Posts tagged the girl with the cowbell tattoo

by Molly Hurford I’m sitting in my room at a wonderful host house in Athens, Georgia, while I’m writing this. I’m down here for the …

by Molly Hurford It’s finally over … and while I miss cyclocross and seeing my favorite people every weekend, I’m a little thrilled to be …

by Molly Hurford “Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where …

by Molly Hurford It’s that time of year again: the halls are getting decked, I’m forcing housemates/friends/random strangers to watch The Muppet’s Christmas Carol whilst …

by Molly Hurford Cyclocross season is nearly over in the US, though in Europe, there are still quite a few races to be won. But …

by Molly Hurford When I was a triathlete (don’t stop reading because I admitted that!), when you finished a race and looked at your score, …

by Molly Hurford When I opened an email from my Cycle-Smart coach, the awesome Alec Donahue, about a day of skills training we were planning, …

by Molly Hurford It’s mid-season now, a time to re-evaluate, to reflect, and to make a list of every darn thing I’m doing wrong. Which, …

by Molly Hurford “We’re making bonds and relationships that will last a lifetime, not just 60 minutes.” When it’s one in the morning, there’s a …

At Interbike on Wednesday, you see beyond the glitz and glamour of carbon fiber road wheels and fixed gear glory. You feel the grass, you smell the dirt, sweat, blood, tears … you know it’s almost time for CrossVegas. You check your watch over and over again, counting down to the moment when you can finally start heading to the event you’ve been waiting for.

I have two of the greatest sponsors in the world. Not only are they both 100% invested in my racing and incredibly enthusiastic about it, they provide services like keeping my bikes in great working condition, making sure that I’m eating enough and if I ask nicely, even doing my laundry.

The past four days have been all about cyclocross for me. And I have to tell you, it has been amazing. Between seeing how “real cyclists” exist in their normal world to being at the Cycle-Smart Cyclocross Clinic, I have learned so much and met some really incredible people, again reaffirming why I love this sport so darn much. Now that I’m finally at the beach on my family vacation, I get to sit and reflect on the past few days and decide where I go from here. Cyclocross season is only a couple of weekends away, and I’m feeling pretty ready for it.

There are some moments that are undefinable. There are some days that are just great. And then, if you’re really lucky, there are weekends full of those moments, one right after the other. This was one of those weekends.

Last week, I went out on a ride after work with a good friend of mine (who also happens to be the manager for my team, Rockstar Games/Signature Cycles). We were just riding through an area that I had ridden in the past, and it was darn hilly. At one point, I caught myself wondering when the hills were going to end. Actually, I didn’t so much wonder as say it out loud, whining to Blake.

Train, stretch, eat, sleep, repeat. Such is the life of a racer in training, and I like it.

I’m almost done with road season for the year, thankfully, so it’s time to get cyclocross-specific. Between having a coach, having a new ’cross bike and having a pit bike being built up as I write this, I’m feeling pretty darn pro, and pretty darn prepared for the season.

Death Before DNF (“Did Not Finish,” for those of you who’ve never been faced with the concept of dropping out of a race) may be a bit extreme for a title, but when I was falling off the back of a race on Sunday, I contemplated titling this column “Know When To Hold ‘Em and Know When To Fold ‘Em.” Not only is that an excruciatingly long title, it’s also total crap in cycling.

For the past month and a half, I have lived and breathed cyclocross, as I took over as online editor for Cyclocross Magazine. And let me tell you, it is an extremely glamorous lifestyle.

Working in your pajamas is glamorous, right?

Game face, pain cave, race face … as cyclocross racers, we’ve heard those terms thrown around nearly every time we’ve raced our bikes. But do you ever stop and think about what they really refer to, and what they mean for your racing?

As May turned to June and as June is quickly disappearing, it’s occurred to me that the start of cyclocross season is actually not as far away as I thought. At first, this notion made me want to start jumping for joy. But then, it hit me just how unprepared I am for cyclocross season and just how big my “to do” list is. Like Mike Birner suggested in his piece on Building a Base in the Off-Season, I had made a list of what I needed to work on over the summer. And yeah, it’s a long list.

byMolly Hurford If you see me at a cyclocross race, road race or triathlon, the odds are good that you’ve noticed the big burly guy …

This week, I’m not entirely cyclocross-specific, per se, but getting an insider view of the pro life is definitely something that may be of interest for those who are interested in pursuing a full-time career as a cyclocross racer. Getting to be a “peripheral pro” for a week, as I would put it, was a whole new experience for someone used to working a solid 80 hour week with minimal time for training. As it turns out, these guys take rest just as hard as they take training and racing, and they certainly excel at it. So, this week has had me thinking a lot about what it means to be a pro cyclist in the US today, and if it’s something I could ever imagine doing, having witnessed it firsthand, from prerace meetings to the trip to the mall in search of gold chains.

This week, we introduced a new feature of the site called Newbie News, which is designed to help new racers learn some of the ins and outs of the greatest sport on earth, confront their fears of race areas like barriers, bunny hopping or dismounts, and to give riders a chance to ask questions that they might have been afraid to ask otherwise. (You know the saying ‘there are no stupid questions’? Yeah, that’s extremely true in cyclocross.) The Newbie feature is hugely important to me, because we’ve all been there. At some point, even Katie Compton was a newbie. And not too long ago, I was seriously new to the sport. I’m still new enough that I’m learning a lot as I post these articles, and it’s my hope that you’ll be learning along with me.

Meet Molly Hurford, Cyclocross Magazine’s new Online Editor. Every Tuesday, you can read about her cyclocross and editing exploits in her new column, The Girl with the Cowbell Tattoo. She’ll be looking at the content offered every week and mirroring her training and racing to reflect the advice from the experts … and then sharing how that advice turned out for her!