Training, training, training....

... and soon the season begins!!!

The whole Tibco crew is headed down to Carpinteria tomorrow for a week of team camp. I'm not sure what all team camp entails, but I'm really looking forward to it -- i love camp and i love riding my bike. A camp with bike riding has to be awesome!

You can follow the team through camp... and the whole season... on twitter and facebook and maybe even my blog if I start updating again :)

(This is a Happy Camper!)

:)

I've had good weather and good riding to start off the new year!

O Oregon

I headed up to Oregon for the last weekend of the GrandPrix in Portland and nationals in Bend. After being sick and off the bike for a good portion of the season, I didn't have high goals... but I wanted to get a little more cross racing in (it is a long wait until next year!), experience the Portland scene (I heard it was crazy!), and see all the great racing in Bend.

Portland was a little disappointing because we got COLD instead of mud. I was hoping to see first hand the epic mud conditions that usually define the Portland GP. The promoters still provided a fun course despite a lack of mud puddles, there were still great fans at the races (though I suspect the crowd was smaller than usual due to the cold), and the frites were delicious (mmm)! The actual racing was a bit of a bummer for me. Day 1 resulted in a flat and a lot of running. I think I was last at one point, but was able to bring back a few spots. Day 2 started off well until my lack of fitness caused me to drift back throughout the race. But it was fun to be out on the cross course again. It was also great to see a bunch of familiar faces from the midwest -- I've been missing my cross family since moving to CA!

After Portland, I enjoyed a fun week in Oregon. First, Aspen and I visited friends in Corvalis -- it was a brief visit, but we had fun times and great food. Then Aspen and I trekked across beautiful Oregon to Bend. The drive was spectacular! I was really hoping to see a bear fishing in the river along the road, but I guess they are sleeping now. I did see an enormous elk though -- at first I thought it was a mutant deer until Aspen pointed out that it was in fact an elk. Not quite as cool as a bear, but I was happy to see some wildlife along with the beautiful scenery.

In Bend, we met up with Aspen's dad and bro who came to race the masters and juniors nationals races. We spent pretty much the rest of the week at the races cheering on friends and family. I also rode the course a bunch in all sorts of conditions -- snow (my favorite), ice (not my favorite), mud -- fun fun fun!

My race finally came around on Sunday. Since I didn't get many UCI points this year, I was starting pretty far back and a bit nervous about moving up in the slick conditions. But I managed to get off to a good start and the first two laps, I was consistently moving up. I was also starting to feel a bit stronger on the bike again (good timing). Then I came to the off camber slip 'n slide section and took my turn at slipping and sliding. It wasn't a bad fall, but when i tried to stand up, my feet slipped out and this time I slid into the tape and got all wrapped up. After getting unwrapped, I had to get my chain untangled as well and this was not an easy task. It was a bit sad watching everyone go by as I wrestled with my chain.... but i finally got free and was back on the bike (now nicely decorated with course tape!). I was slowly picking off lost spots until another couple slips led to mechanicals and lots of running. Ugh! So it goes sometimes. Hopefully I got all my bad luck out of the way this year -- I am looking forward to better luck next year!

Mud Palace

The cross race this past weekend took place in the midst of the SF bike expo at Cow Palace -- a San Fran convention center. Since the Cow Palace is mostly a big building surrounded by cement, the promoters had to be imaginative to create an interesting cross course. They took full advantage of the one dirt section (typically used to show livestock) and made us go around and around and around to use every square inch of land -- after going in enough circles its amazing how you can actually feel lost in such a small space.

Their was a steep hillside between parking lots which the promoters spent many man hours carving stairs into... about 40 or 50 of them (yikes!)

At the top of the stairs, the promoters imported some dirt (which turned into mud after a little rain) for us to go through before coming back down the very steep hill... onto more imported dirt which took a sharp right hand turn (it is not good to miss that turn -- i know)

Then a series of aerial jumps where tricks counted for bonus seconds! Oh wait... that was for the BMXers. Good thing -- i might have died going off those jumps!

But there was a little track section of bumps INSIDE the convention center created with more imported dirt. Little kids were added for additional obstacles (check out the tiny one getting air!)

It was a very crazy cross course indeed. But cross is crazy so it was fitting. At the end of the day I was battling it out for second before flying through a mud pit, doing a somersault, and bending my derailleur hanger. I was fine and ready to go, but my derailleur went into my spokes and I ended up having to run almost an entire lap -- by that point, i was not very speedy with my run, but got a lot of encouragement from the fans and made it to the finish line! My bike and I were very muddy :)

The fun day of cross ended with spectacular views on my drive home down highway 1... photos through the windshield from my phone don't do the views justice... but they were breathtaking

Nap Time!

a nap looks nice.... I wonder if the sea lions would let me join in on nap time...

Cross is Back!

(Racing under the lights is the best!)

Back to racing this weekend! Well, kinda... I was in no shape for the USGP races so I stayed home and raced locally. I was really in no shape for the local racing either, but it was fun to get out on my Ellsworth and the race was super cool! The Bay Area Super Prestige series put on a night race under the lights with a tight spectator friendly venue that made for a great atmosphere and attracted a big and deep women's field (and big fields all around). The course had lots of twists and turns with a few steep little kickers for some fun riding and run up torture.

In some ways, the race was a bummer because I had no snap and not much energy, but mostly it was a ton of fun to be back on the cross course! I love cross -- i love zooming around on the dirt/grass/etc, i love the energy of the spectators, and i love riding my bike. I just wish the season weren't so short...

Exploring...

Racing has been put on hold as I am recovering from the flu. I've been on a prescription of easy riding lately which is the antithesis of cyclocross... but it's given me a chance to explore my beautiful surroundings!

Here is Aspen enjoying a morning view from Wilder Park

Here you can (kinda) see the mountains on the other side of the bay (they are a little sliver of blue in the pic) -- the lighting was amazing, but I couldn't capture it with my phone :)

Coming down to the coast, we caught a brussel sprout machine in action... these guys are fast! The people in the field machete chop down the stalks of brussel sprouts which go into the conveyer belt machine and somehow the little sprouts get stripped off their stalks and spit out into the trailer... you can barely see it in the picture, but trailer 1 is overflowing with brussel sprouts and trailer 2 is ready to take over. I'm glad I don't have to eat all those!!!! yuck!

(yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck!)

We then rode along the coast a bit -- the waves were splashing big this weekend -- I even caught a little spray as we rode by...

It was nice to get some good views and a little fresh air. Hopefully I'll be back on the cross course next weekend!