Cool Springs Short Route: Birthday Ride!

Today is my birthday, and I celebrated with a run at lunchtime. The last time I ran was during the Rev3 Knoxville race, so it had definitely been a while. I will probably feel it tomorrow, but it was definitely worth it. My pace was 8:03--not good, not bad, pretty mediocre--for the 3.1 miles. I'll take it, especially since I'm not running much at all.

After work, I went home, opened a couple presents from my mom (pics to come), and then jumped on my bike for a ride. I didn't really want to ride with a group the whole time, but I did want to start with them. It ended up being perfect. I started with the group, the fast group took off right away, I stayed with them for as long as I could, then I cut off to the shorter route and rode the rest of the route solo.

Stats: 4-19-11. 4-12-11. 5-31-11.

• Total: 1:47:30, 31.7 miles, 17.7 avg (35.5 max), 160 HR (193 max)
  Total: 1:46:39, 31.9 miles, 17.9 avg (33.9 max), 151 HR (188 max)
  Total: 1:43:14, 30.82 mi, 17.9 avg (34.6 max), 158 HR (191 max)
• Warm up: 23:38, 5.9 mi, 15.1 avg, 145 HR
  Warm up: 21:24, 5.9 mi, 16.5 avg, 120 HR
  Warm up + rollout: 28:27, 8.08 mi, 17 avg, 128 HR
• Ride: 1:05:04, 20.7 mi, 19.1 avg, 169 HR
  Ride: 1:04:09, 20.9 mi, 19.7 avg, 160 HR
  Ride to route split: 17:32, 6.59 mi, 22.5 mph, 178 HR
• Ride to route finish: 12.05 mi, 41:34, 17.4 avg, 168 HR
• Cool down: 18:47, 5.1 mi, 16.2 avg, 151 HR
  Cool down: 21:03, 5.1 mi, 14.5 avg, 141 HR
  Cool down: 15:39, 4.1 mi, 15.7 avg, 148 HR

Weekend's Racing: State TT, MOAB Crit

This weekend was a fabulous one for racing. Holiday weekends are always good—not sure why, but they make everything more exciting. This one has been no exception. It started out Saturday with the State Time Trial. This was promoted by Tim Hall of NashvilleCyclist.com and Team Belladium. Todd took care of most of our responsibilities, which left us to ride our bikes. And ride we did! Plus he hooked us up with sweet wheels; these made me feel fast!

Catherine took some pictures while she was out there cheering us on, so hopefully she’ll share them so we can see my teammates’ setups, too! This was 40K of “you’re on your own!” trying to catch the women in front of you and trying to keep the women behind you from catching you. I loved it. We’d ridden the course twice before and I was very familiar with it, so all I had to think about was catching or not being caught. Both happened: I was caught and passed, but I caught and passed a few people, too. I rode my best, with no time expectation nor any other goal except to do my best.

This race was a success. My overall time was 1:11:03, which was good enough for 20^th out of 27. Stats: 1:11:03, 24.82 mi, 21 mph (35.2 max), 179 HR (189 max). I am so impressed with my teammates: Parri was 2^nd, Kat was 6^th, Anna was the 3^rd Cat 4, and the rest of us finished in the following order: Lisa S, Lisa C, Cali, me, Valerie, Shelly, and Jonell. I am so amazed by everyone’s races!

Today was a crit over in Murfreesboro. It was another beautiful day, another great venue, another chance for Team Belladium to shine, and another day of action. The 4s raced first, and I watched their race and cheered.

Cat 3/4s lined up

This also gave me a chance to check out the course and get prepared for what I had anticipated would be a hard race. Surprisingly, only 9 women showed up, and 5 of us were Belladium girls.

Lisa, Cali, me, Kat, and Parri ready to go!

We knew we had the numbers, and we had a plan, so I was ready to, again, do my best. Kat played a card early and was off the front for most of the race; Cali and Parri played a few cards later and were together for about half of the race; I had no cards to play and just raced as smart as I could. I stuck with Sandra, an SVMIC lady who I know is strong, and determined to make her do any required work while I sat on her wheel and did absolutely nothing. It worked out perfectly. Kat caught up to us and Sandra got on her wheel; I stayed on Sandra’s wheel again and still did nothing.

Mid-race: Olga, Lisa, Jess, Cali, Parri, Stephanie, me

On the last lap, I played the one card I had: a sprint. Sandra tried to attack up the last hill to catch Parri and Cali, but I knew she was going and was ready to go with her and do everything I could to out-sprint her. I succeeded, and because we’d gotten lapped we finished at the same time as Kat. But this left me in 4^th, Cali in 3^rd, Parri in 2^nd, and Kat in 1^st. Lisa S was able to finish with me, so she took 7^th. Overall, we pretty much dominated this race. It was so much fun, and it was relieving to not have to do too much work. Again, a super-impressive showing by my super-strong teammates!

Stats: 49:43, 17.62 mi, 21.3 avg (29.5 max), 178 HR (203 max)

Overall, the weekend has been amazing so far. Friday included a short ride to get a feel for the wheels and then an afternoon filled with helping Josh and Anna S move. And a little chat with my sister—I can’t wait to see my family in a couple weeks!

Late Ride

Val and I got a late start on our ride tonight, which also meant that we missed Kat on the road somehow. We got to an intersection and had to decide which way we thought Kat had ridden, and I made the wrong decision. Our ride was a little slow because we were looking for her the entire time and just kind of chilling, but it was very pleasant. Also, there were 3 sprint signs, so we did a little work! One was hidden and we didn't know it was coming up; two were at the top of the same hill (one in either direction). Val got the first because she happened to be leading, I got the first hill one, Valerie got the second (pretty much dominated up the hill the whole time). Thus she got the win for the ride (not that we were racing...).

This weekend is the State TT, and Todd hooked me up with some sweet wheels. My bike hardly looks like my own, and it is so light! That means I will be so fast tomorrow—can't wait!

NC.Com Crit #2

Today's NashvilleCyclist.com race was so different than the first of the series 2 weeks ago. There were fewer women in general, fewer Team Belladium women specifically, I had a different attitude, the winds were stronger. But I was looking forward to it just as much. Lisa C, Valerie, Shelly, and I were representing Team Belladium, and 4 teammates in a group of 11 was good odds; SVMIC had 3, and Cumberland Transit had 4.

Valerie and I got in a good warmup, riding from the wave pool, through Shelby Park, and to the stadium. Unfortunately during that warmup I picked up a few things in my tire and limped into the parking lot with a flat rear tire. I had a spare tube, so after pulling out the metal thorns (and getting Jeremy to help with one) and finding a pump, I was set.

Tonight was very windy, and that made a couple of the turns a little slower than they normally would have been. It also allowed for some attacks, which definitely happened. At one point, somehow, a CT lady and and an SVMIC lady got up the road a little—we couldn't let that happen if we wanted a chance to win (and of course we did!), so I worked to pull the 3 or 4 people behind me up to the group. Since there were only 3 teams and 2 of the teams were represented ahead, Team B had to work to reel in the 2 ahead of us. Sadly, by that time, it was just me in the group, so I did all the work. I really tried to get some of the CT and SVMIC women to come around and pull, but they just kept saying, "We have teammates up there. If you want to catch them, you have to do it,"; and, "You're on your own if you want to catch them!" Not what I wanted to hear (at that point I thought Lisa C was still with me), but I went for it and finally caught them.

We ended up as a group of 6 in the lead: 3 SVMIC women, 2 CT women, and me. I could really then just sit and wait for them to do something (and of course cover any attack) or wait for my chance to sprint. With less than 8 laps to go (inside the "no free lap" zone), my bike started to feel a little off around the corners. My first thought was that the wind had picked up. But I wasn't doing much work, so I shouldn't have felt the wind any more pronounced than it had been. Then I looked down and realized that my rear wheel was looking flat. I had to move to the back and figured that no one would know (and I'd just stay away from them on the corners). That only lasted so long—until I really couldn't corner at any speed whatsoever and still feel comfortable.

With 3 laps to go, I fell off completely and sadly had to let the 5 I'd been with charge to the finish. Todd said just to finish, so I did. Every once in a while, I'd see Val and Lisa behind me making up ground on me. I resolved to not let them catch me, and they didn't. But I didn't have a chance to sprint it out at the finish, and I was bummed about that. Plus Team B's highest finish was 6th, so as a team that's a disappointing low place. On a good note, we did finish 6, 7, 8, and 9, so we look like we all came across together!

Jonell and Anna were there cheering, and Jonell took a few pictures, so hopefully I'll be able to post a few so that this blog isn't so text-heavy! Stats:

• Warmup: 27:54, 7.17 mi, 15.4 mph, 135 HR
• Race: 31:16, 10.62 mi, 20.4 mph, 179 HR
• Cooldown: 26.21, 6.17 mi, 14 mph, 154 HR
• Place: 6 of 11 (5-11-11 place: 6 of 13)

Dropped Chain

Today during the Harpeth Club's Cool Springs ride, I dropped my chain at the most inopportune time. Not that there's ever a good time to drop it, but today I was with the big group, about 10 riders back from the front, and just starting up the big hill. I tried to switch to the small chain ring, and there when the chain. I know and was thinking, "Shift and pedal; shift and pedal!" Usually that works to get the chain back on, but there were too many people behind me that if I got my chain caught and couldn't pedal, I'd cause a pile-up. So, I pedaled (to no avail but I didn't want anyone to know my chain was off) until I got to a driveway where I could stop, out of the way. I got my chain back on, but the group had left me in the dust. I ended up with 2 guys, we caught who we could and ended up as a group of 5, and finished pretty strong. I was hoping to have been with the group but didn't want to work too hard. It was fun regardless.

Here are stats from the ride. 5-17-11; 5-24-11:

• Totals:
  1:45:00, 34.75 mi, 19.9 mph, 159 HR
  1:49:55, 34.47 mi, 18.8 avg (37.9 max), 159 HR (198 max)
• Warm up:
  21:32, 6.12 mi, 17 mph, 140 HR
  22:51, 5.84 mi, 15.3 avg, 131 HR
• Rollout:
  8:52, 2.35 mi, 15.9 avg, 134 HR
• Ride:
  1:08:54, 24.64 mi, 21.5 mph, 167 HR
  1:03:30, 22.36 mi, 21.1 avg, 175 HR
• Cool down:
  14:30, 3.9 mi, 17.5 mph, 160 HR
  14:42, 3.91 mi, 16 avg, 155 HR

Home Run!

Yum—the perfect summer meal!

Today we took a little time to recon the State TT course, and I am so glad we did. I do best when I know what a race course looks like before I have to race on it, and today was the perfect opportunity to get a feel for the course. It is going to be fun to race on next weekend! We rode out to the turnaround, chatted a bit there, and turned around to return to the finish. We spent a little time riding at the turnaround and at the finish.

• Totals: 1:35:31, 29.21 miles, 18.3 mph (35.7 max), 138 HR (177 max)
• Out: 34:00, 12.52 miles, 22.1 mph, 155 HR
• In: 39:50, 12.32 miles, 18.6 mph, 142 HR

Can you tell which way the wind was blowing? This gives me a good idea of what to expect next weekend. I am looking forward to being able to see far ahead of me so that I’ll know how far until I catch the next person in front of me!

After a couple hours of relaxing, I headed to Granny White Park for a Fellowship Team softball game. I’m sort of on the team and sort of not, since I really won’t be able to play that often because of racing. But today it worked out so that I could play, and I had a blast. There were a couple new players from last season but a lot of returning players, and we knew how to play together—that always helps make playing with others easier. I had to focus a lot on remembering that this was slow pitch and thus required a slower swim, and that focus paid off. My first at-bat was a single with 2 RBIs; my second at-bat was an in-the-park grand slam (that’s a first for me in this league); my third at-bat was a single that advanced but didn’t score the runner. I wasn’t quite as perfect in the field and need to work on that next time (if there is a next time before the fall season).

I’m not sure what all I was focused on, definitely on swinging right, knowing where to throw the ball, and knowing how many outs there were, and maybe that’s it. I didn’t pay attention to the final score (we might have won by runs, or we might have won by time limit, but we definitely won). I never know what inning it was. And I definitely didn’t notice until one of the last innings that we had 4 umpires. Oh, well, it didn’t really matter during the game, so I didn’t really let it bother me for the rest of the game. It did make me realize, though, why when I did umpire I had no idea what to do or where to stand.

SVMIC Drop Ride

This is called a drop ride, which means that if you fall off, you stay off and are dropped by everyone else why they keep going. They are fun because they force you to work hard, but they are not fun if you get dropped and don't know the route. I got dropped and didn't know the route, but thankfully Anna M had gotten dropped too and David F was kind enough to stay with both of us, so I still got in a great ride. The SVMIC ride is about 62 miles, but I cut 13 miles off because I wanted some TT practice for next weekend's state TT. I would guess (not having looked at my Garmin) that about 20 miles were with people and 19 miles were by myself.

I managed to stay with the group for the first 26 minutes. Yikes! They were moving fast!

Here is the route; I had to map it backwards because I couldn't remember how we'd gotten to Leipers Creek the first time I looked at the map. So what you see us going down at mile 21 we actually climbed.

Anna and I must have looked up around the same time and saw that hill. She asked what it was, and I said, "A wall!" David informed us it was Theta, one of the well-known difficult climbs around here. It wasn't long, but it was definitely steep and challenging!