U23 Road Nationals

I spent the last week or so in Bend, OR at U23 nationals, and I'm now recovering from the long drive back yesterday. Bend, OR is a great town, probably one of the most bike friendly places I've ever ridden. The racing was a heck of an experience, starting off with the TT on Thursday. The course had two legs, the first was an out and back on a gradual climb, and the second was a lollipop loop with rolling hills that they had used for the junior road race. Time trialing has never been a strength of mine, but in the last week or so I've particularly struggled on the 35k+ courses, first at the Colorado State Championships, then at U23 nationals. I did the TT at nationals to give myself and my nerves something else to focus on than the crit at the end of the week, but I really struggled to find a good pace to maintain for the full length of the course.
Friday was the crit, which was the race I was there for, and the field was stacked because they had decided to throw the U23 women in with the elites. Vera Bradley, Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12, and Laura Van Gilder were a small fraction of the teams and riders that made the field the most powerful I've ever lined up with. Unfortunately, with 70 girls getting through the corners was a brake-and-sprint affair, which eventually wore me down, I got dropped, and then pulled a few laps later. In a sense I wish we had gotten our own race, because everything was dominated by elite team tactics which made the race quite a bit different than it would have been with only U23 women, but the experience was definitely worth while.

Wet weekend

We've had an uncharacterically wet few days in the Grand Valley; it kept drizzling on and off all weekend which just doesn't happen here. Not a welcome surprise for the folks that came to Grand Junction for Ride the Rockies, or those that went to Glenwood Springs for the Rocky Mountain Omnium. Though I didn't join them, my Colorado Bike Law teammates had a very successful weekend, despite the crit being cancelled entirely and the road race being shortened. The results for these last few stage races have been slow to come out and highly protested when they do, so I'm not going to try to list them here. This weekend we'll be back to a one day format and I'll try to give more details.

Back at it

It's been a fun, exciting season so far. Here's a quick summary:

I'm racing for Colorado Bike Law and we had our spring training camp in Grand Junction, which turned out to be lucky for the Front Rangers that came over because it was snowing on the other side of the mountains.

I raced another collegiate road season for Mesa State. We capped off an already successful season with a strong performance at nationals in Madison, WI. Richard Geng brought home national titles in the criterium and individual omnium and our men's team won the team time trial to help earn a 2nd place in the team omnium competition.

This past weekend I made a trip up to Aspen for their annual criterium. It was a small but strong Women's Open field and I came in second in the photofinish field sprint to Jessica Phillips, the elite TT national champion.

For Memorial day weekend, I'll be joining my teammates in Superior, Co for the Superior Morgul Classic Omnium.

Freeze/thaw and cycles

On Saturday I got in my second (cue trumpets) OUTSIDE ride in Burlington this year. A balmy 32 degree day had me ecstatic, and I was further relieved to see that my tire pressure held well enough over the 3 weeks since my previous outdoor ride that I didn't have to deal with my pump. I have this problem with bike maintenance - I just don't like to do it and I can't seem to get over it. The tire pumping thing is a personal issue that I have yet to work out, partially because I'm somehow convinced that training on uninflated tires will make me feel faster on race day (possibly true, but what good does feeling faster do me?). Part of the problem with bigger repair projects is that everything has to come into the apartment, because it's just too cold on my uninsulated porch to be able to do any work out there. Dirty bikes in the apartment means dirty apartment, which means more work for me. So I've decided to avoid my bike repairs by searching for a senior seminar topic, while it rains outside and literally melts away my alternative workout option. I also have a serious problem with riding a trainer for very significant lengths of time, so I've been doing a whole lot of xc skiing. But unless it's miracurously snowing a few miles down the road, I better hope it stays warm or I'll be stuck on the trainer, in which case I'll probably resort to bike repairs to avoid my workout. Here's to either warm weather or a heck of a lot more snow.

Gremlins in Schralptown

Finals are done, and I have to say I must have spent more time last week trying not to study or write papers than I did actually doing work.  Things I did to pass the time include:

• crocheting a hat
• going to a Hanukah party
• reading other people's blogs (see sidebar)
• doing laundry 
• cooking 
• going to the gym and doing a lot of cross training
• running an NMR - technically, this is work, it's like an MRI for a chemical compound

It got to be a bit ridiculous, and by Friday night I was more than ready to get home.  Since I've been back, I've been coaching with the race club I skied for when I was younger.  

The skiing has been epic; powder day after powder day has made running gates a challenge, but the snow's amazing so it's hard to really complain.  It's rewarding to see the kids improve over the course of days and amazing to see them grow up over the course of years.  This early in the season they're still getting their ski legs back and almost everyone's made huge strides this week.  Today we couldn't run gates because with the soft snow the athlete's safety becomes an issue. Instead, we ripped around the mountain with the gremlins, and to top everything off, we got first legal tracks on one of the best runs at Powderhorn.  

Besides that, I've been doing some hiking and running, and looking at my new hardtail that I haven't gotten a chance to ride yet.  The parts from the XC bike I broke are now on a new Rocky Mountain Hammer frame, but the same snow that's made for sweet week at Powderhorn has kept me from getting out on the bike.  Can't complain though, and it's good to be home

Procrastination

It's a beautiful thing... it's finals week, but also one of the few times this semester that I've been able to get away with putting work off for an hour or so. I'm looking forward to a winter break ski coaching at my home resort, getting outside as much as I can, and catching up with friends.
Mountain bike season came and went, with as much spirit as ever. All I can say is that it's amazing what you can find at Goodwill. I know what you're thinking - and yes, that's homemade. The new race rig, a bright orange Santa Cruz Blur XC, was broken in the hard way, lots of racing and not much time to just take it out for a ride. My beloved old xc bike is getting built up as a hardtail by the guys at Over the Edge, which is one more thing to look forward to when I get back home.
Nationals was down in Banner Elk, NC at Lees-McRae College once again this year. As promised, I stuck to the endurance event to avoid mishaps like last year's concussion in the dual slalom. We took 5th as a team for the second year in a row, and I had a great time slopping around courses in the muck.

High and dry

It’s the end of the summer
I thought this day would never come
My poster is finished
My project is done

-lyrics by Dr. Peter Butler

My internship at Hershey is finished, my belongings (except the duffel and road bike that are with me) are scattered across the floor in my new apartment, one of my close friends is now married and I'm hanging out in Junction. I haven't raced since 'Toona, but that will change tomorrow as I head out to Colorado Springs to try track racing for the first time. I'm looking for a new cross country bike since collegiate mtb season starts soon and my old rig has a crack halfway through the top tube. I've been doing a bit of hiking, seeing a bunch of people and preparing for the Green Mountain Stage Race over labor day weekend.