This Is How Life Is.

I'm amused and never seem to find endless similaities to the world of cycling and real life. The truth is: cycling is just a pocket of my bigger life in general as it is for most of us. Sometimes cycling has you on top of the world, sometimes you are just barely hanging on... this is how life is, just as cycling is.

Thrilled to get my first win with my new Don Walker Cycles Cx team! Winning always feels so  good!!

The last 3 weeks and the start of the cross season have been no different. My first race kicked off with the ICX Lion of the Den race, where I won, followed by the kick off of the OVCX series in Borden, IN, which I pretty much stunk at. Analogy to life: it has it's up and downs, and now it's up to me to learn from it all and move on. 

At least I did well at the barriers during the OVCX opener. Getting ready to jump back on the bike.

I was super excited to get back to the cross world this year. I'm pretty happy about getting to start racing  with everyone else since I missed most of last season after the NDE. I love to race cx and whether I'm doing good or bad... I'm just happy I get to do more of it this year. However, I also have to remember that this is a long, long season compared to what I had last year and that my goals are still a couple months down the road for nationals and world's. I know this and seem to keep that perspective until the gun goes off for the start of the race. Somehow, I seem to forget that my fitness is right where it should be at this point in the year when the adrenaline is going! I can't keep in peak fitness until Nats and struggling a bit now at the races will pay off big later in the year.  I shouldn't dramatize that too much, since I'm a world's better condition than where I was last year at this point. It just seems there are many more girls in even better shape than me currently. So... I didn't finish too well at the ovcx race. I ended up 17th of 30 elite girls and 4th in elite master's. I know that doesn't seem horrible to some, but to me, I was greatly disappointed with myself. It wasn't that I had a bad race, or didn't give all I had, I just got out raced. Aside from the interesting call-up procedure by the host team (I won't nor do I need to explain since I wasn't the only person to notice this) at the start that put me in the last row despite my early registration; that found me caught up behind a start straight wreck. I had a pretty uneventful race. Heck, I didn't even feel slow! I was just left shaking my head trying to figure out what hit me. I left the race trying to figure out where I went wrong, and upset with myself.  After talking to coach Mark, I realized I hadn't "went wrong" anywhere. Life just has things thrown at us we can't control and I came to the reality that I'm not the same racer or person I was 2 years ago. I hate excuses more than anything and I always felt that me saying I have myasthenia gravis is an excuse... but I now know it's not a excuse, it's my reality. I have a chronic illness and it effects me whether I like it or not. It's not an excuse, it's my life now. It only took me a whole year to be able to come to that realization to myself. Not the easiest thing to admit as a active person. 

Rounding the corner at the ICX race... on my way to the run-up.

That of course doesn't mean that I will let it get the best of me! No sir! I have good days too! I was able take home a win during my first cx race at the Lion of the Den ICX! 

Myself and Rebecca Zink (Shamrock Cycles) pre-race... the two gals sponsored by handmade builders, both took home category wins at the Lion of the Den!

I also brought home 2 more wins this past weekend at small local races at Depot Cx and Frankie Cx in Fort Wayne. I may not have had any other cat1 women at either race, but I felt like I improved and got some of my inner "Stella" back during these events. I took Depot cx to focus on putting out some power and going into the red zone the whole race (and also practiced my dollar hand-ups) and then focused on my cornering at Frankie Cx Sunday. I feel I accomplished that and I had a lot of fun at the races too. My original plan was to make it up to the WI USGP since I really love this race and was bummed to miss it last year with the NDE, but life responsibilities prevented that this year and it just didn't work out. I was happy and thankful to still be able to hit a couple local races instead!! 

Celebrating the first race and the first Win of the season Don Walker Cycles style!

Other than that I was happy to get together with the whole Don Walker Cycles Racing Team for the first time during the OVCX race. I can't express how thankful I was to show up to a race and have a crew and pit area around to make the race day easier! The DW waffle crew has put together a huge effort and sweet set-up for us racers and I can't wait to race more with them in the future!

 For now, I'll keep on training, working hard, and living a life full of fun! 

A reminder I keep on my mirror to keep things in perspective . Like it Mark?

See you at the races!

'Cross is HERE! Can You Believe It?

And so it is! It Is Time. Cross is here!

Time to represent the best team in Cx: Don Walker Cycles!

We all have finally stomached our way through the dogs days of summer and can now move onto what we all live for. Cyclocross season! If you're anything like me, you started planning and scheming this year's season long before the last medal was given at World's last year. And with my first race just a short 6 days away I'm still not really ready. I still have a lot to get around and a lot to wrap my head around, but that's the way it is with cross. It's the most complex, simple form of racing there is... it can either be a very simple bike and rider, or it can involve a trailer full of tire/ wheel selections, equipment,  clothing options, approaches to the best lines, and so on. 

Normally at this point in the year I would have spent almost the entirety of August solely on the cx bike and would have spend my fair share of time doing laps on my mock cx course at our local fair grounds and college xc running course. But this year I found myself  drawn to hunting down new dirt roads and taking the cx rig on the mtn bike trails here and there. Seeing how that has been what my "want" has drawn me to and that is all cool with Coach Mark, I don't see how skipping laps on grass will hurt me much. I figure I've raced enough cx races to let my instincts kick in once the 1st gun blows at the start line. Besides, although I plan on having a good all around season up until nationals, I figure I have plenty of time to work out a few corners here and there along the way to nationals and Master's Worlds. 

With that being said, I can't say how excited I am for the season. I have found a positive, professionally run, welcoming home for cx after a late blindsided dismissal announcement from my last year's team management. It was the best blessing in disguise and I'm so glad I had to go through a dark bought to find the light at the end of the tunnel! As you notice from the change on the blog layout, I've shifted my colors to orange and black and now have a sword and shield on my arm. 

Getting ready for cx season honing my skills with down hilling!

That's right, I will be riding for one of the "original 6." No, no... not hockey, not Richard Sachs, nor the Greek gods. But none other than head honcho of NAHBS http://2013.handmadebicycleshow.com/ himself- Don Walker (http://www.donwalkercycles.com/). If you haven't heard of the bike show or him, do yourself a favor, be a real cyclist and look it up! I mean seriously people... if you haven't broached the world of cycling enough to the depths of a man/ woman who can MAKE a custom/ handmade steel frame, then you need to wake up! This art is just as much the heart and sole of cycling as the first time you ever threw your leg over a saddle. This is where it starts for the industry. I realize that everyone can't go pluck a custom bike off the checkbook, even though you'd be surprise just how affordable DW can make you a bike, but there is nothing more sexy in the bike world than a custom steel frame done just right. Until you experience the art of sole of a custom frame at least once in your cycling life you're just not doing it right. While I'm just as prone to drooling over the latest carbon made beauty rolling off the assembly line somewhere in china because that's what the cycling media ingrains our brains to tell us what's hot, there is NOTHING (in cycling) will ever make my heart a flutter like a custom, beautifully made steel or ti (I'm thinking Moots here) bike!

"Do you KNOW who built your bicycle?"

Whoa! So enough of that conversation that I could go on about for days, and back to the matter at hand. Soooo you could say I am thrilled to be riding for the Don Walker Cycles Racing team (http://www.donwalkercycles.com/2012/06/13/official-press-release/) this season. They consist of a great group of people and I am also thrilled to be a teammate of Mrs Terri Meek on the elite women's side of things! Good. Quality. People.  Hopefully, I do the team proud! More importantly, stop and hang out with us this year, check out our steeds (you're even welcome to ride mine), check out the bike set-ups (I'll be running Shimano Ultegra Di2 http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content/global_cycle/en/us/index/products/road/ultegra_di2.html, Paul Component Neo- retro brakes http://paulcomp.com/neoretro.html, along with other great goodies), and try to out-heckle us! Good luck with that last part though!

In other news, most of you know I spent 11 days recently in Colorado for my personal cx training camp. I had a great time out there. I spent some time in the best US cycling city of Boulder and then had chosen my final end point as Winter Park (WP) for the quality of all around riding. But I somehow ended up strictly sticking to fat and even fatter tires than I would have thought. I make it no secret that mountain biking is my true love, even though I prefer cx for the racing side of things. Well, WP was like mtb heaven! Everything in the area was catered to mtb of all forms. It was amazing! I could go on and on about how great it was and try to relay how I felt so very at home there... but just as a picture could paint a thousand words and not do the views justice; a blog post could never even come close either! So I won't even try.

This had to be my favorite section at WP. Hitting that at 30mph... felt like a kid again!

I will say this: I'm thankful to be here on earth and grateful that I was able to spend time doing something I love like that for myself. By now we are all sick of hearing about how I almost died last year... it may seem like a faint memory to most now. But it will never be that to me; a faint memory. It happened and I'm so lucky it did because I value and see through different eyes now. Moments and minutes come and go, and once they pass you never get them back. Someday, the autoimmune disease I have (MG) may decide to flare up, make me stop breathing in my sleep and that will be the end for me. Who know's? That's the reality of it. Not to be a Debbie downer... but all of us will face our demise.This we know for certain. And while I know for a fact I don't fear death since I accepted it once, I do fear not living. 

Living it up!

Don'e get so caught up in the unnecessary drama of the world and forget to live. 

K? 

...And back to the fun! Cx is here.

 Live it up and enjoy the season everyone.

 The cx scene is all about fun and don't forget to live and love it! 

K?

https://vimeo.com/user13214175/videos 

(check out some of my downhill runs with one of my first GoPro attempts!)

Here we go! 

"I'm Not Really a Road Racer"

"I'm really not much of a road racer." Ha! I find myself saying this all the time. Like most of the cycling world I've been poking fun of our culture with the "shit cyclist say" you tube clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMCkuqL9IcM ) and this seems to be my own quote to fit the bill. Truth is,  I spent the better part of the summer doing skinny tire races and only stepped on the mountain bike once since Brown County Dino all the way back in early June. Such a walking contradiction really. I love to hate road type races. They go against every ounce of my competitive instinct. Sitting in the pack, waiting, watching, all that rules of conserving energy. True, I do like the race tactics and love to be able to use my brain to gain some advantage when I can, but mostly it drives me nuts. Don't get me wrong, I do have fun while I'm out there, I'm just not going to weigh the results of these races too much.  

Sitting in the pack... my favorite. Coming around for another lap  in The Maple Hill  road race in Lawton, MI

So why do them? Well for one thing, it is a race. Within a 2 hour drive or less, the area offers a lot of them and it's important to get some race efforts in for cross prep. Plus, since I seem to get massive poison ivy every time I even am remotely close to it, I seem to  not have this problem out of the woods. I've loosely enforced a 2.5 hour max travel rule to myself this summer for races and it's seems to be working well. With all the travel cross season brings, and a job where I work about 60 hours a week, it's important to save my matches when I can. I do miss hitting the "usual" races in the state, but I've also enjoyed discovering new ones in the same breath. I've made it up to MI races that have been close to home and have met new people, racers, and promoters and that has been really fun. Part of the draw of racing is just that... expanding our comfort zone, meeting new people, and seeing new places. At least for me that is. 

So with that I suppose I should mention some race action.

I was able to win a crit actually, so I can't complain much. It was even my Men of Steel's team event to boot! It was a hard race against a good field of girls. My teammate Diana, motored the entire race and the two of us took a flyer off the front to escape midway through the race. It felt great to take the win at such a cool event and I look forward to this race around Parkview Field next year.

Doing some crit racing for my Men of Steel team! Great shot by Lahrman!

 I've did a crit in Lansing. Got 7th or 8th... can't really remember. I'm finding the MI group to be generally overall baller in biking. No surprises there really, it's a great state to cycling in. After that I ventured down to the Eagle Creek crit. It was just a series of bad luck for me there. I got a late start down, flatted way far away from my truck on the warm-up, barely made it to the start line, then miss-judged the finish line at the end. I got last as a result since I stopped racing like 20 yards before the real finish line. I couldn't figure out why everyone kept pedaling once I stopped... really Nik? I just eventually had to laugh at myself and be thankful it was just a bike race and not a day passing gas at work (That's anesthesia lingo for putting people to sleep). That always puts things in perspective for me. 

Celebrating a podium at Parkview Field! Crit races around a minor league baseball field... so American!

After that I did a double weekend in Kalamazoo area. Super nice races with a crit one day and a road race the next. I was once again, plagued with a flat in the crit, but made a good change during the race and fought back to be in the money. I had a good time. After that I went on a hotel hunt and ended up in the only hotel room left in the area... seems there was a huge lacrosse tournament and no one gave us cyclists the memo. Seriously, I have to re- prepare for these aspects of traveling to races. Dive hotels seem to make me cringe more and more the older I get. I spent the night freaking out about bed bugs, but never had I been so ready to get up early for a 8am race! 

Nice to meet a new bunch of racers from all over the country and world. The winner of our RR was visiting from New Zealand. 

The road race was pretty sweet. We raced around vineyards on rolling hills. I stayed smart and ended up second on the day. I wasn't really caring how well I did, but was more stoked by the fact that the race efforts and terrain were not as challenging for me.... 

This is good since my fitness is coming around for cyclocross.... 

"I'm more of a 'cross racer ya know"

June in a Nutshell

Well, so June is almost over and that means July is just around the corner. I've had an up and down June...  but what's new? I'm not complaining since I know the "down" could be much worse. Basically, June was this: 2 weeks of flu/sickness, then 2 weeks of getting back to health. 

(Leading the pack at the Fort 4 Fitness event, Sierra in 2nd here would trade me places once it was all said and done. Photo A. Hoffman) 

I pretty much had a good time in June when I wasn't sick... just didn't really have the results in races that I was hoping for. I've been doing some racing here and there though... 

(Taking chase at the Fort 4 Fitness race! Photo: Andrew Hoffman http://fortwayne.myneighborlink.org/)

I had a fun time at the Fort 4 Fitness Road crit in Fort Wayne where I was able to come away with a 2nd place in front of my team's (Men of Steel Racing http://www.menofsteelracing.com/) home crowd. Of course, I would have loved to win, but I didn't play all my cards right. I let a solo rider get a break and I hesitated to chase since I thought the pack would pursuit... turns out they did not, and by the time I took after her, it was a bit too late. I soloed for 2nd and I was feeling pretty happy about how I powered through the race with so little high end training. I felt a bit off the entire night and later found out why. I spent the drive home throwing up and scooting to the bathroom. Yuckers! I was just thankful my Sis had made the trip with me and despite how crummy the day ended, we had a good time together before hand. 

(Loved racing past the buildings in downtown Fort Wayne, IN. Cycling leads to so many cool things that just can't be experienced any other way! Thanks for the sweet photos: Andrew Hoffman) 

And that pretty much started it all. I felt pretty crummy for the next week, as did my entire family. I hate that they were sick, but at least I didn't feel like I was the only germ catching person around me. Since the NDE, every bug that comes anywhere in a 2 mile radius of me has me down for the count, and while I was hit the hardest, at least I knew it was going around. 

Of course, this was the week heading up to the BCSP DINO race and a planned mini trip and cabin getaway with my Mom and Sis. We were all sick and almost pulled the plug on the trip, but right at the very last minute, we decided that we could be sick just as well at the cabin, so might as well go. We made the 4 hr drive down okay, got settled in and I started resting for the next day's race. 

I woke up the day of the BCSP DINO race NOT feeling it at all. I wasn't deathly ill, but I wasn't good either. I knew me being off the bike all week and the lack of energy would not fair me well at a venue that doesn't suite me well to begin with. That pretty much says it all... no need to get into details. I put forth what I had, did my best for that day, had a fun time, and have since put it behind me. 

After that, the flu bug took over and I was forced to let it take its course for another week before getting back on the bike. 

I finally came back to life and was itching to get going at the races again. Sooo after being off the bike for a while I decided to do some crit racing. That was a jump start back! I headed up to South Bend to basically tick my legs off. It was a cool race and I really liked the course. Lots of turns, some straights, and it was around the college football hall of fame! What more could an ND FB fan want? 

We had a small but quality field of women. The promoter bunched us in with the Master's men which completely changed the race for us, but it is what it is. I think I had a pretty good race and did my best to play it smart. I had some major, major quad cramps every time I stood to attack, so eventually I didn't attack. I'm still a little weary when I have these cramps happen, I'm a little afraid that it's the myasthenia gravis and that pushing it a bit too far will lead me back in the ICU on a vent. Once a MG crisis occurs, the body basically doesn't have the energy to even be able to breath for itself... so I'm really going through a big  learning process to be safe and smart yet still be able to race. I'll get it down at some point... it just isn't something to mess around with! 

(Once again... cool places cycling can take a person... warmed up on the trainer on the astroturf in front of the Football Hall of Fame)

Anyway, we ended up in a 3 way sprint at the end! I came out 2nd, but we were all bar to bar! It was a lot of fun and I was happy with 2nd considering the lack of fitness and the fact that my quads stayed in the contracted state the whole time I did my cool down lap. It was total mind over matter to stand and sprint for that 2nd place at the end.

(I was so proud of my buddy Josh "Joshie" Johnson for taking his 1st PRO road win this month!)

So what else then??? Oh yeah, I did a race up in Lansing, MI last weekend. I would have loved to do the B'town crit, but at this point I am trying to conserve as much energy and resources as possible to get recovered from being sick. Plus, I know once cx season gets here there will be plenty of time to survey the roads and hotels of our country! So I opted to head to Lansing which was about 1hr closer to home. The race there had a pretty good turnout, 10 riders maybe? Since I didn't know any of the riders... it was a bit fun to learn each rider as the race progressed. All of the gals there were pretty speedy and I could tell they were all there for business that day. I really just wanted to stick with the group and not get dropped. Well, I did get dropped on a prime lap, but I fought my way back solo and was pretty stoked to stay with the gals for the remainder of the race and was even right there for the sprint in the end. I  came out 6th, which was about 1 tire width out of the payout...  Love those sprint finishes though! 

So all in all, it's been a crazy June but that's the way it goes! I'm not gonna get caught up on the results this month. I had some really fun times and good memories to keep with me.

In reality, June was a big deal to me in my life this year. It marked the 1 year anniversary of my near life ending event... so what do I have to complain about? I really feel June 16th is like my 2nd birthday... the day God let me live again. August 23rd was my birth as a person, but June 16th was a birth again that made me be so much more aware of how valuable the gift of life truly is!

Photo Cred...

Almost forgot to give credit where credit is due. New blog title photo from William Snyder http://prints.williamlsnyder.com/ . Check out some of his nice work in your free time.... and buy a photo or two and support those taking time to sit in trail brush to get a picture of you riding your bike!

2 Wins, 2 Days...and a 2nd Place!

Well, another Fat and Skinny weekend is done and although I put up some respectable results, I feel like I was really just "training" my way through the race weekend and can now move on to considering the rest of the summer as "racing." I say that because of my lack of preparedness I've had on the bike with the cyclist knee all spring, and even though I wasn't too far off the lap times I posted last year, I had to work for every second of it. It is what it is though, and I think as a general rule, most of us cyclist hardly ever feel truly as fit as we ever want to be going into a race. At least for me in my 20 something years of racing, I've only maybe felt prepared as much as I wanted to be about 10 times. Regardless, I mustered up a 2nd place in Saturday's DINO XC event, losing only by 20 seconds or so, pushed through leg cramps in the 35 mile road race a couple hours after finishing that, and endured a 2 full lap mtb time trial and a short track on Sunday for two wins! And it was a hot weekend for us Northerners!

Saturday's race results were a complete shock to me. Honestly, I knew at least 4 of the other gals had several more races under their belt thus far this season than I have had, and knowing how little proper training I had, I really was just hoping to hang on for a top 5 finish. So before the race, I had almost zero race day nervousness, it's hard to be nervous when lack of fitness is totally out of your control. Turns out maybe I should have channeled some nerves to get the adrenaline flowing as I found myself in a nice position in second place behind Sierra S going into the single track. After a short spell, I passed by her on a bit of a technical log and hung out in 1st place for quite a while of the 1st lap until the eventual winner caught up to me. I decided to let her take the lead so I could just hang out behind her and put the pressure on while she would pick her way through the massive amount of cat 2 men we had to pass while not giving away my home trail lines. This all worked out like a good plan most of the race until it didn't. I was feeling great just hanging out until one of the men I was trying (and I say trying like I had been asking him for several hundred yards to let me by) decided to come over "on the left" on me after I yelled "I'm now passing on your left" about 4 times. This little move by him planted me straight into a tree, along with my right shifter. I spent way too much time untangling my bike from underbrush and with that, away went my contact with the leader. I spent the remaining time trying to catch back up... which I did pretty well, only to fall short by less than a minute. I was happy with second really, but it was so frustrating to have it be that way. I know it's a tough course to pass on, but I feel like the hardest part of the race was trying to pick my way through the cat 2 men's field than actually racing the course and my competitors, but I know 1st place had to do the same. I just wish the promoter would be so kind as to let us cat 1 gals start in front of the 40+ cat 2 men so we could run our race as a race. All in all, my satisfaction on the day came down to how I did personally, and I felt I gave it all I had and exceeded my expectations. Can't ask for more than that!

(Hanging out at the start of the Planet Adventure Short Track start with Mr Will. Keep your eyes on this kiddo... he's got a bright cycling future! )

Shortly after the xc, I chatted around a bit with the dirt crowd and made a last minute decision to do the  road race. I should have chatted less and rehydrate more... but I packed up and headed over to the skinny wheel side of the weekend. The road race had a good number of gals at the start and I was looking forward to riding around with the group for a bit. Alas, it wasn't to be. With my Garmin 500 giving me a temp reading of 101 and me with little re hydration... once the real racing got started I immediately cramped pretty bad and the main field left me behind. I found another gal to ride with for a couple laps, but I knew the catching the main group without my hamstrings wouldn't work out. I gave a dnf a serious thought several times, but as the song goes: I shaved my legs, I paid my money..... so I was sure as heck gonna start what I finished! 

After the 2 races in the heat, I was given a good lesson in what the neurologist expert in myesthenia gravis meant when she said that it would be aggravated by extremes of heat. This was the first time I had really put in any effort in the heat, and I certainly know now what happens. I spent the night with major, major hand and feet cramping and super droopy eyes. MG cramps aren't really like sports cramps and it works a bit differently. So I had to lay low and use as little energy as possible and suffer through it. I took my medicine and went to bed with hopes it would settle down with a good night's sleep unsure if I would be able to safely race the next days events.

Luckily, I woke up as I do any other day now with the MG, a bit slower to get moving while my body waits for my morning dose of MG meds to take effect, but after that, I didn't have any signs of aggravation so I headed back to the Winona trails for a day of Planet Adventure mtb races. I was pretty excited that F &S added 2 full days of mountain biking as I don't consider myself a road racer at all. Especially when I have no team support around me when other riders in the crit would. It would be like Kobe showing up solo to play a full 5 man nba team. His chances of winning aren't very good and would likely be a waste of everyones time. So I started the morning with the 2 full lap tt. I was moving pretty slow compared to the day before, but I managed to snag a win and met my goal of only be 10 minutes slower than the day before. I really had no reason to go out and bury myself, I only needed to go as fast as I needed to to win. After that, I had a short break before the short track race. By this time my legs and engine were pretty much all but running on fumes, but I still had fun doing some racing. Especially since st always gives me a little feeling of the cx season to come. The PA (http://www.indianamtb.com/) guys did a great job of making the day super fun and even though the turnout was low, I have a feeling people will catch on next year and plan on doing more mtb racing on day 2! I managed to win both of these events... with some good competitors of all ages, and I was happy to get out of my cycling race mode and head back over to the village to watch my bud, Josh Johnson race with his Bissell Nuvo squad for the men's 1/2/3 crit. Good job Joshie! 

(... and the two winners of the ST for the weekend! Hopefully we both can repeat this in races in the near future. Kudos also to my Men of Steel teammate Sarah F. on a Cat2 ST and XC win and to all my teamies on great rides over the entire weekend! Thanks to Will's Dad, Mike for the picture. I'm always so proud to see young people enjoy the sport like Will and I just love this picture.)

It was nice to finally relax and sit by the lake with some good friends and watch others do work after a full 2 days of racing and what better setting then the Village of Winona (http://www.villageatwinona.com/) to do it at! After all the racing was done, I chugged a Perrier and ate an entire 1000 Park wood oven pizza in about 5 minutes flat! I think I burned a few calories during the weekend for sure. 

And last but not least, I would be remiss to not mention again that this was my first mtb race back since last year before I had surgery and almost went to ride in heaven for good after that. I felt really thankful and blessed to be able to race in this way, not only because I have a neuromuscular disorder (http://www.myasthenia.org/), but to also because I got to do it in my home trails. We all also know the weekend was a celebration of a friend who has passed on, Robbie Gast. I did that the best way I knew how to celebrate by personally celebrating being alive. Robbie didn't let a moment go by without enjoying life, and almost dying myself, I don't ever want to either!  Four races were the most races I have ever done in a weekend... it was a lot to do, it was kinda crazy, but I think I wanted to prove to myself that I'm not going to let this disease, my dead right lung, or my previous obstacles get the best of me, that I can lead an outstanding life on and off the bike, and live every moment to the fullest until the day God decides it's finally my time. I did it for myself and for all the other people out there that have a disease or disorder that seems like a HUGE obstacle to overcome some days. You can overcome it too! 

As I try to remember:

Lord don't move my mountain... just give me the strength to climb it! 

Believe He will! He did and He does! 

Hello Again!

Wow! Talk about a blog hiatus. Since I've been busy with life the last several weeks and haven't posted, I figured I do a quick run down and put the last weeks in a nutshell before the summer and racing season (before the real racing season of cx) get into full swing. First thing that comes to mind since way back when was a super fun mini camp in Brown County with my Men of Steel (www.menofsteel.com) teammates back in March. As you can see we had a great turnout of guys for camp and one girl... me. We had some great riding weather and it was pretty fun to see how everyone was so fit after a pretty mild northern Indiana winter. The team got in plenty of miles over a couple days and my schedule allowed for me to stay and train a couple more solo after all the guys took off. I've been riding BC several years now and know the area really well, but treated myself to taking some different roads and getting lost a couple times. Mostly, I was rewarded with some fabulous isolated roads, and only found myself in a couple "I could get kidnapped and used for dog food" areas while I was out there. Thankfully, that didn't happen and I'm pretty happy to have some new routes to add to my favorite place to drive and train at! 

(Back in Black for the Mountain Bike and Road season with Men of Steel Racing team p/b Wagner Research)

I was also stoked to hit the State Park and take the new 29er Specialized Epic S-works (aka Big Red) out for it's maiden voyage ( www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCProduct.jsp?spid=61539&scid=1100&scname=Mountain. I haven't had a full suspension bike in a few years since I have never really liked the bob while standing to pedal... but this bike instantly blew me away at how smart the rear suspension "brain" is. Not to mention just how butter smooth the (www.sram.com ) components are! Blew. Me. Away! I can't wait to give it a go in a area that really cries for the aggressive need for suspension. 

(Nice view from my hotel deck after long days of training in BC)

After  four days of riding in the hills I was pretty exhausted. I had not been out of shape, but I had also just been getting over a long lasting bronchitis, so the effort was a good kicker to the system. All that riding turned out to work against me as it was a bit too much too soon in addition to an improper saddle height. After BC camp pretty much up until now, some 6 weeks later, I have struggled with a very painful knee problem. Tight IT led to a mistracking patella, lead to swelling under my kneecap and blah, blah, blah I was facing more time off the bike. It's been limited training time for me, but I was just thankful this happened now and not near cyclocross season. I was also thankful that it wasn't something that needed surgery! These sort of injuries take a lot of time to overcome and I feel pretty blessed to have some time right now to heal up properly. After a check up on my bike and cleat fit with the best fitters in the buiz at Summit City bicycles (www.summitcitybikes.com ) and a  good run of physical therapy with the masters at KCH Regional Rehab, I got things squared away. Thankfully, I'm pretty much back in the saddle and ready to get back to serious training with Coach Mark Faz (www.vantaggiofitness.com). That also means I can start thinking of a nice event and goal for the mtb/ road season too. Not sure what it will be, but with 20+ years of racing under my belt, I'm thinking I may look for a little bit of a different challenge until cx gets here... who knows?

(Rest break with the guys at camp. Don't think you'll find a nicer bunch of guys.)

Aside from all the fun at camp I was also able to get back to racing recently. I did a major crowd attending crit,  worthy of some UCI cyclocross pro races I've done. The streets were packed and everyone cheered the entire 60 minutes! Where could this be you ask? The small town of Goshen Indiana. Seriously, no joke. These people know how to hold a bike race during their "First Friday's" events. The majority of the crowd didn't know or care about how fancy the bikes were, what sort of shoes you had, or how pro you looked. They did know that the first one across the line was the winner and that everyone, and I mean everyone, deserved to be cheered on every lap regardless of what team they were a part of. Great job Goshen (www.goshenindiana.org )! I lined up with the Cat 1/2/3 men since they have yet to include a women's race (but rumor has it they will in 2013). I knew the pace would kill me, but I also knew what doesn't kill me would make me stronger. I got dropped like a brick off the Sears tower. But I gave it my all the entire time and caught the tail of the group each time I was lapped. I didn't crash, I had fun, and I accomplished what I wanted to. I can't stress enough how sweet this event is... if you can take part next year, DO IT!

(Sleepy eyes and stiff legs at the team breakfast table the second day of camp before the riding got started)

Next up for racing is my local race: Fat and Skinny Tire Festival (www.fatandskinnytirefest.com). Also a must do event for those of you who haven't taken part of it yet. I had naturally targeted this to be a weekend to be in good form for this year, but given the circumstances and the knee issue and some other personal issues I've dealt with here the last couple months, it looks like I will try to race above what I'm really fit for and just take whatever that leads to. So is life... take it as it comes. I just plan on enjoying taking part and keeping in mind that I was almost not able to do stuff like this had things went another way for me. I'm also pretty excited about the event adding a full 2 days of mtb in the mix. Since I'm not really a road racer at all, I look forward to spending the weekend in the dirt on some of the best trails there are... and proving that with the right attention, treatment, and determination- a person with myasthenia gravis can be competitively active!


See you all at the races!