2009 season review

My 2009 racing season is officially in the books now. I think it was a pretty good season; although, I am at that age now when reminisce about ‘back in the day’ when I used to be fast. Regardless, it was way better than my 2008 season. 2008 was not a good racing year for me. There were no wins for me and no team wins, so I was a little more motivated this year to turn things around.

I had some major life changes in 2009 too. I went back to work ‘for the man’, aka Chris Carmichael, and resumed a full-time position at CTS. That was a major change from working in my pj’s at home on my own time to going back to a full-time job where I had to be somewhere occupying space from 8am-5pm every day Monday through Friday. Really, it’s not that bad. I do work for a cycling company, after all, where office meeting can often involve 3 hour bike rides on the open road. This year also marked another major life change to buy a house (townhome) and embrace the wonderful world of having a mortgage.

Despite all those changes, I really enjoyed the 2009 racing season. I have embraced my role as the old, wily, veteran racer who might not be as fast as the young’ins but has years of experience to carry me through. 2009 also marked the return, after a year hiatus, of my good teammate Beth. With Beth and Lisa back from having their babies, the addition of Maegan to our roster, and Jenna and Carol returning from last year we had a really fun and cohesive team for 2009. The more years I race, the more and more I rely on my teammates to make racing fun and help push me to a higher level.
2009 also marked a return to the track for me. It’s not that I ever really left the track, but this year I raced a full season on the track, and I realize how much that makes me a better rider. Track is great; it’s all the best parts of racing. It cuts out all that b.s. riding around for miles and miles before anything good happens and just gets straight on to the good parts. A long race on the track is about 12 minutes, so it suits my attention span just fine. I had a good year on the track in 2009 as well. By my math, I’ll win CVA rider of the year on points for the season, and I also won a couple of national championships. Masters Nationals was held here in Colorado Springs, and I won the individual 2k pursuit and the team pursuit. No matter what else happens, it’s a good season if you win a stars and bars jersey, even if it is just Masters Natz.

Our team also had a very good season. With Beth back in full-force, she won so many races I lost count. It was somewhere over 10 or 12 races; I’m sure she can correct me. It’s funny how when you’re on a winning team that it elevates the performance of everyone around. So, I think the team as a whole had a much better year in 2009. Everyone on the team raced really well. Maegan had a win in Glenwood Springs, and I finally got a win on the road too. I hadn’t won on the road since 2007, and it meant a lot to me to get one this year. I won the Vic’s crit in August, and I think getting that monkey off my back helped my confidence going in to nationals that was a few weeks later.

So I am satisfied with my 2009 season. I have this imaginary mark of a good season that is winning 3 races. I think that’s a pretty good season for anyone (except Beth). I won 2 by my count with Masters Natz and the crit at Vics. Sure, I could count the team pursuit or any of my other individual races at the track, but I never got the sweep at any nights of the track. At the track, we do 3 races every night. I count it as a win if I win all 3. I had a few nights of winning 2 out of 3, but a young 16-year old, Maddie, nipped me a few times for that 3rd win and the sweep. How’s that for injustice, getting beat by someone less than half your age and that you are totally old enough to be her mother! I feel old. I’m also tired, but a good tired from a good year of racing. So that’s all folks, until the 2010 season where I’m totally going to come back as a climber… (p.s. I say that every year and have yet to make it true ;-))

I have been singing this all afternoon.

Steamboat Springs Wrap Up

Last weekend we (Beth and I) went out to Steamboat Springs to do the last official race of the season.
Steamboat is really pretty, and I've never been, so I was pretty excited to go. It's too bad that my legs were not also excited to race as I pretty much stunk it up in the first two stages of the this race. I finished 11th or 12th in both the opening time trial and the first circuit race. I just chalk it up to bad legs in the first circuit race. Maybe too much track racing this past month? There are no hills on the track you know! I got dropped on the first lap climb of that circuit race and was in no man's land. I made up a little ground by catching a few people along the way, but it just ended up being a bad day for me on the bike. Beth did really great though, she finished 4th and hung on to the lead group of climbers. She was sitting 4th overall after the stage.

I was kind of upset about the circuit race and really didn't know what to expect from myself after 2 bad days on the bike. I joked to Beth the night before about going from the gun in the road race, and her response was an emphatic "No!" We hoped the race would stay together and not be too aggressive because we heard it was a pretty hard course, and as we've said before, we're not a team of climbers.

We started the 3rd stage road race with a neutral roll out on a dirt road for about a mile and then hit the open high way. Then I, in typical fashion, got bored about 1 mile in to the race because I was doing about 90 watts and no one wanted to pull, so I went to the front to to a pull and get the ball rolling, and lo-and-behold, I was off the front. Turns out Beth pulled up when I went to the front and opened up a gap for me. 2 Bike Law women followed with me and when I saw we had a bit of a gap, I just started riding. That was how this epic adventure all got started.

I pull up my SRM file as evidence of the race that unfolded because I am sure as I retell this story that my breakaway will get longer and longer as the years pass. So it was me, Alisabeth, and Sue off the front from mile 1 of the race. We worked very well together. I knew it was an ill-fated move, but I still wanted to gain as much time as possible before we got caught so we could help our teammates in the race. Unfortunately, Alisabeth flatted around mile 15 when we crossed a rail road track. Then it was just me and Sue for another several miles. We still had a pretty big gap because I couldn't see the pack behind us, but our break had more bad luck when Sue dropped her chain around mile 20. I had the choice to go alone or wait for her. I chose to go alone. And so I went...

I went alone to the turn around in the race which was about mile 25. I thought I couldn't be more than a minute or two in front of the pack by then, but when I spotted the pack after the turn I had already been past the turn around for more than 2 minutes. By my powers of dedcution, that meant I had to have about a 5-minute lead on the pack. Holy Crap! I had almost 25 miles to go to the finish, but a pretty big lead. This is the point when I started to have a glimmer of hope of taking this race to the finish. So I grit my teeth and did my best impersonation of Jacky Durand.

Of course, it didn't play out the way I had hoped it would, in epic fashion to start a break on mile one and hold it to the finish. It still was a great adventure. As I ticked the miles away I still couldn't see the pack behind me. When I got to 15 miles to go and still couldn't see the pack, I thought I still had a chance. I did a lot of math in my head that day... I could lose 1 minute every 10 km and still win, but of course, the last 5 miles were mostly uphill. So I was not certain at all that I could hold it. Then with about 10 miles to go the skies opened up and it started to pour down rain and hail. This was turning in to an epic day. I thought and hoped the rain would slow the chasing pack down, but it didn't.

Unfortuatately for me, the moto official started giving me time splits in those last few miles. At 10 miles to go I had 2.5 minutes. I thought... I couldn't lose 2.5 minutes in 10 miles in my worst time trial, right? Oh, but wait, I forgot to factor in the 30 miles preceeding of bascially time trialing. By the time I hit the base of the climb the moto official rides up and tells me I had 1:10 over the chasing pack... I thought to myself, "Crap, I need at least 2 minutes to hold this lead." I kept going as best I could, but was like one of those tour guys who has been in the break all day and getting chased by Lance just weaving my way up the climb. I got within sight of the summit of the penultimate climb when I heard the whir of Susannah's wheels behind me. My epic adventure was over 3 miles from the finish of the race.

It was the best of times and the worst of times. I have always been the rider who isn't afraid to attack, and although my attacks are often ill-timed and ill-advised, I always go with the hope it will work. This time I was in the lead of the race for 45 miles, it's just too bad that the race was 48 miles.

I got popped as soon as the pack caught me and strolled in well after the leaders finished because the last mile was all uphill and I was cooked. The good news of this epic adventure was that it did actually help my teammate Beth who didn't have to do a lick of work all day until the final climb. She did great and finished 3rd on the day and made the final selection up the last climb. The next day was the crit and if she did well she could move up on the overall.

In the crit, I made several attempts to get off the front, but to no avail. We did take both cash primes, and I was able to help Beth with a good the leadout on the final lap. She eneded up taking the win and bumped herself up to 3rd overall with the time bonus, so that at least was some gratification for the weekend.

All in all, I had a good time at Steamboat and we went to the hot springs after the race. I wished I had raced better in the early stages, but we can't always get what we want. I will still count that break-away in the road race in Steamboat as one of my favorite moments of 2009, eventhough it didn't work out in the end. I'll keep trying though, you all know me by now.