My new blog. Simple clean no frills or fluff. Just my thoughts and words on what its like to still be out there racing and training. The old blog is still out there, lots of words on an old life, old journey, lots of coaching and racing stuff, then and a little on the weird transition to life as it is now, which is pretty awesome. The last post over there was Oct of 2017 which was just before my Dad passed away, I was pretty distracted and unmotivated following that with not a lot of energy or motivation to get out there and do any big races. Also my very busy teenager…..15 then, so involved in multiple teams and organizations and living a teenager life. So much of 2018 was spent ubering him every where. I believe I spent most of 2018 in my truck driving and trying to squeeze in workouts. Now 2019, a new year, a 16 yr old with his own car who is always at practice or work and suddenly I have more time to actually train with a real purpose, try new things, new races and events. What a season it was! which motivated me to start this and put it all in words because this season of racing might be hard to top or repeat.
Running and riding have been my sanity, but running is so easy. When life is crazy busy it is so easy to just put on shoes and head out the door, 4:30 am or squeezing it in when all you have is 45 min. Definitely more of an effort with bikes and gear and all that goes with it. Sometimes it takes me as long to get dressed and everything ready as it does to just do the work out. But, without planning it before hand, in 2019 I actually raced bikes more than did run races. I bought a mountain bike and my only real goal all year was to do Barry Roubaix, Mt Hood half marathon, and Chequamegon Fat40 Mtn bike race. Below is a small summary of some the amazing training, and racing adventures of 2019. It doesn't even touch on all the sweaty dirty bloody miles with 2 bouts of poison oak, countless bruises and cuts, scrapes and smiles and braids that went into this year of racing.
3 Gravel races: early spring and surprised to feel strong outside on short indoor training rides ( i try to avoid riding inside as much as possible but there was the polar vortex)
-Dirty South- 2nd OA female 36 mile. Epic southern Illinois hills bluffs that reminded me how much I love gravel and hills
-Rough Road- 1st female 64K open and my longest ride, 1 week before Barry Roubaix
-Barry Roubaix- 2nd masters 50 + the biggest in the midwest. I love this race, this hills the fun, the competition. I randomly decided to do the 62 mile 1 week before the race on minimal miles because, why not
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| Alto pass. Dirty south |
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| Post 62 miles of hilly gravel |
Mt Hood 1/2 marathon. 2nd 50-54. I loved everything about this race and will definitely be back for this if at all possible . With Mt Hood views in the distance, hills and so close to home this was such a fun challenging race and my new favorite half marathon.
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| Best view at race start |
3 Mtn bike races
Mud Sweat and Gears 3rd in my first mtn bike race
Palos melt down 3rd- expert div. this was HOT AF, i'm not technical enough to do the big girl race but would have loved another lap!
Chequamegon Fat 40- no words. So challenging, hilly and fun. I loved my first Cheq.
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| Palos meltdown |
RANDOM: 1st Grand masters at Batavia Turkey Trot on seriously very low running miles and no speed miles. Eye opening to the fitness you can have from a hard CX season . My time was only 15 sec off a year that I had been running a lot and fast miles. Apparently in running when you reach 50 you become a Grand Master, yet in cycling you still race 35 year olds but thats fine by me, they push you harder to go faster.
ChiCrossCup 2019- I really had no plans to do the entire season. Even though the races are short and local, its still a big effort to pack bikes gear, warm up check out the course, clean it all up and do it again each week. In my world of trying to be efficient and practical with time, sometimes it didn't make sense to do all that for such a short race every week. But this year was so fun, a new category for masters women helped with the motivation. This years CX season can be described as beyond muddy. Each week, a different version of slippery, thick sloppy, snotty, tractor pulling mud. I loved it. I don't' think I can call myself a mtn biker yet, but I can say for sure I am a mudder because I loved those muddy races. I tried to play it week by week until Campton Cx, but then realized I wanted to do it all and go as far as I could. I doubled up races early in the year to help build fitness. 2 laps in to the 2nd race of the day and you realize that there can be so very little left after racing 30 min all out beforehand. 11 Cx races plus the 3 or 4 I doubled up on and wow thats CX . Beyond happy to finish 2nd in the series in the inaugural women's masters 35 + division and a season of racing with my amazing teammates and masters women.
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| Psimet women |
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| Mud all day |
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| more mud all day |
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| Just 1 race without mud |
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| ChicrossCup masters 35+ |
Not enough thanks out there for my PSIMET team. This team is real! Heated, very warm tents with awesome teammates, support, cheers, in cold wind, sun or mud, every single week. Or enough thanks to my very good friend Brad. Ive known Brad maybe 10 years and as far back as Colonial group ride days, otherwise known as Tuesday night World Champs, when I would show up to ride with boys just to get faster. He convinced me to do some crazy racing and training things this season like into jumping into 62 miles of hilly gravel untrained, helped me start to learn some mtn bike skills and then actually doing a race on Mtn bike, and the continuous help with cleaning and maintaing 2 bikes during a very muddy CX season. I like to do most everything for myself, but certainly couldn't have made it though all the mud without help. Finally many thanks also to my long time friend and coach Jenny. She put up with a lot of randomness from me. I did a lot of this racing last minute or short notice, but maybe thats why this worked this year. She knows me and gets it .
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#Thisis50 don't be afraid
Cheers to 2020
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