on your left

Okay, so the deal with my coach and with myself for the 2011 race season was that I find a way to ride in the basement a few times a week and that I'll go outside and get into the wind like once a week.  in the winter.  during ski season.

So... today, I found myself out on the road.  I miss the trails.  Not loving it even though I've got my awesome Santa Cruz rebuilt for road training again.  (Too?) warmly dressed on a brisk 39 degree day.

**Aside: I haven't found the perfect extremities staying warm situation for this intermediate temperature.  So I had on light wool socks and winter boots to keep my feet warm.  But the lobster gloves just induce sweat.  Anything lighter that I've tried, though, just means I'm trying to ride and curl my fingers up into my palms at the same time.  Don't try that at home.**

Sunny, but black ice and piles of snow lurked on the shoulders.  Everyone else gets to ride socially during the winter.  Building base miles in group rides on the weekend.  But, I am not everyone else and weekends aren't for riding - they're for sliding.  So I wind up riding solo in the middle of the days in the middle of the weeks.

So it's just me.  Solo on the road.  Thinking about life, ski instructor exams, my career, how much harder it is to ride outside than on the low-resistance rollers in the basement.  How much easier at the same time.  No podcast or audio book or bad rap music necessary.

I hear "on your left" and literally almost jump two feet off my bike.  Okay, not actually, but I definitely jumped.  The guy flying up the hill behind me was going so fast that he had to call it before I heard his bike.  That's what happens when you expect to be the only one on the road.

no woulda coulda shoulda for me...

Nittany Cross.  A long drive.  A very early morning - Shea's race was at 9.  Walked the course with the dogs.  Flat. Fast.  One rooty section, a couple of high speed corners to pay attention to, lotsa flat grassy power sections.  Two laps on the bike before the 9am race, some cheering and getting dressed and soon I was on the trainer for my warmup.  A few moments of holy crap, cross season is really here in the morning, but race nerves weren't too bad.

Going to the scrum fest, I realized that a) I was late even though we still had 20 minutes til our race (hey ladies, when it's colder out, we won't do that) and b) I didn't care that much because it was staged by order of reg and I was on the ball.  Actually, maybe it was by last year's final standings, but the first 12 or so got a callup, then it was scrum... As we're standing there, they changed the start to dis-include the prologue loop.  I was actually sort of expecting that - our race is the only one of the day with 3 waves of starts and the prologue took you backwards on the course for a couple hundred yards.

I was aggressive in the start and had the hole shot to the first critical corner.  It felt like the field spread out immediately.  Others told me it didn't and there were some early crashes, but from my perspective I was pulling about 45 women single file up toward the master's riders who'd gone off a minute earlier.

Feeling strong and racing my own race as I worked through the master's women, I just put it all out there.  That was good enough for 2 1/2 laps.  Then I got passed and couldn't hang on by the end of that lap - the leader and another woman were about 10-15 seconds ahead of me for most of the last two laps.

Eh, whatever.  The announcers noticed I'd led the field, I felt awesome, and I finished 3rd on the day in a deep field of 3/4 women.  How cool was it to see that many ladies out there?!  That doesn't even count the 27 pre-registered in the women's UCI race - nearly as many as the men's pro race.

What a blast. Lots of familiar faces and voices in the pits hollering for each other and sharing a beer afterwards.  A great virgin race for the new Santa Cruz Stigmata.  Turns out we parked next to another woman who had the green one.  Not too many of those on the east coast.

As a side note, after seeing podium pics I've decided to never wear that skort with a jersey again.  Suffice it to say I don't sit around my house trying on my jersey with various bottoms to see what would look good in pictures.

Meet my new ride

Apparently there is a trend this week - it seems everyone is getting new bikes.  Including me.  A new cross race bike to go with my upgrade.

Here she is:

Pretty, eh?  Yeah, there's some bling.

A preliminary weight analysis says she's almost exactly 17lbs - a weight that will change just a bit with a seatpost swap, changeover to cross tires and switching out the 34/50 chainrings for better cross gearing - 36/42.

We went out on the road yesterday for hill repeats.  She's way fast, but confusing.  Why you say?  Well, turns out that I don't have a clue how doubletap shifters work.  Especially the front one.  I think I'm getting it figured out, but that wasn't before sitting at the bottom of a hill going in circles to figure out the shift to a gear suitable for climbing and still not being sure how I achieved it. 

Definitely more shouldering clearance for cross, but the geometry for shouldering means I'll adjust my carry a bit.  This means you should look for bruises in different places this year...

As built for the geeks who care:

• Santa Cruz Stigmata aluminum frame with Alpha Q Carbon Fork
• TRP EuroX Magnesium Brakes
• SRAM Force shifters, derailleurs, and cranks
• Chris King headset, 3T Carbon Bars
• Shimano RS80 clincher wheels (these are not new but are my race wheels from last year - I know the bike is responsive - I can tell the rear wheel needs to be trued)

Love Jes and Kent at Gettysburg bikes... they even let me get in the way to "help" with the build.  I can't recommend these guys highly enough to anyone - that's where I send my mom (seriously! and probably that's a story for another day...)

Now I've just gotta live up to my ride. :-)