Beastway '06

[BikeMomma]

tlkiwi --

Your racing sounds like a total blast. Good job and hope you keep improving and having fun! Your reports are great! Keep posting as long as you are racing!

I noticed the website said that this is the last year for this, as they're going to bulldoze it to make way for the 2012 Olympics. Do you know what venue or Olympic facility is going to be built in its place?

Loved the "going in for tea" note. That's soooo English (I'm half -- my Mum's from Southend/Westcliffe in Essex). I'm pretty American and "Californian", since I was born and raised here, but I definitely inherited the tea-drinking gene.

~BikeMomma

[DirtDiva]

I'm not sure exactly what's going to go there. I'm pretty sure it will become part of the Olympic Park, which will contain the Olympic Stadium, aquatics centre, Olympic Village plus hockey, cycling (velodrome, I think) and basketball facilities.

[BikeMomma]

Well I guess if a racecourse has to be destroyed for future development, let it be replaced with an Olympic village!! Sounds cool...I'm definitely going to have to make it over there in 2012.

[DirtDiva]

Very short report this week. The first 1.75 laps went fabulously. Then I died. The legs were fine, I just couldn't keep my heartrate up there any longer. Alas, the answer to that problem is simply get fitter. Phooey. I don't have the patience for that! We'll see how my time was over my three laps whenever they post the results.

[Trekhawk]

Very short report this week. The first 1.75 laps went fabulously. Then I died. The legs were fine, I just couldn't keep my heartrate up there any longer. Alas, the answer to that problem is simply get fitter. Phooey. I don't have the patience for that! We'll see how my time was over my three laps whenever they post the results.

Well done. I have decided anyone that races mountain bikes is hardcore. Not only will you suffer (apparently if you are not suffering you are not working hard enough ) but you have to keep your mind clear for all the technical stuff. Hmm not fit enough or clear minded enough for that.

Keep the reports coming for those that dont like to suffer.

[DirtDiva]

It's all in good fun Trek; I'm not really into the suffering part either.

The results are up. I have cause to be happy as I posted my fastest time by nearly four minutes (although the first lap was significantly shortened for "traffic management" purposes) and I did all my laps in under 20 minutes. Probably need to lop another 4 minutes off my time before I'll cross the line in time to do a fourth lap. I get four more races to try and make it happen.

Y'all can see a pic of me from last week here.

[Trekhawk]

Cool Pic. You look like you are having so much fun.
Congratulations on the time. See now add a touch of suffering and you will get faster.

[DirtDiva]

Hard yakka this week. Someone filled the course with freakin' corners! So sure, a certain amount of turning is necessary, but I can do without the downhill, 180deg turn, back uphill again supersize combo nastiness! I got to the course a little later than usual and couldn't be arsed doing a practice lap. Oops. Blithely followed the two women just ahead of me and four of us ended up in completely the wrong place and wasted a good three or four minutes. Not surprising that I ended up with my worst time ever, but I'm gutted that it was one hour four seconds. One hour, FOUR SECONDS! Couldn't I have picked up another five seconds from somewhere to stick to my goal of doing my three laps in under an hour every time? That sucks man! On the other hand, I honest to goodnessly really truly beat someone in my class for the first time (unless she had a puncture or something - it wouldn't count then). Yay me!

Here I am, suffering on a climb during the race on 28/06.

[DirtDiva]

I didn't expect much of myself this week. I've spent most of the last few days coughing and blowing my nose and generally doing my best to further the spread of germs. But I actually had quite a lot of fun tonight, albeit in a slightly (i.e. completely) masochistic way. Don't know what my time was yet, but there were less people in the finish area when I rolled up than there usually are. I mean, I suppose it could mean that all those other people did one more lap than usual, or maybe that there were less racers than usual, but I'm so not thinking about those possibilities.

I managed to drop my chain twice on exactly the same point of the course. The first occasion was definitely operator error - had one of those moments where the fingers don't do what the brain told 'em to and I ended up mashing gear levers all over the show. I think perhaps the second time my bike was just reminding me that she still wasn't happy about the way I treated her the first time around. Perhaps next time I should just suffer in the middle ring when I hit that climb... Interesting how, when the pressure's on, you don't mess about trying to do things the best way; it was more like: Grrrr. *YANK* Fixed. Sweet! (And then sraight back on the bike, of course.) The girl who usually has the closest time to me had some chain issues too. Took the joy out of finally beating her as her issues were more serious than mine. Next week I'm marshalling. I'll have to try and leave her in the dust fair and square the following week!

Anyway, to bed with me! I'm knackered!

[DirtDiva]

I didn't race last week because I was marshalling. Quite relieved by that at the time as it got up to 37C/99F that day.

We had the last individual point-scoring race of the series last night. I won my class again because my competition was marshalling and out of town. Go me. I must admit to being a wee bit gutted though - I missed out on being quick enough to be able to get in a fourth lap by, as far as I can figure out, no more than a minute. There's a team race next week, so that's my last chance to embrace the pain and suffering (like that's gonna happen ) and go that little bit faster in the first three. I don't care if the fourth lap takes me half an hour, I just want to do a fourth lap! Dammit!

There is something to be said for turning up regularly. I'll have won my class by at least 20 points (all scored on nights I had no competition, but shhhhhhh ).

[spokewench]

That first race with the killer hills sounds just like on of my first races in California years and years ago. It brought back some mighty fine memories of walking up the hills and smiling all the way! Keep it up. Racing is always a good motivator to stay on the bike!

[DirtDiva]

The very last race of the series was last night. 'Twas a team race. Cobbled together a team on the night (three girls and a bloke in ours), which seemed to be what a lot of other poeple were doing, so it didn't feel too disorganised really. I think they were giving points for wherever you each ended up in the overall finishing order and then they take the best three results from your team to figure out your ranking. They haven't actually got the results up yet, so I can't tell you how we did. [ETA: 45th out of 56 teams.]

Each member started two minutes after one another, so there were four starting waves. I was riding second for us. Being used to starting off with about ten women, I have to say that starting off with about fifty people at once was pretty intimidating. The first half lap was ridiculously slow because of congestion, then there were some dodgy overtaking manoeuvers as the faster blokes from the next wave caught up and got impatient (really quite irritating - usually folk at Beastway are pretty good about passing), then things settled into a more normal pattern. Felt really good out there riding. Only one climb I couldn't manage, although there were a few others I didn't always find the right gear for (managed to push the bike up everything more quickly than usual though, which was a bonus). For once the legs and the lungs were cooperating instead of bickering about who was the most tired. Didn't manage to finally make that fourth lap, but it was a shorter race than normal (to make more time for the end of season prize giving), so I can live without it. Also managed to finish just in time to beat the queue for tea and cakes.

The prize giving was cool. Mind you, I won stuff, so I would think that. Definitely worth showing up more often than the competition!

RIP Beastway.

[BikeMomma]

Awesome, DirtDiva.....what a great series! Sounds like a real blast of a time.

Now make way for the bulldozers..... They ought to put a plaque up in the future Olympic Village in Beastway's honor...... That would be cool.

Glad you had so much fun, and thanks for taking us along...
~BikeMomma

[Trekhawk]

Awesome, DirtDiva.....what a great series! Sounds like a real blast of a time.

Now make way for the bulldozers..... They ought to put a plaque up in the future Olympic Village in Beastway's honor...... That would be cool.

Glad you had so much fun, and thanks for taking us along...
~BikeMomma

Im with BikeMomma thanks for posting about your series.

How long have you had the new user name??? I love it. Im so slow on the uptake please tell me its not been an ae'on.

[DirtDiva]

I've had the new name since I hit 1000 posts - a few weeks ago, but not that long.