Who even counts November, anyway?

Yeah, I missed a month. I haven't been posting here because, as I've said before, it's hard to write about riding the same trails over and over again. I have achieved a few small milestones, though. You know that crazy cement bridge I swore I'd never ride? Yeah, I ride that now. It wasn't a momentous thing, I just kind of rode it one day and ever since then I've felt obligated. I can also ride down the big insane ramp thing, but not so much up it. That just seems harder than it's worth right now. Maybe in the spring.

We've been riding on Sundays, my usual winter ride day, weather permitting. I've been enjoying doing the longer rides (2 1/2 hours is long for me, shut up) with the old gang even if it means I'm hobbling around for the rest of the day. It's worth is to get the fitness in, to get out in the world, to get warm even when it's cold out. Last weekend it was cold and raining, however, and I don't play that. I didn't even leave the house last Sunday.

As for other stuff, I've finished The New Rules of Lifting For Women program and started a new one called Power Training. It's very similar but I get to pick my own exercises which I like because I'll be damned if I ever do another front squat/push press. Hateful. I am required to do front squats which are also hateful, but not as much.

My most recent workout looked something like this:

Squat Jumps - 4 sets of 5 reps
Romanian Deadlifts - 60/6, 65/6, 75/6, 85/6
Dumbell Row (single arm) - 20/6, 25/6, 25/6, 30/6
negative chin-ups - 2
assisted chin-ups - 60/6, 60/6 (meaning, I had the assisted machine set at 60lbs, so I was lifting my body weight minus 60lbs. Woo.)

Then I did a bunch of ab work and 20 minutes of high intensity intervals on the stepmill. Then I scraped myself off the floor and went home for dinner. The End.

Did you think I'd forgotten?

Stop being so grumpy about the lack of posts. I really just haven't been riding anywhere new or exciting. No races, no adventures, just the usual one or two rides a week on local trails. If we didn't have such nice trails around here I'd be forced to go elsewhere, but what can I say? I'm a lucky girl.

We did have one weird thing happen at Powhite last week. K and I were squeezing in an after-work ride and when we got to the top of the hill we heard the sound of gunshots from the neighborhood off to the left. It was one gun, shot after shot after shot. NOT what you want to hear in the middle of a park in the middle of the city. What the hell? It was worse that we couldn't even tell what direction it was coming from or if we were near enough to worry. Bullets gotta come down somewhere. We scrammed out of there and made it home safely.

The light is fading fast, isn't it? A month ago we could ride until 7:30 without having to worry about lights or reflectors and now we have to leave for home by 6:45 because the woods are too dark to see the trail. I have no interest in night-riding (and no funds for a good headlight) so after this week it's going to be weekends only. Sadness. Back to spinning class for me.

It was a great summer, though, and I can ride Northtrail -> Buttermilk -> Buttermilk Heights with my eyes closed. I know all the secrets! Now, if I try to ride it in the other direction it's a totally different trail, so maybe that's what I'll work on this winter. That, and riding Forest Hill again. Too much poison ivy for me.

Here are some photos from, um, August that I should have posted in...August:

Helmet hair at it's finest:

OMG UPDATE.

My bike is getting plenty of use this summer, in case you've been worried. I've just completely run out of ways to write about riding the same trails week after week. My husband and I are boring creatures of habit and we're generally pretty happy riding the local trails over and over again. It's almost never boring except when it is.

I can say with absolute authority that I have LOVED not worrying about training for races this year. Just riding to ride has been so much more fun. (Now, I'm not saying I'll never race again, just not right now.) I'm doing decently well with my riding this summer and I think the weight-lifting has only helped me to be a stronger cyclist - I'm certainly a better climber for it. I'm on Stage 6 of the lifting program I've been doing since February and this stage is focused on working towards doing a chin-up. I can tell you with great confidence that I am nowhere NEAR being able to do a chin-up, but then again, I've never tried before. Even chin-up negatives (where you start at the top of the bar and lower yourself) are stupidly hard for me and I hang there like a sad, limp frog. But I try.

In other news, Kenny and I did actually, honest-to-God travel somewhere different to ride when we had some time off a few weeks ago. Naturally, forgot the camera, so no pictures. We went to Freedom Park in Williamsburg for the first time. Man, those are my kind of trails - no crazy stuff, no scary climbs, just miles and miles of twisty fun single track. We were the only ones out there except for a herd of deer and one adventurous turtle. We spent the afternoon riding and cleared out every single spiderweb for the after-work ride crowd. You're welcome, folks.

And now, here's the other kind of riding I've been doing.

Urban Assault, Paula style

Hi kids! Last weekend was the Urban Assault race, the race I won last year. My friend Paula races Expert and she did the race this year even though I declined. She's adept at winning (though she'll protest this until she's blue in the face) and this race was no exception. This girl races to win, rather than my lame strategy of racing-to-maybe-finish. Anyway, because I did not attend, I asked Paula to be my guest blogger today! Here's her race report:

I’m not generally the blogger type but since a few of my teammates have written about their recent Xterra/Urban Assault race experience, I thought I would give it a go. It was HOT HOT HOT on Saturday. Given the temperatures over the past several weeks, I thought I would have been prepared. I guess saying to myself and many others that “the heat doesn’t bother me” came back to punish me with a vengeance. So much for positive thinking…!

There were only two of us in my category but I came to realize that this had no bearing, whatsoever, on my pre-race jitters. There could have been 20 of us, and it wouldn’t have made a difference. That being said, nerves all aflutter, we were off! I, like Brad, almost bought it over the first berm. Now Brad, being in the beginner category, had an excuse, I did not. I should have known better but I was already on the right side and would have had to go around the whole field of one other person to get into a position in which I didn’t have to launch over the berm. Thinking I would lose precious time doing this, I thought I was playing it smart to go right over the berm.

Continuing the race, down the gravel road…hmmm, everyone says this is where you can gain precious time, being a roadie and all. Well, when it feels like it’s 110 degrees out and you are gasping for breath, this may not be the case. Who knows, I managed to pass a few people and climb the stairs, 9 flights. (I had counted them before, I was prepared.) I wasn’t prepared for my first crash though. I had 12 feet of clearance after I crossed the bridge. Normally, this is not an issue. For some reason, I looked right at the concrete wall and my left handlebar clipped it. Don’t ask me why, perhaps hyper anaerobicism (my new word).

Down I went, with a group of Sport guys behind me. Oh well, what good is a crash if there’s no one to see it? Continuing on, I manage to almost make it up the steep clay hill (my definition of “almost” being over the first big hump), out to Riverside drive and down the dreaded rocky descent. I hate this descent, but phew, I made it down, no, on second thought I didn’t, out of nowhere some guy decides to pass me on the inside, takes the turn too wide and plows into me.

Never asking me if I am o.k., the guy gets back on his bike and pedals away. I yell a few choice words after him, I mean the adrenalin and all…they weren’t real pleasant but I got my point across.

Back on my bike, yikes, what is this horrible pain in my side? Have I fractured a rib? Will it puncture my lung? I’m short of breath, I’m dizzy…no maybe that’s just the heat. “I guess it’s not excruciating pain I say to myself” so I decide to continue on. On to Forest Hill, this was pretty uneventful although my ribs are feeling the climbs. I reach the end and, given that I did an endo there last year in front of the crowd, I decide I will not give them a show this year. I prudently dismount to go back into the tunnel. O.k., I’m past most of the real technical stuff, now I can really start to gain some time.

Ouch, what is this pain in my legs? Am I cramping, has my newly-deflated lung robbed my muscles of the precious oxygen they need? Drink, drink, drink I say forgetting all about the two Cliff shots that would have been of great benefit, I continue on. Down that gravel road (again) up the stairs, this time clearing the concrete wall with ease. I finish Buttermilk, cross over the Nickel Bridge, Northbank….legs are really starting to cramp but I am reaching the end…I pick it up here, I mean I want to look like I rode the race that fast the entire time as I cross over the finish line. The heat is excruciating but I am done! Some guy I have never seen before comes up to me with a bottle of COLD water and tells me this is the last one there is…I am too stunned to thank him as much as he deserves…I am finished. (Until next year that is!)

(Note how she doesn't mention she won? That Paula. I'll have photos to post as soon as PhotoBucket stops freaking out. )

She updates!

Don't mess with me! I'm covered in poison ivy and spider webs.

I can't believe how long it's been since I added an entry. It's hard to keep up with both blogs and keep finding new stuff to write about, especially since I'm not doing any racing this spring. Last year at this time I was gearing up for the Urban Assault and even though I'm not in any shape to race, I'm still a little sad to be missing it. Not sad about paying $40 to suffer for half and hour in the 90 degree heat on trails I normally ride for free, however. Not sad about that at all.

But, I have been riding! I swear! All of it local because gas is just too expensive to justify driving all over the place just to ride a bike, when we have trails so close to home. Powhite park is always an easy option and a favorite of mine unless I'm the first rider of the day which means getting liberally frosted with spiderwebs. Those spiders freaking HATE my ass. My favorite trail is a tight uphill route with lots of switchback turns, which is prime real estate for spiders. I usually make Kenny go first because I'm selfish.

We've also been hitting the river trails quite a bit, though you have to be really careful to stay in the exact middle of the trail because it's all POISON IVY EVERYWHERE. I know what it looks like now but that doesn't mean that every green leaf doesn't also look like it. I'm convinced that every leaf that gently brushes my leg is poison and...gross. It usually is.

Anyway, just a quick update to let you know I'm still a-riding. I'll take my camera out and get some new photos up soon.

See? I always make him go first.

Stuff and Stuff

Hey! Last night the weather was beautiful and we were feeling lazy, so we rode over to Powhite where the trails drain well. They were dry as a bone! Nice. The ride started out the way most spring rides do, with both of us whining about our legs hurting. The first twenty minutes always suck - it hurts a lot and it's hard and you wonder why you didn't pick a sport like bowling, where you can play and drink beer at the same time. But, as almost always happens, as soon as we both warmed up we started feeling good and enjoying ourselves.

Kenny had a flat (in which the entire valve of his tube sheared off. Dude, how does that even happen?) and after he fixed it we ran into a couple of guys who'd never ridden there before and were a little lost. I love that about Powhite park - it's not directional and there are no maps or arrows. It's so small that you can't really get lost for long, but it does help to know the good trails to take for a flowing fun ride. Kenny told them to follow us and we had a nice little mini-group ride. They were appreciative of the tour and it felt so nice to relax and not be under any pressure to train. Just riding for fun! So much better.

That's it. No great stories, just a relaxed after-work ride. I did finally upload photos from our downtown ride a few weeks ago. certain parts of the downtown trails empty out at Tredegar and on Belle island, so that's where I took photos.

Here's Tredegar Iron Works:



And what it used to look like:



Here's me looking serious for no reason:


Very pretty view from Tredegar down to the James River:



Some of the group:

Weird new rock formations on Belle Isle:

Cool, huh? This used to be a rather sketchy downhill run, but they rerouted the trail and filled it in with all these big rocks. The best thing about this hill is that Kenny found a photo of what it used to look like from the top way back in the day (by day, I mean 1865):

Same hill! Belle Isle has been, among other things, an Indian fishing village, a Colonial-era race track, and a Civil War prison camp. It's a strange little place.

Sorry, kids.

I'm here! Still alive! I just took a break and it ended up being a lot longer than I thought. I have been riding, but not a lot, as the weather has not been cooperating. God, could it rain more? No really, COULD IT?

I did recently make the decision to not bother with racing until fall, if at all. I've just got too many other things pulling for my attention and I need biking to be a relaxing thing, not another source of stress. As for rides, its mostly been the usual local stuff and I've really enjoyed the last few rides I did. The weight lifting program I'm doing has helped a lot with general strength, though my endurance has suffered over the winter.

I have photos in my camera from a group ride I did a few weeks ago but I've been so busy with craft show stuff that I haven't uploaded them yet. However, Travis was cool enough to take some pictures:

Jay and Kenny both got flats right here:



Headed up the hill from Buttermilk North:



Me at the back trying to catch the pack: