Alpenrose race report - Allison

Pre-Race: After fighting a cold this past week, I still wasn’t sure I wanted to race Alpenrose this morning and I knew that I wasn’t going to have my 'A' game, but I had done all the laundry and I didn’t want to go for that 10 mile training run. So I pulled out my fun socks (thanks Sallyanne) and decided to race. I am not one to arrive to races super early. I hate waiting and it often makes my nerves more jittery. I left the house at 12:50 had to promptly turn around 2 times (once for the pump and once for the advair inhaler). This is also part of my warmup since my heart rate likes to climb each time I had to turn around and worry that I was going to be late. I knew the inhaler would help because I still have more post nasal drip than normal and I knew my lungs would fill up during the race. I got to Alpenrose about 1, but I went to look for my checkbook and I had no checks, so I had to make a quick stop at Albertson’s for some cash. I got to the parking lot and found a spot quickly (whew). This was also helping increase my heart rate.

Warm Up: Then I got ready, rode to registration and got to jump ahead because I already have my number from that race I did a few weeks back that was really really hard. I then hopped on the bike and went to warm up. It was a great warm up. The local streets were empty and offered some nice ups and downs to get the heart rate up. I saw a school and knew that would be a great place to ride on some grass and practice a run up and also some mountaing/dismounting. My brakes were still a little chattery from Starcrossed, so I had the RCB guy look at them. He couldn’t help, so off to the start I went.

Race: They had pretty much already done call ups so I just hopped in. I was about 5 rows from the front, which was okay. I have no clue where I should have been. Once the whistle blew, the ladies were off and I was probably in the front 15 or so for the first lap. Then, I guess I didn’t have much else and I got really really tired (to the point of barely pedaling on the second lap). Soon after I died, I saw "the Knight" Ryan Weaver, and he had coupons for Shimano goodies in his back pockets. I didn't have any steam to catch him and I watched the girl in front of me grab an envelope. At that point I was just trying to move forward as people continually passed. It’s nice and demotivating that’s for sure. But I kept going and found a little wind with about 8 minutes to go (thanks body). That was more fun because I could actually keep pedaling and felt like I had some power.

Allison rocking it at Alpenrose (photo courtesy of John Rudoff)

Then it was over. I didn’t make the last lap and I watched everyone else finish wondering if I could have given anymore. This race I couldn’t. I realized that when I finished, I was coughing and now it’s almost 8pm and I am still hacking a bit. I think my body is telling me I went hard. My heart rate monitor thought I could do a little better with my max at 180 and my average at about 170. As for the course, I thought it was pretty awesome. No crazy hills like Pain on the Peak and the velodrome part made me feel fast. I definitely let loose on my sprint at the end. I think I even scared the beginner that was in front of me.

It was great to hear so many people cheering me on and it was great to watch all the HV gals tearing it up!

Thanks for the support from all you awesome people and here is to hoping that everyone is warding off all the cold/flu bugs that are going around.

MA's first cyclocross race

I did not flat, I did not crash, I just plain sucked.

This was my first cross race. I never practiced cross before; the bike was new to me (Jeff helped me find a SS cross bike and put it together Thursday evening); I realized right before the race that the cleats I had didn't match the pedals (Jeff saved me again). I got lined up all the way at the end which was nice because I was spared the pain of seeing 40 something girls passing me since they were already ahead of me. Not really knowing what to expect during the race I dived head in and gave it all I got for half an hour.

The race itself was a bit of a blur. First lap was a trial and error exercise, after that I got the flow. I kept on passing people on flats and hilly sections only to see them flying ahead of me as I was trying to run over the barriers in slow clumsy motion. By the third lap I was dry heaving and ready to puke with one and a half lap to go. Most of the field did 5 laps, I managed 4 and a half. Finished somewhere last ten or so. I still felt like puking two hours after the race ended.

While this was the most painful race I've done so far (more so then Rapha or ROF) it was also the most fun I've had in a race. Although my ass was handed to me I had a giant grin most of the time. Can't wait to do it all over again.
Cristina enjoying post-race refreshments with Allison
(photo courtesy of Mo)

Pain and Suffer'n indeed!

An account of Wombat's most humbling race experience can be found here.

Stampede ride report

Parts one and two of Kristin's gravel-tastic Stampede Race-ish report.

Kristin's Rapha Ride report

Read Kristin's entertaining account of the drama that was the '10 Rapha Ride here for part one, here for part two and here for the final chapter.

OBRA Road Race Championships - Mindy's report

I second Amanda’s comments (below). Tough race! And I didn't even have the pleasure of Amanda "coming on me" (HV patented this race language earlier this season, BTW).

Yes, that hill hit us like a brick wall about 5 miles into the race...I was seriously in the pain cave trying to keep up as all 100 lb of Anona attacked. A group of 5 pulled away near the top, and I had to chase hard with a few other ladies to catch them. There were a couple other short, steep hills right after the long one, then a descent. I knew we'd be much better off in a larger group with the wind coming up. I remember at one point looking at my computer and thinking "oh crap- we've only gone 8 miles and feel like I'm ready to be DONE!!". Anyway, we caught them, became a group of 10, and pacelined at a pretty good pace the rest of the way. There were a couple sections of really strong wind...and a lovely, rolling, sunny section where the sun was heating up the pine needles and it smelled wonderful.

Then a FUN descent. Brubaker decided to attack at this point. I've never chased downhill at 40+ mph, but darn that was fun!

The long, gradual ascent to the finish wasn't too steep, but folks were attacking, jockeying for position, and generally being kind of annoying. A few sketchy moments, a near crash, bad cross/head wind, more attacks. I was trying to stay on the wheels of the strongest sprinters (there were several in that bunch). I had hoped to feel better at this point in the race, but just plain didn't. They jumped with about 1/4 mi to go and there was a little mess as one rider didn't go too hard and we had to swerve to get around her. I lost my wheel at that point, was cursing, but I stayed upright, grabbed another wheel, and passed that gal before the line to finish 6th. Not bad, but I had hoped for a better sprint..still working on that :)


Sprint for the finish (courtesy of Oregon Cycling Action).

Awesome to have Lindsay at the finish, and we cheered on the A's (Amanda, Anna, and Alice), as they came through. Alice and I rolled around for a while to cool down, then Alice's Bill (and Lucy), and Sara Fletcher joined us for fun times in White Salmon drinking, eating, and making snide remarks about our bitchy and rather
unpleasant waitress.

All in all, a great day!

OBRA Road Race Championships - Amanda's Report

Whoa, that was a really tough race. Women’s racing normally has some reprieves where your HR drops down to a casual number. I was pinned the entire time. My average was 186 just so you have an idea. We started out and already people were attacking as we left the parking lot. 5-6 miles in there was a really steep hill that I thought was going to be just a mile but it was for sure longer. Mindy stuck with the lead group and Anna charged up it strongly too. I did about all I could and had a thought that I would just get off my bike and quit. Crested the hill and caught up with 6 other women and we started a paceline that was insanely fast. I saw Anna in front of me and let her know by yelling “Anna, I’m coming on you” so she would know. The pace was really, really fast and Anna hung on for a while before she blew…I was crying I was in so much pain!! We rolled that way for the majority of the race with some women attacking our paceline a couple of times. The final 10 miles are a gradual 2, 3, 4 % uphill into a headwind and I cracked probably 5 miles to the finish. Just had nothing left. A Sorella woman caught up to me with a mile to go and I sat on her wheel and then outsprinted her at the end (I felt badly about that…should I?).


Sprinting past the Sorella racer (courtesy of Oregon Cycling Action).

Overall, it was the hardest race I’ve ever done, not really the course, but the pace was really fast. It left me an emotional, snotty wreck. But I was so thankful for Lindsay and Alice and Anna and Mindy to all be there afterwards for hugs and beers.

Rough to say the least, especially at the end of the season.