Pretty pictures: Ed Sander CX at Lilypons

I've already written up the day's events, but here are some better pics of my shenanigans.  Thanks to the friends (Anne) and others (Tom B of NCVC) who took them!

Holding onto her wheel for a bit....

Still riding the hill on the last lap.

Looking very serious.

Tom B's perspective... I like it!  Lots of lily ponds at this one and a few people even got wet.

Time on the trainer

Uh-oh, that time of year is coming - when the light wanes shortly after (or as it has tonight) before I leave lab for the day and I wind up half-heartedly spinning on the trainer in the basement instead of getting fresh air under my legs.  I'm hoping to keep these sessions to a minimum this fall - especially as I finally have a dedicated road bike built, so none of this switching wheels stuff to ride my cross race bike on the tarmac.  Shea just built up the road bike today - I'm wondering what color bar tape I've got...

As I find my way into trainer-land, I will note a few things:

1.  It's really windy out there tonight.  My lack of dedication for leaving lab early for a ride might be tied to that.

2.  One of my main goals for the next 6 months is to maintain some cycling fitness through until March.  I failed miserably at this last year, failing to ride a bike _at all_ from mid-December until the day before my first race at Rockburn in late March.  I hope to sneak in some mid-afternoon rides followed by evenings at work.  And, because I'm a bit of a wimp about the cold, it also means trainer time.  Weekends are out from December through March... gotta ski during ski season.  The possibility of night mountain bike rides is intriguing, but limited in terms of a true workout while taking up a lot of time, so I'm not sure that's going to be part of the plan.

3.  I have to figure out how to make trainer time more fun.  Options include bad beach books to read, girly movies, abysmal but addictive reality TV, and perhaps sports highlights or upbeat music.  As much as I would like to think that I can read science papers and spin at the same time, it's probably unrealistic to think I can be that productive.

4.  I have to be more effective/less lazy while on the trainer.  Not sure how to acheive this, but I think item 3 is probably important.  Can't make it too much fun, though. Last fall I found myself sitting there without spinning, watching terrible reality tv without realizing I'd stopped pedaling.  Oops.  That just doesn't happen when you're out on the road. 

Best trainer workout ever so far - reliving the steelers last minute superbowl victory while watching the highlights.  Too bad they don't play that well all the time.

Yes, Virginia, I am a mudder...

Can you imagine a more perfect muddy bike race?  Couple inches of rain overnight, misty morning, beautiful 70 degree sun by the afternoon for my cross season opener - the Ed Sander Memorial Cyclocross event at Lily Pons watergardens south of Frederick, MD.

This is the first year they've bumped the Cat 4 women (that's novice, for you non-cyclists) into our own class for the MABRA series.  I weaseled my way into a front row start (hey, if they'd actually done callups as advertised, I would've been front row by order of reg. AND last year's points) and had the hole shot onto the off camber turn onto the grass.  I did a great job of taking my brain out of this early success and quickly settled into a sustainable but strong pace - two women passed me early but I lost track of one and the other had a tough barrier and I didn't see her again.

In the pre-ride, I found that an acquaintance from the mountain bike circuit was racing her first cross race.  On her Superfly.  Now, with the quantity of mud there, this probably wasn't all bad for her.  I knew she'd be strong.  I didn't think she'd be hanging on my wheel for the first two laps and then finally pass me in the mud pits (which she was riding and I was running) for the eventual win.  I stayed on for a while, then got dropped but felt really good - she was still in sight and I caught a couple of women in the back of the Elite field (including one who I practice with and was SUPER encouraging - sometimes I love racing with women!).

The course was mostly the same as last year - flat for the first half with a couple hundred yards of mud pit - a few short hills and technical off camber stuff on the other half.  A mandatory run-up and slip-sliding short downhill in the back section make it interesting.  I rode really well - still not feeling great at race pace on my dismounts and remounts, despite all the practice.  But I rode all the rideable hills.  Pretty sure I half-heartedly pushed my bike up many of them last year.  Great cheering from friends and teammates pushed me to buckle down and pedal hard.  If you're reading this - I heard you all and THANKS!  And congrats to all the friends and teammates who raced today as well!

Honestly, it felt like I rode a great race and was 2nd (!!!!!) in the Cat 4's out of 20 starters (18 finished).  Pretty psyched about that - in this series last year when it was Cat 3/4 I occasionally broke the top 10 and finished in the bottom half most of the time.  My best ever finish by far in cross!  As for my prizes on the day - I scored a pair leg warmers and a pair of woolie socks which look fuzzy warm but are too big so Shea'll get them. Wonder how I'll handle next weekend's double?

What are the rules of accounting?

In bike racing, the easiest place to lose weight is to get nicer bike parts.  The cheapest is off your body.  A year ago, I decided I should "make race weight" - meaning lose a few pounds. Of course, then Ski Liberty introduced chicken cheese steaks, and a few of those every weekend with large quantities of beer and zero time on the bike and I was quickly back to my usual winter weight - not heavy, by any means, but not as healthy as I could be.

This spring, I focused on eating foods high in protein, keeping snack foods out of the house, and riding at higher intensities.  I'm at a lower 'race weight' now than a year ago.  But here's the thing - I can't tell you how much weight I've lost.  That's because I'm a scientist and can't decide how to measure and report it accurately.  Do I go from heaviest to lightest?  But that doesn't take into account the daily weight fluctuations we all know occur.  So do I guess the heaviest I was in the morning versus the heaviest I am now in the morning?

Wait, I know, I'll give a range with standard deviation - let's say 12 lbs +/- 2. I don't actually have the data to compute standard deviation properly here, but since it's approximately the range for which 95% of the datapoints fall within two standard deviations of the stated mean... uh-oh, that means 12lbs +/- 1.  Final answer.  The quantity of beer in my fridge suggests I won't be able to increase that number much even though it's cross season.

Did I mention I suspect random errors are introduced by my $12 scale?

Of course, I've also recently lightened my bike with some sweet new wheels to go with my $12 scale.  Priorities...