TSE Recap: Kristin and Nikki   

This is your first stage race?  You girls will learn a lot!  

We kept asking ourselves, "what do they mean?"  and "why won't they just tell us?"   

But, in time we realized that these are lessons that truly need to be learned.     

After Stage 4  I treated myself to a teaberry custard which landed me in the hospital for two days with food poisoning.  Nikki missed stage 5 because she was hanging with me at the Mt. Nittany Hospital (a true best bud), but returned for stage 6 and represented!  After two days ofJell-o, Who's the Boss re-runs, watching the National Spelling Bee on ESPN, and a lot of sleeping (in a comfortable Hill-Rom bed - just wanted to make sure our sponsors got a shout-out!)  I returned to Boy Scout Camp to casually ride Stage 7 with everybody.    

Nikki and I drove home feeling slightly underwhelmed, it wasn't because the TSE was underwhelming.  It was an incredibly well planned race with beautiful routes and fun people.  We hope to return next year, with a few learned lessons in our pockets (like don't eat the teaberry custard).    

Lessons Learned:

1. Don't miss the arrows - pay attention!!
2. Bring a quick link  - ALWAYS
3. Leave a spare chain and parts at the support stops
4. Don't eat teaberry custard!  PERIOD THE END!
5. Our friendship is stronger than we had ever imagined!

So, why not return to State College again for another epic day of racing next week? 

Steady pedaling - Stoopid 50: Kristin and Nikki  

After arriving at the hotel in State College to find that Back to Future was on TV, we didn't think the weekend could get much better!    

We awoke to a muggy morning in which showers were lingering, fortunately the skies waited until the first 10 minutes of the 2010 Stoopid 50 to open up.  Nikki and I each struggled, each in our own ways.  I threw myself over the handlebars about 10 miles in (hitting a big rock with not enough speed) and tragically destroyed my Honka-horn.  Ray Adams helped me, brushed me off, and picked up the pieces of the horn - which represented the pieces of my soul.  I felt like I was just getting battered by the course and the wet.  But, I kept ticking away - what else was I to do?  

After about 2 hours and a Snickers bar, I started to get my mojo back, but it wasn't until 4 hours and 53 minutes that I finally closed in on the leader.  Having never been in this position (closing in on  the leader nearly 5 hours into a race - unsure of how far the finish was) I tried to be strategic: I ate, I drank, I rode steady until I settled in behind her, recovered, then put in a hard effort on a long, stiff climb.  Then, rode like I was being chased!  I was able to find a rider that had the mileage to find that I was about 1 mile from the finish - a very technical mile.    

In a time of 5 hours and 17 minutes I managed to finish first - a very hard win!  

Nikki  also struggled, mostly with her inner-demons for the first 8-10 miles of the race –often wondering what she was thinking returning to race 50 miles one week after the TSE and wondering if she could call it quits at the first checkpoint.  As she approached the first checkpoint, she encountered fellow racer Janel Demeter, who reminded her that r acing a bike was supposed to be fun and that it was a beautiful day to do so.  Nikki used this to find her happy place and turn the engines on.  By the time she reached the second checkpoint, she’d brought a 29 minute gap down to about 19 minutes.  News of this plus a great course was fuel enough to keep Nikki working hard and  close the gap between she and second place to about 9 minutes, finishing third for the day!

Marysville 3-Day Relay: Team Kristin and Zach  

Mike Kuhn is a cruel cruel man!   I mentioned this to his father at the TSE and his father copied down my race number and "reported me".  But I am telling you, this man creates courses that destroy!  

Friday night I set up camp with the Trestle Bridge Folks (how fun!) before Zach and I took off on the night team time trial.  Feeling like I was working the cob webs off - the first 10 minutes were tough, but we boogied nonetheless!    

Saturday morning at 10:00 am the 8 hour relay began.  Zach went HARD out of the blocks - winning the lap, recording the fastest lap of the day, and sending me out on to the course FIRST!  This was fun when 8 minutes into the lap fast men started picking me off one after the next.  BUT - did set me up for one of the highlights of the day.  I asked the rider back if they wanted to pass and the response I got was, "you're okay, you're riding well like you usually do," only to find that it was Chris Beck.  WHAT AN ABSOLUTE COMPLIMENT!  

Lap one felt hard, as I am sure it did for Zach.  My second lap felt great - I rode clean, hard, and steady, knowing full well that there were many more laps to come.  At this point we were in the lead for co-ed duo's, but this didn't last long as the fastest couple on the east coast was ticking away and closing in.  Sometime in the middle of the day Ron Harding passed Zach, and Zach temporarily disappeared.  When he emerged we learned that he had torn off his rear derailleur (a condition I believe I am the primary carrier for and it's contagious) and cracked his frame.  He picked up Ron's rigid singlespeed to finish out the day.    

After over 8 hours of racing, and 5 laps each, Zach and I finished second in the co-ed duo category.  It was the hardest day of racing I had experienced all year!  But, nothing big s'mores couldn't take care of…  

Sunday was nothing but fun!  After critical thinking and strategizing, I failed miserably at the "huck a huffy" competition - but I think it helped me get my energy back for the 1 hour relay short track we were about to embark on.  I actually think they should call this funtrack, not short track!    

Zach's face captures the fun of the short track - as does Rob L.'s commentary, "animal house".   After 52 minutes of turning out sub-4:00 minute laps we finished 4 overall duo, 2 co-ed duo (again to the fast as heck Hardings!).  It was this 52 minutes of racing that reminded me why I race bikes and how fun cyclocross season is - going fast is fun!  

So, it's July, I'm absolutely wrecked, a new homeowner and balancing two jobs, developing Gearing Up www.gearing-up.org and managing the bicycle ambassadors with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.    I'm not sure what the rest of July has in store for me - other than continuing to ride with Kaitlyn (did someone say animal house) in preparation of her first race at the Summer Sizzler, working hard, and preparing to turn my endurance legs in to something fast….