SPEEDWEEK 2012

Woah.  2.5 years since my last post... what????

 Speedweek 2012 started off on a good foot when Sarah Fader arrived at my door to get ready to head to Athens for The Terrapin Twilight Criterium.  Edith (our soigneur) offered to drive our bums to Athens. To where she earned the nickname VH... which we may share at a later date.

Pepper Palace/Spin-Tech had a pretty good race, as Sarah stepped up to the podium for 3rd place.  There was a gnarly crash on the last corner and I am grateful to say that none of my teammates were involved in the crash.

Sarah on the Podium w/ Laura and Erica.

My awesome teammates from PepperPalace/Spintech!  :)

And, it was off to Roswell GA for a stage 2 of Speedweek- Roswell always puts on a great race, excellent fans, great venue, family orientated and just fun!  The race was a bit dicey and the 3 of us peppers (Erica, Sarah and I) came out well with another 3rd place from Sarah.  Erica and I were caught up in a crash-- E went down pretty hard, but got back in and finished in the field... I didn't necessarily go down, but I was forced to ride up into the ditch to avoid some potential "danger"... it was less than 200 meters from being pushed back in by SRAM neutral that the woman in front of me just ate it.  Yep. She hit the ground right in front of me in the straight.  Back to the pit.  I couldn't see the lap counter all day, so it didn't surprise me when I made the mistake of attacking w/ 4 to go when I thought there were only 3 laps left.  Ah well.  At least my fitness is coming back to me!! 

Rest day... means WORK day for me.  Making sure people send their packages on the brown trucks...  Afterwork, we packed up the car again and headed to Beaufort to stay with a family that Sarah has been staying with for 5 years!  She is a legit mosaic artist and their place is always inspiring to me.

 Tuesday Beaufort AM ride. 

Road sammies.

The Beaufort Memorial Classic was pulled off another year with awesome fans and a great venue.  The race was a bit interesting, as 2 riders made it up the road (Sam/Tibco Kristen/RoseBandits).  At that point, I was in the pit w/ a double flat that I got from a last second adjustment in a corner to avoid someone's wheel....  It took a bit, but my bike was up and going again to get in the race w/ SRAM neutral support ZIPP wheels... Sarah came out of the field sprint first-- earning the team her 3rd 3rd place finish in 3 races.  

Kristen/Sam/Sarah 

Back to the host house to watch a couple episodes of Madmen and to eat some snacks.






Until later... probably tomorrow.  But maybe 2 years.

--

kr.

Chequammeve

Tomorrow morning at 10 am, the cannon will blow and we'll be off down Main Street Hayward through the woods on the Birkie trail, crosseyed and out of breath-- on the verge of cramping the entire way... I can't wait. I'm excited. Last time I did the 40 was in 2007 at 26. Now, I'm old... 29---- time to get moving. ha!

Today was pretty eventful- after a long easy morning of icing my leg and having a cuppa coffee (and of course having some pumpkin cookies...), I headed up to Teleworld to cruise on the Superfly- pick up my #, and eat some grub with some good friends!

This weekend is always so awesome. Food, friends, mountain biking everything. I'm realizing one of the best things about the race is that it includes everyone. I have my "elite" friends where we all talk tactics, tire pressure/selection, fuel, etc etc... then there are all of the other people who will be happy to just finish- those who are trying to beat their time from last year-- or eat as many doughnut holes as possible.... the local Co-op donates 10,000 doughnut holes. I'm going to eat at least 30 tomorrow.

Some photos from the day: Ken from Trek! Setting up the Superfly that will FLY tomorrow. :) Thanks to Ken and Chris Shaw for your support this weekend! Next... you'll see the registration operation that accommodates 2,500 racers in only 4 hours--> Talk about STREAMLINE. Balla. One minor thing, I need to get my bib #'s for tomorrow! My pack didn't have the numbers... my bad for registering LATE! boo! Last-- since the Lodge is closed-- they ended up with a big TENT! it's huge! :) Well done.

Here are a couple photos from 2007! My pa, me and The PHAT man himself, Gary Crandall! 2 of my fav people! :) Next to them, you see my dad's handi work pre race. He used to do course set up for the 40 and they always seemed to have some extra time to set up the mannequins legs in some precarious position! This, by far was my favorite.... just beats out the time they put the legs in the middle of a huge mud puddle a number of years ago! :)

Big day tomorrow!

time to hit the haaaaaaaaayyyyyy stack! haha!

kr

Chequamegon prep. 2010.

Special note: In the photo is the best cookie that has ever been made. Hayward Bakery is the best. I'm having one of these cookies every day I'm home.

_________________________________________

Two days until the big event-- I haven't trained this specifically for anything in a while! Thanks to a good friend who has been helping me with a very specific training plan and encouragement-- I feel fit, rested and ready to rock! This month's prep consists of a number of criteriums, hard solo workouts, motorpacing, and rest--- I even quit having any of my fav adult bevvies!!

My last ride in Asheville was a little mtn bike ride-- I opted for bent creek... always a good little ride especially if I'm goi

ng out solo. Ride was EXCELLENT--- until I hit the deck hard. I clipped a pedal on a log, went over my bars and found myself trailside on my belly. I was stunned and couldn't feel my right quad.....I pushed myself up not knowing if I was severely injured-- I know I sound dramatic, but I was a wreck. Luckily, I landed directly on a rock and wasn't impaled or broken! I almost started crying-- like a little girl! ha! I found myself picking my bike off the ground, noticing 2 flats, a completely broken front brake and blood coming from my thigh and the back of my leg... conveniently a guy named Chad rolled up. He asked if I needed help, and obviously didn't know what he was getting himself into! He helped me change my flats and gave me a tube (I had one--not two!)... and usually I'm the one helping change flats, but I really had a hard time keeping composed! blahblah blah....

Leg is fine now, BUT still very stiff and about 1.5 times the size of my other thigh. At this point all I could think of was that my race was in only 5 days! TIME TO HEAL! I've been diligent with epson salt baths/icing/ibuprofen/stretching so hopefully my crash wont' effect my performance on Saturday!

This little voyage began on this past Wednesday-- my roommate Tom was nice enough to give me a ride to the Asheville Airport-- 15 mins from our house. Flight was good-- trashy mags, tomato juice, and nice conversation with the lady next to me made for easy flying. AVL-DFW-MSP. Pa picked me up in Minneapolis. We had a nice ride back to Hayward in the rain.

Being home has been awesome- I am fortunate to have most of my family here and spent much of my morning visiting and hanging out! We also had some excellent spaghetti at Coop's Pizza with Mark Hirsch and his fam! Great people!!! :

This weekend I'll be racing in my friend's shop kit-- New Moon! Thanks to Joel, Chris and Judy! :) Right on!

xo!

~~~~~~

kbr

SpeedWeek!

Asheville is great! I just had a day to hang out and recover from a tough week of racing-- mentally and physically. After spending much of my day at Hearn's, my bike is taken apart and the 'ole ride is READY to ROCK!!!! Working tonight slingin' steaks, so I'll post more later... I just wanted to make the next post THAT much easier to write.... Until then here are a couple sweet photos of a couple GREAT teammates. Thanks for the week. Love you girls!

HOLLA!!

Here's to a new week!

~~

kr

North Carolina-- the new locale.

So here I am- In Asheville NC. It is pretty awesome- have already had many epic days of training through new roads in Appalachia. I live in a sweet house in West Asheville with a couple really cool roommates: Jonas and Tom. I'll introduce y'all to them in another update. I'm working at a restaurant in south Asheville-- making good friends and having a good time.

I figured it'd be good to get blogging again, as I really enjoy it and always see things that make me laugh, and others may appreciate too... maybe not, but whatever... I like it. And if you're reading, you like it to. Probably.

This past weekend, I went to Banner Elk to visit a good friend: Carla. We had a blast crusin' through the mountains on our bikes, eating candy and finding things on the side of the road.

Carla was admiring Grandfather Mtn... and then we tried to get some shots of us together... mostly they were unsuccessful...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Kate.

Bratwurst capital of the WORLD.

More races to come more to do.  We've relocated from the Sunny-Hill Farm in Columbus WI to Milwaukee, to SHEBOYGAN.  Everytime we say we're staying in Sheboygan, the people mention the bratwurst.  I have learned (this weekend)... if you are vegan you TOO can enjoy a bratwurst.  So, there you have it.  eat up and enjoy.  This is US in a really sawweeetttttt cafe in Sheboygan.  Almost as good as a "mobile upload."

Brief race recaps:... 

Manitowoc:  4 corner + fun.  some could have called it boring, but there were plenty of attacks and a bit of good team work from a few different teams.  I raced solo that day, so it was a bit different than normal!  I actually won a prime and thought I had another but Davina totally got me at the line.  I thought I was alone, and rolled the last 3-4 meters.  (bad mistake!)  :)  BUT that is when the field split.  We had quite a gap and worked as hard as we could to keep away- there ended up being about 7 girls together for the last 8 or so laps, trying to keep the field away.  The break was pretty exciting..... around the last corner, I was sitting 3rd wheel... getting ready to sprint to the line.  I felt good, but still need to work on some top end speed + my sprinting form.  I ended up 6th.  A successful day. and did I mention FUN?  Traveling w/ Jen Greenburg and Rebecca Finley of VanderKitten was definitely a blast!  :)  

REST DAY!!!

here goes:

--> wake in Milwaukee --> coffee on the patio--> sweet drum & bass techno w/ breakfast --> massage --> easy ride to the Milwaukee shore line --> yoga in a park on Lake Michigan --> lunch @ beans and barley --> nap--> dinner w/ Chris and Kim Hoppe --> Dinner w/ A.Crater & J.Greenburg--> more coffee shop!   REST DAY = AWESOME.  

Fond du Lac RR

HOT and kinda boring.  (well, it was still good!).  Toni Amanda and I raced today-- Toni got away in a break w/ 5 riders and soon grew to 7 riders.... Amanda and I were in in the field... Long story short, we were underrepresented in the break (we tried to bridge 3-4 times) and then we just tried to work together to finish the race.  Toni secured 6th (tried to attack before the finish).... and Amanda was 10th and I ended up 19th or so.  Our plan was for me to attack before the final corner up the hill through the feed zone and Amanda could climb her way to a good downhill sprint finish.  All in all, good job by all.  Good to be out on the bikes.  My tanlines on my legs are definitely more defined after today.

BIG SHOUT OUT to CHRIS & KIM HOPPE!  They're letting me use their car for a few days!  xoxo.

Kbr

Wisconsin Dairyland tour!

(no photos for this post, I'm lame)

We (Toni Amanda and I) made it to Rebecca's a few days ago and are camped out at her farm!  We've been having a blast racing and chillin-- enjoying the thunderstorms and mosquitos... and custom installs (the team van has a new critical feature).  Rebecca has a beautiful place and has been cooking up a gluten free storm (since she and Toni are GF, I am too for a few days...)!!   yum 

The Dairyland tour started on Thursday with a killer 44 mile road race in Blue Mounds.  (proposed 2016 olympic course).  Amanda got the WIN, Toni rested and I had a good training day-- lessons learned!  We started with the fastest neutral rollout ever-- (I don't even know when the race really started...).  My plan was to throw some attacks if I started to get antsy.  So I did, once only 5 miles in and again about 9 miles in-- and I had a decent gap until we turned the corner-- and we were at the bottom of a huge hill.  OUCH.  I need to be patient and know the course a bit better!  I ended up with a group of about 5 girls and we were working well-- then I ended up getting a bee in my jersey, which proceeded to sting me 3-4 times in the arm pit.  We were blasting down a descent so I couldn't really stop until I got to the bottom and the little bastard finally flew away.  It didn't take me too long to catch my little chase group that I rode with until the end.  Then there was the leg cramp.... it was hot, muggy and I probably didn't drink enough water.  blah blah blah.  At the top of the feed zone, someone told me that I was 'still in the money'... I couldn't really believe it.  BUT, I ended up 15th and was fairly pleased with my placing-- all things considered.     xoxo bluemounds.

The Waterloo crit was super fun- Toni got in an early break and ended up pulling off a 3rd place!  :)  Amanda, Becx and I were in the field following little attacks and keeping things cool.  The course was awesome- lots of people out and great support from SRAM!!!  Our super secret plan was for me to lead out Amanda.  We had good placement for the last 1/2 lap but were on the front for the climb and ended up getting swarmed and lost places-- there wasn't enough time to recover and move up in the field.  I was gassed from my last little effort of trying to move up.  We had an active race and had plenty of fun- 

Today.... GRAFTON CRIT!!  My fav.  Amanda is sitting out- so it'll just be Toni and I.

until LATER!

kbr.