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Down, but not out |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Mary Longhofer
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Monday, 22 January 2007 |
"Down, but not out" and mending in 2007
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I had promised Big Al that I would write a season ending report of my year by the close of the year. At that time, little did I know that my New Year would start of which an unfortunate bang by being on the injured list, but more on that later.
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Speaking of injuries of sorts, my year in 2006 started off with rehabilitating from arthroscopic knee surgery last January. Although it didn't keep me off the bike for very long, the build up to pushing gears of any significance and return to running took longer than I had expected, as often is the case in such things. I was at least riding full throttle just in time to go on the annual April team voyage to North Carolina, or as we fondly refer to it as North Kalaki, for Training Camp Week '06. See previous write-ups on this historical and fun event. The trip was a great shot to my fitness level and helped prepare to feel more confidant going into the mountain bike race season in May. Plus we all had a blast and got in some fun riding in a much warmer climate (than Maine).
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We had a fairly fortunate dry summer in Maine although the spring started out pretty wet with what felt like an entire month of rain in May. The inaugural race in Rockport, Maine, was a total mud fest. But the season progressed on nicely with dryer weather and some decent race results. I had two early DNFs, one due to a crash and resultant injury and the other due to a snapped chain (reminder - carry chain tool during a race..), which had me a bit discouraged but I pressed on. I turned out a really good result (1st in my age in Expert class) at the NORBA National race at Mt. Snow, VT. It's always nice to race well there. In August, myself and three other ladies from the team (Alyssa Gagnon, Emmy Monahan, and Olivia Goldfine) raced at 24 hours of Great Glenn in New Hampshire. We came in first as the female Expert team and smoked a majority of the co-ed teams as well. We did 25 laps in 24 hours. Present were the handy wrenching skills of our teammate, Anders Larson, and the massage skills and moral support of his daughter, Linnea. They both were crucial to the performance of our team. It was a great experience as we all worked together really well, rode really well, and had a great time.
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My mountain bike season ended with our shop's final race - the GrillZ Memorial in Georgetown, Maine. This race is always a great event, from the course, the shop support, to Carla's (shop Mom, if you will) amazing food that she cooks and rolls out for the event. I raced my single speed for this race as I did the first race of the season, and it confirmed that riding and racing a single speed is definitely the most fun one can have on two wheels.
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This summer I added a beautiful, much anticipated new bike to my steed - a Salsa Las Cruces 'cross bike. She's quite a bike this one - so much fun to ride and so versatile, and quite a looker to boot. Some members of the team started meeting at a local part in Portland for weekly 'cross practices in September led by team manager, Big Al. This was my first foray into 'cross and I was feeling fairly stoked to try my hand at racing. I completed just four races prior to making the tough decision to end my season early due to having difficulty with my asthma from racing, but it didn't discount the fun factor that I experienced in the few races that I attended. I had some really great results (top 3-4 at each race) and had planned to move up to Elites prior to cutting things short. I hope to get my asthma in better check by race season next fall in hopes of completing an entire season and to race at Nationals which are taking place in Kansas City, KS, about 40 minutes from where I grew up in Lawrence, KS. It will be great to actually have my family be able to attend a race to cheer me on.
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Looking back on 2006, I had another fun and challenging race season with many more great memories and experiences for the books. I am really appreciative of the support that Davis and the shop gives us. It feels great to be a part of such a cool, talented team. I'm also appreciative of all our sponsors and would like to thank them: Rock Shox, SRAM, Avid, TruVativ, Salsa Cycles, Greyhound Juice, Cyr Bus Lines, Panaracer tires, Slick Willy chain lube, and Lazer helmets. Without all the generous sponsorship Big Al lines up for us from these sponsors, I'd still probably be riding and racing my $500 mountain bike (not that there's any wrong with that!!)!
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Going into 2007, I had hopes of starting to work on a decent base for this season. This was cut short by being diagnosed with a stress fracture in my hip 2 ½ weeks ago. I had been limping around with what I thought was a pulled hip flexor muscle from running in early December and thankfully finally had it checked out after a month of hoping it would go away. I am an orthopaedic nurse at Orthopaedic Associates in Portland so I am fortunate to have no shortage of top-notch doctors within reach to consult with on such matters. One doctor, also a cyclist, suggested that I might have a stress fracture and after having x-rays and a MRI, it was confirmed. So, onto crutches and off my right leg I went, not being allowed to put any weight on it. I'm still in that predicament and will be for another few weeks. Looks like I can avoid surgery at least, which is good for many reasons. So, soon I'll be getting back to training creatively (upper body and swimming) and hopefully will be spinning easy gears on my bike in a couple of weeks. I've let go of thinking about how much fitness and muscle mass I'm losing in my right leg, and holding on to knowing that this too shall pass and I will get it back. At 43, it won't be as easy as when I was 26 (when I had my leg in a cast for 2 months), but maybe I'll come out of this all the stronger and wiser, right? I know one thing it's teaching me is to have more patience, not something I'm always very good at. Nothing I do feels easy right now and it requires slowing down and doing things a much different way on crutches. Many lessons have come out of this challenging experience and many more are to come, I'm sure, so I'm trying to remain open to those lessons as that is a big part of what life is all about. And somewhere in all this, I will come out a better rider.
I'm really looking forward to another fun race season as the schedule is on the books. Thanks for reading and here's to finding the ultimate trail in 2007!
Ride on and ride safe,
Mary
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