First Adv Race at WR

My good friend, Kim Chance, was in a bike accident and broke her neck a couple months ago and asked me to sub in for her for some adv races that she was committed to. She and Chris Carlson are teammates and i really wanted to try these races out. It's usually a run, bike, paddle and mystery event. I told her i would try it out if Chris wanted me as his partner. I haven't run at all in two years (except for maybe 100 yards at the beginning of DORBA 4hr mtb races). My first and only run was in a turkey trot that i did a 5K on so needless to say i was skeered to be partnered up with CC! So Chris and i talk and i told him i wasn't a runner, ahem or a paddler but i guess he was ok with it since Kim was out for the race.

Oh yeah.. i forgot to mention one lil detail. He's 6'5" or so... i may be off. Anyway.. in my book he's almost giant material and he's fast as anything on a bike. I heard stories from men and women alike. Men who couldnt hang on to his wheel and women (Kim specifically) who said how scary it was to be tied to his bike. You see, in adv. races- you can attach yourself to someone else by a chord on the riding and on the running-- and altho a bit scary-perfectly legit. SO this was our plan. We decided to go for it in the beginning of the week leading to our weekend and he advised me to go run outside before our race that saturday.

I was at Rich's on Wed and i get ready to go run. Rich laid out a 1.2 mile run that i could do and since he was coping with pneumonia- he couldnt join me on it. My goal was to run the whole time, not stop to walk and have minimal pain after. That would be success for me. I headed out and felt very awkward as soon as i started running. Things were going well up until the last stretch when my left thigh started to charlie horse. I ended up having to stop and walk 3x at the end of my run. NOT GOOD! I rode for a while after i got back from the run to hopefully make my legs feel better but it didn't help. By the end of the night i was limping.

I told Chris the news and he laughed a lil and said we would just make that time up on the bike. I told Kim my running story and she laughed alot.

So Sat came and the race was on. It started with probably a 1.5 mile run, then a paddle, then another 1.5 mile run and then bike and then the mystery event. Kim and Rich were there to cheer me on and volunteer!! thanks guys!!! I was nervous bout the run but it wasn't that bad. It hurt but atleast i didn't have to stop and walk. I'm sure Chris appreciated that. :) We were prolly a funny sight to see. The pic above i promise is not doctored. He looks like a giant and i a dwarf. He probably had to bend half his body to go under that bridge and i prolly didn't move my head. I had a great time. Thanks to Kim for letting me sub for you and Chris for taking a chance and then pulling me the whole time! :) We ended up getting first in Coed and second group overall. Ric Tinney and his friend won adv overall.

Kathy and Scott put on a great race!

The first pic is of the Kim, Chris and i before the start of race. What fun! Can't wait to do it again! Rich and i may team up for a race or two.. or more :)

Memorial Day Crit Races

MIRAGE CRIT (on Sat)

I was super excited all week coming into that weekend. I wanted to do well in all the races to cat up to a 3. On Friday, i started to get really sick to my stomach. This continued onto Saturday. I knew i was dehydrated so i drank some pickle juice and ended up throwing that up right before the start of the race while i was warming up. I wasn't feeling all that strong and since my teammates couldn't make the race, my goal was to just stay in the group (not attack at all) and see what i had at the finish. I love that race with the 180 degree turn and uphill finish. I kept in a good place the whole time and stayed near the front. The final lap, i went down that hill and stayed tucked in with the group until the turn. I knew the group was gonna go wide so i ended up going on the inside and cutting the turn tightly. That put me in a great spot for the climb. I got behind Brandi until someone attacked and i followed the attack. I sprinted up the finish but only had the legs to take 3rd place. Best finish i've had there in 3 years but wish i would've won it for the team.


GS TENZING CRIT (on Sun)



Stomach was still messed up but i was fired up. I hung some with Tobin, Becky and Cap and worked a bit and then got ready to warm up. I was excited that Kelly and Nancy were gonna be there and we were all gonna race together. It was a fun race and Kelly really worked and made some attacks. Nancy and Kelly did awesome! They helped to tire out the group while i just hung in. Kelly made a great move and attacked on less than five laps to go. We were closing in on the last few turns on the last lap and i made sure to get in a good position to not get boxed in. Angela from sugars made the attack and i followed. We sprinted to the line and she got me by half a wheel. The pic is from that race. So that race we got a 2nd, a 4th and a 7th in women 4s.

The P123 girls were able to get Tracie for the win! Great job ladies.


STATE CHAMPIONSHIP CRIT (on monday)

The P12 girls lined up with Christina, Cassandra, Kim and Michelle. 6 Metro girls with team radios lined up at the start and pretty much played the offensive role in that race. They got a girl to attack from the beginning and she stayed in the front the whole time. Christina went to chase her but eventually got picked up from the group. Metro won that race in the P12 and Rachel B from Metro won the State Championship for the 3s. The girls helped Christina get a second place finish for the team.

In the 4s race, Kelly and i raced that day. It was such a hot day!! The hottest day of all three days. It felt like my skin was boiling. Becky was out there cheering us on (as she was on Sat at the Mirage crit **thanks becky**) and trying to throw water on us. Except for the heat, the race was going well. Kelly and i were responding to the attacks. The course is set up with many turns. It was a great course and i really enjoyed it. The last lap, i decided to make a move at the start of all the turns. I knew i could take them pretty fast and since i kept getting swallowed up at the final sprints, i thought it would be best to attack a lil earlier and have a small gap for the final sprint. Well plan was going great. I attacked after one of the turns before the small downhill. I was ahead of the group on the left turn and gaining a gap. I took the right turn and still a gap. I took the next right turn too fast and too tight. Not wide enough!! I ended up going straight toward the hay bales and had to put on my brakes to not hit them. There was a headwind there and the group caught up to me midway to the last turn. I stayed with the group after the turn but was swallowed at the sprint. Our team finished 6th and 7th. Very disappointed about that but you race and you learn.

Great weekend of racing and it was nice to race with the girls.. but still not enough points to cat up. :(

Last TMBRA Race at XBAR

So it's been a while and i've got alot to update. One of them being this last TMBRA race of the season. It was a very technical course but for some reason i didn't remember it being so technical until i got there. John and i got to the course on Sat and it was drizzling. We were trying to decide whether we should preride in the slippery rocks or just wait til race day. We ended up preriding and the worst part was in the beginning.

Race day, i had a great start. We took off from the gun. Christina leading and then Sara. then myself amd the rest. When we started to go into the first technical area, Christina was on the side spinning her wheels like she was sealing it. Sara was ahead with a gap. In some technical spot, i took a bad line and laid it out. I crashed while i was leading the rest of the group. I was head down with my foot still stuck to the pedal. My knee took the majority of the hit. The girls were all nice enough to help me get out of my bike. They all asked if i was ok and Leslie mentioned to help me get unstuck. At the time, i dont think she realized Sara was gone with a good lead after this. They were so nice but i wanted them to go catch sara! I got on my bike and Christina and Leslie took off. I was pretty slow moving after that but started to feel a lil better as i rode. I raced with the worst time at that course. But thanks to Christina and Leslie for catching up to Sara and passing her, i was still able to keep my placement for the series.

Overall bad finale to my race season but a great placement overall. Christina won the race and the TMBRA series. I got 4th in the race and placed 2nd in the series. It was a great season but i am happy for the season to be over. I'm ready for the road.. and everything else!!

Big thanks to LoneStarWorks for the sponsorhip and coaching and to the guys at Dallas Bike Works for working amd tweaking my bike all season long. Thanks to Rich for the support throughout my season and being so cool with me being gone almost every weekend. Also, thanks to all the girls helping me out after my crash.

Lucas y Thomas- Too cute!

Sweet Charlie

One year later and i still miss you a ton. You were the greatest!

Hail to Comfort

Comfort has to be one of my favorite trails here in texas. I've only raced it twice now. Last year it rained so it was a swamp and i only got to race the upper loop. This past weekend, although the storms were near, it was dry as a bone and i got to race the whole course.
Larson picked me up early afternoon on Friday to start our journey. We stopped at West and Larson had his usual 5 jalapenos with cream cheese and i had my one. Those are soooo good. The sky was dark and eerie but as soon as we hit Temple, we started to see cars pulled over and crowding under the underpass. Rigtt after we went through the underpass the hail started to hit. Larson's car was getting pounded by hail. I called Cristina to see if she was near a computer to find out if there was a tornado and sure enough a tornado landed a few miles away in Belton. I asked larson to pull over and he found some coverage in this restaurant under construction. Everyone was looking for some shelter. He decided he wanted to go out in the hail and battle it out with the tornado. After i freaked out a lil bit he pulled over once again. So we didn't get swept up to Oz and we made it to Tanya Woody's house about 6-7 hours later.
Preride was good and we ended up riding the lower loop since i had never ridden it. Christina and Toby competed in the QOM and KOM and Christina won with Toby close behind Pete who won his category.
On Sat night, weather predicted for comfort was 80% chance of rain starting at 7am. We thought it would be a wash with ligtning and hail. But it just missed us.
Race day, i warmed up and felt ok. My start was awful. Christina wiped out at the start right after the turn but was alright and laughing when she passed me. I couldnt keep up with the leaders and i just wasn't feeling it. My legs felt like bricks and my lungs had nothing. I ended up catching up to Kim and Sara was right in front of her. Kim had a mechanical and i passed her. I started to catch up to some of the guys and right after Bill said "Bibi's here", i ended up hitting a tree and doing a slow motion crash. There all the girls in my group passed me and i was still had nothing in my tank. I started to go into the lower loop in last place and was starting to think this would be a race to drop. Then i started to feel better. I started to catch up to two other girls and Christiane in the other class. She and i rode together a bit and went back and forth. Then we caught up to Sara and i got in front of both. I ended up getting second. I couldn't believe it. I thought that race was done after the upper loop. It's a good thing that course is so fun or maybe i would not have continued. That and some luck helped me get that second place.

Christina won, I got second.
Fawley got 1st,Larson got 4th, Boyd got 6th, Toby got 7th,Martin got 10th and Jordan got 16th. Way to go guys!!

Thanks to Tanya for letting us stay at your place and Larson for driving me and keeping us from getting swept up.

until Big Ring..

More MTB racing!!

Haven't written in a while. The last two weekends was the Warda Race and Reimer's Ranch Race. Rich and i went to a wedding on Sat before the Warda Race and Kim Chance picked me up at Waxahachie rt after the wedding to drive to Warda! thanks Kim!! We had a good time. It was a good trip and i'm very happy i went. Warda folks put on a great event and they changed the course a little bit. It was more open and more of a power course. Kim and i ended up in 1st place!!! woohoooo!! Ranger Kim Jennings ended up with the fastest women's time. Way to go Kim!! I had an ok race but cramped near the end.

At Reimer's it was a true mountain bike course! It was a very fun technical course. Kim and i rode together again and we got there and prerode on Sat. Thanks to the Killebrew's for letting us stay at their place! What a great trail to have so close to their house! I got to see how technical the trail was on the preride. I realized quickly how important it would be to find the right line up the ledges. On the preride, i was able to clear all the stuff after trying it a couple times on some. I knew everything was doable but on race day it was a completely different story. At race pace, i was off my bike atleast 10x. I sucked it up on that trail! I thought i was technical until Sunday :p Race day, i had a great start. I was right behind Leslie up the climb and got in front of her at the single track. She and i were in front and had a small gap. I kept messing up on alot of the technical ups and apologized and told her she could go around me. She did so later. I stayed on her wheel for a bit but got tossed after a bit. Sara K caught up to me and we rode together for a while. She then got in front and gapped me on the technical stuff. I was right behind her hoping to follow her line up the ledges. On the last lap, I was rt behind her- she went up this big ledge with ease and i hit it so bad i took the breath out of me. After cyclecrossing my bike up it .. she was gone out of sight. I chased but every time i fumbled on the ledges i knew she was just that much more in front of me. I wish we had a trail like that in dallas!! I ended up in 3rd place. So overall, i really enjoyed the course.. i do love those kind of courses but it was an eye-opener on how untechnical i really am! :D

Kim chance broke her derailler on the first lap and had to dnf! :( Too bad because she would've kicked some butt!!

AND ON THE ROAD.. the LSW girls did great at Fort Davis! Tracie A ended up in 3rd place in the GC. Christina S in 4th, and Tammy in 6th. Way to go ladies! Great traiining too!

Teammate Christina Smith on Racing Post

CHECK IT OUT!!

And in the homefront....

Becky Reilly did her first track race on Friday night and got 4th place.

Tracie won some money at the local rally for being the first female to cross the line.

Nice job ladies!

Ronde Von Manda Road Race

Sunday was the open race. Wet conditions and rain made it a very interesting race. Lined up with over 30 women. Good size group. I got to race with teammate Christina this time which rarely happens on the road so that was nice. I stayed near the front to avoid any possible mishaps in the rain and i also wanted to be near the action :) The group started to widdle out and at one point Christina made an attack and soon after the group caught her she went for another attack and this one was harder. That girl can move!! A few people went with her and i didn't try to jump. I knew this was probably the break that would stick. Christina advised me to stay with the group if there was a break so i did. The group lost more people and I ended up in the chase group with Sheri Jordan, Lori Barrett,3 ATT&T girls, and a few others. The ATT&T girls didn't have anyone from their team on the break so they ended up working a bunch. I jumped on every attack and was determined to stay in that group. My sprint was less than stellar and placed 11th. ARRRGGh.. one shy of top ten. But i was happy to be the first cat 4 girl to cross the line and only cat 4 to stay in that chase group.

Christina finished 2nd in this race and lost to Kate Sherwin by just a hair.

Weekend was great with the people i was with. Thanks to Rachel for the ride share and Kelly and Stacy for letting us stay at your place. Thanks Christina for the advice and everything else. Wish i could've helped more!

Beltera - First road race for 2008

My intro to road racing for 2008 was this weekend. It's been a long time. I lined up with the cat 4s and had a good warm-up- was ready to go. We ended up going really slow the first couple laps. THere weren't many attacks throughout. By third lap things started to get a little more interesting. On the last lap, Rachel Byus jumped at the top of the only hill. I went around someone and chased to get on her wheel to work together. I caught up, gave myself some seconds to recover and went around her. We had a gap but we jumped too early. A couple girls caught us. I motioned for help and Rachel started to move to help but saw the other girls making their way in front. She moved over to let them by and accidentally moved into my front wheel. I thought for sure i was going down. I started to lose control, bumped her wheel again and somehow kept myself upright. Our strategy for a break didn't work. The group caught us and i didn't have much left for the sprint. Ended up 7th. Very disappointed.

Lessons on Beltera:
1. it is possible to get your front wheel bumped and stay upright
2. I need work on my sprints
3. Pay attention to finish area

Christina Smith ended up 3rd. Stuck in the curb at the sprint she was left without room for her sprint.

Outback Blowout was a blast!

Waco- a great challenge and a lot of fun as usual. Rich and i did our annual trip :) to waco and got there on sat to preride the course.

Everyone did a great job in organizing the event. It was also great to see the big women fields in all the categories. Our 30-39 group had 12 women but since they lined up all the 19-39 women together- we actually had a group of 15 which is great!!
The 19-39 women were the first to go out. I made it to my start right in the nick of time with a couple minutes to go. Thanks to some peeps telling me my group was already on the line. We lined up and i set my watch and noticed my HR was already 174. My nerves were high as usual but i was a little surprised to see it already there.
Gun went off and we were off. Christina in front setting the pace around the circled driveway with the rest of us trying to get a good spot into the trees. I had a great start and ended up 3rd behind Kim J which was where i wanted to be. With Kim showing me the good lines through the trees, we gapped the rest of the girls while Christina gapped us. For the first time in my racing history i was in front of Leslie Reuter and i gotta tell ya.. it felt pretty good!! :)
I held on to Kim's wheel as long as i could but she started to gap me before the end of the half lap. I was happy to be able to stay on as long as i did though. I held that position going into the first full lap but after that Leslie passed me. I held on to her wheel and i got to ride with her for a while. NOW THIS WAS RACING!!! My stomach started to cramp in the first full lap and was painful throughout the race and after. I threw up a little bit and i have decided that that is just part of racing for me. The stomach was a little different..the harder i pushed, the worse it felt.
Leslie ended up gapping me and i went as hard as my stomach would allow to keep my position. I wasn't the smoothest of riders and almost bit it a couple times. The climbing there was significant. It's always a good race because it's a fast course with everything.. technical climbs and descents, switchbacks and tight cornering through the trees. I was able to hold my position til the end of the race so i was really happy about that but i wasn't able to get back to the second place spot. I didn't feel the worst but definitely didnt feel the best racing. HR ended up being 182 avg and 192 Max which is still low for me. I feel great about being less than 2 min behind 2nd place (thank you Christina Smith and Christian Williams at LoneStarWorks.com!!) and hopefully i'll be able to take that spot next time. Thanks to the guys at Dallas Bike Works for helping to get my bike once again ready for race day!!

Teammates Christina and Kim got first in their categories and i ended up with 3rd!!

Rich, on a new bike that he tried out for the first time on Sat, ended up getting 8th place in his category!!! Not too shabby for a roadie!! ;)

And congrats to Steve Innes for his first podium finish in his category!!!!

Big NEWS!!!

Even with my OCD [i believe these bottles lose their potency when they're half full so i end up with a ton of half full bottles- Rich doesnt believe me].. But even so.. Rich still loves me and decided to propose anyway. We are officially engaged!!!!!! :D No date set yet-trying to figure that out. Yippeee!

Pics from Bar H

Taken by Mike Brooks
He's an awesome photographer. thanks!

Meanwhile..at Lago...

CONGRATS to teammate Kelly Stark for winning the Women's 4 on Saturday!!!! Woohoooo! and then getting 2nd on Sunday!!! What a woman!

Way to go ladies! Tammy Wallace got 4th and Tracie got 5th in women's P/1/2 on Saturday. Michelle Montoya got 7th in the Cat 3 and on Sunday- Tracie got 2nd and Tammy got 6th in the P/1/2 and Michelle got 9th! Good job!

Bar-H Bash

This past Sunday i raced the first mtn bike race of the season at BarH. Put up by DORBA and all it's great volunteers-it was a great event as usual. I lined up at the start. I was fired up and nervous. We took off down the hill and i didn't have the strongest of starts. Teammate Christina Smith was in the lead gapping Leslie Reuter, Kim Jennings, Sara Krause and Rachel Byus who just catted up to expert.. CONGRATS! Then a gap and it was Nicole Call and I and then a gap behind us. The course changed from previous years and we took that right turn -right into the strong head wind. Fortunately, i was behind Nicole. We caught up to Rachel and i grabbed onto her wheel and then the men started to pass us. Thanks to Alan Johnson and Bill for letting me suck their wheel. I now owe Alan for helping me out in two races :) We caught up to Sara and we all staggered up the long false flat. Crossing the starting line, i was behind Kim J- about to start the long climb. During the climb i started to feel the start of one of my asthma attacks. I was trying to calm my breathing down so it wouldn't be a full on attack but i was still climbing. I was concentrating on breathing, breathe, breathe dammit! That's when Sara Krause passed me. She said something to me but all i could get out were gasps for oxygen. I knew if i stopped it would be full on so i wanted to just recover and continue. I finished the climb and was able to maintain and then recover and not stop. I glanced at my HR and it was only at 189. Usually i'm much higher and it felt much higher.
The whole race i went all out. My second lap i was having some trouble with the climb again and ended up throwing up after the first initial technical climb. Kim Chance (in the other class-good friend- super strong racer)caught up to me and we descended together and rode taking turns in the front the way back to the finish line. I never caught up to Sara again and i wish i would've worked with Kim to really pull on the false flats to gain some ground on Sara. That's one change i wish i would've made to make a stronger finish. My avg hr was 185 which was great. Although my max was only 193. Way below norm. That was a tougher course than the previous years (with the extra climbing and strong winds).. I'm not too disappointed with my finish. I did what i set out to do which was go all out. I hope Waco in a couple weeks will be even better.

Thanks to LoneStarWorks for ALL your support, Christina for allowing us to stay at your parents farm -what an awesome place, and of course for all the support, coaching and advice.

Thanks also to Dallas Bike Works for getting my bike ready for race day and working on it post race day. Whoever missed the bash this year should look it up for next year. It's definitely a race to put on the calendar.

Congrats to CHristina Smith, Kim Jennings and Dave Parks for winning their categories!

I ended up in 4th place.

Finally Some Racing!!

I'm getting back to riding and trying to get back into training. After a week in CA i came back and got the flu. I know it takes a lil while to get back into the swing of things so i'm trying to not beat myself up for not being where i was at 3 weeks ago. I am excited about my first mtn bike race of the season this weekend at BarH. It's always a fun time and great to spend with friends. Racing will fire me up and hopefully put some fire under my arse! I missed out on two road races this past weekend that i wanted to go to. My teammates were involved in wrecks both days but i still wish i was able to go. I really enjoyed Pace Bend last year. With mtb racing every weekend there's a road race.. i'm not sure which road races i'll be able to go to before may. I wish i could do both!

One year and counting!

Rich and i got to celebrate our one year in San Francisco this weekend. I was happy that he was able to come for support this past week (thanks honey!) and it was so nice to be able to celebrate our anniversary together as well. Our plans were to celebrate it where we first met - At Terlingua and race- but since we were in cali we decided to go to SF.  On Sat, we took a train around 12pm and walked around China Town, the bay, the beach, went up some famous street i can't remember but it was super steep and very cool.. then grabbed a great dinner at some place i can't remember either .. sorry.. and hopped on a train at 7:30. 6-7 hours of walking and a beautiful day visiting the sites! By 6pm we were both ready to stop walking and sit by a fire.  Here is a pic of us last year at Terlingua :)

Papi- July 22, 1925 – February 9, 2008

Last Saturday night Papi passed away. I headed out to Cali on Monday morning. A combination of grief and relief. He had been sick for so long. His mind and body finally couldn't hold on any longer. It's hard to see a man with so much life and so much to say live in that kind of fog. My brother and Joanna saw a lot of that. 

We remembered and celebrated his life on Thursday night with his favorite meal Paella. Ligia and Carlos did a great job preparing Dad's favorite dish. Rod, Andres, Rich and Rodney all arrived on Thursday. We saw a presentation remembering his life with pictures of him with all who loved him. On Friday, we laid his body to rest overlooking Cali's beautiful scenery and had a Papi Picnic at a park with all his favorites: Hamburgers, hotdogs and budweiser.  

Love u Papi, you will be missed. 

Hi there!

I'm new to the whole blog thing but i thought i'd give it a shot.  I'm riding for LoneStarWorks.com this year and am really excited about the mountain and road season. Christian Williams started our all-women's road racing team last year and we had an awesome year. This year we acquired two new strong teammates Michelle Montoya and Tracie Akerhielm. Along with these two ladies,  I am thrilled to race with Christina Smith, Ranger Kim Jennings, Tammy Wallace, Cassandra Criswell, Becky Reilly,  and Kelly Stark. Thanks to the team's spirit and sponsors it's going to be a great year!!