Last race for the year!

Its been a while since I put anything up. Since the last post, I have been to Utah for the 24 Hour National Championships, and the IL State XC Championships. Moab was fun for being with friends, the race on the other hand was not. My second lap I crashed on my previously injured hand, it really put a damper on the rest of the weekend. The best part of the race was seeing my duo partner Jim finish his last lap and just how happy he was with the results, as we finished solidly in 3rd and received bronze national championship medals. Joe and the Seals did a great job in their race, finishing in 5th place and also getting on the podium.
IL State Championships was more fun for me. I went into the race with low expectations having not been on a bike since Moab. I started the race like most of the other cross country races this year, I blew up, took the lead out, and had to back off to breath. Two of the fast ladies came around me, and it was the last time I was passed in the race. I treated every guy I saw like a moving target. My own personal moment of happiness came on the second lap, there was a very long steep hill, and I passed 4 guys all walking, and a guy standing on the sidelines started yelling "you guys are all getting girled!" I laughed to myself and kept pushing on. I passed 1/2 of the men's classes, which started 2 minutes in front of me. I ended up finishing the race in 3rd, won some money and another pint glass. Joe did great, he finished 1st in his age class, and got a new bike pump!
This weekend I am getting ready for the Chicago Lakefront 50 miler, which is a 50 mile running race on the lakefront, right now the weather looks great, and I am excited to see if I can do it. My only goal is to finish, as I have never run 50 miles in day! Wish me luck and good legs!

The Unnamed Epic

The day all started at 3:45 AM, Joe and I got up and left the house. We packed all our gear the night before and staged it by the front door so we would not forget anything. I should be used to that time of the morning now, as we are staring work at 4AM since we are busy, a blessing.
The drive to Mineral Point, WI from the house was not too long, just under two hours. We arrived a little after 6AM, and the race started at 8AM. Checked in and picked up our race numbers. Joe missed priority starting by one number, fifty and under got to start up-front, he was 51! Bummer.
Joe got our bikes out and tuned up. I just did not feel right waiting around by the car. My stomach was upset, but I kept eating.
The race director called us all over around 7:45AM and went through all the details, described the course and told us again about the couple "tricky" spots the course would roll by before we entered Blue Mound State Park. At 8AM we were off to a neutral roll out. As we started the 14% climb in Mineral Point's downtown there were lots of spectators egging us on to "get after it" and "pass him!" It was cool to be in town for the first 4 miles. I passed a lot of guys, on the up, only to lose the battle with their gravity on the down. I got passed by a guy on a fixie with his legs hanging off the side like a V. It was crazy.
The first long stretch was road and rails trail. I am not really a very good roadie, but seemed to hang in there and passed a group of women only to get passed back. I thought, just don't red line, its too soon to blow up, 75 miles is a long race. I was also surprised by how many people only had water bottles, as I was wearing a Camel-Bak, and not needing to use any of the aid stations.
As we entered Governor Dodge State Park I caught the group of women that passed me on the road, not good technical riders, not that I am either, but just sand? I tried to pass them on a climb, but they were so spread out and did not seem to understand "rider, please, move over." Stopped I was irritated and took off with my bike, they continued to doddle. I made great time in the park and passed everyone I could see.
As we were exiting the park there was a road climb to the next section of rails-trail. There was a man ahead of me who put up quite a fuss being "girled" on the climb. He kept moving over, taking up more of the road. He actually was swerving to prevent me from coming around him! I pulled out and pulled around him only to be chastised by him for passing, come on, here? All I could think was, what? I moved around you like 4 feet away, I took off on the hill and never saw him again, I hope he quit! Not like we are even racing each other. 300 guys and less than 20 women? Come on!
The ride over to Blue Mound was fast. The first 52 miles were not that technical, and took me a little over 3 hours. Blue Mound was mostly a rocky blur. First lap was bad, fell hard on my other side, and was befriended by Dave who continued to ride out the rest of lap one of the park and lap two. He was likely the only reason I carried on, as I had worn holes in the back of my ankles from a poor sock choice and running some of the early hills in the park pushing my bike. We rode and talked about the course, our bikes, and looking forward to the brats at the finish line, which we could smell the whole time we were in the park!
My day ended with an official finishing time of 7:13, good for 6th overall the women. Lots of racers dropped when we got to Blue Mound. The weather was hot and the terrain is really rocky.
The aid station volunteers were great! They did everything they could to be helpful, and were very encouraging. I will be back for this race next year, very fun!

Bridge 1, Liz 0

I was going out for a 6 hour training ride yesterday at Rock Cut. It rained a lot Friday night, but I was still hopeful for my time to be out on the dirt, not the pavement. There were quite a few trees down, and some squishy spots, but not too bad overall. I was riding over this small wooden bridge when I felt my rear tire wash out. Before I knew it, my bike and I were skidding across the bridge. I went down pretty hard. I bent my index finger back really far, and laid down on my whole right side. My bike and I stayed hooked together for the whole slip and slide.
I got up and kept riding, but it was soon apparent that my finger was swelled pretty bad, I bailed on riding at Rock Cut, and Joe and I went out to Freeport to ride a rails to trails trail. Put an easy 40 miles on, and called it a day. Little under 50 miles for the day, and not quite what I was expecting, but what can you say? Some days things just don't work out like you planned.

This is the right side of my leg, not nearly as bad as my finger.

This picture does not do justice to the blue and purple that my finger is today, its twice the size of my other hand.

I made pizza for dinner last night, which mostly makes up for anything that could go wrong with the day.

Pictures from Metamora 4 x 50

Riding along, see all the corn!
More riding along, still lots of corn!
Mary and I, working on lap 3.
Talking to people before the start of the race, this guy was out for the 100!
Joe and I before the start of the race, I always need someone to keep me calm :-)

2010 Jubilee Challenge

On Sunday morning we drove down to the Peoria area for the Jubilee Challenge, which was exciting as we have never raced there before. Jubilee State Park was about 3 hours from home, but not a bad drive, lots of highways, some scenic back roads.
We got to the park a little before 10AM, and our race was at noon. I hate to be late for a race, and have to run around getting ready too fast. The weather was hot and humid. Joe and I were both excited for the race since it had been rescheduled twice now.
We warmed up together, which was funny since we were already sweating standing still near the car with our bikes. I had a nice time talking to all the other ladies before the race got started, everyone is so friendly.
Once we started, I knew I had gone out too hard, the initial lead out was on a road and circled back to the single track, it was about 1/2 a mile, but it was an all out sprint! I hit the singletrack in 3rd. Shortly thereafter, I got passed by two other women, and that is where I stayed for the rest of the day. I finished my 3 laps without ever seeing another woman again. Let me tell you, very hilly, and very humid for me equals drinking your whole 100 oz camelbak in about 2 hours. I actually had no water left, not sure I have had that much to drink in a short time since CA two years ago.
Joe rode like a rock star and won his AG, and came in 6th out of all the men! He also agreed, it was really humid, and for once he drank his bottle.
Our drive home was pleasant after we went through Arby's and got some delicious curly fries! Bonus to the day, Joe won a set of tires in the raffle and I got a cowbell! Looking forward to using it at the race on Saturday! Thanks to the PAMBA club for putting on a great race, my Truth for willingly climbing all of those hills, and NUUN for keeping me hydrated!

More Kitchen Remodel and Prearing for Porsche Parade

Its been a while since the last post! There has been some major progress on the kitchen thanks to all of Joe's hard work! We now have a working sink, new oven, a gas range, a dishwasher (that gives the old Swedish dishwasher a break, i.e. ME) and temporary counter tops, which is more than this house has ever had!

This is how great the kitchen looks! All our new appliances!

See, a working sink, not in the basement, and the coffee maker is in the kitchen, which is great since it was almost in the basement with all our construction debris!

Showing some of our (Joe's) progress hanging the cabinets that he made! I love the orange color, people will walk into this house someday and think, what the hell? How did this house get this kitchen, its seriously going to be phenomenal!

Also, since the last post we celebrated Joe's 41st Birthday! (I mean anniversary 10 of 31!) Happy Birthday Joe!

Tomorrow we leave for the Porsche Parade in St. Charles! I am very excited! If you are in the area, defiantly worth it! http://parade2010.pca.org/

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

Udder Century

This ride was a blast! The McHenry County Bicycle Club knows how to put on a great ride! The volunteers were helpful, the food was delicious, the route was well marked, and the weather held out until we were done, as horrific rains plagued the area after we were done. It rained stupid hard, about 3 minutes after we were in the car! We finished our ride time in a little over 6 hours for the 100.8 mile distance.

I am convinced that if there was a dairy farm in the area of the route we were routed by it, and got to see every cow! The wrist bands let everyone know that we were okay to eat as many PB and J sandwiches, cookies, pretzels, and fruit we wanted.

This was just one little pocket of people getting ready to head out. There were over 1000 riders on their bikes for the 32, 50, 62, 75, and 100 mile routes. The first rest stop in Garden Prairie looked like a roaming party! Where else can you see 150 riders in a pit on a Sunday morning at 8AM. It was crazy, and a good kind! Bikers out riding! Love it!

Hope everyone else had a good weekend, I can see more of this in our future!

Busy Satruday

We spent so much time today working on the house. The floor in the kitchen is down to the sub-floor, and shortly we will put cement board on for tile. Its hard to believe we are coming up on 4 weeks on Tuesday since we tore apart the kitchen. It will be so exciting to have everything back together and have a little more free time. It seems we both go to work, and then come home after biking or running and do more work. Dinner has been permanently bumped back to 9PM to accommodate all the work. Last week we were both so tired that dinner magically showed up at in the version of delicious Chinese take out! Love Happy Wok! I swear they are so fast I wonder if they don't cook the food in the car on the way over. Its seriously sometimes less than 10 minutes! They are great!

Joe and I are looking forward to tomorrow, when we ride the Udder Century! 100 miles of IL and WI goodness, with the promise of seeing lots of cows and farmland. I am really looking forward to some quality time on the road bike. It will be my 6th outing. Its funny, even though we both have nice road bikes we take the Truths out on the road all the time. Sure there will be some pictures from the century to share. I just hope the rain waits until we are done!

Long Weekend and More House Work

We had a great weekend! Saturday morning we took off for Phelps, WI, which is where my parents have a cabin on a beautiful lake! Bucky hung his head out of the car for the last 70 or so miles of our trip and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, especially since Grandpa and Grandma spoil him so much! Seriously my parents are crazy about Bucky! They love him, its pretty nice. We got out for a couple runs and some biking. I seem to always forget just how hilly it really is! The lake was cold, that's normal, but it was really nice to just be able to sit quietly for a while. I spent time reading and laying out on the dock, ate way too much food and had a great time!

Back to reality, tonight I tore out the flooring in the kitchen, we are now down to sub-floor! Its in the mid 80s, and it made for pretty warm work! Its mostly done.

I am really looking forward to this weekend, Joe and I are doing the Udder Century! More road biking for us, I am excited! Look for pictures! Hope everyone else had a great weekend, I really enjoyed mine :-)

Kitchen Remodeling and Bucky

This last week has been super busy! Work is going well, we are still steady, and that's about all I can ask for right now. The kitchen is coming along nicely, as I type there is sheet rock being put up in the kitchen! In the picture above Bucky is happy to hoard his toys since the house is mostly upside down to accommodate all the new things that are waiting to go into the kitchen. Bucky seems confused that his food, water, and toys are always being moved. I don't think he likes the remodeling.

Sliding in the Mud at the Black Partridge Open

Today Joe and I went to the Black Partridge Open, which was in Metramora, IL. This week in IL we got rain everyday except Friday in some areas. Naturally we got up this morning to check and make sure the race was still a go, and then drove 2 hours to ride in the mud. The course really was fun, very hilly, lots of switch backs, bridges, and creek crossings. What was not fun was the washout that all the rain this week added to the creek crossings. The mud was so slick that most of the riders ended up off their bikes and running in the same two sections each lap. I did not place very well in my open class today, the trail was pretty technical, which is not my strength, and we were trying out some Specialized tires that were not overly knobby. As always, its fun to be out on your bike even when you don't win, the trail was challenging. Joe however had a great day competition wise, as technical riding is his strength, and beat the 40+ field, and came in 4th overall! My tire "problem" maybe be remedied as I won a new set of tires in the raffle today! The race promoters were great, the volunteers friendly and encouraging, and best of all the swag in our race bags was a new set of tire levers! Thank you!



Joe with his medal and gift card to a local Peoria retailer called Bushwacker for $35.00!

Proof of a great day on the bike for Joe!

My sweet raffle prize, new tires with more mud grip.

Me, sitting on a purple dinosaur waiting with Joe for his awards!

Under Construction and Busy at Work!

This is the way the kitchen looks now! Two new windows, gutted to the studs.

Bucky sat in the kitchen the other night worrying we would move his food again, he likes things to stay one way and did not like all the noise!

Joe and Bucky after the demo was done on Tuesday night. "High Fives!"

I just wanted one picture with Bucky, do you think he would just sit still? No! Had to give him a little head lock and "insist" on stay!

This was before the tear out and moving the back door.

Another before picture, the sink and drain board were vintage and gone in about a minute when put out to the curb, talk about heavy and awkward!

This last week seems to be a blur. I started my day getting up at 3:10AM during the week, we are busy at work, which really is a blessing. The work is going well, it just seems you have to get up and be in before customers can call and chat, this means I actually get machine time before people know I am in. SHHHHHHHHH!

This week Joe and I took the kitchen apart. The house we bought last year is over 100 years old, and had no counter tops to speak of. We knew when we moved in that we wanted to change many of the features of this house. Little by little Joe mostly has been changing and making this house great! So far we have two new bathrooms, a different location for the stairs to the basement, updated laundry and a much brighter basement, a finished entry room, an updated bedroom without holes in the wall, and lots of other huge improvements! The kitchen has been next on the radar for a while. Joe has been building the cabinets in the garage for at least the last month in between his own work, and if I do say so, they are beautiful, and better than I would have ever hoped for.

Tomorrow we are taking a break from remodeling and heading to the second in the Illinois CX race series and will be in Metamora, IL for the Black Partridge Open. I am very excited as this is the first time we have raced here!

168 Miles!

Joe and I had a very long ride yesterday! 165 miles, all on Iowa pavement! The ride started out in Le Claire, and went out to Key West. For those of you who do not know, Iowa is very hilly, and really pretty! On our long ride we saw corn, cows, a killer car show with a few Ferrari's' and more motorcycles than I can believe! I guess Hwy 52 is a really great scenic tour for motorcycles! Joe and I stopped at a gas station in Bellvue to re-stock on the most essential items like snickers bars on the way out to Key West, and back, and the clerk who we saw in the morning told me, "You look tired." I told her we were out for almost a 200 mile ride and she looked at me like, "WHAT!" Once again, Iowa is hilly and quite pretty. Get out and ride when you can.

300K Le Claire Iowa

A couple weeks ago Joe and I tried out road "racing." As I said before it was my 4th time on a road bike. 50 miles later my hands were pretty sore. Joe wrapped my bars with a thicker padding that has a gel insert where my hands were the sorest. We will get to try it out tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. The weather forecast for this weekend looks so much better than last, sunny and low 70s, some wind. We'll take it. Tomorrow we are riding in a 300K brevet that starts in Le Claire, Iowa, and follows the Mississippi north to just south of Dubuque, then we turn around and ride back.
Wish us luck on the 188 miles, it will be my longest road ride. I am very excited!

Couple Pictures from Iowa

In the elevator on the way to the "meat-up" clean and happy!

Bucky supervising our packing and wishing he could eat more of the sausage and combos packed for the next day.

The "meat-up" and fellow gravel grinders.

Joe getting both of our bikes ready for the race.
2 Truths in the rain in Iowa.

TransIowaRecap

The weekend started off with the pre-race "meat-up" at the Grinnell Steak House. The food was great, the Comfort Inn was very nice, and the weather was going to be a disaster! As always seems to be the case for me before a big event I don't sleep well. When the alarm went off at 2:30 AM, I felt like I had not slept at all. I got up and ate Chinese take-out that we brought from home, there is nothing like sweet and sour chicken to help wake you up. Joe and I got dressed understanding that it was going to rain very shortly. We loaded up the bikes on the car and drove to downtown Grinnell for the the neutral roll out.
It was very foggy when we heard the beeping of horns and we left town. Within a few minutes we were all off! The rain held off until about 5AM. Then the sky opened up, we experienced sideways rain and lightning in such close proximity the Weather Channel would have been jealous. The sky was filled with lightning! We passed a couple groups of people stopped and trying to decide what to do about the weather and mostly out of not having anywhere to go, we pressed on. Close to seven the rain had stopped. The fun all really started when we got to the "b" road. For anyone who does not know, a "b" road is mostly not ride-able, and especially not if you have more than an inch of rain the day before and then you soak it again within say a few minutes of you wanting to ride it. The mud was so sticky that it almost pulled my shoe off in one spot. We had to carry our bikes for a mile! That made me question why the road was on the course, I feel like bike race means should be able to ride it. I have no problems with CX racing where there can be some hike a bike in a very technical sections, but this was just stupid. When we got to the other end of this road my bike was stuck in the big ring, could not keep it in any other gear with out it jumping. Joe and I finished off the last few miles, but we missed the time cut off by at least half and hour.
The race volunteers told us that about a 1/3 of the field made it through in the 4 hour time period. Many of us sat down in the park in Monroe, Iowa all repeating the same two stories, lots of mud, and lightning! Joe and I got a ride back to town with Al Brunner and his brother that we call Save :-) We got back to the hotel that we stayed at the night before and luckily for us, I forgot to check us out before we left for the race. We got into our room and took showers. This is the dirtiest I think I have ever been at a race. I had mud inside my shorts? How is that possible? I guess it is. I would love to put up pictures, but my camera was ruined in TI. (I am hoping its still under the extended warranty I bought, so maybe when I can read the card I can put up some pictures.)
After showers it was time for Mexican food, which made everything seem better. We ate lunch with Save and Al, and then headed for home.
The race was sort of a bust, but on the upside its never a loss when you get to meet new people and share good food.

Grinnell, Iowa

Hello Iowa! We are here and in about 12 hours we will be getting started on Trans Iowa! The weather forcast has improved a bit, looks like only rain at night now, and the wind speeds are down. Wish us luck, the next day and a while will be very demanding! :-)

Packing for Trans Iowa

Spent a couple hours rounding up gear, lights, and food for this weekend. Since we are on our own, its hard to decide how much of anything that should be carried. The race course itself is a secret. We have no idea where we are going, well not until tomorrow night, when we will get our cue sheets for the first 44.25 miles. After that, we don't know until we get the next set of cues, and if all goes well and we make it through the check points on time we will get to find out. The bummer for the weekend is the rain that is forcaste. Looks like it will rain, and mostly at night. This is a real change from 24 hour racing where if it starts to rain, you need more food, more water, etc., just come back by the pit and grab some. Here all we know is that the last check point is 107 miles from being done, and 15 miles before that is the last place that will have water. I am sure we are over-packing, maybe not. I am excited to see what other racers carry with them. I have a handle bar bag, a substantial pack that can carry 2 full 80 oz bladders, room for 3 other bottles, and a seat pack. I'm not sure my bike will know what hit when we get started Saturday morning! Better to be prepared than not.

Road "Racing" in Leland

I've always wanted a road bike, and so this winter I purchased a relatively inexpensive one to see how I liked it. I enjoy mountain biking and frequently take my mountain bike on long road rides since we live 13 miles from the closest single track around. Seeing as how I had been on the road bike 3 times, not including the start of the Flatlandia Kermesse, a race seemed like a good idea to get to know my bike. The route was nice and flat, as the name implies. The wind was terrible, and being a totally inexperienced road biker I was already shaky on the bike without the wind gusts from the side and head wind. I also missed the instructions about the neutral roll out and soon found myself starting DFL. Yep, heard the neutral support vehicle behind me and thought, time to go! I ended up riding the whole race (75KM) alone. There were a couple gravel sections that proved to be a lot of fun. The race volunteers were great! I will be back next year, hopefully by then I am more comfortable in the pack. Its all good since it was time on the bike and more training for this coming weekend, which is Trans Iowa, which I am very excited about!