King of the Mountain x 2
Good enough for government work.
I blogged for an hour, and guess what…it disappeared, so here we go again.
I had a tough time blogging after my race last weekend, my race is small compared to Doug’s.
The NM State Championship Mountain bike race.
I have always wanted to race King of the Mountain. It has always been on my list.
Racing King of the Mountain 2 times, was never on my list.
Now that I have done it, of course, next time, I want to do it faster!
It was back and forth, back and forth, whether or not I was going to be able to ‘compete’. I say it in quotations because I didn’t feel like I could compete against others. Having done the preride, I could at least compete against myself.
When I first decided I was going try to get a babysitter to do the race, not one Cat 1 girl was signed up. I didn’t sign up because I thought, “oh, EZ I can win this”. I wanted to do it because
if
I can do it,
so can you!
If I can show up from flat land USA and race NM State Championship, than, any slow old lady can do it.
There were some major obstacles I needed to over come.
1) Racing 26.2 miles in Leadville for a total of almost 7 hours 4 weeks prior. I think, I had total of 5 rides going into.
2) Babysitter issues, Ken was at Copper Triangle.
3) Race wheels disc brake up front was ‘rubbing’ and it was the first time I had ever even had them on my bike!!
That’s a lot to overcome for one day.
Probably the biggest obstacle was whether or not I could go up the mountain 1 lap and one ‘medium’ lap.
From pre ride I had been using visual imagery, a technique I use, and recommend all my athletes to use. The image was a short, fairly painless, jaunt up the mountain.
I saw the turn off during pre ride, and then, on the way up the first time.
No problemo, amigo.
I made it up the mountain in 1.5 hours, 15 minutes faster than pre ride and no unicorn. I already won.
My buddy Luke, BTW Luke, it was great seeing you for the 90 seconds before I had to line up, and the bottle hand up. It was a lot hotter than I had expected it was going to be. It wasn’t Texas hot, it was Alpine hot. Which, if you’re smart, means, more water. I had put 4 bottles in my Camelbak, but I really didn’t want to take any chances, and I had started the morning off dehydrated.
Never a good way to start a race day. I never get dehydrated in TX, but at altitude, I sometimes wake up a little bit, because of the increase of ventilation during sleep.
I used part of that bottle.
So as I begin the climb again, I’m still in the same mantra, slow and steady. The 1st lap, I saw the other ladies in front of me, I let them get about 1.5 switchbacks in front of me, but they were always there.
When I began my second ascent, I saw no ladies. I figured, I must have fallen way behind. I just let it go, and realized, for me to even be here climbing the King of the Mountain a second time was a first place finish.
I was closing into the turn off to begin my descent and a man and his son, said, “remember to turn right”.
” I thought I turned left”.
“you can, but you’re supposed to go right”
Oh $hit, WTF, where is the turn off, how much further do I need to climb up this beast?!?
I was not prepared to climb past this turn off. I never saw another turn off. Where is the turn off, do I have to climb all the way to the top?!?!
By this point, I was hungry, I was gravely concerned.
And the mental crushing that occurred, the feeling of defeat. The unknown.
I was tired, I did not want to make a mistake. I pulled in the reigns, and walked all the sketchy, rocky rooty swichbacks. I don’t even think, I had the power to do them anyways.
Let’s put this in perspective internet reader.
8600 to 10600 feet. Endless switchbacks and climbing, singletrack. Now add in roots and rocks, similar to the top of Flat Rock Ranch or Camp Eagle. It has everything.
But with 2 hours already in the saddle, and a lot of unknowns, and the yearning to not fall and be carried off the mountain, I took my time, and stayed in my comfort zone.
2nd place: 3:22 and some change.
When I saw the other ladies times, I thought to myself: I had more to give that second lap. I gave in. I took my time, and even did a couple of time consumers.
I’m pleased, don’t get me wrong.
It’s always nice when I get to cross something off my list.
That turn off: Well, it was about 80% up the mountain. When I hit it, I gave thanks to God.
It was overgrown, very slender trail, washed out, I wanted to go fast but again, I was shot.
I am very proud of myself for biting the bullet and accepting whatever finish that I received.
It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
By default, I’m 3rd in the State. That’s pretty cool.
It wasn’t so hard, I cried, I only cried because of Doug’s beautiful story.
It was totally awesome! I can’t wait to do it faster than the last. Ken is threatening me that he’s going to do it with me. I’m thinking maybe he should ride his mountain bike first.
🙂
I have been spending most of my time in recovery and crash programming, and not enough in training. Part of that has to do with the girls being out of school, some of that is just having fun, doing what I want.
Most importantly having the confidence that I have the fitness to do it. It’s nice, to know, finally, that I have a base of fitness that I can do anything.
I do want to train. I miss training, the routine, the familiarity, watching myself get faster.
This weekend, I am doing the TT, race 4. I’m thinking about doing the Championship race.
The pool is closed this week for maintenance, that makes me very sad.
Monday, I finally didn’t have pain while running. I haven’t really been ‘running’ I have been doing sprints on our walks. I have done 1 6 mile run and 1 3 miles run since Leadville. Then, I went straight into crash programming for the bike.
Monday, I’m pretty sure it was, it may have been Tuesday, we went to the park with the dogs and played frisbee. No pain, no pain in my hips, no pain in my knees… It was awesome, I believe, one month after Leadville, I am finally ready to do regular running.
I am excited because I really want to get back on the track and get faster. There’s also a 13.1 mile run in the foothills. 6 weeks ago I did 21, so I think, I can hang! Another crash program!
:o)
I want to do a tri. I would like to get an a half ironman, ain’t happenin’ this year, I’m pretty sure.
I haven’t put in my application to my kitchen pass yet. I have on my program: 100k in Palo Duro Canyon, and 50 miles at the El Paso Puzzler. I also, want a kitchen pass to put a team together for 24 hours of Rocky Hill Ranch.
I have been scrambling the last week or two to get my youngest monkey into school. I lost a couple of workouts to that.
I rode yesterday with Ken. 1.5 hours.
36 mph on the downhill!! Yea!! That’s a new record, post jaw break.
I was toast on the climbs. On the flats: felt good, there’s really only 1 flat we hit!
I got 26 mph on first interval, 27 mph on second interval, 30 mph on 3rd interval, and then blew up and had to take a nap.
And then, the IBS hit.
I have NO idea where the gluten came from, but I’ve been a mess for 24 hours. Today, is the feeling of intermittent fever, and low blood sugar, all day. The skin is a mess too. Pretty ugly.
The monkeys are getting all grown. I’m not snobby about too much, haircuts are one of them.
My hair I am growing out, since the 10″ locks for love cut. Now the monkeys, we have been at the salon for 2 hours; feathers and hair bling, can you believe it…hair bling…