post 12-hour race week, world cup, and some "Race the World"

Tired is an understatement of how I felt last week.  My sleep fluctuated between deep, dead to the world, unmoving unconsciousness to the restless toss and turn type of sleep that comes with pushing your body harder than what is considered normal.  Also, I rode my bike very little.  I went to the local Coast & Toast ride at DAS on Tuesday night, and I rode to the library with the family on Thursday.  The first time I really got on my bike was Saturday morning to pre-ride the World Cup XC race course before the pros would occupy it the rest of the day and also, before I would race five laps of it Sunday morning.

Before I made it up to Windham, NY, it was starting to look like my plans to watch the World Cup racers were going to fall through, and I'd be driving out there solo late Saturday.  I had requested that Saturday off from work back in December, but being a sub, I'm required to work if something comes up that takes the regular carrier I sub for off the route.  I had almost given up hope when I finally got ahold of someone who said they'd do it.  Beyond happy and no longer mad at the world, I let my travel companions know that I was still in.

We all met up at DAS after work on Friday and were on the road shortly before 5pm.  A stop in along the way at Syl's long-time friend's place for dinner left us with full bellies and smiles on our faces.  We finally got to our weekend home, a cabin in the woods, shortly after 11pm.  Arriving there in the dark, the place looked like something out of a scary movie, but seeing it in the light of the morning quickly dispelled any notions of chainsaw-carrying psychos.  Mike took a picture...



We had to be up early to sneak in any pre-riding on the race course; the pro U-23 guys were scheduled to start at 9, and we wanted to be off the course by 8:45.  Getting there later than planned left us with time for only one lap, but it was a well-spent lap.  We found the best lines and committed them to memory, and we were able to see where it was safe to unleash the speed and where it was best to use some caution.  Lack of rain had left the mountain dry and dusty, and the hot windy weather they were getting up there only helped to dry the course out more.  After one lap, our bikes were covered in a thick film of dust.

After the pre-ride, the plan was to get breakfast, head back to the cabin to clean up and chill for a bit, and drive back in time to watch the women's race.  Unfortunately, an excessively long wait for breakfast left us with 30 minutes to drive home, shower, and drive back.  Somehow we got back in time to have only missed the start.  The race was amazing.  Georgia Gould lead the entire race, and by the last lap, had a 50+ second lead on Catherine Pendrel and Katerina Nash.  She was killing it.  We spent the entire race moving around to different technical spots on course to watch how the ladies were choosing their lines, and on the last lap, Syl suggested getting a spot on the final corner before the finish so we could see the last section of the race as well as the finish line.  It turned out to be perfect, but at the same time, we had an up-close view of the heartbreaking finish that put Georgia in 3rd with a flat tire and her teammates sprinting past her for 1st and 2nd.

The men's race seemed pretty boring after that, but Adam Craig's decision to ride a single-speed in baggy shorts gave us all something to talk about and cheer for.  That must have been painful!  After their finish, we headed to the store for dinner supplies and then home to get crackin' on our feast.  Syl's brother was in the area, and he joined us for dinner.  I decided to have a beer, but with the level of exhaustion I was at after not being fully recovered from the prior weekend and walking up and down the mountain in the sun all day, the beer acted like a narcotic and I found myself ready for bed at 7pm.  Somehow, I managed to wait until 9, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was pretty much dead to the world until the alarm startled me out of my deep sleep at 5 am.  I probably could have slept until 9am easily, but I wanted to eat breakfast and give it time to digest before my 8am race start.

We headed over to the mountain at around 7, and thankfully, Mike was willing to work the feed zone.  This meant that our bottles were going to stay in the cooler until we needed them.  With the sun already strong at 8am, we would have been drinking some disgustingly warm beverages if he hadn't stood in the sun for us.  Here's Mike's view of the feed zone...

I did my best to warm up, but I knew that nothing was going to prepare my legs for racing up that mountain quite like actually racing up that mountain.  I lined up with Molly Throdahl (spelling?), Jane Pearson, and Francis Morrison - all fast ladies.  On the first lap, Molly quickly pulled away, never to be seen again, and Jane pulled up ahead of me by about 20-30 seconds for most of the race.  I passed Francis somewhere on the first lap on one of the climbs after following her for a short way through some of the technical sections.  I made my way towards Jane and tried to stay within site of her. We could see each other for most of the first four laps, but on the fifth, she later told me that I had gotten too close for comfort, so she turned the power up.  She ended up finishing about 90 seconds or so ahead of me, and Molly was about eleven and a half minutes up.  She was hammering!  She also managed to get the prize for fastest women's lap time.  All podium finishers were awarded with a jug of chocolate milk, but given that fact that milk consumption induces migraines in my poor little head, I let Syl attempt to drink it all.  It was a big jug, and it later served as my Stein when I got home and went to Stein Sunday at the local brewery.

Thanks for the cool shot, Syl!

As soon as the podium stuff was through, I headed over to help out in the feed zone with Syl.  It was a great spot to cheer on friends and other racers.  I was feeling the sun a little too much at that point, but I tried to keep hydrated, and that seemed to help keep me from feeling ill.  Mike appeared to be MIA on the last lap, but he ended up getting a flat near the top of the mountain, so he had to run his bike down the rest of the course.  I give him big kudos for finishing like that.

Lucky for us, we didn't really have to be out of the cabin by any specific time, so we we back and took our time eating, showering, and cleaning up the cabin.  It was nice to be able to drive home clean with full bellies.  The weekend was a complete blast!  What a great couple of guys!  I also got home early enough to head down to the Willimantic Brewing Company to enjoy my postal worker discount and have my new "stein" filled for $5.