Kronda's blog

Seems like every week, 90 minutes before race time, I find myself laying on the couch, feeling exhausted and wondering how I will possibly bring myself to get up, much less race.

But I paid for the whole series of racing already, so I always drag myself up, ride the 10 minutes to PIR, spend more time making bathroom trips than warming up, and then toe the line, going on faith that I will somehow make it through the race.

Miraculously, every week, I make it through the race.

This week, I was the first to line up. The second was Shawn, a woman in the single speed category who was very happy to see me, as she has apparently been using me as a 'rabbit' for at least two race seasons!

"Well, I'm not feeling too peppy, but I'll do my best," I told her.

The announcers for this week must be trainees, because after a few minutes, over the lineup of guys in front of us, I heard the cutest little toddler voice say, "Welcome to short track." When it was time for us to be sent off, a girl of about 8 or 9 yelled "Go!" enthusiastically into the microphone. Start 'em young, I say.

I had what was probably my best start ever, racing off the line and taking the first turn behind Mielle Blomberg of Team S&M, who won the last race. She was soon rocketing away, and I shouted to her "Go get that beer!" as she pulled away. (There was a beer or coffee prime for the winner of the first lap).

It was a good day to have a great start, as I heard what sounded like a pretty bad pile up behind me going into the second turn and just hoped Jess wasn't caught up in it.

Before a few more turns had gone by, all the fast girls started passing me, putting the universe back into it's proper order. That included teammate Michelle Kunec, who I *used* to be able to catch last year, until she went all crazy hardcore mountain biker chick on me. She complimented me on my start as she went by. I also survived getting passed by Tuuli The Menace(TM), which I have so nicknamed her after she bulldozed a few teammates last week trying to pass in tight corners.

I settled into a good rythym and somewhere in lap two, I heard Shawn behind me. I knew it was her because she would call out, "Rabbit...." trying to get me to go faster. When that didn't work, she finally passed, and said, "Come on let's go." We went back and forth the rest of the race and it was fun to have her around. As we went through the twisty, hilly section in the trees, a friend of hers who was watching said hello. "Oh you dyed your hair!" said Shawn.

"No, I just cut it."

"Oh well it looks great!"

"No chatting in the race!" I yelled back, just to give her a hard time.

A couple of rivals went in lap two, but they pulled away so fast, that it was clear I would have to hurt myself beyond the bounds of having fun to catch them, so I let them go. Basically my main goal was to not be caught by Loraine, a former team mate now riding for Guiness Cycling. Don't ask me why, my ego just wouldn't allow it. Every twisty section, I could look back and see her sitting about 15 seconds back and it was great motivation to keep pushing.

I never know how many laps I have to go which makes it hard to pace myself. The first race I did the lap counter said 2 to go, but then when I came around again, we were done, and I let a rider nip me at the line.

This week I again saw the 2 to go sign and treated it as such, and was able to hold off Loraine.

After the requisite hacking and desperate lunging for my water bottle, I found Jess to see how her race went. I had seen her early in the race, looking good on the woops section (rolling hills). Unfortunately, she had a random crash in a corner in lap two which took our her derailleur hanger and ended her race. Sweetheart that she is, she watched the rest of my race without cheering, not wanting me to worry that she was hurt. She also let me know that I finished ahead of Jan Moss, one of the strongest riders on our team, but a relatively new mountain biker. So since I will likely never type these words again, let's just note for the record that I FINISHED AHEAD OF JAN MOSS. :- )

Another week, another miracle of getting off the couch and having a fairly successful race, ie. I finished strong and kept the rubber down. Hoping for better luck for Jess next week!

Check out more awesome photos from Jess on her Flickr page.

Every time I woke up last night, I heard driving rain hitting the window and the bathroom skylight and a howling wind and I considered seriously whether I *really* wanted to race today.

But I had already committed and it was my last chance to race this year before school takes over my life. Just when it was time to leave, the sun broke out as if to lure us out before leaving us to our fate.

After two weeks of being asked if I rode to the race (because I show up with my burley trailer to haul my trainer from the parking lot), today I could finally say yes I rode to the race! All of ten minutes from my house, but still.

As I spun on the trainer under our nice cozy tent, a driving rain pelted the racers going by. But just like last year, it let up just before the start of our race.

Highlights:

• Mud: Not nearly as bad as Rainer. Flat course except the run-up and goopy but more watery (read: rideable!) mud, even in the squishy parts.
• Run-up: Much more successful than last year. I actually *ran* instead of crawl/slide
• Three ways I know I'm having a good race: I catch Michelle, Lynn or Tonya. Did all three. Though in Tonya's case, that usually means she's having a bad race (mechanicals). Someday... :)
• Going by the tents and getting a smile and a little shove from Molly Cameron

The last two laps I was cruising through traffic from other categories and I spotted two carrots ahead, one in a green jersey, one blue. On gravel or paved sections I could get much closer, but then as soon as we hit mud, green would ride away like she had a motor. Guess I need to work on powering through mud.

Blue was also faster in the mud, but not as fast. I figured if I didn't get pulled early, I could get her.

I stalked her through the latter half of lap four, then pulled past her in the finishing straight. We went back and fourth a few times throughout the lap. I gunned it on a pavement section and up a short mud hill and she got me back through the big lake. I stayed close and managed to pass on the run up. She got me back again when I got caught in traffic on an off camber hill.  One more quick paved section and going into the final super slick downhill left turn, I was right on her wheel.

As we came onto the finishing pavement, I made my move on the right. I heard her shifting and saying something to the effect of 'oh no!' and then I hit my big gear and took off!

It was a sweet way to end my season, only slightly marred by another woman who finished just a couple bike lengths ahead of me veering sharply left and into me just after the line, but I managed to avoid her and come to a safe stop.

Today's race was definitely colder than last year. I was fine with base layer and leg warmers during the race, but started freezing up as soon as I stopped riding. It took a while in the shower to get my toes back and 90 minutes outside in a cold dark rain to get my bike back to a recognizable state.

A great season for me with a nice mix of mud and dry, some top 20 results and of course, great cheering from friend and enemies alike. I guess that's why I love cross, even when I question my sanity for doing it.

Let's get one thing out in the open: I don't train. Not because I don't think it's a good idea--I'm just busy with other things, and as long as I can look like I trained, that's really just as good right?

However, this year, I did train a LOT for Cycle Oregon and I'm fresh off my fastest century ever in last weekend's Gran Fondo event in Hood River. So I figured I might possibly be a little faster than last year. After a couple of days of 20-60 miles of climbing, 45 minutes of racing seems like a walk in the park!

I have a few main rules for cross racing:

1. Show up
2. Have fun
3. Don't get hurt

I'm happy to say that I met all of those goals this past Sunday at the opener to the Cross Crusade series.

It took forever to get ready as usual but at least I didn't have to wait in the gigantic line for the porta potties. That's because last year we won the team competition, and our prize is a porta potty of our very own, right near our tent. Thank goodness someone stuck a padlock on it because there were plenty of interlopers trying to get in. I think next week we'll have some decorations so that at least people understand why we're guarding it so closely. It was hard won, and no, we're not sharing. You'll have to beat us and take it! :)

My race prep consisted of a 10 minute warm up on the road and three practice runs getting of and on my bike. Then I showed up to the start line, feeling remarkably calm in the middle of the 300+ women waiting to start.

When my group of Master B's 35+ (I was almost carded at registration which was nice), was sent off we surged around the corner. I took it easy, making sure I had plenty of room. Lap 1 is actually my pre-ride and I tend to get better as the race goes on, so I don't kill myself for starting position.

The first thing I noticed was that a fake old west town had sprung up since my last visit to Alpenrose. That was kind of cool. No time to gawk though as then we were through it and into the bumpiest part of the course. Through some really loose dirt down a big hill--the outside line was clearly more treacherous and I made a note to avoid it next time. Rattle down the hill wishing for my MTB suspension and hoping my chain wouldn't come off--that prayer wasn't answered for a lot of people as I saw lots of women by the side of the course, fixing their chains.

Over all the course was fun. I didn't like the bone-shaker as I came to think of it, but the run-up wasn't too bad and the immediate 180 to go back down was a fun surprise on lap 1. There was too much traffic for me to get back on my bike so I had to run down on the first lap which sucked. I made sure I rode it the rest of the race.

I did four laps, which felt like more. Some highlights:

• Yellow jersey nemesis. We went back and forth for a while and I finally pulled her back only to hear that her chain came off after the last pass. I hope to beat her cleanly next week.
• Lots of personal cheering on course. I hear my name quite a few times and was also referred to by team, bike model and number. The kid on the north side of the course was so cute cheering everyone on by number: "You can do it 444!"
• Barriers. They went really well for the most part and I got compliments on a couple of my remounts.
• Nemesis #110. We also went back and forth and she was very hard to catch. She was clearly faster than me, but I caught her in a technical section just before the finish and managed to make it stick. I also had probably my best sprint finish ever and nipped someone at the line--not in my category, but still fun to do!

After the race, I saw a few racer friends. Rebecca from Bend, who I almost pushed over with a bad remount at Sherwood last year. Lindsey Kandra, who I met at the Fondo last weekend. Fresh off chemo and STILL lapping me. One of my Twitter friends came and introduced herself as well.

On the way back to the team tent, I sampled everything edible that anyone was handing out and bought some mango nectar. I'm excited that the Burgerville Nomad will be serving up food at all the races this season.

All in all, a great time out on the bike and it's fun to be back in the crazy pageantry that is cross. I hope to crank out a few more races before school completely takes over my life.

Six races down, one to go, and I have not managed to squeeze out a single race report. So this will be a mish mash of highlights from the last six weeks.

The most exciting part of dirt racing for me this year, is being joined by my awesome partner Jess, who has been ripping it up every week in the beginner field, dodging junior racers and keeping the rubber down (which is more than I can say).

I mentioned this past winter that I was thinking of going to one of the women's Dirt Series clinic weekends and before I knew it, she had bought a mountain bike and decided to come along!

As a result I usually warm up for my race by running around the course taking pictures of Jess and cheering her on. It doesn't make for the best starts, but my superpower is that I (usually) get better as the race goes on.

The first time I went to Mountain Bike Oregon two years ago, I didn't really have a good idea what great single track was or why I should be excited about it. Thanks to a team demo day a few years ago and a truckload of awesome bikes from Specialized, I knew just enough that I'd gone out and bought a full suspnsion bike--now I just needed to know what to do with it.

MBO is held in Oakridge, OR and while they have amazing trails, they're not for the beginner or the faint of heart. Fortunately, what I lacked in skills, I made up for in confidence (this is still true).