The Big News: SpinDoc is Moving

Greetings, SpinDoc friends, family, customers, and clients,

The cat is out of the bag: SpinDoc is moving. Not far though, fear not! We still remain the local family-owned bike shop and indoor cycling studio serving all your cycling needs.

As of February 1, 2013 we will be in the building located at the intersection of Hwy 285 and Old Las Vegas Highway, formerly the Supper Club, next to Cafe Fina. In the meantime, we remain at La Tienda with indoor cycling classes on full schedule and all bike service and sales.

We will miss our fellow businesses at La Tienda, and thank Steve and Destiny for their support of SpinDoc over the last three years.

We tentatively are planning a Grand Opening Party and Fundraiser for World Bicycle Relief on Saturday, February 16th, so save the date!

Thank you all for your support and patronage; we look forward to showing you our new digs! The new shop will offer a garment boutique in the former dining room resplendent with its Venetian Plaster and kiva fireplace, and -- get ready for this one!!! -- a shower for the indoor cycling room!

We'll keep you posted as we get closer; in the meantime, come visit us at La Tienda.

Night Cross: Race Report #7, 11/17/12

Cyclocross Race #7

Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012

SY Jackson Middle School; Albuquerque, NM

Night Cross! Night Cross was my first ever cross race last year on my trusty hard-tail Breezer. I was definitely looking forward to trying it this year on my ‘cross bike.

So here’s the scoop with Night ‘Cross. It is against regulations to have any lights on the bike; the first year Kirk raced it, we’d intended to put this big light array on his rear wheel which creates different shapes as the wheel spins – but found out it wasn’t permissible. Instead, the course is lit with those huge lights such as the ones road crews work under when working at night. They are pretty powerful, and the only section that was a little dark on the course was the turnaround at the top of the school driveway. Other than the optical illusions the blue color of the tape caused the visibility was good. The blue tape was a problem for me; several times I thought the tape was further away, or continued straight when in fact it was straight across in front of me marking a turn.

Ramleen covered the two morning classes so we wouldn’t expend it all before we even left town; we worked at the shop until about 3 then headed to ‘Burque. It was nice out, mild as the whole winter has been so far. Nonetheless I had an overflowing backpack of garment choices, determined not to repeat my Cuba clothing mistake.

We got there as the juniors were racing. That let us see the course with riders on it; this is helpful in determining the direction you ride on certain sections, and if you follow one rider you get a sense of the course overall. It appeared to be pretty similar to last year, except there was more in the bark mulch under the swing sets (there was just a single crossing of it last year), and the deep short “sand box” (probably a tether ball area) was completely eliminated this year. Last year’s course included riding off and back up quite a few concrete lips and curbs; most of those were taken out this year. Fine by me; that was my only concern as I haven’t mastered lifting the front of the cross bike (something I find much easier, if only psychologically, with a suspension fork).

Although it was warm I still donned a long sleeve base under my SpinDoc jersey and full leg warmers tucked under my SpinDoc shorts. At least I could wear ‘kit;’ last weekend was so cool I wore a long-sleeve jersey, not even my SpinDoc stuff. Kirk and I got to pre-ride about ¾ of the course . . .then it was time to line up. Little did I know that Tove, on her pre-ride, had gone over her handlebars after hitting a hole in the grass (possibly a sprinkler, we don’t know) and had sprained her hand. She was at the starting line for the Cat. 1/2/3s, so I was none the wiser.

Anne Keener, however, still was recovering from her injuries from Cuba and remained on the sidelines.  I didn’t get a chance to talk to her, but it was great to see her manning the chili cook-off and wave.

The start was my norm, not really getting much of a jump on it, but picking up some speed – enough to not get dropped – as I made my way up the initial parking lot section over speed humps and speed bumps. Just like last year, a sweeping mini-roundabout turned us back towards the grass, and a fairly straight entry onto the grassy field enabled you to keep up quite a bit of speed. I took that segment of each lap faster and faster, once kind of forgetting until the last moment that it ended in a right turn. The right turn led up a short little climb, steep enough to force you to quickly shift down one or two, into a tight switchback and a return down to the main section of field.

Back and forth we crossed over the field, eventually taking another climb back up, steep enough that I often had to stand as I rode up to maintain any speed. That led to the bark section, winding in between rows of swing sets. The first time I tried to ride it. I was right behind a lady named Maripat, also a Masters 50+ racer, and a Cat. 4 rider. I did okay until the first switchback in the bark, and went too wide into deeper stuff, losing time and struggling to get going again. I finally did, but was stuck behind the Cat. 4 rider and saw Maripat pulling away from me.  The second switchback in the bark resulted in even further delays, and I finally got off and ran my bike the third leg of the bark, remounting once I was back on blacktop. From there a quick diagonal cut took you to the bottom of a run-up, wide shallow stairs that led up to an easy switchback on concrete at the base of the school building.  That u-turn put us back on grass on a long straight run, off-camber, with switch backs, the middle of the three pretty tight (but I made it on every one of those!). The last dumped you on a bit of concrete, and was a good place to spin it up while catching your breath.

The next segment caught me off guard several times, and actually caused Kirk a get-off: from the concrete we turned left to a u-turn around a tree with some surprisingly stable sand underneath. The tricky part was the line of blue tape marking the turn. As dusk fell it was harder and harder to see. The first lap I nearly rode straight into it, missing it altogether until the last second and making the turn. From then I always warned myself it was coming yet it still often caught me by surprise.

Another couple switchbacks on grass brought us a dicey soft sand switchback that I never managed to navigate without at least a foot down. Another stair run-up took us back to the upper level where the bark was, but you immediately turned right and rode another couple of tight switchbacks, heading back down the hill we’d just gone up via the stairs. More and more switchbacks – another sea-sick course – finally took you past the second side of the pit and to the barriers.

Kind of hard to get a clear photo in the dark. . .

Ah, but there was more! After jumping the first pair of barriers, you rode past the finish line, took a left into a sand box (possibly a long jump pit?), jumped another barrier, and then jumped up onto a concrete curb that must’ve been at least 12” high. That was one of the two hardest points for me. Not only had I always knocked my pedals into the wrong position for a quick remount and start, but I was simply tapped. From there we picked back up on the start in the parking lot with the speed humps and bumps.

I think it was towards the end of lap two that I caught back up with Maripat. I had gotten to the bark and decided it might be faster for me to run the whole thing. I rode it to the first switchback, then dismounted and ran the rest. It definitely proved quicker for me. My transitions to the stairs were uniformly fast and smooth; my dismounts have improved quite a bit, and I never had a problem moving into picking up the bike and running. The top of that first set of stairs was the other heavy breathing point for me, and a couple times fumbling for the pedals while trying to catch my breath cost me some time.

But I was closing in on her, and knew it. On that last straight away through the finish line leading to the sand box/second barrier I passed her, made the barrier just fine, but was caught and re-passed as I fought for breath and my right pedal on the concrete. Starting lap three, however, I passed her for the last time and held my gap. I said something silly as I passed her, something about a ridiculous moment back there where I was unable to get rolling, but she didn’t respond.

I pulled off, and subsequently rode each lap faster with three more to go. It was a surprise when they said three more, and I wondered if I could keep it up. I did, though, and had a great race, even back tracking a couple steps where tape had gone down and I missed a switchback. (I didn’t wanna be disqualified if I missed part of the course by accident, but I couldn’t tell where it went once the section of tape went down. I saw a Cat. 3 rider properly navigate the original course even without the tape up, and followed her lead to correct myself.)

After the race I was heading off to change and was stopped by Anita, who I hadn’t seen since last year. I believe she is racing Cat. 4, but this was only her second ‘cross event for the year. It was so nice to see her, and we chatted a moment. The ‘cross community is so friendly; it truly is one of the reasons I ventured into it at all last year. I remember Anita well from my first race. She was next to me at the start line, and was so nice and calm although it was only her second ‘cross race.

I learned after the race about Tove’s pre-race get-off. It’s amazing she raced, her fingers already swelling and unable to get a good grip on the handlebars – much less the brakes. She did, though, and after some TLC over the next couple days the swelling subsided and mending began.

Time for the Men’s Cat. 1/2/3 race, and I was requested to help score both that race and Kirk’s.  As always, those guys rode so fast, and as their race runs a full hour it makes for a LOT of laps. The race leaders were clocked at six minute laps, and if they slowed down as they raced it didn’t show. I just take down numbers as they pass, so am unable to really keep up with lap speeds.  The two duking it out on the front are the same two that usually are: like Kirk and Jimmy, the Cat. 1/2/3 is usually a match between a young junior and a probably early-30s-aged racer. Night ‘cross had an announcer who was familiar with many of the Albuquerque-based riders, and did an excellent job of commentating the races as they progressed. Down on the field, we couldn’t see anything up on the rise where the bark section was, but I was happy to hear from the commentary that pretty much all the Cat. 1/2/3 guys were running the bark, like I had opted to do. Cool! I’d made a real-time strategy decision that not only worked for me but was ‘confirmed’ by the more experienced riders.

Then the Masters 50+, Single Speed and Cat. 4 guys lined up. It looked like a pretty big field; from where we were at the finish I couldn’t see Kirk nor tell the order they were starting in. I hoped it wasn’t Cat. 4s first – we know that doesn’t work so well. Thankfully when the first group of racers took off I could tell it was the Masters 50+ guys because I could see Kirk in the bright yellow SpinDoc jersey with a huge lead from the ‘hole shot.’ (Generally one rider jumps off the start faster than anyone else, usually from a point near the center of the starting line up, but not necessarily; they just manage to hit that extreme power surge in such a way that they immediately pull out in front, which is called ‘getting the hole shot.’)

Since I was helping the USA Cycling officials score and was unsure of protocol, I asked if it was okay for me to root for my husband. With the okay, I starting hollering at Kirk who was holding the lead he had over Jimmy. Wow, what a race! Jimmy would close the gap a little, then Kirk would pull away again. The commentator was having a ball calling the race, and Kirk got yells and cowbells from all over the course. As I listened while scoring, I learned that Jimmy was riding most of the bark while Kirk was running most of it. Riding it didn’t seem to give Jimmy any advantage, and Kirk by running it didn’t risk losing time by unsuccessfully riding and ‘getting off’ in it.

It was such an exciting race! In lap three, somewhere I couldn’t see from the scoring/finish area, something happened; as Jimmy and Kirk came back into my view, Jimmy was in the lead. Later, I learned that Kirk had missed that piece of blue tape next to the tree. It becomes such an optical illusion: the tape looks further back than it really is, and he hit upon it going so fast that he skidded out and went down as he tried to suddenly make the right turn around the tree.

They rode so hard and fast, and had quite a bit of a lead over the rest of their race. Riders spread out more and more over the course as the race progressed, and eventually resulted in the leaders passing the last riders. After his get-off, Kirk had about 3 ½ laps in which to close the gap to Jimmy. On the last lap, Jimmy and Kirk each changed their strategy, which the announcer took great glee in discussing: Jimmy opted to run the bark, and Kirk decided he didn’t have much to lose in trying to ride it.

I don’t know what the gap was initially – maybe 20 seconds or so – but by the time they crossed the finish line, Kirk had brought the gap way down to 7 seconds or so. If there had been just one more lap, he might have regained the lead; who knows. It was a great, fast, skilled and fun race.

Night ‘cross will always remain one of my favorites. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Cross Race Report #6; Vietnam Vet's Park, Albuquerque

Cyclocross Race #6

Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park; Albuquerque, NM

I not only didn’t ride the Vietnam Vet’s race last year, but I didn’t attend it either. I had dance workshops that weekend, so while Kirk raced I was dancing. I do remember him having a fun and good race, though, so I was looking forward to it.

Friday night, for the second week in a row, was a late one for me. Saturday was our youngest’s birthday, and I knew it would be too much to head home from racing and make dinner and birthday cake. So I stayed up Friday getting a jump on the cooking. There is more to that story, but I won’t go into that here!

However, when the alarm when off at 5:30 I was certainly not interested in getting up. Instead, we got up in time to drive down for Kirk to race and for me to help with scoring. It was pretty chilly; just in case I took clothing with me, and made sure that unlike the prior weekend I had everything I could possibly want if I in fact got to ride. The seed had been planted by Tove: she too didn’t intend to race the women’s 9:30 race and told me that we have the right to race with the Men’s Cat. 4. Since I was committed to helping score, I wasn’t certain I would get the opportunity but was ready if I did.

Antonia called as we drove down, and I was glad to tell her we were on the way. On arrival, we scoped out the course (but didn't get to ride it) and I met the race officials scoring the race who I had not worked with before. Antonia said I should in fact race, so I quickly put racing gear on and then layered sweat pants and stuff over it.

The Cat. 1/2/3 guys started their race, and watching them I got a sense of the course. Lots of grass, lots of switchbacks. In between races I quizzed one of the young top racers, Antonia’s daughter Tiziana who provided some helpful insights.  Then we cued up.  It was a big field, and once again they re-ordered the start with the Cat 4 guys going off first, then single speed, then Masters 50+.  Makes it pretty hard for the Masters men, many of whom are much faster and more experienced than the Cat. 4 guys. They spend much of the race trying to pass. I stayed at the way back of the field, with every intention of just riding my bike at the back of the pack.

And we were off. We raced up the black-top parking lot, and turned right travelling behind some apartments on a slight down slope. A left turn quickly became a 180º switchback, across a sandy descent to a fast straightaway and into grassy switchbacks. So far, so good. The barriers came up pretty quickly on the course, and I took ‘em pretty easy and slow. From there you rode another fast straightaway turning right on some loose sand (which I took pretty slow the first time until I discovered you could really maintain speed and not feel like you were going down).  A left turn up a sandy slope looked intimidating at first but I quickly found felt surprisingly stable. Riding down the other side put you back on grass, shallow concrete gutters and a series of switchbacks.

Passing the gutter a second time brought you to another long straightaway, great for passing or pushing some power. When I had the energy I stood and pushed as hard as I could. More switchbacks and a second pass at the pit took you back out to the outer grassy reaches of the field and yet more switchbacks. Passing some Cat. 1/2/3 women watching the race, I joked that it was enough to make you sea sick; they laughed and agreed.

The last stretch of concrete waterway (most of which was dry in spite of earlier precipitation) involved riding down it; coming off a very short but disconcertingly steep drop – it seemed almost like riding off a curb had you turning immediately to the left; if you over shot it, the other side of the gully was even steeper and would probably cause a get-off. I hoped each time it wouldn’t happen, and thankfully it never did. Riding down the gully, you actually rode back up an almost identical dirt “curb” which at this point showed the signs of hundreds of bike tires crossing it. You had to catch it at the right angle however as it was immediately followed by a switchback to the right. The next pass over the gully had lips steep enough that I bottomed out each time riding over one, rubbing the bottom bracket on the dirt.

A few more switchbacks led you to the finish line, and up a final set of broadly spaced stairs. It was sanding coming in to them, and I was afraid I’d miss the get off and over-compensated with a ridiculously early dismount. That’s okay: I meet one of my goals, which was not to be passed by the race leader on my first lap. As a matter of fact, as I gained confidence and maintained (or pushed) more speed, I really felt I held my own and didn’t get passed by the race leader until 2 and a half laps or so.

This was a fun course for me; I even pushed harder on some of those sandy spots and more technical areas than I would have in the past. I passed one of the Cat. 4 guys (yay!!!) and almost passed a second. I put my sights on him too close to the end.

It was fun to race with Kirk, although I only saw him once when he passed me in the switchbacks before the barriers. Most of the guys made it easy, too, announcing their arrival behind me and choosing a section to pass that made it easy for us all. Only twice did a racer try to pass me in the middle of a switchback; once I simply held my line and he had to wait until it was feasible. The second time it was a line of four riders – in themselves a distraction – I cut the turn too wide, and it was easier for me to simply stop and let them pass. I certainly encouraged riders to pass me where it was practicable for us all, but when it wasn’t I held my line.

Kirk had a fun race, too, and once again gave his chief competition Jimmy a run for his money. The race officials didn’t signal the race leaders that they were done on their last lap, though, and about five guys (including Jimmy and Kirk) raced an extra unnecessary lap.

It was a fun, fast race. Then we drove home and had a fun, festive birthday party for Lauren.  Next weekend. . . Night Cross! Hopefully we’ll see you there.

Cyclocross Race Report #5; Cuba, NM

Cyclocross Race Report #5
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012

Cuba, NM

Race number 5; half-way through the NM series. We’re sure getting spoiled: the weather has been like eternal fall. I think of those racing in the northeast and the northwest, and think about how lucky we are.  It was chilly pulling in to Cuba, though. The thermometer on the truck registered 35º or something, and it wasn’t particularly sunny.  Although I had good layering options for racing I was woefully underdressed for the hanging out before and after part of the event. Luckily my travel companions were better prepared and even had extras to loan.

We got registered, and discovered we were an hour earlier than we needed to be; the schedule had been delayed an hour due to the extra drive time for most racers. That just gave us more time to relax, check out the course, and not be crazy-rushed as we so often are. Additionally, it gave more time for the sun to do it’s work and warm stuff up a bit!

I remembered this course. In some respects it seems the most “Belgian” as most of it is laid out in a pasture, complete with cow paddies.  There is a stretch of road, and a couple of short but a bit steep drops into a creek bed. Last year it had water in it; this year, the only water was off to the right side of the first dip.

Kirk read somewhere the statistics on gastrointestinal disorders in cross racers following a race on a pasture. The incidence of illness was very high. We joked about riding with our mouths shut to lower the chances of race-induced cow paddy illness!

Most of the course was like riding a road bike on a rumble strip: bumpy bumpy. Tove gave me some good tips and pointers, such as riding much of it hovering over the saddle, and rising out of the saddle coming out of the many switchbacks to stabilize the bike as well as give a bit of power and speed out of a turn. I was nervous about the second dip; the first one wasn’t so bad as long as you navigated the bike to the left at the bottom. If you overshot it, you went into the water. The second one, though, was steeper both down and back up, and had a sweeping right turn to it as well. The first pre-ride had me walking it; Tove and I went back shortly before race time to look at it, and I was able to ride it. Whew!

Lining up to race was casual beyond most races, and after the Cat 1/2/3 ladies took off we had a very unceremonious start when someone finally said, “Are we starting?” I wasn’t even with the Masters ladies, but was at the back of the pack. Oh well; it’s not like I’m racing! On the other hand, I didn’t want to get caught behind the riders who would be running the dips instead of riding them. I passed one or two on the pavement, but was still behind most as we hit the dips.

Right in front of me hitting them was Anne Keener, one of my co-masters racers.  On the second dip, she hesitated at the top, rode down, and got about half-way up the other side and somehow went over the handlebars in a spectacular jumble of body and bike. I immediately put my bike down and ran down the dip, as did the photographer that was stationed at the top. Anne was on her back, her bike on top of her and her legs intertwined. I think the right foot was still clipped in.  One of the juniors had stopped at the top, and I asked her to stand guard and warn any racers that came upon us that a rider was down. I wasn’t sure yet if we could even move Anne. We got her unclipped, extracted the left leg, and I was able to lift her bike off her. I still couldn’t determine the extent of any injuries, but it turned out she was mostly shocked and had the wind knocked out. I was relieved when she finally said she could get up; we each grabbed a hand, and carefully pulled her upright. At that point she told me to resume riding, so I left her in the hands of the photographer. I was amazed and impressed later to learn that she resumed riding herself, determined not to have her first DNF. Wow. What a trooper!!!

I hate the first lap anyhow; I spend much of feeling insecure about the course, my skills and wondering what the heck I’m doing, and is this really for fun? This one was no different.  By the second lap, though, I start to get into a groove, feel more confident, and am able to start sussing out where I can go harder, where I need to be extra focused, what parts are more challenging. I kept reminding myself to look through the myriad of turns, to keep my focus out, to hover over the saddle and apply power on the rumble strip of a race course. (Boy, had the race hosts worked hard on that course! They’d been out there with some kind of power mower, and hours of labor had been put in setting up and prepping that course.)

My second lap was the only one where I successfully rode both dips. After that, I had to run when someone in front of me did, or I didn’t have enough speed going into it to get up the other side and had to put a foot down to get over the top on the far side. I regained some positions, though, and eventually lapped Anne who was bravely making her way through the race. I too was lapped by the race leaders, cutting my race short by one lap. No complaints here!

And, thanks to attrition, I still came in second. I’m second in the state, too, but better start racing: the gal in third is not many points behind me.

I helped score the men’s Cat. 1/2/3 race, and then Kirk’s Masters 50+/singlespeed/Cat. 4 race. It’s not only nice to be able to help out, but it’s kinda neat to watch a race from another perspective.

The men’s Master’s 50+ race included a top racer down from Durango who gapped everyone by quite a bit. It was the first race I recall seeing where at least four riders were lapped twice by the leader. As always, those guys rode hard. It is impressive and inspiring to watch them.

On the last lap, coming in to the straightaway where the finish was Kirk clipped the last turn taking down the post, and – since he had a gap – taking his time to get situated and back on is bike to cross the line. Unlike most other forms of racing there is no timing chip involved; as long as you are ahead of the guy behind you, you are not “racing on the clock” and gain nothing by racing across the line. However, there is the occasional sprint to the finish when two racers are coming in at the same time, and they sprint to cross first.  Those are fun to watch.

The guys finished strong, Kirk in third and David in (I believe) fourth. We jettisoned out of there pretty quick as I had a show that night. As always, fun was had by all!

Post Script:

One of the juniors sprained a shoulder at that race; we hope he is doing okay. Anne’s tumble took more of a toll: her left shoulder is sprained, her right knee is in a brace, and the left may have a torn meniscus. She is getting an MRI on Monday, so we’ll know more then. Speedy recovery. Anne! All that, and she still finished her race. And hopes to ride Night 'Cross on the 17th. . .