City Limits

Posted on by lindsay
This week has been exhausting. A huge project at work is due tomorrow and I've been working until late in the night each day. Training doesn't take a break for work, though, so every morning I get up, eat, ride, shower, go to work, and stay there until it's time to go home to sleep. I'm tired. My interval workouts have gone well over the last few days, but I'm running out of steam fast. When I get really tired and overwhelmed, I cry easily; earlier today, a sad picture of a pit bull sitting next to its dead companion had me in tears. Also, this happened while I was in a coworker's office. He had to hand me a roll of paper towels to mop off my face. I often believe in training and racing that it's just a matter of wanting it enough. If you want to ride faster, ...continue reading.

My Kelly Cup Runneth Over

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: BikeJam/Kelly Cup The Course: 20 miles The Field: Pro 1/2 women The Finish: 1st After a great day at Wilmington, I felt uncharacteristically relaxed about Kelly Cup. It was a beautiful day, I'd already had one good race for the weekend, and although the odds were against me with three Optum Pro Cycling riders in the otherwise small field, it looked to be a good opportunity to practice tactics. Things didn't start off well. I was late to staging and started at the back of the field. The race took off fast, which meant I was trying to move up the side when people were already strung out. While I'd raced the course last year, I didn't remember the details of the curves and chicanes, so my hard effort to improve positioning was coupled with a few close calls and surprises as I thudded over pavement ruts and nearly missed course features ...continue reading.

I won, but the real victory is that for the first time ever, I put both arms up

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Wilmington Grand Prix The Course: 25 1-mile laps, 8 corners The Field: Pro 1/2 women The Finish: 1st Wilmington was one of my favorite races last year - the course suited my riding, I had my best finish yet in a national-level event, and it was one of those days where hard efforts feel fun and invigorating. (That last part makes me sound like a yoga instructor.) When this year's edition fit neatly into my race schedule, I was excited for the big day. That is, until it actually arrived. Blame it on stress from work, insufficient sleep, or whatever, but come race day morning, all I wanted to do was hang out at home and watch "Dance Academy" on Netflix. (This show is like crack - mindless, cheesy tripe about ballet-dancing Australian teenagers that leaves me slumped on the couch in a fog of bliss and shame.) My attitude stayed crappy ...continue reading.

Someday my kid will Google me, find this, and be like DUDE WTF MOM

Posted on by lindsay
As all competitive cyclists know, there are certain rites of passage that are realities of the sport: the first snot rocket, the first saddle sore, the first time you bonk hard enough to willingly accept questionable food from a stranger on the side of the road. Achieving these firsts often comes with competing emotions; on one hand you think, "I can't believe I just did that - I'm hardcore!" while on the other hand you think, "I can't believe I just did that." I went out for a ride the other day in the pouring rain. Ninety minutes in, I still had another thirty to go and was completely soaked. That's fine; there's something exhilarating about training in a downpour. Anytime I see other people out exercising in bad weather, they're almost always smiling, like hey! this shitty weather is AWESOME! And I understand completely, because I too am usually ...continue reading.

“It’s like French-kissing a unicorn while floating on a cloud”

Posted on by lindsay
Before racing started this year, I had low expectations for the season. Promising, right? It's just that last year was kind of awesome and it felt like expecting to accomplish the same gains and achievements again without extra time to grow and improve was setting myself up for disappointment. Let's consider the following figure: Since I began racing in 2007, I have seen large improvements from year to year in fitness and skill. It stands to reason that the time will come when I reach the point marked by the red arrow above, where a long winter of hard training will result in increasingly smaller gains over the previous year. The first race of every season is like uncovering the new car you just won: if you've worked hard through the winter early in your racing career, when you test yourself in that first race of the season, you'll be pleasantly surprised with ...continue reading.

Speed Week: Sandy Springs Criterium

Posted on by lindsay
The Race: Speed Week Sandy Springs Criterium The Course: 40 laps, 6 corners, uphill finish The Field: Pro 1/2/3 women The Finish: 14th Since I haven't talked enough on the Internet over the past ten days, I'm going to do a separate closing post on Speed Week to keep this one focused on this race and not all WAH-WAH over the end of a great experience. Here Are The Things I Want To Blurt Out: (1) It was very hot. (2) My legs were feeling the effects of the long week even before I started warming up, and I kept saying, "I'm so tired," because I hear it's good to remind yourself of negative things over and over. (3) Chad sounded as if he'd reached the end of his announcer rope after a long week of talking, and was blurting out whatever came to mind, including made-up words like 'mounging'. UrbanDictionary.com tells me this is a ...continue reading.