Hammerin' Wheels Holiday Ride

The day after Christmas, my friend Nathan and I went on a ride with the Hammerin' Wheels. The group was meeting for a 41-mile base pace ride on some hills. Perfect for me, right? I get to hang out with people and ride at an easy pace because we all know my gimpy self can't take anything else.

We met up at Vic's Market. The group was pretty big and there were riders of all levels. We headed out; I was in the front part of the group. After about a mile or so, I heard a lady scream and down she went, taking another girl with her. She had rubbed her front wheel on Nathan's back wheel. What did we learn? Protect your front wheel! I know this is just an easy paced, social ride, but we have to pay attention. Both of the ladies who crashed got up and got back on their bikes. This is when I decided that I was going to stay in the front of the group... pretty much a repeat of the Dunnigan Hills Road Race, only this wasn't a race.

We kept on going through Granite Bay and went up Sierra College. Even though I've lived right behind the first section of Sierra College, I had never climbed it. Up we went. I kept it at a moderate pace since my achilles and knee were still kind of iffy. I taped them up, which seemed to be helping on the ride. After the hill, we kept going for a bit more, down the hill (in which I went by pretty fast because we all know I love going downhill) and we regrouped.

We took off and headed towards Sierra College #2, which I climbed the week before this ride. I climbed it a bit better since my achilles or knee weren't hurting as much. Actually, my achilles was great; it was my knee that was giving me a few issues. Didn't matter, I kept riding. For being as out of shape as I am, I didn't climb too poorly. Regroup. Down English Colony. I was keeping up with the lead group.

We then stopped at a little coffee shop in Loomis; Wild Chicken Coffee. Cool little place. People were getting food and whatnot. We stayed there for a while. Then, a group left and Nathan and I decided to follow. Went through a bit more of Loomis, Newcastle, and the surrounding areas and then hit Auburn-Folsom Rd. The lead group consisted of a few guys and me. As we kept the pace line going, I started to get tired. Ugh! I started to get frustrated. How can a stupid injury get me so out of shape!? Went to the back of the group and a guy in a Ventana jersey says, "Don't fade. Hang in the back of the group!" That gave me enough "go" to stay on. The group kept going, got a little faster, and since I'm just getting back into riding consistently and whatnot, I saw a 6'2" target, sprinted to get behind him, and pretty much got a free ride. It's good being short sometimes! He caught us back to the guys who had gotten away and we all rode together. There were about 7 of us at the end. We were the first to finish the ride and I was the first chick. Dude, that pink bike makes me feel pretty bad ass!

Later on, people asked me if I was the one with the lead group. It's pretty cool getting recognized, even if I'm in poor shape. And people loved my bike! It's awesome being on an eye-catching bike. The base pace ride we had planned turned into somewhat of a hammerfest, which was fine with me. My achilles didn't bother me at all. My knee felt pain, but it wasn't as bad as it was the week before.

Some of the moping went away. You know, the whole "I feel sorry for myself because I'm hurt and this sucks and all of my friends are doing epic rides and I can't because I'm out of shape someone call the whambulance for me." Am I still mopey? Yes, because being injured sucks and having to have self-control sucks even more, especially when friends and teammates are doing awesome rides, but it'll get there. I'm pretty content with this ride. I'm doing something right with my healing. For now, I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I'll be in good enough shape to do some epic rides soon, I just have to play it smart and not hurt myself again!

How to End a Great Season, LeadOut Racing Style!

The end of a season is always a bummer. Many racers look forward to these events. I know I do and I don't even race, I only volunteer!

The last race of the season took place at Laguna del Sol in Wilton. A beautiful resort with a pretty hotel, a fun restaurant, cool trails, camping, hot tubs, pools, nice residents, and clothes are optional.

Yup. You read that right!

LeadOut Racing was the hosting team for this last race, and boy did the season end with a bang! LeadOut definitely knows how to throw a party. On Friday, a few of us went to Laguna del Sol to set up the course. Lovely day for being mid-December (Uh, hello temperatures in the 60s!). While there weren't very many of us, we all worked hard and worked fast and got the course set up. Asa, the course designer and team bad ass, asked me, "Are you having fun yet?" This was the first race I've ever helped set up. I usually only work registration. I, of course, was having fun since I'm a volunteer slut. Hey, if you're going to be a slut, might as well be the clean kind.

I'll admit, it was a long, long day. But it was also a lot of fun. Working hard with a bunch of people you enjoy spending time with makes it less of a chore. By the end of the day, we were all hungry. We were all hanging out in one of the hotel rooms, chatting, relaxing and stressing out simultaneously, doing some team bonding (more on this later), when Gene came with Thai food. We were all really hungry, so as soon as we got our food, it went dead quiet. Nothing but nom nom nom could be heard. Yup. We were that hungry.

After we were all happy from full bellies, some beer, and a shot of tequila (which I still drank even though tequila and I have been fighting for a few years), we all decided that it was time to go into the hot tub. While I know I said that we were at a clothing optional resort, clothes are not optional to get into the hot tub. You're either nekked or no hot tub for you. So, we did the natural thing, dressed for the occasion, and got in the hot tub. We give team bonding a new meaning (get your mind out of there; it was just hot tubbing with birthday suits). We chatted, we relaxed, chatted more about the race, pruned up, and then decided to call it a night. I pretty much passed out as soon as I hit my air mattress.

6am came by pretty quickly. I didn't want to get up after my alarm went off, but Frank decided to start yapping so I had no choice but to get out of my cozy air mattress and get ready to work for the day. Got ready, got girly, and out I went to the registration tent. To add to the ironic lulz, the heater at registration was frozen. Everything was frozen. I took one of my blankets out there because I was way too cold. The chairs were frozen, the grass was frozen... I'm surprised my hair wasn't frozen (but that didn't happen because I had my bran new LeadOut beanie!). After we got the heater on, the chairs thawed out, and the computers set up, we started registering riders. I was surprised at how many riders were already lined up to register! Jessica, Dee, Steven, and I were the first to work registration, which is always fun working with them.

The races started, people came to say hi, to register, to talk, to be awesome, etc. I got so many hugs, but that always happens. I love hugs, people know I love hugs... Maybe I'm just huggable! More races, more registration, trained some of my teammates on registration. Awards came and I was volunteered to be the podium girl. Lots of fun. The guys got a medal, swag bag, a beer from Buckbean Brewing (one of LeadOut's sponsors), and a kiss on the cheek! The ladies got the same thing, but a kiss on the cheek from two of our LeadOut Racing guys! (I volunteered the guys to be podium boys. Hey, girls! I'm lookin' out for you, too!). (photo taken by Brian Joder)

As the day went on, more races, more podiums, and more fun went by. The Men's A was our last "official" race, but the fun wasn't over. After the race, we decided to have a naked race. Oh yes. One lap around the course. No barriers since, you know, ouch! I was lucky enough to be the MC for the race, and I had a blast. I've never announced anything before, so I took the chance to have fun with it.

Racers started to take their kits off, some people left, many stayed, some racers who didn't race the naked race took their clothes off. We rolled with it! We lined up the racers and Gene told me we had 2 minutes to start. I announced it and the 13 racers said, "What!? You just want to see us naked!" After some laughing, Gene gave me the go ahead and I sent the riders on!

Announcing the race was too much fun. I tried to be as entertaining as possible for the spectators and encouraged a lot of cheering. We could hear that people were cheering, very loudly, from across the lake, which I figured were the residents. I found out later that yes, the residents were having a blast with the race! How awesome is that!? I told our racers/spectators, "If we can hear them then cheer loudly enough so they can hear us!" The cheering got loud! The lap went on, people kept cheering, and every time I announced for them to get loud, the cheering got louder, and louder, and louder! It was the perfect way to end a race; people were happy and genuinely having fun! It couldn't get any better. Everyone was all smiles, laughing, and having a good time. The winner of the race got some pretty sweet prizes. Hey, if you're gonna race naked, you're gonna get some pretty sweet stuff! People came up to me and told me that we know how to put on a race and that they had fun. One person even said we put on a "class race"! (Photo by Brian Joder)

After the naked race, we did the Men's A podiums, tore down some of the course, and then went to the club house to do the overall podiums, raffle prizes, and had some fun. Everything went well there. We had some pretty awesome prizes. After that, staff went to the restaurant and had some dinner. Residents kept coming to us and told us that we put on a great race and that they were inspired by us. They want us to come back with a race next year... and to visit between races! Compliments kept piling up and people seemed grateful (this is the best word I can think of for how happy they seemed then they came up to our table to talk to us) that we put on the race there. Too awesome for words. This race was definitely a success.

LeadOut Racing is a couple of months old and has already made a name for itself. Guys, we should be proud of the race we put on, the way everything was handled, and the way everything turned out. People know who LeadOut is now, and I think we showed them that even though LeadOut is a new team, that doesn't stop us from being a great team. Spectators and racers were very happy with the race. Respect, LeadOut! Respect!

And check out that spiffy beanie!

(Photo taken by Brian Joder)