Velo Mom

12 hours of Mesa Verde has turned into one of my favorite races.  There is free camping onsite and your registration gets you a women’s tee and dinner after the event! 100% of the proceeds go to local non-profits that serve local youth.  The entire race committee are unpaid volunteers.  This year the race sold out in 36 hours .  There were over 800 racers that were either solo, duo or 3-4 person team members.  There was 2000-3000 people at the event this year! The course (a little under 17 miles) is nearly 100% singletrack, with no climbs longer than a minute, and no long straightaways. It’s twisty singletrack which means there’s not too many places to relax…somewhat of a  power course.  But power courses are good for me. I’m usually able to hammer in the big ring no matter how tired I am. Both Randy and I were on Duo teams which meant we would do over 65 miles…which might not be so good for me.

We arrived Thursday night so we could pre-ride the course on Friday. I got out early and then Randy and Kalden went out before lunch. Kalden rode almost the entire course(minus a more technical 5 mile section called Stinking  Springs)…12 miles of singletrack.  We went into town after to get race packets and dinner before settling back into camp for the night. The night went better than expected. Our kids slept well and this year there were no generators or barking dogs keeping us up.

The race is a Lemans start which means the first person to ride has to run to their bike. I am not a runner! Really, I am  not a runner.  But I was the stronger rider on the team and don’t mind getting caught up the train of riders that happens on the first lap so I started. My run actually went well. I got into a good position at the back of the fast riders. I felt great the entire lap and ended up coming in strong at exactly 1:30. The top duo female was Jenny Smith and she came in at 1:24, which was fast! I think we were in 2nd place at that point. Then…

The wheels fell off the bike on my 2nd lap (literally). I got a flat. No big deal I have Stans No Tubes whose tagline is “Virtually eliminates flat tires.” I went through two C02 cartridges (all I had) and it was still flat. Turns out I tore a pretty nice hole in the tire that was too large for Stans to seal back up. I finally broke the bead and tried to patch it. No luck.  I will spare the details as it was embarrassing how long this took me to get it sorted out. In the end I put a tube in and it held until the last 1/2 mile where it busted through the tire and I flatted again. I walked in pretty frustrated and defeated. I thought I could pull a lap in the 1:20s and I was walking in at just over 2 hours. The worst part was that I also missed Kalden’s race. If I had done the lap time I wanted I would have been back to see him race.  He understood and our friend was there to help but I hate missing those moments. I guess he didn’t need us because he placed 3rd in the 7-9 year olds. He was very excited and is still discussing race tactics with us.

I had a little over an hour to get my bike taken care of and my attitude adjusted after that 2nd lap. Luckily the local bike shop had a mechanic there and he hooked me up while I refueled and tried to rest. My third lap went okay. I felt on the verge of bonking towards the end but I managed to pull a 1:37 lap time.  Since my teammate came in before 6pm after her third lap I was “lucky” enough to get a 4th lap in leaving around 5:45. While I was tired my attitude was better which helped push through a tired body. I actually had fun on that last lap and came in with a 1:39 lap time. I was happy with the day and it felt great to get in over 65 miles on my bike. We ended up 8th out of 21 teams. Randy and his teammate also had a good race. They were 16th out of 70 teams.

If you ever find yourself in SW Colorado in May I highly recommend the 12 hours of Mesa Verde. If you can’t make the race be sure to check out the Phil’s World trail sometime. It’s one fun course (even a little more fun than 18 road in Fruita).

This is a guest post from my husband Randy (let’s call him Velo Dad). He is in Silver City racing for this birthday. Free and clear of all husband and Dad duties for 5 days!

Final day at The Tour of the Gila and they save the best for last.  Today’s stage is called “The Gila Monster.” It’s 72 miles with over 5000 feet of climbing, most of it over the final 20 miles. I woke up feeling well rested and we were off at 8AM. The first few miles were a neutral procession through town then the racing began after we reached the town edge. I think everyone was nervous about the last 20 miles because the first 50 were at a fairly gentle pace. We had a few attacks and surges but for the most part we just cruised it.

The real climbing started once we crossed Sapillo Creek. From there it went up and up and up…everytime I came around a corner I expected it to be the top and it wasn’t! Luckily, the legs felt good and although the field split and then blew to pieces I was hanging pretty tough and felt I was keeping a good pace. After 10 miles of climbing you top out then it’s a bombing technical descent for 10 miles. The rest was nice but I still had to really pay attention. I managed to hold position for the most part on the descent (this race has taught me I’m not a great descender) and with 2 miles to go we started the final climb. I was crushing myself to gain places because at this point a lot of riders had blown up and were crawling in. I was dying but was still able to push it. My heart rate was 185 and I felt like I was flying up the final slope passing people. It was a lot of fun but crushing!
Ride stats: 70 miles (started my Garmin late) 5450ft of climbing. I placed 38th on the stage which was not as good as I expected but my best placing of the week. Still not bad for the week considering I never rode any of the courses. Had a blast!

This is a guest post from my husband Randy (let’s call him Velo Dad). He is in Silver City racing for this birthday. Free and clear of all husband and Dad duties for 5 days!

Day 3 of at Tour of the Gila. I woke up feeling pretty good today but with some nerves. I don’t consider myself a crit racer and I think they are incredibly dangerous. After a good warm up we all took the line and we were off. The course was actually great, super wide with fast sweeping turns and plenty of room for everyone. After the start finish straight you make a left and continue flat for about three blocks then hook another left and hit a steep punchy climb.  This little climb was about 10-15 seconds of redline effort then it was over. From there a descent then little climb which you had momentum to roll right up. Then comes the left turn and descent into the super fast turn onto the finish straight.
All was well for about 10 of the 15 laps, I felt great and everyone was riding safe and giving each other room. On about that 10th lap I was sitting mid-pack and the lead rider went into the turn a bit to quick I guess. Anyway, according to others in the crash he panicked, locked up and laid the bike down. This set off a huge chain reaction of crashes and as I came through I just saw a bike cart wheeling 10ft in the air out of the corner of my eye! Phew, made it through that! The race was still on and the pace was high as we came around for another lap. With no official in the road or anyone telling up to slow down we rocketed into the corner and the carnage from the 1st wreck was still there! More riders piled into the previous crash, it was nuts. At that point we as a group decided to neutralize the race for a lap. Once the neutral lap was completed and we knew the course was clear we had 3 laps to go. The pace kicked up again and I hung in until the finish.
Looking forward to getting back to ROAD RACING tomorrow!

This is a guest post from my husband Randy (let’s call him Velo Dad). He is in Silver City racing for this birthday. Free and clear of all husband and Dad duties for 5 days!

Day 2 here at The Tour of the Gila brought the individual time trail, AKA the race of truth. It’s called the race of truth because there is no where to hide. In a road race or criterium you can draft off the riders in front of or beside you, cutting the wind and your work load by up to 30%. In a time trial it’s you on your own against the clock.

My start time was not until 1:33 in the afternoon so after a nice slow morning I rolled into town for an early lunch at 11:00. After lunch I cruised out of town to set up at the race venue. All the big pro teams were still there including the Trek LiveStrong development team. Their director is Axel Merckx and I got to see him hanging out at his team car. It was pretty cool because he gave us the idea to name our son Axel.
After a good warm up it was time to get near the start line. It was a bit shocking to see how many in my field actually had a TT bike! This is a $5K (give or take) piece of machinery you are going to use maybe 3 times a year!

Anyway, I was just racing on my standard road bike and it showed up pretty quick. The rear disc on a TT bike acts kind of like a sail in cross winds so on flats and down hills those guys were flying. Luckily their were also some up hills. I was passed by 3 people on the way out and brought two of them back on the final 8% climb. Once up the climb it was a 5 mile down hill screamer to the finish. I was spun out in my 53×11. One guy passed me on the way down, he was pushing a 55×11 ! I was really happy with my effort today, I kept my heart rate between 175-185 the whole way (big effort) and finished with a time of 48.47 which put me in 59th. Not great in position but again I felt I gave 100% out there so no regrets.
Tomorrow, the downtown criterium which is probably my least favorite type of race. We’ll see how it goes, stay tuned.

This is a guest post from my husband Randy (let’s call him Velo Dad). He is in Silver City racing for this birthday. Free and clear of all husband and Dad duties for 5 days!

Day one at Tour of the Gila is in the books and the nerves are settling a bit. I’ve never done a stage race of this size (or any size actually) and so far it’s been an amazing although scary experience.

Stage one started just outside of Silver City in Pinos Altos. All everyone was talking about was the initial descent and how dangerous it was (great!).  At the line the race organizer was going on and on about it “you won’t win the race being first down and when you crash we’ll have to call in a helicopter to get you out of here”. Oh, perfect now I feel better. Anyway, soon enough we were off on some nice rolling back roads. The pace was quick but very manageable and before I knew it we were going downhill. The road is very narrow with many switchbacks and lots of shadows as you come in and out of the sun. My plan was to hang at the back and sort of tail gun it, play it safe. On the second turn I had one guy on the inside of me and another on the outside, the outside guy chopped my line causing me to crank on the brakes. The next thing I know I’m skidding sideways through the turn yelling every expletive I can come up with. I got it straight again but was certainly a bit rattled and made my way to the bottom. As we hit the valley floor the pack had a pretty good gap on me and the wind was picking up a bit. I still had 45 miles to go and I was off the back!

Luckily, after about 15 minutes of riding alone a pack came up from behind. I honestly thought it was the Cat 4′s or something then I recognized some faces. “Sweet I’m saved!” and I wasn’t the slowest down that thing. I got in with these guys and we all worked really well chasing. After a 15 or so mile chase we caught back onto the main pack. I was psyched and actually feeling pretty good.

At mile 50 we reached the feed zone then in pitched up for the final 15 miles to the finish. It’s pretty amazing how quickly you can go from felling good to BOOM BOOM, out go the lights. Within a couple of miles I was off the back and everyone was steadily riding away from me. Not a good feeling but I was close enough that I knew I’d reach the finish well before the time cut. So I settled into my happy place and grinded out the last 10 miles. It was 10 miles of pure hell and as I concentrated on eating and drinking I thought to myself …THIS IS AWSOME!
Final Placing Stage 1: 44th (out of 71)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has put together a yearly event encouraging children, families, schools and communities to go Screen Free and make changes toward a more active outdoor lifestyle.  This year the event is being held April 30th- May 6th.

Tales of a Mountain Mama has put together a group of bloggers to help support and publicize this initiative.   I am glad to support this effort to get kids and families outdoors and active.

 

Exploring Nature with Bikes

With summer right around the corner it’s time to start thinking about getting the kiddos outside. No more excuses about the weather. If you want them away from computer and TV screens then you are going to need more than one outdoor activity to keep them entertained. Biking is a perfect activity to explore nature.  Here are 4 tips to get you started.

1. Introduce kids early. Balance bikes, like the Strider, are a perfect introduction. You can start kids at around 18 months. Let them have fun and learn at their pace. I often see Moms with a Strider hanging off the top of their stroller. This is a great idea. Take it out when you get to a nice grassy spot or a safe part of the trail. When they are done riding, they can climb back into the stroller to rest.  I find the combination of walking/hiking, biking and recovery in the stroller gives toddlers a great experience exploring nature with all their senses and emerging motor skills.

2. Use the bike instead of the car. If we have a day planned that may not involve a true nature outing we try to bike there. An example is our weekly trip to the local hot springs pool in the summer. Instead of driving along the busy highway we get on our bikes and take the back way which is a dirt road. This road offers amazing scenery and we always spot wildlife since the road is not heavily traveled. It’s a 10 mile trip so we always take an extended break at a beautiful mountain lake.

3. Look for family friendly trails. There is a new trend at state and even national parks to open family friendly singletrack trails for mountain bikers. I think this is brilliant.  While hiking and camping offer amazing opportunities to explore parks, mountain biking opens up a whole opportunity to get those reluctant kids out of the car. Your teenage son may not think hiking 10 miles sounds better than playing video games in the car, but what if he could bike down a fun trail while also seeing all that the park has to offer. Dead Horse State Park in Utah has done an amazing job of introducing mountain bike trails to the beginner/family.  Look for one in your area.

4. Stop to enjoy. It’s easy to get caught up in mountain biking as a sport or recreational activity because it’s so much fun. When you are with your kids make sure you stop frequently to take in the environment. You will need breaks anyway since their little legs can only pedal for so long. Use these breaks to discuss local flowers/plants, throw sticks, read nature signs or whatever your local trail offers. The idea is that while biking is fun, it ‘s also a way to introduce the concepts of protecting and enjoying the earth.

Hope these tips inspire you to get away from the screen and enjoy some family time exploring nature on your bikes!

I’ve been enjoying a few new things this Spring that I’d like to share. At the end you can enter to win a really cool outdoor gift!

Before the ride:

Beyond Coastal Sunscreen: I found out about Beyond Coastal outdoor sunscreen through the Environmental Working Group list about which sunscreens are the safest.   They have rated high for the past three years. In addition I liked that they are a small company focused on outdoor athletes and families. When we went to Costa Rica this winter for a month I took the Beyond Coastal Natural Clear, SPF 30 , Beyond Coastal Active Lip Balm, SPF 15 , Beyond Coastal Kids Natural, SPF 30 , Beyond Coastal Lip and Face Screen, SPF 30 , and Beyond Coastal Active, SPF 30 . I also took two cans of the Kiss My Face Sport Clear Spray, SPF 50 . I’m not a sunscreen aficionado and to be honest I love the ease of the spray. My issue with the spray is that is lasted only 2 days. You need to re-apply all the time when sweating or swimming. At about $15 a bottle we went through $30 in sunscreen in less than 1 week. Once that was gone, I used the Beyond Coastal.  It lasted the entire trip and I still have the lip balm and Natural Clear left. It goes on thick so while I still have to battle my children to get it on, I only have to do it once or twice a day rather than spraying them every hour. My favorites are the Active line and lip balm. The active line goes on thick and lasts but it doesn’t leave white spots over your body. It goes on and then drys without residue. The lip balm is super smooth and moisturizing. I use it even when I’m not in the sun- it’s that good. I can’t believe I still have some left!

My two cents – While it costs a little more than your average sunscreen from Target it will last far longer and is much safer for your body and environment. This is very important to me, especially with my kids.

Coconut Water: One cup of coconut water provides about 90 mg of sodium, 278 mg of chloride and 60 mg of magnesium, some of the most prominent electrolytes. It also provides 600 mg of potassium per 1 cup, more than a banana. Some probably use coconut water apres-ride but I like it to hydrate before going out, especially if I ride later in the day. Sometimes I am bad about drinking enough during the day and nothing is worse than starting a ride dehydrated. After trying a number of brands my favorite is the 100% Pure Vita Coco.

My two cents -It’s expensive so save it for days when you feel that you need more of an electrolyte kick than just plain water.

During the ride:

29er: I finally jumped on the 29er bandwagon with a Jamis D29 Pro. I only have a few rides under my belt but I believe the hype! Actually I still don’t want it as my only bike but it’s been great for the smooth trails around here. I also took it up a technical trail in Moab and I found it easier to get my bike over the rock obstacles. I wanted my 6 inch travel on the way down but I guess you can’t have everything. I’m very excited to race with it this year at the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde.

Technical T-shirt: Although not designed to be a cycling shirt I have worn my Sport Science tee a few times to ride. One day I wore the women’s smarter basics tee all day in Fruita. To hang out at camp, to ride and to sleep. It held up as I never felt the need to change it due to smell or moisture. It also held up really well after multiple washing. There is no fading or those tiny pills you often get with tees.

My two cents – It’s an affordable alternative to all those $50 technical shirts and works just as well.

After the ride:

Protein Bars: CLIF just released 3 new flavors of their Builder’s Block protein bar. S’mores, Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter. My son found the stash so I had to fight to get a sample of each. They are a lot better than some of the other protein bars on the market. We are also fans of the Chocolate Mint flavor. I alternate between chocolate milk and these bars after a good workout. Protein and Carbs are important after exercise. To learn more check out the protein calculator at CLIFBuilders.com.

My two cents: Buy them and immediately hide them from your children.

Wine Glasses: After the milk one must have a glass of wine, right? If you’re a cyclist then you need, yes need, the On the Wheel cycling wine glasses by Colorado artist Amanda Acheson. We’ve had ours for about a month and love them (maybe too much).

My two cents: They are only $40 for a set. I saw more expensive wine glasses at Target and they didn’t have the incredible cycling artwork on them. Also, it’s good to support small artists. I will also say at FUDOG has great customer service. We had an issue with one of ours and he sent out a replacement the next day!

And now for the giveaway. Beyond Coastal is giving away an Active Sampler Pack! Please leave a comment on this post and then check out Velo Mom and Beyond Coastal on Facebook. Winner will be selected at random on May 1st.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To facilitate  some of this review, I received a Sport Science basic tee, Beyond Coastal sunscreen, and CLIF bars.  All opinions are my own and are exactly what I would tell my family and friends.