Hanging out, ready to sing some Blues

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Here we go again!!!


Well fan we have one last 100 miler left for the season tomorrow. I have to say I am a little relieved. I realized this morning that this was the first Saturday that I have woke in my own bed since mid-June and no it's not because I have been meeting nice young ladies that like to have slumber parties on the weekend. A long season it has been!!

We at Team Bi-atch are Shen100 virgin's so we are pretty stoked to win our stripes and become men/women. Admittedly, I am a little nervous as I have surprisingly found myself in a position to win the SS NUE series. I am a fat History teacher so how in the hell did that happen? Oh well, I will try my best fan but most importantly I will have fun and be supportive to the others out there suffering too. Betsy has a real chance at 2nd too and Gunnar would love to get a second 1st so the pressure cooker is on. Let's hope JB, Schalk and the other Trek boys with gears take it easy on us at that 6:30am start, ugh!! Ahh, but plenty of beer and Maker's will be consumed Sunday night no matter what happens.

Shoot, its almost noon so I need to put the coffee down, go for a ride, pack and maybe make it to the camp grounds before dark.

Wish us luck fan!!!

As always...
Get out there ride, have fun and ride some more. It is cathartic ya know...better then _______ I have heard.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A Chrissy update....

Sorry fan. I have been living out of the back of my van mostly for the last month. I have been racin' a whole bunch, visiting the family some, riding in some cool places, visiting and chilln' with some special peep's in NYC and racin' a whole bunch. My energy and interneting has been limited so I am sorry for the scarce updates fan.
So here you are a quick update...

The Fool's Gold 100 was a hoot. The director already gave the quick update. I did flat three times but he forgot to mention that I was marching back to aid station #1 for a 4th tube for 10-15 minutes before Bunny was so kind and threw me a tube as she passed. I was screwing around for 20+ minutes and the Director beat me by 29 minutes, hhmm!! Okay, no shit talk he was working me over when we were together so he would have probably still beaten me by a minute or two. The venue was awesome. The southern hospitality was great. The mountains and views are amazing(yet another reason to leave DC). All you mid-atlantic/north-east folks should put it on your schedule for next year for sure.


Fool's Gold

Ahh, then a little rest in NYC before heading back to WV for the ACE race. Benji and I are in a nail biter SS series chase as is Gunnar and Ben in the Pro/ex class so it was kind of an important race. Unfortunately, for both Gunnar and I we did not get the top spot in our respective classes as we hoped. I got misguided on lap one and re-entered the race ahead of the folks I was chasing. I sat up until I was back in the right placing but the steam was out of my sail' s and I pretty much coasted the second lap ending up in second behind Benji. Now I have to win the finals in order to win the series. Gunnar is in the same situation too as Nick W. showed up straight from roadie euro land and gave us all at WVMBA a pretty good body slam from the top rope. Gunnar did not win. So the Dirt Derby is going to be a nail biter for sure.

This weekend Team Bi-atch are headed to another Chris Scott badass production, the Shenandoah 100. Betsy and I are both chasing NUE series podium slots. So come out and watch, cheer us on and drink some beer. Ahh, the pressure!!!! I need a massage!!!

I guess its official I am still a WV'er Cyclingnews knows all. Sorry DC, but really have we ever had a true love affair with each other?
Cyclingnews press




Monday, August 18, 2008

Back from Pyrite Land



Fool's Gold page on the webby
I would like to point out that they have the results wrong for the women. Betsy was 2nd-


Betsy- 2nd, not on her A game
gunn4r- 1st SS, 5th overall, pretty much on his A game except 30 minutes prior to the race
Chris- 2nd SS, 7th overall, lots of flats and excuses, but a fine rally in the last 10 miles

We got back late last night, watched an episode of Millenium, got up sometime this morning, and now must go out to Big Bear to get some Pay Dirt hours.

There.

And we did have to catch up on our emailing and such this morning-


No we didn't go tubing in Helen, though we certainly would have enjoyed it


Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Mountaineer Stage Race

Sorry for leaving you breathless with anticipation, Fan. I know you are waiting for a race report from the stage race, but we really needed to watch Rock 'N' Roll High School last night.

Due to extenuating circumstances, gunnar and I were the only Bi-Atches attending the Stage Race. Please keep Goose and his family in your thoughts right now. And Mike is busy attending to his incubating Baby Bi-Atch. And Freddie is still MIA somewhere amongst the cow manure.

The stage race started out with a 21.8 mile hilly TT. Not exactly our cup of tea, but we are bike racers, so we will race whatever you throw at us. Gunnar did well, coming in 4th place. Here's a picture of him passing his 14 minute man (Mike Miller). Apparently Mike brought his camera in anticipation of this moment.



The TT was followed by a lovely picnic and siesta by the Tygart River, before crit time. Somehow, gunnar and I still managed to arrive 15 minutes before my crit-start. ooopie.




Apparently, a certain somebody thinks "siesta time" = "play time."


Due to the abysmal turn-out of women racers, I got to race with the 40+ men! It was hot and everybody was tired from the morning's TT, though, so when the official said START, there was not much response. To liven it up a bit, I blasted my way from the 2nd row through a small gap in the 1st row and yelled ATTACK!!!! I was doing it as a joke, though, and certainly did not expect to stay away until 4 laps remaining! At this point, 2 men bridged to me and I just tried to stay out of the way for their finish.

Bunny, suffering all by her lonesome. Thanks for the cheers, Kids!


gunnar's crit followed thereafter, and he pulled a HERO move and attacked with 7 laps remaining. (He must have been inspired by moi.) In any case, thanks in part to some timely assistance from a couple lapped riders, but mostly because he has massive thighs of steel and lungs like a blowfish, gunnar soloed to the win, with 42 seconds to spare! Good Jorb, Nars!

Nars, after total crit domination.


After refueling with Smoothies from Sheetz and some Chinese food, we were rearing to go for the next day's road races. I got to race with the 40+'ers again, even though there were 6 or 7 hardy women that showed up. Thank you for racing, my fellow female bike racers!!!
My buddy Kean warned me that he was going to attack up the 1st 3 mile climb, so I was ready when he went. It turned out that just me and Kyle were able to stay with him, though, which made for a highly painful race. I have not suffered that bad for a looooong time. The 3 of us worked our tails off (I definitely did not do my fair share, though I did what I could) and managed to stay 1 minute in front of the pack of frothing 40+ men for the whole race. Thank you, Kean and Kyle, for the encouragement, jokes up the climb, and not dropping me. That was definitely one of the hardest races I've ever done, and my stubborn pride was the only thing that kept me in that break.
gunnar was fortunate enough to get to do 2 laps of that course (for 5000 total feet of climbing). His group broke up quite a bit on the second lap, and gunnar was in the chase group behind a solo rider. Coming into the finish, he attacked early in an attempt to get second, but got stuck behind a Magnum Wagon in the covered bridge, and lost his gap. So, he ended up 3rd, still an excellent result! Nars moved up to 2nd overall in the stage race! WOOHOO!

All in all, it was a super fun weekend, but we missed our friend Goose. :o( Jackie misses her snugglebuddy, too.

Special thanks to:
  • Ryan Post, Thad Kelley, Emily Moy, and all the others that worked their tail off for this weekend
  • My Mom and Pop for coming to visit, cheering for us, and buying us delicious smoothies!
Mom and Pop, zipping around the crit course.
  • All of our fellow racers that showed up. Hardy souls, indeed!


Special request to all female racers in the Mid-Atlantic area: Please come try racing in WV! Not only are these races super fun and challenging, they pay well and often have PIZZA afterward. What more do you want? If just one or two of you comes and brings along a few friends, we could have a nice female pack. But if all of you say "there aren't enough women racers to make it interesting," there obviously won't be enough women to make it interesting. Thanks!