Racing into the Season

Got my first two races of the season in over the past week.  And 4 more coming up over the next week and a half!  Then there is a bit of a quiet spell for a while.  I don't really understand why there is barely anything going on on the race schedule in May or June.

Sunday April 12
Blue Ridge Gravity D Cup Finale

Running the Gauntlet

Headed up to Roanoke VA with my friend Candi for a day of riding at Carvin's Cove, a badass trail system around a reservoir just outside the city.  There are mountains here, 1200 feet of elevation mountains, which makes for some fun downhill runs, if you are willing to climb to the top!  Which we did!  We decided to ride up the doubletrack access road rather than ascend the much steeper and more technical trail named Hi-Dee-Ho.  I've been up Hi-Dee-Ho and I hike-a-biked the entire thing.  We rode up the road, and it was long, and uphill. The. Whole. Way.  50 minutes at about a 6% grade, and I only stopped twice--once to raise my seat, and once because I changed gears the wrong direction--oops.  I am almost more proud of accomplishing that uphill than racing the downhill!

That climb though...

Yes, I forgot to mention the race!  We ventured to VA for the final Blue Ridge Gravity D Cup race.  The local group puts on a series of free, fun, hand-timed races over the winter on the local mountain trails.  This was the only one I was able to make it to this year,  though next year I will definitely keep them on my radar.  Everyone was really nice and we ended up having 5 super fast ladies racing down.  I ended up in 4th.  I was kind of disappointed, but I didn't really give it my all.  It is 2.5 miles of DH and I didn't want to kill myself.  I really wanted to see how physically fit I was and I think I passed the test.  The race was finished before I really got tired!  Good sign for my conditioning over the winter, though the race didn't really require much sprinting.  The trail we raced, Gauntlet, is mostly straight and super fast.  Not my specialty.  Flat out speed scares me a bit, so I hold back on trails like Gauntlet.  Give me steep and techy! My friend Candi rocked it and I think she came in 3rd on her new bike, and never having ridden the trail!  The winner, another friend and local VA shredder, just had a baby 10 days previously.  Now, that is badass!

Kelly, Trish, Me, Candi, and Renee

All in all, it was a fun day and I loved the stress free fun race environment.  I loved racing in my colorful gear from my 2015 sponsor Flare Clothing Company and can't wait for my 2015 kit to come in the mail for the next few races.  The biggest bummer was that we had to ride back up to get back to the other side of the mountain to our car.  My legs were pretty shot.  Cue the hike-a-bike.

Saturday April 18
Southern Super D Series #1

Me and Zoe running practice laps at Hobby Park

I geared up just 5 days later and headed out to my local trails at Hobby Park in Winston Salem for the first Southern Super D Series Race.  This is such a fun series and I really enjoyed doing it last year.  Some of the local shops and clubs put it together and they get some amazing sponsors and have great series prizes.  It is also pretty low key and fun and relatively stress free.  We had a good turnout for the ladies once again, with another field of 5!  Last year at many of the races it was just me and my friend Candi, who unfortunately is not able to make the races this year due to her work schedule.  I was excited to ride with my friend Zoe this round. I haven't seen her in 2 years despite the fact that she lives 1.5 hours away!  She is a kickass XC rider and a pretty good dirt jumper too, which is how we met.  I've never ridden trails with her so it was really fun to do some practice runs together and we rode a lap of the park trails after the race. 

I had a pretty good race.  Came in second behind Zoe, which was no surprise.  A girl can dream though and since she went in front of me I made it my goal to try to catch her.  Which, obviously, I did not accomplish.  The course has a pretty wicked climb at the end and I feel like it didn't bring me as close to death as last year, but it was still a challenge. 

All the ladies shredding at Hobby Park.  Clockwise:  Allie, Zoe, Michelle, Podium, Me, Trish

Hoping to see lots of ladies this upcoming weekend at the second Super D race in Boone!  And now, I have to go prep for my first XC race of the season tomorrow night.  Kill me now.

Wishing I could DH on Wednesdays...

With Downhill, it seems planning is half the battle, especially when you work a job that doesn't give you weekends off.  I am in the process of trying to decide which weekends are worth the fight at work of requesting more than one weekend off a month.  Anyone who has a job with weekends off, count your blessings!   Your planning battle is quite a lot less stressful.  Imagine planning to go ride for a weekend, making reservations, paying entry fees if you are racing, but not knowing for sure if you will get the weekend off until two weeks before.  I've been screwed over a few times and it is not fun.  I am not even asking for vacation, just your typical two days off in a week.  But I work in food service, and they don't like your two days to be on a weekend.  I cannot wait to finish school so I can get a "real job" and ride my bike the way I want to.

I purchased a monthly planner and added all the events on the East Coast that I might be interested in doing with post-its, that way I can remove the ones I don't do, but I still have them on the calendar just in case something works out that I can make an event that I didn't think I could.  I am also using this as my training log.

I have a few key downhill races I hope to do, not as many as in the past since the number of races in the southeast has been significantly reduced this season and I can't travel to the northeast that often. Here in the southeast they are running a Southeast Series at a few different mountains.  It is a new concept, but only includes 4 races. (Granted, we don't have that many mountains). Previously we had a race series at two of the mountains for a total of 6 races, plus one independent race at a 3rd mountain.  In comparison, the northeast has something like 20+ DH races, plus a few local races, but most of those are at least 9 hours away for me (that makes a 4 day weekend, which food service likes even less).  I know races are expensive to run and the concept of a Southeast Series is a great one and one that I would like to support.  Unfortunately, my schedule will only allow me to get to 2 of the 4 races.  I hope that the concept will grow and that we will see more DH races here in the southeast in the future so our very skilled pool of riders can have more opportunity to test their mettle.  Making your way in the world of DH racing and gaining sponsorships depends a lot on visibility, but without the opportunity to be visible many talented riders here in the southeast struggle to keep their passion to compete a reality.

Between DH weekends, we do have a fun local XC series, hosted by Racing in the Woods, that I am planning to hit a few times during the season to keep my cardio strong.  I also intend to race at all 4 of the Southern Super D Series races this year.  Last year I took home a lot of loot for winning 1st place in the series.  Both of these series have a great group of local racers and are loads of fun.  I highly recommend them to anyone looking to get out and try some racing this season.  I am also looking forward to trying some BMX racing at our nearby track at Tanglewood and gaining some new skills from that when I can fit it in.  Some BMX racing will have me tuned up for our Blue Ridge Pumptrack Series in the fall too!

Brad and I riding the pumptrack at Rocky Knob Bike Park in Boone, NC, one of the venues for the Blue Ridge Pumptrack Challenge.

There will also definitely be a week at Highland Bike Park in New Hampshire, because that place is amazing and great for skills, and well worth the 14 hour drive.  And of course a few weekends at Snowshoe and Beech just to get shreddy.

And to top off the season, I have already registered for the Liv Ladies AllRide /GRIT Clinic at the Bike Farm in Pisgah National Forest in September.   I am really excited to work with some rad coaches in Pisgah and meet some more women stoked on bikes.  I would highly recommend signing up for this clinic now if you've ever wanted to ride Pisgah or if you already do!  It is going to be badass and it is going to fill up fast!

Before We Know It

It will be here...spring, then summer, then over too quickly once again.

March is coming quickly, and winter doesn't really want to let us go.  We've had a great winter for on the bike training here in the south, but over the past two weeks winter has decided to come for us.  Below freezing daytime temps and ice and snow have shut the south down.  It doesn't take much winter to shut us down because we are not equipped for it since it happens so rarely.  I'd rather the government pay someone to build bike trails that we can use 11 months out of the year than to pay someone for snow removal equipment that would get used 5 days out of the year.  Northerners may laugh at us, but I say, more bike trails > being able to get around 365 days / year.

With spring coming, I am making my best attempt to get training mode in full swing.  I joined a gym mid December and stuck to my weight training plan pretty well through January.  14 weeks of pushing my limits felt pretty good.  Granted, my fitness level was pretty sad at the start, so my limits are not that high...yet.  One of my biggest Achilles' heels last season was my fitness.  I think it stemmed from being sick a lot last winter and not being able to get my base fitness in and then not being motivated to do anything once the busy-ness of the season set in.  I suffered from quite a few pulled muscle injuries last season that I believe came from poor base fitness.  Not this season, not this girl.

I took a rest week the second week of February and got some riding in and planned to get back to the gym last week, but then winter came and I couldn't leave my driveway, so I got a nice week of laying around and really resting.  Back in the gym this week, yesterday being my first day back, and boy, did it feel good.  Starting a new workout phase and feeling new muscles working is always fun.  I have been using the workouts in "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" in case anyone is interested.  It is a great book for anyone, beginners and more advanced weight trainees looking for a routine.  I have started the workouts 3 times, but this is the first time I have made it through the first phase and moved on to phase two.  I am pretty excited to see where it takes my strength.

My second Achilles' Heel is my mental condition.  Not that I am crazy or anything, although I am sure there might be someone out there who would contest that.  I have never really done any mental training.  I wonder how many riders do?  How many of my readers have a mental training plan?  Goal setting?  Pre-race routine?  I have always heard about it, especially for downhill, which is a sport where poor mental preparation and condition can really inhibit even the most physically fit and skilled rider.  They say if you take 20 athletes with similar talent and physical training and give 10 of them mental training, those 10 will outperform the others every time. I had a few discussions with some pro ladies about mental preparation last season, but never really acted on it.  I intend to this season.  And goals?  They are going big, baby, you can count on that.

(Maybe mentally I have some repressed anger issues.)

So, my two Achilles' Heels:  fitness and mental preparation.  In reality, even though my results were good, last season I felt like I had both of my heels taken out.  I never felt in the game last season.  My confidence was a bit shaky after a few lingering muscle injuries and a tough race in the mud early in the season where I had my goals set on the wrong thing.  Having your goals set on the right thing is important, and if you want to win, that should not be your goal.

My goal right now:  go out and run in the snow.