Category Archives: Cycling

May Recap And Colorado Here We Come!!!!

Posted on by
2

Yikes! It’s been waaaay too long!!!! Bear with us and we promise to post up more often! Since the Big Cedar race we closed out the TMBRA Texas Sate Championship Series at Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville. The Texas heat has kicked in and this race was another hot one! I  got to race on a four mile loop to give it a feel of a UCI style race and Carlos raced on one ginormous 16 mile loop. My four mile race course was pretty AWESOME! It had a little bit of everything and offered a great challenge with somewhere around 1000′ of climbing per lap! I can’t say for sure the exact numbers on that because I don’t have anything fancy enough to measure the elevation change, but this was what I heard from others and my legs can probably back that guestimation up! : ) The week before this race my allergies hit me hard. I was off the bike, out of work, and tired of blowing my nose. Carlos got some crit training in that week and I got to spectate from the side lines. Slowly, but surely, we’re both getting the hang of this roady Crit racing thing! We’ll talk about the skinny tires in a little bit!

Once again our field was pretty small with their only being four of us at the starting line. We had a new face, or at least new to Jessica and I, at the line and this was Alex Robinette. We took off hard at the start with Jessica reaching single track first and Alex and I battling it out for second position. I closed in behind Jessica, but on the first wide open climb Alex punched it and passed us both. Jess and I rode together the entire first lap and tried to just keep the pace steady. Going through the feed zone Carlos gave us the time split. Alex had put 45 seconds on us! Not good. I attacked for the first mile or so and put about a 30 second gap on Jessica. Heading into my third lap Alex was now over a minute in front of me. To my surprise a little bit into that third lap, Alex was on the side of the trail with a mechanical. I was now racing for first! I was feeling good and steady until exactly one mile short of that third lap I timed a turn poorly and slid out as I headed toward a creek crossing. There was a male rider not far behind me. I knew this was a blind turn and he would be coming at it fast, so I yelled as loud as I could for him to stop because there was no way I would be able to move in time. I caught him just in time for him to slam on his brakes and not run right over me. We both ran across the creek and as I spun my pedal to get my chain on the right cog Jessica turned that blind corner. She squeezed by and as she did her shoe accidentally hit my rear derailleur.   She quickly stopped to see if everything was ok and continued on. I yanked on my derailleur a little bit and thankfully I was able to keep riding! No damage was done but after my little doopdy do I struggled to get my head back in it and now I was really feeling the aftermath of being sick that week. I pulled myself together and finished strong in second. Overall, despite the turn of events near the end,  I was really happy with my performance!

Carlos finished off the series in a solid 11th place! He placed 14th at Rocky Hill out of 24 guys and I’m so proud of him! I know I’ll probably sound biased to say this, but he has really raised the bar for himself since we started racing a few years ago.  He has catted up just as fast as I have in a field of men AT LEAST FIVE TIMES bigger than the number of ladies that compete in my field!  Not to mention the age group and category that he races in is literally one of the most competitive brackets in Texas racing.  He is constantly challenging himself by surrounding  himself by faster and more experienced riders.  I know for a fact that if it weren’t for him pushing himself out of his comfort zone not even I would be racing at the level that I am today. His improvement is my improvement and we reflect each others achievements!

So as we said goodbye to the spring series we quickly said HELLO to crit racing!!! Over Memorial Weekend we raced three days in a row! That Friday night we started out with the newly famous Bike The Bricks located in Historic Downtown McKinney Square.  This was the first crit that I’ve ever raced with only women and all I can say is, that sure was different! I ended up in 6th. Because of this race being so big and us not completely sure we were going to do it ahead of time, Carlos missed the pre-registration for the Cat 4/5 race that he wanted to do. His only option was to enter the 40+ Cat 1-4…yikes! This is a super tough field and those guys took off like a speeding bullet! There were well over 100 guys at the line and it got broken up super fast. I think next time we won’t wait to register! ; )

The next day was the local classic, Gary Glickman Memorial Criterium. This was a pretty cool course with rolling terrain and a 180 turn back to the slightly uphill start/finish. Oh, and it was WINDY…ALL weekend!!! Ahhhh! I learned my lesson from the day before not to do so much work at the front, so this time I sat patiently in the pack for a little bit longer, ten minutes to be exact. LOL  After that I took off and charged the hills as hard as I could. I tried my darndest to ride off the front and I was able to break the group of about 14 into 4.  We all worked together, but every time we were heading up the hill toward the finish I charged as hard as I could. By the last lap it was down to two of us. It came down to the sprint to the finish on the hill, oh yeah, and INTO the wind! I gave it everything I had and she passed me at the line! I won two cool primes and second place! Yay! Carlos rode really strong in the 35+ Cat 4/5 race. He went off the front for a while, bridged a few attacks, and ended up in 11th!

Sunday was the GS Tenzing Criterium. This one was HARD, mainly because of the crazy wind! Kelly and I worked together in the front to try to break away but we just couldn’t get a break to stick. Everyone was fighting to get cover from the wind and not get dropped. The girls rode strong. On the second to the last lap an unexpected prime was called for Oakley’s! I was having an inner battle with myself if I wanted to go all out for the Oakley’s, or use it for a lead out for the last lap. Haha! So I tried to get the best of both worlds by jumping on the wheel of the girl going for the prime and then trying to out sprint her at the last-minute! Carlos thought I barely got it, but apparently the officials said otherwise : ( Good thing I saved a little juice for the last lap! I took off hard and gassed it the entire lap. Of course I thought I was going to die by the end, but I ended up in first while Kelly almost got me by about half a bike length! Phew, close one! She’s strong! Carlos’ goal for the day was to win the most valuable prime. He NAILED it!!! He won a Cateye Bike Computer worth about $140! Not bad for a $35 entry fee! : D

 

So our next ten days will consist of COLORADO SINGLE TRACK HEAVEN!!!! I will be competing at the Beti Bike Bash this Sunday and right after that we will be heading back down to Colorado Springs to prepare for the UTE Valley Pro XCT on Saturday June 16th!  A HUGE THANK YOU to Comedy Defensive Driving for all your support and making this trip possible for us! If you’re not already following us on Twitter or Facebook make sure you are now for details and race results!

Happy Trails!

Roller coaster

Posted on by
Reply

What a roller coaster this spring series has been! Yesterday we raced the Bicycles Plus Blowout at Big Cedar Wilderness Trails. With that trail being in our back yard, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to ride it often leading into this race. Even though we’ve practically been living out there on Prayer Mountain it seemed that no matter how often we would ride it we never managed to get in a full race loop at a hard effort, whether it was a mechanical, being tired, or you name it! It just seemed like it wasn’t in the cards. One thing was for sure though, we DEFINITELY knew the trail! This race was crucial in order for me to stay in contention for the State Champion Jersey.  I had to get no less than first here and at the last race of the season in Smithville, TX.  Well, yesterday I finished in second, so even before the last race, the series is wrapped up and a huge CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Jessica Rawlins the 2012 Pro/Open Women State Champ! These past few months have been bitter-sweet, or as Carlos would say, “chicken one day and feathers the next.” It has been such a roller coaster from having one of the best racing experiences of my life at the Mellow Johnny’s Pro XCT to crashing the next day and getting my first DNF, to watching our fitness grow at the Wednesday Night Crits, to our bodies not cooperating on race day, like yesterday. This season has been filled with ups and downs, but definitely more ups…that for sure!!  Now here’s a little recap from the race this weekend!

Big Cedar is a trail that requires A LOT of two things, fitness and skill. There is no faking it till you make it here. You either have it or you don’t. Our training has been pretty on “Q” lately and I know my fitness is improving and we intend for it to continue in that direction. As for skill, I know since last year I have also improved quite a bit but there is ALWAYS room for improvement with the skillz!! ; ) My goal in this race was obviously to win, but also to go out and ride the absolute best that I could and to keep the rubber side down. As we took off on the start I went into single track in second behind Jessica. I felt pretty good and knew that I just needed to keep riding at my pace. There is so much climbing mixed with tight switchbacks that it’s easy to burn too many matches too quickly. We had a long race ahead of us. Coming out of my first lap on a pretty long jeep road climb I started to feel the heat. By lap three I could really feel the sun beating down. This was one of the hottest days I would have to say that we have faced so far this year, and race day isn’t really the best to make yourself all of a sudden acclimate. There was a pretty bad thunderstorm near the area the night before and the humidity seemed a bit higher. All I really remember from that point on was a headache, mixed with dizziness, mixed with my heart rate through the roof one minute to it dropping down suddenly the next, and then continuously trying to convince myself that falling over in the middle of the trail would do me no good…just fall over crossing the finish line. Ahhhh! The heat just really got me and it took me a few hours after the race to start to feel back to normal again. On the positive side of things I was very happy to  accomplish at least one of my goals by having a clean ride and keeping the rubber side down.  Despite feeling poorly from the heat I have to say THANK YOU to our sponsor Elete Electrolytes for a cramp free race!! Elete is such a life saver in the tough Texas heat!!!!

As for Carlos’ race he finally had the opportunity to get near the front of the pack and had a clean good start! YAY!!!!! He went into the woods in about sixth. He held his position for about six miles or so. He said the pace was fast from the get go which is something he is definitely not used to. In the past he has usually had an opposite experience by starting in the back and making his way through the race toward the front. It was almost like the dog that has been chasing his tail and the day he finally catches it he doesn’t know what to do with it! : ) With the combination of surprise and the new pressure of being at the front of the pack it led to little mistakes here and there. The final blow was when his heart rate spiked up to 188! This may not sound unusual to most (especially not for me) but his HR threshold is typically somewhere around the low 170’s. At this point he felt so bad that he had to get off his bike and walk up a climb. When he got to the top he felt physically ill. Riders kept passing by and asking if he was ok and he told them, “No,” as he considered the option of DNFing. He waited a couple of minutes to let his heart rate come back down and had a gel while he watched just about everyone in his group go by.  Once his HR dropped down to an acceptable range he told himself, “this is my backyard and I’m going to finish this race even if it’s just for fun.” He got back on his bike and somehow managed to take a few spots back.  This put him a little bit higher than middle of the pack in 13th. Now, was this the result he was looking for? Not really, but all in all, he didn’t DNF, and had a clean race just like mine with the rubber side down!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We’re not ungrateful, we just expect a lot from ourselves, and at the end of the day, just like everyday, we thank God for every time we are able to ride or race and walk away from it! Now it’s time to get ready for Colorado in June! Pro XCT here we come and remember ALWAYS,keep the rubber side down…it’s much more fun that way! ; )

A BIG THANKS To….

Posted on by
Reply

Great things going on!!! We’re super excited to announce two of our newest sponsors, Comedy Defensive Driving and Honey Stinger!! Not only can Comedy Defensive Driving help raise awareness of cyclists on the road and common distractions for drivers in our crazy world, but it can also help lower your insurance!!! It’s an affordable (only $25) way to keep your driving record clean and you can do it all with a little humor involved from the comfort of your own home! So if you’re driving record is a little shy of being clean or you’re just in it for the discount, take this class NOW and send your certificate to your insurance…no need to pay extra to them when that money could be going to extra bike parts! ; ) So with all that being said we’d like to express our gratitude to them for believing in our dream and supporting us on our journey to the top!

On another note, being a new addition to the Honey Stinger Hive is perfect for delicious on the bike fuel!  We have been using their tasty and ORGANIC, Energy Chews and Stinger Waffles (can we say addicting?!?) for sometime now.  On those long rides and hard effort days, they always seem to make riding that much better!!! So next time you’re at your local bike shop or even at the gym, pick one up when you need a pick me up!

Ok, we’re keeping this short but sweet today so we can start getting things ready to crit it up tonight! If you’re in the area, come check us out and cheer us on! Directions and info at The Irving Criterium Series. Hope you’re temps are as good as ours wherever you’re at…GO RIDE!!!!!

Crits + XC = Fun Times!!!

Posted on by
Reply

Busy! Busy! Busy! Between training others, training ourselves, and all the other fun stuff in between we’ve got a heck of a lot going on! So we apologize for the delay in race reports. Over three weeks ago we kicked off The Irving Criterium Series. So for the next six or seven months our Wednesdays will be set aside to hammer it as hard as we can for some awesome high intensity training! It’s been really cool to see such an improvement in our fitness from last year to this year. Last year was the first time we had raced a crit and I have such awful memories of just holding on for dear life, grasping for air, all in horror of getting dropped…which OF COURSE I did (and more than once)!!! : / Last year the “C”Race was my challenge, so of course I had to start with that again this year. When the race was over my body said, “OK, I’m ready to race now!” I felt like such a wimp for watching even the junior kids do the “C” Race AND THEN the “B” Race! LOL So the next week I stepped it up and did just the “B.” Again, I felt great and was so proud that I could hang on with their 25+mph speeds in a group of 70! This was a major stepping stone for both of us this season to be on the road in such a large group. Talk about different from racing solo in single track! Carlos has been doing awesome by racing both “B” and “A!”  I decided last week to bring on the suffering and follow his lead, so I entered the “A” Race also and hung on as long as I could. Last week my computer clocked both races at over 26 mph avg!  So far so good with the Wednesday night crits. We’re ready for another good one this week and temperatures have been awesome!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A few weeks ago we raced in Coldsprings, TX at Double Lake Resort. We’ve done this race in the past so we knew what to expect out of the trail. There’s not much to it besides being on the gas the entire 12+ miles. I still can’t think of a single spot where you can let up. Not to mention a section of single track was taken out this year due to some major muddy spots and in place of it was a little over a mile of jeep road, besides the other sections of jeep road that were already in the course…hence the “being on the gas” part! Rumor is that some don’t like this race because it’s not technical enough. I personally think they don’t like this race because it is a true test of fitness. With that being said, the turn out was really small, not to mention there was also the famous Ouachita Challenge this same weekend out in Arkansas. I’ve never raced it before, but I heard it’s pretty awesome! Anyway, in my race there were only two of us. Kim was having trouble getting a new tire she had recently mounted to seal so she knew that this might cut her race short. Unfortunately it did so I was left racing solo. I didn’t know this so I kept trying to push my own pace so I could at least compare my time to the guys that were also doing three laps. I went into this race trying to turn in a solid time. At the end I was really happy about my performance and my time and how great our training is coming along.

Carlos’ race was a smaller race as well. He had sixteen guys in his field and nine out of the top ten in the TMBRA standings were in the line up. It was a very fast, fun race and Carlos took 11th place. He was disappointed because he’s been struggling with his starts and this race was no exception. It really cost him not to get a front position before going into the trees. All in all, his time was really solid and his fitness is definitely there! He knows he still has areas he needs to work on but ultimately it was a great day of racing!  We both thank God for every race or ride that we can walk away and tell you guys about!

Solavaca

Posted on by
Reply

The weather is starting to finally feel like spring and the temperatures couldn’t be better! Despite all the rain that has kept our trails closed, there is plenty of road to be ridden! Last weekend was the fourth race of the TMBRA State Championship Series, the Cat Claw Classic at Solavaca Ranch in Glen Rose, TX. Now does that name sound familiar?!? If you’ve read our “About Us” page then you know that happens to be the place that started it all! With all the rain that we mentioned above, the race was up in the air with a high chance of getting rained out and possibly being cancelled. Not only that, but Carlos and I got some sort of stomach bug in the middle of last week. He got it MUCH worse than I did with almost 103 degree fever, hot sweats, body aches and just all around crappiness. It was TERRIBLE! He even lost 5 lbs from his average 165 lbs weight! I was well enough to go to work the next day and when I came home he had the nerve to tell me he was going to race the local Wednesday Night Irving Crit! I told him he had lost his mind and the only reason he could say that was because he was lying on the couch not having to use an ounce of energy! LOL The second he stood up to walk around he quickly said, “You’re right. I don’t think I’m racing tonight.”  But from now on you can expect mid-week race reports because the local crit series has begun! I didn’t pre-register for Solavaca because despite the stomach bug, I also didn’t know how my elbow was going to feel since I hadn’t been on my mountain bike since my crash at Mellow Johnny’s. We went ahead and drove out there Saturday to check out the trail conditions since we are pretty familiar with the trail and know that the several creek crossings were going to make things pretty slippery.  They had about 8 inches of water in them. Considering the circumstances the trail was in tip-top shape thanks to all the work that Mack put into it. My elbow felt pretty good for most of the ride. It was only towards the end that my stitches felt like they were going to rip apart, but I knew a little bit of Aleve would help. For this one we decided not to camp since Glen Rose is practically a local race. (It’s only about 90 miles away.) We had an 8:30am start time which meant we had to wake up at around 4:30am. Compared to our normal Monday-Friday this is actually sleeping in an extra hour for us! : )

Sunday morning we got to the ranch right before the sun came up and we had plenty of time to get ready and get a good warm up in.  Carlos had told me to go ahead and let whoever wanted to lead get out in front of me and really focus on just riding my own race. I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to feel since my riding time had been drastically cut down since after the Comfort Race which was at the end of February. Despite my asthma giving me a little bit of trouble, my legs felt great! Jessica set the pace and we pretty much rode together the entire first lap. Going into the second lap I got stuck behind a few riders in one of the few technical spots on the trail and she was able to open up a gap on me.  I kept my focus on staying steady and not blowing up. Later, my chain dropped as I was climbing up out of one of the deeper creek crossings. I put my chain back on, got back on my bike, and right away knew I needed to get off again and spin my wheel because my chain was in the wrong gear. Not sure how long this all took, but it felt like FOREVER!   The trail was so much fun that morning and it was really cool to hear your tires roll as you would rail a corner.  I was really enjoying being back on my mountain bike! It was a fun steady ride and I ended up a little over two minutes behind Jessica, coming in second place.

Carlos broke the golden rule which is not to make any changes to your bike right before a race. The Specialized Demo Truck was at the ranch on Saturday and he hopped on one of their bikes and really liked the way the stem was set up on it. That night he made some changes on his own bike and said, “tomorrow’s race is a test.”  He positioned himself all the way in the back on the starting line. As I was standing behind him I even thought to myself, “why in the world is he all the way in the back?” But I knew he would have his reasons. His group had 28 total and he ended up in 16th place. He absolutely loved the way the bike handled and said to me that this race was the confidence booster that he needed. He felt great  both physically and mentally during the race.  Accomplishing both of these things in a race isn’t always easy. We have definitely realized that this is where experience shines over fitness. We both understand that it is going to just take time for us to catch up in this way to some of those that have been racing for several years.  The one thing that we really want to focus on is to have fun and learn to ride like we train! Riding and racing is supposed to be fun, and every once in a while you have to take a step back from being so serious about your training and racing and just give yourself a break. We both definitely used this race as a break for some breathing room just to see how it would all turn out to JUST HAVE FUN! There were no time-splits, no hard passes, and no added pressure! Just what we needed!

Wherever you are, we hope you are having a great week! Pictures will be posted soon!

This Is How It Went “Down” : )

Posted on by
Reply

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I almost don’t even know where to start. There is so much to say and tell about this entire weekend! I’ll start with this, God is Awesome and I am thankful! The Monday after Comfort Carlos and I dropped our bikes off at Plano Cycling and Fitness so that our trusty mechanic, Dustin Barrientes, could fix a few problems we were having, and get our bikes race ready for Mellow Johnny’s. My fork had been acting up at Comfort and the bottom air chamber was losing air throughout the ride so it would have the effect of almost riding a rigid fork unless there was a hard enough impact to it. Any one that rides a bike with suspension knows that this is not a very good problem to have on a rocky and technical trail, such as Comfort. : / The funny thing is that usually when a problem like this does arise, I don’t ever assume it’s the bike, I always assume it’s the rider, in which this case that would be me! LOL So it’s always refreshing to have a reason other than my lack of skills to ride sucky. : ) Well, we picked up our bikes Wednesday and Thursday took them out for a quick spin on a mini loop at Northshore. In those 15 or so minutes my bottom air chamber lost about 20 psi so back to the bike shop we went. Dustin switched out my fork to a loaner fork and in no time I was ready for the weekend!

Friday we drove out to Flat Creek Ranch, located in Johnson City, where the Mellow Johnny’s Classic was held. Carlos hadn’t ridden his full race course yet since the weekend before he rode the UCI/Pro loop with me. So we decided to pre-ride separately and I would do two of the 3.4 mile Pro loop while he did one of the 7ish mile full loop. That worked out well so we were both done at the same time. We both felt really good about our rides. I was going more at race pace and was happy to clear the entire trail without having to dab. He also cleared everything on his lap which was awesome, especially considering everyone we had talked to about the trail said it was one of the gnarliest ever in the TMBRA series! Besides feeling good about my riding, I came across another problem with my bike! My chain wasn’t shifting properly on my cassette. I fiddled with the cables a little bit but knew this wasn’t something for the not so mechanically inclined to try to fix. So I swung by the SRAM tent and the guys investigated the problem and finally changed my shifter cable. This definitely helped and made my bike a bit more rideable, but I knew this wasn’t the final solution. Either way they got me rolling again so I was extremely thankful for that!

We stayed at our good friend Josh’s place which is only a few miles from the Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin where the kick off party was at. The party started around 7pm with interviews from some of the world’s and nation’s top Mountain Bikers. I was a little bummed for getting there late and missing all the action. So we headed back to his place, cleaned up, and got a good night’s sleep before my big race in the morning. We woke up pretty early because we really wanted to enjoy the WHOLE day and not be rushing (like I normally am) to get ready. We got to the ranch at about 9am. I think the drive over there was the most nervous that I was throughout the course of the weekend. My breakfast didn’t want to settle because I had so many butterflies in my stomach. I think Carlos noticed the ghostly look on my face so we started discussing race strategy and my goals for this race. One of the main goals we had was for me to not ride over my head. This is NOT the trail that you want to try to ride above your skill level because of how rocky and technical it is. The penalty for failure is pretty big, and besides that usually nothing good comes out of it. I really wanted to have fun and treat this race like any other race. This was also the advice Georgia Gould had given me earlier in the week. I am a pro and I deserve to be out there. I needed to just ride my own race. It’s pretty cool when the national champ gives you the same advice as your husband! ; )

As I changed and got my bottles and nutrition together Carlos got my bike dialed up. We prayed and then headed out to warm up. It was the coolest thing ever to be riding up and down the country road next to my husband and best friend while women like Emily Batty, Lea Davidson, and Heather Irmiger ride by us. These are women that I recognize in a flash from watching them in World Cup Races on the internet, and here we were warming up for the same race! : ) About 15 till noon the announcers started doing call ups to the starting line according to your rank. I was pleasantly surprised NOT to be dead last on the call up since I felt like I was the newest face there. I was so calm it was almost surreal. There wasn’t anything that could keep me from smiling and I was enjoying every minute of it! When the gun finally went off I had a good clip on and I tried to get as close to the front as I could. The jeep road quickly turned into a cloud of dust and we were elbow to elbow fighting for position. Going from jeep road into single track we quickly got bottle necked and whatever position you were in is where you would stay until the trail opened up again. I got passed by Christina Smith and rode behind her shortly. After the first long climb I made a move and passed her. The trail started descending with a few sweeping turns that are covered with loose gravel. I was extra cautious here and before I knew it Christina slid out on a turn right behind me. I kept riding and stayed focused on my goals. I caught two other women, one which was having some trouble with the rocks and it forced me to un-clip a few times. I made a quick pass and had the trail all to myself. I cleared every obstacle just like my pre-ride and I felt great! I ended up 18th out of 24, with only 22 finishing. I was greeted at the finish line by my AMAZING and supportive husband and coach along with so many wonderful friends who cheered for me throughout EVERY corner and climb of the trail!!! In my eyes, I won! Two years ago I raced The Mellow Johnny’s Classic as a Cat 3 and it was my second race ever. This weekend was my first, and definitely not my last Pro Mountain Bike Race…this is only the beginning!

I had pre-registered for the TMBRA Race on Sunday also. The distance on this race was going to be 22 miles as opposed to the 15 miles from Saturday’s race. I knew my legs were probably going to be tired from my efforts the day before but we figured I would use this race as training. My goal was again, to not ride over my head, and to pace myself since the distance was going to be longer. I hadn’t yet ridden the entire loop so I knew I needed to be careful especially on my first lap. Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Trek) and Kelli Emmett (Giant Factory Team) stayed the extra day and raced with us on Sunday. The start was pretty fast and I decided to stay back and follow my plan. I did surprisingly well on my first lap without really knowing the whole trail. On my second lap someone called out a time split to me that I was twenty seconds back from third place. I was happy with that and knew I needed to just keep riding my race. There was a pretty sketchy decent with small drop off some rocks that I was headed towards and I was determined to correct the mistake I had made in previous laps and finally take the inside, smoother line. Well, the line had apparently changed from my first lap to the second. This time around a pretty large rock had shifted forward about six or seven inches and it was just enough for my wheel to hit the base of the rock and launch me over my bars with my bike flying over me and I landed straight on my elbow. As soon as I stood up blood was gushing everywhere and I knew it wasn’t good. I moved my bike out of the way of other riders and waited for the pain to go away. I started to get dizzy so I sat behind a tree with my arm elevated. Carlos’ group had taken off behind us and so I knew he would be riding by me any minute. I didn’t want him to stop his race so I had decided I wouldn’t say anything when he passed. As he dodged the rock and made the next turn he saw a bike in the corner of his eye and asked if I was ok, not knowing it was me. Dang it! I was forced to respond so I said, “I’m not sure. Keep riding!” He slammed on his brakes when he recognized my voice and asked me what happened. I told him I went over my bars and showed him my arm. Without a doubt in his mind he sacrificed his race and helped me out of the trail. I’m telling you, I’m the luckiest girl in the world! They sent the EMT’s up the hill to get me and they cleaned me up. They said I needed to get stitches within the next six hours because of how deep the wound was. So we drove back into town and got six stitches.

Funny right? How things can change in the blink of an eye, or we can say, the move of a rock! And this is why we must live EVERYDAY to its fullest! I am truly thankful for all the blessings of the weekend and also for my crash not being worse than it was. Stitches come out in eight more days, so I should be ready for the next race in twelve!

Guess What?!?

Posted on by
2

First things first, Happy Friday!! I hope everyone has had a great week! We are on the road to Comfort, Tx for race #2 of the TMBRA series. Training was good this week and the forecast once again looks promising for another awesome race! We’re camping this time and I can’t wait! We both love that part about racing!
Ok, now guess what?!? Next weekend, what was going to be just race #3 of the series has now turned into the most important race of my life…so far. For those of you who don’t know and haven’t checked our Facebook page, my license has been upgraded to PRO!! Now I can compete in the Pro Mountain Bike Cross Country Tour (Pro XCT)! God is so amazing and He keeps blessing us with all these opportunities! The old saying states, where there is a will there is a way, but really, when it’s His will there is definitely a way! Now I’m sure if you have read the “About Us” part of our blog you know that things have happened SO fast! So, is his overwhelming? ABSOLUTELY! But it is definitely EXCITING! Now we all know how important sleeping is for training, and this news has sure kept me awake! LOL : ) A new element has been added to our training…outreach. This outreach is to help us afford traveling and racing. But I tell you what, two weeks ago we had no idea this was going to happen so soon. So if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. We’re going to continue to do what we’ve been doing, trusting in Him!
So on that note, we hope you guys have an awesome weekend and get to enjoy some beautiful weather wherever you are! Stay posted for a race recap and pictures!

P.S. Lalla, we’re working on a Plopper fan page ; )

Race Pics From Warda!!!

Posted on by
Reply

Hi guys! I hope everyone has had a great week so far! After a super cold race weekend, the temperatures have been AMAZING this week! We have been able to get in some really great training rides in this beautiful weather! Today is our day off, so as I promised here are more pictures from the Warda Race, even more will be coming this weekend…I hope you guys like them!!!

Wow! That was FUN!!!

Posted on by
Reply

Well, Winter decided to show up on the first race weekend! Holy Moses it was 30 something degrees and felt like 20 something! I don’t know about you guys, but I come from the El Paso desert and that was COLD!!! So we drove into town midday Saturday to pre-ride a couple of laps. The trail had quite a bit of rain about a week or a week and a half before this race, and not to mention a 12 hour race last weekend in the muddy mess.  Thanks to all the Paydirters out there who put in several hours throughout the week to get the trail in tip-top amazing shape! It couldn’t have been any better to rail corners and pedal your bike! Based off our pre-ride I knew this was going to be a FAST race, and it was! Normally we would campout, but with this crazy weather we dished out the extra cash for a motel. In the morning we had the motel breakfast of champions….WAFFLES! Our start time was 11am, but several guys and gals on our team were starting at 9am so we rolled out early to cheer them on.

There ended up being five other girls lined up with me at the starting line. One was Jessica Rawlins who is the 2011 Cat 1 19-39 State Champion, and the other was Christina Gokey-Smith, Jessica’s coach and also Professional Road Racer for NOW and Novartis for MS cycling team. This was also the first time that they launched a group of guys with us girls at the start. Not only that, but there seemed to be no countdown at the start, just a loud, “GO!” It all caught me by surprise and I missed my pedal badly. As I fumbled around trying to get clipped in on this uphill start all the guys behind me started passing and I got caught in the middle of it all not being able to move up in the field. As soon as it opened up a little bit I charged to bridge the gap the best I could back to Christina and went into the single track in 3rd right behind Jessica. This is pretty much how the entire race was. Since Christina had the hole shot we went into the trail already behind. Jessica and I flip-flopped a few times holding 2nd and 3rd place the whole race. I felt great! Jessica was in front of me as we entered the last section of single track and I knew I had to stay as close to her wheel as possible if I was going to be able to have a chance at taking second. The final right hand turn popping out of the trail came quick and so did the finish line! There just weren’t enough yards to out sprint her. We both made the turn, got off our saddles and sprinted, and she crossed the line one second in front of me! It was such an AWESOME race! Christina finished one minute and thirty seconds in front of us.

Carlos’ field was 42 deep. There was a small crash about 100 yards from the start that he got tangled behind and ended up going into single track about 36th. He did the best he could to pass as many guys as he could and ended up in 19th. His legs felt great and sometimes things out of your hands will get in the way. All in all this race is a great benchmark to know how much our winter training has paid off!

Here are just a few pics and we will have more to come!!!