Chattanooga Press

Chattanooga has been featured in several mags lately as one of the cool places to be. Last month's Outside Magazine chose Chatt as the #2 "Best Towns in America".  The September issue of National Geographic Adventure Magazine includes Chattanooga in its cover article, “Where to Live and Play Now: The 50 Next Great Towns." They did a small interview with me about my move from Atl to Chatt. Check it out!

Waterfront Triathlon

I've been a bit bad about writing lately, so I'll do a few quick posts to catch things up...

Last weekend was the BMW of Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon (yep, there's that site I designed again!) While I did the whole event last year, this time around I was only interested in the bike portion (just not enough of the other stuff going on), so I recruited a few friends to team up with me: Carol (who's becoming my #1 relay teammie - we've done Tsali the last 2 years together), and Kelly (who filled in for Michelle who couldn't make it down). We thought we had a solid team, although it's typical that the local high school all star athletes put together some ringer team, so who knows what we were in for.

Race weekend was fun - I had some friends in from out of town that crashed at my house, which meant some late nights. They weren't racing (just promoting their company, TriathlonDVD.com, so they didn't need the quality sleep I did!) Saturday we had some good storms - no worries, as long as mother nature got it out of her system. 

Well, she didn't. Sunday morning came along....  the rising sun just never broke through the clouds, which became increasingly dark and angry as the minutes ticked by. Carol began the race as our swimmer, getting in the water shortly after the start at 7:30am. Us bike relay people were in the transition area tent, eyeing the sky. Sure enough, about 5 minutes before Carol emerged from the water, the big drops started to dump. *lovely* Everyone knows how much I hate skinny tires on wet pavement. I usually avoid weather like this so my experience riding in it is scarce. 

Carol ran in, gave me the timing band, I ran to my bike and was off (trying not to slip as I pushed my bike down to the mounting area). The bike course is pretty cool, which is why I really wanted to do this race. From the riverfront, we head up MLK and hop on Highway 27. It's the main access road from I75/I24 through downtown. Long, swoopy and pretty straight. I don't know the elevation gain during these 40km, but it's pretty sizable for a tri apparently. My concern was riding on a well-traveled highway, and what the rain would do to the oil drips from cars that I was certain were running right through the middle of our lane (1 lane was used for cars, 1 for bikes). The left side of our lane was used for passing bikes, and I wanted to stay clear of the center, but riding in the right side of the lane was sketch as that was closest to the auto traffic. I just stayed focused and steady and did what I could. 

It rained steady for the first third of the course, then slowed to a sprinkle (not that the roads got any dryer!) Thank god for race adrenaline, as I think that gave me the confidence to keep a pretty steady pace... around 19mph. Not great, but faster than last year and not bad for crappy weather conditions that had me tense. I made it back into transition in one piece without sliding out (unfortunately several others did), and sent Kelly to attack the 10k run.

As racers finished and results were posted, it seems the women's relay was conveniently left out. We stuck around for the awards.. just in case. It's funny... we all thought our personal performances were rather mediocre... that if anything did happen , it was due to the awesome efforts of the other two. Well, our collective mediocrity still kicked ass, as we won our division! We got some cool etched wine glasses (that I have yet to break in) and Hammer Gel (always good to have as I suck that stuff down). 

A few pics.... the trio courtesy of Brightroom Photography.

trail running article

read the article from monday's interview. a few quotes by yours truly, along with some video footage. (none of me swatting bees though. but oh, look at all that lovely poison ivy everywhere that is now coming up on me; at least my face is looking almost normal!)

the videographer should have told us to hush up, as mark's interview has lots of background noise. sorry!

beware the death cookies

2 thursdays ago i played hookie and met up with some friends to go mountain biking out in tellico plains. zeke and i stopped at a great bakery/coffeeshop downtown (i'm not sure the name of it but i highly recommend!)  then headed to our meeting spot at north river campgrounds, where van and carey were waiting for us. the day began with a 2.5hr climb on forest service roads (with a little paved mixed in). yeah, what a way to warm up! the grade was never that bad, but consistent, climbing from around 1100' to 5000'. our efforts were rewarded with our arrival at an scenic bald covered with wildflowers. in the distance we could see the cherohala skyway (where i thought i would be today). 

after some refueling, we backtracked briefly before hitting some singletrack. now this isn't the groomed flowy stuff i've been riding as of late; it was rough, overgrown, barely used, raw stuff. it reminded me of trails we'd hit on remote adventure races.. the road much less traveled. then throw in the rocks/boulders, and it became very pisgah-esque. that's where the "death cookies" (named by carey) entered the picture. we'd be riding along, then the randomly placed loose rock would jump in front of your wheel and just stop it. as long as you could see around the overgrown brush, you could navigate around these suckers, but every once in awhile they could catch you by surprise. luckily, no unplanned dismounts!

the ride was awesome - quite nice to escape to some place new & explore without much of a plan. looking forward to the next mid-week rendezvous soon i hope!

bald river falls

carey & van

zeke & carey

speaking of sports + design...

a website i designed for the bmw of chattanooga waterfront triathlon went live recently. big thanks to the team at technology projects for their expertise in programming (i stick to the visual stuff and leave the code to others) and the chattanooga track club for letting me have some fun.

in the green at the Greenway Challenge

jim and carol put on a small adventure race, the greenway challenge, every year to benefit the north chickamauga creek conservancy. in the past, it has been a team-oriented event; this year though, jim changed it up offering only solo & relay divisions. unfortunately the event didn't sell out this year, but we still had a great crowd and raised between $2000 & $3000 for the conservancy (much needed after a fire they had this spring that destroyed a barn full of paddling equipment).

while the masses may not have liked the new format, it suited me well with the training i've been doing lately. well, sort of. the short speed stuff hasn't been a focus, but hopefully i've had enough of it to not totally blow up after the first leg. it would be an interesting race though - some top female athletes were coming and it ended up being one of our hottest days yet.

the open men solo started at 9:30, then we took off 10 minutes later. (the remaining divisions were scattered after us which seemed to ease potential congestion on the trail.) we staged our bikes at the top of a hill and had a le mans start. the problem was, i dropped off my bike when not many were up there so i hesitated a minute before finding it and hopping on. lisa & patsy already built up a nice lead - i knew they'd be duking it out the entire race and that i wouldn't factor much into their game. heather was right there with me and we yo-yo'd during much of the bike leg. she's a super fast runner, but i haven't seen her on the bike in awhile so i thought i might have a chance. we wound around the wildflower field and encountered a few cyclocross barriers. yeah! i definitely made up time here and pulled ahead; however, it proved to be not enough, as she passed on a paved section a bit later. darn! i was trying to pace myself as i was already dripping with sweat, but at the same time knew that the race was short and you had to go all out the entire time (and perhaps suffer the consequences). 

next up was a short singletrack section that i think i got to ride for the first time. usually things are so backed up here that we are forced to walk, but the new format helped. we encountered the lead males as they ran a short section on foot, but there was plenty of room for us to work around eachother. back to the gravel roads and then it was full steam ahead to the transition area - but not before gingerly stepping through a giant cobweb challenge (imagine knee-high strings crisscrossing... you had to carry your bike across and try not to trip. luckily i cleaned it both times we had to go through it). 

back to the TA - change shoes, grab water, gel & ecaps - and off on the run. we began with a rarely used trail that abruptly ended with a 200' scramble to the highest point on the farm. i heard this was going to be nasty, but it actually wasn't as bad as i thought. i was able to pass 3 guys here that were thinking way too hard about finding the best path. just go! the only thing that sucked about this was the mega amounts of poison ivy that seems to flourish in this drought the south is having. (and yes, it started popping up on me within 30 hrs of exposure, despite scrubbing twice with Tecnu. normally it takes me 3-5 days to see symptoms; i really hope this isn't going to be a bad case!)

once on top, we hit a trail and could once again run in a normal gait. the problem was my entire torso was cramping up and i was doubled over doing the old man shuffle for a bit. i think my waistpack was too loose and the bouncing around was the culprit. ?!?  anyways, after 5 min of this (and frantically looking over my shoulder to make sure no girls were behind me), i was feeling normal again. we ran through the rope challenge area and had 2 obstacles here (easy!) then off for a loop on the boy scout trail. i was doing most of the passing until my rock/creek teammate jaclyn was nipping at my heels. (i was hoping she'd be whooped still from her win at the scenic city marathon last weekend, but alas, she has superhuman legs.) i let her by and tried to keep her in sight for as long as possible (which wasn't long enough!). we hit the razorback ridge trail alongside the quarry (beautiful, but treacherous with rocks and cliffs), then another singetrack section before heading towards the TA. 

after another rope challenge (crawling underneath a bunch), we ran to where our boats were staged. i had one of those weird heart palpitation things when carrying my boat to the water. i had to slow to a walk just so i could keep moving forward and not fall over. i was happy that i could get off my feet and recover quick; when this happened during the duathlon run, it lost me several minutes. sitting down in the boat helped and i was able to regain focus quickly. the paddle was nice and peaceful and mostly shaded (yeah!). i passed a few boats here - thanks to carol for letting me borrow her speedy perception cadence (hhmm, maybe this would be a good tsali boat?!) only 1 mishap on the water - when going under a low hanging branch, my tifosis got snagged and fell in the water. dang! i'm moving forward at a fairly decent speed; do i stop in hopes of finding them, but risk 6th place catching me? no! (i figured they sunk quickly anyways.) so on i go. i could see jaclyn ahead, but our paces were similar so there was no catching her. 

my final time (1:39.42) was less than 1.5 minutes behind her. 1st place (patsy!) was at 1:27, so the 5 of us were relatively close together (6th was another 10 min back). in all, i was super pleased with the result. everyone that i thought would be head of me was; no one snuck by that shouldn't. and best of all, i finished in the money! granted it was just $20, but will come to great use in replacing the sunglasses. (and at least this green won't give me a blistering rash that drives me nuts for a week or two. ugh!)

the day ended with complimentary pressure point massages, lupi's pizza, lots of smiling faces and lots of sun (but no burn thankfully!). it has been fun to hear about the experiences of the AR newbies - hopefully they had a great time as well and will try one again soon (and practice running up hills in the meantime - yes, even if there's not a trail we still run!)

i don't have any action shots of me yet, but here's a nice video from the local paper, as well as a few pics.

running with the boonies

last weekend was the scenic city trail marathon, sponsored by rock/creek & the boonies and presented by vasque. the weekend kicked off with the trail running 101 clinic i gave at rock/creek. i was a bit nervous, but the presentation went great! there was about 25-30 people there and thankfully none of my friends made faces at me :)  

saturday morning started early - i was up at raccoon mtn a bit before 7 to get the east overlook aid station set up. lynn seeger & sheridan ames manned the station with me, which was mile 3 & mile 15 (the marathon was a 2-loop course). the day started cool, got hot, rained, and cooled down to a very pleasant afternoon. we had a great time keeping people fueled and hydrated. the first lap had people pretty stacked, but i was able to whip out the camera during the second lap.

while it was hard to sit this race out, i know it was what my body needed. plus it was great fun to cheer on all my teammates and friends during the day. next time i'll be out there with you!

kimsey mtn loop

after living up here for nearly 2 years, i finally connected with zeke for a ride. i originally met him many moons ago at a race somewhere - adventure race or mtn bike race, i can't remember which. after our first meeting, i ran into him again and again, always greeted with a big hug & smile. it was good running into him at the cohutta race, to reconnect and plan.

hiwassee river

our plan today was to ride about 5 hrs in cherokee national forest. finally, i'd be riding much of the adventure24 race course i sent many folks out on. we parked at gee creek campground, right off the hiwassee river. two of zeke's riding buddies also joined us (chris & jason). i tend to get a bit nervous riding with people i don't know -  hoping that i don't hold them up too much. luckily jason & zeke were tapering for the mohican 100 next weekend (so their taper made for a solid ride for me :)

i really should have busted out the camera earlier, as there could have been some great shots. to start, we had a choice of 3 routes to get us to the apalachia powerhouse bridge: a road that would take us 5 miles out of the way; an overgrown rutted out road with "puddles like la ruta"; or a train track. the latter won out. it wasn't a long section, but time passed so slowly when i was on there. train tracks are anything but smooth! most of the time it was just bumpy, but when the tracks spanned a bridge over a feeder creek, the gravel inbetween the trestles had washed out a bit causing an awful jarring. add to that trying to keep your ears alert for any oncoming trains and panic nearly sets in - yes, NOT the time to stop for a kodak moment! thankfully none decided to ruin our parade. the moment we could get off the tracks we did. phew! nice way to get the heart rate up quick! (needless to say, on the way back, i chose the ruta road. it wasn't all that bad... i did have to portage the creek which came up to my hips, but after 4.5 hrs of riding it was rather refreshing.)

our course was a lollipop. once we crossed the bridge (seen below), zeke led us on a great loop that i will have to check out on some maps for future rides (i remember FSR 66, 80, 68.... and a sign for lost creek campground). there were 2 pretty significant climbs, lots of rollers, and gorgeous scenery everywhere. we passed a few creeks that got chris and jason excited as they belong to the crazy cult of creekboaters (honestly, that seems like a death wish....) 

in all, i had a great ride. zeke commented on my solid climbing skills; i interjected with "but my descending leaves much to be desired". "you took the words right out of my mouth." of course i did. how many times have i heard this? well, at least i'm aware of my problems and maybe one day i can overcome them. (definitely one day!!) luckily i didn't keep them waiting too long - it gave them a good excuse to find some shade and wipe the sweat off. today was by far the hottest day of the year - i felt like my face was dripping off sometimes. i easily drained my 100oz bladder, and had only a few sips left in my bottle. 

we finished up with a quick dip in the river too cool off - the water was freezing so i didn't stay in for long. refueling at the ocoee gondolier completed the days adventure.

some totals:

4:38 ride time

54 miles

elevation gain in dispute.... zeke thinks it's around 5500'; my watch showed 3500'. but i haven't calibrated in a long time and i'm not sure how this affects tracking...  regardless, a solid effort!

zeke & jason

King of the Mtns Challenge

No, I'm not doing this (I have a different birthday ride in mind), but I thought it was worth posting the elevation profile. Gosh, I could eat a lot of cake after this....

Last year the eventual winner went back up Roberts Mill, to make it 11 climbs. He's really not quite right ;)  (and makes some great bikes!)

adventures with the nephews

Cohutta 65

one of the key races i was using as a benchmark for leadville was the cohutta 65. (once upon a time i was thinking i would do the 100 mile option, but that 6 wk break off my feet earlier this year had me rethink that plan...)  

while not the full monty, the 65, just shy of 11k of elevation gain, was still going to be a respectable day. the rain overnight and during the first hour of the race added another twist to the day. luckily it wasn't that cold (although there was a bit of snow here on monday!)

we started at the ocoee whitewater center at 7:15am with a light drizzle. after a quick 3 miles down hwy 64 (a nice climb to break up the field of 160+ riders in this distance), we turned into the brush creek singletrack trails. i actually haven't ridden this section before and i'd imagine it would be quite nice and flowy if it wasn't for the thick, slick mud everywhere. after some speedier guys passed me, i settled into a nice pace, yo-yo'ing with a few guys for the next 2 hrs. all was going well until i wiped out hard on a bridge. we had lots of short wooden bridges going over creeks & such and i really did try to take them easy; i'm not exactly sure what happened here, but next thing i know i lay my bike out and we're sliding across the bridge... i see a pole and think "this will not be good if my body slams into this". luckily my bike hit it first - but that just meant i hit my bike... groin into the handlebars and stem. yeowsers. i layed there a minute taking some deep breaths (people making sure i was ok), but when i saw a girl pass, i was back on my feet.  time to go!

i was a bit slow for a bit, trying to get my balance again. things hurt for sure. i was a bit slower than anticipated getting back to the WWC; now time for some tanasi trail action... by the time i was up bear paw, i was able to pass the girls that had passed me when i was down. once i hit the forest service roads, i was back in my element. it did seem to go on forever - funny how things didn't look that familiar even though i've ridden here several times this year. i was alone for a long time here, just doing my thing and riding hard. 2 voices were constantly in my head - matt's voice saying "attack the hills" and jeramie saying (in response to me wondering how he thought i'd do) "well, depends on what cathi shows up".  early on it was "cathi that crashed hard and was in pain". but now it was "cathi that was on a mission". i wasn't there to just ride; i wanted to race.

finally the turn from 221 to 62 (the "big frog loop") came, along with the aid station with our drop bags and the smiling & energetic ken radley (always good to see a familiar face on a grueling course!) i actually didn't need anything in my bag - i had been filling up with heed at some earlier stops and did so again here (i actually like the light taste of the stuff - i do get tired of the gatorade/powerade sweetness, which was what i had stashed...). some quick lube on the chain and i was off again - i has seen a pink jersey when i pulled in and really wanted to reel in that potential girl. which i did soon enough - along with 2 others on this section. that was energizing! i hooked up with a few guys that had a solid pace and good conversations for a bit. i suck at remembering names sometimes... there was the singlespeeder from atl that knew some of the addictive crew... and a bike zoo guy from knox with cool checkered arm warmers... 

once back on 221, i just kept on... my legs were feeling fabulous, although the shoulder/neck pain i get sometimes was now setting in  - at least that made me forget about my pelvis. the big neverending climb came and went without problem - with the leaders of the 100 mile passing me here - damn they looked fresh! 

finally the last aid station before the final singletrack section. hooray! they didn't have any heed, so i just kept the 1 full bottle i had, figuring it would be enough for the last 12 miles or so. about 10 minutes in, i started hearing some noise from my bike... not the hiss of flat tires (like last weekend), but something else. then without warning, chain suck. aaah, so that is the sound of a bone dry chain that doesn't want to move. what sucked even more was the fact i didn't have any lube on me. every 5-10 minutes my bike would seize. sometimes i could get through it, but half the time i was going up a hill or over some rocks/roots, so it royally f'd me up. for once i was totally thankful for every descent i could find - if i didn't pedal, i didn't have problems. i passed lots of people sidelined with mechanicals (including a friend with a snapped derailleur), but no one with lube. so basically this last section (which initially i was worried about, not knowing how tired i'd be going through it, then was excited about because i was feeling great), ended up sucking royally, taking at least 30 min longer than it should have. 

thunder rock express could not come soon enough. i got through that easily and was thankful for the fsr at the end - that signalled about a mile of road to the finish. liz & evan were right there waiting for me - i tried to look fast for him :)  (erick was with ethan, who was napping).

it was definitely cool to have my little nephews up from orlando so they could see aunt cathi ride bikes (inspire them young!) after some wrinkles getting results posted, i ended up 5th in the women's 65, with a time of 7:32:06. (this would have been 56 out of 100 total riders in this distance - always like to see how i compare to the guys ;). while i'm definitely happy with this, 4th place was only 32 min ahead, so it could have been an interesting finish without the mechanicals.

me + my # 1 fan evan

desperate for drink

ahhh, hydrated & happy (i swear this isn't a coke commercial)

ken helping me out with a post-race shower

So now... the next day... 

I am definitely happy with my race - my body felt great (except for the crash of course) and I was happy with how my legs responded. my nutrition and hydration was on. what to change? well, carry lube!! other than that, just continue on with matt's plans, whatever they may be. (it's working so far!) i did see an old friend, zeke, at the race and i hope to catch some long rides and leadville knowledge from him in the future. i am a bit sore - that great post-long-workout soreness where you know you did something good... but then my left knee that i landed on is aching good (the cuts aren't too bad), along with my neck (and not the part that was sore during the race - maybe i hit that when i fell too?? hmmm)

I’ll be interested to see how this experience relates to Leadville. I’ll have 4.5 more hrs to tackle 35 more miles and 3000’ more elevation gain. Altitude will be the determining factor I think, as my fitness track seems to be right on.

i should be in bed right now... but....

we all know i have problems going to bed at decent hours. so a quick update on this weekend...

the Georgia Cup is a great series of road cycling races throughout georgia (duh). well this weekend it comes to the great atlanta suburb of chattaboogie. so, why not indulge.... matt worked it into my training so i'll be out there hitting it during saturday's time trial (at 8:09.30 a.m.!) and crit (2:00), then on sunday during the road race (another early one - 8:45am). this is more of a "c" race, so while i'll try as hard as i can, i'm definitely not aiming to do too stellar (that will come at next weekend's cohutta race!)

there will be lots of vixens out there, so we'll have a ton of fun. i'm especially looking forward to the men's pro/am crit tomorrow night downtown. some of the teams participating in the upcoming tour de georgia will be using it as a bit of a warm up. report + pics to come! meanwhile, just wish me luck in the crit. after last years, i swore i'd never do one again.....  

sunday training days

i haven't kept up with posting things lately but that doesn't mean i'm sitting back being lazy - on top of lots of training, work has been super busy too. i'll write more about this past weekend's duathlon soon, but here's a quick visual recap of the previous two weekends...

shannon, jeramie and i hit the cherohala skyway for some road bike action. after fueling up with momma's pancake breakfast, we drove over to tellico plains and parked near the ranger station at the base of the skyway. our plan was to ride up, over, and down to snowbird for a snack, then ride back up, over, and down. jeramie's modest estimate was 5-5.5hrs. well once we got to the top we realized it was going to be closer to 6.5-7hrs... daylight would have been tight and the skyway isn't a place to be caught at dusk. plus i don't think we'd have brought enough clothing for the temps at the top an hour or two later. (and not sure any of us had the legs for 10,000'+ feet of gain today!)

totals: 4.5hrs, 57 miles, 6625' elevation gain (started around 680', topped out at 5390' at Santeelah Gap)

the sunday before (that would be the weekend of the CPZ race i did not do), a group of us headed over to the ocoee for a tour of the big frog 65 race route. sunday's weather was great - clear skies, but still chilly; a good bit of snow still on the ground. didn't take too many pics - i had to work hard to keep up with the seasoned riders i was with. that is until my front brakes totally failed. a piston in the lever fell out; no trailside fix for that. luckily we were only 5 or 6 miles from the end, so i took it easy/safe. (thankfully i noticed this problem before a big downhill!)

totals: 4hrs20min, 38 miles, about 4000' elevation gain

shannon, me, micah, jeramie, jamie

my ghetto feet warmers

(forgot my booties so i was at the mercy of jeramie's leftovers. 

micah called them "grover feet". hey, they did the trick...)

KnoxieCross

Last weekend I headed up to Knoxvegas for the 3rd race in their cross series, at Melton Hill Park. Highland-Adventures put on this event (same crew that puts on the 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth); this crew puts on top notch grassroots events (no bells and whistles, but always a great course, great prizes, and attention to detail for a very reasonable price... and always a ton of fun!)

It was a gorgeous sunny day, but the wind kept it nippy out. I drove up alone, but met a few other Chatt friends there. The C race (with the women's division) went last, so I had a nice long warmup and plenty of opportunity to ride the course. It was pretty straightforward, winding through the field. There was a fun drop, 2 tight turns near the lake (with some dried mud - this had the potential to be quite nasty if wet!), one serious climb we switchbacked, and 1 barrier on a slight incline (although not steep enough to be a runup.... still gave me problems though on the remount. I definitely didn't earn any style points there!) The course in general was deceptive though, with several false flats that really wore you down. All the women raced together which made for a large class (and where did all these Bike Zoo chicks come from??!) It's really great to see lots of us out there; but it made for a tough race. I don't know what the final results are, but I think I was around 7th. Jeremy Chandler took some great pics - here are a few of me in action.

After the race, we refueled with some locals & Asheville folks, then I headed over to Michelle's for the weekend. On Sunday we did a great trail run at Norris Dam with some of the Runner's Market team. (OK, we started with them, but those speed demons did their own thing). We ran for 2:17, then I added another small loop to get to my 2:30 goal for the day. Yeah, I know, Iwasn't that far off before, but I'm really trying to stay on task with what Matt puts on my schedule. I was a bit short on my ride time for yesterday, so as soon as I got back to Chattanooga that afternoon, I rode at the Bend for 1:15.

running update

the crew at Edward's Point

still playing catchup with some pics. these are from last weekend's run at signal mtn. i felt good and ran somewhere around 15 miles (2h44min). i'm definitely making progress, although starting to feel a little apprehensive with the upcoming race. i've resigned myself to the fact that the Challenge will once again not be a possibility and at this point, i'm hoping i can whip out the 5hrs necessary for me to do the marathon. ('course i would like to beat last year's time). we'll see. my plan will be to continue to increase my weekly mileage smartly. (but i bombed that with no long run this weekend. dumb me. there was a velo vixen training ride i joined saturday, with intentions of running after, but some errands and dealing with AT&T (#!%!?*!) just wore me down. i did have a nice run today - in the rain - but much shorter than it should have been. i did try to work in every nearby hill though, which in this neighborhood is pretty significant).

Suck Creek

Joey at Mushroom Rock

Sergio on the Swinging Bridge

the Tennessee River from Edward's Point

(looking towards Chattanooga)

snow pic, greenway cross race (report + pics)

finally getting some pics uploaded!

my back porch a few weeks ago!

The pics below are from the SCV Cyclocross Race at the Greenway Farms last weekend. (I didn't really take any at Columbia since it was so flippin' cold.) This race (my 2nd!) was much more technical than the previous: full of tight twisty turns and some mud thrown in for good measure. One turn in particular was nice and slick - my bike was dancing under me each time, but luckily I didn't slide out.  After this was a set of double barriers (these were definitely a few inches taller than Columbia!), followed by a steep hill - totally rideable, until it turned to peanut butter. I made it up during my 3 warmup laps and first 2 race laps, but only got halfway up before jumping off and running up the last bit (for the last 3 laps). The women's Cat4 field was pretty stacked - Kim & Susie, the #1 & 2 gals in the state that I met last weekend; Lisa, and 3 others. I got 5th place - not bad, but not fab. Fun times though! (still no pics of me racing cross yet unfortunately).

The pics below are from the Women's Pro/1/2/3 + Mens 3/Masters race. I stationed myself at the top of the peanut butter hill, as that seemed to be the biggest challenge. As the race wore on, the mud only got worse. 

There's only 2 more races in the season, up in Knoxville. I'm planning on hitting one more. Then it's on to the rest of the year!

head's up!

just got this fyi forwarded to me.... i might be riding tanasi this weekend, but luckily that's before this construction is going on.

> Just a quick note that TVA will be flying electrical towers into place
> using helicopters beginning Feb 4. It will last all next week.
>
> The flight pattern will be from the Stump Fill road (near Hwy 64) across TR
> Xpress & Thunder Rock Hiking trail.
>
> This will be a long-line operation over the Tanasi trail system so heads up
> when the helicopter is flying overhead. If anything goes wrong in flight,
> the first objective for the pilot is to punch off his load. So avoid being
> under the helicopter if possible. If it is in front of you, slow down
> until it passes by.
>
> Please pass the word around and be safe.

Inauguration into the cross scene

Originally I had wanted to go down to Thomson Days last weekend, but I needed to get some work done for clients, so a weekend away wasn't doable. Instead, I took a day trip to do my first cyclocross race in Columbia, TN. Jim, Emma and I carpooled there; I was white knuckled half the time with Emma's crazy brit driving. I figured if I survived that, the race should be a piece of cake! (speaking of sweets, I had bought a white chocolate raspberry scone from Stone Cup for my post-race indulgence, but that was sacrificed to Maggie the dog during the car ride over). 

Once at Chickasaw State Park, we got registered and had only about 30 minutes to warm up before my start. This was not easily done with temps hovering around 30 degrees, with the wind chill in the low to mid 20s. At least it was dry there; Chatt was expected to get more snow (although Atlanta sucked it all up, leaving Chatt with none of the white stuff). I got in 1 ride of the loop and practiced a few barrier dismounts/remounts. That is still an artform to be mastered, but my dismounts aren't so bad for only learning last weekend. (The remount however... can't quite get the hang of it. It can be a rather..uh... painful experience if not done properly!) 

So, the race...  the Cat4 women lined up with the Cat4 men and juniors, although we started 30 seconds behind to let the guys spread out a bit. There were 8 of us at the start line - about half were on cross bikes; the rest on mtn bikes, like me :)  At "go" we lept forward. There was a short time until 2 tight switchbacks and I didn't want to get stuck in them. 1 girl sprinted forward; I was right there with #2. I was caught on the outside of turn #1 which I had hoped would set me ok to catch the inside of the second, but she got just enough ahead of me to cut me off again. I stayed within a few bike lengths of her for about half a lap before she started to pull away a bit. I held on, hoping that one of them would fade (before I did). I kept looking back to see where 4th place was... thankfully if I could see them, it was across the field and several turns back. I just hoped I could hold on! 

The course in general wasn't very technical: long flat/rolling sections to get some speed on. (which ended up slowing me on a mtn bike which likely weighed about 5-7lbs more than the cross bikes). While there were no run ups, there was  nice steep hill about 2/3 thru that put some hurt on. There were 3 double barriers, 1 set being on a hill that I never got style points on. There wasn't much mud; just bitter cold to contend with. And my lungs, which don't like to operate in cold weather at this high effort. Yeah, I'm definitely built more for endurance.

Anyways, towards the end of lap 3 - I was still easily holding 3rd place - I looked at my watch and figured we were done. Our race was to be 30 minutes long. However when I got there the official held up the sign with 1 lap to go. Yikes!! So I kept at it, not wanting to falter and give up my place. Finally, 4 laps and about 44 minutes later I was done! The results initially were a bit f'd up... it had me in 5th! Apparently lapping a few of the girls and squeezing in 4 laps confused them and they had me down as 3 laps. Luckily all the women racers were huddled in the little room keeping warm and we easily got it figured out. 3rd place it was! I came in right behind the 2 women that are leading the state series, so I was pretty psyched with my results.... esp being on a mtn bike and still not being in race condition (only my 3rd weekend back out at it). 

Big thanks to the Columbia Cycling Club for putting on a great event with great awards - etched glasses (I'm getting a nice collection of barware from races - I love it!) I didn't make it back to Sunday's event, but I heard it was a fab, tough course! (I went on a trail run at Raccoon instead.)

wed night run, take 1...

warnings of a winter weather mix this evening of course had me quite excited. this coming on a wed night, when our weekly trail run has moved to signal mtn, made me extra excited, as i was certain i'd see some white stuff. i left work early to scoot up the mtn. little bits of ice danced off my windshield - so fine you could hardly even see it. once on top of the mtn, i actually had to use my wiper blades a bit. only jim & david were in the parking lot... jim still huddled in his car, wearing shorts. he quickly told me he was bagging the run; david was undecided. we chatted a few minutes, the ice/sleet/snow mix quickly accumulating on my car. we decided that while we wanted to run in the winter wonderland, it was probably safer to head back down the mtn. then sol arrived... ready to run. dan arrived; ready to immediately leave (something about his trainer set up in front of his fireplace seemed more enticing i guess). david decided to run; i followed dan down, hoping the drive would be safe. it was, although i slid a bit in the parking lot. nice time to remember those 2 new tires i need for my car. i'm such a procrastinator.

wed night run, take 2....

after a quick stop at the grocery store (another thing i tend to procrastinate), i went home and immediately set out on a run - hey, i was already dressed for it...  it ended up being an awesome run. the snow was drifting down, coating everything white and bringing a peacefulness about. snowflakes caught on my eyelashes, then would slide into my eyes with a cold tickle. for some reason i usually don't like running from my house, but tonight was on. i cut across the north chatt ridge, went across veterans to downtown, and hit walnut bridge after a short city loop. walnut bridge was a bit tricky - it was pretty slick. frozen wood?? next was a warm run up tremont, then back across the ridge to home. a bit more sleet was coming down at this point, as there was a faint sound - sorta like rice crispies - filling my ears. mapmyride.com says it's just over 6 miles, which makes for a great route to remember. my back deck had a fluffy coating of snow when i returned; my footsteps were completely covered up by the time i got out of the shower! boot camp tomorrow morning should be interesting :)

back at it... and bruises to prove it

It was a beautiful weekend - blue skies & temps climbing into the mid-50s. While I had to work a lot, I was able to squeeze in rides both days at Raccoon Mtn. It was like pulling teeth to find people to ride with, but kman joined me Sat & farmer on Sun. My body & lungs are feeling much better than last week. The rides were leisurely and we took time to work through a few obstacles and practice some skills. Some things I did successfully; others, not so much. I did a flying superman dive after a log on Saturday (the clearing of leaves I created in the process was still there today). No big injuries, although my foot cramped up when I hit (which was fun dealing with when I was still clipped in). I did twist my ankle a bit, so I cancelled today's run to play it safe. Today was pretty good until I didn't make it up some rocks, sliding out and knocking the hell out of my left knee twice, in the same spot (actually have a nice cut there now). Nothing is worse than rock on bone. Took a bit of time to shake that off. Then going thru the pines (tight & twisty), my shoulder caught a tree and nearly wacked me off the bike. 

highs and lows of the weekend

highs:

i finally got back outside! the dr gave me some antibiotics on thurs and i was feeling a million times better by saturday. i got a short trail run in at lookout (45 min - didn't want to push it on day #1 back!). on sunday i headed up to raccoon for a lap. it was perhaps a bit more than i should have done, (i was wiped out at the end!) but the temps were warm, the company great, and i've missed my bike a lot (haven't been on since thanksgiving). we even went on some new stuff that was a blast!

ice on lookout mtn from last week's hard freeze

lows:

on new years day, meredith emerson went hiking with her dog at vogel state park in blairsville, ga... a place i've trained and raced in many times. she never came home. the story was all over the news and it really hit home, even if i didn't know her. tonight her body was found in Dawson Forest - the site of the two Midnight Rush Adventure Races Kevin Fordham and I put on a few years back. we knew that area like the back of our hand. to think of what happened there gives me the chills.

my run on saturday was solo. i must say i looked over my shoulder a few times and left the ipod at home. granted, i was on well-traveled trails, but that just isn't enough sometimes. there has been much talk on the trailblazers message board about all the solo training we end up doing, whether it be on foot or bike. it's always nice training with a group, but with work schedules, family commitments, etc, inevitably we go about it alone. shoot, even small groups aren't foolproof. last fall i was with star & lisa on a 4+ hr ride on the forest service roads south of tanasi when 3 guys on motorcycles went by. we kept moving forward until we saw them stopped up the mtn a bit; we promptly turned around and hauled ass out of there. luckily they didn't follow. 

this brings up the question (posed on TBARC) of personal safety when training in wilderness areas. i was surprised to hear how many folks have handguns they carry. but would it do any good in a pack? in your saddle bag? i don't know what the answer is, but i think a lot of us will be searching for one. it won't stop me from going out... and i don't think that i have to be with a male at all times (as has been suggested by some people). but i will definitely be more aware, try to make smart decisions, and let people know where i am + for how long.

my prayers and condolences go out to meredith's family & friends.

Greenway Cyclocross Pics

YMCA Strong Adventure Race

Since February, Kevin and I have slaved away working on this race, from the permits to the course design to the post race food to fill the tummies of hungry racers. Every minute showed as the last team crossed the finish line with big smiles on their face. I will say though that taking a vacation and returning only 2 days before the event was not the smartest thing. Friday night I got a mere 3 hrs of sleep, ran out of paper for my printer, and was waiting for Kinkos to open their door at 7am. But the last minute scrambling transitioned to a smooth time once the racers started arriving.

The youth race started at 10am. 14 teams toed the starting line, most for their first adventure race ever. The kids race, which included trail running, biking, canoeing and a few mystery events, kept racers busy for about an hour. This was a bit short of our target time - they were much more energetic than we anticipated!

The main event for adults was the 6hr race that afternoon, lasting until 9pm. 36 teams of 3 participated, with everything from top regional racers to first-timers. Happily everyone finished and only 1 team came in after the time limit (causing them to be ranked unofficially). The event began with a 1 mile prologue in which racers retrieved their passport. This spread out teams nicely as they hit the water for a pretty long paddle, taking teams anywhere from 2-4hrs to complete. Next up was a mountain bike section followed by a trail run, taking racers to every possible corner of the mainland of Harrison Bay State Park. (I really give Kevin props for utilizing every bit of the park. He did a great job!) A few mystery events (including archery and a rope climb) spiced things up a bit and added to the fun.

some of the newbies were challenged in keeping their canoes upright

One of the hardest times of the day came in tracking teams as they finished. People were asking me questions about tshirts when I was knee deep in checking passports and tabulating results for our 3 different categories. Quite stressful! But we got it done with few complaints. We had $1000 in cash prizes to share amongst the top 3 coed teams, with lots of great sponsor prizes going to the top female and male teams (big thanks to Scott's Bikes, Fast Break, Rock/Creek Outfitters, The North Face and Checkpoint Zero!).

Stressful situation #2 came in the cleanup. We were able to provide more than half the teams with canoes. During check-in, we failed to tell teams to put their canoes and gear back on the trailers after the race. Sooo, all the canoes (24 of them to be exact) were laying down by the waterfront at 11pm. That left us, the tired race staff, with the task of loading them all up... which kept us busy till 1:30am. That was simply not fun and we will definitely make changes here next year!

In all, this inaugural race was a great success, raising nearly $5000 for the Strong Kids Campaign. Yeah!!

> more pictures here

Upchuck Adventure Run, TBARC Bike Nav

So it's a lazy Thanksgiving Day, so I thought I'd catch up on a few posts before braving the chilly temps & wind for a run or bike - trying to wait till it warms up a tad, but I don't think it's going to get much better (cloudy & 50 degrees, winds around 10-25mph, and pretty wet out after over an inch of rain yesterday).

The Upchuck Adventure Run was an "event" put on by the Boonies 2 weeks ago on the Cumberland Trail. A few run distances were available. Matt & Chad ran the whole thing, starting at Hotwater Road and running the 11 mile Soddy segment, followed by the Possum Creek Gorge and Rock Creek segments (20 miles). Another Matt joined them for the first segment, then Natalie, Kathy and I ran the last ones together...although we didn't time our start right and had to wait on the guys for about 45 min at the end. (or maybe we just ran that fast??! :) ) Big thanks to Chad for the pizza and beer at the end and the warm blanket from Nat since I forgot to leave a drop bag at the end.

Natalie & Kathy

the two (k)cathi(y)s

Last weekend was the local TrailBlazers' end of year party, consisting of a bike navigation event and mystery beer party. Jim put together a fun course that showcased our lovely townships to the north (Soddy Daisy, Bakewell, Sale Creek). Since my road bike is still not here, I borrowed my old one from Michelle and hit the course solo style. It was another beautiful day to be out. I nabbed all the points in around 4 hrs. Carol and Cecilia beat my time by a little bit to sneak in the win... but having someone to ride with in the wind definitely gave them the advantage :)


After the ride, I jetted downtown quick to see some friends that were in town riding Raccoon. Then I showered and headed back to the Farmer casa to chill in the backyard with cold beer & a hot bonfire (and s'mores). Oh, the mystery part of the beer was that the hosts handed you random stuff - you didn't get to choose what you got. But I did sneak my own stuff...Denver IPA from the Great Divide Brewing Company. It had a great label :)

StumpJump 50k

Yes, I did survive the StumpJump even if it has taken forever for me to post anything here. This was my second year doing the race and even though I felt pretty fit, my training leading up to this point was much different than the previous year, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Last year there was a whole crew of us running it, so weekends were full of long runs with lots of motivation. This year there was only a few of us and we were all distracted by our other sports.

Race morning was a good 10-15 degrees warmer than last year. It has been a hot year though, so I didn't expect this to make a big difference. There is much construction on top of Signal Mountain with two new schools being built, so the start of the race was a bit different than previous years. We started with a 2.5 mile loop over hilly (sort of deep) gravel trails. This really was not how I wanted to start as this is my least favorite part of the trail. And to have to do part of it twice before hitting the main singletrack - ick. I was happy to make the turn towards Mushroom Rock and get on with the rest of the race.

©Wilderness Adventure Photography
the descent to Suck Creek Road, around mile 6

It was great to see friends along the course.... Dan on the gravel loop, Sam & Leigh at Suck Creek, Lynn at Indian Rock House and Jeffrey & Tara at Haley Road. The volunteers everywhere were great, helping me with endurolytes and water refills. Especially great were those at Suck Creek Road, warning us of a yellow jacket nest just past the top of ladder. We were advised to veer right around the sign and bushwack a bit, skirting the danger area. I did just this and could see where others had gone. Unfortunately this led me directly to where the bees were! I yelped a bit and darted forward, somehow avoiding any stings. I was lucky! My friend Sergio, not so much - he estimated 22 stings. (And he still finished!)

©McKnight Photography
entering Indian Rock House, around mile 11

The Mullens Cove Loop went well. I ran it the previous weekend and it was nice to mentally have it under control. The low points were discovering my iPod battery was dead (why did I not check this?) and having Mr. Bad Attitude hanging out with me. I don't know who he was, but all he did was complain. I think that's why I passed him a few times when he was on the side of the trail after tripping & falling. Trail Karma. I was glad to finally drop him as it was starting to wear me down.

The last push, from Suck Creek Road back to Nolan Elementary (and the finish line!) is always interesting. I had already figured out I was about a half hour behind my goal time (oh well), so that aside, I just wanted to finish as strong as I could. I passed a lot of people and while I kept hoping I'd pass another girl, the ones ahead remained elusive. (same deal as last year!) The finish line was a welcome sight, with the clock reading 6:29.34 - a few minutes slower than last year. However, I was able to snag a top 10 finish - 9th in the womens open division, and 51 overall (out of 174 racers). That I am happy with!