2010 MTB: Hornings Hustle Race Report

Race report

Hornings Hustle, April 11, 2010

Women’s Category 1, 6th place

by Elaine Bothe

Helmet, shoes, gloves, bike, I can ride. Race food, water. Check. Checklist: check. 45 minute drive, check. I’m so amped up for the race I have to set the cruise control to keep the car from flying. I already saw a couple of cops out on Hwy 26 just waiting…. A traffic stop is NOT on the checklist.

Car parked. Check. Potties nearby, yay.

One of my race goals today is to stay organized and focus on my pre-race routine. See, I made a checklist. But I didn’t add “find people you know and chat with them” to my pre-race schedule…

Michelle and her husband Morgan pull up and park right next to me. We chat.

OK, registration. I see more people in line I know. Chat! Martin! Hi! A big part of racing is to hang out with people you like all doing something really fun.

Teammate Sage and Steve show up, so does Teammate Eileen and her hubby John. Beth Burns came out to play. Fun! Sue Butler. Lots more people I know!

Anyway… checklist blown.

I previewed the course the day before. Stunning conditions, warm, sunny, a lot like last year’s race. I questioned my tire choice… I had switched back to my trusty Specialized The Captains thinking it would be wet and muddy. Crap. They did come in handy on a couple of steep pop-ups that most people walked up. So, I’ll stick with them rather than pulling heroic favors from the bike shops at 5:00 Saturday afternoon.

I worked one super tricky steep section of single track until I figured out the line and gearing. I set my tire pressure to work on that 10-yard section out of the whole 5 mile course… disturbingly low even for tubeless! 17 or 18 psi front, 20 rear!! Good thing I’m light and the course isn’t rocky, because I skittered right up that hill. Risk vs. reward.

The rest of the course looked great, dry, solid and fun. The tires felt surprisingly fast considering the tire pressure. Check. I packed it up, went home, ate a nice dinner with Hubby Mark and relaxed.

Oh yeah, back to race day. It rained overnight!! Wow. Can you believe the luck! I eyeball my trainer, an old wheel mounted with a slick tire thinking I’d check off my warm up. I look across the parking lot where the course cuts up a little hill.

I look at my watch. I look at the trail. I hear an announcement “RIDERS MEETING AT 10:30.” I look at my checklist. A riders meeting wasn’t on it. Crap. I think about what I had left to do. Swap out wheels (twice), changing clothes, pack my food and decide to screw the checklist and I warm up in my racing kit, I couldn’t waste a perfectly good trail.

With the rain, the course looks nothing like what I saw yesterday. It’s muddy. It’s slick and sloppy. Tires: Check!! It didn’t rain that much at my house, must have rained a lot more here. The fun descents are now slip-and-slides and the pop-ups turned into squish-fests. My confidence swells with having the right tires and my adrenaline is shooting off the charts.

It’s easy to get my heart rate going warming up on the course. I work it as long as I can until the riders meeting. We meet. I pee. Again. I find the staging line for the Pro/Cat 1 women and stay there, staking out my place on the front row. No repeats of the last race where I end up in the back of the starting grid. Today’s start is staged by category so it’s a lot easier.

But it’s still 20 minutes away from start time, so everybody moves away, some riding in circles, others on course, some working a good hill on the gravel road. OK. I ride down the road, do a partial loop on course for about ten minutes and sprint up the hill. I’m now at the line, sweating and huffing and puffing. Perfect. Michelle gives me a funny look, part of my heart rate is due to sheer adrenaline.

I’m determined to get a good start. Plus I want to see how Sue Butler starts. 30 seconds. We roll forward to the official start line. Go! Sue blasts off and I follow. Giggling I stick to her wheel for 200 yards and up the hill. There’s a good gap behind me, photographic evidence is below. That picture is not photoshopped!

But my heart rate spikes sky high, I flame out and the field passes me up the big hill. Oh well. I’m still making the pedals turn. Michelle shows me a wheel, I look at her, nod and eke out a couple more rotations per minute which keeps me in front of her .

The trail levels out across a bumpy field and we head downhill. Feeling better, I hammer down the hill, around a sweeping left hander then things get squishy. Yee-ha! Loose on the handlebars, the back tire slides side to side. Rock across some water ditches. I will the bike onto a reasonable line, catching up to a couple of women. I get around them through some switchbacks and try to open a gap.

Well Kristin is stronger than me on the flats, so she comes back around me with a vengeance after Mark yells that I’m in 4th place. OK, 5th now.

I hear somebody else breathing down my neck. I rush an uphill section and run wide into the bushes and another woman passes me. 6th. I push my bike uphill trying to find an opening in the steady train of traffic coming past. Finally I hop back on and hammer, now chasing everyone but Michelle.

I settle into a nice rhythm, working hard but clean the rest of the race. I pass Teammate Karleta in her first-ever cross country race! Yay! Go Karleta! Good Job! Through the trees again, across the creek and I really think there are more uphills on this course than down. That little single track popup I worked on the preview always had traffic on it so I never got to ride up it, darn. Once I even yelled “I’m riding it!” but the slow guy still attacked it in front of me… on foot. Denied.

I saw Michelle a couple of times through the trees, she calls out in greeting, but she’s still behind me by a ways. I pass another woman, (yay!) and Mark says there’s two more about 30 seconds in front of me who are fading. I’m not setting land speed records, but I’m not fading, I have another lap and there’s a fun technical section just past the start/finish line where I can make a move. This gives me some hope and I keep my eyes peeled.

Creek crossing. Fun, clean, up the sloppy bank I ride right through it like I have all race. Uh oh, the spectactators are packing it up and walking up the hill. Hey, the race isn’t over! Get back down there and watch! I crest the hill, somebody’s yelling at me “Don’t let that guy catch you!” so I didn’t.

There’s a lot of people milling about, hmmm… I keep it pegged until officials block my path, wide stance, hand out cop-style telling me to slow down. Nooooo! I’m not done, after only 3 laps! They take my tag anyway, I’m done.

Mark miscounted somehow, he including the Pro women I think. I end up 6th in the Cat 1s (we all only got 3 laps) with two behind me. Progress! My fitness is good, I’m faster, I easily rode things this year that I couldn’t last year even though they were a lot slipperier. Even though I’m the oldest in the category by far, I’m getting comfortable and feeling confident. I’m still improving and it’s fun getting to know everyone.

A hugely fun but hard race, I won a beer and some coffee in the raffle and I had a blast. Thanks for Mark for his support and expert spotting, Wenzel Coaches Anne Linton and Martin Baker for upping my fitness and skills (there were logs on the course? didn't notice!), my Sorella Forte teammates and training buddies, and all our sponsors. Also, the promoters and Oregon Bike Shop for putting on a spectacular event. I’m really looking forward to the next round.

Photo credits: Oregon Velo and Mark Bothe. Thanks! Great work.

Ride Report: Newberg to Netarts via Nestucca! And back!

Approximately 76.4 miles one way, and 3175 ft elevation gain (and descent!)

March 27-28, 2010

by Elaine Bothe

Ten friends started out at Grandma Virginia’s house in SW Portland. An eclectic bunch at first sight: me, a mtb racer, my hubby Mark, who’s getting back into bicycle shape, Cam, a traithlete who’s training for the Coeur d’Alene Ironman this year, Cam’s brother Kevin on a loaner bike from Cam, Kevin P, and his parents Kay and Brad, all superbly fit and athletic people, susceptible to being coaxed into an occasional cross race when it’s on their own turf in Rainier, and three of their friends including Ryan, Jesse and Danielle, a young woman rocking a classic red Schwinn women’s frame ten speed and platform pedals!

Everyone except Kay, Brad, Mark and myself are in their 20’s. Brad’s over 50. Rock on. Brad recently traded in his ten-speed for a Look roadie that Cam bought and was too big. One big happy family! We all met through motorcycle racing, where Kevin P is exceptionally gifted. So is his brother Brian, their dad Brad, Uncle Keith and even Grandpa, in their day! RIP Keith and Grandpa.

Anyway, the P family owns a cabin in Netarts. They also own a big white van. Excellent excuses for a road trip.

We load up the Element with three bikes, Cam’s truck and the van with gear, more bikes and people. We shuttle to Newberg, park my car and Cam’s truck then disembark westward on a beautiful sunny day, with just a little chill in the air. Heading down Hwy 240, we stick to the main roads through the farmlands outside of town. Carleton comes up by the time we are warmed up, and now we are in a spirited pace line led by Kevin P. All of us. 20 mph plus into the foothills of the coast range. Including Danielle on her ten speed!

We break apart on some rolling hills. Brad P is driving the van, we change drivers about every seven miles. If someone wants to stop, they do, but most of us ride on. It also helps in navigation. There’s a map in the van and the driver stops at the major intersections to make sure everyone is doing OK, Hood-to-Coast style.

Cam the triathlete decides he needs a workout and blows past us on his tri bike in full race trim: aero bars, aero water container thingy, aero wheels and power tap wheel. We joke about getting an electronic reader board to strap across his back so his competition can know, at any time, what he’s laying down power-wise. 500 watts! For a second or two… in his garage…

Anyway, the climb up the coast range on the main road which goes by several names, such as Hendricks, Meadow Lake and finally the legendary Nestucca River Road. If you’re climbing, and generally heading west, you’re on the right road.

Cam, Kevin P, Jesse and Ryan on his blue ten speed with chrome wheels are gone. Brad and I are duking it out up the hill. Kay, Mark, Cam’s brother Kevin and Danielle are behind, but making good progress. Van change, some people climb in to rest, others got out. Now we’re in the forest, climbing the Coast Range. I have to pee really bad, and make a layer change at a van stop. We all get started again. Once the steep stuff really started I had a chain issue… fixed, then I saw a beautifully rusted out small dome hubcap on the side of the road. (I have a thing for rusty metal car parts.)

Hmmm. There are mile marker signs on the trees, maybe for logging purposes, my hubcap was about 20 yards west of 4 ½. Mental note. No, wait, I am not going to stop on the way back… downhill… for anything! So I turn around and head back down for it. Kay catches up, giving me a quizzical look.

“Irresistible!” I announce, holding up my prize.

I carry my treasure for about a mile before the van passes me. Danielle is taking a break to drive and I flag her down and toss the hubcap into the van. I also unload some unnecessary layers. What a resource!

I regain my rhythm up the hill. I see another car part in the middle of the road, a connecting rod, a big one, maybe off a truck. I’m tempted… but this is a lot heavier than the hubcap and the road is steep. So I sadly pass it by. I collect Kay and Brad, and somebody else and we sprint for the crest of the coast range, which happens only about 20 miles or so west of Newberg. I win the sprint! Well, I’m not sure anyone else sprinted, but I did. For fun. Food break at the van, wait for everyone to make it up the hill. Danielle pulls her red ten speed out for the 20 mile descent.

Turns out Hubby Mark had picked up that connecting rod earlier and it fell out of his pocket, denting his rear wheel in the process. Are we a match made in heaven or what?

Food pickup, water bottles refilled, layers back on for the descent. Past the reservoir, down, down next to the river. Winding through the ravines covered in moss, the bumpy pavement in places and the 3 mile long gravel section keeps the traffic count down and the scenery count wayyyyy up. But, downhill, I didn’t notice too much of the scenery. I’m hammering, my heart rate is sub threshold but just barely. I’m having a blast and feeling great.

Some of the pavement is good. Cam and Jesse rail past me, I can’t even grab their wheel downhill despite the invitation. Then Kevin P flies by me, with Danielle in tow! I can’t catch that train either!! I tried! Off they go. I hit 30 mph on the gravel part, but I’m not catching anyone! We come out of the forest 20 miles later, catch our breath and refill water bottles and jersey pockets.

Danielle asks if she can draft behind me, I say sure. We have about another 25 or 26 miles to go. The road into Blaine, then Sandlake to Hwy 101 is still slightly downhill. After spending a good 3 hours up there HR-wise, I’m ready for a little break myself. I find a good rhythm for myself in my high endurance zone, and I’m averaging 20 plus. Danielle hangs on just fine, even through some mild rollers. I keep checking in with her to make sure. I want to keep up a strong effort for myself, but my wheel is helping her a lot so I don’t want to drop her. I manage to do both.

We pick up Kay and Kevin Cam’s brother, and eventually Brad. I’m leading a nice train onto Whisky Creek Road. Everyone drops on the first smaller hill on that road, I ease up at the top to wait. Latched back on, we head to the final climb, another 2.5 mile or so climb that leads up to Cape Lookout. Brad’s trying to keep up, so I keep my efforts up too, harder than I would if I was alone. He’s breathing hard, and through his lips making horse noises! I hear those sounds fading… I salvage a little sprint at the top to make sure.

Mark’s in the van now, and parks at the crest. I stop to say hi and wait for the last few to make it up the hill. Kevin P circles back up the other side! He wants to make sure Danielle is doing OK. He heads downhill for her, while we debate if Mark should drive down to meet her too. Suddenly we see Kevin’s head bobbing up the crest, followed by Danielle. Her face is as red as her bike but she made it. And she wants to ride her bike in, we’re less than 5 miles away from the cabin! Hooray for her, I give her the bad-ass award for the whole weekend right there.

Kevin hops in the van with Mark to lead him in and we all bomb down the hill. Another quick van stop (I keep going at a nice cool down rate) then in to Netarts. I hear the van behind me, Kevin’s yelling that I missed the turn! Do you want a ride? No, I’m fine, I’m cooling down. I overshot the turn by about a half mile. What the heck, after 76.4 miles, what’s one more. They lead me in and I’m the last one to the cabin!

What a ride, I’m the only one that rode the whole way. Kevin P did some backtracking but pulled a shift or two in the van. Mark took my driving shift, I really didn’t want to drive and Mark was quite done with riding, so it worked perfectly. Again, a match made in heaven!

A restful evening with Mexican food, conversation and … TIM TAM SLAMS! I packed them from Portland, since they’re ON SALE AT FRED MEYER! What fun.

The return trip home on Sunday was soaking wet pouring pouring rain and windy!! Heavy side or front ¾ wind for 20 miles except, mercifully, the climbs. My wheel was the popular spot, since I had the only fender in the whole group, complete with a race team-approved buddy flap. I set a comfortable pace at the high end of my endurance zone and it seemed to suit everyone just fine. At the front, I had only the rain, not road spray in my face, so I was happy as a clam pulling.

Turning east in Beaver gave us a bit of a tailwind, so our pace was quicker. Mark drove for the first 20 miles then jumped out in front for a bit, then tried to tuck in behind me but Brad hung onto my fender-clad wheel for dear life. He thoroughly enjoyed the shelter.

Cam decided to get his workout done early to stay warm, and he and two others blasted ahead up the road. Kevin P stuck with us a while, giving me a little break at the front then decided to chase down Cam. That 20 mile descent from Saturday? Well on Sunday, it’s a 20 mile climb. Mostly gradual, but with some unbelievably steep stuff toward the top.

I noticed a lot more scenery this way, since I was going just over half as fast as yesterday. With the rain, all the hillsides dripped with green moss and water. Vertical rock faces, big trees, fast moving water, just a gorgeous part of the planet. What an experience.

Many thanks to the P family for their support and the hospitality, what a great family and what wonderful friends. I'm looking forward to many more rides and the race seasons... plural... motorcycle AND bicycle this year!

Resources:

Nestucca River photo by Debra Drake, public domain, via www.byways.org

Here's the link to the Nestucca River Road Google Map that Kevin P put together.

2010 MTB: Echo Red to Red Race Report

Race Report

Echo Red to Red, March 6, 2010

Category 1 Women, 9th place!

by Elaine Bothe

The first mtb race of the year, with Sage and myself representing the Sorellas in some amazing weather way out in Eastern Oregon. Not a trace of mud anywhere, but lots and lots of bumpy singletrack.

And it’s my cross-country debut as a Cat 1. I’m nervous. After discounting some serious mistakes I made at the start (like being late for staging, oops!) therefore having to start toward the back of the mass start for what musta’ been 100 Pros/Cat 1/Singlespeed men and women, I am pleased with my effort yet there is always room for improvement.

Proud I didn’t get dropped in the neutral 2 mile roll-out, I see Michelle Hannaford’s braids up ahead—she was my nemesis and buddy from Cat 2 Masters last year, she upgraded too! But I couldn't really work my way up much, there were so many people. And it was supposed to be neutral.

Once I got going on the singletrack I started to fly. I picked off some singlespeeders and other riders, including a couple of women. We all have red tags, Pros and Cat 1s, so I’m racing everybody with a ponytail and scoring can sort it out later. Sue Butler (our local hero who is ranked in the top 20 of the world in cyclocross), Michelle, and a bunch of others, however, are long gone.

We’re all strung out like Christmas lights along the serpentine trails. You can see for miles... uphills, downhills, nothing too sustained one way or the other. Bump-y! hardpack greeted my hardtail, thus making my own tail, well, sore. I start to think to myself, hmmm, an extra spring in the back (of my bike!) sure might be nice about now. Turns out everyone suffered, suspension or no.

But I’m enjoying the weather, riding as hard as I can, my HR monitor pooped out but I’m sure I spent the whole time near if not in the hard interval zone... a woman up ahead, I’m closing in, slowly but surely. By now the leaders of the Cat 2 Men’s race, which started a full 15 minutes after my group, were catching us back-markers. Polite passing, I never had to stop, we just chatted and made it all work. I tried to hang onto those wheels as long as I could. One guy passed me, and, hearing a rider coming up, the woman I was stalking pulled off the trail to let him by!! Well, that was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I rode past her too.

The Pros/Cat 1s shared the first 21 miles with everybody else, and I was finding markers all over the place from last year’s race. I remembered a lot of the hills, creek beds and turns, the rocky stretch where I flatted last year, a cool bridge to ride over then under later, but I couldn’t find the scary parts. I looked really hard, but the treacherous traverses and other scary stuff I remembered just weren’t there. Fortunately, not because they changed the course any, but because my skills grew over last year!

Just when I was about ready to head on into the barn with the Cat 2s and 3s, no! let's see where this other trail goes. 7 or 8 more miles’ worth of entertainment, even though my legs were already screaming full volume. Down a hill, to a really swoopy and swampy orchard full of logs to pop over, bridges, banks and obstacles. FUN!!

A big creek, 30 feet across and a big ol’ log. Cool! I'll ride it, even though it’s 6 feet over fast running water! ERKK! Nope, running it will be just fine, I do NOT want to fall. Cyclocross remount and off I go again. I look across a field to a cliff with ants crawling across it in a diagonal pattern. Ohhhh, that’s the trail, those are bicyclists! and they're walking! uh oh! I attack the hill, having to run a couple of parts but mostly riding it to the cheers of some men I passed as they walked! (OK, most were single speeders, but not all. I checked to make sure.)

A warm cup of HEED at the aid station, the last bits of uphill and sandy traverse to the top of a magnificent ridge overlooking the valley and the Columbia River in the distance, up past the vineyards back onto the gravel road toward the finish. Ahhh, said my butt. Smooth. I down my last two Clif blocks just in case I need a last ditch burst of speed for any reason.

It’s all headwind home, I get into the best tuck a mt bike can provide. TT it, I tell myself. I look back to make sure no one’s coming, head down and pedal. Tire sounds. Ready. oh, a guy. He’s really moving. back to business. More tires. A girl. “Great race!” she said as she passes. “Yeah!” I replied to her. But I thought to myself, who’s done racing? not me!

As I look over to her, I notice she’s on a 29er. Now that’s a mighty inviting wheel if I ever saw one. About a half mile out, too! I can’t believe she made the pass so I glom on. It’s not hard to hang on, and I’m glad I’m out of the wind. Well, I got my bit of recovery, and about a hundred yards out from the finish I stood up and hammered. No warning, no shifting gears, no looking back I just attacked. It worked! I doubt she’ll ever make that mistake again.

What a day. A great race, a burrito with Sage (who finished 4th in the Cat 2 Masters) and my sister Julia and a few other people we knew, sitting in the sun and not winning raffle prizes.

I finished 9th… Michelle finished a spectacular 3rd in the Cat 1s. Wow! Looks like I have some more work to do this year.

Photo courtesy of Oregon Velo.

Cyclocross Season 2009: Cross Crusade #8 Barton Park

Cyclocross Season 2009: Cross Crusade #8, Barton Park, Estacada, Oregon.

Nov. 15, 2009

Women’s Masters A 35+ 21th place ugh! (But at least my team won the team competition, so we're all winners, really! That's us in this photo after the race.)

By Elaine Bothe

The rest of that week got even busier. Wedding dress shopping with my sister. (Her wedding, not mine!) A funeral... RIP Sylvia, warm thoughts to friends and family.

Then the annual OMRRA Banquet (Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association) on Saturday night, in which Mark my husband won 2nd overall in one of his classes and 4th overall in another. (He races motor bikes at PIR when there aren’t any bicycles in the way. Good job!!) Plus we had an pre-function at our house, which of course left plenty of mental space to prepare for the last Cross Crusade Race of the Year.

And, my last cross race of the year as well. Sigh.

I’m doing a bit of remedial base training which will get me in much better shape long term, but is killing my legs for racing short term. I hoped to eke out one more race before that kicked in… excuses excuses, I know!! But I won’t be racing at Nationals or even the USGP at PIR. Bummer.

But come Sunday am, after the party was all cleaned up I got fired up for the race. My warm up went really well, and I stayed toasty before the start. Go!!

Off to a great start, I hung with the lead group for the first half lap! Lots of fun sandy mud, and a spectacular downhill that was quite the crowd-pleaser. Cross spectators love a great performance, whether it’s a fabulous successful ride-through or a big ol’ crash. Hopefully no one was hurt. I managed unscathed through that section five times, once in preview and all four laps.

But then my legs fell off and the sandy dirt took its toll on my rear derailleur. It was ghost-shifting all over the place. Usually in the worst places like in the middle of a big muddy rise, it would shift into a harder gear. Or even two! Heyyy! And I think I got a rock stuck in my shifter. Big blobs of dirt in my eyes didn’t obscure most of my field passing me. Also I think half of the next group and even a few Masters 35+ B. Sage tried to pull me through a long road section (thanks anyway!!) but it just wasn’t happening.

Well I still had fun attacking the technical sections like that downhill, and finding secret hard, fast grassy lines next to the slower muddy singletrack. Not that it did me much good. I thought hard about pulling into the pit to see what was wrong with my bike, but I didn’t.

21st place, my worst finish of the year! And for double points, too… but still not last, even not counting Colleen dealing with her flat tire.

Oh well. It sure was fun at the end, though, collecting all us Sorellas as we rolled in one by one and celebrating our Loo Victory! How cool is that! Our very own port-a-potty. Let’s see how many people we get to join us on account of that! Good job to everyone who braved the rain and mud, racers, friends and family. Kronda and Tim, as always those photos are great, thank you so much.

To a great year, and good luck to everyone doing the last few races, USGP and Nationals. Next year, count me in!! I have some work to do before mountain bike season starts in just a few short months.

Thanks as always to my #1 fan Mark for his love and support, and many thanks to our entire Sorella Forte team for all the encouragement and friendship; Coach Anne at Wenzel Coaching, our team sponsors including River City Bikes, Jeff Tedder and Hammer Nutrition and all our other sponsors; and also my personal sponsors Mountain Feed Bag by Epic Ride Research, Corey Cartwright at Seven Corners Cycles, Dustin Ranck at Icon Tattoo, Acme Moto Wear, Life Flight Network Memberships, Dentist Dan Stambaugh (for supplying protective mouth guards to be tested next year) and announcing Jennifer Adams Design Group and Impact Armor.

Photograph courtesy of pdxcross.com.

Cyclocross Season 2009: Cross Crusade #7 at PIR

Cyclocross Season 2009: Cross Crusade #7 at Portland International Raceway

Nov. 8, 2009

Women’s Masters A 35+ 12th place

By Elaine Bothe

Crazy. But still fun!

Lessee… that last week started with a madcap drive home from Seattle Saturday night after the WMRRA banquet. We pulled in at 3:00 am, I woke up in time for breakfast and a warmup ride to PIR for Cross Crusade Round 7 just in time to start. That race was cold, rainy, muddy and super fun. After a not-so-good start I passed lots of people in tricky off-camber and muddy sections, and stayed ahead of them. I caught up to Eileen, but I couldn’t hang with her on the long straight dry gravel road sections. Plus I thought it was the last lap and kind of burned out my legs trying to beat her to the finish line, when we actually had one more lap! Oh well…. Back to the car for warm clothes and food.

Wish I could have hung around for the single-speed cyclocross world championships (SSCXWC for short!) later that day. They sent our race through the Thunderdome where spectators could climb up and throw marshmallows at you but the Stripper Shortcut wasn’t set up for us, um, ha ha!

I managed 12th place, one of my best finishes of the cross series in Women’s Masters 35+ A! I’ll take it. Yay! I’m #12! I’m #12!

The above photo taken by Mark Bothe. I’m about to put the move on the rider in black.

See some truly amazing photographs at www.pdxcross.com, including Thunderdome and costumes, courtesy of www.pdxcross.com.

Photos of the normal PIR race are in this gallery at www.pdxcross.com.

Cyclocross Season 2009: Hillsboro Fairgrounds, Oct 25

Race report: Cross Crusade at Hillsboro, Oregon, Oct. 25, 2009

Women’s Masters A, 14th Place

By Elaine Bothe

Shout it out! My washing machine is working overtime. Finally we got mud.

Mud two layers deep inside my clothes. Luscious sticky grassy mud, some deep wet puddles, sloppy squishy hairpin corners and slick traverses to balance out the long gravel parts. And, bumpy mud! a first for me. The goal is to stay upright!

In and out of horse barns, through gates and across the fields. This year we skipped the show arena that was full of knee-deep muck and who knows what else. Well, actually, we DO know what else.

Weather was cool, it rained in the morning before our race. I layered up this time, so I stayed warm waiting for the start. Again, I’m in the back so I have to hang onto traffic until I can start picking people off. Not a bad draft, though, over the gravel road at the end of our steamin’ freight train!

The first muddy corner opens a door for some progress. A lot of people just slipped out. My tires are true, I pass a few people but too bad my legs aren’t at full steam yet, as a few of them passed me again on a long smooth straight.

I stay with Teammate Colleen for a little bit, I attempt a pass but that lights a fire and off she goes. Go!! Yay!! Suuuure, Colleen, you’re tired after finishing 3rd in Salem on Saturday, the day before! Good job! (Quite a Sorella showing there, too, way to go everyone!)

After a couple of laps my heart rate settles down and I can get busy. I see a couple of targets ahead and I go for it. The passes stick. I’m starting to see lots and lots of teammates, yay! Good job everyone! (My apologies to one of you, though, for a less than courteous pass… I thought I had lots of room on the left as it looked like you were heading down the middle. And I don’t think you heard my call-out. So sorry! You were looking good though! Way to go!)

Then I see a couple, maybe three more competitors amongst lap traffic, I plan ahead to catch them on a particularly treacherous muddy corner and it works. One woman gets by me later… Last lap.

And another. Rats. But I get her back. The other one, I don’t know her, gains some ground through the horse barns. I don’t give up, waiting for my chance. I hear a commotion from the spectators ahead, then a cheer. I pop out of a barn into a corner and… nearly run over her as she’s getting up and away from a spill! Surprised, I quickly plot two potential moves.

More lap traffic through Plan A. My first idea didn’t work. I hang close, but she knows I’m there. On to Plan B.

OK. The last turn into the finish area is REALLY slick, I’ve seen a number of wrecks there already. There’s a bit of intact grass to the right, I hug tight as she goes wide. Some tricky maneuvering around a downed rider and, stand up, quick sprint, maybe 12-15 yards at most to the finish line.

I look ahead up course aiming for a point well beyond the finish. She sprints too, it seems pretty close as there were three or four in close proximity. Hope they can see my number…. And they did. She beat me by a hair, apparently!

I end up in 14th again, but there were a couple more people behind me than usual. Including Sarah, finishing on a borrowed pit bike! Ugh! Good job to Eileen, bringing home 4th place. Awesome! And after leading there for a bit! Yay to everyone for some good racing and fun times!

All in all, I felt more aggressive and had the legs to attack in the last half of the race. My dismounts and mounts are improving and I’m trying hard not to get dropped on the straights… but I was thrilled for the mud. It was a lot of fun but I’m sure glad I had eye protection and didn’t lick my lips!

See everyone next weekend, twice! Go Sorellas!

Photo courtesy of Mark Bothe.

Mt Bike, PIR Short Track 2009: Round 7 of 7, August 3. Upgrade!

PIR Mt Bike Short Track, August 3, 2009

Cat 1 Women, 7th Place

by Elaine Bothe

Short track season epilogue. I upgraded tonight after clinching the series title. It's fun watching the race I competed in last week, but kinda lonely at the same time. All my buddies were out there and I'm trying to keep warm.

I'm nervous, way outside my comfort zone. I don't know who's racing, how many or exactly how they stage.

I'm taking notes for next year. My new race is an hour later (Rats! should have brought the clear lens glasses!) and 10 minutes longer. (Yay! more time on the dirt.)

I get a rotten start (nerves) but manage to stay at the end of the pack. I even pick a few off, and all my buddies are cheering me on. There's a lot less traffic in this race, in a lot of ways it's easier. And, it's still fun. Bittersweet, though, since this is the last short track race of the series, and the highlight of my racing year. I'm bummed it's over.

Looking forward to next year, I have some work to do to stay competitive. I didn't finish last, I hope to improve by a lot!

Photo courtesy of Mark Bothe.