Elite Start at Nationals

Here are some shots from the start line on Saturday December 16th. I have literally hundreds of photos to go through! It's hard to choose just a few, especially since I haven 't looked at most of them yet. And it's almost three am. I tried to get some shots of regional people over the course of the weekend, some of which I will post. Alot of the pics are not ideally framed cuz someone's head or elbow or camera was in my way....

Notice that Tristan (Trek Midwest in red) has one of the coveted front row spots. Doug (no. 12) is right behind him in the second row, wearing his Grandstay kit.



They're off!


Anticipation before the start....


The Kona dudes could almost be twins - I had a hard time telling them apart. Then, on Sunday when Ryan had the stars and stripes on (see previous post), it was no problem!


Two familiar faces....

National Tree (Farm)

Elite National Champion, Ryan Trebon, aka Tree Farm, running up the Clif steps on December 17th at the Strawberry Cup, in Providence, the day after winning Nationals.

Awards Ceremony Dec. 16th after the Elite Men's Nationals race:


Zipping up the new stars and stripes jersey!


The top five.


These guys look like they actually might be friends outside of "work"....

Happy birthday....

if my dad were alive, it would have been his birthday yesterday. I was thinking about him all day. I have not forgotten all the things he did for us, or how much he cared for his family.

Cross nationals!!

Cross Nats was lots of fun! I would say a 7 on the fun-o-meter (yep, I just made up that word), maybe an 8. Great weather, great course, great people. A few glitches in my case but nothing insurmountable, thanks to the great folks at the Mavic neutral support tent. Thank you, thank you, Mavic guys, you saved the day!!! And thanks to Chris S., Renee and Chris D. for being willing to lend a hand if needed. Had I made it to the parties Sat and Sunday night, I would have probably given the weekend a 9 or 10! Unfortunately my flight left Sunday afternoon so I missed the Crank Bros party.

The other racers in my race were way out of my league, but I knew that would be the case as soon as I saw the start list..... more on the race and course later....

Congrats to all the Midwesterners who put in a strong showing in their events!

Ran into quite a few folks I used to know ... Ex-Midwesterners I saw included Ryan O'Connor, former local fast guy in the 90's, Ron B. and his family, (including his son Drew who did very well in his junior race), and more. It does seem to me like the cast of characters has changed quite a bit since the last time I went to a cross nationals event. There was a great group of regional (and ex-regional) crossers to hang with, including Chris, Kim, Renee, Dave, Kurt and Beth.

Thanks to Renee, of Madcross fame, for organizing the Midwest dinner! 18 people made it out on Saturday night. Several of them were new faces to me. It's nice to have someone make the effort to get people together.

The flight there had a surprising number of people going to the race, considering it was only Wednesday. There were some USA cycling events people, and the head official of the race. Someone who turned out to be in my race was sitting right across the aisle from me, and we ended up chatting. Little did I know then that she would come close to winning our race! I didn't know who everyone was at that time, but they looked like they were on their way to nats, and it added to the sense that I was starting out on an adventure!

Something about seeing all the bike boxes rolling around at the airport gets the adrenalin going... it reminds me of how you feel when you drive into a town that's holding a big race and you start to get all jumpy when you first see cars with bikes on top and especially when you start to see the team cars.... it happens to me whether I am racing or spectating... that excitement that washes over you when you realize you are about to be immersed in the sights and sounds of bike racing!

Another thing that struck me as really funny, though it makes sense, is that I heard that there was a room in the host hotel that had nothing but bikes in it? Someone, a team I suppose, got a room just for their bikes! An expensive room with pristine white shiny satin-like duvets on the beds and a light colored carpet, full of potentially dirty bikes! Good thing it wasn't a muddy weekend!

I will add more on the weekend later... this is a super busy week, trying to get all my shopping done now that I am no longer trying to get ready for Nats.....T is in town and we are going to meet up several times, I might even join her and Wendy at Kettle Friday if I can swing it....and my sister and her family get here Thursday night. Also, I have to get everything done for the year's end at work, preferably before our accountant leaves town next week on vacation....and so much personal stuff has been on hold for me due to the long race season for me..... "oh, I'll do it in the winter when the season is over"..... well the winter is here!! time to get cracking!

More later, I hope...

Packing for Providence.....

Wish I had time to write about the great weekend I had! Maybe later.

Instead I am getting ready for nationals.... It has been a very long time since I have packed up a bike in a bike case. It was really slow going. I am not looking forward to the other end when I have to put it back together. That's why I wanted to pack the box myself, I figured I'd be better at putting it back together. (Getting the derailleur back on and working right is the part I am concerned about.) But now that's done and I am gathering a big pile of warm clothing for standing (and riding) outside all weekend.... things kept happening all day that should have taken two seconds and ended up taking an hour... like being on hold for an hour on the phone in one case....it will be a miracle if I get out of here on time....but it will all work out! Tthe silly part is that I am getting my bike all ready and making all this effort for a race from which I will probably get pulled halfway through the race, if not before. It will be a blast to be there, though. Fun, fun fun.

Nats, here I come!

Nose, fingers and toes....

Those were the things I could not feel during the first lap of the cross race last Sunday at Montrose Harbor.

Instead of concentrating on the race and my bike handling in the snow, all I could think about was that I could not feel four of my fingers or my nose! How long does it take to get frostbite? How would I know if I was getting it? My imagination had my fingers freezing solid and falling off, like in a bad dream. And as for the nose..... After a while they warmed up enough so that I could feel them again and I could start thinking about the race. I was wearing the gigantic gorilla sized Pearl Izumi gloves that look like they would be great for operating a ski lift, but I think I should have picked lobster gloves so those fingers would have had buddies. I actually can't complain too much about the toes. This was my first time racing in my Lake winter shoes. Along with toe warmer packets, they did much better than my regular shoes in keeping my feet warm.

What a day! 15 degree high, a record low for that day! Wind coming off the lake.... We got 6 inches of snow two days before, although the course seemed to have less than that. Some ruts had definitely formed by the time of our races, as had ice on the downhills and some of the turns.

I had thought that maybe not very many people would show, given the bitter cold and the snow. I was surprised to see that most of the regulars from this season were out there, along with maybe a new face or two. The field in the other women's race was about double what it has been at the other races! Go figure! Our field was about the same as it has been at the other races. It must be the location, and the state championship? I am a little stumped by this. I really didn't want to go to this race cuz of the weather, but there really wasn't any excuse for not finishing the series. I would have been mad at myself if I hadn't. And it was good to see everyone that was there, however briefly one ends up talking to people that are shivering....

I had a terrible start at the back - my fault. Everyone took off ahead of me and I had to play catch up. I caught the back of the pack on the pavement but things had already split up, then next thing we knew it was time to slow down for the turn onto the snow. Who goes first? You can lose a couple of seconds waiting your turn.

I talked to alot of people on Saturday about the virtues of fat vs. skinny for the snow, with the consensus coming out about half for fat and half for skinny. None of us actually knew what the snow would be like at that point. I stuck with the skinny ones, not because I was convinced they would be better but because they were already on there and I had limited time that day. Looking back, I am pretty sure fat would have been better choice for those conditions. It seemed like the mt bikes did better than the cross bikes in general. This was my second race on the skinny ones. Although the fat would have been better for me, the skinny ones had enough tread that they held their own. Those are going to stay on for next weekend.

So my goal for the race was not to go down in the snow or on the icy sections. Mission accomplished, at the expense of maybe gaining a place or two. Hard to say, though. I walked/ran in some places that I might have been able to ride. I probably lost time on the barriers and technical sections. The gap between me and the rider in front of me definitely changed at different places on the course. I didn't place well, but I got a workout. I had fun once I warmed up, I got some snow riding practice, and I still have the fingers and nose.

It seems like every week this fall I have gotten more and more out of shape, ever since the kettle race. Being sick on and off this fall has taken it's toll. The bitter cold aggravated my cough and runny nose at this last race. Yeeech. I was in much better shape at this time last year. Shoulda gone to nats last year instead of this year.

Thanks to Ed, John and Jose for being out there with a tent, bbq'ing burgers, brats, and warm cider for everyone.... and to Chris D. and the Turin crew for putting on the race under less than ideal conditions.

Safari Slide Show

My friends Wendy M. and Kristin are showing photos from their trip to Africa in October. They will be showing shots from the safaris and from their climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. This will take place at 6:30 at RaceLogix. All are welcome.

Found dead, in Oregon

I have been following the story of James Kim, the missing CNET editor, and his family, lost in Oregon for 11 days after a Thanksgiving trip to Seattle. I get regular tech emails from from CNET, which sent out an email about a week ago asking if anyone had seen their missing editor and his family.

We often think that in this age of cell phones we can always call for help, but their story shows us that that just isn't true...

This is so sad.... http://news.com.com/James+Kim+found+deceased/2100-1028_3-6141498.html?tag=nl.e498

The family search website: http://www.jamesandkati.com/

I can't stop thinking about this, and what it would be like to be James, trying to stay alive out there so he could find help for his family...and how heartbreaking it must be for his family...for his wife and kids who stayed with the car and survived...

makes me think about what all of us travelers should be carrying in our cars...I have blankets and clif bars and water, but I know there are probably other things I should have...