Race Reports

Hello Blog Fans!

I am here to pay a debt - I owed you a race report from last weekend, so I'll write that one and include at the end the race report from yesterday's Fired Up For a Cure 5k!


Montvale Mayhem - Saturday September 17th

This race marked the finale for the Bedford County Mountainbike Championships and the end of bike racing for me for 2011.  Strangely enough, I'm not even sad about that.  I guess it's been such a struggle for two years to prepare for bike racing with my schedule being so crammed with school work.  I went into this race with the attitude that I would make my two laps and just enjoy the day to ride.  The weather has been a fickle beast as well and last Saturday would be the coolest day we've had in a long time.  I even sported arm warmers and a base layer under my jersey.  I think the air temp played a role in me never feeling like my back and legs were warmed up enough to ride fast.  Not that I could have actually ridden fast anyway.

I started off last in the Sport class and carried that through to the end.  Alas it was a fun course with two COLD crossings of Goose Creek per lap.  The first creek crossing was easily 8 inches deep and soaked you through all layers of clothing as you went through.  By the second cross you had dried just enough to warm up, but whoosh right through again this time only soaking your feet - never to fear though after going around the finish line and the fields, it was back to the deep crossing again.  HA!  The trails in Montvale are fun in that you have to work for the climbs then get to do some zippy downhill.  There are plenty of trail obstacles - logs, roots, rocks etc to keep you on your toes.  I was careful about negotiating would I could.  I still can't ride the stupid bridge, but I at least made it up the huge hill 1.5 times.  I need to work on my skills, but that all comes with time on a bike of which I don't have nearly enough.  Oh well, school will be over soon enough and I can get back to it.  All in all it was a fun day - my new friend Kristen J went with me and raced single speed for her first race in VA.  She did excellent and seemed pleased with the trails and the race experience.  My teammates Ron, Todd and Doug all did very well.  We had a very successful series.  Ron, Todd and I all won our categories for the series and were awarded with race jerseys and a neat trophy - Kenny and Bedford Parks are to be commended for hosting a wonderfully fun series of events.  Thanks!

Fired Up For a Cure 5k - September 24th

Before cycling, I was a runner.  I ran a ton of 5ks and a couple of 8ks.  I've dabbled a bit in trail running this year and have done the Drumstick Dash 5k for a couple of years now.  Fired Up For a Cure was an event that some friends of mine organized with Roanoke City Parks and Rec, Roanoke Fire Department, Roanoke County Fire Department and Komen for a Cure in order to raise money to provide free mammograms in the Roanoke Valley.  I think that is a wonderful cause and combine with fire prevention month made a neat concept.  There was a 5k, 10k and a 5k walk.  The course was a brand new course for Roanoke.  It was flat for the most part and fast.  I nearly PR'd with a 29:32 which placed me 2nd in my age group, 9th overall for women and 38th overall for the race.  I was shocked to do that well honestly, but I did run the entire way other than walking up the MLK bridge as a recovery moment.  Glad I went - it was fun and it reassured me that I can actually enjoy running.  I plan to do the Into the Darkness 4 mile race at Explore Park in October along with the Drumstick Dash in November.  Who knows, I may lose my mind completely and do the Jingle Bell Run in December.  I do running, but it's a matter of deciding between riding and running.  I can't wait to not have school in the way, I may actually excel at something.

=)  Anyway, I know the blog post isn't that exciting, but just wanted to share!  Hope everyone is well.

Montvale Mayhem

It was cool (literally and figuratively) and wet.  It was fun.  I owe you a blog post, but I'm covered up in schoolwork.

Chestnut Ridge Loop – sigh.

This is a good article, Chestnut Ridge should allow bikes, but I'm so sick of the argument. I'll just go elsewhere where bikers are accepted and appreciated. Let's start with Bedford County - Here's a community who I doubt has a great deal of revenue by the very nature of its failed industry etc. They have dedicated money and resources to build two great mountain bike venues (Falling Creek and Montvale). There has been some work I think on a 3rd park in Moneta. They also regularly host events where I feel very comfortable and welcome; and that I make a point of supporting.

As for the BRP, I've enjoyed its scenery since I was a kid, but there is no money in the Park Service budget for anything. They really need to focus on what they want to do and be in the future. Do they want to be an overgrown, rutted up roadway that few people want to travel to because the once scenic vistas have now significantly grown less scenic due to overgrowth of trees? In this day and age of technology, do you see families taking a drive from Roanoke to say Mabry Mill? I wonder what percentage of the current local population even realizes where the parkway begins and ends. Does the park service think it wise to isolate current users? This has already be evident by the stakeout they had a few years ago to ticket people on the way to Floyd Fest. They ticket road cyclists for riding two abreast (granted this is not proper etiquette, but really?) They've been known to ticket people walking their bikes across the social trails that they so desperately want to close. So take away a large group of users in these categories and you can watch the population of users dwindle that much more.

I don't care one way or the other what they do with Chestnut Ridge Loop at this point because I do have other welcoming options, so during the time everyone is arguing about what to do, I'll just head on out to the Cove, Mill Mountain or Bedford to enjoy the opportunities I already have. I'm also tired of the statement "volunteers will take care of the trails." Um, yea stretch those people too far and watch what happens? I've been a volunteer in another area and when it came down to the same old people doing everything, less got done. Burnout was high and now that activity is suffering mightily. Without quality leadership this isn't going to work either – example, Roanoke's most recent attempt at the National Mountain Bike Patrol. I am as guilty as the next person when it comes to trail maintenance or trail work. I have the best of intentions to go out and work on trail days, but I also have a full time job and schoolwork; so again, when faced with work on the trail or ride, I tend to chose to ride. I am also opposed to workdays when it's sweltering out and the greenery is at its full growth due to allergies. I've tried to help the trailwork cause by continuing to watch over Mill Mountain's trails and by networking on various websites to bring attention to the trailwork days hosted by VAST. From my last conversation with Brian B., it has worked as the message board posters have shown up and have said that they found out about the workday because of the posts on the website.

Who knows what will become of Chestnut Ridge, I suspect that nothing will change. The Park Service has said there is little money to deal with any of the options that were presented at the Explore Park meeting. People will continue to run on the trail, horses will continue to use the trail and people will still continue to ride their bikes (illegally) on the trail. Meanwhile, I'll just sit back and watch!