"Your trip is around the corner!"

I was admittedly confused after seeing this header from Southwest pop up in my in-box.  What trip!  I'm not going anywhere soon...

Ah ha...Phoenix.  Right, the bike race. That's soon?  Oh sh*t, that is really soon!  Whitney and I officially start our season in less than a month!  *Momentary Panic*

Even though we've been getting quite a bit of snow, and some delightful pollution in between, I've been lucky to have a super stellar coach in Steve Weller.  You can check out his website here  http://www.belllapcoaching.com/ He's a rock star and and keeps me fit and sane during the winter months.  Riding hours upon hours on the rollers was doable for me a couple years back, but not anymore.  Life is too busy with class and work...and quite frankly riding inside longer than an hour is depressing and/or maddening.  Our solution: a whole lot of skating and racing!  With some obligatory roller time here and there. :)

So, that's how we've been preparing for this upcoming season and it's been super rad.  Ski racing...so much fun and breathtaking.  Both due to the scenery and its ability to absolutely destroy you.  Last weekend, Matt and I began the drive to Sun Valley, ID for the Boulder Mountain Tour which also happened to be the AXCS National Masters Championship.  About an hour before we arrived late Friday night we received a message from our hotel informing us they were cancelling our reservation due to room damage.  Not a huge deal, right?  We'll find another hotel.  Wrong, Sun Valley was packed and there weren't rooms left.  Then came Hannes Thum to the rescue.  While at times it's been unclear whether that Big Green education has really come in handy during job interviews and the like, it certainly has connected us with some great folks.  Hannes took us in and what had been shaping up to be a bad luck kinda weekend, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Matt and I had a blast getting to know him.  In preparation for the race, Hannes read us inspirational excerpts from the 1939 edition of Skiing by Walter Prager before bed and then again in the morning before we jumped on the bus to drive us to the start of the race.

From the ski trail

The Boulder Mountain Tour is a point to point race, starting at the Galena Lodge and following the Harriman 32K to the finish.  I started in the Elite Women's field and was stoked to feel a little less like a poser and a little more legit with my Caldwell Sports race suit on and my super fast skis (waxed thanks to Matt).  While my "starts" are still a bit rough around the edges and I always loose some ground right off the bat, the race started out well and I was able to make my way into a good group and worked to catch some folks who fell off the first split over the course of the race.  The course is fun, tons of cheering and cowbell usage, winding roller coaster like trails, some short uphill efforts, and lots of smooth fast descending especially if you are even remotely close to nailing the wax for the day.  Which Matt did.  I was in a decent size group coming into the finish and those racing instincts just get going.  At the 1K to go sign, I attacked my group and maintained the gap to the finish.  Turns out I managed a 17th!  Not too shabby for a "cyclist."  I was pretty excited about breaking into the top 20.  Much better than the 100th or so place finish of two years ago.  All that Caldwell Sport training with Amy is working wonders.  To top it off, I got some sweet bling for my 3rd place overall in my age category for Master's Nationals.  I guess I'm a master's racer now?  Not sure how that all works but I'll take it.  

Rocking the Caldwell Sport Masters Ski Team suit! Pretty happy about the race and equally psyched about the  delicious cookies they have for the racers at the finish.  Yum!

Short video from the race here:

Huge thanks to the Boulder Mountain Tour for putting on a great event, the Dartmouth Connection and Hannes Thum for his generosity and company, Matt Rossman for waxing my skis with the good wax, and Caldwell Sport http://www.caldwellsport.com/for fast skis and kicking my butt every time I ski with them.  Good training for sure.  Next race: Jackson WY!