Lake Pueblo Arkansas Point Challenge XC

It's not often that I can be talked into a full-fledged cross country race. Two hours of suffering just seems so...hard. Give me 100 miles, or 500 for that matter. But, the stars seemed to align with a pre-planned trip to the Front Range and the Lake Pueblo XC race, which I had raced two years prior and enjoyed, so I put on my big girl pants and saddled up for 28 miles of single track.

And in preparation for the big dance of Whiskey 50 in two weeks, I brought my single-speed with a brand new fork on it. One with suspension. My warm-up consisted of trying to relearn how to ride the bike and pulling myself out of more than one ditch after blowing corners.

The gun went off at the start and I immediately found myself in dead-last after a slightly downhill start. Having the bike geared for Crested Butte hills did not bode well for the mostly flat course and I looked dejectedly at the 100+ people I was going to have to work my way through once we hit the single track.

Sure enough, once we hit trail, I started making up ground. I worked my way through conga ling after conga line of traffic having many near encounters with the cacti dotting the course. But, once I was out on the open trail, I was flying...as long as I could spin at 100+ rpm. Did I mention I was under-geared?

The first hour of racing consisted of trying to pedal as fast as possible, knowing that the last 3 miles of the course were flat/slightly downhill, so if I came into the last bit with anyone, I wasn't really going to be able to hold on to them to the finish. The second hour consisted of holding onto the bike for dear life as the wind picked up, gusting at close to 40 mph, knocking the bike all over the trail as we navigated a twisty-turney trail along the edge of the reservoir, right above a 200 foot cliff. Team Vertigo was not happy.

After I managed to not fall off a cliff and survived the final 3 mile spin-and-tuck to the finish, I found out I had managed to win the pro/expert category. This netted me $40 with which I paid my portion of the gas bill, my portion of the camping spot, and bought myself a Chipotle Burrito Bowl on the way home. All in all, a fantastic day in the office.

Season Opener in Brasil.

I was lucky enough to start my 2011 season on April 2/3rd in Ipitinga Brasil.
I'd been invited down to race the 2011 season opener XTERRA Brasil series race. My husband Brian Smith and I have raced between us five events with Xterra Brasil, and we love their attitude, professionalism, culture and atmosphere.
Xterra Ipitinga was held in an industrial town rich in minerals and agriculture. Ipitanga is home to one of the series major sponsors. The event XTERRA 'VALE DO ACO' translates to 'valley of steel'.
I flew from Gunnison, to DFW to Rio De Janerio and landed in Cococabana beach for the day. It was rad, this was my first time to RIO and its beautiful, the landscape is mountainous and stunning!

CopoCabana Beach

Acai: a pretty good reason to get Jet Lag to cure!

really the beach, from my hotel room, right there.

 CopaCabana beach was insane and to say a culture change from Gunnison in March is an understatement. I was just there for the day, so jet lagged and all took in my share of Acai, beach, ocean, shopping and dinner. It was like a dream!

Where am I? Is this sand?

Gotta shop if its right there: bananas for summer riding fuel, haviannas just because,and shorts for Brian to sport!

5am came around quickly the next day though and I met Camilla from X3M Xterra Brazil to fly to Belo Horizonte and drive to Ipitinga.
It was so hot and humid there and I was pale pale whitey, plus the town was bustling, My culture shock continued. After our arrival I quickly built up my bike and rode at 5pm. OVERWHELMING! this pro cyclist and triathlete does not have the skills or temperament to handle the Brasillian rush hour so I rode seriously back and forward on a 1km section commuter bike path for 40 minutes. Have to say the Numbers of commuters where impressive! Literally Hundreds.

swim venue

swimmers starting to gather  for the deep water swim start

Including me

Saturday came quickly and with it the XTERRA race. I was very thankful for sea level and good arms + legs. I  had a good swim, then took the lead on the bike in the triathlon and held it throughout the run to win XTERRA Vale Do Aco. It was really fun, and I was excited to win.

leading on the bike

Saturday night was social time in the VIP booth at the Xterra village. Found the aged Cuchaca and spoke English to the Portuguese speaking guests while the Xterra night run took place. Good times! ( note to self: need to learn a bit of Portuguese)

Aged Cuchaca: mmmm.

poor Pic of hundreds of night runners.

On Sunday I lined up in the MTB race. It had a great turn out probably much to do with the $1000 US prize money. There where 350 cyclists there for the race.
We started with a 10km neutral (scarier than hell) start through the city in the rain. What is it with me, Brasil and rain. I've raced my MTB ten days in Brasil and nine of them have been in the rain. Here we go again I thought.
The race was fast and furious being 98% Jeep road. I realised early on that it was April the 3rd and that I was definitely not fit enough to have two good days in a row. I held on to finish in 3rd. two minutes twenty back and with $600 for my effort.
Xterra Brasil do a great job rewarding their athletes!
Here's the weekends highlight video.
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The highlight of my MTB race was being passed by a one legged cyclist. He had permanently injured his left leg in a motorbike accident so had a modified crank that allowed him to cycle with his right leg only. ( have you ever tried this for 1 minute? single leg pedaling. It was both humbling and incredibly inspiring to me. He was so fluid and fast!
Thanks XTERRA Brasil and X3m for a great weekend. Till next time. Abragda!
Jenny Smith

Season kickoff in the snow

This past weekend was the season kickoff for team Alpine Ortho down at the Gallup Dawn til Dusk 12 hour race. Now one would think the weather should have been fine that far down in NM but hell no. The race started under partly sunny skies and 37 degree temps. I think that may have been the high for the day as gradually the clouds picked up and the wind started to blow with gusts as high as 60 mph. Yup, 60 mph. I actually had myself and bike lifted off of the trail once. I know I'm skinny but thats ridiculous!! The snow started flying at about 1 pm and the temps quickly dropped to right around freezing and the course turned into sloppy clay. They ended up shortening the race to 10 hours as a result. Us three solo riders Stew, Laura and myself had to call it a day about 7 - 71/2 hours in. A wise choice as none of us has enough body fat keep warm in those temps. Even so Stew held on to a fine 3rd place in the solo men 20-29, Laura was 3rd in the solo women even though her lap times were way ahead of 2nd and was quickly gaining on first. And old man Jeff managed to take 1st in the uggghhhhhhh 40 -44's. ( Can I say I was leading all solo's when I stopped? Is that too egoish? Well I was, so there!) What might have been with better weather but it was a good early test nonetheless. Until next time....................

AO 2011 is BACK!!!!!!

2011 is comin' in hot and a new and improved Team AO is out laying down the rubber. Brian and Jenny Smith, as well as Eszter Horanyi have been added to the team this year and we are geared up for a SICK year of riding and racing. We have the same super groovy local sponsors that we had last year in our Title Sponsor - Alpine Orthopaedics, as well as Pike Builders, the Go To Guide, High Mountain Concepts, Acli-mate, the Alpineer and Rock N'Roll Sports. We have been bolstered by the greatest ski mountain on the planet in Crested Butte Mountain Resort for 2011, and are supported by SRAM, Schwalbe, First Endurance, Crank Bros., Mavic and Squirt Lube as well as the Western College Hal-Lab. Alpine Orthopaedics is constantly throwing nothing but LOVE to the Gunnison Valley and they are supporting so many good things related to biking this summer in this bad-ass team, and several races and events including the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge. As a team, we can't thank our sponsors enough, we can not do this without you, and we plan on putting on a great display of stewardship and determination in a great year of riding and racing our beloved bicycles in your name!