheel.  I almost laughed as I though, "Yep, I know, I can hear her!"  But I pushed as hard as I could through the turns, channeling my inner Simona.  I knew that as soon as we crossed the last creek crossing and made the 180 to the finishing stretch that she was going to catch me.  I am not a sprinter.  But I put as much power as I could into my pedals and pushed, pushed, pushed.

It was a photo finish.  She got me by an inch.  I thought we were racing for 5th and 6th place.  So when we rolled up to a group after the finish, everyone congratulated us on a great race.  Turns out, we were racing for 2nd and 3rd!  GAH!  I wish I had known.  I would have tried to push it harder and faster in the turns.  But honestly, I am not sure it would have made a difference.  I absolutely gave it my all and she was a fierce competitor.  We laughed and recounted about it for quite a while and I now have a new cross friend!

Master's Women Overall Podium

I finished third overall in the Master's and first in the 35+ Masters.  Which means...  I am a State Champion!  

VA Cyclocross State Champion, right here!

Seriously, I was super stoked.  I have never been a state champion before!  It was kind of cool for about five minutes!  Lindsay had never done a state championship race, so before she ran off for volunteer duties, we made sure to get our 35+ podium picture!

Master's 35+ State Champion Podium (Not Pictured, 3rd place Donna Wolf)

My second race was much less eventful, but was fun.  It was great to have my friend Lynn out on the course cheering and taking pictures.  I finished 5th in the Women's 3/4, which was a pretty big deal since it was some pretty touch competition.  

Overall, it was an interesting experience racing a VACX race instead of a MABRA race.  It was definitely smaller and quieter, yet even though there was less competition, the racers are all extremely talented.  I invited them all up to do the BikenetiCX race in two weeks, but unfortunately, the VACX finale race is the same weekend.  Good luck to all my new cyclocross friends for the rest of the season!  Hopefully I will be back to defend my championship title! 

2017 CX Season (so far)

I got yelled at for not doing race reports during cross season this year.  In my defense, I got promoted at work and have had almost zero free time for writing (and training...).  And my cross season has been relatively lame this year.  *sigh*

The first race of the season would be the last race with my Warbird in the pit and my Niner as my "A" bike.  Hub Labels CX was somewhere in Maryland (they all kind of run together in the end) and was the week before a big gravel race in Pennsylvania.  I had not really trained much after Dirty Kanza and was not expecting to do well in the first race of the season.  As per usual, I had a terrible start, but quickly made my way to the front.  I was super excited to make my way into third by the end of the second lap and was even more stoked to hold it through the end of the race. 

Third Place in the VERY competitive W's 4/5 field at Hub Labels

THEN....  I got a new bike!  I had spent months deliberating, researching, and soul searching to ensure that I made the right decision both for my cycling development and financial situation.  I wanted the best bike for me, but I also wanted to be realistic on how much I spent since this would be a one discipline bike that would be used four months out of the year.  Well, all of my level headed decisions went straight out the window when Kona finally announced their new 2018 Super Jake.  As soon as I saw the frame and the component list, I literally called Jan at Bikenetic and said "Shut up and take my money!"  It took a few weeks for the bike to ship, but it was well worth the wait.

The grand folks at Bikenetic posing with my BEAUTIFUL new bike!

The first ride I took it on was a mixed surface, but mostly single track ride with my significant other, met up later by a bunch of teammates.  We did some cross drills and I surprisingly felt rather comfortable and confident on the bike (remember, drop bars are terrifying!).  I had been planning to race my Niner as my "A" bike at Sykesville the next day, but by the end of the afternoon, I had changed my mind...

Well, the next morning, we lined up for the race and I was on my shiny new Kona.  I was TERRIFIED, but ready to go out and have some fun.  The day was warm and the grass was dewy since it was the first race of the day.  After a pretty terrible start, I quickly caught up to the front before we even hit the grass.  I took the little drop from the grass to the pavement a little too hot and got squirrely but was able to pull it together and scrubbed a little speed after that.  There were a few technical sections that I was able to pass a few other ladies and had made my way into third place when I got too confident on an off camber turn.  The bike slid out from under me and I went down hard.  I heard a crack when I hit, but quickly got up and grabbed the bike.  I glanced at the bike and nothing seemed out of sorts.  So I ran up the next hill, hopped back on the bike and started to pedal.  I needed to shift into an easier gear and as soon as I did, the chain dropped.  I quickly threw the chain back on and tried to pedal again.  The same thing happened.  Meanwhile, most of the field was passing me at this time.  I threw the bike on my shoulder and started running.  But I was probably 3/4 of a mile away from the pit.  After the slowest riders had passed me, I figured I had nothing to lose and put the bike down and started to work on it.  I found that if I shifted into a few gears harder, the chain would stay put.  I had to run up a couple of hills, but made my way to the pit.  I grabbed my pit bike and pedaled on.  I was able to pass a couple of people, but got pulled after two laps.  I was devastated and more than a little frustrated.  I did not even have the energy to protest the results when they had me as DFL (I know there were at least three ladies behind me, but it was no big deal). 

Turns out, when you fall on the drive side really hard, you bend things.  Namely the derailleur hanger and the derailleur.  Yep, you read that right, two days after picking up my new bike, I crashed halfway through the first lap on my first race and broke the bike...  Luckily Bikenetic was able to get it fixed up and ready to roll for the race the following weekend.

I did end up doing single speed at Sykesville after we readjusted the derailluer and zip tied the shifter.  I could not shift anyway, so I figured, why not?  That course was stupid hard on a single speed, but I ended up on the podium!

Single Speed Ladies! (Full disclosure, I was third, the first place woman bailed before the podium) 

The next race of the season was Hyattsville.  My bike was fixed and I was feeling pretty good about racing.  Plus, there were FORTY, yes 40 women signed up for the Cat 4/5 race.  How awesome is that!? 

Front row start and our game faces on.
Photo credit: Charlie (or maybe George) Lewis

After having a bad start, I fought my way into the middle of the pack, chasing down my teammate Christine.  Christine had been training all year and had gotten much faster, much more confident, and got a shiny new Breadwinner, too!  All of those things combined has made her a formidable opponent that I really enjoy racing.  I would slowly catch up to her on anything technical, but she would quickly pull away on the flats and the hills.  It was a race within a race!  I did crash once after hitting a pothole too brake heavy and having a friend yell at me from behind to lay off my brakes (thanks, Ann!).  Luckily the bike was fine, but I smacked my knee pretty hard.  Either way, I lost a couple of places and scrambled to catch back up to Christine.  It took the whole freaking race, but I finally was able to catch her and pass her.  We had a lively sprint finish with me winning (for 12th place) by less than a second. 

The bike held up beautifully, even if I did not!
Photo credit: Someone on Team Bikenetic (sorry!)

I ended up doubling up and racing the Women's Cat 4 race at noon and felt much better about my race.  I ended up 8th and passed a couple of Cat 3 women who started a full minute ahead of us.  I was slowly getting used to racing on a drop bar bike and figuring out how to handle it better.

The next weekend was the Shenandoah MTB festival.  We went, we camped, I took my shiny new Kona on some fun mountain bike trails.

One of these is the right tool for the job.  One of these is not...

I quickly learned the limitations of cross tires on rocky trails...  That ended that for the weekend.

Ripped sidewall.  Whoops!

The next weekend was Schooley Mill.  It was a relatively uneventful race day.  I came in 10th in the 4/5 race and 11th in the Cat 4 race.

The next weekend was the best full weekend of racing in the MABRA region.  DCCX!!!  I failed miserably at gathering photos from this race weekend, but it was a perfect weekend.  Sunny, warm, and full of wonderful bike riding friends.  Day One had 40 women signed up for the 4/5 race.  I ended up a disappointing 14th, but had a race with no mechanicals or crashes, so I was happy.  Unfortunately, due to the UCI schedule, all the women raced at the same time.  So I only did one race on Day One.

However, I made up for it on Day Two.  I decided the afternoon of Day One that I was going to do the early race, which was the Men's Cat 5 race.  For those who are not familiar with USAC rules, women can race any men's race one category down (or 10 years older, in the case of master's races).  I signed up day of and had the BEST time in that race.  I lined up with 75 men as the only female.  Since I registered day of, I was in the very back, which was fine.  The men's Cat 5 racers are often aggressive and terrible bike handlers.  The whistle blew, and we were off.  The first run up was a giant cluster of men getting off their bikes or falling over.  I was able to pass a bunch and move up in the field from dead last at the start.  I also heckled a few of them as I passed with a big grin on my face.  I am sure that was probably unappreciated.  Whoops. I fell in with a couple of guys and we battled back and forth quite a bit.  It was a pretty fun time overall and I made up a few spots and ended up 51st out of 76.  Not bad for my first men's race!

Since I have no photos handy of DCCX, here is a great photo of me going over some barriers.
Photo credit: Anna @ Hyattsville CX

The women's Cat 4/5 race was relatively uneventful, but I did have a blast chasing after teammates and friends.  I ended up 14th again.  If nothing else, I was consistent.  I got talked into doing the Single Speed race in the afternoon.  This was my third race of the day and I was already a couple of beers ahead of the curve.  It hurt, but I am SO glad I did that race.  One of my dirty Kanza compatriots and I did it for hand ups.  I had no less than three beers and a shot of whisky per lap.  It was a blast.  I ended up 8th out of 10.

A few days after DCCX, I had a non-cycling injury of my neck and shoulder.  I raced Biketoberfest in the Women's 3/4 category and had a relatively surprising finish of "not last".  I was unable to turn my neck and that course was FULL of corners.  I really enjoyed the course and can not wait to go back next year and race it uninjured. Due to my injury, I sat out Tacchino, but did go (and worked as the medic) to check out the new course venue.  It was pretty awesome and the weather (cool and rainy) made it pretty epic.

Speaking of rainy...  It rained ALL night before Ed Sander Memorial Cross.  I mean a couple of inches of rain and still misty in the morning.  This turned a relatively fast and flowy course into a nightmare of mud and freshly cut grass.  I had deliberately skipped the early race due to a brewery tour the previous day.  We still got to the race venue relatively early and was able to immediately note that this was going to be a touch day to get through.  I hopped on the course to pre-ride on my Kona, rode less than a quarter of a mile, got off the course and decided it was not worth ruining the bike to pre-ride.  I also immediately made the decision to race my Niner due to the mud clearance and less expensive drive train.  (Good choice!)

Watching the Men's Cat 4 race before my race was probably a bad idea.  There were SO many broken drive trains and DNF's.  But I was a good bike handler in mud and felt relatively confident about my race.  The USAC officials actually ended up cutting about 3/4th of a mile off the back end of the course after the men's race.  It was unrideable: 8-10 inches of sloppy, sticky mud.  That made me feel even better!

The extra mud clearance was definitely an advantage!
Photo Credit: Charlie Lewis

As usual, I had a terrible start, but was able to easily start picking people off in the muddy sections.  I even was able to pass Helen, who is a WAY better bike handler than me.  Flat bars and flat pedals have their advantages.  I had moved into fourth place on the third lap and had put a decent sized gap on those behind me... 

Apparently, I went a little crazy in the mud.
Photo Credit: Ben Kristy of Dominion Cycling

Until the last muddy section before the finish stretch when my rear derailleur stopped working and suddenly my chain would not stay on my front chain ring.  I stopped to try and clear the mud, but every time I tried to pedal, the chain just slipped off.  There was too much mud and something was wrong with my rear derailleur.  UGH.  I got passed by one person and off running I went.  There was one lap to go on the counter.  My Kona was in the pit, but maybe the officials would take pity on me and change the lap counter to zero!  No such luck.  And I did not even get to finish my run to the pit.  I got pulled.  They let two more ladies go through (HAHA they had to do another muddy lap!) and I ended up in 7th. 

Toxic Mud...

To almost everyone's dismay, about three days after the race, it became very apparent that the fields at Ed Sanders was covered in poison oak...  I am STILL itching.

Rockburn, which was my favourite course last year, was still a lot of fun this year.  However, they took out some technical off camber turns that I really enjoyed.  I had a fast and fun first race, finishing in 5th place with no mechanicals or crashes.  My second race was also a lot of fun and I got to chase down Christine again, finishing 10th. 

Winchester was only one day this year and they took pretty much every hard section of both days and turned the course into a super technical monster.  I LOVED it!  After getting stuck behind someone who bobbled early on in the race, I spent the rest of the race trying as hard as I could to catch up to the lead group.  I kept them in my sights the whole race, but was consistently 20-30 seconds behind.  It was a hard fought race, but I just could not catch them.  I ended up in 6th, which I am happy with that result!

Stay tuned for more!