Wednesday Evening - pre-pack the Element in preparation for early departure on Thursday morning.And as per the usual "race travel" forecast, rain and weather was in the forecast.
Thursday Morning - I left the house around 6A to meet AT in Mt. Airy. First fiasco of the trip: learning that my propane tank had leaked into the Yakima rack overnight. 8 or more hours of propane gas stewing in a hard plastic case. Hmmm. Somehow the valve got turned on during the pre-pack exercise from the night before...
Unfortunately, every ounce of clothing I had for the trip was also in the roof rack and wreaked of propane. It was my first mini mental melt down of the trip. But fortunately, it wasn't a physical melt. Propane + spark could have been bad.
Lesson Learned: Never pack propane with the heating unit. Always keep the tank separate until you need it...
Thursday Travel: we drove straight thru pretty much to Chicago where we stopped to grab dinner. Drive was pretty straightforward. While driving, we googled "how to remove the propane odor from clothing..." Trusted google sources said to:
1. Stew clothes in baking soda for 10-12 hours or something like that
2. Rinse
3. Stew clothes in white vinegar batch for a few hours
4. Rinse
Smell the clothing? Hopefully the nasty odor is gone.
Well we arrived the hotel around 9P or something like that. We unloaded the Element and got the room ready. I had strewn out all my propane clothes throughout the room. You know the smell of propane causes physical symptoms right?
- Crying, red eyes
- Lightheadness
- Nervous system issues
- who knows what else...
Well after being out in the hall for 10-15 min and returning to the room, I immediately experienced crazy Propane symptoms when re-entering the room. Eyes hurt. Felt weird.
By 10p that night, every ounce of my clothing hit the Bath Tub for Baking Soda Bath, Step 1 above. Needless to say we slept with our hotel room door open pretty much all night. Air circulation was critical. Nothing like huffing propane, by accident, pre-race. Yeah... not exactly the pre-race recipe I had planned on...
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| Bathtub Stew |
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| Pre-Race Excitement or Propane Effect? |
Friday - MorningSlept like complete hell and awoke wicked early. I decided to hit the local laundromat, my first ever experience with laundromats, in the morning to get a start on the propane Vinegar wash. I had borrowed a kit from my teammate for my 3:15 race. So I was off to the laundromat for the morning. Coffee, check. Ipod, check. Visual meditation thanks to the side-by-side washers, check. I proceed to watch the front load washers swirl all my clothes clean.
The result: clothes still had a slight odor left to them but at this point in time, I may have been smelling the residual odor from within my own nose. I seemed to smell propane everywhere.
Friday - Afternoon
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| Mud and Frozen Course - the Entire way |
The course itself was frozen tundra with a nice sloppy mud covering.
I pre-rode the course and made a big mess of myself.
The course conditions were unlike anything I've ridden all season. Out-of-control or barely control Crazy.
Any bike control was pretty much an illusion or so it felt. It was point the front wheel and see where the bike wanted to go.
My Age Group race, 35-39, had 14 women in it. It was a small field. We managed to get three slow laps in.
It was impossible NOT to crash.
It was impossible not to slip into tape.
To bobble.
To put a foot down.
Again, control was an illusion.
It was crazy.
Yet it was fun in a twisted, whip-lash and wreck sort of way.
Anyway. It is what it was and well, I was just lucky to have the opportunity to be there and race this crazy arse course.
Video footage of this race here:
http://dirtwire.tv/tag/highlights/
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| Race Pic |
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| After Friday's Race |
Saturday - hotel, Green Owl Cafe, laundromat, dinner, chill
Saturday was a rest day in between races. While many folks went off to the race to watch the Master Men, I stayed back and got my trainer workout in and hung out. I accompanied Arley to Home Depot - fun errand of the morning - where she was on a mission to get a dremel tool.
Around mid-day, Bad Kat and AT came back to the hotel and we all head into Madison to grab lunch.
We hit the Green Owl cafe and grabbed a coffee after...
Madison is a cool town, very hip. I really liked it a lot. Plus they had coffee shops everywhere.
That afternoon I head back to the race venue to watch a fellow teammate, Steve-O, race. Plus I wanted to get a closer look at the course. With the temperatures plummeting, I was curious as to how the mud was/would freeze. Sunday's race was going to be interesting...
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| Dirty Water - Yuck! |
Saturday evening was another "hot date" with the Laundromat. There were a ton of folks there too. None of whom had nasty dirty clothes like we did. But I will say that I am forever impressed with the Industrial Strength power of their washers.
One load got all our wicked dirty muddy nasty kits clean.
ONE load.
Yeah, that's some excitement.
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| Project Ice Spikes |
Saturday evening the whole team met up at Auer's restaurant of choice, a Lebanese restaurant named Himal Chuli. Apparently he found the restaurant last year and dined there every night he was in Madison. It was a pretty sweet find - food was good - and it was cool being with the team over dinner.
Sunday - race Women Elite. Freeze
Elite Women's race was at 1p on Sunday. It was interesting reflecting on my thoughts that morning. I thought about:
- the beginning of the season and how I didn't have Natz on my mind
- thinking about how this season had been full of unplanned trips , tough races especially in New England, and personal accomplishments
- the amazing support from T and friends
- the life lessons that cycling taught me
I wanted to appreciate my hard work, the drive , the determination, the sacrifice, the energy --- all of the things that allowed me to get to Natz.
I wanted to have fun.
I wanted to remind myself that it wasn't about the end result but rather about the journey.
I would be lining up with 90 women from across the US. The course was frozen craziness. The field was stacked. And yes I, Jen T from MD, was there to take part. Pretty freaking cool if you ask me.
It was 20 degrees. Cold. I raced on mud Ice ruts. I avoided crashes. I crashed. I had so much mud in my front wheel that it wouldn't spin. Yeah we all had issues and pains out on that course. It was Epic. It was incredibly hard and awesomely fun. It was humbling. Yet I was proud.
I was pulled w 2 laps in....
Yeah maybe next year I can finish on the leaders lap.
But in the meantime, maybe it was the experience of being IN that race that counts.
Yeah. I was there.
I raced in crazy ice frozen mud.
I crashed and got my arse back up and kept racing.
I was heckled my awesome spectators.
I drank beer after the race.
I shared this experience intimately w a special few.
Sunday PM/Monday:
We went back to the hotel after the men's elite race. They were flying!
I got a shower, cleaned up and hit the road for home.
We stopped again in Chicago at a Vegan Diner in gay town. Very cool kitchy spot. Food was awesome and the break was nice.
Somewhere south of Chicago, we saw Stacey in her Element also on her way home. We ended up caravanning with her almost through Ohio. We drove until 2A that night. We drove until we were blurry eyed. We all shared a hotel and made the rest of the journey home the next day.
I pulled into my driveway around 6P or so Monday. I was greeted with a warm hug, an awesomely nice dinner of breakfast, and the comforts of my house.
It was a long trip. It has been a long season. It may take me awhile to process this trip as well as the journey of this season.
But it's not quite over...nope...worlds is in Louisville KY and ill be there Friday 2/1 to race the 35-39 women master world championship and then drink beer w my Maryland teammates and friends as the Elites from all over the Workd battle it out over the weekend....
And um this time, I'm flying!
Peace out
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