Marilyn Ruseckas, cyclist

On June 27, we had a great time racing at Putney. Mike Broderick and Mary McConneloug (Kenda Seven NoTubes) were there and it was a pleasure to visit with them. I lined up with Mary as we were the only two pro women. Naturally, she beat me handily, but I still managed to beat the times of all the expert women behind us. I will also mention here that Mary beat all of the expert men, except for one!

Sunday, May 30th was the date of the Coyote Hill mountain bike race. Adam and I entered it restoring vague memories of the course from having raced there so many years ago. I remembered long, dark, earthy laps with many stream crossings, roots and rocks, and challenging hills. Not much had changed there, but coming back to the sport so many years later brings with it new dynamics amongst the competition. I am still categorised as a pro on my license, so I raced in the Pro-Open field with the Cat 1 women behind us. I lined up with three other pro girls, Mo Bruno-Roy, Linnea Koons, and Andrea Smith. Three of us were on Sevens and all of us were on titanium 26er hardtails with three, six mile laps ahead of us.

At the start, we hit the first hill. Andrea reached the top and entered the singletrack first with Mo right on her wheel. I was next, happy enough that they were in sight let alone not last. In the woods, Linnea caught up to me, then dropped back while I bridged my way up to the leaders. Due to some fumbling on their part in the technical sections, I managed to get by and had the lead for the rest of the lap with Mo right on my wheel. She went by just before the next lap and I held on to second place for much of the second lap. Linnea bridged up looking and sounding strong, but it wasn't until the start of the last lap that Andrea caught and passed me. I finished up fourth and we were all within five minutes of each other.

I am happy with this result. My racing age is now 51 and I still beat the times of all the expert women behind us. It was a pleasure to have interaction within the race, not just getting shelled out the back and riding the whole course in no-man's land.

Thanks to Seven Cycles, Stan's NoTubes, the promoters of the race series, and to Tom and Gabriela at Coyote Hill. It's a lot of work and the event was run very well.

Going to Belgium to race the Masters Cyclocross Worlds in January definately seems like the end of last season. However, it was in 2010 and I suppose it counts as the beginning of this season. I have never raced bikes so much in the winter until this year so I have a much better fitness so far this season than in years past. We have already ridden the local gaps and hills so many times that it's hard to believe it's still April.

Last weekend we rode our 'cross bikes in a Gravel Grinder put on by Five Hills Bikes in Waterbury. That was a fun ride, but at times it felt like a race for those of us who do race and tend to go hard. The dirt roads are coming around and that is encouraging because it opens up more riding options and gets us off the busier roads.

The weekend before was the Sugarbush Triathlon. That's the infamous 4-legged tri that is usually a run-paddle-bike-ski. Due to the early date, sometimes the weather forces changes to the event. This year, the ski was changed to a trail run due to lack of snow. The team that I ride for has been together more or less for the last 15 years. This year I rode the bike leg and posted the second fastest women's bike time. Local mountain bike pro Leah Davison was there and she beat me, fair enough, but our team smoked theirs!

The weather is really nice. We plan to go on our club ride tonight and look forward to some upcoming mountain bike races.