6 November 2007 | Race Reports, Recipes
Boulder UCI Cyclocross and Pumpkin Pie
This past weekend was the big UCI double header in Boulder. Saturday’s race was at the boulder reservoir and the course offered up plenty of loose gravel and two sand pits. I was looking forward to finally getting a chance to start on the front line, too bad it didn’t make much difference. I was sluggish at the start and immediately lost a few seconds to Katie and Rachel. Then I almost took Kerry out in the first corner. I felt pretty bad about that, I was just riding crazy- I was that sketchy person I cant standing riding behind!
Racing at the Boulder Reservoir
After several near-crashes and lots of slipping around in the gravel, I finally got it together. After a few laps my legs opened up a bit, but I still felt pretty flat. No snap at all. After that first lap I pretty much rode by myself in second for the whole race. I was a little disappointed with how I felt, but I was looking forward to Sunday because I usually feel better on the second day of racing.
Sunday’s course was in a grassy park and featured several short power climbs and a long sand pit. I was annoyed at myself for blowing the start on Saturday, so my goal was to get the hole shot. I got the hole shot, but that was about all I got. I led the race for the first half a lap and then Katie passed me. I rode with her for a little while, but my legs were screaming and I had to back off. I spent the rest of the race in full suffer-mode, with each lap feeling as bad as the one before. My legs never opened up, they just felt crappy the whole time. It was a real bummer because I know that on a good day it would have been an exciting race. Nothing like a day when you feel crappy to really make you appreciate the good days! I’m not too upset, though- 2nd place when you’re not feeling so hot isn’t too shabby.
I’m looking forward to this weekend’s races in New Jersey. Hopefully the legs will be feeling better. We leave on Thursday and will be back for 2 weeks or so. Looking forward to seeing Mom and Bo, the goats and all the dogs.
In other very important news….I made a pumpkin pie today from a pumpkin (no canned pumpkin for me- I’m too much of a hippie for that…) actually I have never made a pumpkin pie WITHOUT canned pumpkin, so we’ll see how it turns out (it is currently cooling on the counter). It took a lot longer than I was expecting for it to cook in the middle so the edges of the crust got kind of burnt, but it still looks good to me! Also made a delicious dinner: soba noodles, broccoli and shitake mushrooms in a miso broth. It was super easy and the perfect dinner to warm you up! Here’s what I did:
- cook soba noodles until done (start the stir-fry while noodles are cooking)- drain and rinse with cold water
- saute an onion and 2 stalks of celery in a little bit of olive oil and a little bit of sesame oil.
- mix two big spoonfuls of miso in hot water and add to onion mixture
- add mushrooms and simmer
- add broccoli, simmer and then add soba as soon as the broccoli is tender.
- adjust the miso to taste and add more water if you prefer more broth
Soba noodles, broccoli and shitake mushrooms