I saw a shadow today....a FAT shadow!

It feels like Spring is already here. Temps were in the mid-40's and the sun was shining. In fact, today felt more "spring-like" then the weather we had last year during our actual spring season.

I ended up getting a 4 hour ride in on my Mukluk. I rode on a little bit of everything. Pavement, dirt and even a little bit of rock!

It was surprisingly smooth!
I have to admit that I'm a bit torn right now. I've only been able to ride my Mukluk on real snow trails covered in real snow a few times. It was so much fun that I want to do more of it. At the same time I will never complain about the sun being out and being able to ride on dry pavement.

Tomorrow is a recovery day and I am going to use my extra hours to try and figure out my race schedule for next year. There are a few races that I repeat almost every year but I also want to do some new ones as well. I've been so distracted lately by trying to ride through snow banks etc. that races are selling out (Cohutta) before I've had a chance to sign up. Oops! I have to admit that I'm a little bummed about missing registration for Cohutta. I spent a good couple of weeks convincing my BFF Juli to do the race with me. It was going to be her first hundie...we were going on a road trip....gummy bears for road trip snacks...I had it all planned out. So now I need to find an equally fun endurance race for us to do that's early in the season.

Well time for bed. Today's ride tired me out!!!

Race Day!

After hitting the snooze button a few times, Scott and I finally got going. After a quick breakfast we loaded up the truck and drove over to the start venue. We arrived about 40 minutes before the start of the race. Normally I like to arrive at least an hour early but it was so cold and windy out that we didn't want to stand around and get cold.

Scott went to find our timing chips when we got there (which was very nice of him!) and I sat in the car enjoying the heat a little bit longer. I also mentally prepared myself for pain...lots of pain. I am not going to lie. I really wanted to win this race and knew I was going to hammer hard to cross the finish line first. It felt weird to be so nervous in January...but I was.

Finally I got out of the car, grabbed my gear, and put my timing chip on. I was cold but knew that once we started racing I wouldn't be. Lucky for me they had a warming house to hang out in before the race.

Since the race was only 25K I should have gotten a long warm-up in but instead I was doing this....(my coach will be oh-so-proud)
With 10 minutes to go I finally hopped on my Mukluk and rode around the start area. The cold air felt shocking on my lungs. Pedaling through snow takes much more of an effort and within a few minutes I was breathing hard. Then it was time to line up.

I lined up in the front row with Scott. Since these were the snow bike World Championships it was all very serious. The promoter asked if any "officials" wanted to speak. Everyone looked around...no "officials" were in sight. They must have been hiding in the warming house. The promoter said "go," cowbells started ringing, and we were off.

The start was chaotic to say the least. I remember being near the front, someone wiping out (for once it wasn't me) and a lot of us having to jump off of our bikes and run. The snow was deeper then I expected and I had to travel a bit by foot before I could hop back on my bike. The first half mile of the trail was hard packed and I tried to keep a fast pace going. But even with eight pounds of pressure in my tires my rear end was fishtailing around a bit.

I was riding with two other guys and all of a sudden the trail was no longer groomed. Since I was completely oxygen deprived I couldn't figure out what was going on at first. All I knew was that I couldn't stay on my bike for the life of me. Anytime we hit a hill we had to dismount and push our bikes. It was slow going all around. Not only were we pushing our bikes in snow, but it took a lot of work just to walk in it! I kept trying to get on my bike and pedal but almost always would have to get back off and push my bike some more. This is where I really noticed the benefits of the workouts both Andy and Jason have been giving me. Not only am I stronger on the bike, but my upper body was able to handle the pushing. The downhills were fun, but slippery. I had a few wipe-outs and at one point landed directly on my face.

It goes without saying that the first couple of miles were frustrating. My little mental race demons started to show up in full force. "You aren't going to make it...everyone is going to catch you....muahahahaha!" Then the opposing force showed up..."keep going...don't look back...you can do it....bahahahah!"

One thing that I've learned from 24 hour racing is to just shut-off my brain and keep pedaling. Or in this case riding, sliding, and walking.

My friends...it took me about 55 minutes to complete 5 miles of the trail. I repeat...55 minutes for 5 miles! Talk about demoralizing. Just when I started to consider building an igloo and bunkering down for the night the trail became more firm. It was fishtail-y at first but then I hit completely groomed trail. Thank goodness. From that point on I lowered my head and pedaled as hard as I could!

The last couple of miles were the best. We were on the Ore to Shore course and lots of people were there to cheer us in. At one point I passed a group of women dressed in all pink with feather boa's and they started yelling that I was the first female and ringing cowbells. Even though I was going as hard as I could I couldn't help but smile.

Hearing the announcers voice and seeing the finish banners was a great feeling! I did it!

And it got better!!! One of my favorite parts of the Ore to Shore race is that there are doughnuts waiting at the end and I was happy to see the winter version had them as well. Thank you awesome promoters :-)
After eating some doughnuts I went back outside to get a picture of Scott finishing. Scott introduced me to cycling and has always been super supportive of my racing. I finally beat him on his birthday :-)


But to be fair I think his legs were a little tired from all the speed skating he had been doing! After the race a newspaper reporter asked how winning the snow bike world championships felt compared to winning the 24 hour SS National Championships last October. I answered that it felt just as good. Granted there was no fancy jersey to put on, but there WERE doughnuts.

Snow bike races rule.

Podium Pics!
Next year the promoters said that they will groom the first part of the race, which means that it will be much faster. What would be really cool is if they added a 50K option like the skiers have. I would definitely do it!

Well we made it to Marquette. And as of now Ben is passing the test of being away from us. We dropped him off on Friday and he didn't even glance up as we left because he was too busy playing with another dog.

However an hour into our drive I got a phone call from the trainer. Apparently Ben puked 3-4 times and then had major puppy poo outside on their walk. Poor little guy. At least by now we know that it's just nerves/excitement.

Since then Leah (his doggie sitter/trainer) has been texting pictures and giving him A-plus reports. Apparently Ben is in love with a 100lb golden retriever that is also staying for the weekend :-)


The rest of our drive flew by. We had great weather to travel in and it was super pretty out. Before I knew it we were crossing the bridge....

The water below DID NOT look warm...


Once we got to the Upper Peninsula we had to stop for a Fig Newman break and check out the bridge from the other side. Yup, that's where we came from...


It was dark out by the time we arrived in Marquette and we had a bit of trouble finding a place to eat. The Noquemanon ski race was happening on Saturday with about 1500 skiers racing. The town was packed!

Today (Saturday) was super low-key. We slept in, went to my favorite bagel place for breakfast sandwiches and then went hat shopping. Scott wanted to buy a new Kromer and naturally I had to try some on too. It was very tempting to buy one but right now I'm on a self-imposed hat buying freeze. Too bad, because Kromer's rule! Plus they are made in Ironwood, Michigan. Dang it, now I want to go back and buy one after all :-)

We also checked out some of the ski race that was going on. When we left Grand Rapids on Friday there was very little snow. Not the case up here!

There were lots of spectators cheering the skiers on as they went through the woods. I was really happy that I was not doing the ski race. For one, I haven't skied once this year. And secondly the littlest thing will make me crash. And once I crash with ski's on I can't get up. I could only imagine myself on the ground in front of the spectators trying to get up.

Finally we hopped on our snow bikes and spun around town. It was cold riding next to the lake, but also really beautiful.

Tomorrow is the 25k snow bike world championships and we will be going off at 10:40. Temps are going to be in the low teens and it's going to be windy. I would never come up here and expect it to be easy, but I have REALLY TOUGH competition tomorrow. And the shorter distance is not going to play to my favor. It's basically going to be all out from the get go. Right now I'm really nervous and really excited. It should be a blast in a very painful way :-)

I won't be able to do another post until we get home, but I should be able to do an update on Twitter!

You guys, I'm talking about BEN!!!

We're taking off for the weekend and this is going to be a BIG test for "sensitive" Ben. Our vet said it's a big myth that the "bully" breed of dogs are tougher then other breeds. In fact, she has found the opposite to be true-that they often are the most sensitive. That's definitely the case with Ben.

At first I thought she was exaggerating a bit when she said that Ben was getting an upset stomach because we were leaving for a race but so far he's gotten sick every single time. Naomi on the other hand...sheesh! She could care less. In fact, she'll take off with my parents without a glance back at us :-)

Hopefully this weekend will be the turning point. Ben is going to stay at his trainer's house and have lots of dogs to play with. And then he's going to my parents. There's still a chance that I'm going to have to deal with puppy poo (and lots of it) when we get back but that's OK. I'm a poo-pro now!

Well time to finish packing and hit the road. We have a long drive (7-8 hours) ahead of us. This weekend is going to be a blast. The snowbike 25k world championships aren't until Sunday, but tomorrow is the noquemanon ski race. This is a HUGE race that has been going on for years and I'm excited to finally see it. The upper peninsula has been getting a lot more snow then us too, so we will actually be able to ride our bikes on groomed snow trails!

My next post will be from the U.P!

These last couple of days have been very, very busy. Scott has been in Dallas and I've been working, dog walking, working out, more dog walking and definitely NOT getting enough sleep.

Today was especially busy because I also had a dentist appointment thrown into the mix. I swear, I put off going for a really long time and now I might as well have my own parking spot. While they were cleaning my teeth I started to think about getting another custom mouth guard to solve my grinding issues. The only problem is that a custom mouth guard costs just as much as a new bike fork. So while my teeth were getting cleaned I was making a list of pro's and con's for both a new fork for my bike versus a mouth guard. I think the fork won :-)

Once I got home I had just enough time to grab my bike, trainer, and the dogs (Naomi and Ben were going to my parents while I was at spin class). I was in such a hurry I grabbed the spare keys, which do not have a house key attached. Of course I didn't realize this until I locked the house. D'oh!

There was really nothing to do but continue on. I dropped the dogs off at my parents and went to the Ada Bike Shop for spin class. I figured that I could always sleep at my parents if I had to. After all I had the most important things. Dogs, bike, trainer and cycling shoes.

Spin class was a blast. Not only was it 80's night, but we had a great group of people. I was laughing so hard that I completely forgot how sore my mouth is and the fact that Ben, Naomi and I were locked out.

As luck would have it my mom located the spare key anyways. My little sister Toni had it out at school. So the dogs and I went on a mini road trip and I'm happy to say I'm back in the house and eating dinner really late at night. Talk about being famished!

I have the day off tomorrow and I could not be happier. I'm sleeping in and then heading back to the Ada Bike Shop to pick up my Mukluk. I've crashed on it a few times so Ted is looking it over before the race this weekend. AND he's putting some new tires that I just bought on the bike. Basically the tires have better tread on them then the tires on my car. Hopefully I will be able to climb snow covered hills without spinning out.

And I just realized something. I don't want to buy a mouth guard because I want to buy a new fork for my bike, and I just bought new snow tires for my bike when the tires on my car completely suck. I do have my priorities!

Time for bed. Not only was it a long day but I'm in a pad thai coma. Thank goodness I have two dogs who like to sleep in!

The weather seems to be bipolar lately. First it snows, then it rains, and now temps are supposedly going to be in the 40's again by Monday.

40 degrees seems hard to believe right now, as the last couple of days have been on the POLAR side. Sadly most of my workouts had to be on the trainer this week, but I did get out for a good ride on Wednesday. Since I didn't want to deal with cars or ice, I decided to hop on the White Pine Trail and head North up to Cedar Springs. For the most part I had the trail to myself!

I have to say that I'm completely sold on riding with a frame bag in the winter. It's amazing how much I can cram in it-in fact at this point I don't even know everything that's stored in there. I usually bring extra gloves, hats etc. just in case I get cold. And let's not forget ride food. If we were ever to get a mouse in the house I'm sure it would head straight to my frame bag. Mental note: clean frame bag out.

It was colder then I expected and by the end of the ride my face was about the same color as my jacket. This picture does not do justice to how red it was. Even my eyeballs were frozen.Today I'm sticking to the trainer which makes me feel like a wimp. However I have a short workout day and I think putting all my gear on would take more time then the actual workout. Tomorrow though should be an awesome day of riding outside. If you look at the radar we have this big blue blob heading straight across the lake towards us. Right now they are calling for 1-3 inches of fresh snow. That's a good thing because I need as much practice riding in the snow as possible between now and my race next weekend.

I had no clue what I was in for when I signed up for the Farmer's Fat Bike race. At the time we had zero snow and zero snow in sight. As the race grew nearer, Scott started to get really nervous. The Farm Team was putting on the race and snow was kind of essential. So almost every night he would watch the weather forecast and report back. Secretly I was enjoying riding my bike in warmer weather but when I was around Scott I would always shake my fist at the sky and yell, "show us the snow!"

Like my previous blog post said, winter showed up JUST IN TIME!!! And it was beautiful!
The morning of the race I woke up feeling much better (phew!) The race didn't start until noon so I had a few hours to get my gear ready, walk the dogs, and check the time neurotically every couple of minutes. Both Salsa and the Ada Bike Shop had tents set up on the race course. I felt completely spoiled because my bike was waiting for me and ready to go when I arrived. Awesome!!!

It was great seeing so many friends in one place. Reports were circulating that the course was hard and slippery in spots. Even so, everyone was really, really excited. It kind of reminded me of when I was little and would spend every waking hour playing outside in the snow with my friends. All of a sudden I love winter again.

The race had a duo and solo option. I was racing solo and rolled up to the line after the duos went off. There was some serious Mukluk power in the front row. Tara Jansen was racing on a Mukluk 2, Dan Jansen was on the Mukluk Ti, and I was on the Mukluk 3.

Photo by Joshua Duggan

I don't even know who said "GO!" but someone did and it was time to hammer. The 2012 race season had begun.
Photo credit: Joshua Duggan

I had a great start and settled in right behind the lead guys but knew that Tara wouldn't be far behind. She is one of the strongest racers that I know and I had to push the pace the entire time. It was my first time riding in real snow and during my first lap I realized that I had my work cut out for me. The course was a complete hammer-fest. The flat sections required a lot of strength to pedal through the snow and there was virtually no place to recover.

Photo by Jack Kunnen

There was one slippery hill that I had to run almost every time because my rear wheel kept slipping out. I was so thankful I've been running a bit!
Photo by Joshua Duggan

The second thing that I noticed was that I made a total "rookie-snow-bike-racer" mistake. I was so busy walking around and talking with friends that I let my powerbar drink mix freeze in my hydrapak before the race started. Therefore I had absolutely zero water to drink during the race.

I was off the bike every time I had to run up the steep hill, and at one point I grabbed some snow and shoved it in my mouth. There was a crowd watching and they started laughing. I think they thought that I was doing it to be funny but in reality it was because I was really thirsty. Even though it was cold out (24 degrees) I was working my butt off. Not only was I breathing hard but I was sweating. Luckily there was a lot of snow around to "drink!"

The race had a surreal feeling to it that I can't describe. Racing in the snow was absolutely beautiful and a ton of cyclists came out to cheer us on. I crashed hard once and even that was fun. If only I could always land in a big pile of snow!

There was a "last lap" cut-off at the 2.5 hour mark and I made it thru with 5 seconds to spare. I ended up getting 12 laps in with a finish time of 2:42:42. I was the first place female and 5th out of the guys! I crossed the finish line really happy with how I felt throughout the race...and also really thirsty.

Here I am holding my trophy for first place. A Farm Team custom pooper scooper. This will be perfect when walking Ben and Naomi :-)
Special thanks to Salsa Bikes, the Ada Bike Shop and Grand Rapids Ophthalmology for sponsoring the race. And a huge congrats to the Farm Team for putting it on. I've been to a lot of races in a lot of cool places and I can honestly say that this was the MOST FUN I've ever had during a race.

I had lots of talented friends taking pictures out in the snow. Check them out!!!

You can find photos, report and a great video at XXCMAG.COM

Jack Kunnen has photos HERE!

Joshua Duggan has photos HERE!

Now it's time to recover and then get back to training. The snow bike 25K world championships are right around the corner...yikes!

For once the weather forecasters were right! We got close to 8 inches of snow last night-perfect timing for the Farm Team's snow bike race. The race starts at noon and ends at 3:00 p.m. I have no clue how many laps I'll get in. The course has been lengthened since I last rode it and I know that the snow will make some of the hills harder to get up. Regardless it's going to be fun.

I've definitely put a few (hundred) miles on my Mukluk since I've gotten it so I brought it into the Ada bike shop this morning to have Ted look it over. And then went back to the shop tonight to hang out with everyone picking up their registration packets.

The Farm Team working registration....
Here's a picture of just a few of the Mukluks that will be available to demo tomorrow. So sweet looking! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my Mukluk 3 but I have to say...the Mukluk ti makes me drool!

Now I'm back at home and trying to think healthy thoughts. Scott was sick all day yesterday with some nasty stomach thing and I slept out in the living room to try and hide from the germs. Even so, it's really hard to escape germs when you live in a house that only has about four rooms (our realtor described it as cozy).

For the most part of the day I've felt like absolute poo, but I'm hoping it's because I had a horrible night's sleep. Since I was camped out in the living room Naomi couldn't figure out who to sleep with, and spent the night splitting her time between the two of us. And then in the middle of the night Ben decided to start joining her so I kept hearing little dog feet running up and down the hallway all night.

Right now I have the heat cranked to 72 degrees and I'm sitting in the house wearing winter clothing...
Ha, I just posted a picture of myself blogging. That's a sign of two things.....

1.) How exciting of a Friday night I'm having and 2.) that I need to go to bed

Hopefully I wake up feeling great tomorrow because I can't wait to go race my bike in the snow with all of my friends!!!

So yesterday was the best ride day I've ever had in January. 60 miles on my Mukluk in 50 degree weather. It made me want to go ride singletrack in just a jersey and shorts.

It's probably a good thing I emptied my hydrapak and ran out of food, or I would have kept going. That would have been bad for racing this weekend because my legs are TIRED. Between spin class on Tuesday night and riding outside yesterday, I feel the need to put my legs up and not move. Luckily I have a recovery day on Friday.

Speaking of Friday, be sure to stop by the Ada Bike Shop from 5-8 p.m. for a fat bike party. There will be chili and beer...and more beer! I hope to see you there.

Today it's back to reality for me. Back to work, and back to layering up for riding outside. Winter is coming...for real this time!

On Sunday Scott and I rode over to the Versluis orchards so that we could ride the Farmer's FatBike race course. I wore my trusty Garmin so that Scott could get the exact mileage of the course-all two miles of it.

I've been sworn to secrecy but I can tell you this. It's going to be fun, and it's going to be a workout. I did manage to snap a few pictures when Scott wasn't looking....bahahahaha!

The start (imagine snow)....hammer time!
This part dumps you into a bit of singletrack with a few little climbs (imagine snow).
Both Salsa and the Ada Bike Shop will be on hand with lots of Mukluks to demo. And THERE WILL BE SNOW!!! At least I'm hoping so. The weather forecast for Thursday thru Saturday is for temps in the low-20's. We are supposed to get 6 inches Thursday night and more on Friday. Woo hoo!!! I never, ever, ever thought that I would be wishing for snow, but having a snow bike has completely changed the way I feel about winter.

There will be plenty of coffee, hot chocolate and hotdogs after...which incidentally are three of my favorite things :-)

Speaking of hot drinks....after our race course recon we headed over to East Grand Rapids to get some coffee. Some kind person left their lock, and we gladly slipped it over our seats to detour thieves.

No one could figure out how to get this lock loose :-)
I was watching out the window the entire time. If I even saw someone trying to take my Mukluk I would tackle them full on!

Scott was nice enough to transport my latte home....Tomorrow is the first spin class of 2012 at the Ada Bike Shop. 6:30 p.m....be there!!!

I have to admit that I spent a few minutes questioning my sanity yesterday morning when my alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. I spent all week waking up super early for work, and what was I doing on the one day I could actually sleep in? Waking up early to race a 5 mile trail run down at Yankee Springs. Clearly I'm crazy.

After a quick breakfast I spent 10 minutes trying to squeeze into the one pair of running capris that I own. Scott put them in the dryer the other day and they now look like they belong to a small child. I guess the silver lining to all of this is that I now own my first pair of compression wear!

I picked up my friend Roxane and we made good time to the race venue. It was still dark when we arrived and there was much more snow in the area then I expected. Brrrrrrr.....

Since we got there an hour early there was no need to rush. Just plenty of time to get nervous and worry about falling on my face during the run. Before I knew it I was pinning on my race number and lining up with all the other runners. There were several races going on that day, and we were starting with the 5ok runners. BTW...I would never, ever consider running that long. Because I would die.

The promoter told the 50k racers to follow the orange flags, the 5 milers to follow the blue flags and then said "GO!" We were off. I was near the front at the start and noticed that there was only one girl in front of me. I should have gotten behind her for the first half of the race. But instead I ran past her and tried to hang with the lead guys. Smart, real smart.

The guys were running at a good pace. They were all talking with each other and clearly weren't working that hard, which meant I could stay with them without completely exploding. I glanced behind me and noticed that the second place female wasn't that far behind. Shoot. We hit a short steep hill and two things happened at once. The group of guys I was running with disappeared and the women behind me caught and passed me. I decided that I would just try to stay with her as long as I could.

The first place female would put a little distance on me every time we would hit a hill but I always had her in sight. However I started to feel pretty tired at the 3 mile mark. I'm not sure what happened but my body suddenly felt like it was losing all coordination. So much for endurance!

Then I came to a fork in the trail. Literally. I could either choose to go left or right and both were marked with blue flags. This was NOT a good situation for someone who is directionally challenged AND oxygen deprived. I came to a complete stop but then noticed that the lead women had gone to the left. Phew!!!

I ran down a hill (wheeeee) up a hill and then found the lead women talking to a volunteer. Apparently we had gone the wrong way. Noooooo! He sent us back in the direction we had come from and we ran into another volunteer who sent us on trail marked with all orange flags. We got so turned around it's surprising we found the finish line at all :-)

Once I got back I was very happy to find this. Those runners know the way to my heart!!
My friend Roxane warming up by the fire. She actually ran the wrong way on the trail too but has a good sense of direction (unlike other people who will remain unnamed) and realized that she was going the wrong way!
Besides getting lost it was a really great time! The trail was in great shape and I couldn't have asked for better weather in January.

Once I got home I ate a quick lunch and then it was time to go riding with my BFF. Juli and I ended up riding for 3 hours. My legs felt tired when I was walking from my running race but they didn't feel that tired when on the bike. Phew.
Of course we had to stop for some fuel at the half-way point....
I really, really need a Payday and Rockstar sponsorship!!!