Beer, Bikes, and Snow

Cooper River (CRCX) is flat.  And tends to have long stretches that require a lot of power.  Typically not my favorite type of CX course.  But I know what i need to work on.  So it's good training for me.  There were only a handful of the Master's women but some of my usual competition.  It was going to be a good race. As always, I arrived early enough to get out on the course before the first race.  Since the course was oriented east west, the sun glare made it difficult to see some of the turns and how the course flowed.  I worked on some different lines and watched the first race.  I've always hated the pavement to grass transition at the start of the CRCX.  This year was no different.  But while watching the grass to pavement transition before the finish also had me a bit nervous.  Plenty of men went down or crashed into the barrier on that corner.  Two things I wanted to be careful of. As our women's field lin...

As a teacher, my vacation is when school is out - and that's it. I don't get extra days during the year (especially after holidays) to take off. When USAC announced that the 2017 CX Nationals would be in Hartford, CT, I knew this may be my only chance to race Nationals during my CX career (BTW Bend, Louisville, Ogden, San Diego & Tacoma named finalists to host 2019-20 CX Nationals). So I'm going for it this year. And this is my plan. I thought a lot about what category to race this year. As a Cat 2 racer, the past two years I raced in the Elite fields. For the big races (Nittany, HPCX, Gloucester), I needed to purchase a UCI license in order to compete. I grumbled a lot about this. Mostly because of the cost - in addition to my annual USAC license , I needed to dish out an extra $130 to cover the total cost for the license ($200). And the registration fees for UCI races cost extra. So all of this extra money (and added mental stress) I was shelling out...

When I was planning out my CX season, I made sure I included Caffeinated CX.   Last year was my first time racing this venue and I absolutely loved it.  The course venue is the Gloucester County Fairgrounds and is known to be quite technical.  This year was no different. My friend who rides for Caffeinated told me that they changed the course a bit.  I was worried they made it "easier" but upon my arrival, I realized it still was a CX made for a mountain biker.  With the week's drizzle leading up to the race, there were some corners and off-camber sections that required skilled handling.  The small steps leading up to the sand run-up were still in the course.  I was psyched for this race. Due to the small number of ladies racing both Elite and Master's, they combined our races so we were all out on the course at the same time.  The Elite ladies lined up in front of us Master's, and had a 30-second gap on the start. The official blew the ...

Since Lance rides for Pure Energy, I've been adopted by the team.  So when I was asked if I would help out for Hippo CX, of course I said yes.  I also said I would race - but in the Master's category, since I decided this season that was the category I'd stick with. Long story short, a few days before the race, I was asked if I would move to the Elite category.  Since I am not pursuing any type of series cup and it would help out the promoter, I said yes.  But as race day got closer, I started to doubt myself.  Especially when I saw who else registered in the Elite category - some extremely strong racers.  This year I'm not an Elite racer. I grumbled and whined about moving categories.  Some of it because I doubted myself and what I was capable of.  Also because I like the earlier time for Master's races versus racing late in the day.  But I was committed to helping out Pure Energy and the promoters, so I put on my "big girl pants" and de...