axellrocks:

Wente RR

40 starters – teammates – JS

Course 3 laps (4 times up Carroll). Weather: cool and WINDY.

Bike: Felt b/c it has climbing gears!

I warmed up solidly – got the HR up to 160 on the trainer. Learned that some friends had missed their start and that the officials were running about 3 minutes early so I made sure to get there early. Good thing I did!

On the start line, the officials announce the QOM prize on the FIRST time up the hill – wtf? So we were all together finding good position, made the right hand turn onto Altamont road and came to a screeching halt as a HUGE red truck nearly took us out by turning INTO the peloton as we were making the right hand turn… where were the volunteers and police??? Why did the truck run past the barricades that said BIKE RACE? After nearly rear ending the truck, it took me about 10 minutes to calm down – just as I was getting my heart rate back down, we got too the right turn onto Carroll and the fireworks started. Marley and Davis girl were way off the front and I was just hanging onto the peloton… So we had a pack together for about 3 miles – before it was blown apart.

I made sure to ride the hill like I know how to ride, and refusing to be dropped or blow up. I got up and over the freeway and into the slight uphill and I was dangling with April Hamlin and Colavita gal. We worked super solidly together and chased and chased and chased and finally caught back on after the downhill – Colavita said “we’re there” and I still had 10 yards to make up and no matches to burn to get there. April and I were now dangling, and refused to give up. We were ON and then we made that right hand turn to go up and over that tiny but steep hill – I stood and just said (a la “A Christmas Story” … FUUUUUUUUUUUDGE) and I was dropped. That was it. They were only 10 yards ahead of me but I had fallen off. I set about recovering and sitting up to see who was behind me. Hooray it’s 5 gals including Lucia and a few others… I got into their paceline and sat in to recover.  Then Lucia pulled out and I mentally was ready to too. The front group sat up and recovered as well so we caught back on as we were making the right turn again in Altamont. Whew. Recovered and surely they wont ramp it up until the last lap. Wrong. The two were still off the front and the climbers started putting the hurt on. I just didn’t have much left to burn. After completing the climb I was with Mason and Dolce… I decided enough. I’d been dropped and caught the field twice – and the third time I got dropped, I decided it’s a training ride.

Meanwhile the wind really picked up by this time. I rode the climbs my pace and rode away from the other two gals, and caught up to a SJBC Jonathan Racine. I passed him on the uphill, and then he passed me on the flats, and so we decided to ride it in together. Solid choice to save it for tomorrow.  I rounded up a VeloBella who was clearly fading in my race and got her on my wheel and paced her to the finishline to help her recover… she was ever grateful.

Fitness for climbing is just not there and this race confirms my need for a break.

SUNDAY

Wente Crit 1-2-3. 3’s prized and scored separately.

Weather: 60 and light breeze – much warmer and less windy that the RR.

Teammates – Bev

Start time: 2:40.

Avg speed 25mph

Ate at noon – good choice of a bland sandwich to give me enough energy to stay competitive!  Watched the W4 crit. Good times – with Ash taking 4^th! Woot!

Bev and I were on the trainers for a solid 45 minutes – legs felt like crap for a full 15 minutes. Around 30 minutes I finally started feeling loose. I did three solid one minute high HR efforts. Felt good and warm.

Took a lap before the race. On the start line in the second row. The gals in front of me SUCKED at clipping in… But I was warm so once out of traffic, I was up and INTO the race. I’ll be honest, I was a bit scared right off the bat – remembering the total trouncing we had in Santa Cruz, and then deflated again from yesterdays race.

I was tentative in the first 3 laps – just seeing how people were riding and checking out the course at speed. There were a few instances of guttering after turn 2 – into the left gutter. Once I found where I could be comfortable (and it was different areas on the course) then I stayed there. I was totally protected about 66% of the time, but around turn 4 the gals were taking a crappy line too much inside, so I consistently moved to the outside so I could steadily pedal but took the wind, and found myself out in the wind fighting to get back into the pack. So either stay on a line and grit my teeth – or move outside and move up!

About halfway thru, a vanderkitten filled a tiny gap to my right where there wasn’t really a gap – so we ended up leaning into each other and pedaling until we moved off each other – it was surprising but I wasn’t going to let it go, I refused to go down. Yay!

Around 6 laps to go, a break had formed after a prime – and I was moving up anyway so I jumped across and was in a break for about ½ lap. Pretty cool to try anyway. It crumbled as metromint gave serious chase.

With 5 to go I had drifted back to chill and recover – Bev was up front looking awesome. With 4 to go I was still in a bad position. Bev was looking good in 3^rd wheel.

With 3 to go I was moving up up up.

With 2 to go I was thinking move up move up move up. I needed to be in the top 10 -15 by the last turn.

With 1 to go I was moving up and listening to girls breathing really hard. But I didn’t position myself well – I guess maybe I started moving up too late. When the sprint started, I was about 4 rows back – I passed about 6 gals maybe more by my count. We were all over the road and as girls were falling back and I was passing them, I was having to choose to move around them, left? Right? I hope nobody is coming up behind me? Anyway – I passed a few gals but was solid mid-pack. However I felt I had another sprint left in my tank.

In the end:  I moved up, back, around up thru the middle in this race and was very happy to have made a few moves in the front of the race. My confidence has taken a beating lately so this was a good race for me, I turned self doubt into confidence again because I was totally fit enough to hang with these women. Some of the major competitors that Bev and I have been racing with the first part of this year did not do anything during this race – and we were both solid and impressed with our finish. Next time, move up with 3 to go, no matter what.

GTTM

Merco Crit

Cat’s 3 and 4 women

Teammates: Cathy, Ashley, Mo, Bergen, Bev, Jamie,

Weather – overcast but dry

25 lap race.

Going in we had the idea that we would drill the first 3 laps – trying to make it safe for everyone. Then perhaps go for the second prime, or perhaps counter attack the second prime. There were lots of strong girls, Hopkins Honda, Sugar/CRM, Dolce, so we didn’t need to do all the work at the front. I split the race into 3 parts in my head – the beginning where I wanted to practice skills of only moving up through the pack, learning to do this safely and comfortably. Then I wanted to maintain around 15^th wheel in the middle to observe who was up front. And the last 5, I wanted to make sure the mouse train got rolling and delivered me or another mouse to victory!

Just after finishing the first lap, I heard someone in front of me flat. I said “someone has a flat” – and saw it was me! I didn’t quite know how to get back to the pit – but you can get off and run back to the pit with a flat. Changed into a neutral (zipp) wheel and off again I went!

I feel that I did GREAT with my skills in the pack – my skills are so much better than before, thanks to working in the Early Birds, riding with the Cat 4 boys, and also I think the track fights helped! I fought and won most of the wheels I wanted, took GREAT corners and was complimented by others in the pack for getting the other ladies to take the corners wide and fast.

What I know we need to work on is finding each other in the pack and practice riding near each other in a sustained way… our communication broke down and with 5 to go, we all found our way to the front, thanks to Mo and Ashley for moving me up there! Somehow not everyone was there when we needed to be. A few more races and we’ll perfect that train, I believe it!

With 5 to go, we had two dolces, Bev, the winner, and one or two others up there. I sat on Bev’s wheel with 4 to go and we were being uncontested so far. 3 to go and I felt the pack was inching up on us. 2 to go and I asked the girls to step on the gas if they wanted to win. I was 3^rd wheel feeling the pack breathing down my neck, expecting a surge at any minute. But with the technicality of the course, the first 5 of us would escape the chicane with speed and everyone else had to slow, which prevented an all out assault on us.. with the last lap I said “turn it on” and turn it on they did. As we rounded the last corner I kept thinking “wait for it…” and I waited too long. Bev led me out and narrowly missed first – I never came around her.  A newbie mistake – obviously I’ve practiced sprint fitness, but not the actual ‘when to go’. Always more to learn!

Place 3 in the ¾, 2^nd in the 3s.

First Race back  - post arm surgery. Very happy with the fitness and tactics.

yea yea yea

I've been away from this blog thing. No excuses though. I'm just picking up where I left off, and moving forward (just like life and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road".

Everyone and their mother has this flu/cold/sinus infection thing right now. I'm staying home feeling rundown and hoping to kick this crap before it kicks me!

Which brings me back to my title - it's "go" time in Northern California cycling scene. Yes, it's February and that means time for the Tour of California. I cant wait! Hot Hot racing action - in what is forecasted to be another showery wintery February. The action starts on Saturday in Sacramento. Cant wait to watch!

This year - some Bay Area locals are again testing the Tour of CA action: read more here...

My first official race of the year was on January 4 - The Early Bird crit series. It was my first race after this whole elbow debacle, and it felt GREAT to be out racing again.

Training is ramping up, with my first official race at the end of this month. This year, four of my Cat 3 teammates and I hired a coach through Whole Athlete, and it's made all the difference in motivation for racing and training. We are having the time of our lives, commisserating together As Cat 3's we're riding 10-15 hours/week on top of our 40 hr/week jobs. Thats' committment for you!

More racing and hot hot action to come!

My first thought when I woke up from surgery was “I wanna go back under” followed immediately by “why does my arm hurt SO MUCH”.  I was so dopey and drugged. In the recovery room I was faintly aware of a few things: 1) that I was recovering from a surgery, 2) my arm hurt worse than anything ever had hurt before – about the same as when I broke it 3) they took an xray with a cool xray machine, and 4) I was the most healthy and with it surgical patient in that room. I remember hearing snippets of conversations about recovering patients heading back to the ICU, seeing masses of machinery floating around with gurneys with passed out people in various states of bandages. So all considering, I should feel lucky. So I tried hard to not complain about anything.

I was asked a few times what my pain felt like, and I said about a 9 or a 10 – and that made the nurses scurry, giving me drugs and more drugs. And then it was a few more hours of blissful non-pain… wow the miracle of drugs ;)

When I had significantly improved, I moved to the regular recovery room – and the nurses told me I had to urinate and then I could go home. No problem, I thought, I’ve had so much to drink in the past hour, I should be going any minute! Well, minutes turned into hours. My friend AP came to take me home around 6, but since I hadn’t yet peed, they wouldn’t release me. “why don’t you go get some dinner and come back, surely I’ll be ready by 8”.  Ha.

What was my condition at 8? Obnoxious. I had a bit of a panic/pain attack around the time that AP came back to check on me again. She got my drugs for me (thanks and YAY) and came back again. I was doped up with two doses of whatever they gave me in the original recovery room. (Reflecting on this episode, I’m sure it was caused by ‘coming down’ from anesthesia – evil evil drugs).  Surely I’d be ready to go by then? Nope. I had taken to wandering around with my saline solution bag attached to my arm and my hind end hanging out of the back of the robe. Yes, I was one of those people. I believe I pontificated on the finer points of immodesty to everyone I could. I can’t believe these nurses and doctors put up with people like me (and worse: see last entry for the ‘worse’ category) after surgery.

After AP went home, I begged for a catheter, I just want to go home, please make me urinate and let this be over! I had so many drugs in my system that I was completely unable to relax the urinary tract muscles – it’s something you do voluntarily – but there was a big disconnect thanks to the drugs between my brain and its outlying nerve pathways.

It’s nearing 10pm and my roommates (and by proxy, my Mom) are beside themselves with worry, not quite sure what’s happened to me. The doctors I spoke with wanted to admit me for the night, worried about my lack of urine. By this time I’m bloated more than a bowling ball. I’d had about a gallon of liquid! I was really uncomfortable and really wanted to go home.  I must have been convincing to yet another doctor that I was very aware of my pain situation but that I really wanted to go home, could I please have a catheter? (have you ever heard someone beg for one? Me either)

I’m aware that A called and I asked her to be ‘on call’ to pick me up. FINALLY I’m granted a catheter – it took about 5 minutes to completely evacuate! All the while, the nurses lecturing me until blue in the face that “If I cant urinate tomorrow morning, you must come straight to the emergency room right away”, I nodded my assent.

I was ushered into speedy wheelchair, assigned a chauffeur, and we headed downstairs, into a big mess of construction blocking my hallway out – I stumble into my roommates car (both roomies are there)…ahhhh home sweet home… 

Welcome back - I've been absent with the holiday, but am back to tell yet another installment of my navigational skills within the health care sector.

Tuesday, the 23rd, 3 days since I broke my olecranon/ulna, and I'm at the hospital. I'm ready to check in, arm wrapped, swollen, and movement seriously limited. After standing in the waiting room, awaiting the 'customer service professional' to acknowledge me and end her "woah is me" speech with her co-worker (neither of whom acknowledged the other person waiting in line with me, or me). I thought, "and it all starts now" as I rolled my eyes and sighed audibly.  After filling out brief paperwork and waiting on them to call me again, the niiiice lady took my wallet and keys and locked them up for me. Filing of paperwork was done, and I was ready for the next step. I arrived at the next room, and met with a blank look, and a statement "you arent supposed to be here, we dont have you in our files" from the next uuber professional admin lady. I made sure to tell them I had strict instructions from the lady on the phone that i indeed was slated to be in your office, asking you to get me into surgery today. Finally another doctor arrives on the scene and says "treat her like a fast track patient". I dont know what that means but apparently I had my name on some fast track list OR it's secret code for "she slipped through the cracks" lets sneak her in. I secretly think it's the latter. The same lady took another look at me and said "you go here to check in" and proceeded to draw me a map, complete with color lines to follow on the floor (yes there really are colored lines on the floor). Suddenly a knight in shining armor and a white coat showed up miraculously and led me into the elevator, up another few floors, and into another room, where I awaited to be admitted, again. I received the same treatment as I had in the past two offices. I felt  like I was navigating a nightmare in a video game - once I gathered enough stinkeye stares, I was admitted to the next stage...

Admittedly, it gets kinda fuzzy from this point on. I think I finally was admitted, told to 'wear this" hospital gown, and was in a hospital gurney. Various doctors came in and out, checking, double checking and triple checking my paperwork, what arm was to be operated on, what drugs i had in my system, had I peed, did I need to pee, and finally, did I want to watch some tv (there are personal monitors) to pass the time? What? and Miss the most dreadful droning of the 'victimized eye surgery patient in the next cubicle'? No joke people, this woman was clearly elderly, and complaining in the way your great-grandma complains that you're never up on time, only she's at your house at FOUR IN THE MORNING. This woman somehow had checked in at 6am for her 2pm surgery. And she was complaining that the doctors forgot her, that the nurses were willingly avoiding her, adamantly shouting at whomever would listen. It was a real treat. i cant believe people actually act like that! in public! wearing a hospital gown!

So, as it was a Tuesday, mid morning, there was nothing on tv - i think i watched cnn, who knows. I remember the actual surgeon, Dr. Lau, came in to say hi, he drew a star on my left arm, and asked me why I had missed our appointment earlier that morning. I thought "are you serious!" and said "Um the lady on thephone told me to come directly here this morning and not to your office". he asks if I have any questions.. YES but I dont know where to start - so I started with "i've never had surgery before, what do I expect?"  I knew to ask for anti-nausea drugs before I go under, and how long it would take (2 hours), and what to expect after that? He said "take your pain pills on time, every time." that's about all I remember.

Then after a few more doctors and various medical personnel came in and out - it was time... and I was wheeled into the surgical room. There was lots of machines and about 15 nurses and doctors - all talking amongst themselves. Another doctor (not the surgeon) announced "we need to do a dry run through, NOW people" - and yet everyone ignored him and kept doing their own thing, talking amongst themselves... I was awake thinking, hm - this is interesting. Someone offered "dr. Lau isnt going to be back for another 15 minutes" so the angry guy just scoffed and walked away. The anaesthetists said "here, we're giving you some oxygen now" and then almost immediately said "okay we gave you some drugs to relax you, you'll start to feel drowsy" and that was it.

Total darkness.....

Continued from yesterday, where I growled at hospital personnel...

High on morphine and I took home a nice souvenir on my left arm – a fiberglass splint from wrist to armpit. It’s so cool these days – they have dehydrated fiberglass… well it’s a little more chemical than that, but seriously, “just add water” , fashion and mold to your liking, and *presto* you have your very own cast. Somewhere in there, Anthony ran to concessions and got us something to eat – it was like 2pm and we had breakfast so long ago! After the morphine, x-ray, cast ordeal, I was ready to go. I left with a piece of paper that said “thanks for visiting the ER today (or not), your next appointment is on Tuesday at 9am with Dr. Lau”… okay well it didn’t say the first part, but it did say that my appointment was on Tuesday at 9am. Well enough, I guess I can do this cast thing for 3 days.

Cast on, I shuffled to the door, and waited while Anthony retrieved the golden chariot and picked me up. I would’ve walked to get the car, but the Kaiser Hospital is on a steep hill and I was still chock full of morphine.

Once home, we cleaned up and kept our plans of attending Renee and Tif’s wedding. Unfortunately we didn’t make the ceremony, but we did make the reception. It was gorgeous, and all my teammates were there, and very nice to me and gracious and surprised that Anthony and I made it. Tif was gorgeous beyond words and Renee was dapper in her tux. I was greeted with many a hug and question upon question. We stayed through dinner and the speeches, and made our way home shortly after that, my hand throbbing with pressure.

Anthony and I amended our fun camping plans to stay low key and in the area, I was less and less mobile as the hours lapsed, and by Monday, (my actual birthday) I was reduced to sitting on the couch with my arm above my shoulder to ease and control the swelling. I was in fear of my hand popping off. Quite literally it would turn purple and throbbing cold as soon as I brought it below my heart. 

When the phone rang on Monday afternoon, I half expected it was a nurse reminding me of my appointment for Tuesday at 9am. I was expecting to meet with Dr. Lau for pre-op surgery, talk about what was going to happen, and when. Upon answering the phone, the nurse on the other end was ‘reminding’ me of my surgery at 11am the next day. Wait a minute, I haven’t had my pre-op appointment I said, I cant go into surgery yet, I’m supposed to meet the doctor at 9 am tomorrow. The nurse on the other end said “I have a note here that you’re to go into surgery at 11am tomorrow, and nothing about another meeting at 9am.” I asked where I should go, and she replied with directions and said I’d meet the doctor there.

I was dropped off by my roommate at the hospital at 9am the next day, to check in and all that. It wasn’t long before I had a missed call from my doctor, and listening to the message, he said he was waiting for me at the original appointment (its in another building) and why wasn’t I there? *temper rising* I’m not there because the lady on the phone told me not to meet with you! *sigh* this is a heavy foreshadowing moment as well.

I’ll leave you here and pick it up with my attempt at registering myself for surgery on the morning of September 23^rd.

continued from yesterday.... where I hit a fire hydrant and broke my elbow...

Anthony's car (aka The golden chariot) landed, picked me up and after I struggled to get in the car, my level of discomfort was approaching new levels - a drastic foreshadowing event too.  “Could you please try to avoid all the potholes” I begged, ashen faced. Poor Anthony did as I asked. That request was soon followed by a surly ashen faced sweaty bellow “just get there already!” I was in so much pain. And as we waited through THREE traffic signals to turn onto Geary toward the hospital, I seethed “let me out and I’ll just walk” which I realized I actually couldn’t do. But I was in pain. Pain is a mean bugger. Pain MAKES me a mean bi-atch.

Inside the ER, nary a person in sight. I checked in with the nurse answering her “what brings you in here” pleasantries with a terse “I was riding my bike, fell off and broke my elbow”. No time for pleasantries here. I’m in pain! I asked for some ice for my elbow, but was denied “Not until the doctor evaluates you, now go sit over there until we call you” While I surveyed the EMPTY waiting room, I wondered (maybe aloud?) why am I waiting, there's nobody here!

Five minutes tick past. Nothing happened. I asked again for some ice, and was denied, but this time the doctor opened the admitting door and let me in. I wouldn’t let him palpitate my elbow screaming “no touch, no touch”. So I was admitted. And seen by another doctor, to whom I also said “no touch, no touch!”. This garnered me the pleasure of morphine. Ah, that wonderful drug. I no longer cared that my arm hurt and I had ruined my 30^th birthday camping trip weekend. All was right with the world because I had morphine.

Marissa on Morphine 092008

Going into x-ray was icky – I could see my elbow was really swollen in all the wrong places. The x-ray actually confirmed it. The olecrenon was broken right off the end of the ulna – fortunately just a simple fracture. Unfortunately, the triceps attach at that spot, and when I jerked my arm and flexed the triceps, it pulled the elbow point clear up my arm. No wonder I hurt so much!

Broken

“So your arm is broken and you’re going to need surgery” said the orthopedic resident. Damn.

And so begins the insanity of the HMO Kaiser Permanente system.

so many of you know that my thirtieth trip around the sun started with a bang crash boom crunch. The following are excerpts of what I've been up to, the story of the crash, the hospital, the surgery, the recovery. Sit back and enjoy.

You broke your what? Part I

So I was dressed up in my coconut bra and ugly little skirt over my kit on Saturday morning, September 20^th. I did all the usual stuff, rode to DFL race in Golden Gate Park – paid my $5 to race, pinned Anthony and he pinned me. Off to reconnoiter the course. All was fine n peaceful and as I made my right turn from grass to pavement, I was feeling good… till the guy in front of me swerved quickly around a fire hydrant that I frankly did not see… I had one of those woah woah woah… almost cleared the hydrant. So close in fact that I was very surprised to be hurtling over my handlebars onto the ground. I brought my arms up to hug myself and protect my innards and head, and landed with a crack/crunch and a *&%$ as I rolled onto my now flattened left elbow. It’s done broke.

Many expletives later, I rolled to a sitting position and firmly asked  (once I stopped swearing)  Anthony to find my teammates (anybody wearing yellow) and then go get the car, we have to go to the hospital. My entire forearm and hand were turning numb. Just like that. I’ve been through several handfuls of first aid and cpr classes… thank goodness I knew how to direct people. (Flashbacks of the YMCA first aid class, shouting and pointing "you call 9-1-1" , "you, call ems", "you get the AED" were running through my head)  What I knew was that I had broken my arm, but I didn’t know where or how bad. And I was NOT prepared for the hand/arm to go completely numb. In fact I was quite scared. What if I’m bleeding inside? Do I need to raise my arm? As these thoughts are cascading through my brain simultaneously, I also knew that I was settling into shock. Any moment in fact.  In an effort to lay down and keep my arm above my heart, I jostled the bones and felt the most intense piercing pain I’ve ever experienced.

While Anthony was off and cycling hard to get the golden chariot and my wallet and some clothes, it began to rain. My teammates, Paule and Julie were doing their best to stay warm and keep me warm. They kept me talking and scrounged up some ibuprofen for me to ward off some swelling. It was the best. Paule even fashioned a small sling from a leg of his pantyhose, awww Paule thanks....

Dunnigan RR – start time 8:40 – real start time, 9:10 (or so). 46ish miles. Wom 3 – 9 women in the field.

This was my very first road race. The roads were crap last year – this year most of them were repaved/chipsealed – so much smoother overall. Last year was hot – this year was wind. Wow, was there wind. There were spots where we were moving about 8mph on flat roads. Cross/head wind, Crosswind – a few times was a tail wind. We moved at a snails pace, tried to do some escheloning, and mostly hid from the wind as much as possible. The last 9 miles of flat next to I5 that took forever last year, went flying by this year as we had a nice tail wind. We turned right – and as expected, everyone turned into the right lane, I swung left (again) and charged up and over the overpass, stunning everyone – and clicked all the way down into my 11 ring, essentially in my hardest gear. And I spun out! I was literally pedaling as hard as I could. I heard someone wheezing to my right, I glanced over and saw code 3 gal (Is it karina or Kim, tall and blonde) wheezing and that made me go faster… she faded a little…and I was thinking “wow I cant believe I’m here”– I was leading until I was beaten to the line by Carol from touchstone – but I was literally going as fast as I could go – for 2^nd. I was happy with my point.

Giro Crit – start time 9:30 – Cat 3 women – field 30? Big teams from dolce, mint, code 3, and mouse. Teammates – Bergen, kate, bev (superstud mtn bike nat’l champion the day before) and me.

The plan: take a few flyers mid way thru the race to ramp up the pace and make the girls scared/hurt. With 5 to go, Bergen explodes putting a ton of hurt on the girls, then as the field catches her, have Kate go up and hurt the field, and then Bev and I can lead out for the finish. The plan was perfect…

The race: We raced about for many laps – no real attacks – a few primes went, but neither dolce or code 3 were controlling the race. We had our attack plans set, and the girly meece just sat together, watching who was doing what, and sitting in. I marked several other gals (code 3, dolce, and mint) to see what they were doing, how they were feeling, and listening for their breath on the hills. My oh MY was that the predictor of the finish! Wowza, I heard many a wheeze but I was hardly breathing hard! I kept patience, just sitting in the pack watching who was going to do something…well with 5 to go, Bergen storms out of nowhere and just splatters the field and I thought YES ITS ON! Kate works up to the front to cover any attacks that might happen, but she just controlled the field. I really thought Bergen might stay away, she was so far ahead and away for 2 ½ laps! Eventually we caught her and Kate ramped up the pace – working hard – and then with 2 to go, I was up front moving as girls were dropping on the hill, wheezing and wheezing – wow I was still feeling fresh, so I punched it on the hill and got on the front– watching the attacks. I slowed up. Suddenly on my right a dolce girl was streaming fast inside, I jumped her wheel and let her drag me around – she slowed and the field caught us – the next time around there was a group 3 gals on janelles wheel, she slowed and the group caught us. The final turn and I was joined by minty, and two others… we jammed into the final turn and I was using them as a lead out but the two between me and the minty burnt early – I came around and got on minty’s wheel, and then a last ditch effort to come around her, and had I had 10 more feet, I’d have had her… so I didn’t time my sprint just perfect but good enough for 2^nd, I was so excited for 2^nd that it was like I won!

The girly meece were fantastic – amazing execution of our made up strategy – we really learned how to ride together and work together this season. Our pack skills are decent and we should be really excited to race together next season. I am extremely proud how far all of us have come in just one season! J

so is NOT riding,

NOT racing cross,

SITTING around all day, bored out of my gourd...

going to doctor appointments...

my HAZY outlook, thanks to Vicodin.

The surgery went well last tue.  The post op recovery did not. But I lived to tell the tales...

So as I contemplate how to get along the next few months sans bicycle....

I am happy that I'll be really focused on getting better... I am being forced to think 'outside' the box to keepmyself entertained... best of all, extended chillax time with A, the best bf in the world!

till there's more to say...