May Racing - a look back

May Races Themes

• mud
• some frustration
• more mud
• some fatigue
• rain means more mud
• can I have a dry race?
• now, I expect the mud
• and finally, a shifting perspective

May Lessons Learned

• Focus less on the result and I create more space to have fun
• More Zen less Tillmanator.  This is and forever will be my life long learning lesson.  My journey of awareness.  Both are ok but much better as a balance.  Friends, work colleagues, loved ones --- all whom I interact, help me learn this lesson, over and over.  
• I want to glide more than I want to force.  (Work and sport)
• Go slower to go faster.  (Work and sport)
• May is Springtime, expect mud.  Let it go.
• Sidenote:  get some flippin' mud tires for next Spring.  Or at least a tire with more knobs, geez Jen.
• Encourage everyone.  Especially yourself.  We're all (I am too) doing the best we can at any given point in time. (Everywhere all the time, at least I can try)
• Joe's bike shop and the team really rocks the positivity, always.  (helps me push harder, be better ... and remember the F-U-N part of riding, most important part.  Thanks to ALL OF YOU)
• It is ok to have no goals.  It may be better.
• Endurance is a lot of fun, hmmm.  It is more about pushing myself than anything else.  I like it.   Sheehan/Lane, thx to you both, I'll have more of this coming soon with Stoopid 50 and ORAMM.  I think it will be really good for me, so I'll thank you both now.
• June might be dry.  Finally.  But I am not expecting it to be... ha.
• Thanks to Chris Newell (Sublime Athletics) for his endless positive energy and encouragement, along with his rock solid MTB training plan.

Photo credits - Bill White, Ty Long  

Iron Hill - 5/04

Iron Hill - Early in the Race on a dryer part of the course

Started the month of May with Iron Hill MASS MTB race near Newark, Delaware.   The Cat1/pro women had a solid field with Vicki Barclay (Stan's No Tubes),  Carolyn Popovic (Rare Disease Cycling), and Stacey Barbossa (Colavita) joining the field among many other women including regulars like Heather Heinrich, Cati Scheifele, rising young star Ginni Jeppi, and Jessica Hill.

Iron Hill is a super cool, punchy, tight & twisty MTB playground.  There are few rocky sections that require attention scattered about the course as well as a super cool half pipe mega-dip hill that you come barreling down at top speed and carry as much speed as possible up the steep, vertical on the other side.  It's fun.  Iron Hill is usually a race that suits my strengths.

But after a mega rainstorm Saturday evening, conditions switched from dry, fast, and flowy to conditions that were muddy, much slower (for me), and sketchy from the greasy conditions.   

This was the beginning of a very muddy May of racing.  Not my best race, certainly not my best race conditions.  (5th-division, 7th overall)



Mother's Day Mauler - 5/10

1st Lap not too muddy yet

This race was super cool and special because our team, Joe's Bike Shop was sponsoring the event as a part of the Patapsco Race Series.  And our cool teammate, Bob G, is the race promoter (Race Works Gruppetto), chip timer, and generally considered a  Race Wizard extraordinaire, at least to JBS.  

Most of the team worked hard early in the week to get the course setup.  Bob spares no detail when putting on races.   Think super fun, cool vibes, awesome tunes, great snacks and food, and best recovery drinks ever -- beer.  Oh, electronic timing too.

Bob has turned his hobby into a mega production, so much so, that he now has a race car size trailer that he pulls ALL of his race supplies in...  super cool.  Thanks Bob.  His positive energy is infectious.

Running the Technical Rock Section.  More mud.

I rode the course early in the week, um when it was dry, and knew it would be a good course to ride.  Challenging and fun.

I arrived early with many Joe's teammates to give Bob a hand with the final details.  The Endurance, Beginner and Sport races had near perfect Spring weather with a glowing sun above the tree canopy.

Air Hug with Chris

Rode my pre-lap around 12:30 with a dear friend of mine, Chris Pohowsky, from Blackburg, VA.   Chris was in the Shenandoah, VA area with his significant other over the weekend and I encouraged him to come try our race while he was "kind-of" in the area... He came!  So fun to have him in the mix.

Our pre-ride was dry.  We did one lap with a few efforts.  My Raven/Bontrager Team 0 tires were grippy and fast.  Bike felt good.  I felt good.

20 minutes before the race ... Mother Nature decided she must unload the weight of her Spring tears.  She cried inches of rain onto the dry field.  It was an intense summer-like storm. The rain lasted 20-30 minutes.  Needless to say, the trail conditions were radically different after the rain... I was wondering if our race may get cancelled....but Bob and the park ranger said the show could go on.

Our Cat1/pro women's field was mega stacked today:  Cheryl Sornson (Rare Disease Cycling) was in the mix, Suzie Snyder (Luna Pro), Marla Streb (Luna) and our own Soul Crushing Carla Williams (Joe's) was ready to tear it up.... there were more than 10 of us at our local race. It was cool.

Mud Beards.  Team Love. (Ethan)

We had a mass start, all fields, up a road for about a mile.  Um, ouch!   We took the first left into the singletrack which led to fire road. I immediately knew what we were going to be in for ... ruts had turned into rivers ... There was absolutely no dry.  There were small crashes immediately and the slip N slide began.

Yeah, it was epic.  I lost the lead group more/less right away.  And I slid, everywhere.  For me, it felt like cycling on a sheet of ice.  Many folks DNF'd into the first lap choosing to quit vs race in these conditions.  the Mud was epic.  We were covered.  Bikes were covered.  My goal went from a "racing mentality" to a "just finish this damn race" mentality.  Stay upright.  Finish.  Stay upright. Finish.

I finished.  Ugh.  That hurt.  We missed the sunshine by an hour... 

Greenbrier 5/18:
It rained throughout the week.  Of course?  Of course.
I decided to race the Cat 1 age group to ensure I qualified for the National XC MTB championship this July in Bear Creek, PA.

Therefore, for this race (unlike most), the races were staged separately:  Pro Women, then Cat 1 open, then age groupers.

My race category was small.  Me vs. the Toasted Head 30-39ers.  They were an awesome group of girls and thanks to their friends, I have some pretty sweet race photos.

Greenbrier is a 5-6 mile loop, lots of rocks.  Some solid climbs that hurt ya.  A few creek crossings. And some wicked descents.   It's technical and requires power and finesse equally.

The start always hurts with a climb from the grassy start/finish area all the way up a ridge top descending down into the rockiest section of the course before you're climbing again.   I felt solid with my start choosing to stand and power into the climb.  I was able to make a pass about halfway into the climb and led the entire race.

The mud wasn't as bad as Iron Hill or Mauler.  It was thinner and the traction was much better (still racing low tread dry terrain tires mind you)... 

I focused on riding clean, pushing hard up the hills into the ridge flats and rocketing as fast as I could on the downhill sections.   If I thought about a turn/feature/etc, it was time to slow and then refocus.

It's when I charge ahead without thinking that I know I'm in my center and racing to my potential.  If I start to overthink, I try to self talk to my brain. I allow myself that second to think but then I try to encourage my brain to let go and move on.... It's a way to acknowledge that moment good/bad and then move through it so I can come clean into the next opportunity. Racing is full of these moments, some races have more than others.  Some moments are harder to move through... Kind of like life.

While I had a good day, I was still in my head about my time vs. the larger cat 1 field.  Rather than celebrate, I was comparing my result.  It was stupid.  Why not just be happy?  Cause my head often gets stuck in my ass, that's why.  

PS: I won but unfortunately, I missed my podium.

Rocky technical section.

Woodstock Wrecker 5/24:
The Wrecker was my best performance of the month and I attribute it to a few key things:

• Racing endurance is a different mindset, you have to hold back to go the distance.  This was really good for me.  I was 7th off the start and chasing those fast boys into the first lap but had to slow it down a notch and "settle in" to ensure I could ride strong the whole race
• I stopped caring about the race conditions.  Mud, yeah, that's normal now.  Just race the best I could.
• I had been tired this week and not feeling stellar.  I didn't know how I was going to feel during the race so I just let go of wanting a specific result.  I'd just race my best and see what that would be, no judgement.

One of my fav shots from the season so far 

(Credit:  Ty Long)

Race gun had us on course around 830.  Cut-off for final lap was 1230.   I completed by 4th lap around 1220 giving me another opportunity to race one more lap.  (Carla, I specifically thought about you and your 30 sec at Greenbrier.  Thanks for popping in my head.  I later said:  " I channeled my Inner Carla. "

It was a perfect Spring day.

I felt centered.

I was racing well.  Smart, clean, and open.  I had an easy flow attitude.

And at the end of the day, I took a win and was 8th overall in the overall endurance field.

~4 hr 45 min 

~ 43 miles

~ lots of smiling and having FUN

I will take this race as a key milestone of my season and take this energy into June.  Thanks for reading.

 cheers,

-A very human, flawed and ever-learning Zen Jen Tillmanator

Endurance Category Win.  Tillmanator, with a generous portion of Zen, is back!