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Teamwork on rollers

The weather today kept us indoors for fear of getting sick before race season begins and/or because we're tired of having to clean our spiffy new bikes after riding wet roads.

With that in mind, Chicken and Zig made the trek to Casa de Ulmer this morning with full intentions on getting in a good workout - inside or outside- while catching up on gossip... come on, we're a team of women. Gossip is allowed. Encouraged, even.

So, what follows may not be suitable - for anyone. Team CycleLife does not take any responsibility for the absurdity of the situation. Please note that even while indoors, we do encourage safe riding. This includes helmets at all times.

Video: courtesy of Chicken. Humor: built in with this group. Thanks to Zig for being a willing participant ... and for having visceral reactions that give us a new catch phrase: "It slid a little. I don't like it." Classic.

Opening Race 1, 2 Punch in Lancaster

Today Christina and I (Sara) woke up at the crack of dawn (Yes, it's that time of year again!) and traveled to Lancaster, PA for the Farmersville Circuit Race. It was difficult coming up with a pre-race strategy as there would be only 5 of us lining up at the start line, and we had no idea what kind of fitness those people would have at what was the first race of the season for most of us. We stayed pretty chill in the first of 7 laps of the 35km race, reading the "field" and seeing who was willing to sit on the front. Everyone seemed content to sit on either Christina's or my wheels at an easy 15mph pace...not suprising since we were the only team with more than 1 person represented. However, after Christina whispered "sooner rather than later" midway through the first lap, I took off going through the start/finish area. I was followed by a junior rider and quickly caught by Dori from Artemis with Christina on her wheel. Christina immediately jumped as I was caught, and I latched on to Dori as she chased. After another short jump by me, Christina countered as I was caught and took off in what would become a 5 lap solo break away. Dori made a great attempt at a chase but cracked at the end of lap 3 as I sat on her wheel. Seeing her sit up, I took off and attempted to bridge up my teammate. Christina "The Leg-Ripper-Offer" was too much for me, and I was content to motor along on my own for the next couple of laps when I couldn't catch her. Unfortunately, the police officer "guarding" (and I use that term loosely) one of the corners decided that it would be a good idea to allow a tractor trailer to turn as I approached at the end of the 6th lap, at which point the tractor trailer decided to stop and talk with a guy driving a tractor in front of me. Sweet. I had to stop and unclip...at which point both calves locked up in killer cramps. I'm sure EVERYONE thought I was psycho as I squeezed sideways on foot between the tractor and tractor trailer screaming "You A**holes!" and then stopped at the side of the road groaning "Ow Ow Ow Ow". I hopped back on my bike just as Dori cruised up. I tried a few times to get away from her again as we rolled into the last lap but gave up as she stuck to me with every move. At this point, furious, I decided to pull back and sit on her wheel for the remainder of the lap...passing her 150m from the finish line for the sprint.

Meanwhile up the road, Christina tried her best to get involved in the only pile-up of the day in the men's Cat 4/5 field. Two handles bars hooked, one guy hit the deck as the other continued riding with second bike still attached. The laid-out guy got up, attempted to run to nab his get-a-way bike, but slipped again in his cleets. He then proceeded to *finally* get his bike and walk across the road without looking, almost taking Christina out in the process. She saved herself with her mad 'cross skills by coming to a halt and holding a wheelie. Luckily, she stayed upright and rode to a solo finish well out of sight of Dori and myself.

The CycleLife Cat3 girls opened the season with a 1,2 (haha, just ignore the fact that there were only 5 of us to start with!). Stay tuned for news from our Cat1,2 girls starting their season at the Grants Tomb Crit in NYC...

Tradition

It's tradition. We ride out in Washington County on the coldest day we can find. On the return home, we stop to take a picture with the pig.

(l to r: Robin, Michelle, Wendy, Jen, Leslie, Christina, Sonja. Missing: Sara, Melanie)

Then we make Coach Mike pose with the pig, too. Say cheese. Or bacon.

Steady climbs, Salmonella snacks, & compression stockings

The day started with Gluten-free banana-walnut pancakes and coffee. Yum. We started late, rolling out around noon with a 50-60 mile ride planned. The wind chill was definitely not as bad as Tuesday, but it was still cold. Cold enough to make the contents of our water bottles slushy and at times frozen. This fact became key at about mile 38 in the ride.

So while in West Virginia, we are fortunate enough to not have cell phone reception. If you don't want to be reached, no problem. We do check our email so I was commiserating with a girlfriend who had discovered her husband threw out her recent purchase of peanut butter in his subtle way of ridding the house of fat products. (This man is NEVER allowed in my kitchen. I like having 6 gallons of ice cream available at all times. And beer. And milk. And steel cut oats.)

Anyway...I learned via email that my friend's divorce was averted upon learning that hubby-dear took the coveted peanut butter to work for lunch. So he wouldn't be throwing out the two new jars she brought home. Upon reading this email rant over peanut butter, I wrote back something to the effect of "you should both be throwing out that peanut butter ASAP-- haven't you read about the salmonella outbreak that is sickening hundreds and being recalled from every store?"

When I returned from our ride today, this email awaited me: "the commercial single-family stuff is ok, it's the mass-produced quantity packaging (i.e. industrial sized (hospital) or products (i.e. peanut butter snack crackers) that are the problem)."
EFF! If you look closely in the picture above where the Goat and I are posing with our mid-ride re-fueling snack purchased at the local BP station, you will note the aforementioned peanut butter snack crackers. I repeat, EFF. I sure hope that bottle of CeraSport kills Salmonella.


Goat thought it funny to write to my teammates that I arrived in W.Va with everything but my bicycle. Au contraire. I'm actually riding my beloved Specialized Ruby (soon to be swapped out for my new Specialized Tarmac SL). Chicken is with me.


This last picture has a few explanations and stories behind it. The Verge kit is a sample which I was trying on for fitting before we place our team order. Below those Verge shorts are my compression thigh highs. Love them. They love me back. Tomorrow I hope my legs love climbing some more.

Let's talk numbers. Briefly. Today we clocked 54 miles. Goat and I had the gadgets to track our watts and HR, etc. Chicken knew the route. We started the ride hard just trying to warm up. I know we warmed up, but we rarely slowed up. In fact, we spent several miles attacking each other and chasing down. Then before every climb, Goat challenged me to climb without ever getting out of my saddle. Awesome. Not hard to do when your ass is frozen to the seat. Badgers can climb! At mile 38, I cracked---the first time---and Goat brought up the great idea of having us attack her on the 10 mile climb back home. It was at that point that I reminded Goat that my two water bottles were frozen and I would be playing target practice at her helmet. Those would be my two attacks home.

Now mind you that earlier in the ride when I was noting the solid consistency of my water bottles, Goat had said, in all seriousness, "oh just put one against your chest and underneath your jacket. It'll warm it up." WTF? It's below 30 degrees out here and you want me to put this 16 oz ice block against the only part of my body still warm? I repeat, WTF? When I bonked the second time--mile 48--I started to get angry. Goat was no where to be seen. (Note: At this point, the heat from my eyes mixed with the cold air was fogging up my glasses so I could not even see to read my SRM.) Goat could have been 5 feet in front of me for all I know. Chicken later tattled on me and said I was mumbling to myself, "You take your bottled ice and stick it in your crack to warm it, you annoying goat." I love you goat. You pushed me today and my numbers show it.

We compared our power data and HR data at dinner. I'll share the amusing data. On a ride that lasted almost 4 hours, I spent 1 minute and 48 seconds in my recovery HR zone. That's it. Eff. Goat spent almost 5 minutes in her recovery HR zone. I spent 42 minutes riding in my VO2 max watts zone. Goat spent 7 minutes riding in her VO2 max watt zone. I should have offered Goat my peanut-butter Salmonella crackers. Just kidding. Yummy chili and cornbread for dinner followed by baked Apples with pecan-caramel glaze and lots of wine.

Badger out.

Winter Training

Although we were disappointed with the rescheduling of our team clinic #3, some of us are lucky enough to be out in West Virginia at the Raw Talent Ranch for some winter skills training. 

The Chicken at the start of the ride. Today was a balmy 25 degrees, but the Muscle did 4 hours in  minus 4 degree temps yesterday. 

The Chicken descending a small hill on Howard's Lick road.

Shenandoah Mountain Road

We thanked the snow-plow driver for clearing the road and laying down gravel. It made the ride a lot better.

We had only planned on doing 2 hours, but somehow ended up down in Bergton riding 3 1/2 hours instead. Thank goodness we had enough CeraSport! That stuff is not only more nutritious than most sports drinks, it tastes great, too. Try the fruit punch flavor, yummy!

Team Clinic #2

Mike Birner gives us tips on effective pacelining using his son's blocks.

Jay Murphy, Mike's guest rider and helper, rides at the front just as we prepare for another race scenario

Leslie Jennings rocking the new Specialized helmet and shades.