Penguins in the News!

Check out the video documentation of Winter Wild at:

http://www.wmur.com/chronicle/26654684/detail.html

Highlights: Repeated glimpses of George cresting the hill, Jesse running by at 4:40, Alix & Amber running at 5:08 and the interview with Annabelle at 5:13.

Go Penguins!

Winter Wild: Whaleback

Sigh. With the cyclocross season long over, my quads are starting to forget what it feels like to work. Duh du du duhhhhhhhh.... Winter Wild series to the rescue!!


If you haven't heard of it, the Winter Wild is a set of 4 races at different mountains around the area. The goal for each race is to start at the bottom, race up to the top and THEN back down! It's a simple timed race with prizes for different categories (based on weight of transportation you use: feet, skate skis, telemark/snowboard, etc) and age. It's barely competitive, though - everyone is there to just have a good time and get up to to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise. The races have to start before the ski lifts open, so they go off at 7AM. Makes for kind of a cold, dark start to a Saturday, but what could be more invigorating??


The January 15th race was at Whaleback, an adorable mountain known for it's night skiing, snow jumps and terrain park. There was a decent turnout of 40-50 people and sub-zero temperatures. The course had been altered from the previous year, making it much steeper and more intimidating, though only 2 miles in length. After an en masse start, we were off! Jesse and George were towards the front of the group, running with their snowboards. They were out of sight within a few minutes. Amber and I started towards the back, as she was just running the whole thing and I was pulling Annabelle in the Chariot. Boy, was that tough. Without Amber pushing, I'm not sure I could have pulled Annabelle the whole way. While we continued to pass other competetors, at one point it was so steep that we were continously slide-stepping to keep from slipping. With both of us there, though, we made it through and to the top as the sun was just peeking over the horizon. Gorgeous! Then, we began our lazy jog back down the mountain as the skiers we passed whizzed by.


The times coming in were fast, with the skate skiers doing the best (no surprise there). George blew away his category & age group by over a minute(!) and Jesse came in second. Good work, Penguins! I think Amber & I won the Team Push-Pull division, although we didn't get a cup for it. The WMUR tv crew got a few good shots of Annabelle, too, so I'll see if we can find that video and post. All in all, an awesome event with a fun community spirit. The next race is this weekend (Feb 5th) at Ragged. Takers?

MTB ride & trail run this sunday

There is a 4.5 trail running race, mountain bike fun ride, trail walk and Kid's running race at Moody Park (in Claremont) this Sunday. it's a benefit for Adam Maki to raise funds for pancreatic cancer treatment:

http://www.whofish.org/events/Claremon/NH/All_Out_For_Adam_Benefit_Event_At_Moody_Park_December_5th/971237.aspx


Thought it could be fun... haven't mtn biked since the 50 and its still hunting season so there aren't many places to mtn bike.   And haven't ever mtn biked with most of the team so let me know if you are interested!  If you need to borrow a mtn bike let us know.

Plus its a good cause.  Spread the word...

Turkey Trotting

Feeling left out for not partaking in any cross racing this fall, I was compelled to fly the Penguin colors at a couple of Turkey Trots! The first was the Brattleboro Turkey Trot, a 5k, which I ran on Thanksgiving Day with my mom (picture of us above) and friend Kim who we were surprised to bump into two hours south! The course was an out and back with live turkeys at a farm on the side of the road and a paper turkey that someone had made and displayed on a stool at the end of their driveway. Participants bring an item, usually baked good/other food/homemade craft, and put it in the back of a truck when they sign in. Once runners have crossed the finish line, they head to the truck and pick something out as a prize. My most memorable item from years past is a homemade slingshot - its whereabouts are completely unknown at this point!

The next was the Turkey Lane Turkey Trot, a 4.25mi race on Sunday to benefit the Hinesburg Land Trust. My mom had been trying to convince myself and my sister's boyfriend to run in this race for a few weeks, but ended up being ill and I had to go it alone as my sister's boyfriend is quite the serious runner (like he actually wanted to get there early to warm up!) and way ahead of me. I did, however, end up winning my age group since there wasn't a huge turnout and got a gift certificate for "a mug with coffee and a donut" with the mug part crossed off...such is life! Let the off season continue!!

Last Hurrah at Baystate

Saturday's Baystate race didn't have to be the final race of the season, but after a gluttonous two days before the race I'm happy to begin hibernation. Who knows I may boot n' rally for the NE Championships, still it was nice to have a beer with John after the race, clink bottles and say "good season". And then extend the gluttony with a stop at Fat Frank's in Bellows Falls, VT.

I've got to hand it to John. He is the stalwart of the team, making it to 15 plus races this year. So when I talked to him midweek about going on Saturday, he was game. We cruised down in the Honda Element, the perfect race vehicle, and made it to Sterling, MA with a couple hours to spare.

The weather was nippy, 35 or so with a cold, cold wind, but plenty of sunshine that warmed up certain spots. I did my warm up on some beautiful roads around the Chocktney Jr. High, the site of the race. This was the first race I had the "what to wear" debate. I opted for knee and arm warmers, but no hat. I dropped gear and headed for the staging area. Greg Brown and John were there doing some prerace shivering.

Call ups began: third row! All thanks to the Maine pilgrimage (I scored my Verge points at Downeast). Alan Atwood even called my full name! I'm used to feeling anonymous at Verge races, just a number pinned to my body, and I usually can't remember what that number is. So I took my spot in the third row. There were openings in the second row and I should have been more aggressive and grabbed the slot. Someone beat me to it. Actually the kid who missed his call up tried weaseling in, but got rejected by AA and other riders. I do like the organization of Verge races. No scrum to the line, so less danger right?

Well, except at Baystate you have to race a lap and half around a dirt track. A "parade lap" it's called. More like a dangerous dirt crit with ruts and riders who don't necessarily have experience riding crits. Full lap around and I'm tucked behind a junior on the left side. WHAM! Next image in my view is an upside down junior (I believe) and an upside down bike elevated about three feet in the air. Rubber side up! The bike goes flying towards me as I slide right, I see the whole crash and yet a moment later I'm still riding. How did that happen? Greg Brown wasn't so lucky. He had been right behind me and went into the downed rider and took a bike off the back from the guy behind him (I learned this after, I thought I had beaten him fair and square, but as long as Greg isn't hurt I'm going to chalk up the W anyhow).

And finally we start racing cyclocross. I love this course (except for the scary beginning). Early on I went hard, trying to glue myself to some nemeses. But the gluttonous two days or the end of the season caught up to me. I died a few little deaths and started going backwards after two laps. I tried to be tactical and for the most part I was after that. My handling skills give me an advantage, but my power does not. So each time we went around the "parade lap" I tried to tuck in behind someone. Still that was tough. I usually gained ground on people through the circuitous stuff and there was just enough chicanes and off camber stuff to get me moving forward again. Someone was letting us know where we were placed on the run/ride up chicane thingy. This was very helpful. I like this motivation more than my wife screaming at me to "move up" and "get your ass up there George!". Instead of thinking of divorce proceedings I just thought about getting some spots back. He let me know I was 34th. Okay, not horrible, but time to move it.

I returned to smart racing. Spinning every chance I could and hitting the brakes the least I could. By the last lap and a half I was with a Cl Noonan rider and a Rockstar rider. A Colavita guy was just up the road. The Cl Noonan rider attacked and got a little gap, he was thinking of getting up to Colavita, but that was a long lonely trek on the back stretch, the windiest and straightest section. I gained ground on Cl Noonan on the off camber rollers. I caught him before the left hand turn at the edge of the field on the last lap. He hadn't caught Colavita. He slowed way down on the straight before entering the dirt track. But I didn't take the bait. This was my race. I just loped along behind him. Then the turn came onto the finishing straight. I hit it hard. The cramps came. But a thought flashed through me: only I know I'm cramping. Break the will of others, not my own. It was a longish sprint since starting from 6mph, maybe 100m. It wasn't looking good, but then a gap came and I had it. I rolled over the line alone. Small victories. 29th place out of 81 starters.

I watched Greg and John finish up. John caught several people towards the end of the race. We rolled back to the Element, got dressed and opened the beer. We drove back north, stopping for dogs at Fat Frank's. John went with the chili sausage, he'll need some space the next couple days.. I had sweet Italian. When we got back up to the Ascutney park and ride my car was covered in snow. A symbolic note to the end of the bike season.

Northeast Velo

The day in Londonderry, NH was crisp and cool but adrenaline kept the assembled cyclists warm. At a glance, the course looked interesting. It included a giant outdoor velodrome and BMX track with tabletops and loopty-loops. Amber and I quickly suited up so we could preview the course before our 10AM start time. As our camera died after one picture, I had to get creative with the graphics:

1.) Start/finish on the slanted track of the velodrome.

2.) The first barrier section, after a winding loop in the infield.

3.) The second barrier section came up after a few muddy turns. Then, a sharp turn up over the pavement.

4.) After leaving the pavement, there was a quick muddy hill that could jump up to bite you if you weren't careful. Then onto a gravel road up a graded incline into the woods.

5.) After a hairpin turn, it was down a sharp incline into a few inches of mud. Woooo keep that front tire straight! Then hammer on the brakes to make the sharp right hand turn instead of colliding with some rather large trees.

6.) Snake around the trees and roots and roll down and over a wooden bridge over the stream. Then up a short steep section (start the heart-rate climbing!) and a few paces of continued climbing before dropping quickly down to a really loose, sketchy hairpin turn.

7.) Come out of that hairpin turn with as much momentum as you can, cause then you hit a medium uphill section with a rock marking the middle. If you can ride past the rock, you're golden. Otherwise, you're runnin'. Heart-rate skyrocketed at this point. Oy.

8.) Try to control your breathing as you snake your way between rocks and roots on the cruising single-track. Then pop out of the woods while navigating another sketchy downhill turn.

9.) Try to keep your momentum while staying vertical through the deep pellets and around the PortiPoty (a fantastic scent just when you need full breath of oxygen).

10.) Then roll into the BMX part. AWESOME. All packed sand. There were 2 banked corners, 4 or 5 tabletops and a loopty-loop section. If you knew how to ride these and throw your weight around, this was a blast!!!

11.) Then drop back down the steep slant of the velodrome corner to start another lap. This was where you could really put the hammer down -- and it was good if you had glasses here because all of that mud and dirt was flung off the tires at supersonic speeds.

In summary, this course was a perfect blend of fast roadie sections and tricky handling sections. It was a shorter loop than other courses, so you could do it 7 or 8 times in your race, but it was continuously changing so you had to keep on your toes to find the best line. The BMX area was a blast every time.

For the women's race, we had a decent gathering (25-30) because it was Cat 4, 35+ and the older Juniors all together, which meant there was always someone to chase or stay away from. It was my best race of the season (of course -- the downside of racing into shape is that you're just coming around as the season ENDS!), finishing 6th out of 16 Cat 4's. Amber worked on her bike handling skills and started planning her assault for next year... (watch out ladies!)... The boys had a great 3/4 race and looked strong throughout.

As always, the Penguin team kits and bikes were bangin' and making us all look good. Go Flying Penguins!!!

A compilation of 2010

Amber, you inspired me. I threw together a mix of pictures and video from the Flying Penguins 2010 CX adventures.

Flying Penguins CX 2010 from alix norris on Vimeo.

P.S. Here's a shout-out to Raina for bagging the 2010 30-35 Women's Vermont State Champion title! Congrats!!!