Winter Racing at it's Best

Give me all the warmth right now!

This past weekend I was signed up to do the first race in the Snake Creek Gap Time Trail series. I was planning on killing myself during the 50 mile race from exhaustion, but the weather had different plans for me. Because of snow, the road leading to the start of the 34/50 mile start was impassable making the race directors make the call that everyone would be racing the 17 mile option for the day.

It was cold, but I was comfortable for the whole race on Saturday. My feet nor fingers every got cold, not even at the start of the race. My race started off pretty good. Starting the first climb was pretty easy on fresh legs. I think my biggest road block during this race was thinking I needed to save my legs for the last 8 miles, when in reality I could have pushed harder on some of the earlier climbs and still had enough energy for the wall and for the rock garden. Other than that, I felt strong and I rode well and handled my bike in the snow better than I was expecting.

I learned early in the race that stepping down was going to cause a lot of trouble trying to reclip into the pedals (damn flat pedals and making it look easy). I started practicing riding unclipped and banging my feet against the pedals without getting frustrated and stopping to clean them. I saw a few people sitting on the side of the trail cleaning their shoes out with sticks. I did not want to do that.

I know that this is going to sound like a joke, but I had so much fun during the snake that I couldn't stop smiling. Even when I fell crossing a log on the trail because I was enjoying myself and waving at my friend who was stopped ahead didn't even put a damper on my mood. I just got back on my bike and kept pedaling and smiling. I shaved 50 minutes off that last section from my previous year and ended up coming in 4th out of 19 of all the women who started that day and 102 out of 232 overall riders.

Because we weren't exhausted after the race, my group decided to drive back home. I was scrolling through facebook and seeing people talk about the first race in the winter time trail series made me start thinking that I too should be there on Sunday. I didn't put in as many hours on the bike as I thought I would, so why not? I debated it for the whole way home. I had to wash my warmest layers and make sure my bike was ready, but I also wanted to be lazy. And sleeping in sounded great. And maybe my legs were a little bit tired. However, I insured myself into going to the race by talking someone else into going with me. I am way to smart for myself. *crazy laugh*

Montgomery Bell has a lot of climbs, and it's rooty, and twisty. Of course, I forgot about all of that and could only think of the fun section that has a ton of g-outs that remind me of Scales Lake. And of course Johnson hill (I think that is the name of it). I was living off that rare Snake confidence and was ready to have a great day of racing that I think the Snake gods punished me by making me wait an hour in the cold before my call up time to start. I wasn't cold in the parking lot, but I was freezing when I tried to warm up on the road and on the trail that I debated just staying in the car.

 I started 3rd to last and worked my way past the 9 women early in the course. 5 miles in and I knew that I must have went too hard to last that strong for the next 12 miles. I could see the girl who started in front of me the whole race. That's the thing about Mbell, it's so twisty that you see everyone almost the whole time, but there is no real way to tell where they are compared to you. It can be a mind game if you let it, but in the end you just have to focus on your own race and hope they don't catch you. Which that girl did at mile 8 on a climb. I let her in front and paced myself on her wheel for about three miles. It was fun getting back around her, but I knew I wouldn't last. We passed some volunteers who said we had 5 miles left and I knew right then and there that the pace I had was the pace I was keeping to the end. She got around and my next goal was to not be caught by any one else.

I came in 2nd/11 female riders and was happy with my time and the gap I had on the next finisher. I think going in knowing that I could handle myself in snow made me able to push a little more on the roots and rocks. I'm looking forward to doing this race next month on fresh legs. I'm hoping that the weather is nicer to me and all the other racers for both Mbell and the Snake in February! Thanks to all the volunteers who braved the cold so all us crazy bikers can do what we love. It was a great weekend!



*Most of my photos are from @sheshredsco snapchat story! I plan on doing these for most of my races, so make sure to add them to see what I am up to and what other rad women are doing! And check out sheshred.co/winter for the newest stuff.

Be Hungry

October was a kind month to me. I did Oak Mountain 50 and Race to the Canal. Both of those races I improved my time and noticed a definite improvement on my climbing. I think that setting such a high time goal for Black Bear and failing made me get serious about playing around with my nutrition and how I fuel during the race. I tried different things out after Black Bear during training rides, and settled on infint. I have been so happy with it! I definitely think that I didn't bonk at the last two races because of it.

After taking the month off in November, my first week back on a strict training schedule has made me so hyped for the 2017 season! I learned so much in 2016 and have been able to look at what I did last year and what my goals were and adapt to better myself and push myself to reach my overall goal. It can be lonely training for something specific. Because not everyone is going to be wanting to do the same workout as you. And that means maybe skipping group rides to do hill repeats or intervals. And if you are serious about what you want, then you will say fuck it, I don't care. I am doing what I need to do and either people will support and love me or I will just hang out with my cat for the rest of my life.* 

*I am 100% the latter of that statement*

There are days that I would rather skip a workout and be lazy. Because it's winter and, you know, sleep sounds always better than waking up...but I push myself because I want to better myself. I know that if I don't put in the work right now, then I won't see the results that I want and I won't be any closer to my big goal. I wake up starving for 2017 race season to get here. I fill myself up with training because I want to smash my races. I'm looking at you, Snake 50, because guess what, you don't scare me! Except for you, Snake last 5 miles. You don't scare me, but I know you will rip me up and I am actively preparing myself for when you do, because I am a damn survivor! 

I love this sport. I am excited to wake up and train. I am going to stay hungry every day. #roadto2017

Black Bear Rampage 2016

This past weekend I accomplished my 5th endurance race on the beautiful Tanasi trail system in Ducktown, TN. Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place to torture myself for 40 miles.

The two weeks leading up to the race, I was feeling great. Every ride was strong and smooth. My body was feeling good. I was recovering fast from rides. If I had been smarter, I would have actually done more than one long endurance training ride before this race. But, my training mind is set up for XC racing and I didn't adapt my training schedule to work with the last minute addition of this race. We all learn from our mistakes.

Race day was here and I was feeling pretty good. I was comparing what I knew about this race to the Snake, and to be honest I thought I was going to have way less climbing to do with a lot more fun single track. Mainly because EVERY PERSON CLAIMS THIS IS THEIR FAVORITE RACE EVER. No one goes to the snake and says that (okay, they might. But they also give you the disclaimer that it is their most favorite, painful and mentally challenging race they do).  Nope. No disclaimers for this one. Just a lot of love. So much love that my mind was temporarily clouded into thinking I was not going to enter any kind of pain cave. But, alas, I found the bottom of my cave during this race and I had to dig deep to try and climb out. P.s. there was definitely crying at 24 miles wanting a golf cart to come get me so I didn't have to climb another mountain or hill or whatever. My legs were burning.

 This is the only smile of mine documented from that race, it was still early folks.

The start of the race is a 2 mile road climb. Everyone recommends to take your time and set your own pace. So what do I do? I hammer up that hill with the lead pack, jumping on the trail behind the women who would finish in 3:30 or less. I mean, if you killed that climb and only had a couple other climbs with a lot of fast downhills and fast single track. Joke was on me. "We are almost to the top. Do you see the white rocks?" became my absolutely most despised sentences I would hear at least 7 times that day. I never want to see a white rock for at least a couple months. 

 We did go down Thunder Rock Express only to have to climb a grueling gravel road to get onto the trail with more climbing. Also, I thought we were halfway done right here. I think we were actually only 14-15 miles into the race at this point. I wouldn't find that out until mile 24 when I thought I had 10 miles left to go.

This was my first endurance race that I've done with the thought of racing, not just finishing. I don't fuel right for long races no matter how hard I try. And I was *very* prepared for this race, it's just that my stomach felt heavy the whole time and I couldn't sallow solids. Mountain biking, or just biking in general, is more about pushing yourself past your limits. When your mind says "No, I can't go any further" is when you decide if you are going to quit or keep pushing. Yeah, I cried on the trail and I wanted to quit. But I was able to pull myself together and keep going. The ending of that race was a lot of fun. That trail was fast, I loathed that tiny climb to the finish though. Rude. 

Now that I have raced an endurance race, I can clearly see my weaknesses and how to better prepare myself. I have one month before Oak Mountain and my training is going to be dialed in and focused, I'm going to explore better fueling options for me (liquid racing diet ideas, anyone?) We don't really talk about our failures because we are embarrassed by them. But they are part of what makes us stronger, makes us learn and grow. 

Look, that face says "seriously? The finish line is on a climb?!? Somebody come murder me right now"

Why Do I Keep Crashing?

My first time ever on a mountain bike was wreck city. If there was a downhill I was tumbling. If there was an uphill, I was falling backwards. If the trail was flat, I was over the handlebars. Why was I crashing so much??  I didn't know body position for climbing or descending. I didn't know how to handle a bike. So a newbie with no skills in riding is going to have trouble staying on the bike.

Flash forward two years from my first ride, and I am currently setting new records for how many times I can slide out from my bike or am on the ground. It's actually kind of frustrating because it's more fun to have a clean run then to have to lose minutes on your strava segment because you fell off your bike again. So, why am I crashing so much right now? I understand body position and my bike handling skills are pretty awesome (I feel confident saying this now that I can operate my bike on the trails with a splint covering two of my fingers). so what's up? I'm going faster. I'm working on skills that I couldn't even imagine doing a year ago. Of course I am going to be crashing some (I also make dumb mistakes so there's that).

War wounds from a wet and slick race at Hamilton Creek

I'm not endorsing wrecking. I'm bad at knowing my limits all the time. If I can see it in mind, I'm going to try it and do it. And part of that thinking has gotten me to where I am as a rider in just two years. But it also makes me ride with a cocky confidence. A cockiness that lands me with a broken pinky midway through my race season. We don't always stand up and just have a couple scratches or bruises. It's a bummer to not be able to ride to your fullest ability or at all. But when you decided to call yourself a mountain biker, you were signing an agreement that your body was going to get beaten and kicked on. Don't forget to give it some TLC.

Instead of being embarrassed or hard on ourselves, we need to keep encouraging each other and breaking out of our comfort zones and working on bettering ourselves and each other. Don't let can't be in your vocabulary.

Back to Back Races

When I decide I am going to do a series, I am doing that series. I can't stand missing one of the races unless I absolutely have to. So when I saw that the two series I am dedicating myself to, DINO (Do Indiana Outside) and the Tennessee Series, had a weekend conflict, I told myself that I could do both. My original strategy was to take the DINO race on Saturday easy, and go full 100% on Sunday. It's not how it exactly played out, but overall I am happy with my performances.

DINO #1 Winona Lake

The first race of the weekend was held at Warsaw, IN at Winona Lake. Warsaw is about 5 hours north of Evansville. So I took Friday off and went up early to pre-ride the course. It was dry and it was fast, which made me excited. However, this race series is not my 'A' race series, it is my 'B' series. I basically am using this series as a training tool for me. DINO doesn't have the same distance for men and women. The women always does a lap shorter than their male counterparts. Which is really annoying to me because we can last just as long if not longer. I find really dumb. But in this case it kind of works for me. Since DINO is not a USAC sactioned series anymore, I am able to move up a cat than what my license is for. Now I am not anywhere close to being a cat 1 racer yet, but to get there I need to be chasing these fast women. And that is what I plan to do. I go the same distance that I would in a cat 2 race, but I am needing to push harder to even want to be a competitor.

Race day nerves kick in as soon as I get to the course Saturday. I warm up and start getting excited. 11 cat 1 racers! Wow that is the biggest field I have ever been in before. I breath and tell myself  to get into the woods in the back. I don't want to blow my legs up. The whistle blows and we are off. I get into the woods 8th. The start in the woods is a little slow and it made me realize that I probably don't want to start for far back if I want to be a real competitor in the future. I lost the top tier pretty fast with a few in front either crashing or slowing the pace and just with the cat 2 men who GOT TO START IN FRONT OF THE CAT 1 WOMEN RACERS. No, it's fine. That doesn't seem dumb at all. Whatever. I got around the girl who started in front of me when she went down about a mile in. But I got passed by the girl who started out behind me. So I kept my placing, but came in 7th only because one of the top women crashed and DNFed.

I went slightly faster than I had intended and was lucky that this course wasn't hilly and technical. Because if it had, my legs would have been even heavier the next day. After the race I jumped in the car and made the long drive back home only to pack my bag and clean my bike for the next day.

Race day #2 at Land Between the Lakes

I knew going into this race that I was going to hit a wall and that my only choice was to push past it as hard as I could. Driving the 2 hours to Grand Rivers, KY, I told myself that my goals were to try and hang on to Christie for as long as I could and to place on the podium. I wasn't sure if I could do either, but I was going to give all that I had to try at least.

Now I'm not sure if she knew what she was doing, but when Christie said she was expecting a sprint at the beginning, it got in my head that I needed to go full out if I wanted to get in a good spot. My original strategy was to go in behind Christie and Abby and just hang on. Instead I got to the woods first and no one was close enough for me to let in. So first in I went. And I got excited and forgot it was wet. So first corner and on the ground I was. I let Abby and Christie in front and jumped back up in front of the next woman because if I wasn't in the top 3 to begin with, no way would I get back to the top 3. I was lucky enough to keep the 2 others in eye shot for about 20 minutes before they started to pull away faster and faster. But I kept pedaling as fast as my legs would let me.

My first lap I had averaged 10 mph. But I knew that I wasn't going to keep that speed the whole time during my second lap. When I was entering the woods for it, someone had told me that the girl in front of me was really close and I could catch them. That fueled me to push and go hard. I found them early on in lap 2 and was excited only to be disappointed to see that it was a cat 1 woman. Not someone I was going to be wanting to hold onto or pass or be next to on the podium. And it made me question where Abby was.

After passing Marsha, I was sure that the person behind me was the 4th place cat 2 woman. I don't know why, but I wasn't seeing pink in the kit, just navy. Which was the color of the stanky creek riders. It made me panic. No way did I just work really hard on the first lap to have not gotten any gap on her. And every time I saw her during a corner, I would pick the pace up and push for as hard as I could until I didn't see her any longer.

I've never gotten cramps during a race or a ride before until this lap. My legs were hurting. And they wanted so badly to stop and rest. LBL isn't a flat course. No the canal loop is climbing, and I knew that if I had to get off my bike and push it up any of those hills, I was done. So when I got to a hill, I cried through the pain. I'm not being playful either. I literally cried. It was terrible. But not once did I ever stop pedaling. Because that girl would just pop back up and make me ride even harder to make up for the slow climb I just did.

The last 3 miles are the toughest. Because you have almost the majority of your hills back to back with no place to keep your momentum going. You are relying on your strength. And when I realized this and that the next racer was close, I cried again. I did not want to lose my spot on the last 3 fucking miles. I would get off my bike and throw it at her if it had happened (okay not really but I would have been slightly sad). I started out the first climb and boom, there she is. And I started to panic and tried to push until I felt vomit in my mouth from overexerting. I took a breath and just called out, "please tell me this is Marsha who is behind me." "Yes, it's me." The sweetest answer I heard. I took another deep breath and kept on climbing.

LBL wasn't all about skills or speed. That was probably my first lap. It became about strength and mentality on the second. As long as I said I could, I did. If my mind was I can't, then I wouldn't have finished. I would have stopped on the 3 sisters climb, laid down and died on the side of the trail. I was so happy to have finished with my goal of placing 3rd. My body is strong and I love it for not stopping.

New bike vs Buyer's remorse

I love my bike. It's a 26er Cannondale SL trail bike. It has been kinder to me than I have to it. However, it's time to update the bike to something faster and lighter. A year I have been procrastinating this purchase. Mainly because I am only 25 and poor.

^ Me on a regular basis 

I'm now on a shop team that wants their riders to promote Trek, the brand that they sell. When I first heard this, I kind of laughed. No way can I afford a new bike. And do I even like Trek? Because popular opinion in my community is that Treks suck it seems. I don't want to be a newbie loser. The more that I looked into different Treks and saw pros like Rachel Atherton and Emily Batty riding them, who was I to say I'm too good for them? Plus they have some pretty awesome bikes. But no. I am still too poor to buy a $3,000 bike. I'm not going to do it. 

Cut to a couple months later and now I'm struggling with do I want the Superfly or the Procaliber? The first is cheaper, but the second is the better choice. And sure I get a discount off the bike, but do I want to spend close to $2,500 vs $1,500? I need to make the smarter choice. I was all about to order the Superfly when a mentor told me that this was a 3-4 year investment. Get the better bike. 

Tomorrow I go pick up my new bike! And I am so excited, but I am also freaking out. I have a credit card bill to add to my monthly bills. My parents loaned me the rest I didn't get approved for with the understanding I would make payments to them every month. What. In. The. Fuck. Did. I. Get. Myself. Into?!?!?!?! 

I got myself into a sweet ass race bike. The bike I have now is good, but this bike can help me go to the next level of riding and racing. And I am ready for the next level. Does it mean that I am going to be getting lazy in my training and workouts? Absolutely not. It's going to motivate me to work harder and smarter. To have more fun chasing my faster riding partners and working hard to catch the racer in front of me. 

Thanks Mr. Cannondale for making me have to work harder for the past year. You have definitely made me stronger and better. You have been wonderful and I won't ever forget you. Because who could forget their first official mountain bike?!  

Chickasaw Trace Classic XC 2016

Race season is officially here! This is only my second year racing and now I semi know what I am doing. I actually trained for racing during the winter. I read books, I sought advice, I did the things. So there I was, a week out, freaking myself out. Did I do the things right? Am I going to be able to compete with these ladies? I might have done really well last year, but I also raced solo or with one other person, which doesn't mean I pushed hard all the time? Can I ride hard for 18 miles? All these questions just hitting me as I lay awake in bed, pretending to be resting. I went back and forth between I am going to suck to I am going to win to I'm just going to try and finish.

A few day leading up to the race, I started my strava stalking of my competition. Someone who has been training incredibly hard. I looked up the past race times of her laps at this course. Faster than what I have ever done 9 miles. But, it gave me a place to start setting goals. I knew that I wanted to do both laps between 55-65 minutes. I knew that I wanted to place towards the top of the crowd. I was used to racing in races where cat 2 drew maybe 1 or 2 women, 3 if it was a popular trail. Once I raced 9 women in an open category and that was awesome!

The day before, I frantically ran around my apartment packing my kit, shoes, helmet, food for pre-,during, and post race. I washed and lubed my bike. I became mentally prepared for race day. At that point, I had done all the training I could for that race. No way could I go do a workout and get 10x's better before it. I had to breath and relax and ride my race.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, before the start of my race. It was sunny and warm when riding. My pre ride felt great. It made me feel a little too cocky for what was to come. I was hitting the technical stuff, I was conering good, and my legs felt great. I was prepared to get the hole shot into the woods and just ride away from the other women, who I knew where really strong riders. And I did just that, well, the first part. I got the hole shot into the woods. I was aggressive, but 2nd place was on my ass and I worked to try and pull away from her. I got a good gap on the rock garden climb. And again on the rocky flat area where I was able to sprint and she fumbled in the rocks. But my conering was nowhere ready to allow me to keep the gap. Where I lost speed, she gained. I could hear her and it was getting to me. Finally I told her to let me know when she wanted around, and soon I was trying to hold on to her wheel as she just effortlessly flew around the tight turns.

I looked behind me to see where 3rd place was. Maybe I could come in 2nd. Which would be a surprise because 3rd place was who I was thinking would blow me out of the water. I couldn't see her. And I could feel my legs protesting against the high speeds I was asking them to keep. I slowed my breathing. Focusing on trying to keep 1st in sight as she grew smaller and smaller. I was 6 miles in when I could see that my speed was slowly decreasing. I looked behind me and there was 3rd place only about 30 seconds behind. I pushed harder to keep at it, and when I looked behind me again, I stupidly went off the trail just a little and hit my front tire off a log, making me come unclipped and have to stop. There goes 3rd place, now 2nd and me trying to hurry up and stay on her wheel. Which I did, for a mile until I flipped over my handlebars on a rocky descent. Now the gap I was working so hard to not let get big, just increased by a minute probably. I jump back on my bike and chase after her. But I lose sight of her not long after the crash.

When I get back to the start, I see that my time is at 54:49. I have completed one small goal of mine. I have done 9 miles under 55 minutes. And yes, I had another 9 miles to go, but that first part didn't seem like it took forever like I thought it would. So I gained a little confidence in myself and started to push again. When I got to the rock garden climb, I was told that I had closed the gap by 30 seconds. So I started riding as hard as I could again. I want to try and catch her if I could. Even if I couldn't pass her, I wanted to at least have her in my sights.

That never happened. My legs weren't going to climb as fast as they did that first lap. I probably added 20+ seconds to every climb I did that second lap. Even the flat sections started to feel longer and harder. I knew that I had to keep going if I wanted to place 3rd. I had one girl behind me (or so I told myself, we did have 4 registered, but I only started with 3. However, I knew the 4th girl was somewhere close to the starting line when we left). I didn't want to get beat after having worked that hard.

I wanted to finish the race in 1:50, but I finished in 1:55:56. I finished my second lap in one hour and 13 seconds. So I did complete my goal of finishing both laps between 55-65 minutes. And I was happy about that. I also saw areas that I had improved in. For example, I am faster than I was a year ago. My overall endurance has increased. However, I also saw areas I needed to improve on: speed for endurance, cornering at higher speeds, and just continuous climbing. I am proud of how I did. Finishing 3rd was awesome. But next time I went to be faster, better, and stronger. I have 3 weeks before my next race, and you better believe that I will be training even harder until then.