Well, the amount of time that I spend on the rollers and the
trainer has increased exponentially since I last posted, which can only mean
one thing. Winter is here. Last week we saw some crazy temperatures in the 80s,
and this week has seen high 30s and 40s. I don’t really mind riding in the
cold, but it is still a sad task to pull out my booties and winter jackets.
October was a busy month both for me as well as Cru Cycling.
Firstly I started with a new training approach that has seen my hours on the
bike hover around 15 the last couple of weeks. My legs are feeling it, but at
the same time I feel like I am getting stronger.
Fall Break saw me down in Tennessee to get some riding in
the mountains. I was lucky enough to meet up with Kym and Mark from camp and
they dragged my flatlander (relatively speaking) legs on 75 miles of climbing.
I’m pretty sure the entire ride was either going uphill or downhill. This was
with a 4 mile climb at the very end of the ride which I climbed solo pretty
much the entire time.
View from the top of Raccoon Mountain, looking over Chattanooga.
Hilly Hundred was the weekend after that, and I had the
opportunity to ride with the Delta Upsilon Cycling team and Lyndi (another girl
from Cru) the first day. They pulled us for the entire 55-mile ride at about
17.2mph and she and I were glad to be done at the end. Seriously though, it was
fun to ride with such a great group of guys, and made the following day so much
more relaxing. On Sunday we rode with my Dad’s old Little 500 team, Whissler 5,
and even got the opportunity to see a few trophies from their 3rd
and 10th (if memory is correct) place finishes. Talk about Old Man Strength!
Hanging with my teammate Lyndi from Cru while the guys changed a flat.
Tuesday Night Race Series wrapped up last week and I am
happy to say I finished the series tied for first with my Scholar’s Inn
Bakehouse teammate Rachel who was riding for her L5 team, Kappa Alpha Theta Cycling.
I was happy with this, but even happier to take two of the sprints on the last
night of racing, especially since I do not usually sprint well on the Little
500 track.
Finally, Fall Cycling Series was this past weekend. Cru
Cycling went into it just looking to have some fun but we ended up doing really well. ITTs started everything off
and we had a 5th and 8th place finish for our top two,
placing us in second for the first night. Cyclocross was the next day, and of
course it rained the entire afternoon, creating a muddy course. Kudos to the IU
Student Foundation though for creating a tough course for us to duke it out on
with our single speed bikes. I am proud to say I did not go down and Lyndi and
I finished in second for our team, cementing our second place spot. Saturday
was the Duathalon, and I am in awe of the runners on our team, Arianna and Lyndi
killed it by finishing 3rd and 5th.
Cru and our BFFs from Melenzana following Cyclocross. Muddy.
At this point we realized that we were in first place going
into the last day of racing. This is crazy for a team that is only going into
its third year as a team. Although we were not able to hold that place through
Street Sprints, Arianna and Liz from Cru had very good finishes and we ended up
in second place overall for the series. This means we get to pick our
qualifications time for Little 500, which will be nice (hopefully!).
Anyways, things should be slowing down now that November is
upon us. I am very much looking forward to putting aside the Little 500 bike
for now. The next race I will be participating in will be at the very end of
February, when Lindsey Wilson traditionally opens up the collegiate season for
the MWCCC. I have been blessed to be riding with a great IU Club Cycling
teammate Emma and I know both of us are looking forward to getting a chance to
race the Marian team.
