Almanzo, revisited

What a difference a year makes!

Last year, I felt like I was prepared for the ride. This year, I knew I was. With some shifts in schedule and life, I've been more consistent and deliberate in my training. Add in the fact that I'm entering my fourth year of competitive cycling, and you can surmise that I'm getting the hang of it.

The lead-up to this year's Almanzo was filled with apprehension about the sheer number of riders taking the start line. A whopping 1,400 sent in postcards, and while I knew they wouldn't all show up, even if a third of them didn't, it would still be huge. And that, to me, meant dusty and sketchy. With that many people full of adrenaline, the race could conceivably end very badly, very early.

Our travel squad this year included a caravan of Schmidty and Corey (now dubbed Lil' Sprout and the Jolly Green Giant) followed by Berly, Ashley and I taking over Corey's Mint Julep Honda Element for the weekend. We were staying in a converted elementary school in Preston, and met up there with  with Linda and Tim Kelsey, Dave McCollough, Jenn, and Mark Falloon and his family. The weather on the drive up was mild, but once we hit Minnesota, the wind picked up and it got much cooler...rain. As we pulled off the interstate to head toward Spring Valley, the rain really picked up. No dust!!

The JGG and Lil' Sprout

Rain to the east, heading north

Wiper warp, steady rain into Spring Valley

The warrior princesses unloading at our converted elementary school accommodations.

The ever-gorgeous welcome packet. A thing of art and love.

Literal sign-in tent

After checking into our awesome accommodations in Preston -- the old elementary school that had been converted into suites -- we headed back to Spring Valley to check in to the race. Saw a few good buddies from Iowa, signed our names on the tent, and headed to the grocery store so I could make dinner for us. Corey made sure all our chains were in smooth working order, and we slowly headed to bed, all packed up for the morning.

The guys headed off earlier so Corey could start the Royal, so we ladies took our time getting ready and stashing a cooler of water and goodies just off the road on course.

In Spring Valley, we wasted no time getting outfitted, and rolled to the start together, managing a spot quite close to the front of the pack mostly just by listening to directions.

Berly and Ashley rolling to the start

The gravel goddesses of Sheclismo

The air was just buzzing at the start. Bikes were filling several sloping blocks of the main street in Spring Valley, curb to curb. When Chris Skogen, the race organizer, took the microphone from the bed of a truck atop the hill, he welled up. He was quickly saved by his radio announcer-father, who shared in a beautiful baritone how this was his son's dream come true. Chris then shared that if you like this event, go home and start your own. Community building at its finest. It was really beautiful.

Looking back down Main Street

Chris Skogen addressing the crowd

We rolled through the streets of Spring Valley, including a fun moment of going around both sides of a traffic island that felt like the overhead shots of pro pelotons look, and we hit the gravel and were off. Got several early compliments on the kit, not recognized as local and bearing our "Women Taking The Wheels" boldly across the back. Damn proud of that bit of copy, am I.

Miles and miles of bikes on gravel

Quite early on, I connected with my buddy Meredith, a kick-ass cyclocross racer from Madison. We rode together for a bit, but while I'd get ahead of her on the descents, after a few climbs she was gone. I knew better than to believe this was really a training ride for her. Like I said, she kicks ass...

Let's climb, eh?

While I occasionally tucked into a group, I was mostly again in the position of riding alone. One good problem of riding with the guys I usually roll with around here is that I'm fortunate to be used to riding with a group of very experienced cyclists. Consequently, where I feel safe on their wheels, I was repeatedly sketched out by people I was riding around. Better safe and solo...

Luckily, the wind wasn't that bad, and so I was putting down a pretty solid solo average pace. Hard on the easy stuff, easy on the hard stuff. Rode past a dude rocking cut-off Wranglers with a can of Four Loko in his bottle cage -- "Mile 80, it's gonna get weird" -- that reminded me of Malcolm and Rhino. The miles were ticking by, and before long, I was at my stashed cooler in Preston.

Photo by Craig Linder of solo gravel crushing

After grabbing a bunch of food, refilling my bottles, and munching on my yummy boiled potatoes, I took a nature break and emerged from the woods to find Linda Kelsey walking up to me, saying "hey, I have those bibs!" I wasn't anticipating seeing her, and since she was heading from Preston to the next checkpoint in Forestville, I scrambled to put together a bag of snacks to have there, too. The luxury of selection! She wished me well and I headed up the highway toward the water crossing introduced by a torn-down bridge. 

Water crossing #1

At this point, I think my social nature was dying to override this solo ride action, and I was cracking all sorts of jokes about cyclocross on the muddy descent, telling everyone how nice and cold the water and mud felt on my feet, etc. etc. To virtually no avail. Finally, coming up the other side, some guys from Iowa start chatting with me about the dry 2012 season, and then we talk about the much more fun 2011 Jingle Cross. One of the guys is originally from Benkleman, NE, and was shocked to find out I knew where it was. We rode side by side for awhile, and then suddenly, the gravel got deep for the first time all day.  

Folks were riding on the spongy soft side in the grass, and meanwhile, with the TransIowa gravel fresh in my memory -- along with the memory of Mark Savery floating past me on some really deep white rock on the Tour of Dirt Roads last year -- I just went for it, powering down the middle and past groups of riders. A few miles into it and I put myself in the running for Amazingly Snarky Statements of the Year by saying "Hey guys, this is a gravel race, not a grass race!" as I charged by. This prompted a couple guys to hop on my wheel, requesting a pull up to their buddies. Ha!

The gravel mellowed out and the clouds rolled in, and before much longer I was pulling in to Forestville, where I was met by Linda's darling support crew buddy, Ringo.   

Linda and RINGO!!

As I went to grab my bag of goodies, I heard my name from across the road, and up comes Erin Young, formerly of Greenstreet and now back in his home state of Minnesota. He was hanging with a fun group of Minneapolis folks taking an extended break, and I hoped maybe I could hop in with them, since I had certainly transitioned from solo "crushing it" pace to solo "I'm-kinda-bored-of-this" pace. He got ready to go a little faster than I did, but luckily I caught him at the water station just up the road. And more luckily, he suggested he'd be riding to the finish with me. After riding with the front group early on, he was feeling like chilling out a bit. Score!!

We rode and chatted at a nice, comfortable pace, and the miles were going by super easily. A kid was selling "homemade Grandma cookies" at .25 cents apiece, tearing up his lungs giving his sales pitch to riders, so obviously we had to stop there. A few miles later, there was a raucous crowd, people lining the street giving high-fives, and a loud cowbell ringer offering free cold beer. Mile 76? Oh yeah, that's gonna happen. We split one...just the perfect amount of refreshing tasty calories.

Beer break with Erin at mile 75

Onward, with Erin bombing descents and pushing my courage. So fun. Just before the second water crossing, we see Chris Skogen in the road, rerouting folks a couple miles around what had apparently become quite the raging river. Watch this video. Holy smokes.

The first rider fords the Root River at mile 81.5 during the Almanzo 100.
Following riders attempted to cross but many were knocked over by the thigh-deep, swiftly-moving water.
Eventually, race organizer Chris Skogen rerouted the remaining riders to avoid the river crossing.

We had a couple more big climbs, including the dreaded Oriole Road. Once we got to the top (where we spied a sweet cabin and camper in the woods and probably should've stopped to see if we could buy it), with 8 or 9 miles left and a wind that's steadily picked up, Erin catches his 7th wind.

About where Erin hit his 7th wind and we decided to smash all the pedals to the finish.

I try to take a photo of the beautiful valley we've just climbed out of, fail, and then it's game on to the finish. Pace goes UP. Erin is crushing it into the steady headwind, I'm on his wheel, and we're cruising by riders by the dozen. It's really exhilarating. I take a short pull and want to cry. We turn into a crosswind. "Holy shit," I say. "What's wrong?" he asks. "Nothing, just, wow, we're flying," I say, to which Erin replies, "yeah, when you pass, you gotta pass hard." Somehow, completely unexpectedly, I'm racing to the finish, the way you're "supposed to" do it. On the paved road approaching the finish, once again we fly past rider after tired rider. We come up on one who does latch on, Royal racer Eric Brunt. I get distracted, lose the wheel, but don't really care. The finish tape is in my sights, there's no one close to my wheel, I've passed 4 women in the last 5 minutes, and we have a mini-cyclocross course bit to the finish line.

I flow through the park, completely alone again, and roll across the line in exactly 7 hours of ride time. Add in about 45 minutes of breaks, and I beat my time from last year by a full hour. I have no idea where this ranks me, but I don't really care. I had a great ride.

Face after realizing I'd forgotten proper street clothes to change into after the race.

The beautiful Berly Brown, finishing with a huge smile on her face.

Had a nice time hanging out with various folks at the finish and waiting for Corey, Ashley, and Berly to come in. With a great success rate, 100% of our Nebraska crew finished, with no one smiling more broadly than Ms. Berly.

Sunday, we dodged thunderstorms the whole way home, hoping our teammate Linda, running a 50k on the same course that day, would luck out on the weather. 

Trolling under a bridge in Omaha, dodging hailstorms.

We made it home without hail damage, but I did get caught in some pouring rain while riding around to spin out the legs later that night. Warmed up quick with this little buddy waiting in the bed for me, though.

Earl Grey. Whatta buddy.

Once again, this is an event that does not disappoint. It's well-thought out from start to finish, a beastly difficult century and yet filled with folks pushing themselves to the limits. I'll be back.

The Day the Music Died

...not really.

Sweetpea Lust

Sweetpea Bicycles. Made for women, by a woman. Something more to save up for...plus I've always loved sweetpea as a term of endearment...

Same same, but different

Sometimes, it rains.

The showers passed, but the gravel was wet. On the road we went. Not used to doing that with these guys, or on my War Axe. The sun came out, the temperatures rose, and I quickly regretted forgetting both sunscreen and sunglasses when leaving in the rain. Still a nice way to start a Saturday, though...

You Make Lincoln Good

So back in 2011, on the Fox Hole 100 ride, Patrick and I were riding along together. The weather was perfect, we were in pretty exuberant moods cruising down the canopied Jamaica Trail en route to Wilber with about 45 other riders. We were having this great conversation, then this long pause, then Patrick turns to me and just says...

"You make Lincoln good."

It was a perfect moment. I couldn't think of anything other than saying it right back to him. 

I've been thinking about this concept quite a bit, as I'm about halfway through my graduate program and looking at where and how to invest my energies, knowledge, and passions. I had an incredibly productive meeting with one of my professors today in which she remarked that I really had such unique and extensive knowledge about my city and state, and (while I'm not holding my breath) I think I have found a really productive, engaging, and moreover useful project to undertake for my thesis that goes way beyond something to turn in for a degree. And it involves being here. 

Back to the point...

Look around you. It's easy to get lost in the overwhelming pieces of our work, school, social, and emotional lives. It's easy to get frustrated. It's been really tempting to want to throw in the towel, pack up, hide away somewhere, or who knows what else. It's easy to push out those negative feelings onto the people around you, blame the environment you're living in, and do nothing about it.

But, DAMN. That is such a terrible way to look at things. There are a whole lot of people around that MAKE LINCOLN GOOD. Thanks, y'all.

Ouachita Training Camp

Some people have fancy training camps with dietary plans strict schedules. Some people rent a cabin in the Ouachita National Forest and ride bikes all day and then partake in serious beer drinking in the evening. Yeah, more of the latter than the former. Crushed out over 100 miles of singletrack in 4 days, spent excellent quality time with fantastic friends, saw some blooms and buds and felt spring breezes...oh, pretty good. What follows is a kind of burnt-out grad student's photos & musings...

Basking in the afternoon sun, even though it wasn't terribly warm, felt really nice. 

So many leafy sections, barky sections, rocky sections, different kinds of rocky sections, creeky sections, and dirty sections. All made different sounds; it would make a nice audio collage. 

Lots of love & gratitude for my riding buddy MW, keeping just enough ahead of me with an eye back so that I could ride in my zone and not stress out about keeping up or getting left in the woods to die after falling off one of the leafy benches. Being stressed riding techy singletrack is not good. Challenging yourself is. Balance was struck. Also, balance came in handy on those benches. (This was a terrible grammatical segue...been hitting the academic writing too hard tonight.)

Stinky, wet socks from all the creek crossings. It was pretty much impossible to keep the feet dry, even when I was succeeding at making it all the way across the creeks. The biggest note here is that I don't think I would've even attempted many of them a year ago. Helped to have several lines to watch go through before trying it myself.

We rode a whole heckuva a lot of the Womble Trail, from one end almost all the way to the other. It was truly remarkable to be almost exclusively on singletrack.

It's so nice to ride on a course like this and not have it be race, as much as I enjoy racing. You don't get nice stops at the overlooks when you're just focused on the next checkpoint. It was a good reminder, too, to switch myself back from 'cross brain into endurance mode for eating. On our longest day, I didn't pack enough food with me. Always making notes, improving practices.

Speaking of food, in a nice change from the ordinary, we had equal numbers of vegetarians and non-vegetarians on the trip. I served as head chef and was pleased to have a seemingly happy crew of eaters. I made high-protein burritos, channa masala, green Thai curry, and enjoyed perks associated with being the one cooking at night. (Thanks to PC and JV for getting my bike clean every night!) We also had stout floats. Oh yum. Oh, and some folks ate SPAM for breakfast. Seriously.

I could've taken a half-hour nap in this sun. My feet were soaked and frozen (common theme). Even when I'm the last to get to a break point and have a shorter break and don't want to, I need to learn to adapt to that, since shorter breaks will improve my times on longer events. But, I mean, SUN NAPS.

There were hardly any other BIKES on the trail, let alone any illegal users. We only saw 7 other riders the whole weekend, and 4 of them were friends from KC. Pretty amazing.

We did a lot of nighthike crystal hunting. I'm happy to report I came home with my coat pocket full of shiny little rocks. This sign helped us find our way back to the cabin.

Choice quotations from the weekend:

"I'm going to Recoverite before I recover wrong." -Biggs, mixing post-ride drink while also scoping out beer.

Regarding RMCC radio in Mena, AR, featuring music ranging "from the sublime to the ridiculous.": "Are these guys streaming? Because if they're not, we need to get them a Kickstarter to start streaming." -MW

*UPDATE* They are not streaming. This little 500-watt station might need our help. We were continually amazed by its programming.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I feel like my comfort level on singletrack bounced just about back to where it was at the Dakota 5-O, with some technical skills much improved by the different terrain. I've never ridden that many miles of singletrack like that back to back, and that was pretty great, too. Moreover, it felt great, after a few months away from the mountain bike, to absolutely fall in love with riding it all over again. While I love all sorts of riding of bikes, there's a special feeling to ripping through really fast flowy singletrack that is just unmatched by anything else.

But more than anything, it was great to spend time in a beautiful place with such a good blend of people. We took care of each other, had a great time, laughed a lot, and came home with a nice stable of good vibes as we ease out of winter and into spring.


My Week #202 (February 25 - March 3) from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.

That's a happy lady on a bike right there. Yeah, sure, it was day one and I was feeling pretty fresh, loving the golden hour light. But I was just as happy on day 4... Super special thanks to Corey & Biggs for remembering what it's like being in grad school and helping make it a reality for me.

Sheclismo Herstory Hustle

Dang, that Berly Brown...what an artist! Meet her at Pepe's Thursday at 7:30 PM with $5 and a Barbie(ish) doll. And just in case you were wondering, both men and women are welcome to race. Very welcome. ;)

More info at http://lincolnhustle.blogspot.com

What does high school teach girls?

I'm hopping over to the Sociology department for one class this semester, and it does not disappoint. Take a deep breath, read this, and then consider what, if anything, has changed since James Coleman wrote this in 1960:

It is commonly assumed, both by educators and by laymen, that it is 'better' for boys and girls to be in school together during adolescence, if not better for their academic performance, then at least better for their social development and adjustment. But this may not be so; it may depend wholly upon the kinds of activities within which their association takes place. Coeducation in some high schools may be inimical to both academic achievement and social adjustment. The dichotomy often forced between 'life-adjustment' and 'academic emphasis' is a false one, for it forgets that most of the teen-ager's energy is not directed toward either of these goals. Instead the relevant dichotomy is cars and the cruel jungle of rating and dating versus school activities, whether of the academic or life-adjustment variety.

But perhaps, at least for girls, this is where the emphasis should be: on making themselves into desirable objects for boys. Perhaps physical beauty, nice clothes, and an enticing manner are the attributes that should be most important among adolescent girls. No one can say whether girls should be trained to be wives, citizens, mothers, or career women. Yet in none of these areas of adult life are physical beauty, and enticing manner, and nice clothes as important for performing successfully as they are in high school. Even receptionists and secretaries, for whom personal attractiveness is a valuable attribute, must carry out their jobs well, or they will not be able to keep them. Comparable performance is far less important in the status system of the high school, with its close tie to the rating and dating system. There a girl can survive much longer on personal attractiveness, an enticing manner, and nice clothes.

The adult women in which such attributes are most important are of a different order from wives, citizens, mothers, career women, secretaries: they are chorus girls, models, movie and television actresses, and call girls. In all these activities, women serve as objects of attention for men and, even more, objects to attract men's attention. These are quite different from the attributes of a good wife, which involve less superficial qualities. If the adult society wants high schools to inculcate the attributes that make girls objects to attract men's attention, then these values of good looks and nice clothes, discussed above, are just right. If not, then the values are quite inappropriate.

From The Adolescent Subculture and Academic Achievement, James S. Coleman, 1960

 

I fear that while some of the "job titles" may have changed, the status indicators and values have not. Then again, if you're to believe a recent column in the Daily Nebraskan, feminism just needs to admit it's over and women's rights have been "achieved" once and for all. Since, you know, it's hurting the job market and relationships and stuff.

January Thaw Gravel

Headed out for an applied fitness check with the hardcore gravel crew yesterday. 61 miles, including the first 35ish of the 2013 Gravel Worlds course. Serious climbs in there -- it's going to be interesting to see how that affects the field. But I felt good, rode strong, and know that my training is going to pay off. Now, time to play catch-up on close to 500 pages of reading...

Escape Fire

 After seeing the documentary* Escape Fire last night, which has many salient points that I mostly agreed with (and I was thankful that someone finally connected the farm bill and ag subsidies to the health care industry), I was left with the following questions.

 What can I do to get the care I want? I'm a vegetarian; I'm an athlete. I'm also female. I find it quite logical that routine preventative care is a good way to catch potential problems. That's why I go to a primary care physician annually. If I am unlucky despite my healthy lifestyle and am diagnosed with something, what happens then? How can I trust that I'm getting honest treatment options -- including things I can do myself -- if the system incentivizes even the most caring doctors to treat me in conventional, prescriptive sorts of ways? Is it possible to buy health insurance that's in line with my values? And shouldn't I be asked to pay at a rate based on the good decisions I already make?

The film addressed these problems on a systems level, but left very little for the individual actor (patient) to do. Perhaps doctors left feeling a little more empowered or motivated.

*I'm mulling over options for a new term for films like this, which present a clear agenda. Docuganda? Editorial Film? Editorial Non-Fiction Film? Editorial Documentary?

My 2012 Voter Guide

Two Quick Updates: 

**First, you do NOT need photo ID to vote tomorrow. Go to your polling place, state your name and address. That is all. Don't be intimidated!!**

**Second, thanks to Anne for a link to Judge voting info (see below 

Ok, we're all completely exhausted by national election coverage. What's lost in the shuffle is the importance -- and in many cases, far greater impact -- of down-ticket races. People running for the State Board of Education, Natural Resources District, County Commission, etc. can have tremendous impact on our local quality of life. So I present to you: a brief, selective voter guide, mostly for folks in Lancaster County, but with some other Nebraska races, too.

First, and most importantly, vote FOR Lillie Larsen for State Board of Education. She has experience on the Lincoln school board, extensive experience in education, and understands the needs of teachers, students, and school districts. Her opponent has wild and disturbing views regarding education, no education background, and would greatly and negatively impact education in Nebraska.

Proposed Amendments:

Amendment 1: Against. Impeaching someone running for office? Not something to enshrine in the constitution, in my mind.

Amendment 2: Against. I don't think there's any need to make hunting a constitutional issue, either. This amendment looks to pander to gun advocates. It's not like voting against this will hamper hunting rights.

Amendment 3: FOR. When the state moved to 2-term term limits for the Unicameral, it quickly became clear that the lack of experience in office would become an issue -- less experienced legislators equal stronger influence of lobbyists and party politics, even in a non-partisan body. If you don't like a senator, um, vote them out of office. This amendment at least allows for three terms.

Amendment 4: FOR. Ok, this one's difficult, I know. But Nebraska's state senators make very little money for a pretty substantial time commitment. What does that mean? Only certain types of people -- lawyers, the independently wealthy, etc. -- can afford to serve in office. Raise the pay, and you open up the possibility for people from less privileged backgrounds to consider the office.

City of Lincoln sewer bond issue: Vote FOR. Investing in infrastructure isn't sexy, but damn, it matters. Fund it before we end up in the situation Omaha is in, which is way overdue, tremendously necessary, extremely expensive, and deeply controversial.

In the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District elections, vote for Ann Bleed in District 7 and Milt Schmidt in District 9. Ann is on the board of the Great Plains Trail Network, and also, importantly, supports trail infrastructure like finishing the connector of the MoPac trail between Lincoln and Omaha. Milt won't get away with not supporting trails, since his son Craig is one of Lincoln's cycling superstars, coordinator of Gravel Worlds. (The Lancaster County Democrats also endorse Doug Samuelson and Ken Reitan.)

For County Commissioner, vote FOR Darl Naumann. He's a small business owner who has experience working with Lincoln mayors and NE governors in economic development. The county board for Lancaster County serves an important interstitial function between the city & state, so someone with experience working at both levels is key, especially in light of Lincoln's growth.

SCC Board of Governors: vote FOR Ruth Johnson, District 4. Ruth was a neighbor of mine growing up. She's thoughtful, caring, and a fantastically articulate woman. (Lancaster County Democrats also endorse Robert Feit, Carl Humphrey, Helen Griffin, and Jim Garver.)

STATE LEGISLATURE:

If you're lucky enough to live in a legislative district up for election, you have some great candidates to vote for.

Ken Haar in District 21 (northern Lincoln/county). Haar is a wind energy champion. He also spoke out strongly against TransCanada -- if you were at the public hearing at Pershing, he brought down the house with his opposition to the pipeline.

Kyle Michaelis in District 27 (southwestern Lincoln). I met Kyle when I was a young campaign staffer and he a young political blogger/journalist. He's smart, thoughtful, and very sharp. His coverage of Nebraska politics at newnebraska.net has been thorough and insightful. He gets how the system works, and thus would work well within it.

Kate Bolz in District 29 (south central Lincoln). Bolz is making quality education her number one priority. That's enough for me.

BIGGER RACES:

These are the ones you probably know most about. But just in case -- Korey Reiman for Congress in Lincoln, John Ewing if you live in Omaha. Bob Kerrey for Senate. And yes, Barack Obama for President, even if Nebraska's electoral votes will go to Romney.

*Ed. Note: if anyone knows about the judges, send info my way! UPDATE: Info on judges here: http://nebar.com/associations/8143/files/JPE-2012_ResultsOnly.pdf

Homegrown Film Festival Volume V

V! Volume V! It's tomorrow, Wednesday, 6 PM at the Bourbon Theatre. Hope to see you there!

Cyclocross Season is in Full Swing

Ah, cyclocross. My favorite season of the year! So many races with maximum hang-out time with excellent folks. Recap of the season so far...

The weather knew 'cross season was here, and things turned blustery and a little rainy for the first race, Greenstreet Twilight CX at Swanson Park on September 12. This was my first cross race on the WMD, and I was eager to see how things would go. Especially with the addition of a couple singletrack sections and a little log jump, I was extremely happy to be on a steel bike. Feels so good going over roots and bumps. War Axe makes a fine, fine bike.

Photo: Jeremy Cook

After a strong start with the lead group of men, I ended up following a guy onto the wrong side of the tape and had to watch 2/3 of the field ride by before I could file back in. Frustrating. Fought my way back up to a 14th place finish, first for women. And on that note, we have a really strong field of 3/4 women racing in Nebraska this year, and it's super exciting.

Next up was a last-minute decision to road trip to Madison for the USGP. Between the generosity of a van seat in the Trek Sprinter van (currently starring in an episode of Behind THE Barriers) thanks to my Trek CXC buddies and the gracious host housing of teammate Emily's parents, the trip was made grad-student-affordable.

The Madison course was pretty excellent, with gnarly off-camber descents, sharp turns, and on day one, very few wide open sections. It rained a little bit, but drought-addled ground made for damp grass and nothing more. These were my first races in a 2/3 field, and with late registration, I had last-row call-ups both days. This meant trying to fight for position, find better lines around the women ahead of me, and try to move up and not get passed. I moved my way from 35th up to 21st on Saturday. Sunday, the course was opened up a bit, and I moved from 38th to 24th on a much faster course. I was feeling better Sunday, early season race jitters seemed to have subsided enough. Emily had front row starts both days, and while it took me two laps to get her on Saturday, I had her by the end of the first lap Sunday. Great racing from my teammate, a welcome beacon to chase! Photos below, all from Sunday, courtesy of Emily's dad.

Catching Emily on the run up.

Charging up the pavement section.

Winding through some trees.

Top of the run-up, bringing the bike back down.

Finishing!

The trip was great, but travel is exhausting. Took a while to catch up on sleep, not to mention homework. I took last weekend off, spending days reading and chilling at the Farmer's Market. Oh, and I was the first finisher in a Hustle in there, too...

Mid-week racing was back last night, and Sheclismo really represented, showing Nebraska cycling that cyclocross is something we're all about! We had 6 women in the 3/4 field, and Sydney was able to take a quick break from her dissertation to take home the win in the 1/2/3 race.

I had a first lap full of mishaps, and between getting squeezed between a guy who bobbled and a tree right at the holeshot, a mess of a first barrier run (the barriers weren't up during warm-up laps, so they surprised a lot of the folks in front of me), and trouble clipping in, well, I had some fire burning in me. After regaining the lead in the women's field, I tried to chase after the lead men's group, but they were on more fire than me, being led by Josh Rice.

At one point, I took a quick look back and saw that Kat, back from a year abroad in Norway and racing on a singlespeed, had made her way into second, with Emily and Sara hot on her heels. KAT IS BACK!!! She and I had an awesome roommate rivalry our first year doing 'cross, and it really got me going to see her back in the mix. John Peterson was out taking his always-excellent photos last night, and got a few of me that show just how hot it was. I mean, it was probably in the upper 70s, but it felt hot for 'cross and it was windy...

Running the barriers. Everything but the remounts felt good. Photo: John Peterson

Railing the slick corners, tripod style. Photo: John Peterson

The course, as expected, was bone dry and dusty. Cornering was an adventure, really a game of chicken with yourself. I kept it upright, thankfully, as several friends ended the race with bloody knees. My parents came out to watch the race -- I gave my dad permission to heckle me in German, which was a mistake only because it made me laugh every time I went by him -- and my mom got a great shot of me and my fellow podium teammates for the night, rehydrating right after the race.

I love my team. Strong, fun, competitive, multi-talented women. 4 languages spoken in this group alone! Photo: Jane Reinkordt

Podium! Coffee & sunglasses! Photo: Jon Curran

Thanks to the Flatwater crew for putting on a mid-week race series I can ride my bike to. I'll have to miss next week for the Homegrown Film Festival (you should come), but I'll be back on the 17th.

Next up, Fontenelle GP in Omaha on Saturday, and trying to figure out how to get to Ft. Collins for the next USGP...

Criterion

So, who wants to buy me every single one?

Editing's Evolution

We've come a long way since Sergei Eisenstein....

Dakota Five-O, Take Two

I don't have as much to write about the Dakota Five-O as I did last year. In fact, at the last minute, I almost didn't go. Well, I'm really glad I went. I had a really good race. Not too hard, not too exhausting, a good deal faster than last year, and finished feeling confident in my riding abilities, not defeated. 

 Beautiful sunset in Halsey National Forest, Nebraska Sandhills.

Full moon rising over the Sandhills, between Thedford and Valentine.

Splitting the drive to Spearfish into two days was nice. Stayed at Smith Falls near Valentine after a beautiful sunset and full moon drive through the Sandhills Friday evening. Saturday morning brought a very somber drive through Whiteclay and Pine Ridge before entering the Black Hills, taking the scenic route north from Hot Springs, past Mt. Rushmore, and stopping at a very rocky trail near Rapid City. 

Riding near Rapid City on Saturday, line reading.

Getting out of the car felt good, and the sharp shale on the trail had me on my toes right away. Though it took fifteen minutes or so to warm up, I suddenly had this moment where I came up on a bunch of rocks with no obvious line (to novice eyes) and I popped up onto this big rock, down through a couple small ones and realized that that would have stopped me dead in my tracks a couple months ago. I kept riding, and it was like a warp speed tunnel opened in front of my eyes. I knew where to ride, my tires were gripping the rocks, and I felt awesome. I've described it since as somewhat akin to reading and understanding a new language for the first time (and then realized that maybe that's not an analogy that works for a lot of people...go learn a new language, it's great). Needless to say, my confidence for Sunday's race was now where it needed to be.

Pre-race face, tent hair, Sunday, early morning. Photo by Mark Emery.

Camp was quiet early on Saturday night, save for being near some sort of generator. Woke up to crisp air, but nothing like the freezing cold from last year. Coffee, breakfast, tying back that tent hair, ditching the hoodie, and it was off to the start to see off Wave 1. I lined up with some excellent Nebraska women -- Casey Sheppard, Whitney Porn, and Carly Thompsen -- and we headed out of town and up the hill. Going up, Carly asked if I had a strategy. "Nope, just ride," I said, "try not to blow up. Enjoy it." I have a feeling the upcoming cyclocross season will change my JRA* attitude, but that's all I've been wanting to do recently.

I rode with Whitney up until the first aid station, where her camelbak still had water and I needed to refill my bottles. Bummer, because I was having fun riding and chatting with her. But I was really happy not to have the pack on my back this year. I was happy to see where I'd missed the turn last year, knowing right there that that was a 20-minute bonus. For much of the race, I had people following me, and got my choice of the line. Many sections I remembered being unrideable and terrifying were fun this time. 

The climbs did wear on me, though, and I spent a good deal of time wondering about switching up the 1x10 for a double up front and a bit of time thinking about how much more comfortable the ride would be with a rear shock.

Riding the ridge, not walking it.

This ridge and descent after the Bacon Station provided the most satisfaction of the whole day. I walked this whole thing last year, not wanting to faceplant. After my Colorado adventure in June -- and in no small part due to watching my idol Georgia Gould and the rest of the racers in the Women's World Cup and Olympic MTB races -- I slid my behind back off the seat and over my rear wheel and carefully, cleanly made my way down through the very-tight-for-a-29er switchbacks. After we were through it, the woman behind me said "Wow, I'm really glad I was behind you. You rode that great, it was awesome to follow your line." I thanked her, saying I was a Nebraskan who didn't get much of a chance for this kind of riding. "I'm from the mountains," she replied, "and I can't ride like that." Well, that felt great. I popped over a couple jumps on the last descents down through the singletrack, just having fun. I ended up sprinting the woman who complimented me for the finish, 6:14 this year. Nice improvement, and I know where I can make up more time. For one, I need to get better at passing. 

Post-race, tacos and beer. Covered in dust, coughing.

It was so dusty and dry that I was coughing like a miner. Beers, tacos, and then taking in the park atmosphere and strider kids races. I was tired, but not completely wrecked. Yeah, I could've gone harder. But I didn't. One interesting thing about the way I did this race was that I used the course feature on the Garmin, a new device for me. I set my goal time for 6:30, and so I had a little pace arrow telling me if I was on track. I passed the pace arrow about halfway through the race, and I kept my eye on the countdown time, seeing if it might be possible to make it in 6 hours. With better passing early on and one aid station stop that I didn't really need to make, I probably could have. Should I have set a more ambitious pace for myself? Hard to say if that would have been demotivating if I hadn't caught the arrow or if it would have pushed me harder.

Double rainbow, what does it mean?

The drive home on Monday was long, as expected. Had a really nice breakfast at Talley's Silver Spoon in Rapid City (hey Lincoln, someone open something like this, please?), drove through the Badlands for the first time since I was a kid, had a mint chip root beer float in Winner (and it was a winner), took a swim in the Niobrara, and returned to eastern Nebraska to be greeted by storm clouds and a double rainbow. What does it mean?

*JRA -- just ridin' around