Stage 2 Entracque to San Damiano Macra

Start of Day 1 in Entracque

The first stage from Entracque to San Damiano Macra was 74 km (46 miles) with 2782 meters (9,200 feet) of climbing. We started with a "Special Stage" right at the beginning. It was a mass start on pavement, which turned in to a steep dirt climb after a few kilometers. I thought it was going pretty well and that I had put some time on Katia Tomatis, but when the climb got steeper and rougher she caught up with me. It was a pretty warm day (later found out it was 34 degrees C= 92 F) and I didn't stop at the checkpoint to fill my camelbak so I ran out of water several kilometers from the top of the last climb. With the top in sight, suddenly of my hamstrings cramped so bad my leg completely locked up. When I got off the bike, my other hamstring cramped and all I could do was stand there and grab my legs. I tried to move, but every movement I made, caused my hamstrings to seize up. Around me I saw other riders in the same dilemma. How could I be so stupid?? I asked one of the other cramping riders if I could have a swallow of water, so I could take a couple of salt pills. Within a couple of minutes my cramps stopped and I was able to get back on my bike and finish the stage which was a pretty technical downhill. I hoped I hadn't lost too much time to Katia, and found out later that I was 3 minutes behind at the end of the Special stage.

The Top of the Last Climb of Day 1

In San Damiano the camp was at a sports facility. We put the tents up in a field and after a shower and some food, I was able to get a massage from one of the 4 great massage therapists that were working at the race. Eric and I found a bar in the town which served gelato and we sat down and watched the last stage of Tour de France with several of the other racers.

The 4 massage therapists in action

In the evening we had a pasta dinner followed by a briefing about Day 2. The top 35 racers were being bussed to the start at 7 am with a 5 am wake-up call. The rest of the riders had a 6 am start waking up for breakfast at 4. I was number 36 in the general classification, and both Eric and I were on the early bus.

Ironbike Prologue

Ciao!! After a very long trip back from Italy (off course consisting of lugging bike boxes and bags through train stations, on to buses, over cobblestone streets, through cities, and at airports) we are finally back home. I was hoping to post some results during the race, since I brought my new fancy IPhone with me, but there just never seemed to be one extra minute at the end of the day.

This year's Ironbike once again started in Entraque, a small town a couple of hours by train outside Turin. Eric and I were able to spend a few days with Roberto Ghidoni and his wife Vanna prior to the race at their home in the village of Ludizzo. Eric knows Roberto from Iditasport in Alaska, and I was very happy to finally meet "the Italian Moose", his wife, and daughter Ghinni. I could dedicate a whole post to our amazing stay with them in their 1000 year old stone tower where they live off the land and their cows but I would never get to the race....

The prologue was pretty uneventful with the exception that I actually missed the 2nd part of the race. The initial race took off in 2 heats and did a loop around the town. I rode pretty conservatively since I knew that the few penalty points I would accumulate wouldn't really matter much in the overall standings at the end of the 8 days. As soon as I we finished (around 16 minutes for me) I took a long shower in the town's swimming facility and then went to check my phone to see if my family had called. My parents and 2 sisters, Ulrika and Sofia, had agreed to come from Sweden to watch us and be our race support. They had flown in to Turin, rented an RV, and planned to follow the Ironbike for the week. Even though I had explained the "slight disorganization and confusion" around the race, I was a little nervous that it was going to be too much for them. The combination of language barrier, Italian culture, bike scene drama.... I was hoping they could handle it.

The rest of the Kobins had made it to Entraque. We met up with them at the start line and headed into town to watch the 2nd part of the race. Last year, the top 30 riders from the prologue had to do a 2nd, shorter prologue to determine who was going to wear the leader's jersey for the first stage. I had no visions of being in the top 30, but when we reached the finish line area I heard my name being called. Frantically trying to find someone who could translate, it was explained to me that the 2nd race was going off in 5 minutes, and the rules had changed: This year it was the top 30 men and top 3 women who had to race a 2nd time. The confusion begins.....

After talking with a few of the organizers I determined that missing the 2nd prologue wasn't going to have a huge impact on the overall standings. This 2nd part of the prologue was mostly to race for the leader's jersey, and according to the race organizers it was OK if I missed it. I really didn't feel like putting on my bike clothes again, running back to the camp for my bike to race for 5 minutes. Instead we watched the race, and then went to our favorite grocery shop and bought food for dinner which we had in my parents little RV.

Ironbike 2009

We just finished ironbike 2009 yesterday. 7 days of really hard racing, 450 km, over 22,000 meters of climbing. After a brutal race, ended up first female and 22nd place overall! Will post more on the race when we get back home!!!

Cascade Creampuff 2009

Another fun weekend at the Creampuff.... A few months ago, my friend Sten called and asked if I thought he should enter the Creampuff 100, and if I thought he would be able to finish. He said he has put on a a bit of weight the last year (ok, a lot of weight), drank a lot of beer, not exercised much since his son Quentin was born, and definitely not ridden his mountain bike. For any other person in this condition, I would definitely advice against trying to ride the 100 miles with 16,500 feet of vertical climbing. "YES, YOU DEFINITIVELY NEED TO SIGN UP, STEN, NOOOO PROBLEM, IT WILL BE FUN!!!"

Awesome single-track in Westfir

So, Sten took my advice and sent his entry to Scott, the CCP 100 organizer, and then the training began. Sten would frequently call and ask about nutrition, hydration, condition of the course, difficulty of the climbing and single track. One day I got the funniest voice mail from him, left while driving from Westfir (where the race takes place) to Bend where he lives. He had decided to go and check out the course and getting a practice ride in. He was asking if they issue parachutes at the starting line for when you fly off the 6" single track trail and take a 2000 foot fall off a cliff. He also threatened to carry a gun with one bullet so he could put himself out of the misery during the race, and also claimed he was going to be totally fresh after the race, since he was planning to drop out after a couple of hours. He said he would have never signed up had he known how technical the course was. I was REALLY looking forward to seeing him and Lisa, and meeting Quentin for the first time.

Eric and I left for Westfir, Oregon around noon on Friday. We stopped at Shasta and went for a short spin, had a picnic in a park and found a campground a couple of hours from Westfir. During the spin I found out I had a broken spoke. It's always fun to have to deal with these issues right before a race. After a great night's sleep we drove to Westfir and the first stop was at the local bike shop. We ended up buying a spoke and Eric put it on for me because speed of service doesn't seem to be a priority in small town Oregon. Enough said!!

Sten, Lisa, and Q showed up at the bike shop. I hadn't seen Sten for a couple of years, but he looked exactly the same. He appeared a little nervous, but I couldn't see any hives... (inside joke) After getting the bikes ready, Sten, Eric, and I went for a little spin, and then we did the usual race prep before the race meeting, and dinner at the Trailhead restaurant/cafe. Went to bed early, since we had to wake up at 4 the next morning.

Sten looking focused

After waking up to the obnoxious sound of Scott's blow-horn at 3:50 in the morning, forcing down a little breakfast and coffee, we all lined up for the start at 5:12 am. It was still pretty dark, but it was a neutral start and we had 4 miles on pavement before we started the first 8 mile climb on a fire road. When we started climbing, I noticed my legs were feeling really tight and stiff, but I figured they would loosen up after a bit. It didn't happen on the first climb, my legs felt heavy and I had no power to stand up and climb. At the first checkpoint (CP 2) we got onto a single track which was a bit slick, since it was really misty/lightly raining. I felt really uncoordinated, but sometimes it takes me a while to "get in the grove" so I wasn't too worried about it. After about 15 minutes of descending and being passed left and right, a woman came flying past me. She was whipping around the tight corners superfast!! I heard several guys remark on how fast she was. When we reached CP3 she was just leaving, and it didn't take too long to catch her on the next climb. I was feeling slightly better after backing off the pace, but had a really hard time hanging with the group, including Eric, I was riding with.

The course is in the shape of a figure eight, and we were doing the top-loop 2 times. Each loop took about 3.5 hrs. I had a hard time keeping my blood-sugar level and I kept making stupid mistakes, using my brakes too much, and at one point I went over my handle bars and rolled down a hill. The guy behind me pulled me up and said "Getting tired, huh". I wasn't really tired, just not quite right. After eating a handful of smashed cookies and chugging a little sustained energy I felt better and finally made it all the way down to CP 1.

Feeling a little dizzy...

CP 1 is at the bottom of the figure eight, and is also the finish line. From there, you take a single track along a river, ride up the first climb again, and descend the last 45 minutes on fun single track. As I grabbed a couple of gels, Karen deWolf (the speedy woman who had passed me on the single track earlier in the day) showed up. WHAT!?!? I hadn't really counted on that...

I left the checkpoint seconds before Karen, but as I couldn't make it over a steep rocky section, she climbed like a mountain goat and left me in the dust (or mud rather). I tried keeping a descent pace, hoping I would catch her on the next climb, and be able to hold her off on the single track, but it seemed a little ambitious. She looked so fast on the technical sections.

It took me a while to catch her on the climb, I was eating Gu like they were going out of style; I was so afraid of bonking. I just hoped the climb would keep going so I could make some time up on Karen. I didn't really feel great, but I think the adrenalin kept me going. My last downhill was definitely my best of the day. I finally felt smooth and I think the fear of getting caught after 11 hrs of racing made me more coordinated and flowy around the turns. I finished in 11 hrs 13 minutes, 2 minutes ahead of Karen.

Finally feeling good

Eric finished a couple of minutes ahead of me, he was 3rd in the Veteran category, not feeling his very best either. We were rooting for Sten, but unfortunately he got to CP 1 after the cut-off and wasn't allowed to continue on. He was still happy with how he did, 87 miles on a technical course is not bad, especially when you go from being an out of shape, beer drinking runner to an endurance mountain bike race in 3 months .... There is always 2010!!

The famous CCP clock...

Eddie I. Maiden and Cute Goat on training ride.

When Marg Fedyna started my blog  for me a couple of years ago, I vowed to not be one of those people that write about every training ride they do, talk about the trail and weather conditions, describe how their right calf was twitching at mile 32, record their wattage, heart rate, milage etc etc.   

I don't think I have posted anything about a regular training ride before, since I can't imagine that anyone would find that interesting.   However, I  couldn't resist putting these photos on my blog.  Eric and I did a 93 mile ride from our house today and stopped to take a couple of pictures on Stage road which parallels Highway 1.  Isn't this the coolest statue you have ever seen?  I am sure the artist based it on Iron Maiden's Eddie.  How would you like to have this guy guarding your house?

La Ruta Lou and Eddie I. Maiden

This cute guy was checking us out while we were taking the pictures.  He lives at the house Eddie is guarding.

Sequoia 200 K and Guy Comments

A couple of weeks ago, Eric and I decided to sign up for the Sequoia 200 K to try to get some distance in before the Cascade Creampuff 100 and Ironbike in Italy.  This charity ride starts in Palo Alto and has 3 categories in addition to the 200 K.  There were 900 people signed up to ride a mellow 50 k,  a hilly 100 k, 100 miles, and 200 K.  Pretty inspiring to see so many people out on their bikes.  Since we will be racing 100 miles in the dirt at Creampuff, we decided to use our hard-tails for the ride.  

As we were passing some of the other riders on the climbs we started getting comments about the advantage of our "easy gearing" (even though we were clearly pushing a harder gear than the people we were passing).  This made me think of all the funny/stupid comments I have gotten from guys in races.  Many men are clearly not comfortable being passed by " A GIRL" and often feel the need to come up with unprompted excuses for why they are being passed or not keeping up. 

Here is my list of  The Top 10 Stupid Guy Comments:

10.   I am just stretching out a cramp (heard many many times during various races)

9.    I lost my water bottle 

8.    I'm bonking (answer to: Hello!)

7.    My shifting is not working....

6.   Angrily:  I just finished building this bike in my garage last night and something is not working right. 

5.   OH, I am just taking it EASY today (Answer to:  Hey, good job)

4.    I had 7 flats today

3.   Oh bummer, I just took a drink from my water bottle and now you pass me (passing a guy at the top of a hill and never seeing him again)

2.  It must be easy to go up a hill with that gearing (passing a guy on my mtb,  in my big chainring on the road while he is riding a carbon fiber roadbike)

1.   Riding a Mtb on the road is as stupid as playing tennis with a wooden tennis racket (comment from a guy we passed during organized road ride)

So No Mas "100"

The So No Mas 100 miles turned into 100 Km about a month before the start.  The race organizer (Carlos Perez with Bike Monkey)  thought that the 100 mile technical course which consisted of 3 laps around Lake Sonoma would be too much in the heat and too difficult for most people to complete.  I was a bit disappointed at first, but after finding out that the temperature was supposed to reach 100 degrees I didn't mind too much.  

Eric and I drove up to Lake Sonoma on Friday after work.  It was almost dark when we got there after a couple of rest stops in Santa Rosa to stretch our legs and in Healdsburg for dinner.  It was still really warm even at sun-set and there were lots of mosquitoes.  After picking up our number plates (literally numbers drawn in felt-pen on a paper plate) we set up our tent and went to sleep.  

On Saturday morning it was cooking!!  I felt like I was baking in the sun at 8 am.  Our camp neighbor John Solomito shared some of his great Italian coffee, I cooked up some eggs and had a bagel for my pre-race meal.  I realized I had left my hammer gel at home but I was able to get a few Gu's before the race started.  

The 100 Km racers started at 9 am while the people doing 1 lap (50 Km) of the course went out an hour later.  (In my opinion this race should have started at 5 am).   We started out doing 2 short laps around the parking lot to thin out the field before getting onto the single track.  I started out pretty slow, thinking that I was going to race in the heat for over 8 hrs.  It was hard to pass people on the single track, but I was in no hurry.  The course was really fun; smooth single track with steep ups and downs,  all power climbing.  I passed the 2 women in front of me and then started catching the guys.  Everyone seemed pretty laid back, and no one started sprinting after me.  After a couple of hours I caught Kurt Levy and obnoxiously yelled at him since we had been joking around before the start about beating each other.  Kurt wasn't looking super spry and told me he was cramping.  After putting him on to Therma tabs he brought some to the race, but was planning on grabbing them for the second lap.  Some people never learn.....  (all in good fun)  

There were several check points on the course and at the 3rd one I stopped since I had finished my camel bak.  After filling up on water and chugging a cold coke at the check point we got onto a road for a short while before dropping back onto a trail at the next checkpoint.  I was right next to another racer at this point and we were told we were 11th and 12th.  The trail got rougher and was really steep going down hill.  After descending for quite some time we spotted a big group of riders coming toward us!!!  They said they couldn't find any trail markers and had explored several trails without finding the right way.  We turned around and followed them back up the steep hill to the check point.  Apparently some joker had taken the trail markers and we were now re-directed onto the road going back to the start/finish area.  Most of us were taking it pretty easy since we had been caught by a bunch of the riders behind us. I am not sure how much time the front guys lost, but I was on the side-trail for about 20 minutes.  After cruising on the road back to the finish everyone stopped to find out what was going to happen next.  Carlos was trying to make a decision about wether or not to call the race off.  After a few minutes he decided that the heat was too much for everyones safety and called it off.  

So the 100 mile race turned in to approximately 26, which was ok with most people.  I think a couple of guys went back out for another lap but were told to go back at the first check point.   Better than the race itself, was the post race celebration, but that will have to be another post.