Cyclocross thus far

It's taken me a bit to write this post because I don't quite know how to fit everything I want to say into one blog post.  I have a lot to say, a lot to process.  Lets put it this way:

3 years ago when I first started racing cross if someone told me I would be where I am right now, I would have dropped my jaw.  Let me tell you about my first cross race...ever.  It was at Maris Farms (for those of you who know the course...yuck) it was at the beginning of November and I had no idea what I was doing.  I showed up to the race with my stock tires inflated to 60psi, with 10 minutes of practice on how to dismount and mount my bike (practiced the night before), but boy was I ready to race that cross bike.  I lined up in the back row for the Cat4 women's race nervous as all heck, there were pumpkins lining the course, how was I supposed to dodge those????  Well to put a rough 30 minutes into a couple of sentences...I didn't know how to turn my bike, I crashed in a corn maze, I crashed going straight in the grass, I fell on my face on the "run up", I think I crashed 10 times, I could hardly mount my bike, but man was I stoked on life.  Even with my lack of ability and knowledge of the sport I finished 5th.  I didn't think that was too bad!  I think I fit in about 5 races that year and then I went to collegiate nationals and finished 5th!  After those first 5 races I knew I was hooked, and there was nothing better than cyclocross.  The rest is history.

Rocking the Mad Fiber wheels at Labor Day CX

This year, I decided it was time for a new bike.  I bought a new Redline in August, and I LOVE it!  It's fast and carbonliscous.  Then my dear friend Dave (last name not listed to protect the innocent) told me I needed fast wheels.  He hooked me up with Paul (last name not listed to protect the innocent) from a Seattle based wheel company Mad Fiber.  Paul set me up with a sponsorship for a set of wheels, especially for this big race I signed up for (CrossVegas).  I have never had fancy equipment before, this was BIG for me.  Since CrossVegas was September 19th I decided I needed to practice my CX skills before the big race, so I did some early races (even though I didn't really want to).  I certainly didn't want to embarrass myself in front of a lot of spectators and Pro CX racers.

I raced the Labor Day Cyclocross Championships, and that was quite a fun course for a dry fast September course.  I finished 1st in the women's race, and decided I wasn't tired enough that I decided to race in the Cat3 men's race, and finished 3rd!  The following weekend was MFG's first race of the season at Big Finn Hill.  I won again!  I felt really comfortable on my bike and with those new Mad Fiber wheels, I was FLYING.  I was accelerating out of the corners quickly, and I felt confident on my bike (and wheels) with their abilities to carry me through the turns and the straight sections.  I didn't feel like my wheels where going to going sliding out from under me (unlike my bike from last year).  I could rail the turns (given it has been bone dry) with a HUGE amount of confidence.  The dry courses always tend to be a bit bumpy, but with those wheels I hardly noticed ANY bumps.  They absorbed it all, they seriously ROCK, and they look cool too.  Did I mention how awesomely light they are?  Basically, I am one lucky girl to ride those wheels.

Lets talk about CrossVegas.  I hate Vegas (the city), it's not for me.  If I can't ride my bike out my front door, I'm typically not a happy camper.  I can't ride my bike out the front door there...well I could, but I think it would be suicide.  So for about 2 days I was stressing.  Then race day came.  The morning of the race we pre-rode the course, which doubled up as opening up our legs AND getting to know the course!  Chris was racing the USAC category race, so we had to get to the venue extra early and soak up the sun rays.  Chris raced at 5pm in the blazing heat and finished in a whopping 13th place!  With a start close to the back.  Good job husband!  After his race I started getting a little nervous, and as the night crept on, I started getting REALLY nervous.  This race would be the biggest race I had ever done.  Did I mention the best part about it...my last row call up.  If you have UCI points you are called up based on how many points you have, if you don't have UCI points then it's a random order.  Lucky me I was given number 55...of 60?  Yes folks, that's a last row call up.  To say the least I was a bit nervous, disappointed, and anxious, but there's nothing I can do about it but try to work hard to get to the front of the race.

Once the race started and we went through the start lap I found myself in the top 20.  I then found myself vying for spots with the top riders at the race.  Within the first 2 laps I realized I was riding with the pros, I was number 55 amongst a sea of sponsored riders.  I realized at that moment, that I could keep up, that I belonged there, that I could do this.  I fought for my placement in Vegas.  I fought for my 13th place, and I couldn't be happier.  13th place out of 46 starters.  What?  I'm still trying to soak this in.  The week after Vegas I had a huge out poor of support from my community, from my team, from people I hardly even know!  I feel like a celebrity, at the races people know my name, they know who I am, and I don't even know if I have ever seen their faces!

Lake Sammammish GP Cat3 Men

With the support I have received from my team (and others)  I will hopefully be able to race all the USGPs, I will hopefully be able to get my name out there, and I will hopefully find my spot in this crazy bike racing scene.  The only love (besides Chris) that keeps me going, that gives me reason to keep riding, to keep moving every day, to wake up early every Sunday and drive for 4-6 hours total to race for 45 minutes, this is Cyclocross and for 4 months of the year I devote my life to this silly sport.

And they lived happily ever after...

Wow, I just had the best week of my life...thus far.

Two Saturday's ago, September 15th, Chris and I shared our vows in front of all of our friends and family (almost 180 people)!  The day was such a blur I don't even know if I remember it!  It was seriously one of the best days of my life.  Yes, timing ran a little...over, with..everything, but I had a ball.  I spent some serious girl time with my best girl friends, and I wed my best friend.  The wedding was amazing.  Chris and I wrote our own vows, we left the ceremony on a tandem bike, then left the wedding on a fire engine for some alone time!  The reception was a blast, even though my father chose to roast me instead of toast the newly wed couple, but I guess it's all for the name of love.  The day and night would not have gone any better without the help of some awesome vendors.

My dad and mom.   

My dear dear (and 8 months pregnant friend) Stefanie did my hair.  She always cuts my hair and I always love it.  She rocks, and works at Salon Bellissima in Fairhaven.  Sarah Rorvig helped me feel like a beautiful princess by doing my make up perfectly!  I wish I could have her make up skills, she is awesome!  Alyssa Brown and her trusty sidekick Andrea Devisser (who was Alyssa's assistant for the day) did a fabulous job acting as our own personal paparazzi.  I am in love with our little bit of what I call "teaser photos" that Alyssa posted on Facebook.  Drew Graham (Wanna Dance, the mobile DJ) was our DJ for the Ceremony and the Reception, and boy did he do a fabulous job.  Lots of feedback regarding his awesome playlist, his ability to manage a crowd, and his amazingly fantastic personality.  I don't think I left the dance floor all night, every song was a hit!  Renea Roberts of Glacier Lily Design acted as our Day of Coordinator, and I couldn't have had a better person for the job.  She was on site the Friday before the wedding making sure set up went well, ran us through the rehearsal, and didn't flinch (too much) when we told her we were riding out of the ceremony on a tandem!  As we all know, I love deserts, so naturally I picked the best dessert shop in town to make my cake.  Pure Bliss Desserts, thank you for making my cake so beautifully simple and elegant.  I didn't want to cut into it!  My new cousin did our flowers, and I LOVED my bouquet!  It was just perfect.  I can't thank my bridesmaids enough. They were so helpful and supportive on the day, I couldn't have picked a better group of girls to stand next to me as I said goodbye to my single life!  

www.alyssabrownphotography.com

Even my brother showed up dressed to impress

It was a perfect day.  Could life have gotten any better after that night?  Stay tuned for my next blog post.  BIG STUFF!  Well...sort of.

What The?

Don't worry, I'm still alive.

I know it may seem as if I have passed, but I'm still here running in circles.  Let me bring you up to date.

June was crazy busy with a race every weekend.  I had fun, rode my bike really hard, lost one of my jobs, and tried to not curse at the weather.  The last weekend of June my friend Tina threw me a bridal shower!  It included my closest friends, and I had such a good time!  I seriously have the best friends a girl could ask for.  THANK YOU!

Happy 5 years!

July came around (faster than I could have asked for it) and then all of the sudden Chris and I had been dating for 5 years.  We did the usual trip to Winthrop for the weekend and we had a blast.  Although unlike the past couple of years, it was HOT!  As in 90 degrees plus.  The first day Joe Brown (owner of the Methow Ski and Cycle) sent us on (what I called) a death march up some long fire road climb, to some pretty awesome single track.  Although I felt like I was only climbing the whole time on the single track, it was pretty fun.  You know it's going to be a long weekend of riding when your legs are already tired and it's only Friday. 

The usual ride!

The folllowing day we did a "mellow" ride called "bear mountain figure 8".  Last year we tried to do this ride but they hadn't cleared one of the trails out, so we did bear mountain figure 0.  Then on Sunday we did the usual highway 20 ride up to Washington Pass.  We left ultra early to beat the heat, but it was still hot as hell when we came down.  We both went through 6 water bottles, it was THAT crazy hot! 

The following weekend I was blessed with a weekend at home!  I didn't have to drive anywhere, but it was also the weekend of the Padden Mountain Pedal.  And since that was literally in my back yard, I HAD to race it.  I wasn't looking forward to it, especially since I was the only open women, but I went out and ended up having a ton of fun.  I love to support as many local races as I can.  Besides, there is nothing like riding the padden course for 5 laps.  The following day a couple of my teammies from Voler/Bicycle Centres came up and us Bellinghamsters played tour guide in the Chuckanuts. 

The weekend after Padden was the last race of the Fat Tire Revolution series.  This race was in Roslyn and I had never raced it, but I wasn't looking forward to it.  To say the least, I was pretty burnt out on racing.  The race didn't start well, or end well.  It was hot and I didn't hydrate pre-race...at all.  So when I stopped sweating and started getting goosebumps I decided to call it quits.  I ended up 2nd in the series overall.

The rest of July went really fast. I had been working on crazy fun wedding plans, and figuring out the fun details of wedding planning. Then we took a vacation to the usual Vancouver Island. We had a complete blast and it was seriously awesome to leave town and not think about anything, espeically wedding planning!

At the top of Mt. Washington.  We climbed, climbed, and climbed!

In case you couldn't tell....

On the decent down from the top.  The Valley is behind us.  Seriously...beautiful views up there. 

Too funny not to pass up



We spent some time on the beach, as usual

Had some river days



Mountain biking on the forbidden plateau, looking down onto Comox Lake

A sand bar island.  Watching as the tide engulfs the fam



And lots of rides to other beaches. 

Alright, we had a really good time.  I almost cleared the toughest stuff ever on the Forbidden Plateau(on my mountain bike), but after having enough jitteries from decending real scary steep downhills, I decided I didn't want to push my limit.  Then...I had a minor crash and decided to walk the rest of the scarys teep stuff.  Next year, my goal will be to clear it ALL!  We spent 11 days on the Island, and it was just right, especially with a wedding right around the corner.  The views in the Comox Valley are absolutly breathtaking.  I love being there so much, I feel so lucky to have a beautiful and awesome place to visit every summer. 

I thought my life would calm down in August, but it didn't.  I had another Bridal Shower, this time thrown by Chris's mom, Sue.  It was a great time!  We had a wedding, and my Bachlorette party to attend!!!  My girls and I decided we wanted to go to Leavenworth, and that we did!!!  What a blast.  We hiked, floated the river, played games, drank tequila, and sang Kareokee.  I couldn't have had a better time.  I would do it again in a heart beat!  LOVE YOU (my friends). 

I am going to make you wait for the juicy details of how the early season cyclocross racing has been going.  I need a whole new post to tell you about that.  Besides, it's time for me to go for a ride in this beautiful sunshine. 

Sun, Beer, elevation, and 60 miles of mountain biking

Mountain biking update #1:  Bavarian Bike and Brews 2012. 

One of the 4 stream crossings in the race

This was my 3rd year at the Bavarian Bike and Brews.  For some reason I keep going back, even though the course is sorta torture!  My first year at this course I raced in the Sport (Cat2) category.  I rode for 2 laps and finished with a time of 1 hour and 42 minutes (and something seconds) average lap of 51 minutes.  I was pretty proud of myself, I climbed to glory (1st place), but I won by a lot of minutes.  So the next year I decided to race in the open category.  I finished with a time of 2 hours and 23 minutes (and something seconds; average lap of 47:30 seconds) with a 3rd place finish by 15 seconds.  I let the girl who placed 2nd pass me about 3/4 of the way up the climb on the last lap, I was SO tired and hot I couldn't push any more than I already was.  Now for this year:

This year I finished with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes and 58 seconds, practically improving by 10 minutes over last years time (average lap time of 44:30).  This year I finished in 2nd place.  Natasha (who won last year too) won this year...once again, she climbed herself to glory, and boy is she strong.  Even though I finished in 2nd place, in my books I won.  I improved my time by nearly 10 minutes, I climbed faster and I decended better.  Every year I can see my improvement and it's SO awesome to feel so accomplished. 

Mountain Biking Update #2:
Next up was the Echo Valley 60 miler.  My first Epic Series race, and LONGEST mountain bike race and ride to date (aside from the 5 laps at the 24 hour).  After being on race high the week post the 24 hour race, I signed up for this 60 mile race.  I'm not really sure what I was thinking, I just wanted to do an epically hard race, and it was pretty tough.  First off I need to tell you how the race promoter judged me and didn't think I was capable of 60 miles. 
If you are reading my blog, you probably know me.  I'm pretty un-assuming, I don't flaunt myself, I just really enjoy riding and racing my bike.  And, to top it off, it's exciting when you see yourself getting faster.

Friday afternoon Chris and I packed the car and headed to Chelan for the race.  We camped out in a big field at the race venue (the most plush camping I must say) <--- but that's because I bought an air mattress and slept in the back of the car.  Saturday morning I woke up to pee around 7 am.  I walked to the bathroom half asleep, but decided since thats where number pick up was, I should get my number while I was over there (the walk was far).  Okay, number pick up was not in the bathroom, but somewhere close by. 

When I stood in front of the sign that said "60" the two men behind the table said to me:
"The 30 miler is over here"
I look at them confused
Judgemental men: "oh, um, uh, are you doing the 30 or 60?"
Courtenay: "oh, for some reason I signed up for the 60 mile race"
Judgemental men: "oh, okay, you just uh...you look so...uh, sleepy.  What's your name"
Courtenay: "Courtenay McFadden"
Then I grabbed my baggie and walked away.  Of course I looked sleepy...I just camped out in your big grass field, and I literally just rolled out of the trunk of the car.  I was confused...I think the men judged me right off the bat, thinking how I could not possibly finish a 60 mile race.  Maybe it was my hot pink Victoria Secret sweatpants?  Who knows...but I showed them!

Riding your road bike for 60 miles is kind of a long way.  Riding your mountain bike for 60 miles is even longer.  I didn't really know how to pace myself for the race, I just knew that I wanted to finish in 5 hours.  The laps where confusing, I don't know where they started and where they ended, and I packed a lot of food and a lot of water.  Thank the weather queens that it wasn't a scorching hot day, we know that Chelan has the potential to be HOT!  I knew that if I wanted to finish in 5 hours I needed to have a 12mph average.  So in order to maintain my pace I made sure that at the start of every (what I thought was a) lap, I made sure I was above a 12mph average.  It worked out pretty well for me.  After the first lap I found myself leading the race.  From there, I think my gap continued to grow.  I was having a blast; passing people, singing, flying down hill, talking to people, just generally having a grand ol' time.  I did pass a lot of grumpy old men who don't know how to hold a pace.  They know how to go slow, sprint, then go slower.  Move way my elders, there's a young doe in town...erg, coming up.  On a positive note, I always try to pass the men with a big smile and a cheer.  Maybe that's what makes them grumpy, a young girl passing them, smiling and saying "good job" even though in reality they are probably hating life and really suffering.  I finished the race with a time of 4 hours, 59 minutes and something seconds.  I finished UNDER my goal!  HECK YEA! 

Some stats: my garmin told me the race was 61 miles.  My garmin also told me there was a total of 7353 feet of elevation gain (ouch)!

For the first lap, I had the privlage to ride with Erika Krumpleman (sp?), an eastsider who totally rocks at mountain biking.  She soloed the 24 hour race and WON!  I can only hope to be as fast as she is when I'm in my 40's.  I am seriously amazed at these women I race against.  A lot of the women I race against are in their 40's.  They are fast, skilled, fit, and challenge me (and kick my booooty)!  For any women out there who thinks she can't get into mountain biking because she's "too old".  Bite your tongue and go for it, you will be amazed at the women out there.  It's inspirational, I thank you all for motivating me every day to ride and race hard!  Seriously, it's a life long commitment to fitness and a healthy life.  Ya'll ROCK!

Next shout out goes to my friend Logan who seriously dominated the course with a finishing time around 4 hours and 12 minutes.  Seriously?  For real.  My fearless team (Voler/Bicycle Centres)leader Russell came in shortly there after (like 10 seconds or something redic). 

Check out some race photos:
http://stevesandersphotography.com/p1028610453/ed6fd7e2#h2356733 (this is is really special)

http://stevesandersphotography.com/p1028610453/ed6fd7e2#h3be8b576

http://stevesandersphotography.com/p1028610453/ed6fd7e2#h2d96fe9f

I am not a photogenic one on the bike. 

Life in the fast lane

Holy smokes, life is going by REALLY fast!  Can you believe I only have 100+a handful of days until the wedding!  People have asked me if I'm stressed yet, I say no, what is there to be stressed about?  I just hope everything falls into place! 
Recently things/life/riding/racing have been going pretty well.  We had a couple weeks of nothing but sunshine and I was able to get in some awesome riding on both my road bike and mountain bike!  I have been on some pretty epic mountain bike rides and it's been fanfreakin' tastic.  You can check me out on Strava to admire my rides. 

Jess rocking the climb...every lap.
 I'm suffering behind

Way back in the middle of May was the Mutual of Enumclaw (MOE) Stage Race and when I look back at it, I can't be all that upset with my performance (just my results).  The race starts out with a 10k TT, I love it because it's short.  My goal was to improve my time from last year, and I did, so I should be happy right?  I improved my time by 40seconds, that's pretty good.  It put me at 19th place though.  My teammate Jess won the TT, so she was in the leaders jersey for the crit!  My job was to try to get as many of the time bonus's as I could, and oh yea...try to win.  At the begining of the race I sort of played some idiotic moves and nearly fried myself and ended up being way too freakin' tired to go for the first time bonus prime, but Jess ended up getting 2nd for it.  So I sat in as much as possible after that, and when the 2nd time bonus prime came around I played it MUCH smarter, until the last corner.  I was sitting just behind a gal in 2nd place thinking "Man I can try to take her for this time bonus".  One of my teammates was on the last corner and yelled "get on her wheel" so I got motivated and acted as the CAT4 racer and pedaled too early, clipped my pedal on the ground and performed some fancy moves to stay upright, didn't get to sprint, but won a 2 second time bonus...OH YEA!  I finished with the pack...maybe in 10th?  Moving me up to 16th in the GC



Another lap...miserable weather.

Looking back on the race I am finally seeing how much better I am at staying near the front and playing it somewhat aggressively, and not just sitting in.  Being scared doesn't get you anywhere, and I am finally figuring that out.  I also am learning that being in/near the front, is SO much better than having 20 of my closet friends surrounding me as I/we corner at 23 MPH.   I am also learning it's all about positioning to finish well.  If you want to finish well, position yourself to finish well.  Position yourself BEFORE the last lap and then hold your ground!!!

Riding through the master mens field

After such a lovely warm day on Saturday, the weather decided it needed to go back to it's normal Enumclaw weather and on Sunday it poured...all...day...long.  The weather was miserable and I didn't want to race.  Since it has officially almost been a month since this race and I am now finally finishing this blog post, I don't want to go into details, and you don't really care either.  The 60 mile race went something like this: I was having a great race, climbing strong, working hard staying with the leaders.  SO, after working realllly hard for basically the whole race and feeling pretty good about my performance, I pull the group (of...5 riders) to the final climb, and just as we start to climb I shift down to my small ring, and guess what happens.  My chain dropped to the inside and wouldn't get back on.  So I pulled over to put it back on and couldn't get the damn freakin' chain on!  It took me about 3-4 minutes of fiddling with it to get it on, and I lost a lot of time and a lost of positions.  I did however, remain quite calm.  I'm proud of myself for not freakin' out and finishing the race.  I am pretty sure I could have finished with the top 3 leaders, which would have put me in the top 4.  OH WELL!  You can't change things, and I can be proud of my performance.  So I am! 

Enumclaw pretty much wraps up my road racing for the season, it's time to get on my mountain bike and race it!  I can't wait for some dry warm weather and some mountain biking adventures!

Lets thank Kevin Tu (one of my teammates husband) for all of his wonderful pictures.  He comes and supports us at all the races Carly does and he takes pictures while he is at it.  Such a fantastic husband! 

Tah Tah For Now!

My solo finish home.  That's a sad faceunder the helmet.