Deer Valley National last weekend. I had a great time with my friends and we stayed in a really nice house for pretty cheap. To make a long story shirt, my nemesis for this season reared its ugly head- dehyrdation. I had 4 bottles and was barely able to pedal up the leg-busting climbs. I had nuttin. I loved the course and think that in the next couple years, I should be able to have a good result there. However, my focus once again was just to finish. There were 67 pro women starting in my field and it was mass chaos at the start. Since I haven't done any nationals this year, I was forced to line up in the back row. There was a wreck about 100 ft from the start and it held us up. I was lucky enough to stay rubber-side down. I was pretty disappointed with my performance and have been very frustrated. I am performing WAY below my potential and have felt like I haven't been able to actually RACE at the races. The short track was a little better. I actually felt pretty good, but I had to line up in the back row again. In a short track, it's very important to get a good starting position because it's a 20 minute race where you go around in circles on a loop that takes about 2 minutes to get around. Once the leaders are about to lap you, they pull you out. So, at the start, once again, there was a wreck. That held us up about 15 seconds and getting onto certain parts of the short track were hard because it was a bottleneck going from doubletrack to singletrack. I felt like I wasn't pushing hard, but trying to trackstand till people moved along. I tried to motor up the climb to pass people, but it was hard. I was surprised I was able to stay in so long, but they pulled about 12 of us all at once. If I had a better start position(more like 3 rows up from where I was), I definitely could have stayed in longer. All those bitches were in my way! ;) I really enjoyed the short track.
I went to Snowmass MSC yesterday and it was a total bust. I knew when I was putting in a couple hard efforts during my warm-up that I was in a heap of trouble by the soggy feeling in my legs. Snowmass is normally my best course, so you can sense my frustration when I slowly was picked off and shot off the back. I couldn't understand it...I was using supereasy gears and couldn't push any power. Even the flats were hard. About 2/3 of the way through the long lap, I noticed my tire felt weird. I stopped and realized there was about 15 PSI in the rear. No wonder the singletrack felt so hard... my legs were rotten AND my tire was flat. There was a puncture that the sealant was unsuccessfully trying to fix. I used a CO2 hoping to seal the leak. It held for about a minute and went flat again. I had 1 CO2 left, so I decided to play it safe and put a tube in(I use a tubeless set up). As bad luck would have it, my CO2 didn't work and I was out of luck. I had to quit the race and was trying to wander back from being in the middle of nowhere. I tried to get off the trail because people were racing. A guy gave me directions back to the venue. He had no idea what he was talking about and I was out wandering around for an hour in the heat with no water, a bum tire, and shoes not exactly fit for long hiking. By the time I got back, I was extremely frustrated and just not a happy camper. I showered, packed up, and left. I am now on a strict rest week. Nina, my coach, told me that it makes sense I feel so crappy on the bike because I've been hard on the gas since Tour of the Gila in early May. I'm not allowed to do ANYTHING this week and am probably going to go insane. I do need the rest. I am hoping I'll come out of this week and maybe my season will start. I honestly have not had ONE race where I've felt good all year. boohoo. 2 weeks is 24 hr nationals in Wisconsin. I'm hoping my legs wil be ready to rocket off after all this rest. I stayed in a hotel room with Janice, Lynn, and Brian. That was what made the trip fun. Photos:
Janis and I went to the pool in the complimentary bath robes. And there I am, true to form making scary faces in photos. Like Cartman says, "If you feel like Les-ing out, just go with it."
Janis farted and was kind enough to open the window. HURRY!! OPEN IT! Check out Brian. haha cover the nose, keep the toxic fumes out.In other news, on Friday, I was happily cruising down Boulder Creek Path at about 20 mph. You know, breathing in the fragrant air of all the trees and flowers, enjoying the scenery(meaning the site of dudes with six pack abs, bulging muscles, in tiny running shorts trotting along) when WHACK! I felt a hard impact on my inner thigh. I instinctively brushed/pushed off whatever it was that smacked me. I felt feathers. Yes. A big ass bird flew into my leg. I am always freaked out that they are going to do that, and I didn't even see this thing coming. Let me tell you, it HURT so bad. Imagine a 2 pound rock flying head on into your inner thigh while you are going at 20 mph. It doesn't feel good. There is a cut on my leg from either his beak or claw, and a bruise that still hurts 3 days later. Jerk bird, what'd I ever do to you??
Well, I am finally getting tired and am going to bed. I had some chai this afternoon and am not used to any more caffeine that is in my green tea. I have been running around doing various projects around my apartment, all at once. I have ADD, I know it! Did I mention it's like 10 million degrees in here?
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