Firehouse 50 Time Trial Race Report

Ok so writing a race report on a TT isnt usually really too exciting. Usually it goes like this:

WARM UP WELL.

20 min out, take a Gel. Ideally a 1x caffeinated one.

Get to start line, line up, get held. START.

GO AS FAST AS YOU CAN FOR 8-11 MILES ( depending on the race)

FINISH CROSS EYED

COOL DOWN

DONT FALL ASLEEP TILL REALLY LATE bc of the gel.

End of Report.

This race report is SO different. You cant do that on a 50+ mile TT, bc you would fall apart, duh.

I didnt really have a huge plan for this race, other than thinking i was super happy it wasnt 56 miles. I figured that I had a few things going for me:

1) I had some good climbing in me from the Triple Bypass. This helped with the first 5miles that snakes gradually uphill to the Continental Divide ( yes there is a sign, but sadly I didnt stop to take a photo).

2) I had a new front 808 with ceramic bearings.

3) I had a great TT wed night, but i also did a REALLY REALLY hard 4 mile T run that left me with some GI issues all night and into thursday. So my legs were not rested, ** I had an orange light in my head on that one ** but trusted JH that things would be fine.

4) I know the course, and i know what areas are technical and what stretches you can really just RIDE and not worry about corners and cars.

So we got up later on friday, got into the condo and went to get our packets. Same old stuff. Drove the rollers around Lake Owen and even tho every year i tell Rich " I get carsick in there, its too rolling and curvey I dont want to go"I am always SO happy when i go bc heck those things GO ON FOREVER. So we were able to get a few landmarks, as every year we say, "oh the turn onto 63 is right around this blind corner." Nope. There are about 12 miles of blind corners, two way traffic, and no yellow lines. And trees, and rough road, and yup, you could be a hood ornament if you arent careful.

Early dinner, early to bed, and we were up by 5.

This year nobody had a super early start time. Usually Rich is in a 4 man TT but this year they had some drop outs and it was the Madden Bros doing a 2 man TT ( start time 9:02). Rich was 8:38 and I was 8:27:30 so we didnt need to be there for a 7am start. That was nice but nervewracking too since I hate not being there, you got stuff to do, wheels rub, porta potties are busy, you know, its just good to be there. Plus its about a 10 min ride to the start where they give you your chip. Even tho its chip timed you HAVE TO START at your assigned time.

We rolled in around 7 am, I wished the Gear West Guys good luck, as they had a rockstar team of Kevin, David, Curt and Devon. It was a humid day, sorta misty but little wind. I figured they would blow their own course record out of the ballpark. Sadly when i was starting i saw Kevin rolling in backwards so knew something was up. Bummer.

So anyways back to my race. I sported my new LS skinsuit and a camelback in a Cback Baselayer. Now normally this would be fine. But i was super hot. I was hot warming up. It wast the only thing that i would change for next year. I will not wear a LS skinsuit. Especially with a baselayer, and since the SS was LS i couldnt fit the hose out the arm the way i usually do in a Short Sleeve so i was totally awkard and unable to get fluids PRN on the bike. This was VERY frustrating. Anyways....the race.

Pre-race non caffeinated Vanilla gel, done.

Rolled to the start and got my chip, said my good lucks to Rich, and said " If you pass me i will be happy for you, but i am going to be pissed." I think the lady next to me was like "O. K."

He laughed. I laughed, but of course i was serious :)

Off I went with another guy and I took a deep breath and knew that i had 50 miles of a tough race ahead of me.

Miles 1-5 climbing, at which point you sometime put it into the small ring. It is a mix of false flats and out of the saddle, but when i went past the continental divide sign and it said something like 1550 feet ( or maybe it was more, but not alot) I said to myself " Seriously?"

As the last Continental Divide sign i saw was at Loveland Pass, 1ok elevation. I was super relieved, I got up the divide in a controlled manner.

Miles 5-10 are flat and a few gradual declines and some time spent around a lake. Since we started later, there was more traffic. BOAT traffic. Saturday traffic. I dont remember this much traffic ever and i had a few times where i had to decide, do i take the left around a SLOW car hauling a boat or do i slow. I slowed. The roads are just too narrow and I just know that being a hood ornament is not the answer to anything. Some of it was that other riders ( and yes i tried to let it be known, but didnt waste my energy) that riding in the middle of a road, when the road is open is NOT GOOD. There were time trialists that were riding side by side, and i am fine with that, but when you hear on your left, that means you move right so I can pass. You dont just sit there and wave. So imagine this with a few cars pulling boats. Potentially unsafe.

I know I am not alone in this and you just do the right thing, In my opinion, and that is remember that you do this for fun. Not for the ambulance ride.

Miles 10-15 ?? Gosh i dont know. I think more winding and rolling around lakes and forest not the fastets part but not like what is to come. 1x Caffeinated Apple Powergel, down the hatch.

Miles 15-25 HIWAY M. Oh yea baby. NOW you take a turn onto M and you are suddenly hit with a nice uphill that you come at from a standstill. You get over that and you just have to re-group and know that if the winds are favorable ( ie no headwind) this is where you need to make some time. Last year there was a head wind, it was very hard. This year we really had no wind. good and bad. Sometimes the push you get is worth riding into it for a bit.

So off I went, and suddenly I passed a dude, and he wanted nada to do with it. It got a bit comical, then it got annoying, then i just settled in and was like "Ok, whatever" It got my mind off the pain, and I just decided to accept him in stead of try to drop him. I did, tho, drop him on the descents. Anyone that knows me, and my body type, know that I dont often drop people descending. LOL.. then he would come storming back at me on the uphills. And i was like "Crap." At one point he would pass me, and tuck in right in front of me, and i would be drafting if i hadnt dropped back or pulled ahead again. I had no interest in dropping back, we are not in a Tri, and tho this is NOT a draft legal race I wasnt going to sit on his wheel just bc there was not USAT official there. Hence we seriously jogged back and forth for 10 miles.

And at one point he was in the middle of hiway M, this is not a backroad, and the MPH is 55. Dude what a dumb-A$$ thing to do. I yelled once, CAR BACK, and he didnt move. Ok, nice riding with you. He got many honks, but what am i gonna do about it? He just caused cars to cross the double yellow line.

Mile 25, CABLE!! the half way point. My time 1:09:45. OK! Now we are cookin! I wanted to come in 1:10:00 so i had hopes of coming close to 2:20 for a finishing time. I knew what was to come was not fast, the ROLLERS of Lake Owen drive. Lots of turns, lots of rough road, and serious rollers, so fast that last year I nearly got bounced off my seat as i went down one of them and back up. You can really get up to speed if you know how to ride this stretch but at the same time all the sudden you are geared out and feel like you are standing still after just hitting 30 mph. It's a deceptive stretch.

Miles 25-40 As i said above, rollers! Turns, no yellow lines, at this poiint the 2 person TT's are catching us and I am catching more and more Indiv TT'ers who started in front of me. The shadows on this section are also tough, but since we had mist and fog it wasnt an issue today.

I did catch a dude who then latched onto me and my Hiway M friend ( gag, he was still with me) and he decided to be the enforcer. " GET OFF HER WHEEL. GET OFF HIS WHEEL." OMG it was annoying. I told the guy ( who now i kinda was feeling sorry for, and wanted him to do well since we had caught this guy who was all team kit'ed out and looking like he was pissed that we were 10 min behind him and caught him) that i had ridden honestly the entire time. He said " hey no worries." And I didnt even give the enforcer man eye contact. I think the one time he yelled at me was when cty M dude was in the middle of the road ( and this, again is a road with no middle line and tons of blind corners with locals steaming thru at 40 mph) and i was passing him on the left and i realized i did NOT want to be passing on a blind corner on the left so i slipped thru the middle, subsequently passing behind his wheel for about 1 second, and said I was passing on his Right. Not something i want to do but his position gave me no choice.

Anyways....I finally dropped them both on a longer down hill section that had some jumps at the end and i never saw them again. Perhaps this correlates with when i took my 2x caffeinated Latte Powergel. And soon enough, that " around the next bend and up the next hill," came and i was at the finishing leg down Hi 63 into Grandview. YES!!!

I decided to not look at my watch on this stretch. I didnt want to know where i was timewise bc I knew i would ride this last 8 miles as hard as i could, but also knew that the first 2 miles was uphill. So i couldnt really BURY myself too early, but i could get the speed up and just keep on pushing it. Again over hill and dale, but my speed was looking good, anywhere from 22-24-32mph and i just kept turning those pedals over. Pushing pushing pushing. By now i was quite thirsty as my water bottle was dry, my Cback was not giving me infinit and iwas fed up with tryting to twist my left arm the right way to get the spout. I just hoped i would be ok. The sun had started to poke out the entire race i went thru the talk in my head :" Unzip the LS skinsuit, no you arent aero now. " I still zipped and unzipped it bc I was so hot.

I then saw mile 45 on the side of the road. COME ON! I knew that i couldnt yet see the flashing light of the police cars in the distance so i was not yet in the true sprint home, but i knew i was close. I started thinking of the 5 mile runs i do and how i could cover that so FAST on my bike and all the sudden i came to the top of a hill and i saw the incline over a bridge, the city limits sign to Grandview, Wi in the distance adn the squad car marking the TURN LEFT into the finishing chute. And then i looked at my computer clock.

2:15:45

Ok sister, hammer it, i had NO idea how long it would take me to get there since i had no idea the distance and i sure didnt want to sit and watch the clock. I just rode as HARD AS I COULD.

Left turn into the finish street and into the finish area, and...poof. done.

2:17:50! I had done it, I broke 2:20! My time last year was 2:25:47 with an average of 20.6 and this year I had busted that one with an average of 21.8mph. I couldnt have been happier!

I rolled around to cool down for a bit and then went to find Rich who rolled in right on schedule. He did 2:17:06 and was so thrilled. He beat me:) hahaha, no i was laughing at that but really I think he rode to his potential, and again shows me that I have nothing to complain about with minor aches adn pains when he came back from sitting in a hospital bed at Mayo this april, with half his GI removed. Gosh, isnt medicine and the human will to "LIVE" amazing!

Here's to living life and huge congrats to Rich!!!

Here I am looking quite pleased with myself:) Ha!

I soon found out i placed 2nd OA! I was amazed. I was thrilled I was just again, totally amazed.

Tracie, a friend and a super FAST biker bested me by 35 seconds. I Did spend sometime thinking about how i could have gotten 35 seconds, I mean over 50 miles that isnt alot. But when i heard her say she dropped her chain and i think that i slowed for traffic, you know, it all works out. and likely the gal taht was behind me, had some issue, too. It just helps to remember that in my head i can come up with 1000 reasons why i didnt do "X or Y" or i was shy of that time by a certain amount, but heck, why not focus on what I did, not what i nearly did.

I was sad i didnt get to get on the podium with Tracie and the #3 gal, I think it was Maggie Fournier, I Dont know her but i know she is a very good triathlete. Since this race is HEAVILY IN FAVOR of the Road race, ( more on that later) I guess they just dont go 3 deep in the TT. Shame. But i made Tracie take our own photo:)

I hoped that she would stick around for the Best of Both and we could duke it out for 35 seconds on sunday's 15k but she has had some running injuries and some health challenges this summer so she was heading back home for some R and R. Congrats Tracie! Super proud to be in your company at time trial!!

So, that brings us to this:

I could say that i would write a race report about the 15K sunday. But yawn. Literally.

So here are the clif notes:

1) I didnt win the best of both. Boo.

2) They use the times from the Road race and the TT indiscriminately and a gal who was in the 2nd pack of women ( think her time was 2:13?) ran and beat me in the 15k by a min or so so she won the BOB. I know they dont really care if you do it all by yourself, but the only reason i was sad was i have one trophy from last year and SO wanted another so i could give them to my nephews. ONE BIG trophy and two little boys who havent gotten to the sharing part of life isnt a good plan.

3) IT was hard. I was deciding if it was my legs or the tank that didnt feel 100% and it was both.

I ran well, still, i had negative splits and i loved running on gravel and rolling hills. But it was not easy. I finished about a minute slower than last year ( blah,) but it was hotter and i think the tank was half full after saturday. They also had water stops with dixie cups that had about 2 TBS of water in them. I was like " MAN, can i have that pitcher?"I think they need more water!

4) super pleased with the weekend, and now i rest.

Got a sprint on saturday and that means I will get back to the race plan that i started this post with. GO ALL OUT!

Thanks for reading!

Another weekend of Fun awaits!

So its Firehouse 50 weekend again. So soon!

Last year was amazing. I sorta had that combo of luck ( others didnt show up) and speed ( a pretty good time, considering the torrential downpours and wind) and I won the Best of Both.

As you can tell from my outfit it was cold. Northern WI is cold to begin with but that weekend was extra chilly. Anyways...I would love to get another child sized trophy but it all depends on who shows up.

Saturday is the 50 mile TT. A variety of options, 4 person, 2 person, mixed, single gender, and of course the Individual. Which i have done the last 2 years. Then sunday is the 15k run. AFter the run they combine times to award the BEST of BOTH. The kicker is that I could theoretically sit on the wheel of 3 fast men and get a faster time than doing it solo, and then run a 2 hour 15k and still win the BOB. So as i said, my goal is not to win the BOB, but if it happens, then cool. And if it doesnt happen i can blame it on the fact that I actually did the entire distance all alone, no wheel sucking involved:)

Either way its a great weekend, great people ( Rich is racing solo too! 10 min start behind me, so i have to keep the fox away!) a great course, lotsa rollers and some fun fast stretches too, and a good chance to continue to "train" in a race format!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Firehouse 50 TT and Best of Both 15K run Race report(s)

Saturday
Firehouse 50 Bike events. 50.5 Mile TT's ( team and indy) in addition to a RR and a Fantasy 50 that is 38 miles. ( not sure why this is underlining....??!)

We wake up to rain and clouds. We load up the cars and head to Grandview Wi for the starts of the 50.5 mile Firehouse 50 TT. Rich's group had 2 teams of 4, and a few of us were doing it solo.
Last year i did this solo for the first time and really enjoyed it. Well as much as you can enjoy a 50 mile Time Trial. I was excited to make a few changes in my approach ( ie WARM UP) and see if i couldnt use some of my newly acquired endurance to push a bit harder on the flatter sections.
But with the rain and wet roads i started to give up some hopes of a PR. That was ok. I just wanted to ride!
So no warmup and the usual "What to wear" filled my thoughts. Rich's teams went off around 7:20 and I was set for 8:19. So at about 8:10 it actually stopped raining for good. It may have been at 7:52 but whatever, the morning was filled with "on again, off again" downpours.
I settled on the LS skinsuit and off i went. Gloves. knee warmers. Yup. August. uh-huh.
Got to the start and was pretty relaxed but my Camelback kept sliding down my back. IT was totally annoying me and so i just decided to stay AERO until my time was announced. Meaning i was freezing hunched over my bike. But the dang bladder stayed put. We start in pairs, so i had some dude next to me that got off first and said "have a nice race..see ya" in typical testosterone form, so it was fun to match his pace up the continental divide and then finally pass him and never see him again.
So this could be a very long race report bc 50 miles solo makes you think alot. Or not at all. So here are the Cliff notes.
Race 1: First 12 miles up the continental divide to mile 5 then around Lake Namekagen and some rough curvy roads. The winds had picked up and I could feel i had no warmup. But overall ok, other than the having to get out on my hoods since staying aero across the bridges and open areas was too scary.
Race 2: Turn right on M. Phew, this is where i can make up some time. Oh, but guess not if there is a 20 MPH head wind. Lovely. And random gusts again. Oh well. Time to just be STRONG. Stick to your nutrition, even tho you have taken pressure off to PR, just follow the plan so you can practice for your next A race. A gel every 40 min and sipping on the bladder ( Infinit). This was a long section. I was passed by men and one woman right as i got into Cable and it was Marlo, looking STRONG! " go Marlo," I yelled.
Race 3: Mile 25, into Cable ( home of the Chewamequan Fat tire and the Birkie ski race... spelling?? Oh i should know this) ziggy zaggy on the roads and then onto the stretch that begins Lake Owen Drive. AKA the fun fest roller coaster. Blind fast corners. Whee! no yellow line. boo.
So you have to be careful, last year I nearly got bounced off my bike going down and up at 33 mph. This time i was careful and recalled the area and grabbed on good and sat my butt down hard. Phew. no bouncing off the seat today. I love this section. I do well with the short punchy rollers and have learned how to descend just enough to get up speed and then stand up and pump up those hills. The lovely thing is that even as my quads started to tell me that i had indeed been fighting wind and longer hills for 35 miles now, I had strength to keep punching the hills and when they evened out i had the strength to hammer on down the road. I dropped another leech who was conveniently sucking wheels as the fast guys went by, only to get dropped every 10 seconds. It was kinda humorous to watch actually. But i passed him clean after a hill and never looked back.
Race 4: Drummond and mile 42-50+ FINALLY! 63. I have a tail wind and this is just great. I am going 28-33 mph. wow. I took a gel just before the final turn and i was at 2 hours. I knew I wouldnt be under 2:22 ( 2008 time) but i also knew that I wanted to empty my legs and if i didnt have a full tank i could easily pop on the false flats ahead. So in went the gel and i was pleased i made that decision. In the past i would have just gutted it out. This finishing stretch was so much fun. Actually mile 25-on was fun! I was still passed by the eventual winner, Cam, and man she was flying. I was descending at 33mph and for me that is fast ..I think she had to be going 38 or 40 mph bc she disappeared!

I am trying to get the map in here but it is hard to read and it got cut off, but anyways..kinda as i said, 4 different races/courses.

Finish (above picture: tight 90 degree turn into the park area and onto the timing mat and i am done. 2:25:xx.
Sweet. With those conditions I will take an extra 3 minutes and I am pleased I was under 2:30!
I talk to Cam a bit then start to ride off but my left glute is wanting NOTHING to do with it.

I quickly went back to the car to change into warm clothing and got some ice for my bum. That helped a lot, and since it was so cold out and windy i really didnt want to hang around too long. But we had to watch the craziness of the RR finish. As I said, the race finishes on a 90 deg turn and there are people crowded around the turn trying to see the finish ( Um CRASHFEST). It is a too often sound to hear the ambulance sirens going during this race, and why they dont change the finish i dont know.

So honey and i watched as our friend and my teammate's BFF made the corner turn, gravel danced for a bit, then went on to win the race. Way to Go PETE! We hung out a bit longer and iw as ready to go home and warmup. In our ice bath. Hee. Seriously. We got the log -o-ice and I ran an ice bath and it was heaven. Nap time, then a fire and then dinner with our housemates at the Garmisch Inn then home to bed bc sunday was....

THE 15k RUN! woohoo!!
At this point my sore left bum was better but still tight. I slept ok, but had concerns about RACING sunday am. Elliot and chuck were going so i figured I would go, and see how i felt. I could always just run easy. And I wanted to run so why not run with others. I Did some warmup and i felt ok. My quads were a bit "stick" like but I wore some compression shorts and they kept my bum warm and i felt pretty good. My plan was...umm...hmm...just run. dont get sucked into chasing a female, but if at the end she is in sight and you have legs, go for it.

Long story short....
mile 1 6:59. Ooops, slow down.
Pick up elliot at mile 2. And we run steady on the rolling hills keeping about a 7:30 pace. I see girl #1 go and then girl #2 go and some guy says "you can see the 1st place girl, go get her" and i said to him "if she is there when i am at mile 7 I will chase, but unless she comes back to me I am sticking with the plan!" The plan became to run in Zone 3 other than the hills and just run. Dont turn this into an A race, just have fun. And help Elliot chase down high school boys who are in his AG. At mile 7 I told him he could GO whenever he wanted to, bc I was not going to sprint it in ( as if i could sprint it in for 2.3 more miles.) and off he goes. He said later that he went too hard too fast, but that was ok! He finished about 30 seconds ahead of me and ran a great race.
I had good legs, better than expected but the left ball of my foot was BURNING. It felt like i had a razorblade in there. I started wondering if i had Morton's neuroma. And then i panicked a bit. When i got done it was all i could do to stop from kicking my shoe off. nothing was there but a white patch that looked almost like frost bite.
Thinking about it i know that saturday my feet got REALLY cold riding . Carbon soles, plus cold makes me think i just killed some nerves or had frostbite minus the frost. It seems better but that was the worst 15 minutes...it felt like a hot poker.

So when we looked at the results we realized that the 3 women ahead of me in the B O B event were not listed in the run. One of them had started. I talked to her before we ran. Two of them had done the RR...and one had done the TT. Weird thing is that in Wis sport road races they time you. So these women had TIMES from a RR. Obviously FASTER than someone that had done an Indiv TT. But still i would have had to make up 6 minutes on them ( the RR ladies) and the TT lady had about 10 min on me. but she didnt show. So lucky me showed up and i never did find out what happened to the RR lady that started, but i am sure i would have made up the 6 minutes on her! I know it!

So just after the loaded all the kids into the fire engines to drive them to the start of their 2 mile race ( this weekend IS a fundraiser for the Grandview Fire department):


I got my big A$$ trophy beating the next gal by 45 minutes. I cant say my times were the fastest out there, they werent. I was 1st in my AG with a 1:10:09, and 3rd OA but the 2 girls who were 1-2 didnt ride saturday. So finally, a trophy that my nephews can be proud of. Though they seem pretty jazzed by the little medals too.
We headed back to the cabin to start the drive home. It was nice to get back to the cities where it was 80! What a great weekend with Rich's teammates, Greg and Marilyn Franzen, and all the other fun people i see up at this race. The weather was the worst it has been in my 4 years ( RR once, 4 man TT once, and 2nd year on the TT) and I look forward to more good times with the First Light team! Thanks for reading this too long RR!

Firehouse 50 weekendBig Kevin gets his wheels rolling
"Man is he good to ride behind!"
Elliot runs/skis for Sibley High School and is quite the budding Triathlete
Chuck is Elliot's dad and a fine musician as well.
Julia has finally developed the skill that Rich has had all along. Self portrait while cutting off half the other person's face.
Dont get too excited .. I had a swimsuit on and just had to get a pic of those tan lines. And that is a tan line having worn 50 SPF religiously with re-applications all summer. If you look you can still see the bulge of tissue on my left cheek where i still have scar tissue and a hematoma from being taken out in june in a crit. There is some painful soft tissue work ahead. And yea, it still hurts. Nothing a little dip in Lake Owen post race wont help, tho.

Race was fine. Hard. Epic may be too strong a term bc people like to use EPIC for races like Ken Woods, when really i would just call that plain crazy or "dumb" for racing in conditions like that. Maybe mentally Epic is a good term for the Firehouse 50 TT. And cant argue with the beauty of the course, the variety of the terrain, the fun times and the great spectators and volunteers.

I won my age group and placed 6th overall for women and didnt empty the tank. I hope to return next year and see what more i can do with this course...