MT bike Riding in France.

I left my hotel this morning about 12 minutes before my train to Montrejeau was to depart. I walked outside to find that it was lightly drizzling, which gave me a second excuse to run to the station.

I was able to make it in time, and actually ended up on the correct train, and didn't get thrown off when the billet guy came around.

As we got closer to the mountains, I got so excited, I couldn't help but take pictures of them out of the train window although they were hardly distinquishable amonst the clouds. However, as the train progressed, it started raining heavier and heavier. Somehow, it wasn't raining when I arrived in Montrejeau. Chris of pyractif picked me up from the train station and took me to the beautiful house that they run as a hotel/ bike rental place. I was super stoked on the place...especially since Chris had been so helpful to set me up last minute.

Their house was awesome, and both Chris and his wife Helen were super nice and helpful-- I hope to someday go back and visit them for more than a day (and of course, do plenty of cycling while I'm there).

Chris described the local mountain bike routes and the local Col climbs as well. The call of being able to ride some of the climbs that are featured in the Tour de France as well as the spectacular views that accompany them were tempting, but I stuck my original plan to ride the trails, so Chris hooked me up with a steed for the day, a helmet, spare tubes, a pump, a couple energy bars, a detailed map of the area, a rain jacket and a back pack to carry everything in....and even some spare cash hidden inside the backpack.





I hadn't brough my shoes and pedals, so I rode in my tennis shoes and some toe clips. It was quite interesting: every time I stopped and got off the bike, I found myself "clipping out" (twisting my foot out of the pedal which you need to do to release from 'clipless' pedals...which are, strangely, the ones you actually clip into).

The ride was quite a bit of road riding, actually, or connecting dirt roads with paved roads, pretty much. After only about 5-10 minutes of riding, I was to climb to Mont de Galie, a 3 km climb at about a 9% grade.

I was super-stoked at the u switch backs that you see so often in European tours, and even more stoked to see some of thedown-hill looking single track that crossed the road frequently. I rode part way up the hill, and came down some of the single track to check it out. It burned having to go back up the climb again, though.






At Mont de Galie, I was greeted with nice views of the mountains and villages. The top of a col was peaking out of a cloud just enough to distinguish it from a shadow.

I made my way through several other towns to find the first trail head. After a bit of confusion (thank goodness for the map) I figured it out. It turns out the area has a nice off-road trail system, with well marked trails.



The first bit of off road stretch was quite nice, but quickly turned into the Paris Roubaix of mountain biking. I guess that's what mtn biking should be all about...but this was a seriously cobbled steep climb...and it had been raining. The rocks were quite slippery, and I only made it about 1/4 of the way up the cobbled section before I slipped out. It was next to impossible (for me anyway) to get back on the bike on the cobbles, so I had to hike up the hill. I grumbled to myself about choosing mtn biking over road biking. I was fearful the descents would be much the same-- which was terrifying to me to think of riding down such steep terrain on such slippery, wet rocks (the picture doesn't quite do justice to the grade)...but I pressed on, anyway


After a gradual climb on both fire road and tarmac, I got to the top of the hill and followed the mapped route. I had a nice long fire road descent to another town, where the trail finally turned to singletrack!! (the rocks behind the flowers are the single track on what part of the trail...actually the trails are quite rocky and rooty, and quite slippery when wet!)




After several more miles/ kilometers/ hours/ minutes? of stop and go action that involved: riding a bit, stopping to check the map and take a photo or two, and changing between single track, double track and paved road, I got to the town of Barry, where there was a short little climb that I could do to the top of a hill with a tower on top. Here's a picture of the beginning of the climb, and the sign for the climb

The bit at the top was quite rewarding, though, there was a church and a tower, and a picnic table where I got to stop and eat some more food and enjoy the view. And take a few fun action shots of myself. White girl can jump.......... a lot higher when she's got regular shoes instead of cycling shoes!



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One of the bike signs was seriously hidden right behind this tower, and there was a trail that went directly down the hillside into the next town that I wanted to go to. The trail was a bit hidden because you had to ride across the grass to get there. I felt like such a derelict riding across the grass--especially so close to a church. I couldn't believe that that was the trail!


It started raining a little bit more during the rest of the ride, and then started coming down quite hard during the last 15 minutes or so of the ride, which was on the road. I was quite wet by the time I returned to the house in Bertren. Chris kindly let me take a shower there, and as I was just finishing up, it started dumping buckets. Seriously, buckets! I think you could've stuck a pint glass outside and it would've filled up in less than 5 seconds. I was happy with my timing for finishing the ride.

I was super stoked on the rental place-- and Chris even cut me a deal since I returned his 20 Euro that were in his backpack to him. I now can't wait to come back to France, although I'm likely to spend all of it in Bertren riding the trails and the cols.

Here are a couple more photos that I took during the day.

Bark people falling off a wall. Apparently the didn't need any help since they didn't answer when I asked.


A poppy in a field.

A loaf of bread in a window.

Happy cows come from France.

Adventures in France...so far

I arrived in France on Sunday evening-- about 5:30 pm Toulouse time, which is about 8:30 am Reno time, after leaving at ~5:00 pm (but getting to the airport about 2:30 pm for my delayed flight) on Saturday. When I got on the plane for the long leg from Phoenix to airport, I was relieved to find out that the people I was sitting next to weren't fat, only to find out later that they wouldn't shut the hell up during the red eye flight, so I was quite exhausted when I got here.

Since the sun doesn't set until 9:30 pm, though, I decided to explore the city a little bit. Here are the first few pictures I took since arriving in France. Of course, the classic long narrow street...first photo since arriving. And a picture of the Ponte Neuf.

Monday I didn't have to conference, so I got up early in the morning to go for a run, and then wandered about the city for at least 5 hours. Nothing seemed to be open, and I learned later that Monday was an "optional" holiday. Why call it optional? Who would choose not to have a holiday? So, I saw pretty much the same sights as the night previous. The river, the capitole and a church.
Church tower...went inside, it was quite nice.
The salles les illustrales (something like that, anyway) at the Capitole.

After 5 hours of walking (plus the other running time), I was quite frustrated that I didn't have a bike to get around on. Even more frustrating (but actually rather cool if I had been able to use them) was that fact that these bike rental stations are about every 3-5 blocks, and you (maybe, but not me) can rent a bike for about 1/2 euro an hour.
Tuesday, the conferencing started. Since the city wasn't on holiday anymore, it was hustling and bustling. There was a large farmers market on my way to the conference center, and the massive piles of cherries and peaches were mouthwateringly tempting.
The conference schedule was quite relaxed compare to other conferences I've been to. It went something like this : Start 9 am for 1 hour of keynote sessions. Coffee break from 10-11 am. 11am- 12:30 pm, parallel breakout sessions, 3 speakers each for 20 minutes w/ 10 minutes of questions. No body ever ran over. 12:30-2:30-- lunch. Yes, a two hour lunch which consisted of a first course (generally some unrecognizable pate looking things with crab cake like items...not made out of crab) main course (usually risotto rice with some type of meat-- chicken or calamari, one day) and dessert (and each one was delicious). Of course, wine is served with lunch, so we must have coffee afterward, too, to stay away through the afternoon sessions). 2-3:30-- parallel sessions w/ 3 speakers. 3:30 to 4:30, another 1 hour coffee break. 4:30-6, parallel sessions. In total, thats 4 hours of break times and 5 hours of talks.) Tuesday night the group went to the Salle des illustres in the Capitole for a cocktail...same room I thought was perhaps a museum before. It was quite cool to sip champagne among the paintings and statues. Well, it would've been cool if it hadn't been so hot in the room. People bolted out of there quickly, which was unfortunate.

Wednesday, I had to chair a session and give a talk. Both of which went nicely, I think. Wednesday evening, the group headed to the Chauteux de Merville for a dinner.

The place even had a labyrinthe, complete with mosquites is you got lost wandering around for too long. The dinner was quite nice, but much of the same. First course was a crab-cake like thing made out of vegetables with some type of pate thing on top. Complete with a large cheese cracker that tasted like a cheese nip. The main course was duck with a small dish of purple potatoes. I suppose they could have been something other than potatoes, but the texture was the same so I didn't eat them,regardless. Dessert was....nothing short of spectacular. It was a rasperry whip cream type thing, a giant purple oreo that looked or tasted nothing like an oreo, and a creamy, fluffy chocalte frostingy type thing with a piece of rice delicious chocolate on top. Perhaps you don't get the idea, but its probably for the best because you would really want some if you could.

Of course, the journey description cannot be complete without a picture of the view out my window, and the view into the....ahem, bathroom. I still have yet to use a bidet. Perhaps one day I will fall in love, but a well used one in a hotel room will not be my first bidet-love.


Tomorrow, however, the real adventure begins. I was able to book a trip over to the mountains ( the Pyranees) for a mountain bike trip. Can't wait! I'm glad I get to enjoy the outdoors while I'm here. I guess I'm definitely not made to be a city person, because I would definitely be ready to leave already if I didn't have this lined up for tomorrow.

Got to get some sleep

Spring Thaw

I was really looking forward to racing at the Spring Thaw. It promised steeper competition on a course that hopefully would be good for me. I was definitely nervous headed in, and had high expectations on myself to do well-- although I expected that the single track descent would be my doom.

The Pro and Cat 1 men and women started together, and the field size was probably close to 100 deep. I was at the very back of the group with several other women--but a lot of women seemed scattered throughout. I felt like I started in dead last, though, but even as I passed some people, others passed me. The course started up at least a mile of paved road, but even as we hit the dirt, I had no idea where I was compared w/ the other women. A woman in a WTB jersey soon came flying around me. I tried to stick with her, but couldn't. Then, another woman came around me, and I was able to ride on her wheel.

I was riding in a steady line of people, so I just tried to take the inside lines whenever they took the smooth outside lines to move up a bit. Soon, I spotted Casey up ahead. I made it my goal to get him. As I got closer, I noticed that two in a group of three right behind him were women. I tried not to focus on them, and figured they would be an added benefit of catching Casey. I started to gain ground, and was soon on the back of the two-woman train. I sat there briefly, but didn't want to get too comfortable and forget my mission, so I moved around them and focused again on Casey. As I moved past, I could tell they stuck right on my wheel. I wouldn't be dropping them any time soon.

I caught Casey at minute 33. When he saw me, he told me not to pass. I wasn't sure if it was out of pride or because he wanted to pull me up for a little bit, so I just sat on his wheel and "rested" for a bit. The other three were still right behind.

We hit a straight away that seemed to flatten out a bit, and up ahead, I saw Jon Wilson. New carrot! So, I surged around Casey to go get Jon. I couldn't tell anymore if the others were still on my wheel or not. I was kind of hoping that Casey was throwing some blocks for me. As I started catching Jon, I noticed someone else. Was that Maureen?!?!?

I ended up catching Jon and Maureen (although Jon surged past me later...I think actually dragging Mo back up to me in the process--thanks, Jon!). Then we took a sharp turn onto some windy, steep single track. Mo was hot on my tail, but I felt my pace drop off and suspected the other girls would be catching up at any minute. I already felt like I was working hard, even though my HR was starting to drop a bit. I just convinced myself that the single track would be over soon.

It ended soon enough. Hidden in the trees near the top were some course marshals. As we passed, I heard them count "first and second woman". Whoa! I had no idea that I was in the lead. Sweet!! Now I hoped that Mo and I would be able to work together to stay away from the rest of the women so that I could at least earn 2nd (Mo is a much better descender--but whose not, really?).

When the single track dumped us back onto fire road, we were actually in a cluster w/ about 5 or 6 other men, including Jon. One guy immediately organized us into a pace line, and away we went. The guys seemed strong and fast, and I wasn't too spent from the climb, so I took a couple turns at the front to help out. I figured Mo was right there in the group, but at a corner, I looked back and found myself among a bunch of dudes, only. No Mo. No Way!! What happened to her?

The road took freaking forever, and our group slowly atrophied--I think one or two guys dropped off (incl. Jon), and another guy flatted. I had mixed feelings about being in the group. I got plenty of opportunity to rest up, but at times I felt like our pace wasn't high enough. I knew my only chance at a win was going to require a HUGE lead going into the single track descent. As the road dragged on and on and on, the pace seemed to drop off and I started to get more worried about the time gap.

We hit the single track, and the men quickly dissappeared. I tried to go fast, but was definitely on the brakes more than not. Then I saw a yellow and blue jersey behind me....but it was a guy! As he caught me, though, he started shouting my whereabouts at the top of his lungs back to Mo. It was super cheesy and annoying.

She caught me soon enough, and I let her by. I tried to stick on her as long as I could, but it didn't take long before I couldn't even see her anymore. I knew 3rd place was probably not too far back, and that I still had to push it to not lose any more spots.

Then, Casey passed me-- loudly and celebrating-- right at the top of BTI. I was inspired by how fast he was going, and tried to pick it up, but he dissappeared super quickly into the dust and the trees. I was super sketched out by the last part of the trail. A bunch of jumps and kickers had been installed since the last time I had ridden it for 12 mi (which I was petrified of it then), so I was really riding the brakes. I few more guys passed me, and I was desperately hoping that I wouldn't see third place.

I recognized the last switchback, and celebrated by pedaling hard so that I could speed down to the finish. The road flattened out, and I picked up a ton of speed...only to come around a corner to a short, steep downhill with a huge waterbar across it. Not a fan of getting air, I grabbed my brakes to try and slow down. And slow down I did....to an abrubt skidding stop on my knee and my elbow as my rear tire washed out from underneath me. I didn't want to lose time or place, though, so I quicly picked up my bike, and pedaled as hard as I could to the finish.

Although someone was nearing on me, and cars were trying to slow me down, no one else passed me by the time I crossed the line. 2nd place overall! Super stoked!!! Katie crossed the line only 47 seconds behind me.

I wore pads the next day for the DH race...which doesn't seem to really help my fear of crashing, but would at least protect my new wounds if I did. I was panting like a maniac at the end of my race run, and felt like I was going pretty fast. There were only two women total in my category, and I ended up getting second. But, by less than 7 seconds. I'm pretty happy with that, since the other girl was actually racing a DH bike, and actually races DH races. And, I didn't get DFL, which I had been expecting. Although the pads didn't come into play during my race run, I sure was glad I was wearing them when I supermanned over my handlebars not once, but twice on a flatter part of the trail after the DH for no apparent reason. My poor body is a little sore from all the crashing this weekend.

My First Road Race Ever...

(well...almost ever)

I was planning this year on trying out road racing, since Scott had been telling me that he thought I’d be really good at it. Cody had earlier tried to convince me that Copperopolis would be the best place for me to try it out, but I was skeptical after hearing about how bumpy and hard it was. I was on the fence about it the whole week leading up to the race, but figured it would be the best training for Sea Otter since I hadn’t had much opportunity to ride.

I finally committed to doing it when I registered at the race that morning during Scott’s race. I just told myself that I’d either drop off the back or drop out if I really didn’t like it.

Since I hadn’t set any expectations, I wasn’t nervous at the start at all…at least not as nervous as I get at the start of a mtb race. Some of the 25-30 girls looked intimidating, but others were talking about their “one ride a week if I’m lucky” training policy.

I started the race out at the back of the pack after a last minute front wheel swap with Scott. The pace was slow enough that I felt totally fine, but I still wanted to move up, since I knew the hill started right away and I didn’t want to get trapped in the back. So, I tried to move up with other girls as they were coming around me.

Then the climb started. I was about mid-pack, but still wanted to move up. A girl in pink and red came around me, so I moved over onto her wheel, and we slowly moved up a little bit. I was actually suffering quite a bit, so didn’t pay too much attention to where we were in the pack. One girl was already a bit off the front, but the rest of the girls were sticking together like glue. I glanced down at my HR monitor ( I had strategically turned off the beeps for this race) to see that I was nicely above threshold , and when I looked back, I was a bit devastated to see that it looked like the entire field was still right there. “I’m supposed to be a good climber, but I’m frickin’ gassed and the entire group is still right with us?!?!? I am NOT cut out for this” I thought.

Then the climb began to pitch up a little bit. The one girl was still off the front, pushing the pace. I was already bottomed out in my middle ring, and desperately wanted to shift down into my granny gear, but I figured that everyone else would notice and take me for a total joke, so I stuck it out.

I peaked over my shoulder at the next turn and saw that… no one else was behind me. Whoa, when did that happen?!?! A bit of relief sank in, but as we reached the top as a group of five, one, one woman immediately started cheerleading and organizing us into a paceline. Ouch, active recovery!

The one girl was still off the front, but visible, and within minutes, we swallowed her up and now had a group of six. But, when we hit a short little uphill kicker, she powered up it and dropped the rest of us. Let her go, she’ll tire herself out, we agreed. Meanwhile, I was in the rear, and the girl in front of me was quickly dropping off the back. “Come on, let’s stay up with them” I pulled around her, and dragged her back up to the group.

“Are we all on?...Okay” , so we set off in our 5 girl paceline again. As we came up to a bend in the road, the girl off the front took a sharp left turn, and began descending down an obviously wrong direction. Where did she get that idea? Oh well….

So, the five of us rounded the bend and whooshed down the hill. We quickly dropped the same tired girl for a third time. This time, we didn’t wait for her to catch back on.

As we continued on in our paceline of four on the flat road, there was a bit of a crosswind. One of the girls was giving instructions to echelon left…or right….or, “what? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” One of the women was nice/irritated enough to give me some one on-one instructions-- “Think like a flock of birds.”

A couple of times, whenever I pulled through for my turn at the front, I pulled too fast and quickly dropped the other ladies. “Sorry, I don’t have a computer…I don’t know what I’m doing.. this is my first road race” I felt like such an idiot. I saw them talking to each other here and there, and figured that they were probably discussing a strategy to drop me since I was annoying them so much.

They kept looking over their shoulders the first lap to see where the pack was, but we managed to get to the top of the last hill without another girl in sight.

I was nervous about the descent since all the rumors about how scary and bumpy it is, and since I’ve never descended as a group before, I dropped back a little bit. At the bottom, I was worried that they were going to attack to drop me, as per their strategy that they had likely been discussing, but they didn’t. I guess I was feeling a little overly sensitive. We reformed as a group, and went charging on into the second lap.

As we came through the feed-zone, I announced that I wanted to grab a bottle, so they all slowed down a bit for me…definite evidence that they didn’t want to drop me…just yet, anyway. Scott was near the top of the hill, I was stoked for him to see me in the lead group.

The second time up the hill, the pace dropped of significantly. The other girls were chatting, and I started to get a bit worried that we actually WOULD get caught on the hill. I glanced down at my HR monitor, it was definitely too relaxing of a pace. So, I moved to the front of the group and tried to push the pace a little bit. When we reached the top, I stayed up in the front and took a long pull, hoping that everyone would get focused again. Two of the other girls thanked me for pulling as they finally came around me.

On the backside of the second lap, our pace dropped off significantly, though. I don’t know if it was just lack of attention, fatigue, or strategy, but even without my computer, I felt like we were going slooooowwww. This time, I was the one getting nervous and repeatedly looking over my shoulder because I’d already convinced myself that I was going to be stoked on a top four finish in my first road race.

We were going so slow that a group of the 55+ men caught us and came around us. The second they moved around us, the slowed up (it seemed). Great, now we were going to have to ride their pace the rest of the way. Thankfully, as the Touchstone girl took her position in the lead, she picked it up to move around them. I actually wasn’t sure if she was just trying to attack or not, but I was second wheel and managed to maintain. I looked back, and it looked like we had everybody, but it was hard to tell in the mix. I took a pull, and tried to pull hard into the wind to stay away from the men, but as I dropped back for me rest, the pace slowed, and they passed us again and slowed down immediately.

Luckily, one of the men recognized that we were the lead group, and told the rest of the group that they should let us go by. We came around them for the last time, and they dropped back into the distance. That motivated us to pick up the pace for a bit.

As we neared the final short climb, I started thinking that our break was actually going to stick. Now what? I wasn’t really in this race to win it—should I just lead out the group and take fourth place? But fourth place sucks…one off the podium. I want top three. I figured to do that, I’d have to get to the top of the hill first. These other three had way more experience racing than I do, they’re going to out-strategize me if I don’t.

So, after my next pull, I moved to the back and ate the last of my hammer gel and drank the last of my water. I figured at this point, I could probably maintain threshold or higher until the finish (especially with all that rest during such a slow lap).

But, as soon as I finished eating, the paceline broke up as everyone else started to eat and drink, and I quickly found myself at the front of the group, leading everyone up the last mellow grade into the wind and tiring myself out. Should I just attack now? I picked the pace up a little bit. After we rounded the bend into the wind, I decided that that had been a dumb decision, so I slowed up to let someone else come by, and of course, no one did.

So, as I rounded the corner to begin the climb in the lead, I gradually increased my effort. Probably not the best plan of attack…but I really don’t know what is. I was working hard to get up that hill, but could hear heavy breathing behind me. I looked back at my rear wheel and saw a pair of white shoes. Note to self…pay more attention to shoes. I was getting gassed, but wanted to get to the top first, and I still didn’t know if the other two were right behind Ms. Whiteshoes, so I stepped it up as much as I could. As we neared the top, I glanced back…Ms. Whiteshoes was Ms. Touchstone….only! She told me “great job, keep it up.”

I figured I just gave her a great lead up the hill, and now I would be racing for second, since I couldn’t tell how far back the other two were. As we started to descend, she moved around me, and I told her “Great job girl, you got it now” figuring that she was pretty fresh, and probably a better descender and would crush me the rest of the way.

But, I had learned the descent was nothing to be feared, especially now that there was only one other. A passed her briefly on a short uphill, but she came flying around me again. She managed only to put a couple seconds on my on the descent, and mostly those seconds were just me giving her a little bit of space. So, as the grade flattened out, I realized I needed to be up on her wheel, and I would still have a chance to win.

So, I powered up, and easily got on her wheel. I rode right there for a bit, but I really wasn’t sure what to do from there. When do I attack? Should I just go around her? When should I start sprinting? We hit another kicker up hill, and in my indecisiveness, I found myself riding shoulder to shoulder with her to the bottom of the hill coming up on the 200 m mark. Well, this probably isn’t the best place to be, but it’s too late to drop back, cause she’ll probably out sprint me. So, we hit the bottom of the climb, and I hammered and moved in front of her. Now this is probably a really bad place to be. So, as the grade mellowed, and with the finish line in front of me, I stood up and started to sprint for it. Since I don’t ever sprint, I can’t be sure that my standing sprint is faster than my seated sprint, or that my standing sprint is even actually a sprint at all….but I faked the motions, figuring at any second she would fly around me. But, the line came up faster than she did, and I crossed in FIRST PLACE!

After all the waffling, I’m definitely glad I raced, although all I won was a t-shirt. I’m not totally hooked just yet, but will probably try out another road race or two this season…especially the climbing ones.