Ohhhh, the agony of the Sea Otter Classic!

   First off, let me say that I actually really had a good time down at Sea Otter this year.  Thanks to the generosity of some friends we had a place to spend a night on the way down, scored a camping spot right near the downhill course, and a free festival pass for Kit for all 3 days.  And thanks to the race support I had my rear shock and brakes serviced, and scored a fancy new rear derailleur, all for free. Sure, this is just how it works at a race, but I'd never actually tried to have my bike worked on at a race before. That alone was worth having made a $50 donation to the Otter for the dual slalom race I wasn't able to attend!
   As for the race, well, my record of terrible early-season race results still stands (or did I break it?)...the field of 22 was enormous for a women's race, and contained 6 or 7 established World Cup racers, never mind the fact that everybody had most likely been riding bikes much more than myself all winter long.  The worst part of that was being sick for the past 2 months and feeling like crud every time I had a day off to do any sort of directed workout--and forget doing anything physical after work, not going to happen. Not helpful at all! So considering what terrible shape I was in, being only a second off of #21 was actually not that bad, and probably more due to my couple of mistakes on course than anything else.  The remainder of time between me and the top 10 was definitely due to a lack of practice and training over the past few months, hopefully something I can easily make up before the Pro GRT at Northstar this year.
   And now for something completely different, back to work on the pump track in my yard... It's going to be good this year, I can feel it! So if anybody wants to come and help me dig/revise it PLEASE do, I need some assistance to bring it to its full potential of radness!

Another Eastside Trip--or how to lose a goggle tan in 5 days!

  My last day of work at Alpine Meadows was Tuesday April 10, so Kit and I loaded up the van and headed down to the Bishop/Mammoth area once again. I only had until Sunday to play because I was starting my new summer job doing mosquito abatement for the county, but that still left enough time to enjoy a little vacation. We started with 2 days of sport climbing at the Gorge, getting on some new routes that neither of us had climbed before, but by midafternoon on Thursday it was evident that a storm was on its way in.

Locomotive at Laws Museum

   For a little side trip we went to the Laws Railroad Museum just outside Bishop and wandered around among all the old buildings and machinery, even getting to climb inside an old locomotive and watch a small rock crusher at work in the mining display. Lots of photos, so here's the album.
   We brought bikes this time so we cruised over to meet a friend at the bottom of the Rock Creek trail for some shuttles as a handful of snowflakes drifted down from the clouds. The trail was quite mellow with lots of pedaling, but flowy and fun, and very scenic following the creek down through sagebrush and volcanic rock of all kinds. The lower section after the final road crossing had some short technical rock sections, not too hard but just enough to make it interesting and enjoyable on a big bike. I can hardly believe I've been climbing in the Bishop area for 6 years now and had never ridden this trail! From now on, if that area is not buried in snow we will be bringing bikes down on just about every trip :)

The lower third of Rock Creek

   A friend in Mammoth had offered us a place to stay and some free lift tickets for a day while we were down there, so with the snowy forecast for Friday we headed over to the mountain. Sleeping in the van was actually quite toasty with a down quilt, and much more comfortable than sleeping on the floor in my friend's apartment, and we woke on Friday morning to 6 inches of light dry powder covering everything. Snow was still coming down as we got ready and skied to the bus stop--really--it was much faster than walking there! Not knowing Mammoth Mountain very well we just took some exploratory laps in a number of different places. Upper mountain was closed all day and the snow was falling still, so we tried to seek out the elusive "free refills". Chair 22 was supposed to be the goods, but we got there a little too late to find fresh tracks, and after a couple of laps went back to the main lodge side. Chair 1 had some of the best skiing all day with some short fun lines through rocks and small trees. Did I mention how much snow was there? 3 FEET! Thigh deep, and so light! That also meant it was very cold out there, and despite both of us wearing down jackets, we got chilly and decided to bail at around 2 and seek out some nearby hot springs.

The van and the snowy Sierra

   After watching storm clouds drifting over the mountains from a steaming hot tub, we went back down to Bishop to camp out at another friend's house and make plans for Saturday. Possibility of backcountry skiing was tossed around, but the friends decided to ski Mammoth resort, and we went to sleep figuring we'd see what the weather looked like in the morning. Gray and cloudy, not terribly cold or hot, and not the best conditions for staying warm climbing in the Gorge, so we went back over to Rock Creek and took the dog for a short pedal. Following that, we parked at the middle section of the downhill trail and pedaled up to the top for a lap as it started snowing (again). Kit was kind enough to offer to drive the van down to the bottom so I could ride the lower section of trail, and I took full advantage of this. It felt much smoother than the last time and gave me a little bit of encouragement that I hadn't actually forgotten how to ride a mountain bike!!
   Following the ride we decided to head up to Benton for some hot spring time at the resort, with individual campsites each having its own private tub. Unfortunately the whole place was booked for a wedding...major bummer! Next plan, head back down to Bishop and camp somewhere warm. Upon waking Sunday morning, we had no plans for what to do with the last day, but settled on climbing at Granite Basin, a randomly located granite dome in the middle of the valley near Mono Lake.

View of the White Mountains the top of Granite Basin

    Hair Raiser Buttress 5.9 is a 5-star ultra classic bolted sport route, 3 pitches of amazingly fun and sometimes sketchy slab climbing, and it looked perfect for the day. What we didn't realize is that Kit started on the first pitch of a nearby 10c, wondering why it felt a little hard. Then, in the middle of the second pitch, I connected the two climbs with a nearly 40 foot runout in between bolts...yikes!! No falling! I'm not usually a fan of slabby friction climbing, but at least this one had good hand and foot holds that felt secure, so I just tried not to think about the runout and kept going until I was at the next bolt. A third pitch with some tricky moves that Kit led, and we were on top with an incredible view. We had no clue about the inadvertent linkup until looking at the guidebook at lunch, and counting bolts on both climbs. That climb was enough for the day because the sun had moved off the mostly east-facing rock and it was going to be cold in the shade.

More photos from the trip here!

   Back to Tahoe on Sunday night, and I had to be up on Monday at the ungodly hour of 4:45 to drive to Roseville for training on my new mosquito hunting job. We'll see how this summer goes, I think it will work out well given the schedule and cool bosses who are ok with me taking days off now and then for travel to races. It will be nice to actually save some money and be able to buy a full suspension trail bike for next season!
  I almost forgot to add, the Sea Otter Classic is this weekend--I signed up to race DH and DS but thanks to the new job I'll have to miss dual slalom qualifying on Thursday and not get to race the finals Friday. Boo. On the bright side, it gives me a little more time to practice and get to know the downhill course which I am not very familiar with. Being the first race of the season and knowing a lot of ladies have been riding and training all winter, I'm setting my expectations kind of low and just trying to have a good time, if I manage to pull off a great run all the better!

A relaxing weekend on the eastside

   Bishop is a neat place, both Kit and I agree. Every time we make the 3 hour drive from Tahoe it seems like a world away, with an expanse of sagebrush desert sandwiched between the ancient White Mountains and the tall, majestic Sierra Nevada jutting dramatically toward the sky for 7,000 feet. In the low elevations of the Owens River Gorge, one can find warm sunshine and downright hot temperatures for climbing rocks in the winter.

Eastern wall of the upper Gorge

   Heading down after work on Friday night, we met up with friends and camped just on the north end of the O.R. Gorge, perfectly stationed for a short drive to the upper gorge parking area the next day. Saturday brought sun and warmth with just enough breeze to keep things from overheating, which was nice because we found a south-facing wall to begin with, jam-packed with fun and rope-stretchingly long climbs. I did 3 climbs there, all 5.10a/b, led two of them without too much difficulty. The one I didn't lead was the first, with a steep and awkwardly balancey start, after watching Kit struggle with it for a few minutes. That nerve-racking start led to an amazing lower angle finger width crack and tested my neglected jamming techniques. We moved back upriver to another wall with some old familiar climbs, took a quick nap in the sun waiting for friends to catch up, and then Kit opted to try an 11b which neither of us had climbed before but looked really neat. I remember eyeing it several years ago while in top climbing shape but for some reason had never tried it.  So much for the onsight, but at least I didn't embarrass myself by flailing horribly on top rope, as I feared might be the case. I kept expecting it to be harder, but just cruised through every move. The crux was a weird chimney that I had to wedge into for a few feet, but didn't get spat out as I had expected...another encouraging moment in my attempt at a climbing comeback!

I'm a pro belayer!

   That evening we went to see the Banff Adventure Film Festival at the fairgrounds in Bishop, a fun time but some of the films stretched on for a little too long. My favorites were both of the ski flicks, but those were only 10 minutes each, kind of disappointing. I'll be looking out for the full version of All I Can, was wishing for more after that one!
   When we woke on Sunday morning it was about 20 degrees colder and a brisk breeze came from the north. Brrrrr...instead of trying to chase the sun in the gorge, our tired fingers voted for a bouldering session in the Happy Boulders, which are much more sheltered from wind. And by "bouldering" I mean mostly laying in the sun, occasionally pulling my shoes on to try a problem and then realizing how much my fingertips hurt, compounded by the rough texture of the volcanic rock. I used to get excited about bouldering back at SNC when class trips frequented the Happies, but for some reason I just can't motivate to put all that effort into conquering a 10ft tall rock any more. Upper body strength is also still lacking, painfully obvious when I tried the Monkey Hang, a classic V2 overhang that I have climbed successfully in the past but couldn't even get my butt off the ground this time...

Crushing the Monkey Hang back in '07 

   In all, no matter what my climbing performance looks like, any trip down to the eastern Sierra is a fun time, especially with good friends and nice weather. I always feel refreshed and ready to get back to real life and whatever obligations lie in wait after spending a little time in this wonderful place...next time though, we're bringing bikes and checking out the Rock Creek Trail, a 5,000 foot descent right in the middle of the valley!

Crushed the Level 2 Ski Exam yesterday!

   Wahoooo!! Any doubts I had about passing vanished quickly, and wasn't the least bit nervous the entire time, after the examiner told me my skiing reminded him of a friend of his who was trying out for National Demo Team this year. That, however, was a major surprise! This was before lunch time on the first day; by the end of the day I had figured out I was apparently the best skier in our group of 6. Some of the others started getting pretty negative toward the end of day 2, because they presumably had started with expectations of being able to pass. I felt bad and tried to give some pointers on the chair now and then, but so much seemed to rest on prior preparation and knowing the expectations of the exam that I felt a little awkward being in that position. I was having a lot of fun showing what I was capable of doing on skis and had worked hard on all season, and was enjoying the further coaching we received.
   On my evaluation sheet I had exceeded expectations on all but 3 task/demo aspects, and had lots of positive comments on my bump and steep skiing along with some things to work on for Level 3 (still a ways off). I have to give a lot of credit to the trainers at Alpine who helped us prepare fully throughout the season, and other instructor mentors who took the time to ski with me and give feedback. After all, it was pretty obvious who had not been prepped to the same degree! Alpine went 3 for 4 on passing this exam, which was a pretty darn good percentage for the Level 2, and I am already making plans with my co-workers to study and prepare for the L2 Teach exam next season.
   With 10" of fresh snow at the mountain today I feel like a bum not going skiing, but my legs are in need of a break after 5 days in a row of work/skiing, and I have to go to work tomorrow... rest days are good!

Wallowing in the sniffles again, oh well

   I'm not entirely sure what's going on with my immune system, but it seems to dislike me a lot this winter. I find that a bit strange since I'm no longer living in a trailer in the back yard like last year; perhaps having a warm cozy house is a good incubator for germy things.  Who knows? It would be nice to finally have clear sinuses again someday.  In the mean time I have plenty of spare minutes for blog blabbering :)
   Pondering on my race schedule again: I'm thinking Sea Otter is definitely a go for this year, even though it seems like my first race every season is a little wishy-washy, maybe this will be the year to break that pattern.  It'll be fun to finally race with the pro girls, and hopefully improve on my dismal performance from 2010, when I botched a jump right in front of Kit and got caught by the winner before the bottom of the course.  The dual slalom actually looks like more fun than the pedally downhill that my V-10 is going to be a tank on, but I might as well race both just for experience.  I would really rather go to the Pro GRT in Port Angeles the following weekend, but money-wise that's not going to work out since traveling will cost a lot more than Sea Otter. Hooray for being a ski bum.  With 3 of the GRT races this year within reasonable road tripping distance it was a little tough to make this decision, but I might just take this season to do all of the different fun races I've always wanted to try like Ashland and Downieville, and save the gravity series chasing for next season (when I hopefully will have more sponsorships and a good job situation figured out).
   In the skiing realm, I passed the teaching portion of my Level 1 Telemark exam yesterday in the rain at Alpine.  Now I just have to complete some basic questions and get checked off on skiing skills and I'll be certified to teach intro to telemark lessons, hooray! If only I had more time this season to ski tele--it's so much fun, but between working in alpine gear and Level 2 Alpine training there hasn't been much free time to free the heel.  With my Level 2 ski exam coming up next Monday and Tuesday I'm going to cram in some practice time in the mornings before work, hopefully with some friends who can tell me if I'm on the right track.  I'm not too worried about it though, from everything I hear the ski portion is a breeze as long as you're decent, but the teach is where things get hellish. Thankfully I'm not taking that part of the exam until next season! Upon passing that, I will be able to guide guests into the sidecountry areas at Alpine thanks to my Avy 1 course, and see if I enjoy it enough to move more into backcountry guiding.
  Time to get off my butt and bake some goodies for the work week ahead, and make some more tea. Hoping I wake up tomorrow morning with a much clearer head!

Miracle March?

   Wow, last week was craaaazy! I think I was at Alpine Meadows every day for 12 consecutive days thanks to work, training, and the avalanche course.  Which was excellent, by the way.  Being an avid backcountry skier who has gotten by so far on common sense and instincts mixed with a small amount of knowledge, it was good to go in-depth on the specifics of terrain selection, snowpack analysis, and the ubiquitous human element.  An avy fatality in Tahoe the previous week was sobering to consider, but provided much good discussion as a case study of typical human behavior in relation to this year's sparse winter snowfall.
   The winter weather pattern in Tahoe, with the exception of last year when it snowed continuously from November to June, seems to consistently lack snow in December-January, and then the storms roll in with a vengeance from late February through March.  Now that there's only about a month left in the ski (resort) season it seems as though winter is here for a little while. Very funny mother nature!  As far as backcountry skiing goes, hopefully the season will go a little bit longer so I can increase my dismally low number of vertical feet hiked this season.  Or, if things do melt out sooner than normal, I can just go ride my mountain bike a lot sooner.  Either way it would be fine by me!
   Fortunately due to all this nasty rainy and windy weather here at lake level, Kit and I got memberships at the local climbing gym High Altitude Fitness just 10 minutes away in Incline Village.  They take pride in their climbing wall as the tallest indoor gym in Nevada, and have good route setters that re-set on a fairly regular basis.  Now that my shoulder is fully healed (minus some annoying crackly scar tissue) I can reach, pull, and push in any direction, aka start climbing hard! And that's just what I'm doing, trying to work back to where I was over a year ago leading 5.11 sport climbs and 5.10 trad.  The first 3 or 4 times at the gym were frustrating, seeing moves I should make and then not being able to actually do them from lack of strength, but last night felt like a breakthrough when I was able to complete a 5.11a on lead without falling! I am amazed and encouraged by how quickly strength is coming back--luckily technique never goes away or I'd be a lot farther behind.
   I am excited for climbing outdoors again this summer with Kit and all my other friends, getting back to pushing my boundaries to a new level.  Of course this all has to happen in between riding and racing my bike during free time, but luckily I feel like climbing is an excellent complement to mountain biking, especially downhill which requires so much upper body/core strength and balance.  So much that I'm going to keep it as a main part of my alternative "training" plan year-round.  Sure, I could be lifting weights too, but until I have a personal trainer telling me what to do this is a lot more fun. I'm lifting my own body weight--see?  If any mountain biker girls out there in internet land are interested in trying rock climbing just give me a holler!!

Back to business as usual

Starting on Friday, things got a little crazy again in Tahoe. A beautiful bluebird powder day always brings the folks out to the slopes, without exception, so I made sure to leave the house just a little bit earlier than usual to avoid getting caught in traffic. Little did I know that I barely missed a huge backup by only a few minutes--an instructor that left Kings Beach 10 minutes after I did wound up barely making it to lineup at 10. Yikes! Nobody expected that!
Aside from missing traffic, my other goal was to be in line early for the lift opening so as to maximize my pre-teaching powder runs. It worked on all counts, and I had a grand 3 runs before all the crowds really hit. Then, off to teach the beginner class! Turns out I only had one student for the day so that made life really easy. She even got so worn out that she quit early...well, I did explain that doing "just one more run" when you're beat can lead to injury...so I don't blame her. Skiing uses all kinds of new muscles that can tire out easily with the inefficient movements of a beginning skier.
3 PM and I'm off, what to do next but go for a hike? One of my favorite sidecountry stashes beckoned, hopefully still reasonably untracked, so I shouldered my skis and plodded onward. Caught up with a group of guys who were going out that way and asked if I could tag along just for safety's sake, so we all headed out together. It made for the best run of the day, as all 5 of us managed to find untracked lines through the deep fluffy powder! Satisfied with the day's finale I headed back to the locker room just in time for the evening CPR class I had signed up for. 4 hours of classroom learning ahead of me, I snacked and settled in to refresh my mind on such an important lifesaving procedure.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of teaching mainly kids in private lessons; mostly fun, sometimes a little trying. This morning I went to Level 2 ski training at Alpine--countdown is 3 weeks to the exam and I feel just about ready (if I can find some decent skis to use for the exam). Tomorrow through Thursday I'll be increasing my avalanche safety knowledge in an Avalanche 1 course offered to us ski instructors at a greatly discounted rate. Hooray!! Stay tuned for updates on the experience!