Beginnings and Ends…

 

My first “official” mountain biking season has come to an end. It has definitely had its ups and downs, with many challenges along the way, one of which finally forced me to end the season earlier than I wanted. I have found out that it is called “cycling palsy” and affects less than ¼ of cyclists. Unfortunately I let it get to a more advanced stage, making it more difficult to heal. Fortunately, though, I finally gave in and quite before it got bad enough to require surgery. It has been tough to admit to and let go of all I had planned for the fall.

With the constant issues I had throughout the season, I wasn’t overall happy with how I raced at the Winter Park series. Every race I felt I could do better, and even though it seemed I improved with every race I still never felt right on. I wanted to redeem myself this fall, having planned and trained to solo the 12 Hours of Snowmass, completing the Tour de Front Range and possibly the 24 hours of Moab, so this setback has been quite a blow to me. Anyone who knows me well knows I have rarely in my life focused on one thing. I have tried to do so many different things, for instance last summer I was on 3 hockey teams, completed a Tri, 10K and mountain bike race, went rock climbing and hiking, did some kayaking and got into yoga. I was never good at any of the above, but I enjoyed them all. I finally decided that I wanted to focus on just one thing and work on getting good at that. Out of all of those activities, mountain biking was the one that really stuck out for me. I was excited and once I really started riding this year, I knew that was where I belonged. There were so many times that being on my bike was the only place I wanted to be. Not being able to have that has been hard, but I have forced myself to view the season as overall a success, and start to focus on other things…

 

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk

 

I started out this season both excited and nervous. I have been looking forward to racing for quite a while, but the fact that I was going to start in Sport class really intimidated me. I really thought I belonged in beginner, but Melissa and I (and Scott) didn’t think it was a great idea for us to have to compete against each other. So I ended up in Sport, where I had to then compete against Marni… Although it went a lot better than it would have if Mel and I competed, it was still difficult. It was really nice to have someone there to warm up with, and take off together at the start, but knowing that she was my competition was rough to deal with in my head sometimes. It was hard since I wanted both of us to do our best, and when I knocked her out of being on the podium the first couple of races, and only by a few minutes, I wasn’t sure what to think or do… Fortunately she kicked butt in the last few races so we were able to be on the podium together a couple of times. I never felt that I was able to relax out there, and my Zen moments of being “one with the mountain” were few and far between, especially in the earlier races. I knew I could do better, I knew I could ride better than I did. Somehow, though, I was still able to get on the podium in every race, pulling out two third places, one second and two first, which was also good enough to get first overall. I still didn’t feel quite right; it didn’t feel right when I would have a really bad race, on the verge of passing out and/or quitting several times, but still pull in a third place, or when I took it super easy on the top mountain circuit because of my wrist, and still somehow got first. I didn’t feel like I deserved it… The races were definitely challenging for me, no doubt about that. There just aren’t enough girls that race to make both the good and the bad races really count. I plan on doing a lot of changes for next year, and the first will be to race in a different category. If Marni for some odd reason decides to stay in Sport, then I will probably race in Expert. If she decides to do Expert, then I will really change it up and do Single Speed. This decision is in no way offense to Marni, I just don’t think I can hold her off my tail for another season, and I don’t want to kill myself trying! I also think it would be fun to cheer each other on in all the different categories.

I am content with what has taken place this season, I never expected at the beginning of the year that I would go from thinking I should be racing Beginner to having to move up to Expert next year. That’s a big accomplishment in itself, and I need to look at that and be excited, and not bummed that I cannot compete in the fall races. It also makes me realize that if I get the rest I need, and train like I should, I could have a very successful season next year in either Expert or SS, as well as be able to do more endurance races without the constant pain that I had to experience throughout this whole season. It was a learning experience to say the least, and I really look forward to having a pain free (hopefully), successful and fun season next year.

This is where I let the thoughts of biking go, at least for a few months, and focus on other things…

I have though about doing a marathon in the past, but since I have never really focused on one thing before, I never had enough time to train for one. Since I am out of activities that involve my hand for a while, I thought this is the best time. So I looked for one that was far enough away that I could train enough just to survive, and came across the perfect one: The Napa Valley Marathon. I think there is nothing better than a nice glass of wine after a suffer fest, and since I will be suffering tremendously, I will need all the vineyards in the Napa Valley to make me feel better. That and Mr. Matt to carry my sore bum to all the wine…

I also plan on doing a few more 14ers this year. My ultimate goal is to do all of them by my 30^th birthday. It’s possible, but I gotta get moving on that if I want to complete it! I did just purchase the Epic Season Pass; my first season pass in about 4 years… I am getting really excited to get back on my board, especially since we have unlimited to Vail and Beaver Creek! Heavenly is also thrown in there, so we will have to plan a trip out that way…

So the more I realized I had going for me, the easier it has been to take the news of not being able to ride my bike for a while. I think I will be so busy I wont even realize it until I can get on my bike again, and my then I will be ready to go!

 

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it…