Still not sure...(but now we are)

Shawn said he would like to try a road race. I told him that if he wanted to do Turkey Hill I would ride it with him. With only a few days and a few slots left in the 4/5 race we still are undecided. The weather looks gloomy. Cool and rainy, not the most pleasant of conditions. The 40k race is an interesting one though. There are a lot of little steep climbs, fast descents with some sharp turns. Rain could really make those turns rough. The finish is mostly uphill. After the final right hander you climb for about a mile, most of which is about a 4-6% grade. Then a slight down before a leg popper. It is short and steep (guessing 10-12%). After all that, you hit a dead flat straight run to the finish that is about 1k. It is fast. I putted around it today with an average of over 20mph. That was by myself in scouting mode and of course obeying all posted traffic signs (aka stopping at stop signs). The coolest part about this race is that they do a rolling closure. That means you can use the whole road all race long. Usually the center line is as far as they let you go. Go over it and you are pulled from the race (or run over by a car speeding at you). I guess I better talk to Shawn tonight.

The picture is from Sunday. It's Johanna Kraus. She's pro and you can see why. She ran her bike several times during the race and still finished 3rd. About 8 1/2 minutes back of first. Maybe I should learn something from that. ***Correction*** Katie is correct. I thought the number plate was #71. After careful review it is #271, Deidre York. She was in the Female Junior X 15-18. No wonder she could run so much. She's just a baby. ***

***UPDATE***

Turns out there will be three of us at Turkey Hill after all. Shawn and I will be doing the 4/5 with one Wes Schempf of VisitPA.com fame. Jeremiah is sticking with the original plan and going for the 3/4. A 92km (roughly 55 miles) race that climbs the Gamber Wall twice. I know Chad wanted to do this race so badly but I had to talk him out of it. He has his SAT's that day. Don't be stupid Chad. Haha! Anyway, come on out for some ice cream and a blazing fast race. It's free (don't quote me on the ice cream being free).

Two Qualify For Nationals

Here are your two Allied Milk riders that qualified for Nationals. Shawn (bottom left) and Sir Thomas the Tank (middle right). Shawn took 11th in the Expert 19-29 group while Tom (8th)and I (DNF) were riding in the 30-39 age group. Both guys put in great efforts after a brutal weekend at the Bakers Dozen. For me it was a mechanical. I was sitting in sixth very comfy when I just lost all my braking power. I decided not to be dumb and get hurt. Some courses you can fake it, not this one. You really needed to have good brakes. My mistake was running organic brake pads on a wet (I mean standing water wet) course. Live and learn, right?

Top center is Chris Eatough (#1) and Kyle Hammaker(#15). Chris is one of the best in the sport. Kyle could be. He's only 21.

A few things...

First off, sorry if my last post did not show the proper respect to Joel's amazing 28:18 lap. He truly is an incredible rider. I'd say he's improved the most out of all of us this off season. Not only that but a great teammate as well.

Secondly, we are pulling out of the Tour De Ephrata and probably downgrading the Turkey Hill race. This is purely strategic for later races in the season.

Last but not least...The pictures are my brothers (bottom picture on the left is Chad, top picture on the right is Sam). Sam is in Kuwait right now awaiting his trip into Baghdad. He will be over there for about a year.

My other brother Chad is heading over soon. He's in the 10th Mountain. He will be about protecting the "Green Zone" which is where Sam will be.

Whether you agree or not with this war, these are the people over there. They mean the world to their families and friends. Let's never forget that they are the people willing to do whatever their country feels necessary. Right or wrong.

I love you guys. Come home safe. There are far too many bad jokes to tell the two of you.

The Fastest Milkman was...

Well, after careful review of the results, it actually was Joel at 28:18. Word. My fastest lap was actually a minute slower but I had the most consistant laps of all of our riders. Plus, I did the most. 13 laps for a total of 100.1 miles. Tom and Joel ended up in 6th. One minute and two seconds back of 5th place.

Average Lap Times (Thanks to Thomas the Tank):
Tom 34:13.55
Joel 32:49.2
Dan 31:54.37
Shawn 32:21.45

Here's a link to the results: http://www.runnc.com/Assets/Young+and+Associates/docs/vamtb+teams+21.txt

It looks like Chad with be competing in the Tour De Ephrata this weekend. It's a two day, three stage race. There is a road race, ITT, and a crit. Crits are a blast to watch since the course is so short. The riders will go zipping past you a lot. Here's the hubbub: http://redroseraces.com/. Click on "Tour De Ephrata" at the top of the screen.

The reason I won't be there is because I'm heading with the mountain team to Greenbrier. We are looking to secure some spots at Nationals this years. The race this weekend is an automatic qualifier for those who finish high enough in their class. Fun stuff. http://potomacvelo.com/events/gc/GreenbrierChallenge.htm $8000 in cash on the line too.

13.25 hours later.

This weekend we sent two duo teams to Leesburg VA for the Bakers Dozen. A 13 hour enduro event. Before the race Shawn and I discussed our strategy. We decided to run single laps to keep ourselves fresh for the end and that I would take the first lap. The 7.7 mile course was fast, flat, and very choppy with a few log overs thrown in. Nothing too complicated but with the speed that you can run on this course, you could very easily burn yourself up quick.

Looking around at the start line it seemed to be about 120-140 riders on the line. I knew hitting the singletrack in the top 15 was key with that many starts. Let's face it, 40 riders would be a lot to all be hitting singletrack at the same time. The gun went off and I was eating dust. I kept my focus and picked off riders when I could. I hit the singletrack somewhere between 15-20th and as riders made mistakes picked them off. When we hit the double track I pushed hard to get around as many as I could. I knew our competition was tough. One team consisted of the reigning Semi-Pro Short Track National Champion and his partner is the reigning Junior Cyclocross National Champion. That's a lot of fast on one team. About 4 miles into the lap I picked off Jeff ('Cross Champ). He flatted. I made sure he was ok before motoring on. I went into 100% mode knowing that he was down. I wanted to get as much time on him as possible. I pulled into the transition area and sent Shawn on his way. A 29 minute lap. I refueled and waited for Shawn to come back around. This was the story for about 10 hours.

We were winning! Tom and Joel were right behind us too! First and second... When the night fell the fatigue set in. Our lap times which were steady 28-31 minutes started to slip to 35 minutes. At this point Tom and Joel had fallen to 4th or 5th. Shawn took a spill and Wes (Short Track Champ) and the third place team went past. Even if Shawn hadn't gone down, those two teams were coming up on us fast. I doubt I would've held them off. I was spent. We ended up third with 25 laps about 10 minutes back on first. 192.5 miles with an average speed of 14.5 mph for the day. That's a tough pace for 13 hours. Tom and Joel had 24 laps and finished in 5th or 6th.

Not a bad day.

Being on the podium we knew we were getting cash. Woo Woo! 80 whole dollars to split. You can see we do not do this for the money. They had various other awards too. One was for fastest lap. We knew it would be Wes or Jeff. After all they are National Champions right?

"With a time of 28:14. Allied Milk." went across the PA. The four of us looked at each other. "But who?" we asked. "The first rider on the team that podiumed." Shawn and I looked at each other. He said "That was you." I am still in disbelief. $50 for that effort. Of all the things I've done riding/life, it ranks in the top 5 of my proudest moments.

Bakers Dozen

This a slow week for the local racing scene so the mountain team is heading to VA for the Bakers Dozen. We are going to have two teams of two for this 13 hour event. Tom and Joel did this race last year and took 2nd. They will remain a team. While Shawn and I will be paired up for our first trip down. It's about a 2-2 1/2 hour drive from Lancaster if anyone is interested in going. You can find all the info here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=5576.

Ups and Downs

So my week was pretty crappy. I had a killer tooth ache that I went to the dentist for. He took x-rays and found nothing. Then he heard me sniffle a little. He asked "Have you been sick?" "Yes. " I responded. Long conversation short, I had a sinus infection and now I'm on meds. So not much training with two races this weekend. Oh boy, how do you think I did? Not so great. The first race was Mt. Joy road race. Chad and I had discussed earlier in the week about attacking early since we didn't feel we really had a shot at being on the top step of the podium any other way. Turns out he was sick all week too and here's his race story...

My day on Saturday started at 7:00 a.m. when I had to head to Mount Joy for a road race. The weather looked good, in the 60's with a slight wind. Nothing big compared to what I rode in two weeks ago in Kirkwood. I was not sure how I would do at this race since i was fighting a head and chest cold the week before. I only got in about 45-50 miles in that week. I thought I would work for Dan, but to my chagrin he had a sinus infection the same week. We both decided to "wing" it and see what happens. When I got down to Mount Joy I felt really good, not much of a cold left, and the first time this season for a race I was able to ride with short jersey and shorts! The race started off fast with me about mid pack, not a big deal since there are 2-3 climbs each loop, 5 loops of a total of 29 miles. I could see Dan was at the front. After the first loop I see Dan drop way back, he looked like crap. After the first lap it slowed down slightly and I stayed mid pack to the last lap. With 4-5 miles left there was an attack with a break away of 5-6 riders, not good this close to the finish. We picked up the pace and tried to make sure they did not make it. With less then 9/10 of a mile left we picked up 3-4 riders with 3 riders that we could not pick up get 1-3rd place finish. From this point I have felt great and had the legs for the best sprint a climber like myself could do. With it all said and done I came in 12th place. It of course would have been nicer for a top 10 but maybe next time. This placement was for the team since we have not had the best week or two of good news. This all so gives me the motivation to keep training hard and to know that i am on a good pace for peaking when I want to later in the season. O yes and Dan, I find out after the race he only did one lap and pulled out. He felt so much like crap that he did not even wait for me to get done. He headed home to try and recover for a Mt. Race the next day. Out.

I ended up DNF'ing after the first lap. I was hanging on but just barely and with a race the next day I thought it would be wise to admit defeat in this one. That brings with to Sunday. Fairhill Cross Country mountain bike race. I have to say, I was a bit tired of mountain biking last year but this season is all new energy. Ben, Tom, Joel, Shawn, and I all made the trip (plus a very supportive pit crew) ready to rock and roll. Ben did the beginner race (hey, he's the downhiller). He reported back to us that the trails were fast, flat, and almost like riding on the road. Normally I'd love a course like this. Fast is what I do best. Technical stuff is best left to Tom, Shawn, or Joel. They are like butter. This day though, I knew would be a challenge. You know, with the whole not being able to breathe.

Lined up waiting for the gun I had a great position. Second row, about 3 in from the end. It was a perfect spot to take the first turn as if it were straight. At the gun it was fast but I was hanging in there, sitting about 10th. There was a nice pace line for the first lap as no one really was able to get too far away. The second lap was my fastest and I felt great. I used the big ring the whole way. I was breathing (marginally important). The third lap was great until I got an empty feeling in my stomach. I realized I didn't eat enough but by this time it was too late. I bonked hard. My legs went numb. All you can do is spin out of the woods. People passed me. One racer threw me a GU (I owe him a beer or something). I just needed calories. My last lap was 5 minutes slower. That 5 minutes took me out of the top ten all the way to 19th. Tom took 10th. Shawn 8th and Joel 6th. So those guys did their part.

In other news...We have a new teammate. Her name is Brooke. Her first race will be sometime in May (she's busy at work until then so back off!). She plans on doing some of the Ultra Endurance 100 mile races and a 24 hour race. A real go getter. I forgot to get a picture though so you will have to wait to see her.

SmugMug to the rescue

There was a person who was paying attention on Sunday. He took many photos and these are just a sample. Joel has on his Popeye face or maybe he just got poked in the eye by a stick. Tom just email me and said to put that picture of him on because "...I can see I'm not nearly as lean as last season..." Shawn is in a classic MTB magazine cover pose. I think he tried it. The shot of me is cool because it's me...just kidding. Really it was because you can clearly see the tree tunnel we where riding through. Check out the rest of the pictures at: www.MLKImages.com. There are probably 500 pictures from this race alone.

A picture...

is worth 1000 words. Well, what if you forget to take said picture?

The night before the US Open Relay I got everything ready. Clothes. Check. Helmet. Check. Bike, water, food, tent, banners, squeeky horn, and camera. Check, check, check. Too bad the camera never made it out. I'm just not usually on the resting end of the camera I guess.

We did pretty well overall. 15 laps. The winning team, that consisted of 2 semi-pro and 2 pro riders, had 17 laps. It really wasn't that bad though seeing as they came in right before the cut-off and we were just a bit after the cut-off. Let's face it, they still crushed us, but they should. They did have the semi-pro National Short Track Champ on their team. As for our final placement, I'm not really sure due to the complex handicap scoring (mainly to help out the beginners).

Next weekend I'll be pulling double duty. The Mt. Joy road race is on 4-12. You can find the important info here: http://www.redroseraces.com/index.php?option=com_races&task=listRace&id=61&Itemid=42. Chad and I will be going off at 11:30. Sunday will be another mountain race. This one is at Fairhill. Important info here: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6071. This will be the first ever lap race at Fairhill. They are usually a point to point race. Shawn and I are already signed up but I believe Tom, Joel, Ben, and maybe Chris will be there.

In sad news...I found out today that the Tom Bamford Classic will not be run this year but should be back next year. This was a race I know almost everyone on the team was going to be in. Hopefully, things work out next year.

***UPDATE***
The final tallies are in...With the handicap added (of which we received 0 extra points), we were 31st of 67 teams. Without the handicap 6th overall. A keen eye would have noticed that the winning team did not have 18 laps like the original post stated but rather 17. So we were really only one lap down until they came across the line just before the cut-off. That is pretty good.

MLK took some really nice pictures of the race. Check them out here:http://www.mlkimages.com/2008%20Sports/444765.

The team relay in Marysville is almost here (4-6) and I know that the four of us that are going are ready. Well, early season ready that is. I was checking out the other teams at http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6044 and there are some good ones. One includes the 24 hour National Points Series winner Rob Lichtenwalner and another has the current semi-pro Short Track National Champion Wes Schempf. Plus the other teams with their various semi-pro/pro or expert riders. This should be fun right? Heh.

This early race will decide whether we focus on the MASS or other races. If we find ourselves too far back in the team points category we will likely cherry pick MASS races and focus on the endurance series (like the NUE). Sunday will reveal a lot for our season.

It should be a fun one to watch. If you can make it out, do so. We will have our nice blue EZ-Up with a few sponsors banners blazing. Just please do not feed the cyclists. Doing so could result in missing digits.

Blessings in Disguise...

On February 25th, I was super excited about the upcoming racing season and being on Allied Milk, my first ever bike team. I was on track to being in pretty decent biking shape, and all set to sign up for the Kirkwood race at the end of March. On February 26th, I broke my foot playing basketball and was bummed about not being able to ride my bike or run for about 6-8 weeks. On February 27th, Jeremiah and I found out that we're going to have a baby in November! My fitness and racing plans for spring and summer all changed within a matter of 48 hours. As with any disappointments or unmet expectations, it's necessary to look for the positive side, because it's easy to get caught up in self-wallowing despair.
So, instead of training alongside of Jeremiah, I now can become part of his (and the rest of the team's) fan club...the guys will probably need it for the first year:) I will be better able to encourage and support our team! My broken foot allowed me to realize that I take things like 'walking' for granted and how much I miss riding even my single speed to work. And parenthood? Wow, scary but totally exciting at the same time! So, bring on the racing season, I'm ready to cheer!
Kim