Burn Baby Burn!

2nd year at the Beezley Burn over in Ephrata, WA.  Do you remember last years post?  It can be found somewhere in the 2011 archives.  Here is all you need to know...I got my @$$ handed to me, and no amount of Hoo Ha Ride Glide was going to help the amount of pain I felt from riding my hardtail.  Fast forward to 2012. 

I had a pretty good race, although I had a really hard time riding smoothly.  Maybe it's because I haven't been on my mountain bike in...uuhh...weeks?  I think since the day before the Northshore Race.  Anyways, I had a pretty good start and made it into the single track first!  I have somehow significantly improved my climbing since last year so I was able to hold off any other women until the decent.  Natasha caught me and I let her by (aren't I nice?) but I stayed closely behind her.  I know I can be a slow decender so I didn't want to slow her up, after all, she's racing too! 

Top step of the podium

Going into the second lap I hit the single track first...again, my climbing was really on it's game!  Shortly after entering the single track I realized how thirtsy I was, because I hadn't been drinking enough water.  There where hardly any places to grab my water bottle and drink!!!!  Once I hit a fairly straight section I slowed down so I could take a Clif Shot and drink some water, then Natasha passed me.  So I stayed on her wheel all the way through the rest of the lap, taking notes.  Note #1 I took...I could climb just a pinch faster #2 how to decend a bit faster (she's a better decender than I am). 

Going into the third lap I hit the single track first, a bit ahead of Natasha and I just pushed HARD through the climb.  I knew if I could gain as much ground on the hill that come the decent, I could afford to lose a little without getting caught.  It worked out well for me, because I WON!  What a great way to start my mountain biking season!  I was actually quite shocked that I won, truthfully I was expecting to get either middle of the group, or last!!  I didn't know where I was going to stack up, and there where some heavy hitters that lined up!  It's cool to see myself improve from last year.  Here are some stats:

Last year I finished 4 laps with an overall time of 3 hours and 12 minutes, with an average lap time of 48 minutes.
This year I finished 3 laps (they made the race shorter for the open field) with an overall time of 2 hours and 5 minutes (according to my Garmin 500).  That puts me at an average lap time of 41 minutes.  I improved by 7 minutes each lap.  That's incredible!  That's HUGE!  The woman that dominated me last year...I beat, by 5 minutes!  BOOOO-YAAAAAA!

Did I mention I gashed open an old scar from last summer? 



Dad, this is for you.  Who needs health insurance?

Dr. Courtenay working her magic and cleaning up the wound

I will never be a leg model...ever.  Or any model for that matter. 

I love racing, and I love local races, but I hate racing at the same time as men.  Sorry dudes, but it's just so difficult when there are men on the race course, and then you catch them, and then they go slow up hill and make you tip over.  Then you gash your knee open. 

I'm working on a post from Walla Walla, but for some reason it's taking a long time. 

Holy Mother of...I won a Race

Yea, you read that right, I won a race and it wasn't in the dirt.  First bits first....



How sweet are these?

I had a fantastic weekend.  Saturday was Chris's birthday, he's old, and I'm awesome.  I bought him these sweet sun glasses by a company named Maui Jim.  One of my clients recommended them to me, and let me tell you...I have never spent so much money on a pair of sunglasses in my entire life, and nor do I want to again.  Chris better not lose or break them, but he does love them!  I also baked him a cake.  Snickerdoodle to be exact, with a cream cheese frosting.  Holy smokes it was delicious. 

Before we ate the cake we had some friends over for dinner and hanging out.  Once the sun set it was time to get the fire going.  Unlike most people, we don't get rid of our Christmas Tree after Christmas, we throw it in the back yard and stare at it for 4 months until it turns brown.  Last year we decided to burn it, I couldn't wait to see that tree go up in flames.  Until one night when I was away at a bike race I recieved a text message from my friend.  Inside the message was a picture of the tree burning.  I wasn't happy, so I made it clear to Chris that he was not allowed to burn the tree this year without me.  I love fire...as long as it's controlled in a pit.  When the time was right the boys put the tree in the fire pit and guess what happened.  This did...

Tiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmber!

I think this only took about 1 minute to burn.  5 seconds to burst into flames from the initial torch, 50 seconds to burn to the bottom when it couldn't hold its self up anymore, 3 seconds to fall down, and another 10 seconds to burn while on its side.  As the fire dwindled down Chris says "Now THAT, is why you always water your Christmas Tree".  Just to put this in perspective, notice how NO ONE is near the tree, that's how hot and HUGE the flame was.  Look at the second picture and notice Logan's head and how high he is looking to see the the size of the flame!  It was CRAZY.  I can't wait for next year's burn session.  Don't worry folks no damage was done to any near by structures, and just to be safe we had not 1, or 2, but 3 firefighters on scene.  :-)

Now you want to know about the good stuff don't you?   I won a bike race, WTF?  I might...might be figuring out this road racing business, or it was just dumb home race advantage luck.  This last Sunday was the Northshore Road Race (local in Bellingham, best described as a very masculine race).  Why is it so masculine?  Because when the race was created 2 college aged guys wanted to find the hardest race course in the NWCC (Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference) they possibly could, and poof, the Northshore Road Race was born.  It's been around for as long as I can remember, it started as a collegiate race put on by Western (and still is) but is now also used as a race put on by the Shuksan Velo Club (AKA Fantik Race Team...they wear orange).  The course is an 8 mile loop, and you go in circles and circles until you finish your race distance, it's kind of like a race of attrition, who ever can just keep going will do well.  It's not a total climbers race, but it's NOT flat in anyway.  The hills are steep and short and require a lot of power, there isn't too much time to recover either.  I don't typically ride out there because I associate the course with pain.  If I ride the course I usually only do 1 lap (it's plenty). 

So to put it bluntly I wasn't looking forward to the race.  Actually, I didn't even care about the race (maybe thats where I went right) I went out for a mountain bike ride on Saturday with Logan and Chris, and I worked harder than I wanted to.  The one huge bonus of the day was being able to ride to the race.  I packed a bag and rode out to the course and got the best warm up I could ever get for a race!  I wont get into details on how the race went, because honestly, I got dizzy and I dont remember what happened on each lap, they all just blurred together.  I just remember riding my bike up some steep hills, breathing hard, turning around and half the pack was gone.  I had my eye on "red boots" as my friend Emily called her, but when she kept attacking in weird areas I decided to not waste my energy on chasing her, I left the other girls do it because I knew the course, and I knew she wasn't going to get away on those places she tried (home town advantage)? 

Then all of the sudden we had one lap to go.  On the last lap I just kept telling myself, hey not bad, there was a group of 7 of us and worst case scenerio I get 7th place, not bad on a tough course with a group of 25 starters for a race I didn't care about.  The last time up the stair steppers I found myself in the front of the pack at the top of the steps leading towards the finish.  I didn't want to be there, so I sort of slowed down...a lot.  After all I felt I had been pulling a lot of the race (especially up the hills...my choice on the up hills though).  So eventually another rider (so awesome and SUPER strong) pulled through (I felt bad for that) and took us to the base of the finish when "red boots" went for the sprint...too early.  A couple girls chased her, I took advantage of the speed I already had from the small downhill into the steep uphill, chose my gears wisely (I knew how steep the hill was and I knew what gear to be in) and took sprinting up the hill after the first women (a pro at that) who went.  She puttered out...hard about half way up the hill.  I kept going all the way to the finish line (with cramping quads and all) and took the hometown win! 


YYYYYAAAAAAAYYYYY!  I am excited, it's fun to win, but it's even more of an accomplishment to win on that course.  A course that I considered just a "hang on for dear life" course.  I don't think I realize my strengths, but seeing how successfull and good I have been feeling so far this season, I am extremly excited for CX.  I think I see some bigger races in my future. 

Oh yea, I know what you are thinking, "isn't your wedding in September?  What about your honeymoon"?  Psycho-Cross comes first, THEN the honeymoon.  Priorities people, I don't want to be all fat, out of shape, and in love at the start of the cross season. 

;-)

Gosh I just love bike racing. 

I've been busy!

From here on out I am going to try for a post once a week, whether it's about biking, training, racing, or weddings, we will find out!  I'm not sure if it will happen, but we shall see. 
I am so behind on my blogging since the last post!!!  I have been BUSY with life and playing around on my new Garmin500.  I love it.  I haven't had a computer on my bike for over 2 years, I forgot how fun it is!  And this computer especiallly, it does SO much!

Want to see how far I have come in my wedding planning?

I have vases galore.  These are the two types of vases I will have on my tables

Boxes of linens (those are the boxes on the right).  The rest of the stuff are my vases!

Flowers and Flower balls up the ying yang...these are for the ceremony

Stands for my dessert bar.  Cupcakes anyone?

And about 55 extra Save the Dates.  Anyone need extra magnets?

Oh was I talking about biking?  I raced my first crit of the season a couple weeks ago.  It was at Volunteer Park, and I had fun.  Yes, I just used the word fun to describe a crit.  I wont get into crazy details, but first off, this season, I'm not here to win.  I don't have anywhere to go from here in my road racing.  It's not my super strong suit, I just do it because I love the people, and it's mentally and physically challenging.  So with that being said I'm here for fun and for my teammates, and if something good, great, or awesome comes from that, then ROCK ON! 

The night before the crit I put my too small skin suit on for Chris to show him how tight it is.  The first words out of his mouth were "wow you look like a super hero".  THAT my friends, is how tight my skin suit is, so don't my fat rolls in the picture below, hopefully those will be gone by the time the wedding comes around. 

Tara, Alicia, and myself posing with the camel. 

Back to bike racing and not the insecurity I feel in my itty bitty super hero outfit.  Crits scare me.  When I turn corners with my bike for many laps, I like it to be in the mud, where if I fall, it's soft.  Thank goodness this crit doesn't have too many "true" corners.  It's safe, and pretty dang fast.  At the start of the crit, Alicia (one of my teammies) said something to me about primes (I don't remember her exact words but it went something on the lines of lets get them).  So when the first prime was called I decided I wanted it.  I got it...heck yea!  Then...I got the 2nd one too.  I figured that I wasn't out to win the race, but any cash won along the way is a total bonus.  AND why sit in the pack and be bored?  When the third prime was called Jess tried to lead me out for it and I just couldn't quite get to her wheel, and Jocelyn (an incredible sprinter and rider from another team) took the prime.  I even tried a bike throw!!! HAHA I wanted the cash.  Like I said, I'm not out here to win, I'm here for the ride, and enjoy it while I'm there. 

Directly after the 3rd prime the 4th and final prime was called, and Jess ended up winning that one and then got away and stayed away for the rest of the race.  She won!  Another Peterson Racing/Jess win!  When it came down for the pack sprint I.....had...nothing....left.  I sprinted a lot during that 45 minute race!  I worked hard, and in 2 weeks I will be stronger because of it.  I am extremely proud of myself for not being a scared little kitty cat in the pack and so excited for the future of our 1/2 team.  We seriously do such a good job working together and being active in the race, I am SO excited and privlaged to race with such awesome ladies.  I can't say it enough how much I adore my team. 

THANK YOU LADIES!  And not just the 1/2 ladies, but everyone, for the support, the smiles, and the joy you bring to every race day.



Sarah, Alicia, and Tara.  Out for Alicia at The Little Red Hen.