9/8/10
UCI Mountain Bike World Champsionships
This past week was an easy week in my training plan so I joined some other MWSC folk on a trip to Mont Sainte Anne in Quebec to take in the sights at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. The events included downhill, cross country, four-cross (four riders in heats….just like snowboard cross from the Olympics in Vancouver), and trials riding. Trials riding is a bit different in that it’s not about so much about speed but rather agility. The riders have a very difference bike and test their skills jumping around/onto objects to complete a sort of obstacle course with the most accuracy but also the quickest.
Seth and I were at MSA for the events on Friday and Saturday so we missed the downhill event but we did get to watch a bunch of cross country (U23 mens, and Elite women and men), the four-cross finals, and some trials riding. The highlight of the races has to have been watching Willow Koerber (USA) capture the bronze in the women’s Elite XC race. Another US rider, Heather Irmiger, was sixth. For a good portion of this race a Canadian rider was going back and forth with Willow so it was kind of funny to be in the minority cheering for the American while the masses were rooting for Canada instead.
It was a nice change to take in a sporting event without the pressure of being a competitor myself but it was also motivating. I’m looking forward (sorry to those who aren’t) to the cooler fall weather coming this way…it means winter is not too far off anymore!
8/23/10
After five weeks out of the county I’ve finally made my way back in time to enjoy the last of summer before fall hits. I left just before my birthday in the end of July for two weeks of R & R at home before two training camps in Jericho, VT and Sugarloaf, ME, followed by a week of fun (and training) at home in Gilford with my teammates Grace Boutot and Andrea Mayo and MWSC coach Seth Hubbard. It was a fun-filled, very busy five weeks and I’m exhausted after so much time on the road but I enjoyed it and I feel mentally refreshed and ready to conquer the challenges of fall training.
My three weeks (two before the camps and one after) at home in Gilford were really fun. My family lives on and runs a vegetable farm and farm stand called Beans and Greens (although Seth argues that it’s too big a store to fall into the “farm stand” category) so the food to be had there this time of year is awesome. We grow just about every vegetable and carry all kinds of fruit, jams, jellies, ice cream, cheese, eggs, etc. The stand also has an in-house deli and bakery so we ate lunch there almost every day with my parents. My younger brother Alex was still home (he heads back to the University of Vermont next week) so he took us out on the lake a couple of times for some hard core swimming and water fun. Gilford is right on the south-western end of Lake Winnipesaukee so we went to the lake just about every day that we were there.
Other adventures during the week with Grace, Andie and Seth included a trip (a long one) into this year’s corn maze at Beans and Greens, a hike/run on Belknap and Gunstock mountains, a kayak trip that went horribly wrong and a small handful of BBQs and cookouts on the lake.
The corn maze at Beans and Greens is probably the biggest tourist attraction we have there in the fall. My brother and dad plant and design a maze that usually takes the general public anywhere between 45 minutes to two hours to get through. It has two bridges in it this year which defeats the “right trick” that people try to use to get through mazes. If you make only right turns in our mazes you end up going in circles over one of the bridges and you’ll never get out. The maze at Beans and Greens won’t open until Labor Day weekend so Grace, Andie, Seth and I were the test dummies out to see how hard it was and how long it would take. I’ve been through every maze my brother has designed for the last eight or so years so I guess I had a bit of an advantage this time around but it still took me about twenty minutes. Seth, who even cheated (but it didn’t help because he came out going the wrong way), made it out in a little over a half hour. Andrea and Grace were in there for a while and when they did come out at just under and hour it was because I went back in and was kind enough to give them a few hints. We weren’t lucky enough to go back at night and try it….the last night we were planning on it but then mother nature put a rainy damper on our plans.
Grace, Seth, Kaiya (my family’s Jack Russell terrier) and I took a morning to explore the mountains surrounding Gunstock, the Nordic and alpine area that I grew up skiing at. I did manage to get a bit turned around and start us out with a long (1 hr) loop of running but I did manage to find my way up Belknap Mountain and over to Gunstock afterwards. At the top of Belknap there is a tower that Seth and Grace took some pictures from while I consoled Kaiya on the ground (she’s too small to climb the steep stairs up into it). There were work crews up there removing parts from the mountain via helicopter so we hung out for a bit and watched that as well.
Our kayak adventure started out really nicely when we headed out from the Winnipesaukee Yacht Club (WYC….where my parent’s keep their boat and my dad races sailboats from) onto perfectly smooth waters in bright sun. The first half hour was nice and then the wind started to pick up. The plan was to go around Governor’s Island (a larger island that is connected to the mainland by a bridge that boats can go under) and back to WYC. We got about halfway around before the wind really picked up and paddling started to get less easy and much less fun. Andie and Grace were in two borrowed sea kayaks so they didn’t have too much trouble paddling into the wind. I had a typical short, fat kayak that wanted nothing to do with slicing through the waves and instead pounded over the tops of them, taking on water and forcing me to paddle hard just to keep from being blown backward. When we rounded to the far end of the island to head back home (and downwind) the waves were huge. Andrea didn’t make it too far downwind before she capsized and had to swim to shore. None of us had skirts to capsizing meant the boat had to be flipped to drain it. We beached it on Governor’s Island on a lot with a construction site and regrouped, emptying Andrea’s boat and donning our life jackets before heading back out to fight our way home. Not more than 15 minutes later both Andrea and Grace were in the water again, this time in the middle of the channel between the island and shore, paddles, water bottles, and boats threatening to wash away while we scrambled to gather them. At this point I was a little more fond of my short, fat boat, which as it turns out was much better is heavy waves and wind than the sea kayaks. Andie and Grace ended up swimming for shore while I gathered their boats and pulled them (full of water) to shore. Luckily we landed on a beach that belonged to the grandmother of one of my high school classmates so we were able to call Seth for a ride and leave the boats for later. We made it out alright (Andrea scraped her knee) but next time I will definitely think twice before heading out on the lake in any wind whatsoever.
The last big adventure of my five weeks away was the D2R2 ride in Deerfield, MA. It was a supported, dirt road bike ride to benefit the Franklin Land Trust, an organization that works for the preservation and conservation of farm and forest land in Franklin County, MA. We camped at the start venue the night before, along with roughly 100 other riders. There were two distances, a 100k and a 180k and 600+ other cyclists taking part. Gary, Tracy, Seth and a few other County folk took the long ride, heading out at 6 a.m. for 9+ hours in the saddle. Grace, Andie, Corrine and I went with the shorter route, totaling 5+ hours biking and another 1.5+ at rest stops and intersections trying to figure out where we were heading. That area of western Massachusetts is really beautiful and I would definitely recommend the ride in the future.
After R2D2 it was a quick trip back to Gilford for one night before a morning spent volunteering with the Gunstock Nordic team at a bike course water station for the Timberman Half Ironman race. We handed out water, Gatorade, bananas and gel to about 2,000 triathletes before packing up and making the drive back to Maine. I’m exhausted from all the travel, living out of a duffel and getting up early for so long, but I only have one week of training left in this block before I have an easy week so the motivation remains high and I’m ready to get back to the grinding block here at 10th Mountain. For more pictures, you can visit my blogspot page at kathowebiathlon.blogspot.com.
Home!
After my first long stint in northern Maine I’ve come home for a few weeks with my family before our two camp weeks (Jericho,VT and Sugarloaf, ME). This week was my first week home and the last of our six week training block before we have an easy week next week. Without a shooting range here in Gilford, NH I’ve had to modify my schedule a little bit but it’s been training at home regardless. It’s always nice to get back onto the trails and roads that I learned to ski and rollerski on. I missed the second Mars Hill time trial of the summer so I substituted with the Gunstock Nordic version that I did as a junior and used the Belknap Mountain access road that leads to some hiking trails on the same ridge as Gunstock Ski Area. The road starts out steep and paved for probably the first five minutes before switching over to dirt and winding switchbacks for the second half. It’s shorter than the Mars Hill course so I decided to do it twice, much to the surprise of a hiker who I passed on my way up and down after the first bout. The time trial was the first of two for my last day of a six week training block. This week has been focused on recharging and recovery before I head off to Jericho next week for camp.
My stay at home started out with a bang on the 19th when I drove home in time to make it to a Zac Brown Band concert. The band’s cook, Rusty, showed up in my family’s farmstand mid afternoon and bought all of the fixings for the Meet & Greet meal that Zac puts on for some fans before each show. Upon hearing that we had tickets to the show, he invited my family to the dinner before so we could meet the band! It was awesome. We met and talked with almost everyone in the band, got autographs and ate an awesome southern-style BBQ dinner and then took in an awesome (and long – 4 hours!) concert afterwards. My roommate from Lake Placid, Susan Dunklee, came down from Craftsbury for the concert and spent the night afterwards so it was definitely a great first evening home.
Aside from training and concert-going, it’s been a mix of eating amazing food from our stand and hanging out by Lake Winnipesaukee. Last week my parents took the middle of the day off one day to take me and my grandmother out to Bear Island for lunch and some swimming. Kaiya, our Jack Russell, loves to swim so she was in heaven. I don’t think she came out of the water the whole time we were there. After swimming in Jacuzzi Falls all spring and summer (so far), the warm waters of the lake were very refreshing. It’s hotter here than it has been in Fort Kent so that’s taken some getting used to, but being home makes it tolerable.
This week is an easy week for training (for my brother Alex as well – he skis for UVM) so tonight the plan is to go biking in Franklin on some sweet single track trails we found earlier this spring. It’ll be the debut of my new (to me) mountain bike and my mom’s first time on single track. My new bike weighs about half as much as “The Bomber” that I had before so I’m super excited to hit the trails with it. Earlier this week I also spent three days on the lake with my family and Kaiya, both on our island (Chip Island) and Bear Island. It was highly restful with the exception of rowing around in “Chippy”, our dingy, swimming, and trying to stand on a mooring ball. My brother and mom claim it’s possible but after many attempts, I don’t think I believe them. Our evenings in the cabin were highlighted by intense games of Perpetual Commotion and Bananagrams. I highly recommend both games.
Monday I head to Jericho for a week of racing and training, following by a hill camp in Sugarloaf with the MWSC XC athletes, and then back here for one more week of training at home, this time with Grace, Andie and Corrine in tow. Before heading back the County we’re doing a 60+ mile bike ride in western Massachusetts. It’s supposed to be part of the hardest century ride in the east. After that it's back to the county and my bed at the lodge!
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Grace and I enjoying the view from the top of Gunstock.
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