Race Fail

This weekend was really about two races. Iceman and Tech Cross.

This weekend was Iceman. And of course I was not there. I had a much harder time dealing with it than I thought I would. Friday night was particularly hard. The entire afternoon and evening I kept doing this - If I were at Iceman I would be... I basically went through everything I would be doing, preriding, eating, picking up my packet, prepping the bike. If I closed my eyes I could almost see, hear and smell the Expo. Really wanted to be there. Very upset about not being there.

While I was throwing myself a little pity party, crying about what I was missing I got a call from Paula. She and Moe had something for me for Tech Cross. The Surly has sort of gotten a second life as a crossbike. And to keep it fun, I've adapted my blog moniker and am officially SurlyGirl. They made me this great shirt for my race.


Don't I have such great friends?

My plan was to do both of the Tech Races, Saturday I would be a good girl and wear my Team Kit and Sunday I would wear my SurlyGirl outfit with the pink ruffled panties.

Saturday started out alright. My race wasn't until 7 pm so I had the entire day. I thought I would have a hard time thinking about Iceman going on. And believe me all day I was conscious of exactly what was going on up North, especially at the time I would have been racing. I tried really hard to focus on being positive and getting ready for Tech Cross. I spent most of the morning in the garage working on the Surly. I was listening to my Iceman playlist and having a pretty good morning. But I was forgetting a major racing rule. DON'T MESS WITH THE BIKE RIGHT BEFORE A RACE!

A group of us had planned to go down, race Saturday, stay the night in Blacksburg and then race again Sunday. The leader of our little group injured himself on Friday and wasn't going to make it down to the races. Somehow some of the Cruise Director responsibilities fell to me. It was something I wasn't prepared for and a responsibility I didn't want. I am ashamed with how I handled myself. In addition to getting myself ready for the race I was also helping a first time racer work her way through the process. I want to encourage more women to get involved in racing, so I wanted it to be a positive experience for her. I felt like I was failing her, and I knew I wasn't doing what I needed to do to be ready for the start. As my anxiety and frustration grew I got pissy with the people at registration and then lashed out at the person I felt put me in this position. When he called to see if I was okay, I said mean things and then hung up on him. Yep, this is the frame of mind you want on the start line.

For how pissy and angry I was at the start, it actually went really well. The start that is. I didn't get a chance to do much of a preride, so I really didn't get a chance to test the changes I had made. I was right up in the front and was feeling really good. Until my bike broke. I hadn't tightened down the rear hub sufficiently. The rear wheel slipped, came forward and that was about it. I didn't have any tools, and even if I had I was so angry and frustrated that I couldn't wrap my head around what I needed to do to fix it. I hadn't even done a lap. I walked off, reported in as DNF and went to my car to cry about it. I cried about not being at Iceman, about being let down, about letting other people down, and just being disappointed in general. Not my finest hour. Eventually Mary Lou came and found me, I got cleaned up and headed back to the race. Both Skip and Ron had races. We got Ron to take PBR hand ups. No one was in the mood to race Sunday, so we headed back to Roanoke, and I spent Sunday doing what I maybe should have done all weekend. I spent the day by myself, and let myself be disappointed and sad about not going to Iceman instead of trying to find something to replace it or make up for it.

In the spirit of always trying to learn from my mistakes and taking something away from every experience I did get something out of this. In addition to learning that I'm a selfish bitch, I also realized just how much I actually love racing and while I keep entertaining the idea of "retiring" I walked away from this weekend with a new zeal for racing the NUE series next season. I'll talk about that a little more tomorrow, or Wednesday or later in the week. I know this blog is lacking a little lately. Blame it on facebook, and it's ability for drive by blogging. But there really hasn't been anything of biking significance going on lately.

Dog Day Friday

Trust me life is better in a tutu.

Hell Night Mayhem

Friday night was full of Bike Mayhem. The evening started with the Hell Night Alley Cat Race. We wore costumes. I got to drag the bee costume out again.


We had six different stops, each with a different task. Kristin and I rode together. I was nervous about getting lost, since I don't know the area too well. Between the two of us we worked out the perfect route, except we skipped the stop closest to the start because everyone was headed there first. We doubled back and did it right at the end, but it cost us being the first female finishers. We had to tour a haunted basement, do shots, carve pumpkins, bob for apples, eat way more candy corn than we should, and have our picture taken wearing weird underwear (which we had to wear to the finish).


Rob's costume included a Star Bomb Cape.


And Beth had a matching red one.


Following the Alley Cat was Star Bomb. We had a huge turn out this week. Our "Mayor" bestowed the Key to the City on Star City Vicious (our bike gang). And then we rode down the mountain.



Following Starbomb we headed to Blue Five for the afterparty. We had the downstairs to ourselves. Our own little biker bar.


Good times with good friends.

We're Night Ridin'

It's that time of year again. Time to get out the lights and ride in the dark. Fortunately I have one of those great jobs where I can ride during the day. But unfortunately most of my friends have to do the 9 - 5 thing.

Had a couple of night rides this week. Wednesday I hadn't planned to ride at all, much less in the dark. I had just taken my dinner, which consisted entirely of tator tots, out of the oven when there was a knock at the door. It was Rob wondering if I was really too tired to ride. Hard to say No to a ride when it shows up at the front door. So I put dinner on hold, changed my clothes, grabbed the Surly and headed out. We rode the trails in my backyard. We got the Fishburn trails in before light faded, but by the time we crossed the street to Patrick Henry it was getting dark. I didn't think to grab my light when we left the house. Rob had two 1 watt lights on his handlebars. We put one on my bike and rode around on the cross country trails for awhile. I was surprised at how comfortable I was riding in the dark. Hadn't done that since Burn.

Last night was the Get Dirty at the Cove ride. We started on Connector and by the time we got to the end of it we needed our lights. We rode Songbird. I was actually really nervous. I remember the sound of the bear running through the woods next to me, and I was a little paranoid that I was going to run into it again. At least this time I wasn't alone (and I wasn't the slowest). I had seen a bear on Carvin's Cove Road on the way out to the ride, but this time I was in the car. I can't believe how active they are right now. If you want to see a bear in the wild head out to the Cove now. We didn't ride for very long; it was dark, we had a couple of new guys on the ride, and Warren was just coming back from his injury.

Tonight is going to be full of biking fun. Keirin Culture is hosting another Alley Cat. I'm planning to go and participate. I wouldn't exactly say I'm racing. I just want to ride my bike around town in a Halloween Costume.


Following the Alley Cat is the StarBomb. Rumor has it that the Mayor is going to show up and give us a Key to the city. Our Bike Gang is taking over Roanoke. Yep, we have officially organized and are now the Star City Vicious.


After party at Blue Five. They are opening the downstairs for us. It'll be like a true Biker Bar. It's going to be a great night.

Dog Day Friday

Enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

Look at my girl jump!

SurlyGirl and the Three Bears

Once upon a time in a Nursery Rhyme there lived the Three Bears...

SurlyGirl wasn't afraid of the bears at the Cove. Leave them alone, they'll leave you alone.

Well last night SurlyGirl was scared. She was riding by herself out at the Cove. The first bear she encountered was out on School House. He crossed the trail ahead of her. He didn't seem to be in a hurry, so she stopped and watched him. She was kicking herself for not having her camera. After he disappeared into the woods she continued on her ride.

Later riding back toward the parking lot, near the Songbird trail SurlyGirl saw another bear. This one was a big bear. It was standing at the edge of the trail and didn't run off when it saw her. She stopped and waited. It just stared. She asked very politely if it would leave the trail so she could ride by. This offended the bear and it growled and charged. SurlyGirl jumped back on her bike and rode very fast in the opposite direction. And while she didn't look back she could hear the bear running parrallel to the trail in the woods. This scared her because their paths could cross again. So she whipped her bike around and headed back in the other direction. Riding as fast as she could and hoping that the bear had not also doubled back.

Then there on the trail just past where she had encountered the big mean bear was another bear. This one was smaller. It wasn't a baby, but it was much younger bear. SurlyGirl realized this must be the Big Bears cub. SurlyGirl grew afraid as she realized she was now in between a mother bear and her cub. She didn't want to turn back and risk running into the mean momma, but the little bear was blocking the trail.

SurlyGirl stood up on her pedals to make herself appear bigger than she really was, rode right toward the bear, and yelled at it to get off the f***ing trail. The little bear didn't like to be cussed at and ran off into the woods. SurlyGirl rode past hoping that he wasn't waiting in the bushes to jump out at her. She didn't stop pedalling until she was back to her car.

Wake took this on Enchanted Forest last week. I'm pretty sure it's the same momma bear that chased me down the trail.

Late Edit:
This was passed on to me by my friend Zeke:
Bear 101 > (a) stop (b) hold bike over head so as to look big (c) walk backward slowly (d) NEVER run as bear will chase and it is faster (e) DO NOT look bear in the eye . If the bear growls or stands keep walking backward.

So if you encounter any bears, don't do what I did, I guess I'm pretty lucky.

Happy 41st Anniversary Mom and Dad!