Papillion Twilight Criterium
July 14, 2007
Papillion, Nebraska

First off, it’s pronounced “PUH - PIL - YUN”, not “PAH - PI - YON” like most of the world pronounces the French word for butterfly. Weird, I know, but we are in Nebraska. Too much corn in our diets? You decide.

Pre-Race
Got to the venue about 2 hours beforehand. My husband’s Cat 5 race started at 4pm, mine started at 4:50pm. It was HOT HOT HOT. About 94+ degrees and the typical midwest humidity. The only thing that made the trainer warmup bearable was the breeze coming from the north. Oh yes, that will come back to bite me, won’t it?

Standing in line at the registration tent, we heard someone say, “Hey, there’s a Velo Bella here!” Turns out, he’s a Webcor rider (Ben) from California who is staying with family in Nebraska right now. Nice to be noticed. I feel like a rock star!

The warm up laps went well. Half the course was uphill, with the back side being a fast descent into a fast corner and finally a tight corner. I took the first warm up laps slow to gauge the lines I needed to make the turns. The last turn was the diciest. You had to swing wide over a soft seam in the road, then back to the curb to make it without whanging the telephone pole. The leader from the masters race had already tested the hay bale in front of the pole. Definitely do-able.

Race-Time!
This was a 40 minute Women’s Open race. Separate awards for the different Cats, but we all raced together. The start was uphill and I was in a bad gear. Duh! Didn’t think to check that!

The women quickly split into several groups. Then those groups splintered even more by the 3rd and 4th laps. The fast group of women seemed to hang out and work together. I soon realized, that the Cat 4 gals I was racing with weren’t going for that.

I was able to hold my own on the descent taking the corners tight and fast. I wanted to lose as little momentum as possible going into the hill. I lapped a few gals, got lapped a few times. I was just waiting to get pulled, about 10 minutes in I was in pain and wishing to get pulled. However, there weren’t that many women, so they let us all finish.

I got in my groove about 20 minutes in. My husband said I got “that stubborn look” on my face again. That meant that, barring catastrophic body or bike failure, I was finishing this race. I would gain a ton of ground on the downhill, but lose it on the uphill.

Results
2nd Place in Cat 4! Okay there were only 4 of us, but I was pretty jazzed. Plus I won the unofficial award for “Best Bar Tape”

When I came in my husband was talking about how impressed one of the Corner Marshalls was with my cornering and handling. Tight, fast, perfect lines. Sweet!

On the way back to the car, a different corner marshall (from the dicey corner), stopped me and complimented me on my cornering.

I feel my first crit went well. I realize I have a long way to go, but it was an encouraging start.

BTW: Catherine Walberg (2006 National Masters Cross Champion) was the winner of the Pro women class. Even after testing out the hay bale on the first lap, she went on to win - just like the Masters race. Maybe that’s the secret, the hay bale bounces you up hill faster?!

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Been a while since I made an update, so here it goes.

Let’s start with the most exciting news. Reagan won the age group for the Grand Junction/PTS bank triathlon. In fact, all 3 of us entered this Triathon. Mason has been doing great in the pool, but we never trained him for a start where you jump in. He made a great leap with everyone else, then came back to the wall to kick off like he usually does. Although he came out of the water last, he still tells everyone he passed two kids on the bike, and three on the run. He keeps wearing the kids medal they handed out. I also entered this one too. I was way last out of the pool, and I can only say it’s been three years since I have even entered water. I will say, that I think I made a good transitions, flew on the bike, and ended up 1/4 mile behind Reagan, finishing about 4 minutes behind her. Wow, I’ll only say that Reagan is more amazing then I thought, and I’m sticking to bike racing for now.

The 4th. We came back to Omaha early, for Jan’s birthday, as we do every year. The fried shrimp and catfish dinner is something not to miss. On the 4th, we let Blake talk us into riding around the lake until we reached a century, 100 miles for you non-bike people. This lake is 7.25 miles around, and follows every hill and bay. This makes it hilly and full of sharp corners. Add bunches of clueless kids, arrogant parents, and don’t forget that everyone else riding has no helmet - just an iPod. It was a mess. Reagan gave up around 45 miles. She felt fine, but her mind was not into fighting the battle of the moving obstacle course. Blake and I held in rather well. We took a few breaks, including a long one at mile 78. We learned that this course had no momentum at all. The best part of riding is getting up to speed and cruising along, right? Not the case. This simple, cute, suburban local pond ride was one of the most grueling rides I’ve ever done. I guess that most people do 1-2 laps. Not 15 laps!!! I was the first one out, and finished first. Blake was bonking hard during the last 20 miles. He headed back towards the house after mile 90, thinking he could ride around a few blocks to make up his missing last lap. I took the truck, which I had parked trailside full of snacks and drinks, back up to the house and went looking for him. At mile 95, he had called it quits and coasted back to the house. Full-out bonk. Ouch.

The next day, Mason and I went back to Jefferson. I got a bunch of work done on the crib. The Tyvek is done, the starter strip was on, and the first trim board was up. Then I got out the tractor and went to take care of our weeds. I don’t know if I knocked them down, or mowed them. After a day withering in the sun, we see dirt again. On Sunday, we got a late start. I told Mason I would pay him for each piece of siding he helped me put up. After some more prep work, we got 17 pieces up while working together. That kid is an awesome siding installer. I penciled in a mark on the end pieces, or he matched up against a previous board perfectly - every time. I even think he had a great time doing it. I think the biggest expense of building out the corn crib will be Mason’s bribes. I also filled one of Reagan’s 55 gallon drums full of water while in town and used it to water our corn and pumpkins.

The house. If you have kept up, you heard that we made an offer on a house near downtown Jefferson. If you read that, you also realized our need for our own space, just to have something close by, and free from parental units. The background is this: We want Two Barn Farm to be fun. If we wanted to get this crib done, we would work ourselves to the bone all summer and fall and focus on only that until it was done. No fun. My thoughts were that we could live nearby, and slow down a little on the building. It would not be a high priority anymore. We could fix the roof on the barn and preserve and protect all of the buildings first, then continue working on the crib. I think our point was proved the day after we made the offer and found the well to be dry. The well was one of first things on the list to have done. If it was still first, it would now cost us all of the cash we had left. Instead, we move into Jefferson, take care of what we own, and start using Two Barn Farm for what it is. We will plant our gardens, tend the worms, and have fun with our site, that is only biking distance away. I think the house is a different path to finding our dreams here. It might take longer now, but I think it removes a great deal of stress, and gets us a step closer. At least we are living in Iowa now.
We should be back with more construction work, all the photos, and some race highlights next Sunday/Monday time frame. Reagan and I are racing the Papillion Twilight Crit here in Omaha next Saturday night. She’s doing a bike race for payback for my triathlon experience. After that, we plan on being in Jefferson until the start of RAGBRAI.

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Our well is no good. Doh! We were really hoping that we wouldn’t have to drill a new well. But they pumped it out today and it didn’t fill back up. We realize now, that it’s definitely a good thing we are getting the house in town because it will take us longer than we had originally hoped to get moved into the corn crib. bleck!

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