A Year in Review

Its’ been over a year since I left the Forest Grove United Church of Christ and my responsibilities as a minister. I spent a few months recovering from the stress and trauma of that work experience. Then I spent time and money discerning new professional options. In May of 08, I took to bicycling regularly as the one thing I new I thoroughly enjoyed and could do well. I continued to explore professional options in the fields of human resources, Non-profit social programs, and youth services. I soon learned the Portland market demands “HR certification” which I thought to pursue, but was not totally committed to doing. And despite my experience in dealing with people of all ages, and families as they are or aren’t, without a M.SW I wasn’t being considered for the jobs I wanted. My search and efforts weren’t yielding much. So, through out the summer it was more rewarding to focus on sharing life with my children, doing plenty of biking and camping.
When the kids went back to school I returned to job searching in earnest, and again my efforts bore little fruit. By the end of the year jobs were hemorrhaging from the market and I would find maybe 3 positions every week to peruse and by January less than that. Hugh and I finally found a way to adjust our lives to being a one-income family. I seem to only have headaches now when I am sick instead of everyday, and the children are much happier. Hugh works more and rides less, but now his needs are met like a “real” patriarchal man, which he is NOT.

During this year I have consistently cycled, outside when the weather permits or at times through snow, sleet and rain when our cycling team captain calls us out for a team ride in January. I have been working out at the gym 2-3 times a week, not just to be fit, but also to get stronger as a cyclist, and it’s paying off. My favorite gym workout is Pilates, which I now teach 1-2 x a week.
As I was not working or attending meetings at night, I was able to join my family for the short track series at Portland International Raceway, http://www.portlandracing.com/info.html, on Monday nights. That was the beginning of my current competitive efforts. To be committed to placing, be it in the top 20, top 10, or a podium finish, has become a priority and being competitive is all together something new.

Providing support for my husband on numerous ultra marathon cycling races had spurred my interest many times. Now it was time to try a 1- hour time trail race myself. I trained/rode sometimes with some local friends: Dave Burnard, Mike Olson, Amanda Houston and Greg Peak,. through the summer, in preparation for the Ring of Fire http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/roftt. I got 165 miles, 2 saddle sores and two extremely numbed and pained feet.
For the 2008 Portland cyclocross season Hugh and I pulled together some local friends and with the support of Hammer Nutrition, http://www.hammernutrition.com/ and participated in the Cross Crusade Series with matching Hammer kits. You can check out the team and some race reports at http://www.olsonshammer.blogspot.com/. While this was not a registered OBRA team I sure appreciated the support and encouragement we provided and still give one another.

Because of Mike Olson’s support for Hugh’s ultra cycling efforts. I was able to sign up for the UMCA’s Northwest’s Triple Challenge http://www.ultracycling.com/, beginning with the Davis 12/24 Hour TT Challenge in early May. I rode 178.5 miles there. The second race came 3 weeks later, just outside of Vancouver WA. http://www.lacultra.com/. There I logged 181 miles in 12 hours. The series ends with The Ring of Fire on September 13, 09.

At the end of 08, I joined my husband, Hugh, on a newly formed, registered and sponsored team that Jeff Tedder pulled together called Hammer Velo. We do team rides on weekends if we’re not racing and there are opportunities for mid-week workouts, rides, races and socializing. This has been a hoot. Not only does the team push me to ride faster, I am learning so much about how to road race and having an incredible amount of fun and pride doing it with the Hammer ladies who are kicking ass everywhere! As Hugh puts it, “Oh to be a Hammer Velo lady.

So, I’ve committed to developing as a cyclist for a year now. I am told that the kind of strength and skill I’m going for takes about 2 years to achieve so I am well on my way. I am frequently aware of the compromises or change in priorities this new commitment requires. For example I’m spending very little time engaged in social activism, asserting spiritual principles and the like and don’t have to invest in every relationship that presents itself as I felt obliged to as a minister. Best of all because Hugh’s been at this ultra cycling for a number of years we have found a way to keep the whole family involved and everyone takes pride in being apart of the same team no matter who is riding or racing.

Olson's Hammer Represents at Davis 12/24 HR Challenge

While no one is really claiming team affiliation to Olson’s Hammer right now, I’d see we totally “represented” at the 2009 Davis 12/24 Hour TT Challenge. This event is the 1st in the UMCA's Western Triple Challenge. It was not on my list of race events until Terri Gouch suggested I go for the Triple Challenge. Mike Olson agreed to come down and provide support for Hugh so I could race. It was a good thing, as usual, to have Mike on board as Hugh had 4 or 5 flats. Fortunately, I don’t think there were any other significant mechanical issues.



Anyway, I started the day off in my beautiful Olson’s thermal jersey. As it was not raining when the race started and the forecast was for showers, it was well suited for the cool morning. I kept it on until the 1st checkpoint where I wrung it out and put on a short sleeve jersey, hammer arm warmers and a RAIN JACKET! This suited me well until I got off my bike. Then I put on my team jacket for the rest of the night.

Hugh started in his thermal Hammer jersey and ended with it on 24 hours later. However at some point his top layer became his Olson’s jacket. But when did a race ever become about the kit?

Someone asked me how long I thought it would take for Hugh to pass me once we got going. I started 30 seconds in front of him, slowed for a photo op and Hugh came by 40 seconds later. While I didn’t see him again until I was done racing I saw some of the same support vehicles throughout the day, which means I stayed ahead or not far behind some of the same riders all day long. I impressed myself and others passing several people going up Cobb Mountain. I felt good with my steady and sometimes strong pace on that 8 -11% 8-mile climb. Did I mention it was raining? Raining, steady rain, at times it was more of a down pour. At that slow pace I was bothered by drops of water descending from my Hammer cap onto my computer. I tried wiping the moisture from the bill but just could not keep up, then I noticed the never-ending raindrops just beyond the rim of my helmet. Fortunately I was not cold. I had on my mid-weight winter tights and heavy booties, which served me well.

At the racer meeting, just before the 1st rider was sent out, Lee Mitchell, the race director, suggested we enjoy the race saying, “You only have one life, don’t waste it.” So I decided to be happy when it started to rain 40 minutes into the race. If I wasn’t smiling on the outside, I tried to keep a smile on the inside and frequently thought how happy the land must be. Somewhere before the first check point there was a superfine tail wind for about 6 miles and focused on its benefit to keep my mind off the rain, which I expected to come to an end anytime. Forget about it, I think the rain stopped around 10:00 pm. before resuming for the end of the 24 hour race.

I stuck with my Hammer fuel formula of six scoops Preputium and 2 oz Hammer gel mixed with water. While this is suppose to be a 4 hour bottle, it worked out well as a 6 hour formula to which I occasionally added a V-8 and a couple of Double shots. I drank Heed and water, but needed far less than I expected due to the lack of warmth and sunshine. Hammer Nutrition did me right once again!

I finished my 12 hours with 178.5 miles getting nearly 14 more than the low end of my goal and 2.5 less than the top end. Once I hit 9 hours I surprised myself thinking, “oh no, I only have 3 hours left.” Because my goal was 12 hours, I was ready to quite at 6:30 pm. Once I hit my time and slowed down for my return to the start/finish I was ready to be off my bike. Besides enjoying myself throughout the day, and practicing gratitude for rain for 11 hours, I ended the race without saddle sores and 0 flat tires. All these things combined made it a positive experience.

It was great to see some folks I’d met before, Susan Holt, racers David Holt, Sandy Earl, Greg Gesser and others. I also met some new people both racers and support crew including, the Emde crew, (Michael Emde rides the same at hour 21 as at hour 1, AMAZING!) and Joan Grant of Sunnyside, CA who is coming up to solo this year’s Race Across Oregon. Most wonderful of all the people I got to spend time with over the weekend were my husband, Mile Olson and our son, Stephen who provided support for Hugh who never wearied as he peddle away 386 miles in 24 hours. The Olson’s Hammer Team had an outstanding showing at the first race of the Western Triple Challenge. I took 1st in my division and 5th over all. Hugh took 5th over all in his.

We’ll be back at it again this weekend at race # 2 in the series, the Lewis and Clark Ultra. http://lacultra.com/