Over a year since I last wrote about cycling life. What a shame. It has also been quite some time, too long since I have had cycling as a main driving force in my day to day pursuits. I am now no longer a member competing within the ECCC but it will remain a love of my life and each weekend I have missed the crowded smelly van trips, the early morning coffee and bagel and the hours of spandex and chamois butt'r. This last weekend the conference went to one of my all time favorite races out in the boonies of PA on Black Mo' and my favorite crit course. In my texts with old bike racing friends and in my stalking of the results I finally got the kick in the pants I needed to get back on my bike, really back on it. Along with the missing of collegiate racing, I had the sheer pleasure and humbling experience of having someone I taught to mountain bike hand my a$$ to me on a silver platter the last time we rode together. So, Colorado life has been great, a good job, making new friends and having adventures on some amazing mountains. Bike life has been lacking, I have been slacking. I am now looking for a new bike team to join, fingers crossed I find one that will accept my slow biking skills at this moment in time. I have started taking or resident Pup, Ruby with me. She is a bit of a character so I was very surprised that she has caught on to the staying out of the way of the tires so quickly. Having two old bike team friends inundate Boulder has been fun. Since hurting my shoulder I had been biking with the fear, riding like a sissy. So a few days at Valmont Bike Park with them has carried over very well to my mountain bike trail rides. The bikes finally got dusted off. My poor roommate is now experiencing the clutter that is me cleaning and tuning up my cycles. And oh, she gets a hoot out of the spandex. After my last road ride I got new shoes and was breaking in my heels, in my bike shorts while hammering up new coat hooks when she walked in the door. Good to have judge-free roomies!
So, what now? Well I am getting out on my mountain bike, planning some epic mtn pass rides for the skinny tires, and hoping that I will be able to reach the top before I roll backwards. It is frustrating to fall behind in prior areas of success, but I can't get any better unless I keep getting back on the bike.
Happy Trails, Maggs
Monday, February 28, 2011
Oh life- What a wild ride. We all spend our days thinking and stressing about the next "To-Do." I'm guilty as sin on that one. But Life is good, it steps in when you think all you have going on is worth stressing over, because most of the time, it's a kids game. The BIG stuff is what gets you. So here is a moment to respect the BIG stuff and to those pushing through it, in all it's fury, it makes us live.
So that's the blurb to real life, but since biking, or thinking about biking is a vacation get away all in it's own I wanted to blab blab blab. I am so excited the Rutgers is right around the corner. Scared because no matter how much better I think I did at "training" this winter... I am still going to be slow fat and happy!
My bike is currently in pieces all over my apartment, frame in my bedroom, wheel in the bike room, cassette somewhere in my laundry bin (I think) and the free wheel has been getting soaked in T9 (which was originally designed for crazy airplanes?! read the label!) all because I was so excited to bike outside on a sunny day, and then to indulge in all the happy pasta eating afterwards that I fast forwarded right past cleaning my bike to studying and letting it rust and seize all the bearings to death.... so what will I bring to Rutgers? We shall see. But if it's not a bike I do have a brand new shopping cart stored in my bike room just in case...and yes I could rock that on a points race FOR FREE!
New news, going to be getting my jaw torn apart Wednesday morning because I decided to train for racing against some talented individuals by falling on my face (I was on foot, not bike) and breaking my molar. So.. gonna get some gold caps for my white .... ha ha.
Although my brother makes fun of me any time I discuss my favorite work out master, Zuzana I and still convinced that she is the shit and can bust any one's butt into a great soreness in a quick second. So for those of you who are trapped in the time slumps, or just sick of riding in circles, or no where... don't stop working out, just check out Zuzana, don't judge until you've tried the workouts. www.bodyrock.tv
Later skaters see you soon, this season will be awesome and epic and we will all rejoice in the glory of the ECCC and all of the flag waving patriots in spandex!
This is it... I am coming upon my final season riding in the ECCC. And it was been one hell of a Ride, in all senses of the word. From epic courses, the best Crits I've ever seen and the insanity that envelopes it all.
I love competition, but collegiate cycling gives you home slices from the kids you wanna pound into the pavement, or splash with mud. IT all comes down to the simple joys in life, the best way to make friends- Getting dirty and running around outside.
So, while the winter weather has gotten me down, I turn to my dearest procrastinating friend, Facebook and reflect on why I work night shifts and sleep maybe 3-5hrs a night and less on the weekends for a sport most of my school friends have never even seen.
I raise my pedal strokes to you, the people that bring the heart to the ECCC and have given me an awesome experience, thanks and I can't wait to see you in March...and those gone and graduated we'll ride again someday.
Get on your bikes kids! 43 Days Away!
Plattekill Easterns 2007
Sunday River 2008: Sully, Emily and I
Mtn Nationals North Carolina 2008: Pat, Andrea, Me, Mellen, Ben, Patalano
Lehigh 2009 Short Track: Jess, Jenna, Andrea, Ashley N.
2009 Easterns: Sugarbush, Rose, Me and Andrea
ARMY 2009: Greg and Jackie D
NU Lookin' Classy: ARMY 2009
Road Easterns Penn State Crit 2009: Jess and Allyn on breakaway Women's B
Eastern's Penn State Blackmound Pond Dip: April, 2009
Eastern's 2009 Pelvic Thrust Feed Zone Dance Off Emily, Amy, Nicki D, Allyn
Steven's Circuit 2010 with Katy post race
GMSR 2009 Post Race Playoffs with the UVM lassies
More GMSR celebration 2009
ARMY 2009 PreRace Warm Ups with Allyn
Philly Race with JackAttack 2009
MTN Easterns at Catamount with Rose and Ashley 2009
2009 Mtn Easterns Chocolate Milk Podium pre Bike Prom.
Miss you goons! Happy Trails, ride safe and take it to the line. For anyone wondering about joining the ECCC or making it to more races, step up.
There are 81 Days left until the ECCC Road Cyclists reunion at The Rutger's Season opener. This is both exciting, and worrisome. 81 Days goes by very fast.
A glorious end it was. Easterns at Dartmouth had sweet courses. I am still very upset about the failure to deliver on the promised water bottles...(promoters, take note, it is the little things that people remember!)
Though the courses were awesome, the weekend was to put nicely, a suck-fest for me. I was disappointed about the crit. I don't know what I was doing, except that I was not racing, or keeping up. The Frat-Row crit course is one of my favorite, especially "Carnage Corner." Not because people get hurt, but I just love riding it. Anyway, it was an epic fail. A bunch of the ladies I spoke with after the race asked, "are you ok?" "Did you crash?" "What happened?" I am thankful that they think I should have been riding better as well, but my only answer was that I was unable to keep up. I'll work on that.
Then at the staging for the road race, Pat noticed that my fork was broken...greaaattt! :( Jackie loaned me her bike, which I liked a lot... but was unsuccessful on.
So, I went back to Boston with my tail between my legs, took my last final and moved home to VT. I spent the next week thinking about Nationals, riding my mountain bike, and sleeping.
We had an epic Road Trip to Nationals, it was myself, Gregg and Katy. I will write a full blog and post pictures when I get home from Florida.
But to end with the ECCC, it was an amazing season. The intro categories flourished, as well as the Women's fields. I was proud to see how rapidly the level of racing increased, how the B women took no beef stomping on A's, and also, how many more spectators stuck on the sidelines to watch the women's racing. It was awesome!
So, I slacked off a bit. For a variety or reasons, or excuses, which us ECCCers love so much. But long story short, this weekend is Easterns. The best weekend of the season. Whether because there will be a banquet, one of my favorite crits, or because I am excited to see what kids will do to ensure they make a mark in everyone's memories until next year... I love Easterns.
Before I ramble about the shinanigans to come, Let us review what I have missed. 1. Bucknell 2. Yale 3. ARMY BUCKNELL'S BEAUTY: Oh what a weekend this was. The weather was awesome. All the lame kids stayed home because they thought it was 'too far away' or 'had to catch up on homework.' Please, you missed out if you were them, truly. The road race was a sweet course. The women's A/B field took the road race at a leisurely pace, but with the wind on the back stretch I was thankful. The final lap involved the only 3 crashes we saw that day. Yep, 3 crashes in a road race, in 9miles. What a day! This gave me the odd pleasure of my first real bike crash, unfortunately it was about 200yards from the finish line and I truly thought I had my real shot at a photo finish in this field. But... some ladies had other plans for me. Went down, but as Sully will quote me on "I'm GOOD at falling" We were going over 30mph due to the downhill finish, the girl slid across my wheel, I tried to hop over her back, but knew the day was over. My yelling endured by my friends showed this. Crashes are more frustrating than I had imagined. So I decided to seek revenge in the Crit on Sunday. I loved the layout of that crit. Great turns, off camber and quick enough that you could pedal out of sight. So I bombed off the starting line trying to get the break on the first lap. One girl looked right at me and said "It's the 1st lap are you crazy!?!" Lucky for her, I am, but not about that, it was the move that allowed her to be in the top finishes. But I bonked and suck fested the last half of that race. Poor me. Oh well.
YALE'S DREAM: Fun Fun times. The crow's nest commentating kept the day moving. The circuit was not my cup of tea. Well neither was my stomach. Nothing I ate stayed in, and I was always hungry. Nasty cycle, but I experienced my first DNF. It was a strange feeling. I thought I would hate it, but it was the right choice. Some may be angry or not understand why I wouldn't just finish and get the points anyway, but if someone was sucking as much as I was in that race... they don't deserve the points either. So good job to the ladies that killed it. Again Yale had a fun crit, flat and not as technical, but relied more on racing smart. This was going great until people decided to do everything you should NEVER do in a corner. On the 2nd corner going over the bridge, the women at the back of the pack tried to move up, unfortunately they missed Physics class or something, but they cannot move up on the inside of a corner because the pack is taking that turn already, so instead they have to a) Hit the pack b) slam on the breaks and play Dominos. Obviously, option B was chosen. I saw that one coming (Thanks to what I've learned from being/teaching Intro) and hit the breaks, missing the whole crash, but losing a place in the final sprint. All in all, frustrated but glad to stay rubber side down.
ARMY CHAMPIONS: Sorry, I missed this race. It is one of my favorites, not because I like climbing all that much, but because I like hearing everyone's excuses. Instead I went to Maryland to play in the NFHL (National Field Hockey League) Spring Tournament with my homeslices from NU. It was awesome we got 3rd out of 23 teams.... AND our goalie bailed on us. After a long weekend with a different crowd of people, I am excited to get back to bike racing and way less stressed out.
Sunday night was one of the best phone convos ever.... Maggie: Hey Boozer, How'd the races go? Boozer: OH my god... Katy... got 2nd! Maggie: What? Who won? Boozer: Some girl from Dartmouth... Katy beat Martha Buckley...AND Anna McCloon! Maggie: What!! Wow... Wow....whooooaaaa! NO, What? Wow!. YAY KATY! (Jaw dropped and stuttering) Ahhhhh the sweet taste of a teammates victory! Wish I had been there to see it. But instead, I ran to the sketchy liquor store that stays open past the legal selling time on Sundays, bought Katy a nice bottle of Champagne and had a rowdy celebration with the bike team.
Also, from stalking the results I noticed that a lady who previously raced intros this year has now gone on to WIN the Women's C race.... Congrats Carolyn!
Sorry there was so much talking and not enough pictures, but I must go pack my outfit for the banquet and someone remember how to ride a bike. Dartmouth, PennState and Steven's (09) Crit are my top 3 favorites... and I've been waiting a long time for some success at the finish line... wish me luck. See y'all in the AM.
For starters, Princeton and Stevens... hell of a job. Great races and toilet paper, so thank you.
A bunch of things happened this weekend that made me really really happy. But to keep me even, some things rubbed me the wrong way... few though.
About mid way through last week I was avoiding homework and stalking facebook when I got a notification from Miss Rose Long stating "are you going to Princeton Stevens?" This is where the great weekend began. Because this meant Rose was coming. Rose and I are a pretty good example of how biking allows you to 'make friends out of enemies.' Me being on Northeastern and Rose on UVM both racing mountain pinned us against each other, but at heart we're both Vermonters and have a common respect for 'getting rowdy.' This weekend was my first Road race with Rose and we started it with a win, leading out the crit for the first 100yards both yelling "we're winning!!!" and causing some hostile emotions with the more serious racers. As the race continued Rose and I held together in the same packs. My favorite part of the course naturally was the downhill, as I started sitting up and easing off on the hill to the start/finish Rose began to carry my ass, literally. I felt a bump on my hip, turned to tell some girl to watch it and realized Rose was yes, pushing me up the hill. So, thanks for the lift Rose. It was great to race with you on skinny tires.
Within that same hour, another great thing happened. Jess Kutz. Thank You. For the last few weekends it has been the same names holding down the Women's A races and I began to fear that a pedestal would form that eventually, no one would challenge. But Jess came to my rescue and pulled the mat right out from under that whole production. Pinnin it to Win it, my mountain biking home slice, Jess Kutz won the crit, with the rest of the field huffing in behind her. Way to be.
There was also Intro Clinic. Sully wasn't at the races this weekend so I helped out with the Men's intro too. Getting a flat tire (bummmerrr!) Anyway, Bruley recommended running a "Bump" Clinic. Which was the best idea, and ended up being a blast. I mean ramming into people on bikes with grass as the landing area, what could be more fun? The intro men and women keep on surprising me with their insightful questions and their continuous attendance, it is awesome. Having a real pack of riders to practice and race with makes intro much more beneficial. So thanks for coming out.
I want to give a little shout out to Allison from UMass, this girl has guts. She did the whole mountain season, after never having ridden a XC course and now she's a rock star in Road season too. Unfortunately she and Tia got pushed out in the left turn of the crit. They were Bumping and holding it up like pros and just ran out of road, luckily they're both okay, but I was glad to hear how much Allison had benefited from the clinics and her Mountain biking to be able to 'crash safe'. So, here we are: Allison rocking the clinic:
Plus the NU Women were rocking out, no so much myself but Katy is quickly moving through the points to apply for her A upgrade and hopefully we'll be sporting a sick group at Nationals this year, the first NU Road Team to ever go!! Also Ashley a new racer to the group upgraded from intro and although nervous managed two top 10 finishes in Women's C this weekend. YEAH HUSKIES!!!
So, I still haven't addressed the bugging issues. Here they are, I will try to keep as anonymous as I can while still being quite clear who was in error. 1. YELLOW LINE RULE BREAKERS! Really? It's bring Yellow, not that hard to miss, if you can't steer straight next to it, check your headset, it may need an adjustment, or maybe your brain. The yellow line rule is not just to limit space for passing and moving within the pack, that is the least of the issues. When racing on an open road and crossing the yellow line you are putting everyone else in the pack and in the Biking community at risk. Especially the girl, from an Institute of Technology located in Cambridge/Boston area, when on a hill drivers in the oncoming lane have limited sight, they fly over the hill and almost hit you, you swerve into a pack of riders, this is what you are risking. So like I said in our race, "Buddy, I'm not joking don't cross the yellow line"
2. People who cut the starting line. It's one thing to slowly weasel your wheel up a row, but to walk out in front of the whole field and try to back-in or reverse into the pack, oh... you've got to be kidding me. This was another reason I was glad to line up next to Rose, the girl who has done this every race so far tried to back in next to Rose and what was the response, "NOPE!" so, either show up on time, or get to the back, we were all standing in the cold while you were relaxing in a car or warming up, so beat it.
Other than that, SWEEEEEEET Weekend. Thanks, Maggie
OH right, y'all should pack up the cruisers and head to Bucknell because it is going to be the best Easter racing you've ever seen!
