Ride first, read later. Or is it the other way around?

So I'm nearing the end of my two week break from training.  Which is good because I'm starting to get restless.  I've gone on a couple mountain bike rides on my single speed and I've ridden my fixed gear a couple times.  I've also been to the gym.  But not having a routine is strange and I'm really wanting to get back to it.  I suppose that's a good thing though.  It means that I'm excited about riding and racing my bicycle.

I guess some of my anxiousness may possibly, kinda sorta, be attributed to Chris getting me a Powertap wheelset for Christmas.  The past year I have been training with Julie - my coach - and strictly using heart rate.  I feel great.  I'm stronger, my recoveries are quicker, and I'm getting much better results on both the road and - more importantly - the cross bike.  But training with heart rate, though effective, is not as efficient and consistent as I need it to be.  Thus, a Powertap, was Chris' gift to me.  And I'm super stoked to get to use it!  Yeah I know, I'm late to the game, and everybody already has one.  But I'm still excited and going to tell everyone who will listen!

My super sweet, awesome Powertap wheelset that Chris got me for Christmas!

I planned on riding Wednesday, the day after Christmas, but I have a bad habit of not paying attention to the weather before making plans.  It poured.  All day.  And I avoid starting rides, especially if they're not even really training rides, in the rain.  I don't care about races, and I really honestly don't mind riding in the rain.  I just hate starting in the rain.  And I hate it even more when its somewhat cold outside.  And it didn't just rain yesterday.  Like I said, it poured.  So I decided to postpone the maiden voyage of my cool, exciting new toy, until today.

After lunch with my best friend Courtney, I ran a couple errands and found myself at the shop setting my wheels up.  For those who don't know, "the shop" refers to BikeBeat, where I'm the Assistant Manager at the Yorktown location.  Anyway, I mounted tires and tubes, swapped a cassette over, and swapped wheels out.  Pairing the hub with my Garmin 705 (which, by the way, Chris got as my Christmas gift in 2010) seemed easy enough, and I was off on a short ride.  Its actually the first time I've been on my road bike - on the road and not the trainer - since July.  It felt very strange.  The geometry is completely different, and the carbon frame is significantly stiffer than my aluminum cross bike.  Needless to say, I spent the entire time getting re-acquainted with my road bike.  But I did look down at my computer - maybe a bit too often - just to see it telling me that I'm putting some sort of wattage out on the bike.  Not having any type of structured workout, I was really JRA (Just Riding Along) so I could see my computer tell me about da powah!!!  Its a cool, exciting, new piece of equipment that I want to tinker with!

The Powertap was just as cool and exciting as I thought it would be, even for an unstructured ride.  My only complaint was the fact that it was jumping around a bit and wasn't as consistent as its supposed to be.  But turns out, that really easy setup with my computer had an extra step that I neglected to follow.  Still easy, but a semi-crucial step.  Apparently, these things need to be calibrated so they are more accurate.  Seems obvious now that I'm done riding...  I guess thats why everything typically comes with owner's manuals and instructions.  If not, there's this great invention called the internet.  But I still got to tinker and now that I've read about adding power to my Garmin, I'm even more excited!  And so I have learned, this time at least, that I should read first.  And then ride.

So long 2012 CX

The 2012 Cyclocross season is over.  At least for me.  My way of filling some of the extra time that I am going to have, at least until the spring when road season comes around, is to start a blog.  Let's see how long this lasts...

Deciding to bring my season to a close after yesterday's VACX Finals took a couple of weeks debating.  I want to go to National's, but for a number of reasons I am deciding against it.  There are more races a few hours away in NC, but like National's, I am deciding against them.  Ending the season is bitter sweet.  I love cross.  I love that everybody can be competitive, but during the race we can spare a few words of encouragement.  We can open a beer afterwards and congratulate each other on an awesome race.  We ring cowbells and cheer for people we have never met before.  CX has a great atmosphere and racing is just as fun as spectating.  At least its fun when you're done.  Cross is hard.  For the most part you're not riding on smooth roads, but multiple imperfect surfaces: grass, dirt, gravel, roots.  Without any type of suspension on your bike, those surfaces will destroy your back.  Your legs burn from pushing so hard and your heart rate is maxed out for 45 minutes.  But as Chris (my boyfriend) says, its the most fun you'll have on two wheels.

The season was my most successful season since I started racing cross in 2008.  I have a coach this year and had a structured training plan for the first time in 14 years of racing bicycles.  My road season finished in June.  Mainly because I was starting to burn out.  And I LOVE cross.  I didn't want to burn out.  I needed to take a break before I started focusing on cross non-stop through December.  Once the season started though, I fell in love all over again.  Every weekend Chris and I would pack up the car, load Zuma (our 3 year old Basenji), and head to another race. 

The season started on a high for me, grabbing a 5th place podium finish at Tacchino Cross.  Something I was hoping for, but not really expecting.  My first ever UCI race at Charm City, I crashed and lost about 15 places after grabbing my pit bike.  But I finished.  I had 11 top 5 finishes, with 6 of those being wins.  And after 3 years of actively chasing VACX series points, I won the Women's 1,2,3 series.  My two memorable finishes, my win at Rocktown CX and a 5th place at Capital Cross.  I was able to follow an attack by Sue Haywood and battle it out for the win in Harrisonburg, and at Capital Cross I followed Kelly Fisher-Goodwin for a few laps before I had a mechanical and had to get off the bike.  Kelly ended up winning and I know that I was feeling awesome (I am not saying I had the legs to beat her, but I was comfortably sitting in 2nd place).  Even with the mechanical, Capital Cross is still a race I want to remember.  I see where I have improved to and see what I can do with tough competition.

I'm sorry to see the season come to an end, but I'm looking forward to my extra time next Sunday.  I'm excited to spend the 3 to 7 hours I would typically spend in the car, getting things done around the house.  And I'll admit that I'm looking forward to a couple weeks of unstructured rides.  Saying all of that, I hope I can keep this going.  I realize I probably should have started this in season so I have things to write about, but I know I didn't say anything about myself.  I'll fill y'all in later.