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.

Announcing Team CycleLife 2009 Roster

On the heels of an exciting opening night with our title sponsor, CycleLife USA, we are proud to announce the roster for the Women’s CycleLife Team 2009. Our team goals for next year include helping CAWES, Inc (Capitol Area Women’s Elite Squad) develop into one of the leaders in promoting women’s racing both at the regional and national level. The ten members of the 2009 squad bring a vast collection of experience, talent, strengths, and energy both on and off the bike. We have been spending time together gelling and bonding, and we are excited for the upcoming racing season. Look for us out on the road!

Christina Briseno, Cat 3
Jennifer Cheng, Cat 3
Sonja Evers, Cat 2
Michelle Hart, Cat 2
Leslie Jennings, Cat 1
Diane Miller, Cat 2
Melanie Schwartz, Cat 3
Wendy Ulmer, Cat 2
Sara Zeigler, Cat 3
Robin Zimmerly, Cat 3

Hmmm....gotta love the off season

Unfortunately, I missed the good times at the 'Ranch. For the last month, I traded my bike for a surf board in Itacare, Brazil for some much needed time off between forays in the rainforest following the small arboreal monkey I'm studying for my dissertation. BUT I'm home and really excited to get back on the bike with the members of my growing, amazing team!

Raw Talent - at the Raw Talent Ranch

As I reported on plain-jane-ramblings, the ladies of CycleLife took to the hills of West Virginia as guests of Raw Talent Ranch. RTR, owned by local cycling magnate Jay Moglia, sits at about 2,700 feet right outside of Lost River State Park.



(no this isn't the Barn ... this is just a cool pic taken by Jason Merdhot)



While we were two ladies shy (Sara is in Brazil and Melanie was busy WINNING at the Fairhill CX race - check out Velonews.com),the remaining 4 members conquered the hills of W Va both on bikes and on foot with some help from Erik and a super-cool visit from rockstar and teammate Heidi Woolever (we've missed you!!)



Michelle, in preparation for a Marathon in less than a month, ran 20 miles on Saturday while the rest of us braved an amazingly difficult ascent back up to the Barn after about 3 hours of rolling hills.


(This is the ride profile provided by Leslie's hubby, who likes to play with his bike toys - Thanks, Erik !)

Its amazing - we've all discussed it and we have decided that every time we get to the Barn, its like the rest of the world disappears. Phone reception is spotty out there, TV is there but we never use it, wifi is available but we use it sparingly. We laugh alot, we cook lots of great food, we tease each other about our respective ipod playlists ... its a great time to bond and just "be".


Michelle, registering for the big Marathon, Paul getting directions for the upcoming ride and the rest of us enjoying some coffee and pancakes a la Jason - we'll be ready to roll in no time


Meanwhile, a few of the boys in attendance took a stroll out in the woods with Jay on mountainbikes.



After our respective rides (and Michelle's run), we enjoyed some chili prepared by Robin, a bonfire prepared by Jay, some of the awesome cookies and cupcakes prepared by Audrey and some moonshine - who knows where that came from !! Oh, and since we were celebrating birthdays (Michelle on Friday, Jason on Saturday), we had some brownies and ice cream... not to mention yummy s'mores. We're pretty sure Paul and Michelle got sunburned while trying to roast marshmallows for the group- way to take one for the team !




More pics and some more personal observations from the trip are over on Plain Jane's Ramblings ... suffice it to say, we'll be back soon - the training out there is phenomenal and the accomodations are perfect, but the company you choose to take with you will make the trip even better. Thanks, guys and gals, for a fun weekend.

Masters World Cup Racing in Austria

Spent the last week racing for the first time in Europe at the Master's World Cup races in Austria. It's an unbelievable experience - a beautiful area, inspiring people, and 700+ riders from all over the world. The pic on the left is the view from the hotel...






The trip is especially easy if you go with Tracy and Rob Lea who have been organizing groups for years. They take care of everything - accommodations, race registrations, number pick up, food, mechanics - everything. And they manage to get the coolest collection of people you can imagine. Here's a pic of some of this collection hanging out outside our gorgeous hotel...



I was competing in four races: A Master's World Cup (not THE World Cup, but a non-UCI World Cup...whatever that means), The Master's Worlds time trial, THE Master's World Cup, and an Elite UCI race.

The road racers were all held on the same course: a +/- 40K loop with two pretty big climbs and a fast flat finish. A good race for sprinters who can get their arses over the climbs. The only downer is that the women's races are a little short. The 30-40 year old women only did 1 lap for the World Cup races - about 25 miles.

Results & Reports
Race 1: 4th in the first World Cup race! The picture from the awards ceremony says it all. Apparently I was pretty happy.

It came down to a sprint with about 10 riders left after the climbs demolished the field.

Race 2: Unfortunately the TT two days later did not go as well for me. It was a bad dream where everyone is going forward and you are going backwards or stuck in quicksand. I was passed by four riders about 5-10K into the race...seriously. I ended up in last place (as my "friends" helpfully pointed out repeatedly for the rest of the week). But after the race I realized what was had happened - the back brake was flush against the rim. It explained a lot, but the poor showing definitely screwed with the head. Unfortunately The Master's World Cup was the next day...

Race 3: For the Master's World Cup, was feeling a little flat from the TT and it had shaken my confidence. Still I deluded myself that I could pull something off and that the field would ignore me and let me ride away. Didn't happen. The field was larger than the first world cup race, and the Italians showed up in full force. They kept the race under control and if anything moved the field was on top of it. We came to the finish with about 25 riders...and I lost focus and nerve. The Italians strung it out at the front and took 1-2. I got 7th.

Race 4: Finally, Sunday was an 'Elite Women's Open race' on the same course. This time we were doing 2 laps (vs. 1 for the others), and there were new faces since there was no age limit. Lots of younger riders (mostly Austrian) showed up. The pace was harder on the climbs than it had been in the earlier races, but with about 10K to go and 2 riders off the front (one far off who had taken off on the first climb, and one just dangling ahead), the pace inexplicably slowed down. We went from 25 mph to 15. The pace allowed riders who had been dropped to get back on and the Pro men to pass us with less than 5k to go. Chaos! It sorted out and we came into the finish with 20+ riders racing for third.

In the final corners, I thought my chances for a podium finish were blown when a rider bunny hopped the median strip and came crashing through the group. I was gapped from the lead riders, but closed it just in time for the 500K sign. Rested for a second, head down, and went for it from 200K to go. I won the field sprint and got 3rd place overall! All these mid-Atlantic office park crits have honed the sprint skills!

The picture above is the podium from the elite race. The winner apparently just got back from the Olympics where she raced for the Austrian team. I guess I'm just way too cool and couldn't be bothered to take off the shades.

Overall...an amazing event. Highly recommend it. Maybe we can get a team USA together for next year?