The 2010 mountain bike season ended on a high note for me. My national ranking in my age group/category was #3 and in terms of overall expert women, I was in the top 10. I couldn't have been more pleased, but the traveling and amount of racing took its toll on my psyche and my low back. I'm not sure how Jeff finished up the 2010 season because the SS division is not officially recognized as a separate USAC category, nor is it age graded (however, there was a national championship race last year for it last year which doesn't make much sense to me). After the Taconic 909, we both were mentally burned and literally took about a month off our bikes. We took time to hike and trail run and even though the cross season was starting, we ignored the schedule and just did our own thing until mid-October. I started racing cross before Jeff had any inclination and just enjoyed it for what it was worth. When school starts, it's hard for me to keep up my training with any consistency, so rather than let it become an issue, I prefer to just go with the flow.
Jeff resumed racing with three cross races left in the 2010 season and went from nearly dead last in his first race back to nearly winning the final race. I do not say this to boast of his abilities, but it is a testament to his physical conditioning over the years. Yes, his muscle has memory.
For those of you who live in central New York, you know of the long winter we endured. On the record books, it was the 4th snowiest winter in history and because of Jeff's philosophy, "You gotta go outside and enjoy it...." we participated in some new winter activities. We snowshoed and snowshoed raced in local events. We saw a few other avid mountain bikers at these events, but most were true runners. Jeff did quite well throughout these events and I consistently placed in the top 5 of women.
The highlight of our winter was the arrival of our Fatbacks (see www.fatbackbikes.com for more information). After much research, we decided to purchase a set of Fatbacks for winter snow riding. We live in an area of central New York that has an extensive system of snowmobile trails, that if need be, would take you as far north as Quebec and as far south as Binghamton. On our part, there was great trepidation as we were unsure how we would be received by the local snowmobiles. We found that most of them were extremely curious about our bikes and extremely gracious in sharing the trails. I found that riding the snowmobile trails to be a very safe experience. No worries about traffic, we could ride safely at night with our lights on, and very serene. Riding the Fatbacks were a true test of strength. The power output was unreal and due to the weight of the bike, it was difficult to climb. In terms of miles, Jeff out rode me at least 2:1. I would encourage anyone who lives in this area and who has access to the snowmobile trails to consider this as a supplement to your winter training. It is imperative, though, to learn about the ideal trail conditions. This was a steep learning curve for us. Because you ride the tires so soft (about 6-8 pounds of air), the trails need to be fairly hard. Ideally, that would mean that you ride early in the morning (after a cold night) and in the evening, after the snow has warmed up and then hardened again towards the later hours.
And, here we are at the beginning of June. Our season has started slow. I am still dealing with low back pain, but finally have a handle on the cause and have included new individuals in my pain management/injury recovery. I try to ride as much as I can, while being mindful that this season may be one that has it's ups and downs, with the goal to be to make it to master's worlds in February 2012. Our first race was at Prattsburg, NY a few weeks ago. Jeff rode his Fatback for shock value and rode a relatively strong race until he flatted with 3 miles to go. I had a 2nd overall finish and 1st in my age group, despite my lack of training. More recently, we competed in the Highland Hex 6-Hour Mountain Bike race. Jeff did the SS division and I did it with our good friend, Fizz, in the mixed or co-ed division. We saw many our Ommegang friends. As expected, both of our opening races of the season presented us with very wet and muddy conditions. For Jeff and I, we do not enjoy riding in these conditions. It is hard on equipment and the body is not well-acclimated yet to the power demands needed to endure such conditions.
We look forward to the upcoming season, seeing our friends, riding for EJ again and the entire Crankskins.com team. We hope to complete the entire NYS mountain bike series and a few other H2H races along the way. My goal is to keep the back healthy enough so I can train and race, however, I recognize that this will be a rebuilding time as well.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be happy.
May you ride with ease.
Enjoy this long Memorial Day weekend.
Together, we are Jeffina. Crankin' out the miles, crankin' out the love for Crankskins.com
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