Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

Day 3 of Crank the Shield. Even though this was technically the hardest day (2x the amount of climbing of Day 1), it was definitely my favorite. A lot less mud, some sweet singletrack, and even though there were tons of quad draining uphills, that resulted in some ardrenaline inducing holy shit should I be doing this downhills. I felt physically really good (better than Day 2 - I think in part to Hammer Recoverite) and mentally positive knowing that it was the last day. My partner had a tough time, but she's awesome at hunkering down and suffering, and I kept reminding her that we were almost done! Since the other all female team hadn't made the cutoff on Day 1, I didn't feel like it was a genuine "win," so I told my partner I wanted to beat them fair and square today. We saw them a few times, but knew we'd be faster on the singletrack and hike a bike than they were. We came in about 13 minutes ahead of them, good enough for our stage "win" (after all, there were only two in our category) and the overall title. Some pretty awesome swag - a huge trophy and two jerseys. Great way to end the weekend. I'd definitely do this race again, but with different training and racing prep.

C • congrats! 1

Day 2 was really tough, mentally and physically. My legs felt drained from Day 1, and knowing that this was the longest day was hard to get over. There was also a lot of sections where we were on and off our bike constantly - 25km of ATV trail with giant bogs and puddles at the bottom of them. I think I've blocked out this day, as I don't remember much, other than it being long and being thankful to be done.

Day 1 of Crank the Shield. Boy, we were ever in for more than we bargained for! Another female rider that we were talking to on course today (who had completed the race last year) said that there were way less "amateur" riders this year. This was pretty evident right from the start as we quickly found ourselves at the back of the pack! We knew we weren't going to be fast (neither my partner nor I are 'real' MTB racers) so we just went off at our own pace and gradually passed a few (a small few) people during the day - mostly middle aged men who had gone balls out at the start and died.

Hard to keep all the days straight, but like most of the other days, Day 1 featured biking on any and all terrain imaginable: singletrack, dirt road, ATV/snowmobile type trail, and a luxurious 5km section of paved road. We learned not to trust any race staff, who always lied and said we had less far to go than we did. When you are biking for 8 hours, yes, there is a difference between 10 and 12 km! The day was long and quite a slog, but we were really thrilled to make the cutoff (the other female team didn't) and complete the day. No sleep this night as our cabin (with 8 other racers) had people getting up and going to the bathroom all night long!

At Kelso.

Front side of the Hydrocut. Awesome morning for a ride!

Body Pump class.

Back side of the Hydrocut. Awesome ride!

Lovely day for biking at Hardwood Hills. Rode Serious, Sidewinder, and Gnarly.

Not even going to talk about it!

C • yo!! 1