Never would I have imagined...

That I was nuts enough to enter the Elite State Track Championships, but I did.

I've had my new track bike for less than a week. Ridden it twice. Picked up race wheels en route to the race. Never rode 'em.

Who said don't try something new at a race??!?

4th in the 3K pursuit & 3rd in the 500m Time-trial.

Suckered into going to whatever track races are around, I found myself actually entertaining the idea of racing against elite track racers in the state. "Elite" means: You are a female. You have a USAC license cat 1-4. You own a track bike. You are still upright and breathing. CHECK.

That being said, there are some very good racers in SoCal. With 3 velodromes within 2 hours, there are probably more track racers in SoCal than anywhere else in the country. It's just they're somewhere else on race day and with a little luck I may not actually be dfl. But against the elites, I have no problemo taking my share of the caboose at the back of the train. It's all about the experience, racing hard, and having FUN!

With a few less-than-ideal-but-it'll-do-in-a-pinch, including but not limited to not having the right gearing, a slipping seat post, and the mysterious rubbing sound (I used to blame it on the brakes. Not and excuse I could conjure up this time), I went out, busted a lung, or two, hit the hammer. Then hit the wall. And still, I had fun!

To all you ladies out there...get out on the track if you can, it's definitely worth it!

Many thanks to Matty at Ride Cyclery in Encinitas for working double-time to get me on a new bike!

Weee!

I feel like a kid who just opened the cookie jar.

You know, that feeling of, "screw it, just do it!" I know I'm gonna like it. Why, I'm not sure. It's just pure pain, and how long can you really suffer?

Of course, I'm referring to Time trialing, short, long, and everything in between. I've been doing my fun Wednesday night workouts at the velodrome for 3 years now. By no means seasoned, but certainly not the rookie in class. The workout is great, and you can be sure of jelly legs at the end of a 2 hour workout.

I told myself that I was just going to have fun this year. Take a time out from being serious, and just learn to enjoy whatever I'm doing. So, when fellow trackies suckered me into racing my first 40K (24 miles) time trial, I said sure. So whatever if it's the state championships. Nothing like jumping in head first.

I've done plenty of 40K time trials. It just happened to be wedged between a swim and a run. My fastest time was at Nationals a couple of years ago on a fast course with a 1:06, respectable for a triathlon. For a time trial.... uh, I might be asked if I stopped to smell the flowers. So the question was, how fast could I really go? The goal was to break an hour.

So the end of May I drove the 3 hours out to BFE (really, it was) to a micro universe called Lake Los Angeles. No, there is no actual lake. No, it's not near Los Angeles. Where is it.... 20 minutes east of Palmdale, up the high desert ~ 4000', where all they have is dirt, weeds... and wind. Yep, severe wind. Gusts to 55 mph and a severe weather alert issued. Apparently that's just the way the tumbleweed rolls up here. I'll just tell you now, I thought I was doing to die on the cross winds. Death grip on the bullhorns. Aero, hell no. Water, hell no. Survival. I felt myself loosing time. "Just relax" I finally told myself. I'll say I could do with a little more confidence riding a disk in heavy cross winds. (As Kirstin Armstrong said, "Always run a disk. Always.") The good news, the first & last segments of the 23.5 mile course was downwind, so the rolling was fast. I crossed the finish line, looked at my watch... and tried not to fall off, 56:49. A respectable PR. Ended up placing me 3rd in the Masters 35-39. Had I raced Cat 4, I would have won. It would have placed 2nd in the Cat 3, and 4th in the Cat 1-2. There are some amazing athletes out there... and it was awesome to see them ride like the wind.

So then I come to today. It's Sunday. Yesterday, I got an email, "you racing the TT at the velodrome on Sunday?" Uh, what TT? So somehow, I manage to pull together the spare race wheels (Dave was racing this morning and was sporting the Zipp set), and get 'ol Roo Girl ready for her first track experience. Normally you can't ride a geared bike at the track, but today for the TT, it was an exception. I've always dreamed of letting Roo Girl rip on the track, and now was my chance.

So, off I went with what I considered to be an inordinate amount of stuff: 2 bikes, wind trainer, clothes for all seasons, water, some food.... First I nearly forgot my shoes. Then the trainer. Good lordy, would I ever make it out of the door this morning??!? Skipped breakfast and settled for Powerbar Bites in the car.

I arrive and check in. "What races would you like to enter?" I'm asked. "Uh, I've never actually raced at the track so I have no clue what I should enter," I reply. "Well then, I'll sign you up for all of them since it doesn't cost you any more," the official replies. My, twenty bucks gets you a looooong way on the track!
"Uh, kay...." I reply.

So first the Flying 200. For all you non-trackies, this is a sprint. You get a rolling start and get to wind yourself up to full speed by the time you start. 4 blinks of an eye and zero oxygen later, you're done. 200 meters is a hiccup of pure pain on the track bike. 14.8 seconds. Ouch.

Next up, the 500 meter TT. Again, short, sprint, pain with a standing start. I break out Roo Girl for this one, I'll actually have time to get into aero. 5-4-3-2-1, go. Now "go" does not mean attempt to pedal and weave aimlessly around the track until you get going. But, alas, need to work on those starts! Once up to speed the fun set in. 43.8. Not bad for a ridiculous start.

A break while the guys duke it out over the kilo (1000 meters). I'm next for the 2K. This time I manage to start in the right direction... forward. 3 laps in, I'm done, thinking I'm about to blow up. Just keep going.... halfway.... finally, 6 laps done. 3:00, not so bad! But how in the heck am I going to do a 3000 meter race when I could barely finish my 2k???

No time to think, I'm second up for the 3K (still hacking up a lung from the 2K). Settle, settle, just count Ks, not laps (total of 9 laps). 1k done. 2k done. I actually feel ok. I crank it up and by the last lap I'm on overdrive at 113 rpm. 4:38. Holy frijoles! That was fun!! I ended up winning every race, but alas there were only 3 of us, so it doesn't really count.

So, soon I'll have some photos.. and will post to prove I actually was there....

In the meantime, thanks to my trackie friends for showing me a whole new kind of fun! If you haven't tried riding on a track... it's a must!

Happy Riding,
Raja

Velodrome pics Copyright William Rohn 2011

Back to Bulldog

It's been 2 years since me & 'ol Treky dusted off and headed to the races. At 24 lbs, she and I have a few lbs to loose. But that just makes you stronger :-P (so I'm told)

I've done Bulldog Road Race twice before, it's fun, fast and has a nasty hill right in the middle. It's steep and once you think you've gotten to the top, it goes up again. It flattens, and just after you're pretty sure you're done mini-puking, it goes up, again. They key with this race is hitting the hill as hard as you can. The top contenders will gap everyone else, and you'll typically never see them again. Two years ago I was able to recruit enough friends, including 2 other bellas (Jen & Christine), and we inched our way back to the podium with a 2nd & 3rd overall finish.

This year, wasn't expecting that kind of performance. I've only been back into workouts for about 6 weeks after my Budapest hamstring injury (still not 100%, but manageable). I've lost a good 8 lbs since Feb with 5 more to go before I feel like I can fit in my shorts. I'm not sure if my iPhone app MyFitnessPal has terrified me or empowered me. I never thought I'd be counting calories, but the reality is.... being conscientious of what I put in my mouth without "dieting" or restricting what I eat makes enough of a difference to shed pounds.

Team mates Madelyn, Cindy & Karen were all season Bulldog racers as well. Last year they battled it out in the pouring rain while I sat at home with my ankle injury. This year, the only difference was I didn't have an ankle injury. The rain however, was haunting me. So, we crawled in my car and turned on the heater to stay dry & warm. That's my kind of warm up.

The race started with a little apprehension. The roads were wet and by the first mile, there was no shortage of road-mud everywhere. We all stayed up front and out of trouble. After sitting in the first few rows on the way out, I attacked on the final small downhill before the left turn to the climb. With the wet roads, we wanted to stay up front around the tight left. Then the madness began.

As expected, the slighter riders, who looked like climbers, attacked. Madelyn & I hung in with the group. A few pukes later, my body informed me that I would in-fact, not, be staying with this group. Madelyn "The Climber", did and caught the break. At this point I was looking at survival and was delighted Madelyn was there to represent.

The lead group was a solid 5 strong, and they were pulling away. Me & another girl were left in neverneverland as chasers. As we were both time trialing home, I was hoping she's slow up just enough to let me catch her so we could work together. But she didn't. So I gathered friends and somehow managed to hang on and get pulled back up the last 5 miles of the race. We blew past her and came within a minute of the lead group.

Everyone did an amazing job. We all had to remind ourselves mid-race, we paid money to be here. We all also noticed the amazing support provided by the hosting Marines. The guy halfway up the hill had all the great lines "oh, you get that guy!" (all the men's waves started first), "don't you quit on me!" "uh hu, you go girl!" I'm going to blame oxygen debt, as I know he had a ton more to say. If you ever get the chance, go to a race run by Marines. The support doesn't get any better.

Congrats again to Madelyn who finished 4th overall & 2nd Divison, I placed 6th overall and 1st division, Karen placed 3rd in her division and Cindy was 4th in her division.

But the best part of the race.... the coffee & sun after the race with a group of very cool Bellas.

Happy Riding,
Raja