Cherry Pie Road Race

Well, when we scoped out the course 2 weeks ago, I was confident that I'd survive the year's first race. Not so much. We started with 15 riders. For the first lap I rode in the top 5, staying out of the wind and enjoying the pace, how I felt and just being out with the girls. Then there was a hill, followed shortly by another. *POP* I was off, going past the finish line for the end of the first lap. There was hope for me. I knew that there was a nice, long descent after the crest, but I forgot about the west wind, so try as I might and along with another rider, I did not make it back with the group. I did eventually roll away from the other girl. I "enjoyed" the next lap alone, but kept up a good pace. I didn't finish last- but almost. Looking forward to Mason Lake in 2 weeks.

Recovery Week....

Yesterday (Sunday) I didn't leave the house at all. I read half of a chick book, and watched plenty of TV. I also made my first loaf of banana bread. Who knew it was so dang easy!?! Today, I had no trouble driving past the exit to the gym. I think I might lift a weight or 2 tomorrow.

Kids were funny today. Friday's adventure was still fresh on everyone's mind. At least we had the weekend to digest it all. So far, the police have given no information about leads on the jerk that made the phone call. We bebriefed in a meeting after school. We heard about irrate parents. One called the district office and left a message yelling that we had no right to keep her daughter hostage for 5 hours, how the kids didn't do anything wrong, and that she was going to call President Bush about it.

Uh... OK.
But most parents we spoke to or heard from thanked us and were confident in our ability in keeping theri children safe. Alls well that ends well.

Threats Force Lockdowns at Four Battle Ground Schools

This has nothing to do with racing, but I'm sure will stay on my mind for along time. I teach at Lewisville Middle School. We were in the high school gym for about 5 hours today. This story is from a local news station.

Friday, February 09, 2007
BATTLE GROUND, Wash. - Four Battle Ground schools were forced into lock down and were eventually evacuated Friday after a bomb threat and reports of a sniper in the area threatened student safety.

Fire and police officials told KOIN News 6 that a 911 call came in about 9:10 a.m. claiming that there was a bomb inside Lewisville Middle School. They were trying to trace the call, which was from an automated voice.

Students at the middle school were evacuated to the neighboring Battle Ground High School stadium until they could be safely transported to the high school's gymnasium. . They were instructed to leave their bags behind and take only their coats.

Officials say that had it been an immediate, credible threat, a fire alarm would have been activated. Instead, teachers were notified individually.

Police were conducting a threat assessment of the building, going through each room and checking for anything suspicious that should be examined by the bomb squad when the second call came in around 11:35 a.m. Another computer-animated voice then claimed that there was a sniper in the area.

Police asked officials to lock down Battle Ground High School, Captain Strong Elementary School, Chief Umtuch Primary School and HomeLink/Cam High School.

Reverse 911 calls were made to residents and businesses in the surrounding area to advise them of the threat and to instruct them to report any suspicious activity.

Confused and worried parents wanted to pick up their children. School administrators assured parents that their children were safe and asked that parents not come to the schools until an evacuation route was established. Police say they did not want to inform parents about the evacuation plan until it was already underway because of the potential sniper in the area.

Buses were rerouted to the secured area on east side of the high school. Battle Ground High School and Lewisville Middle School students were released around 3 p.m. Bus students were allowed to leave first, then student drivers and then walkers and students picked up by parents.

Chief Umtuch and Captain Strong students were evacuated a short time later, around 3:45 p.m. Students were released in a similar manner: bus students, students picked up by parents and then walkers. Students were instructed to walk east out of the school area.

Lewisville Middle School will be open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday so students can pick up their belongings.

The story ends there, but continued a little longer for our staff. We weren't able to return to our campus for another hour after most kids went home. The nice police had some pizza that they gave us. Finally, we were able to go quick to our classrooms, then to our cars, and go home. Being involved with this today made me realize how lucky I am to work with a fantastic staff, to have patient students, and happy to be home tonight. It was a long day with no lunch. They had planned to feed us in the gym until the high school went into lockdown and we weren't able to get the food to the kids. The kids were good, although hungry, bored, and tired. I answered an array of questions with "I don't know." We visited, played concentration games, and braided hair. I skipped my workout today.

If you squint, you can almost see my car in the parking lot...

2007 Preview

So, it's the beginning of February and every conversation with a cycling friend sparks the question...." So how's training going?"

Training is going very well- much better than last year. I'm feeling wintery strong. I've seen improvements in the gym and I've felt good on my rides. It helps that I've been healthy so far and my knees are cooperating. I'm looking forward to a recovery week next week, leading up to the first race of the season, The Cherry Pie Road Race. There's a new course this year. A bunch of us that train with Brian drove down there yesterday to preview the course. I think it'll be a pretty good one for me. You'll be surprised when I say that it's not perfectly flat. Although I prefer flatter courses, pancakes are a bit boring. This course has some rollers and a couple of short climbs. Unfortunately, one of the climbs is where the finish line is. But my biggest worry is getting through the full distance, hope that I have the endurance, since the race will be my longest ride of the winter.

My serious goals are on the track this year. I'd like to see a 12.8 second 200meter on Alpenrose. This will be .4 seconds of an improvement. This time should equate to about 12 seconds in Colorado Springs in July and iat the ADT for Nationals in October. I truely think a faster time will make me a more confident sprinter. I also want to get 39.8 in the 500m. TT at Alpenrose. This will be about a half second improvement. It's really hard to tell how the winter training off the track equated when things start up in May.

Big Events for me this year include:
Independence Day Grand Prix in July- Colorado Springs
Alpenrose AVC the following weekend- Portland
FSA Grand Prix (Nationals Qualifier)- Seattle/ Redmond
Master's National Championships in late August- Trexlertown, PA
Elite National Championships in early October- Caron, CA
Master's World Championships in late October- Sydney, Australia

So here I come 2007. be good to me. I'll try to update this blog on a weekly basis :)
Grrr- the proof is in the biceps. Well, it's probably more in the legs, but couldn't get a good shot. Stay tuned!

Nationals comes to an end.....

Today was the keiren and the team sprint. The day began with the keiren heats. This was a mess to begin with, as many riders scratched for a variety of reasons. The heats were reseeded 2 times (?) and then changed again right before we started. When the reseeding shook out, the heats were very uneven. I was in the last of three heats. I did not get the motor and after trying to squeeze into 2nd and 3rd spot, I finally settled in the 4th position and stayed there until the sprint engaged. I think I was 3rd across the line and the top 2 went through to the next round automatically.

Next Donna and I rode our team sprint. She got out of the blocks hecka fast and almost dropped me!!! Once I got on, I screamed at her to Go ! Go! Go! I did my part and I we got 39.5, which was almost the exact difference in our 500m. times. It wasn't fast enough for the finals. Donna just keeps getting faster and faster.

My reparcharge (second chance) keiren ride was next. (Did I spell that right?) First of all, I have to talk about my pedal situation. I have never come out of my speedplay pedals, but I decided to have Brian rig mine up with single straps, so it wouldn't happen. I was second to the motor on this ride and spent the first laps sweeping my spot, keeping the other riders back. I knew that Kara Vidaca was behind me on the outside, but didn't know anything about the rest of the group. When the motor pulled off, I kept the pace as fast as I wanted to go. Coming around to see 2 to go, someone ran into my pedal. I didn't realize it at the time, but it sheared my shoe buckle right off. Finally, I attacked and came around the first girl, taking Kara with me for the last lap. I won that round. I then realized I was missing part of my shoe, rolled around to collect it from the official that had picked it up. I had the mechanic electrical tape my shoe on for the rest of the day.

The semi final ride had 7 riders. This time I was first behind the motor. As we rode I noticed Anna Lang behind me on the outside and Liz Carlson on the inside. Again, I just tried to keep my spot clear. I don't remember exactly how things went when the motor pulled off. I kept the pace steady and then noticed Anna beginning to come over the top. I hooked up, but unfortunately timed it a little late, since she was already there, and it caused her to react up track. Somewhere in there, my right pedal got caught up again, this time breaking the strap. I just kept going as hard as I could, but heard a ticking sound, thinking it was a broken spoke, but finally figure out that the strap was flying around. Eventually, the strap wrapped around my pedal spindle, making it hard to pedal. The top 3 went through to the final round, but I only managed 4th.

Then the announcement came that I was somewhat expecting to hear. "Number 21, Heather VanValkenburg had been relagated to the end place for making a sudden movement that caused another rider to move up track." I thought this was kind of funny, since I wasn't going to go through to the finals anyway, but I guess the officials wanted to make a point. I'm sure a coach/ holder balked as well.

It was over and I was fine with it. I rode in the 9-12 minor final. This time the pedal drama played out as an unclipping at the start line. so I wound up (after clipping back in) at the end of the train. I spent some time in the wind in the last lap before the motor pulled off. On the attack, I pretty much ran out of gas, and didn't feel confident that my pedal would stay connected to my shoe. I rolled in last.

SOAP BOX- So, every time I ride aggressively, I learn a lot about other riders and the company they keep. Many shrug their shoulder and tell me something like, "Nice hook." Since I know other riders read this sometime let me say my damn peace. Keiren riding can be about making jerky movements to keep others away. I agree that my last move was dangerous, since the rider was already halfway around me. Danger happens. However she was half- wheeling me for most of the lap anyway. Don't ride there. Riding bikes and racing is dangerous. I overheard someone's coach/ holder say that is was nasty and his rider growled that it was the dirtiest move she ever saw. REALLY? Are you kidding me? Have you ever seen MEN racing? They're all over the place. They bump, they hook, they come down on other riders, they get away with a lot and the other riders GET OVER IT. And to the man who kept trying to harrass me the rest of the afternoon, I heard you and I ignored you, thinking that it was funny you put so much energy into your mission- whatever it was. My 6th grade students are more mature.

On the flipside, a few other complimented my aggresiveness. One rider told me that her husband cheered when he saw my blatent, "Back the #!*@ off." I don't plan to comprimise my aggresive style because it's not nice. Yes, I will finesse it, clean it up a bit, but I'll take a relegation anyday over sitting in a race and watching it happen.

No hardware this year. I wasn't fast enough. And the sprints are already a distant memory. There are some fast girls out and I'm looking forward to seeing that caliber of competition next year.

Elite Nationals October 6, 2006


Tonight I had my 500m. TT. Again, I didn't have the best gear, feeling a little easy this time. The gear made sense. It was an inch smaller than at Colorado Springs in August and after my overgear in ithe 200m, it seemed right. I guess it was right for my start, but when I sat down after only about 120 meters I knew I'd feel spun out. My time of 39.12 was almost a half second faster than my last 2 times on this track. And if you consider the elevation factor (1 second slower that at the springs), it was an alright time, but not stellar. It landed me 9th out of 28 riders.


A little later, I was chatting with Kara Vidaca about our ride. We were joking about something, when a recognizable guy on crutches hopped up the stairs behind her. I was in mid sentence....

"Hey, turn around and check out the guy in crutches." She was a little surprised to see Floyd hobble righ tpast her. Her was there for a short interview and to present awards for the men's team pursuit and the women's points race. Later, when he left, Donna stopped him and we took photos. it was a fun surprise.


So, Donna broke her own world record again. The new 50+ world record is 39.857. The old lady got 18th overall. She had to fill out some official forms to seal the dealio!

Well, we all have bad days. Unfortunately, my most recent bad day was on a very important one. To begin with, my 200m. time was pretty slow for me. In retrospect, I had too big of a gear. Noted: 96" is too big. I guess that's good information for next time. My first ride was against Anna Lang. I rode a decent race overall, but didn't quite make it around in time. I lost by a nudge. My second ride was the last chance to stay in the game. It was a 3 up against Cari Higgins (lost to her at master's nationals) and Shelby Allen (whose gotten faster since beating me last year at nationals. Fast or not, the problem wasn't my legs, but between my ears. I left my balls in Oregon I suppose, finishing last of us three. So, I think I got about 9th overall. Shelby went on to the semi finals tonight. I'll find Cari later and see if she wants to go get a beer (Haley, delete that last sentence for the students.)

Tonight, Deano (Moses) and Stevo get to pop off their kilo. Let's go boys! Tomorrow night is my 500m. Stomp and go.

Photos from Master's Nationals

Well, it's funny because there are no pictures of my actual racing, but here are some of my favorites.
Between the 200m. TT and 500m. TT we had a long break. It's not that there was a break in racing- just lots of racers. Here we have Darell, Donna, and I taking a rest under the tent.