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allieburch VB Team Member

| Joined: | Tue Jan 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | Patterson, New York USA |
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Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 04:40 pm |
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Mike and I have recently moved to NY and thankfully it’s in a spot where I can start giving back some host housing.
Kimber, Connie and Shannon Edson all arrived Wednesday evening, however Kimber and Connie were not allowed out of the plane until early Thursday morning. I picked them up from the airport and around 1am the three of us rolled in to my driveway exhausted.
We started out the next morning building bikes and loading cars. Shannon and Connie were to follow Kimber and me out, however when I pulled out of the driveway and made a right onto the road they were nowhere to be seen. I swore they were right behind us. There is no cell service where I live so we circled back around to the house retracing our 500-yard gain in search of them, but no dice. They had disappeared. That’s gotta be a record!
Shannon and Connie made their way to Vermont using her directions and a rental car map while Kimber and I relied on my impeccable sense of direction. (HA!) Surprisingly we made pretty good time, that is, until we got to the Mass/Vermont Border.
A good day starts with a good breakfast:
…Or brunch, or lunch and a snack, or gorging on impulse boutique foods at the Vermont state line.
Kimber and I made our way through the last bits of Mass and into Vermont as our tummies started to get a little grumbly. Right at the state line, you know, where the road narrows and you can almost knock on someone’s front door while driving by, there sat an innocuous looking little country store with “pastries and deli” painted in the window.
We weren’t even all the way through the door yet and we both had our hands on freshly baked cookies the size of our heads. There was every type of Vermonty maple delight one could imagine. Maple smoked mozzarella, maple sugar, maple syrup, maple-fried-maple…it went on and on. We grabbed a sandwich, I couldn’t resist a sampling of the maple pulled pork and we tugged each other the hell out of there before any more damage was done.
Down low, two slow!
We arrived, but not in time for Kimber’s Super D practice. Downhill practice was later in the day, so after registering, we took the chairlift up to walk the course. It took longer than I thought an my legs started to ache already so I bailed out ¼ way down and hiked the fire road the rest of the way.
I suited up for practice and I was so tired I nearly fell asleep on the chairlift ride up. I took two slow runs in order to look the course over since I was just too exhausted to walk it and pick out lines this day.
Validation:
Friday’s practice was spent on two timed cruiser runs. My arms were still ok, but I could feel the fatigue setting in. I knew I was riding better and able to conserve energy by letting the brakes go in certain sections, including a very fast section of boney, pocked shale slab that was just a tad off camber. This is usually not my style, as I don’t relish high-speed sections.
The bike bucked and skipped as my suspension soaked up all of the hits. I felt the bike leave the ground and land again, only to skip over more shale-bone. With every hit I thanked God for the Stan’s NoTubes guys and their strong wheel-building prowess. Clang!…Clang!…KAPOW! ……CLANG! “ooh. That sounded like a big hit I should probably check my air pressure when I get back to the pits.”
I headed down for a breather and to check over my bike. I went to pump up my front tire, to which it’s response was, “HISSSSssssss.” What the hell? I looked down and saw the side of rim was basically folded in, however the Stan’s had sealed it enough to allow me to finish my run without realizing it was slowly going flat.
A couple of other good side dings made my eyes well up with sadness for my pretty new ZTR Flow wheels. Upon further investigation moments later, Alex found that I had actually cracked the rim right in half. At that time Mike from Stan’s walked up to our tent and had thankfully brought an extra set of rims I ordered. “I guess this means that I’ve been going faster.” And in an odd sense, the fact I was going fast and hard enough to break one of their wheels kinda made me feel validated as a racer.
I noticed later, there were dead rims all over the place. I only cracked one where other people were going through two and three sets of wheels. I guess they should have been riding NoTubes.
Ice, Ice, Baby:
Saturday we were all feeling the effects of the rough long course. We were bumped, bruised, sore and tired. Since practice was held in the morning, we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted, which quite honestly for me was to sleep. Kimber suggested that we head over to the condo for ice baths. So, that’s what we did, each of us taking turns in the tub with our own bag of ice for seven to ten minutes of soaking in excruciatingly cold water. YOW!
It’s a little ironic, a downhill team taking ice baths and foregoing a party (Vermont’s institution of the “naked crit”) to head out early to offsite host housing. We then went for a relaxing swim with the dogs and friends in the Connecticut River. The swim was not, however without the obligatory “stand on an inner tube in the middle of the river” contest.
For the Record:
After Friday’s…well, let’s face it, disaster in the slalom qualifier, and an incapacitating uphill footrace in the Super D, we, on the Velo Bella Downhill team were faced with the very real possibility that for the first time this year there might not be a podium appearance for us at a race. It would have been so good to have a showing at the National Championships.
I guess what “They” say about momentum carrying a rider or team because I don’t know what the hell happened during downhill qualifiers, but as I was laying on the ground at the tent wallowing in what I thought was a joke of a run, Alicia runs up to the tent with the shocking news: “HOLY CRAP!!! ALLIE, you qualified 4th!!!” I was in no way prepared for this information so I let out my default response while rolling on the ground: “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!” But, there it was. My name, in print right in between 3, Dawn Bourque and 5, Marla Streb. Talk about a hero sandwich! (They are two of my favorite riders from when I started racing)
At two-o-clock we lined up for the final in reverse order of our qualifying run with the fastest qualifiers in the back. Marla looked back at me and gave me a “good luck!” I cracked back, probably a little too eagerly and loudly, “You too!” It was obvious that I was nervous. On a side note, I NEVER EVER thought that I would see the back of Marla’s jersey from the start block. Usually, when I look back at the line of riders to follow me, she’s a little speck off in the distance of top three qualifiers. Something horrific must have happened to her in qualifying, or she was just setting the bait with a slower time.
This time, I looked back and saw only three. The very fast, very aggressive and very hungry Bourque, Pruitt and Buhl. Holy Shit. Remember the “Rabbit Chase” scene from the movie “Snatch”? (Queue the music)
Marla rolled up onto the starting block but not before she said to me in low voice, “head up.” We had spoken earlier and I explained that I had worked with her old coach Blair Lombardi this past spring. “Head up” is one of the fundamental keys. Just little things she does like that keeps Marla up on a pedestal as a class act. (I still wanna grow up to be like her)
Then there were four. I loaded into the start gate and to calm myself tried to make small talk with the official and give a big cheesy full-face grin to a guy taking snapshots, all without fogging up my goggles. Well, it worked and I was off. Down the right of the pocked ski run, staying loose over the steppy-steps, letting my bike work and flow under me while I hung on for dear life over my desired lines. I knew my speed was good, yet I was confident – an incredible combination that I hadn’t yet been completely able to put together. I tried to gauge my run by the spectator’s cheers. When I nailed a difficult off camber section, I heard a guy give a surprised “yeAH!” I thought to myself, “Hell yes that was good! You’re actually nailing this!” I was then on to the high-speed “Wheel Crusher” section which I tried to stay loose and flow over, but somehow I got sucked into the weeds. I thought I was going over but managed to pull the bike out and still carry a bit of momentum, but not enough to where I didn’t have to pedal like crazy into the woods.
I dove in as the course spotter blew her whistle. (course spotters communicate via whistle blows, one blow=rider through, two blows=rider down, etc) Over the rooty places that caused me a bit of trouble, then as I passed another course spotter who blew his whistle, I heard another whistle blast from behind me. “Oh my God!” I thought, “Dawn’s RIGHT THERE! She’s caught up already!!” New strategy – pedal like hell. . I had to basically do standing two-minute sprint intervals while maneuvering a nearly forty-pound bike. Oh, it hurt so badly. I forced myself to pedal in every single straight. Up and over the rock-drop, landing with an “OOF!” pedaling through the woods where I could and then through the last wooded section where my smarty-pants husband was yelling, “C’mon!! GO! Pedal! GO!” “I’m going, I’m going!!!” I tried to huff back, but it probably came out more like “IGUuuuuunn..BAAARF!”
The end was near. The light at the end of the tunnel of trees to the glorious finish line where bottles of water and a nice place to lie down awaited me.
“UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGG…whimper” I’m sure I sounded like a hippo in labor as I pedaled through the fire road chicanes, but damnit I charged. I gave 100% as I came through the finish line and I was spent. That was a successful run and I was happy with it. Although I could improve on my lines and some technical aspects, I gave it everything and that’s what I had expected of myself. What I was not expecting was to hear “Allegra Burch with a time of blah blah blah sitting in third place!” My brain was doing back flips while my body fell off the bike. I tried to do the math. let’s see, I’m in third, there are three faster riders, that means the lowest placing I could get today = blue. I decided just to sit there and see what happened.
Dawn came tearing through the finish, then Melissa Buhl lit it on fire. There was now only the defending Pruitt who had taken the Stars and Stripes home last year…and she came down on a flat. Just because Kathy had a flat, however doesn’t mean she still didn’t have a smoking time. She could still claim a podium spot, however it was not to be. She must have flatted at the very top, and there we had it. The 2008 Pro Women’s National Championship podium: Buhl (KHS), Streb (Luna), Borque (Rhino), Harvey (Sobe/Cannondale) and Burch (Velo Bella)! As I’m writing this a day later I’m still kinda stunned.
Thus, we have continued to uphold our 2008 record. Every single venue that one of the DH team members has participated in during 2008 has seen one of us on the podium for at least one of the events.
Bittersweet:
My goal in the beginning of the year, before I knew we were moving across the country, was to accumulate enough UCI points to be able to race some World Cups. Specifically, I wanted to attend the two in Canada, Monte Sainte-Anne and Bromont which followed the week after. Since moving and buying a house put the financial damper on travel, training and racing, I scrapped it and focused on local stuff, which started going really well.
The podium spot at Nationals in itself gave me all the points I needed for the Monte Sainte-Ann and Bromont races the weekends after! I could go!!! Or so I thought.
The reality is, the cutoff date for all points to be accumulated for either of these two events was July 8, 2008. this means that the only US event where a gravity racer could gain UCI points was at Angel Fire, and since it was an E2 event, only a modest amount of points were granted. Basically, you had to win in order to get enough points. I could go to the last two World Cups in Australia or Austria, but I’m afraid with the price of gas, my car just won’t make it there. ;-)
I’m not exactly sure how it all works, if points carry over or if I’ve just got to do more races in Canada. I’m new to this World Cup thing, but now it’s a solid goal for 2009 and I’ve got a lot of time to ask questions, learn, plan…and get faster.
You can’t do it alone:
The support was awesome and so very very helpful. Just knowing that I could bring my bike in and someone would actually help me fix it, or wash it or tell me to sit and put my feet up was invaluable. Having a place to just sit for a while was key.
Morgan was our amazing and valued mechanic and Alex did the running, figuring out and cat-herding that is just mentally exhausting. Thank you so very very much!
Last edited on Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 04:48 pm by allieburch
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connie VB Team Member
| Joined: | Thu Mar 6th, 2008 |
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Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 08:19 pm |
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We're so proud of you Allie! You're amazing!
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AlexF VB Team Member

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Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 09:51 pm |
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How fantastic are you, Allie? Congrats on the fabulous run and well-earned podium! And nice work by the whole DH crew, with podiums at every venue. Kimber has medical clearance to race, I'm guessing, or is her orthopedist rolling his/her eyes?
Alex
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connie VB Team Member
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Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 11:07 pm |
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Here's some more info on my races:
Allie pretty much told the tale of missing Super D practice on Thursday - oops. I'd like to say we should have gotten up earlier but good grief. I got 2.5 hours of sleep after getting in to Allie's house and then getting up at 5am to build my bike...
Anyway - Shannon was a fun driving buddy and we cheered each other up on the longer than expected, somewhat circuitous drive to Mt. Snow. I figured I would just walk the course Thursday and then practice the next two days. I had planned to just race Super D - that's the only bike I brought. I was looking at an extra $250 each way to bring the DH bike - which just wasn't happening. So I figured I've been doing better in Super D, so I'd just go with that. And Kimber is injured and supposed to be "taking it easy" so she was just going to do the SD too on Allie's Nomad. Went to register and looked at the practice schedule.... no Super D practice until the race on Sunday. WHAT??? We asked, we complained, we kept complaining until we got to the race director... no luck. Too bad, no practice for you. AND - you can't buy a lift ticket and ride elsewhere - the mountain is closed except for formal race practice. Well that's sweet...
So we registered for the DH. We figured at least that way we can ride something, and we'd check it out and if we couldn't race it, so be it, but at least we'd be out riding, having fun, and getting a feel for the terrain and staying fresh on our bikes. Practice Friday went really well. I was cleaning the DH course no problem on my 6" trail bike. Not very fast at the top - there are all these weird holes, but I felt good on the rest. The top just flew down the ski run and if you had any speed you'd get air - right into an off camber hole with rocks here and there.. I'm not sure what to compare it to, other than it looked innocent enough to ride slowly, but at speed looked terrifying. And then Friday night it rained... And then I started wrecking my guts out. The ski run stuff was slippery as hell on the wet grass, and then you got into the woods and got to ride all over the wet roots. Most of it was fine but there were 2 sections that had really off camber roots that just wanted to throw you off the side of the trail. And Saturday night it rained more...
Anyway - back to the Super D - that course was looking FUN!!! 3 climbs, which I wasn't psyched about, but they looked okay except for the last climb which had a steep part at the very end. Bleh, but I've held my own on SD courses with 3 climbs before (in Angel Fire). And the rest was rocky, rooty fun and fire road descents with water bar jumps. Anyway - traditional SD - they don't tell you what the deal is with the start until 10 min before the race. And this one sucked. Like 100 yards of running with your bike straight up the ski run. The other major event ones I've done were literally like 20 steps of running, then jump on your bike. This was LONG and steep, through tall weeds and loose rocks. I got smoked at the start. I don't think I've run a step other than for Super D's in like 5 years with all my knee surgeries. So starting from about last, I start picking people off through the woods. So far, so good. 2nd climb I got passed by 1 person but passed another. Then I got stuck behind 4 girls all trying to pass each other in the woods. No go, and I had to ride that whole section at a crawl, stuck behind the traffic jam - ugh. Passed someone else when it opened up, but got passed once again by 2 people on the 3rd nasty climb. I passed one more person in the woods, and another on the top speed/off camber descent down the ski run to the fire road, which was fun. I got to do that last pass in the air as we hit a water bar and blew by an XC girl just flying, and then nailed the flat gravel road corners as well as I've ever imagined I could... and pedaled like hell, but just missed catching Jen Tilley - who totally destroyed me on the climbs . (We totally need to do a Bella clinic where we can trade some climbing skills for some descending skills, huh? )
So anyway - I ended up 11th of 16. With the long running start it wasn't a DH friendly course by any means, but I had a lot of fun on the course and had a blast racing it (well... not so much as I was running up the hill wanting to puke, but the rest of it was sweet!)
So then it was time to move on to the DH. The thunderstorms were lurking in the distance, but it held off for the race, which was great. I was really nervous about the top of the course, as on Saturday when it was wet I was wrecking left and right and ended up just walking a whole slippery off camber section up top that I just couldn't stay upright on when it was wet. Luckily qualifying was at 11am and that's when our practice had ended the day before so I had my fingers crossed that it dried out a bit. And it did - at least somewhat. I went slow, but made it down the top totally clean.... and then I slid out on the corner before you get into the woods. Got up and wrecked again. And got into the woods, which had been totally fun the previous two days, but I think I was trying to go too fast and just kept on wrecking. I think there were a total of 6 wrecks in my qualifying run. Good God. Luckily my bike suffered no damage (bent derailleur hanger that our mechanic fixed - OMG do I love having a team mechanic!!!) and I just wound up with a good bruise on my calf and a jammed index finger. No big deal. I qualified 13th (of 15).
Went back up for the race run and tried to tell myself to go slower and ride clean. Which totally worked.... for 3/4 of the course. And then I hit those dang off camber roots and flipped over my bike. That one hurt. Jammed my saddle into my inner thigh. Got up as fast as I could and kept going. Slid off a second time and I could hear the whistle of a rider coming behind me as I got on my bike so I pulled off to one side of the course to let her go. But just as I was expecting her to pass, she wrecked along side me, so I took off and rode as fast as I could to get out of the trees to give her space in the open in case she needed to pass again. The bottom of the course was clean - I was flying through the rocky section (wow do I love rocks compared to wet roots) and stayed loose and smooth through the mud bog (not a straight line in sight - all the ruts dead ended into roots and rocks criscrossing this field of mud). Actually - I was really pleased with that section - it's so counter-intuitive to let off the brakes, totally relax and quit trying to steer and just let the bike find it's own line through that kind of stuff. I know that's what I need to do in my head and I didn't let fear get the best of me and just did it - and what do you know, it worked every time. Anyway - I got through that and then pedalled my butt off to the finish line for a 14th place finish.
Well, it was a moral victory, if nothing else. It's not like I expected to do well on a 6" trail bike. I was only 3 seconds away from 13th place. And I had a blast riding and racing, and walked away with my bike and body intact (well minus some spectacular bruises on my legs). And then we got to watch Allie completely kill it on the DH course and it was so great to be there and celebrate her amazing finish.
Anyway - we all had a really great time - and not just with the riding - with the awesome host housing, swimming in the river, unbelievably good food... I'd love to do more riding on the East Coast. And I'm gradually getting the hang of this riding wet slimy stuff...
Lessons learned:
1. I just love to ride. Period. Right bike, wrong bike, wet roots, slimy off camber grass... I love it. And while I was nervous about how poor my results would be on the smaller bike - I made the decision to just go for it and have fun and it all worked out fine. But having the right bike would have been a LOT better! And speaking of having the right bike, I think I'll be looking at getting more of a FS XC race bike for Super D's for next year... That would probably help too when it comes to improving the climbing.
2. I really need to be even more careful about picking lines and not braking through those wet, off angle roots. I wish we had more of those to practice on around here, but wow do those suckers get you fast...
3. I need to work on longer running starts and sprinting up climbs. You get so stuck on mass start Super D courses when you can't get out front first. So Kimber and I are going to try some cyclocross this winter to see if it helps with all of that.
Last edited on Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 11:12 pm by connie
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jeninsb Administrator

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Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 11:47 pm |
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Wow, you beat Marla in qualifying? You're totally my idol. That's totally sweet. Loved the report Allie, thanks.
Can't wait to read yours tomorrow, Connie. Out of time today. d'oh.
You kids have all the stories. Fun times.
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jbird VB Team Member
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Posted: Fri Jul 25th, 2008 07:56 pm |
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Allie, AWESOME!! What a great report and amazing result. Congratulations!! That stinks about st anne. Maybe someone will fly you to Australia
laters, Johanna
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yentna VB Team Member

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Posted: Fri Jul 25th, 2008 10:01 pm |
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Ok, here I go a bit late. Wordy as usual!
I sorta have medical clearance to race...though my ortho is still rolling her eyes. Seeing as her husband is a multi-medalist in Olympic speedskating, and biked in the Tour de France in the 80s, she's familiar with people riding broken. "Eric biked all the time with broken bones." "You can race as long as you take it easy and accept that it won't be your best finish." And so on.
PS - Thje best pictures are at the bottom!
From here, I'm going to cut and paste from my blog...for cleaner reading, http://www.orangetomato.blogspot.com
USA Cycling Nationals - 2008 Mt. Snow, VT
What a weekend! Vermont definitely doesn't suck, and is now officially on my very, very, very short list of places I could live, if only for the fact that every meal I ate there was just fabulous, and EVERYTHING just happens to be cooked in maple syrup. Mmmmmmm...
So, Connie and I flew out to New York Wednesday night, stayed with teammate Allie in a nearby town, and we all drove up to Mount Snow, VT, Thursday morning.
Connie's bike is in the pink bag, can you believe it??? Wheels in the box:

Due to a few snafus, we got to the venue 1/2 hour too late for the Thursday Super D practice. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that Thursday was the ONLY practice for SD until Sunday morning! Are you KIDDING? No practice until an hour before the race? We protested it to no avail, then tried to get onto the lift like one race marshal advised us to do, however that didn't work.
Now, due to the two broken wrists, I was only intending to race the Super D, and by "race" I meant "take it easy and have a fun ride 'cause you really shouldn't be crashing." As my doctor said, "You can go ahead and race, as long as you don't push it, and accept that it won't be your best finish."
So, I'd only planned to "race" a mellow SD, but with no practice and thus no riding (lame), Connie and I registered for the Pro Women's Downhill race. What else were we to do for 3 days??? The crazy part is that both of us only had 6" travel bikes, not full downhill bikes, but were willing to try it just to have a chance to ride.
Originally, we just intended to ride the course, and then to back out of the actual race, but then realized we shouldn't waste the $65 entrance fee. PLUS, the course turned out to be awesome! Sure, the smaller bikes absolutely sucked on the top 1/3 of the course, which was potholed and grassy and slippery and required a lot of gripping and praying to get through, but the lower 2/3 was just a blast! Rolling rocks, twisty trees, roots, techy rock sections, fast and smooth parts, just super fun!
The gnarly top section:

A tree section:

In honor of the absurdedness of racing a trail bike on a DH course, without armor or even a fullface helmet (I'd only packed for the SD), I decided to wear my skinsuit, with ribbons, and just laugh my way down the hill. Spectators loved it! Lots of cheers of "go single-crown!" (referring to the smaller fork on the bike) and "go girl" and "holy sh*&!" made my run fun. I chatted with people on the way down "Do you like my bike?" and "Just out for a fun ride." Good times!
I was shooting for last place, since I absolutely didn't want to crash on my already injured wrists, and somehow missed the mark on my qualifying run and beat one girl! Woot! With one small crash that smashed my thumb between a root and my shifter (hard enough to snap the shifter off the bars), I wasn't too upset with my finish!
In the final, I relaxed a bit more, pedaled more in the flatter sections, didn't crash at all, and cut almost a minute off my time, yay! Of course, the girl I beat in qualifying decided that a silly girl in two casts shouldn't beat her, and cut over a minute and a half off her time, and so I came in, happily, last. But not by much...which makes me feel pretty good. With the right bike, helmet, and armor, and without broken wrists, I think I'd have held my own! Plus, 15th at the US Nationals
is pretty sweet anyway.
Connie finished one space above me and by about 30 seconds, just SLAYing the course on her trail bike, getting similar cheers on the course about her small bike and ribbons. It was a good time.
The best: Allie, our teammate, finished in 5th place and earned a spot on the podium! Go Velo Bellas! Allie on the right:

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My thumb, as of yesterday:

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Super D - the Super D course was also an absolute blast. I could have ridden both courses for weeks without getting bored. Unfortunately, in the end, the cross country girls took over on the last climb...
We had a crazy mass start, where we had to run up a steep hill (read: 20% grade or more) through thick tall grass for about 100 yards, then pedal up a gravel road to the first descent. I held my own on the run, was passed by a handful of girls on the first climb, passed a bunch of them on the first descent, then was passed on the second climb when my chain wouldn't catch. Managed to maintain my position in mid-pack through the second descent, then just pooped on the last (and hugest) climb. The XC girls just flew up the hill while I struggled, and they put such a lead on that climb that I could only catch one girl on the descent. Shrug, it was awesome and fun, and I've never raced in a group like that, having to find passing lines and use strategy. So, I was second from last and know I need to work on climbing (and have a smaller / lighter bike...6" of travel was way overkill), but don't regret a second of it.
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Active recovery: we were hosted by an awesome guy at his farmhouse on the edge of the forest, about half an hour from the race venue. He took us to his neighbor's place on the river, and we swam and goofed off the night before the races, taking turns trying to balance on the tube:

It was certainly interesting swimming with the splints on, though it's certainly nice that they can get wet! (I actually held onto a floaty for a lot of the time since a) I suck at treading and b) it was MUCH harder with the splints):



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Food highlights:
- the deli on the drive: within three steps, Allie and I each had a gigantic, warm, soft, fresh, homemade cookie. As well as tapenade, napolean (a decadent dessert), and fabulous sandwich. Mmmm...
- sauteed zucchini, cooked in gobs of butter and, of course, maple syrup
- the "vermonter": ham, cheddar, and apple on, of all things, French Toast! With a side of warm syrup for dipping.
- "Sapling" a maple syrup flavored brandy-type liquor.
Mt. Snow Picture!
Finally! Just got heads up from a friend that this picture was up (courtesy of "mrbgdkmn" on photobucket).
I was serious when I said I'd only prepared for a Super D and not a full downhill:
- single crown bike (WAY too small for this course)
- weeny XC helmet (you've seen the pics and know what we usually wear)
- NO body armor (meaning chest/spine/shoulder pressure jacket, I did have the shinny's and elbows)
- Goggles
- Skinsuit and ribbons, I was serious about just tooling down the course and having fun
- Wrist splints aren't very visible but I'm in them!
All that and I didn't qualify last, and in the race i finished last but was only off pace by about 30 seconds. Not shabby! Super fun:

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connie VB Team Member
| Joined: | Thu Mar 6th, 2008 |
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Posted: Fri Jul 25th, 2008 10:37 pm |
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| Ha - I love the pics of us on the river. That was a riot!
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VBKSupportEast VB Team Member

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Posted: Sat Jul 26th, 2008 03:40 am |
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Kimber, you were totally rockin' it old school. Your pic reminded me of some shots I've seen of John Tomac from the mid-90's. In one word: AWESOME!

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velobella Administrator

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Posted: Sat Jul 26th, 2008 05:23 am |
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| I LOVE this post
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 Current time is 05:08 pm | |
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