Andrea

80 miles, tractors, and a near-epic chili failure

Even though I stayed up late last night for a Christmas party, I managed to drag my butt out of bed early enough to start a crock pot of sweet potato chili before my planned 10:00 departure for my long solo base ride. Everything looked good- I even remembered to turn the Crock Pot on! There’s nothing better after a long, chilly ride than a giant bowl of chili, right?

So I head out on my ride (I altered the last bit to go through Arlington in order to make it longer, so it was close to 80 rather than 74):

After 3 hours of riding, I made a stop at the infamous “Cat Pee Store” on the north side of Oakland. It was closed, but it’s got couches on the porch, so it’s still a nice place to take a break and have a snack. While I was there, I got a text message from Ryan:
“Do you mean for crock pot to be cooking? It is unplugged!”

Oops. So at the time of this posting, I’m having leftovers instead of chili. It will be ready by dinner time, but it would have been much worse if my goof-up hadn’t been caught!

So I head back out towards home. Along the way, I was on Hwy 196 outside of Galloway (it’s not on the above route since I changed plans mid-ride). I ride up behind a large tractor with two men on it- a driver and his passenger. They’re going about 15mph, and I was cruising at 17-18mph. So, I go to pass them… the passenger starts lauging and pointing at me- and the driver guns the motor to match my speed. The passenger is still laughing, and in the distance, there is a car coming in the lane that I’m trying to use to pass. WTF?! Effing rednecks. So, rather than slow down and get back behind them, I (for lack of a better term) attack the bejezus out of the tractor and ride my butt off until I was sure that they weren’t going to catch back up with me. They were close for a minute. It kinda sucked. I got away, though, so it’s all good. I imagine they’re back at home sippin’ Natty Lite and tellin’ me-maw & the kids about some crazy idjut on a bike that they were messin’ with the same way I’m telling the story about some backwoods rednecks not wanting to share their tractor-transporting road.

Thankfully, the rest of the ride was uneventful (though I did get chased by several dogs earlier in the ride). I felt like I still had a little “go” in my legs near the end, which is a nice feeling.

Andrea

Product Review: Descente “Wombat” Gloves

…possibly another addition to my “top 10 favorite things of all time” list.

Those of you that know me might know that I have HORRIBLE problems with cold hands in the winter. I have all the syptoms of Reynaud’s Phenomena, so cold hands to me aren’t just uncomfortable- they’re effing PAINFUL and put me at risk for tissue damage.

Because of this, good gloves are a must for me. I’ve got a pair of Pearl Izumi “lobster” gloves, which I don’t especially like because A) They’re PI, and I think that PI is trash for their latest ad campaign, B) the liner is really bulky, and C) if I sweat in them, they get reeeealy cold and cause my usual hand issues.

So, when it got cold out, I went out in search of something less bulky than the lobsters, and NOT made by PI (I swear, if you have any respect for female cyclists, you’ll avoid giving them your money). Enter the Descente “Wombat” glove. They’re a mid to heavyweight glove that have a cool little wind/waterproof “mitten” cover that can either wrap around your fingers or tuck into the back of the glove if not needed. They’ve also got a decent amount of snot-wipe area, and stretchy, articulated knuckles.


I LOVE these! The knuckles make them much more “wearable” than other gloves in the same category- meaning that you don’t have to take them off if you want to lock a door, use an allen key to adjust your saddle, zip your jacket, etc. The finger cover is the absolute BEST feature, though. I pull it over my fingers for the first few minutes of a cold ride while I’m warming up, then tuck it in, and will get it back out any time my fingers threaten to lose circulation… and it’s worked so far!

Yesterday was a great test- temps in the low 40’s, and two hours of riding followed by a 10 minute rest stop and another two hours of riding. Typically, the worst pain I experience is following a rest stop- my gloves are sweaty, then I stop, and both me and the sweat cools off, so when I start back, the cold, wet gloves will often cause the painful vasospasm associated with Reynaud’s. After my rest stop, I pulled the windproof covers over my fingers and it prevented this from happening! Not to say that my hands didn’t get a bit cold, because they did. They just didn’t get to the point of losing circulation & going numb.

As long as these don’t disintegrate like the Gore Vulcano gloves I bought last year, they’re WELL worth the $55.00 I paid at the LBS (you can get them cheaper online, but I can’t stand buying gloves w/out trying them on).

UPDATE: I wore them today w/temps in the 30’s, and they were comfy. I’ve seen reports of people using them in colder temps, but I think that I’ve found my personal limit for them.

Andrea

Addition to my top 10 list of favorite things…

Pristine, perfect bar tape in a color other than black (I think that black tape actually increases rolling resistance and take 5 watts off of your FTP).

I just wrapped the handlebars of Ryan’s Ridley CX bike after he replaced them following his carbon fiber mishap.

Enjoy:

Hanging next to my cross-check:

Andrea

OK, I admit, I used pre-baked pizza crust…

…AND pineapple from a can!

Today has been busy-
After a couple of french-presses worth of coffee, Ryan and I rode out to Shelby Farms. I’ve been coaching him into a short-term overreaching cycle in order to get him on form for Cyclocross Nationals in Kansas City (exactly two weeks from today). Today, we used the cross-country running course on the north side of the park. It’s about two miles long, and a perfect CX practice course. After riding a warm-up loop, I rode ahead of him and created some makeshift barriers out of strategically placed logs (I even managed to create a sweet forced run-up!) The interval I prescribed was tough: two minutes of all-out hammering followed by three minutes of “recovery” at an LT effort, for 30 minutes. Right off the bat, Ryan noticed that one side of his handlebars felt a little “off,” but he finished the workout anyway.
After that, we rode back home, had a snack, and headed back out on our road bikes for a two hour ride that included several more (shorter, less intense) intervals and one hill attack.

Beware… what follows gets somewhat domestic (again)!

Ryan had to go to the Outdoors, Inc. store on Union to pick up some new handlebars (see link above), as well as stop by his workplace for a little while. Meanwhile, I did some dishes, washed clothes (damn winter riding laundry!), went to the store…
Afterward, I removed the cables & housings from Ryan’s CX bike and snapped some photos of the carbon fiber explosion. He came home & worked on the re-installation while I made dinner: pear, walnut & gorgonzola salad (with arugala… yum!), and Hawiian pizza (I promise- they go surprisingly well together).

Which brings us back to the title of this blog entry…

Andrea

Beat the Freak CX- Sunday Edition

Sunday was a nice learning experience.

When racers were called for the start of the singlespeed race, only one other entrant- p1/2 racer Jeremy Chandler, came to the line. I figured I was in for a beatdown & probable lapping at some point during the race, but he told me that riding alone was boring, and that he’d stick with me. It was actually a great experience- he gave me a wheel to follow through some tricky sections of the course where I’d tend to slow down, offered a little advice, and generally pushed me to ride as hard as possible. At one point, the race promoter yelled an offer of a $50 bonus to me if I beat him. I told Jeremy that if he let me win, I’d gladly split the bonus money. So, on the last lap, I buried myself. Once, in the wind, Jeremy offered a draft (I think I proposed marriage at that point), but otherwise, he rode behind/beside me and yelled at me to go faster. He let me take the race by a wheel. Later, at payout time, the $50 bonus was “forgotten,” so I gave Jeremy back the difference between 1st/2nd place prize money. He could have easily ridden off and left me on my own for the 45min race, but was nice enough to not only ride with me, but offer some help & encouragement, so I felt that it was the least I could do.

Here’s a shot that Ryan took from the sidelines:

As for my second race… it was a learning experience as well. I learned that if I want to kick some butt, don’t race earlier in the day! Not only did I finish DFL (unlike the Saturday, when I managed to pass a few of the men), I also got lapped by at least half the field within the last two laps of the race. It was all I could do to drag myself around the course for 5 laps!

There were a few people taking photos, so hopefully I’ll get a few up this week.

Ryan raced well in his races, though was a bit dissapointed to finish in 2nd place on both days.

Andrea

Beat the Freak CX Race- Saturday Edition

I was the sole CX 1/2/3 woman lining up today with the 1/2/3 men for a 45 minute race. I let the guys go ahead of me, but kept the DFL man in my sights. After a lap, I began to pass him. Of course, he sped up and passed me, only to be caught again within the next lap. I laughed at him little… he was a little miffed and said if he hadn’t just raced his ass off that he could easily beat me. Ah… the male ego (eyeroll). I managed to pull in a couple of other guys for a total of 3: a 1/2 and two cat 3s.

Tomorrow I plan on doubling up & racing the single speed category (I’m expecting similar results) along with my usual women’s race.

Here is some post-race mud hotness:

Andrea

Highway 196

For the locals that visit my blog-

In case you didn’t know (though you probably do), a half-decent shoulder has been installed on Highway 196 between Gallaway and Piperton. I rode a good length of it today (from Seward to Ral-Lagrange), and, while there is still a little more traffic moving a little faster than I prefer, riding on the shoulder seemed to help stave off road rage on the part of the motorists.

Hopefully, with the completion of Highway 385 (scheduled for next summer, I believe), much of the traffic will be diverted from both Collierville-Arlington Road and 196. Both are nice roads for riding that have been inundated with some pretty nasty traffic as Memphis residents flee the city and seek safer residence in the outlying areas.

Andrea

Outdoors, Inc. TN State Championship CX Race

AKA “My Unofficial Women’s SS State Championship Win”

I raced in my 3rd CX race ever yesterday (2nd if you’re only counting the “real” races). It was tough going, but pretty fun. Kym Flynn, an Expert MTB chick from Vantaggio in Chattanooga, was the only other CX 1/2/3 competing, and, not surprisingly, beating the snot out of me! I’ve been mainly base training the past month, and she’s been tearing up the TBRA CX scene, so my fitness for this race doesn’t quite compare :D Oh yeah… the singlespeed setup didn’t help, either. I ran a 42 x 17, which turned out to be just a tiny bit too big- the hills were very hard and I wasn’t spinning out on the flat sections, so I think I could have swung an 18t in the back and felt “just right.” Live & learn, right?

I did manage to pull off one of the funnier falls of the day… one steep section of course required either a run-up or a LOT of speed and determination. On my first lap, I wasn’t focused on the turn before the hill and stalled out, which resulted in the obligatory “waddle uphill while straddling the bike.” Next time around, I got a little too excited, pulled my front wheel off the ground, and tried to set it back down sideways… which doesn’t work too well. The resulting fall was laughed at by many! (myself included). Remaining laps were fine… I hauled a** around the turn and attacked the hill and made it over without a hitch- notice the lean in the photo below- you prettymuch had to maintain speed from the previous downhill in order to have enough momentum to make it up on the SS…

It sort of reminded me of a criterium at this point...

Ryan pulled off a 3rd place finish in the men’s CX3 category. I yelled my head off at him through most of the race and took a few photos until the camera batteries died. He also managed to make the front page of the local section of the Memphis newspaper in this photo:

Photos from the A & B races can be seen in his Gallery

Jd3 from the Roadbike Review forums was there taking som photos as well- you can see all of them in his forum post, but here are some highlights…

Valerie (CX4), KC (CX4), me, and Kym toe the line
Valerie (CX4), KC (CX4), me, and Kym toe the line
Tiny front triangle & abnormally long arms makes for plenty of suitcasing action
I screwed the subsequent re-mount up every lap
Jumping onto the abnormally large log barrier