Where I've Been These Past Weeks...and the Shen. 100

OK - time for a rehash of the past few weeks - followed by an actual race report (?? from me? no way dood...)

First, around the homefront - the garden continues to produce like crazy. Every morning, and dinner for that matter, I cook up a big skillet of this...

In the mornings, I add eggs - for dinner, some grilled something, but the veggies remain the same. I've got tomatoes, bok choy, beans, snaps, eggplant, and zucchinis. The pumpkins are huge, and coming along.

There are potatoes, leeks, onions, herbs, and acorn squash as well. Too many cucumbers have been made into lacto-fermented pickles - yum...I will definitely not starve this winter :)

My morning dog walks have become tracking missions, as the guy who walks the forest in the early AM's always drops treats from his pouch -

he has 4 dogs, and the older ones are not so interested in the treats - I find them, or Skye does first. She tracks his path with her nose to the ground hunting tid bits. If I find them, it's like I found the golden egg, and this is the look she gives me...(yup, gratuitous pooch shot...too cute...had to...)

A couple weeks ago, I took a spin or 4 around the Hot August Nights race with the Albion Angry Peckers. We were a team of 7 with 3 singlespeed - my first race on the Soma 4one5, and it was a blast!!Our team consisted of R&M, Dunc, Nancy, Dick, Rocky and myself. We decided that this was going to be a fun camping weekend, lots of cheers, and chilling, plus a little riding.

We called our order of go by doing a shot from special glasses that Nancy had designed with the number of order written on the bottom, under the booze. I was 2....our first laps were to be all in costume, so I pulled on the pink spandex, dressed up the bike, and off we went. Had a blast all weekend, and we even managed to pull into, and hold 2nd place!! Yahoo for us - we were pretty stoked. Good times had by all.

Sometime also, a few weeks ago, the end of Ontario Cup season happened :( The final race was held at the new venue at Woodnewton in Uxbridge. Great course for racing - not my best race though. I was feeling a little off, but pushed hard to try to stay up there. Finished 1st in my Cat., and ended 1st overall for the 2010 season - now to think about next year and what to do...

This past weekend sent found me down in VA for a really fantastic race. One of the hardest I've pedaled through, but amazing non the less. More details later...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/national-ultra-endurance-nue-series-8-shenandoah-mountain-100-ne/results

Post Edit: Sept 11 - OK...it's later...

I hit the road last friday for the 10 hr. drive to VA and the Shenandoah Mountain 100 - a 100 mile race through the mountains of Virginia, poking a toe into West Virginia. My drive started like this...

and it didn't let up for the first 5 hours - so at the 7 hr. mark, I pulled the plug, got a room, and crashed for the night. Woke up early, and did the last 3 hrs. to Stokesville Campground for registration, a quick ride, chill, and awaiting the arrival of friends from Ontario. All around were some very big mountains that put the fear in me - was I going to be able to finish 1oo miles and 14 000 ft. of elevation in this neck of the woods?? Would there be bears?? Just how much was this going to hurt????? My neurosis was quelled by the arrival of Rachael, Brad and MattF at around 4:00 pm - much earlier than I predicted, and I was happy to be saved from myself and my own thoughts of defeat - must work on this more...don't let the demons bite you until they are really at you door...

We all settled in, had some dinner an a little pre-race wine to calm the jitters, and then it was time for early bed. We had a 5:00 wake up call for race day, and it would come quickly.

I woke at 4:45, poked out of my tent, and was welcomed by the most amazing sky full of stars. Ya know you are high up and in the middle of nowhere when the stars are this amazing! What a nice wake up - but chilly too, so I snuggled back into my tent, and did my best to ignore the ungodly hour of day until the 5:00 call....

Got the coffee going (thank you Kicking Horse!!!), got dressed (just arm warmers as I knew it would heat up fast out there), had some oatmeal, and hit the start line for a 6:30 start - still dark...

I lined up in the 10hr. pack, as I had no idea how long this was going to take me. Close...

The gun went off, and all 560ish of us wheeled our way out of the campground for a few miles of paved prelude...and then we went up. And up....and up....

I was feeling peppy, but didn't want to push early on, so I just found a pack to pull me along for awhile, occasionally breaking away, or dropping back, trying to keep comfortable. Again, no idea how hard I should push as I had no idea how big the mountains were going to get.

As gravel turned to grass, turned to trail, and then rock singletrack, and then fast, steep descents, the race carried on. There were 5 big climb sections, followed by 6 big down mountain sections. We were rewarded for each hour or so of climbing by wicked downhills, and really fun off camber trails - some harrowing, some smooth, some just downright made me pee my pants. This race was proving to be ALOT of work - but gorgeous.

I was doing really well with fueling - took 2 bottles of espresso perpetuem, and a flask of gel. The bottles I refilled with pre bagged powder which I carried and/or picked up at the two alloted drop zones, and the gel I filled once, but did not need all of it. I think I had a pbj at one point in an aid station, but it was best for me to stick with liquid calories - totally worked, and I felt great. I added electrolytes every couple hours as well.

After the 4th aid station, a guy I was riding with mentioned that 'now is where this race really starts to suck'...we were already 60 miles in maybe, and I thought, what the heck could he be talking about??? Well, he was referring to what they call the Death Climb, or as he refered to it, the Soul Sucker. It started out with about 7 miles of gradual uphill road, turning to gravel road, turning to fireroad, turning to mountain road, and finally trail Took about 2 hrs. of solid climbing - mind numbing solid climbing - sometimes steep, but mostly just a constant grind. Sitting that long can take it's toll on your butt, so I made a point of standing occasionally - made me feel better too as there were single speeds all around me, and it made me feel like one of the pack ;)

I had double applied zinc cream, then chamois butter, and it was doing the trick thank gawd...

eventually, we were again rewarded by downhill, and a fast flow to the finish at the campground again. Holy sh$t that was one mother of a race!!!!!!!!

Crossed the finish at 10:29 to claim my pint glass, and a much need sit off the bike. Matt had finished at 8:30 (holy crap...) and was there to snap a couple fotos of my sorry ass as I crossed the line...

I was happy, the beer was cold, and I was ready for an early bed again!! We all hung in there as long as we could afterwards; had some pints; did some re telling of our epic journeys, tried hard to feel like a party, but really just wanted rest - my tent had never felt so cozy.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Got up early the next AM, packed the car, and hit the road again for a much smoother drive home. (don't tell, but I stopped for and egg mcmuffin and coffee shortly after hitting the trail - my stomach is still angry...)

This was an amazing weekend, highly recommended, and for sure you'll see me at the start again next year!!