ALLISON MANN

Name that [liberty-taken edited] quote?  Anyone have the useless amount of fiction floating around in their brain like I do?  Anthony Hopkins fan?

OK, so technically 364 days, but I digress.

A year ago I was posting up my first ever cyclocross race report!  Complete with holes in my palms and taking the W in my first race, my 2-3 time on a cross bike. Justin also had won his first race (and his only race on a cross bike last year) in Master’s 3/4. He’s still tearing it up, taking the Master’s 35+ A win yesterday at Pacifica Cross.

A lot has gone down in the past year.  I only lined up for one national-level mountain bike race, did not do any International racing, missed out most of the local series races, missed out on speed work, spent more time than I cared to slicing my way through chlorine, realized I don’t like doctors, found barefoot shoes, took a LOT of photographs of Pro mountain biking locally, watched Justin dominate locally, gained way too much weight, had an AMAZING road/camping trip, didn’t get on the podium at Nationals, and have done more fun/no focus miles than I probably have since 2008.

2010 for Cross season I was mostly floating in the “not training” mode of riding a few times during the week with loose/no focus and got through cross on my World Championship fitness. (Aside – Scott if you’re reading this, that’s gaufre at the end!)

This year I feel like I’m not working nearly hard enough (intervals!  hill repeats!) to stay near the front of the field! Christina Turner is giving me a run for my money off the starts (with Amanda and a host of other fast ladies) leaving me 3-5 wheel off the starting straight. Justin is threatening to take away my power meter’s until I win the hole shot, but I fear my 2012 training will be hampered forever if he follows through on that threat.

CPT is already off the front, with Amanda in 2nd, Laurie 3rd, and that might be me behind her

On the gas to take 3rd

Christina held me off for most of the lap, maintaining a solid gap that I couldn’t quite close on the bumpy back grass stretch, but I did latch on as we cruised through the back area, the barriers and in and out of the barn (it was a gym, actually).

Coming back around she was right on me and breathing down my neck.  One mistake or minor mishap and she would’ve taken the lead again.

I was stoked I wasn’t losing much time in the short stair section!  Had a good run-in thanks to walking the course pre-race with Justin and Scott!

Widening the gap ever so slightly around the berms and through the whoops

Somewhere in between as I came through the straight by the baseball diamond I agreed to do the Elite Men’s race.  Then I tried to keep the gas on full throttle for my last few laps and was, like, “What was I thinking?”

Big thanks, as always, to Rock N’ Road for the love and support!

Since it  was my mom’s birthday I was more than stoked to have a W for her as well!

Was stoked to take the W with such a great field of women!  Everyone’s riding and racing really well and the courses the last 2 weekends have been a blast.

Since it’s only $5 more to enter a 2nd race, and my “A” race was over, I spun around half-heartedly in between the 2 Elite races, had a gel shot, and went to line up with the fast boys for an hour race.  My legs were pretty toasted, and before we got to the first turn I was DFL off the back.  But, I was going to give it a go anyway and at least work on my cornering speed and dismount/remount skills while I was out there.

It was about 30 minutes in when I looked down and heard the announcer say FIVE LAPS TO GO.  Sid was closing in on me and the chase pack of 4-5 riders was barreling down as well.  My legs were giving up and my mental focus wasn’t there, so instead of getting in the way of the men’s race I pulled out after 5 laps and did a cool down before the Women’s podium.

L-R: Amanda, Nancy, me, Christina, Dot

One of the coolest things about cross is the varied background and skills of all of the racers.  Amanda travels a lot with Crankbrother’s and is running a lot of their marketing and helping to build a women’s team, Nancy went out for a run immediately after crossing the finish line (she’s more insane than me!), Christina comes from a Pro DH background, and Dot also an “ex(? – yeah right!)” Pro racer that puts in countless hours promoting, building, running, and announcing all of the races for us!

I was also stoked to be out on course with MRS. BMC who came out to throw down with all of us and treated us to a sweet sprint finish vs. Becky!

I really enjoy being out racing with so many different women and cheering on the competitors throughout.  Cross racing offers me a lot of challenges and hopefully I can continue to work on some of my weaknesses and pick up some skills along the way.

As you can see, the weather this year was quite different from a year ago, with cloudy skies, lots of damp grass, and some cooler temperatures, but one thing remains: Justin and I had a blast racing together hanging out with killer people, cheering on competitors and friends, and taking the W’s in our “A” races.  We got to race on baseball diamonds just like last year’s opener.

One of the main reasons I blog (aside from the fact that I enjoy the creative outlet of writing and have since I was a kid, and that I have a lot of photographs I need to do SOMETHING with) is to look back at where I’ve been.  It helps with perspective.

Spoke a bit with R Lee from Celo in between races (he was out taking pics – all the way up from SD!) and he’s off the bike due to some health concerns.  Reminded me a lot of my time off the bike this spring, and Justin’s time off last year.  While we’ve come so far, I still feel quite often that I’ve got so far to go.  And, that’s okay.  I say a lot (and truly believe) that it isn’t the destination – it’s the journey that’s important.  The journey is where the time is spent, where the memories are made, where the magic happens.  The destination is just one moment where you get to enjoy GETTING THERE, before deciding what next.

Our journey just to this point (and this is not the destination, it’s just a stop along the way, and we’ve got a long way to go) has been so varied, and exciting, and scary, and fun, and rewarding, and disappointing, and filled with amazing people and stories and time.

Always look ahead…

but, don’t forget to look back once in awhile, too. It’s a great view.

To come full circle… here’s another one: Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

This coming weekend is the US Cup Invitational and State Champs, so Justin and I are pumped to race (and locally!) our mountain bikes for the last time this year!