Four race weekends down, and I seem to improve a bit after each one. Yesterday I finished 9th in the cross-country and finished up the weekend with an 8th in short track. Colt from CyclingDirt.org has put together a good race recap. I’m pleased that I’m riding well enough to make it into the race footage! All-in-all a solid race with no mishaps or crashes. I faded a bit in the last two laps and watched as Amanda Sin caught, and then handily dropped me on the last lap. I’m starting to feel at home riding over roots and through mud puddles but I still prefer dust to mud.

So what’s next? Another race weekend in Windham, NY. In the meantime, I’ll spend the next week in Vermont with Catharine and Zeph and then drive to New York on Thursday. Sorry I still don’t have much in the way of pictures as my camera has been zipped up in my backpack for most the trip. Here’s a picture of ‘the office’ where I update my blog (maybe even this single occasion). I caught Catharine just the moment before she smiled for the picture.

So what do I do between race weekends? I’ve been training Wednesdays and Thursdays, reading before breakfast, eating pancakes, doing recovery rides, restocking the refrigerator, reading, cooking, hunting for wifi, using up my phone minutes talking to TJ, watching movies, and working on getting the UA Cycling Club in business this Fall Semester. I just finished up these couple books and am only updating my blog in the brief lull before the next round of reading:

- The Cycling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities
-The Omnivore’s Dilema: A Natural History of Four Meals

Both books are worth a thorough read, and even the book review by David Byrne.

Take care!

I raced pretty well for 3 laps today (of 5). Well enough to have me finish in 25th place, and 5th for U23 women. Unfortunately, I learned that only the top-3 women are called up for the U23 podium.

That’s it for now. Maybe I’ll do an actual race report later. I just realized I need to scrub the dirt out of my jerseys and get them in the next load of wash. I’ve already decorated a couple of our fancy white jerseys with mud spots on this trip. Just another reason I like Tucson…

Catharine took home her second World Cup victory yesterday. Katerina finished 3rd, and Georgia in 7th. What a great day for LUNA!

My race: 38th place. Not the result I’d hoped for but not entirely bad considering it’s been a couple years since I’ve had to contend with mud and roots. The world cup course required constant focus to keep riding instead of running. I actually did quite a bit of both and am now paying for all the running/bike pushing with a sore back, arms, butt, and calves.

I was called up in the fourth row, and found my preferred start position next to the fence on the outside of the first corner. I took the first corner wide and found myself in a good position up the start climb–which was short. As we entered the singletrack descent, a couple riders slipped by me (which was only the beginning, I should have known). I heard Waldek yell at me that I was 23rd. Then I got passed by about 20 people over the next two laps. Which sucked. I pretty much forgot how to ride my bike.

Then I passed a few riders on the last two laps. The plan for next weekend: I need to calm down for the start and not panic when I made mistakes.

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Pretty good for a short track race over 9,000ft. I finished with a solid 8th place finish. I’ll just post another post-race interview from Cycling Dirt. And why do I have such a stupid look on my face?

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

The jersey is the Stripe Jersey from the new LUNA Sport clothing line. I guess you can’t see much of it in the video but there’s more here. Apparently I was supposed to mention something about organic material and that they’re handmade in the USA. Some shops in Boulder are now carrying the clothing, including Full Cycle, where I spent some of 2006 fixing bikes.

Here’s a little race coverage from Cyclingdirt.org. Enjoy!

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt