Wednesday, September 29, 2010

SCX #1 Evergreen


Last week was a very crazy week for me. Chad was in Florida for a FOOLS fire conference and my mom, Holden and I went to Vegas for Interbike. What a great time we had, thank you to Craig and Cycle U for send me.

Interbike was awesome, almost to big and very over whelming. But there was so much cool stuff to see. I spent around 4-5 hours there and didn't see it all. I even had George Hincapie sign a couple posters for Holden and Chad. He was very quite, you could tell he didn't really want to be there.

I then left Interbike and met Holden and mom out on the town at New York, New York. Vegas still isn't the best place to take kids, but they have Disneyfided it so there are a lot more things for kids to do and see. The hardest part was keeping him from seeing all the pamphlets they hand out with the mostly naked girls on it. It was a quick learning lesson for him, and kinda embarrassing for me.

So we got back on Friday from Vegas. My legs were so tired, I was on my feet all day for 3 days. Literally on Thurs I left at 9:30am walking and got back at 11pm walking. Very sore legs and feet but it was worth it!!

I got up Sat and did my opener workout, or race ramp up workout to get the legs loosened up and they were tight. We then went to Holden's soccer game where unfortunately they lost again! They are trying though and we are see improvements for sure. There is a win in their future!!

I took the rest of the day easy and then got up Sunday and headed down to the race just me and Holden. Dave P helped me out and watched Holden so I could race. Even though he said he didn't really do anything, it was just nice to know someone was keeping an eye on him.

It had rained in the morning so the course was a bit slick but not to bad. I decided to run my tubular Grifo tires and they were perfect as usual. We had 10 ladies on the start line which is good, the numbers keep going up each race.

We started and Lee Smith got the whole shot and I was on her wheel. I shot around her after the track and was off in first place. The girls were breathing down my back on the run up, so I had to try to push it a bit even though my heart rate was through the roof. I got a little gap on the downhill and then held it for the whole race. I managed to move up and increase the gap every lap and work my way up about half way through the single speed guys.

I felt pretty good, my legs were still not totally recovered from Vegas but overall a great race. I love racing at Evergreen, it is such a fun course.

We finished, Holden didn't race because he was just to tired from partying it up in Vegas so we headed to the airport to pick up Chad. Boy was it good to see him, I missed him a lot while he was gone.

So what a great week, lots done in a short period of time. I am back on a more normal schedule this week so hopefully Sunday's race will be awesome. I will let you know how it goes.

Kristi

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

MFG #1 Finn HIll Kirkland


What a day!! Sunday was the first MFG race of the season, Kick off to Cross race and was sponsored by my team, Cycle U!

I spent the early part of the morning helping run registration and get things organized with the team volunteers. There were a lot of things to cover and our Cycle U team stepped up and helped make this race a huge success!

So of course I had a crazy morning and was behind on eating and getting my warm up in. So I did the best I could and got in a quick lap and got the tire pressure dialed in on the new Crux and jumped on the trainer for a quick 20min warm up. I wasn't feeling all that ready but I got to the start and gave it everything I had.

My legs were ok for the start, I got on Jenni Gaertner's wheel and sat there up to the first hill turn around and then took the lead. I held that for a short period of time, when Kari Studley came by me. I tried so hard to stay on her wheel but my legs just weren't warmed up enough and locked up a bit on me. I had to settle in a bit in hopes that they would open up by lap 2. So Kari was getting a good gap on me, and Jenni was bringing me in so I decided I had to give one lap as hard as I could to drop Jenni. It worked, I brought Kari back in a bit but just not enough. So I kept up the hard effort and stayed pretty consistent through each lap and held onto 2nd place.

Overall a good race, having not raced any Road or Mountain this summer I was a little nervous as to how I would do in these first few races. But I am pleasantly surprised how good I feel and I think this is going to be an awesome season for sure!!

My husband had a bad day, on Sat the day before the race he ran 220 floors in one of the building down town in support of 9/11 and all the fallen firefighters and police officers. So his legs were a little tired and he just couldn't get them work for him. And he had a really bad crash that sent him flying so he was pretty beat up. But the Tower climb was for sure more important! He will be back in a couple weeks to kick some butt for sure!

And my son Holden had a great race. He race without us this time, and did 2 full laps. He is so darn cute and just loves all his supporters out there on the course. He had a blast and we just need to teach him to shift!!

We will not be at the races this weekend as we will be in ID. Chad's dad is getting married so we are traveling over there on Sat to share in their day!!

Good luck to everyone that is racing, it is going to rain so plan for mud!!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Labor Day Cross


Cross racing is officially under way!! We raced the first cross race on Monday and it was a great day for cross racing. The temps were cool and the course was nice and tacky and fast.




I raced first out of the family, and it started out awesome. I got the whole shot and lead till the run up, where Kari Studley passed me. She had a better stride up the steep hill/stairs and made a couple seconds on me at the top. I jumped back on and caught back up with Kari in the technical sections. We were together going into lap 2 and I was feeling pretty good. I was very nervous having not raced anything since Dec so I was pretty happy with where I was at.


We hit the stairs again and Kari got another gap, this one was a bit bigger so I was pushing harder to catch back on her wheel when about half way through the lap I hit a rock and pinch flatted. I had to run half the lap so I fell all the back to last and then ran into the pits where Chad and the Collision One guys helped me get a new wheel and I was back. My calfs were on FIRE from running the so long so I got on and just gave it everything I had.




I didn't catch back up with my group but managed to get back about half the rest of the fields. So a bad result but a good run workout for sure.




I then did 3 laps with Holden. He was awesome, he had such a great attitude and road further then any other cross race so far. It is so much fun riding with him and watching how good he can handle his bike.




And Chad raced last, he got the whole shot also and then continued to have a great race. He fell back a bit but held on for a good fight to finish 5th. Best season opener race for him so far.


So again a great weekend for the Berg's.


Next race in this Sunday the 12th at Finn Hill Park in Kirkland.