One hundred seventy five dollars = Arizona Pro Female State Champ
And I did it on my big wheels.
Thank you Vassago.
Showing posts with label Flagstaff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flagstaff. Show all posts
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Olympic Training
Funny who you end up riding with sometimes.
Saturday at the race I went in feeling pretty confident that I'd be able to do well. I figured I'd just try to hang with Linden from Absolute Bikes and I'd be okay. Shortly after the start I realized it wasn't Linden's day, so I pulled ahead. I was a minute or two up the 15 minute fire road climb and realized I wasn't alone. Someone followed me...it wasn't Linden. Hmm....
It was a long gradual climb for the first 10 minutes and I was still pulling. Because there were just two of us, I decided to speak up. I figured sharing the work at a fun, laid back race wasn't a bad idea. "Would you like to pull?" ".........No.....Not really.....But I will." Later on I would realize how funny that response actually was, but for the time being I was slightly perplexed. Her pace did not slow up at all. If anything she picked it up a notch. We finally hit the peak of the fire road and started heading down for a little. It turned out that she pulled for about 5 minutes before we hit the single track at which point I decided I deserved to lead just in case she sucked in the singletrack.
The course was pretty sweet. From that first turn off it was basically singletrack the rest of the lap - climbing for a good 20 or 25 minutes until the decent back to the start. If I didn't look back every now and then, I wouldn't have known anyone was behind me. I never heard a peep out of this girl. Why am I breathing so hard????? After the short two minute section on the rolling dirt road, we headed back into the singletrack for the last 15-20 minute decent. I was not feeling it. Breaking all over the place. Almost sliding out. I was fully expecting to hear her say "Can I pass?" As soon as I had a chance I let her go by. She was gone in a second, not to be seen by me during the last two laps.
My second lap was much better. My split was a minute quicker than the first. It was a hard race though. The climbing through the single track really sucked it out of me at certain points. I finished in second and headed straight to find some water. While I was standing there, the lovely Katie Monahan walked up and introduced herself. We talked about the race, I apologized for passing her right as we hit the singletrack and explained my motive. She was right there with me. She said I was killing her on that first climb out (huh??? I seriously never heard a breath out of her) I asked her if she was pro...."No, I was an Olympic skier....I'm done with that. I just race mountain bikes for fun."
Saturday at the race I went in feeling pretty confident that I'd be able to do well. I figured I'd just try to hang with Linden from Absolute Bikes and I'd be okay. Shortly after the start I realized it wasn't Linden's day, so I pulled ahead. I was a minute or two up the 15 minute fire road climb and realized I wasn't alone. Someone followed me...it wasn't Linden. Hmm....
It was a long gradual climb for the first 10 minutes and I was still pulling. Because there were just two of us, I decided to speak up. I figured sharing the work at a fun, laid back race wasn't a bad idea. "Would you like to pull?" ".........No.....Not really.....But I will." Later on I would realize how funny that response actually was, but for the time being I was slightly perplexed. Her pace did not slow up at all. If anything she picked it up a notch. We finally hit the peak of the fire road and started heading down for a little. It turned out that she pulled for about 5 minutes before we hit the single track at which point I decided I deserved to lead just in case she sucked in the singletrack.
The course was pretty sweet. From that first turn off it was basically singletrack the rest of the lap - climbing for a good 20 or 25 minutes until the decent back to the start. If I didn't look back every now and then, I wouldn't have known anyone was behind me. I never heard a peep out of this girl. Why am I breathing so hard????? After the short two minute section on the rolling dirt road, we headed back into the singletrack for the last 15-20 minute decent. I was not feeling it. Breaking all over the place. Almost sliding out. I was fully expecting to hear her say "Can I pass?" As soon as I had a chance I let her go by. She was gone in a second, not to be seen by me during the last two laps.
My second lap was much better. My split was a minute quicker than the first. It was a hard race though. The climbing through the single track really sucked it out of me at certain points. I finished in second and headed straight to find some water. While I was standing there, the lovely Katie Monahan walked up and introduced herself. We talked about the race, I apologized for passing her right as we hit the singletrack and explained my motive. She was right there with me. She said I was killing her on that first climb out (huh??? I seriously never heard a breath out of her) I asked her if she was pro...."No, I was an Olympic skier....I'm done with that. I just race mountain bikes for fun."
Thursday, May 22, 2008
In love
I have to add to Zach's post about the Flagstaff race. The riding up there is incredible. I can't believe we've been out here for almost 10 months and Saturday was our first time riding it. I can't wait to get back up there and explore.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Flagstaff MBAA Final
Well, we have an entire series of mountain bike racing under our belt and it is only Mid-May. It seems so weird.
Tim and Elizabeth got to our house Friday afternoon. We headed out to eat some pasta and to see how many drinks a waiter could spill on a customer. Fortunately it was at another table. We all felt bad for that waiter. We felt like it was our confusing check splitting that got him frazzled.
We drove up Saturday morning and quickly found all the Prescott peeps (Jeff, Jaime, Brady, Jeanette, Tim, Keith, and Toby.)
The finals were in Flagstaff.
The course was so much fun and was pretty suited to climbers. There were some issues with insufficient course markings but fun nonetheless. Everybody started around 11:00 am and the Expert men and women had to do the same 27 mile course.
Sara took the win but it was a bitter sweet victory. Sara won but was not the first women across the line. Spring who has been one of Sara’s main competitions all season came across the line first. She figured out that she missed a major turn and cut over an hour off of her race. The even sadder part of Sara’s victory was that Christina was dominating the race by several minutes when she missed a turn. Christina got pretty far off course and figured out that the time loss was significant. It was a big bummer.
I had a blast in my race. There was a group of about 6 of us that rode away from the field in the initial hour + of climbing. It was fun cause I had a chance to ride with a couple of my new teammates who usually fly by me at the speed of light in most races. I think the Prescott altitude helped a bunch for this race. Unfortunately Darrin started pulling away from the rest of the group right before a major turn that could have been marked a little better. We were all yelling our heads off but he was too far up to hear us. His main competitor was in the lead group with us. I know I would have been lost myself several times if I hadn't been riding with Tom (Freak on a SS) the whole race. I don't know how he climbs like he does on a SS. I ended up getting 2nd in the Expert 19-39.
All in all it was a fun series. Fun people and good riding. No surprise Sara took 1st for the series in her class. The surprise was that with the final being double points and another top Expert not being there it bumped me up to 2nd for the series in my class.
Got some cool awards but the real award was going to stay at Christina's mom's house in Sedona. After a great meal at the Beaver Street Brewery in Flag. Christina, Tom, Sara, and I headed to Sedona for some good hang time.
I think Tom is part rooster cause he got us up shortly after sunrise. It was good cause we were able to have a curb-side breakfast at the IGA and hit the trails before it got too hot. We had an awsome ride followed by a mexican food coma. Good times!
NEXT STOP P-VILLE, IL!
Waiting for awards with the peaks in the background.
Mt Elden
The expert women started behind the sport men.
Sara running her bike right after the first technical downhill. Big jam up.
Tim and Elizabeth got to our house Friday afternoon. We headed out to eat some pasta and to see how many drinks a waiter could spill on a customer. Fortunately it was at another table. We all felt bad for that waiter. We felt like it was our confusing check splitting that got him frazzled.
We drove up Saturday morning and quickly found all the Prescott peeps (Jeff, Jaime, Brady, Jeanette, Tim, Keith, and Toby.)
The finals were in Flagstaff.
The course was so much fun and was pretty suited to climbers. There were some issues with insufficient course markings but fun nonetheless. Everybody started around 11:00 am and the Expert men and women had to do the same 27 mile course.Sara took the win but it was a bitter sweet victory. Sara won but was not the first women across the line. Spring who has been one of Sara’s main competitions all season came across the line first. She figured out that she missed a major turn and cut over an hour off of her race. The even sadder part of Sara’s victory was that Christina was dominating the race by several minutes when she missed a turn. Christina got pretty far off course and figured out that the time loss was significant. It was a big bummer.
I had a blast in my race. There was a group of about 6 of us that rode away from the field in the initial hour + of climbing. It was fun cause I had a chance to ride with a couple of my new teammates who usually fly by me at the speed of light in most races. I think the Prescott altitude helped a bunch for this race. Unfortunately Darrin started pulling away from the rest of the group right before a major turn that could have been marked a little better. We were all yelling our heads off but he was too far up to hear us. His main competitor was in the lead group with us. I know I would have been lost myself several times if I hadn't been riding with Tom (Freak on a SS) the whole race. I don't know how he climbs like he does on a SS. I ended up getting 2nd in the Expert 19-39.
All in all it was a fun series. Fun people and good riding. No surprise Sara took 1st for the series in her class. The surprise was that with the final being double points and another top Expert not being there it bumped me up to 2nd for the series in my class.
Got some cool awards but the real award was going to stay at Christina's mom's house in Sedona. After a great meal at the Beaver Street Brewery in Flag. Christina, Tom, Sara, and I headed to Sedona for some good hang time.
I think Tom is part rooster cause he got us up shortly after sunrise. It was good cause we were able to have a curb-side breakfast at the IGA and hit the trails before it got too hot. We had an awsome ride followed by a mexican food coma. Good times!
NEXT STOP P-VILLE, IL!
Waiting for awards with the peaks in the background.
Mt Elden
The expert women started behind the sport men.
Sara running her bike right after the first technical downhill. Big jam up.
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