Monday, May 19, 2008

Kagome on the Whidbey Mudder podium


I headed out last weekend to Whidbey Island with some women from Speedy Beaver Racing and a few friends from Seattle. It was a great weekend filled with ferry rides, sunshine, mountain biking, beach walks, delicious meals and a little friendly competition. Saturday we pre-rode the course and then headed back to the beach cabin to make dinner, watch the sunset and prepare for the next day of racing. My bike was in need of a clean up and tune up and luckily I had time to do both.

On Sunday we headed back to the course to watch the beginner and experts classes race before heading out again for a quick spin on the course. My friends Jeannine and Lori came out to compete in the sport class, which ended up being 20-deep out of the 285 riders that showed up to compete in the various events. I finished about 20 seconds behind 1st place rider Kim from Speedy Beavers for 3rd place. I felt good about the ride, after taking an unplanned break from mountain bike racing early season in order to fit in other training preparations for PQ Montana. The race was great training for the heat that we will surely be feeling in Big Sky Country in June.

Photo: 1st place rider Kim and 3rd place rider Jen (photo by: Speedy Beavers)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Season is Heating Up


Team Kagome has been busy ramping up for Primal Quest. The last few weekends have been packed with activity.

April 26th found us pushing through a 24hr training session where we biked, hiked and paddled throughout the Oakridge foothills. Nothing too eventful other than a bit more bikewhacking than usual and Roger's unique sense of fashion. (see the picture on the earlier post).

May 3rd found us battling Whidbey Island at the BEAST 15-Hr. This race was changed to a stage format after some last minute permit issues. To allow for more navigation practice and due to scheduling conflicts, Roger and Jared were on one team, while Dave and Jen were on another. Roger and Jared blasted through the first leg (a 4-5hr bike and run course) with one of the fastest times. We then spent the evening putting in some "bonus" training miles that were not part of the race, just to get more time on our feet. We wandered around for 3-4 hours after the first leg. This meant only 30-45 minutes of sleep before the kayak leg. We did not have a fast boat, so our hope was only to not give up too much time. We put in a solid effort and managed to only lose 10 minutes to the top team in the ~20km paddle course.

The last leg was another bike/run course that started in a "chase" format based on cumulative time to that point. Roger and Jared were in 2nd place, 10 minutes behind first. This meant they started 10 minutes after the first place team. The segment began with a beautiful run on the beach and we closed the gap on the 1st place team by the time we finished the run. The bike leg was fairly casual as we shared navigation with the 1st place team and all rolled into the finish for a 1st place tie. I was please with the result given that I had assumed this would just be a training race, but once you get in the mix it is hard to slow down.

Finally, on May 10th Jared competed in the Vancouver Ramble 6-hr rogaine. He managed to pull off a 1st place finish and set the highest 6-hr score in the two years the course has been held.

The next month holds a few more hard training segments and lots of gear sorting as we prepare to head out to Montana!

Monday, May 5, 2008