Anything epic on a bike.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Going vertical

Several weeks ago, I moved for the better part of the week away from DC. I had to come up with something to make the winter training more exciting. Rain, cold, snow, indoor trainer, early darkness, and 5 inches of layered clothing do not really get me motivated to ride my bike. So I hoped a change in scenery would do the trick.

I moved to Middletown, MD - a small town outside of Frederick with two and a half restaurants, one grocery store, two traffic lights, no traffic jams, no honking, and two mountain ranges - my new cycling hub.

Since Cascades Cycling Classic or Tour de Toona will not get any flatter, Middletown seemed like a great training place to face some vertical challenges and still being close to DC.

I have been riding here now for a while and made some interesting observations.

The area definitely has its quirks:

Weather: If it is 60 degrees in DC, it will be 50 in Middletown. If it rains in DC, it will snow in Middletown.
Cars: Either not existent or driven by cycling-friendly people. 90% of them are waving at you!
Dogs: well…they make you faster here in Frederick county:

What I was used to:

Monika passes house with dog in yard. Dog in yard sees Monika and starts barking, runs along the imaginary fence line, barks some more, gets bored and turns around.

What I have to get used to:

Monika passes house on 10% grade climb, panting profusely, German shepherd (you see the irony!!!) comes out, runs circle in yard, Monika face down concentrating on not falling over suddenly has dog gnawing on her ankle. Besides that German shepherd does not recognize he is attacking compatriot, he even managed to get stuck with his teeth in shoe covers. The water bottle came in handy.

A 11-25 cassette is good for 50% of the roads, the other 50% should be faced with either hiking boots or a 12-28.
Rides should not be measured solely in riding time or distance but in vertical feet. My goal is it to find the shortest routes with the most vertical feet of climbing. I welcome any route suggestions.

All the climbing training will hopefully get me some sort of ready for Arizona in December and January. Mount Lemmon, 34mi and 6600 feet of climbing! That would be either 6 times Lambs Knoll climb or 23 times Old Anglers.

Riding in Frederick county is the perfect get-away for vertically challenging riding in a cycling-friendly and beautiful environment close to DC.

Monday, September 26, 2011

This it is - My first full season - Recap of 2011

I cant believe I am writing this because this is my end-of-season report. The 2011 Season is done. Wow, what a year!

I had no idea what this year would bring. It was my first full road season.

I had no real goals, no training schedule, and no idea what was ahead of me. I just wanted to have fun, do my group rides and see where it would lead me.

It's been a thrilling year covering the range from the local group ride to 20 degree Winter Bike Leage rides to fun MABRA races to tough NRC races and one eye-opening UCI race.

Since I only did a few races last year and realized how much I like cycling, I wanted to start my season early and so I drove down to Greenville, South Carolina every weekend in February. I wanted more racing and I signed up for basically every race possible, going all over the country – up and down the East Coast and one trip to the West Coast. I loved it!

Early in the season, I got a teammate, Lindsay. We didn’t know each other and our first adventure together was SpeedWeek in GA, SC and NC. We spent 10 days in one car, traveling through three states and suffering together through six hard races. That was definitely a test if we would get along. It worked out great and we actually became close friends!

With a loaded schedule I ended up doing 60+ races and several NRC races including Wilmington, Airforce Cycling Classic, Tour de Toona, and Cascades Cycling Classic.

My favorite road race this year was Battenkill. It’s long, hilly and hard! Just my style! My favorite crit was Reston. Fun course! Airforce Cycling Classic was the toughest race this year for me! Just brutal!

Racing in MABRA is always fun and exciting. The MABRA competition is tough and makes racing in our region very competitive! I was able to sneak medals in all five MABRA Championships. But for the BAR it wasn’t enough.

Funny, my goal shifted half way through the season from upgrading to winning the BAR. At the end, it turned out the other way. I lost the BAR but managed to upgrade to Cat 1.

I saw the 2011 season as a try-out whether I like racing. Hell yes! So much that I just moved and changed my job to focus more on racing. If you have a passion, you gotta go for it and make the best out of it.

Next year will be more organized: an actual training schedule and maybe some proper goal setting wouldn’t be bad.

I would have never gone so far if I haven’t met so many helpful and forthcoming people. The MABRA community is a very friendly, welcoming, and competitive group of people. I'm happy to have made friends with so many racers, promoters, and refs.

I love the local racing scene. It’s never just a race. It has connected me with friends, provided me my daily dose of the outdoors, and it's where my competition makes sure I get a really good workout!

I want to especially thank everyone in the group rides I attended who seem to make it a primary goal to kick my butt. :)

It was a fun year and I am looking forward to the 2012 season. But before that, you will see me behind the tape cheering for all the crazy ‘crossers! (And maybe as a tail gunner on a tandem…)

Leonardtown crit