Making a New Trail at Cedar Bluff

Do you ever wonder how mountain bike trails are built and what tools they use? As a mountain biker and racer, I decided to help out and join GORC to build a trail this weekend. Today, GORC focused their attention on a re-route at Cedar Bluff in Castlewood State Park. We met at 9 AM at the Sherman Beach parking lot and took a short drive to meet again at the "Haunted House." There were about 20 of us and we took a short hike up a road to the soon to be new trail. This section will be cutting out some of the washed out section if you are going clockwise after going under the railroad bridge. Let me tell you, this section is going to be sweet! The trail wraps around the bluff and is pretty rocky so will drain well. It's a gradual climb with small twists and technical spots which will keep you entertained yet, challenged. If you choose to go the opposite way, you will be grinning the whole way down . It will be a fast decent but, the small twists and rocks will make you think when choosing your line. After the hard labor, Lone Wolf brought us lunch. It was delicious! Thanks Ralph. If you want to put a little time back into the trails and see what this new trail is all about, join GORC April 24th. The plan is to complete the trail on this date! This is going to be awesome.

Snowy Trails

Got up early this AM so I could hit the snow covered trails at 6:45 AM. What a blast! There were only critter prints, possibly coon, on the trail before me. Surprisingly, it was nice dry snow. Todd, Loreen, Kari, and Jamie, joined me shortly after I started. Then, the girls and I joined up for the Team Revolution Women's Frostbike Ride for the remainder of my ride at 9 AM. There were nothing but smiles today on the trail. I even saw other friends, Ken, Stephanie, Laura, Carrie, and Jeff, doing a pre-run before their race next weekend. Good to see so many folks playing outside in the snow!

Castlewood Adventure Race

On Dec 4th, Loreen Mattson and I met at the Alpine Shop the night before the race to check-in and receive race information. However, the only thing that was given to us were our racer numbers. We were instructed to take our bikes to the mandatory bike drop at the Wymann Center in Wildwood on Friday night. I was happy that we didn't have to plot our maps the night before which means good sleep but, have no idea where we were racing and which discipline to prepare for. Also, the temps were really dropping and this was going to be a cold start in the AM. I took my bike to the bike drop only to find a broken spoke from riding the day before. I always clean my bike and prepare it before the race but, I failed to see the broken nipple. I reloaded the bike, took it home, switched out wheels, and went all the way back out there. So much for my sleep strategy. We arrived at Castlewood at 5:15AM for the race start and started loading buses. We were transported to Greensfelder for the race start. The race started with a 15 point orienteering section which was very hilly. We were doing great but, had difficulty with the last couple checkpoints which cost us a lot of time. Normally, we are use to super stud Matt Keeven or Kerry Rascher navigating and dragging us around so this was a change for us. Now we had the maps, compass, and had to read the land. Next, we came off the O'section to our bike drop. We were given the rest of the maps for the race and had to plot it all. We were pretty quick here but, we had some serious time to make up. We packed up and left on bikes out Alt road and to the Al Foster trail. We did some flat single track back in there and came back out to Sherman Beach. We had to load our bikes into the canoe. Yes..they were both 29ers too! From there we did a quick paddle upstream to retrieve a checkpoint. I realized that we didn't go upstream far enough so I decided to climb into the water to get the checkpoint. Did I mention how cold it was during the race?? With wet feet, I climbed back in the canoe for the final paddle leg all the way down to Castlewood. From the beach, we unloaded the bikes, hopped on saddle, and set out for the last leg which was all single track-my favorite.We had smiles all the
way into the finish line since we knew we had won 1st in our division. I gave my winnings/prize to my husband, Todd. He is always very supportive and always there for me! Thanks! And big thanks to Loreen Mattson for a fantastic race. She did a great job navigating and was super strong as always. This race was a blast!

On Saturday, Nov. 21st, Team Revolution/Alpine Shop held it's 2nd annual all women's mountain biking weekend on the Berryman Trail. We stayed at Blue Springs Resort Friday and Saturday night. 21 women attended to hit the dirt on Saturday AM. We had 2 group options to choose-a 12 mile or 24 mile option. Loreen Mattson lead the 12 mile option and I lead the 24 mile loop. Trails were a little wet in spots and covered with leaves. Their were lots of smiles, some deer hunters, and good spirits out on the trails that day. We all headed back to the cabin after the ride to hang out around the bonfire to share mountain bike stories. Looking forward to 2010 and even more women next year!

Berryman Epic 50 miler

With all the rain we had during this week, I was confident we were going to encounter mud and high stream crossings for my last mountain bike race of the season. Not only was I right but, the race started with a 1 mile ride down a gravel road just to encounter a stream turned river. Scott Davis, the race director, place a flat bed truck into the now river. With the water level over the truck tires, we each took turns jumping up onto the truck with our bikes to get to the other side. Then, the race really started. The course consisted of the Berryman Trail, Ozark Trail, and gravel roads. I had made the decision to race my single speed again. I spoke to the promoters and talked them into adding a SS category for females too. Not only did they decide to make this change for this year, next year they will be adding cash prizes for SS women. Thanks boys!
The race was a blast. I was able to race without stopping at the food drops until I needed to switch water/fuel bottles at final stop. Thanks to Jim Davis, I was able to waste little time doing this. Only low points for me were the endo off of a drop off (can't believe I wasn't more hurt) and gravel roads on a SS. But, Jim Davis's motivational screaming and flashing were motivation to bring me across this finish line with a grin for 1st in SS and 4th overall among geared bikes.

Dino 24hr MTN Bike Race

My husband, Todd, Mitch Johnson, Greg Ott, and I headed to Versailles, Indiana to conquer a 24hr solo MTN bike event. We had the ultimate set up with 2 canopies, tents, bike racks, outlets and light switches, and Christmas lights (thanks Mitch!). My competition ended up being a pro female racer who had her own RV, bike trailer full of her bikes, and 3 men who worked for her to change out gear, be a mechanic, or a pacer. But, I was excited to race next to a pro who had many 24hr solo races under her belt. I could learn from this. I also decided to do 24hr solo on my single speed. The race started with a short run but, you had to take off a wheel or saddle (I suppose for those who have lefties and can't take their wheel off) and run with it. I decided to use the ol' pace yourself approach once again. I tried to have 1:30 for the 13mile loops. I was able to maintain this for 1st 5 laps. I started feeling some rubbish with my skin where the chamois is sewn into the short. I have never had this problem before. My legs felt pretty good though. I came in a couple of times to add more Desitin cream to this area. I went out for 3 more laps. I had to come in again. Now the rubbish was turning into missing skin! I attempted to put socks in between the shorts and skin but, it was honestly better without it. Eventually, it just went numb. The night laps added on 10-15 min for me along with the pain of missing skin that at times caused me to stand on my peddles for long periods of time to relieve the pain. It was always motivating having your name and where you are from blasted on the big intercom system along with the rockin music. Of course, it had to rain during this race! Last 2 laps but, it was a light steady rain so trails were just becoming a little slick. Did I mention that I LOVE Indiana's trails?? If you have the opportunity, hit up Brown County or Versailles Park. You will leave with a smile. I was happy with my result, 2nd place (behind the pro) and completing 10 13-mile laps. Todd had a pretty hard crash and called it quits after 9hrs but,still placed 7th. Mitch won 2nd and Gregg got 4th. There will definitely be more 24hr races on my calendar for next year!

Binder Lake 6 Hour

For some reason, racing this race 6-hour solo in the women's divsion on my single speed was harder than the 12hr duathlon and 12hr R.I.M. The race started with wet trails but, the rain had moved on and the trails got better as the day went on. The course was not technically difficult but, many climbs that didn't allow for recovery afterwards. To top it off, the sun came out and humidity played a factor in the outcome for many. But, I was consistent with my laps again without stopping and able to take home 1st place.