Beer, Bikes, and Snow

I live in beautiful Hunterdon County, New Jersey.  Call me a snob, but I believe I have some of the best roads to ride i n the entire State.  And it seems some also agree - as the Hell of Hunterdon  incorporates a good portion of these roads I call home. I've known about the Hell of Hunterdon for a few years now.  I've had plenty of friends who've completed the ride, including Lance.  Although I was curious about the ride, I had never done it.  In the past, I was nervous about riding dirt roads, riding with groups, and the distance.  This year something changed, and I signed up for the challenge.  I signed up the night registration opened, knowing that it has a history of selling out quickly.  Now I was committed to this. We were lucky to have a mild winter here in NJ with only a few days of really cold temps and one mega snow storm.  This provided me with the motivation I needed to put in miles outside in preparation for this ride. ...

How do mountain bikers deal with the "winter blues"?  Some people are fortunate enough to get to warmer climates for a week of riding.  I'll admit, when I see photos people riding dirt in abundant sunshine, I'm super envious.  As a teacher, I can not take off from work to travel far for training.  So I need to be creative with riding and training.  Thankfully there are places to hide from the winter cold and have fun. I had heard of  The Wheel Mill and Ray's Indoor Bike Park  (the world's first indoor mountain park, built in 2004) and knew of some people who had been there and raved about their experiences.  It was on my bucket list of places to visit - so when Ben mentioned he was heading out to both places for long weekend adventure, I jumped at the opportunity to go. The Wheel Mill , located in Pittsburgh, was about a 5 hour drive from home.  We arrived later in the afternoon plenty of time to get in a few hours of riding.  ...

As a kid, I always had a runny nose.  After my mom keeping me home from school for a number of days, she decided to have me checked for allergies.  I don't remember much other than having a bunch of needles prick my back.  Apparently I had a huge list of allergies, including all types of trees, pollen, dust, mold, grasses and weeds, cats, dogs, and birds.  And chocolate and tomatoes. Over the past few years, I've been dealing with dry, itchy skin.  My scalp, my face, my ears...  I also suffered from severe chapped lips - no matter how much chapstick I applied.  In September 2015, I was stung by a bee and had a reaction that warranted a trip to the doctor.  She prescribed a new EpiPen and I mentioned my skin issues and asked if it could be allergies.  My doctor did an in-house blood test as preliminary screening. Just a few of the positive hits on my bloodwork When she got the results, she called me to tell me I needed to make an appoi...

As I sit here watching the snow pile up on our back deck, I realized I haven't posted on my blog in a while.  I've been too busy enjoying my off-season.  So what have I been up too? I guess the biggest news is that I resigned from  MTBNJ  after my CX season ended.  I did not join another team in case you were wondering.  It wasn't an easy decision to make but I want to pursue new adventures.  I couldn't be the team member I have been in the past, giving 1000% to team happenings and support. I am grateful for all that the team has done for me and the opportunities they've given me to grow as a rider and racer.  I will still be riding, racing and training with Cognition Coaching but now my focus will be on new adventures... Riding rocks has become something I'm really enjoying I've mentioned in the past that I'm not a fan of running.   I can find a lot of reasons why I don't like running - it's boring, I get tired, I need a cane the n...

Last year I couldn't wait for CX to end.  The combination of a long mountain bike race season and new CX category left me feeling...burned out.  I thought about how I could change the 2015 year to avoid this and have fun. Since I wouldn't be competing at Nationals this year, I was able to end my mountain bike race season early enough to have some "fun" over the summer before training for CX.  I managed to cross a few "to-do's" off my list - climbing Bear Mountain, climbing Sunrise Mountain and High Point, downhilling at Mountain Creek, and just riding for fun with friends. I also adjusted my goals and expectations for my CX season.  I mapped out a total of 16 races for the season. I chose races that were relatively local and most lined up to be back-to-back on the weekends.  I supported the "home grown" races of the New Jersey CX Cup and one PACX .  I also did most of the MAC races, with the exception of Charm City. I finished all of my...

The Sussex County Fairgrounds have a special place in my heart.  As a kid, I grew up spending two weeks in August living there with my 4-H projects - goats and sheep.  So I HAVE to include SCCX on my list of places to race. SCCX is usually very cold and includes climbing.  With my past experiences at SCCX, I decided to make this the last race for my 2015 season. To my surprise, it wasn't as frigid as previous years, although there was frost on the grass early in the morning.  And there wasn't as much climbing, or so it seemed.  My finger tips were cold but I warmed up quickly.  The sun was shining and it was going to be a great day. Broke out the wool socks for this race I saw the list of ladies pre-registered and had an idea what place I would be battling for.  I wanted that goat medal.  I got out for another lap one last time and saw LVG pre-riding.  While she wasn't on the pre-registration list, she had been inquiring about the ...

I've only raced Kutztown once, which was two years ago .  While the course doesn't have the elevation or technical features of other races, it is still challenging.  Last year the promoter added a few things to spice up the course.  With it being my last weekend of racing for 2015, I signed up. After pre-registration closed, I checked the list of ladies racing.  Sadly, there were only 9 of us registered.  Of which 2 would not be racing due to injuries.  That left us with 7.  And after racing most of these ladies all season,, I pretty much knew how my race would go. The course is on the grounds of a farmer's/flea market.  The wind was howling and skies were gray, making it one of the first real cross weather races this year.  I was wishing I packed warmer gloves.  I got in two laps just before the first ladies race started. The course was run in the opposite direction I raced two years ago.  Lots of turns and I loved th...