Barbara Howe: Blog

Devil Mountain

2011-02-27T17:43:34Z

Devil Mountain or Hell has frozen over — one team's success on Mt Diablo

Since my retirement from professional cycling I've kept busy with other pursuits including a return to my roots as a mountaineer. Yesterday, as part of a highly experienced mountaineering team I summitted Mt Diablo in full winter conditions. I was joined by expedition photographer Tim Gasperak and Hawaii's top ranked mountaineer Marshall Minobe. We started early in Berkeley under adverse conditions that required the scraping of frost from the windshield of our Honda Civic expedition transporter. We quickly dispatched with the initial approach through Walnut Creek and circumnavigated the Diablo Massif in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the peak through the ominous summit cloud. We eventually agreed that the South Gate was the best approach and after paying our $10 summit permit fee continued upwards towards our destiny. Unstable weather conditions halted us two miles from the summit and forced to abandon the warm confines of the Civic. Donning full winter gear and taking a daring lightweight approach we headed towards the top with only cameras, lip balm and a small baggie of dried fruit. Any additional gear might have slowed us to the point of failure. We climbed through temperatures in the mid 20's, swirling fog and the occasional snow flake and reached the lower summit parking lot in high spirits. Determined to reach the top we rested briefly before making our final summit bid. We were greeted at the summit with a clearing in the clouds and a panoramic view of the Bay Area. After posing by the summit tower for photos and eating half of our dried fruit rations we descended by a different route through the forest of frozen trees and into the sunshine of the lower mountain. Our light and fast climbing style left plenty of time later in the day for a victory lunch of pancakes and a trip to the store for wine and cheese.

Please enjoy the photos from expedition photographer and summitter Tim Gasperak.

Silver in Bend

2010-12-11T07:48:46Z

Barb placed 2nd in the 2010 Masters 35-39 Cyclocross National Championship on Friday, December 10, nearly repeating her win in the 30-34 age group in 2009. By the end of the second lap, Barb moved up from fifth into second place, passing defending national champion Kerry Barnholt. Conditions on the course were windy, wet and muddy – perfectly suited to Barb's strengths. Taking advantage, Barb moved to within 8 seconds of Nicole Duke with one lap to go, but Duke proved her mettle and powered home for the win.

The women's 35-39 age group was highly competitive this year, and Barb's performance is a good indication of her fitness heading into Sunday's Elite National Championship race. Sunday will be Barb's final elite women's race before focusing on masters-level competition leading up to the Masters World Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.

For more details on Friday's Masters 35-39 race, read the story on CXmagazine.com

A golden day in the park

2010-11-30T19:18:25Z

It's been five years since I first raced in Golden Gate Park. In 2005 the final race of the USGP was held in mid November in very warm, extremely dusty conditions. I was getting over a head cold and had one of the best rides of my life finishing 4th on the day, 3rd overall in the USGP series, and earning an automatic nomination to the World Championship team. Much has changed since then – I've weathered illness and injury, I've gotten slower and faster – but through all of that, racing in Golden Gate Park is still one of the highlights of my season. This year the weather goddess, La Niña, blessed us with enough early season rain to eliminate all the dust in the park and create a nice mud puddle. It was even cold enough for frost to add a little bit of extra slickness to the dirt trails. It seemed like most of San Francisco was out to enjoy the sunshine – during my warm up I saw families walking together, people practicing tai chi, small packs of Segways, cyclists, and runners.

This race is part of a local series with call ups based on series points. Since I've only done one other local race I had no series points and subsequently had to line up in the fifth row. My eye was on the series leader Kerry Barnholt, but it was kind of hard to see her all the way up in the front row. The extra-long start stretch afforded decent opportunity to move up and I made it up to about 14th place before hitting the singletrack. Don't let anyone tell you that there's no place to pass on the Golden Gate Park course – there's plenty – you just have to see the space and move into it. Coming into the second lap I passed a few more ladies on the pavement and after the barriers caught up to the fast duo of Karen Brems and Sarah Bamberger. I hesitated when I got to them thinking it would be nice to rest, but then realized this wasn't my race. My race was further ahead with the leader. Starting on the third lap I didn't realize I had moved into second place. Tim yelled a split time at me from the sidelines, and it dawned on me that Kerry was the only person I had to catch. We were moving at close to the same speed at this point and the gap between us didn't change much for the last two laps. I was happy to finish in second and get in a good workout before the last race of the season before nationals. It was also fun to see everyone at home that I've missed all season due to travel.

Next week we head up to Portland for the final two races of the USGP and are guaranteed epic weather and mud.

Finally Cold in Ft. Collins

2010-11-30T17:37:50Z

Just when I was getting used to racing in warm weather, Mother Nature finally admitted the summer was over. It's OK, I like racing when it's cold and you probably won't get heat exhaustion when it's 34°F and snowing. Tim and I had another very early start to the weekend of November 12th when we caught a 6 AM flight to Denver. Everything went smoothly and we were able to stretch our legs at the Boulder Reservoir by early afternoon. This ride marked the first time this season that I had to wear anything other than a jersey, shorts and armwarmers. My collection of winter clothing from Blackbottoms Cyclewear finally got put to use!

The weekend's races were the third stop in the USGP series. New Belgium Brewing stepped up as a sponsor and the USGP organizers built a challenging course. Snow earlier in the week melted into slippery peanut-butter-like mud making the off camber turns extra tricky. I was excited for the mud because I'd finally get to use my FMB Gripo XL Pro tires in the conditions they were meant for. Although the course itself was fun, the venue doesn't get high marks in my book for accessibility. Getting from parking to registration required two course crossings and getting to the pit required three course crossings and ducking under the course tape. Tim couldn't be a photographer this weekend because I needed a pit crew (though he did get some photos of the men's race on Sunday). He did an excellent job making sure my bikes were clean and working all weekend.

Saturday's race started off with a large crash taking out several top contenders in the first few seconds. I was lucky to miss the crash and during the first lap moved up into the battle for seventh and eight place. For a few laps Katy Curtis (second at Canadian Nationals) and I traded places several times. She gapped me on technical corners and I would pull ahead on the pedaling sections. Everything seemed set for a top ten finish until I imploded on the last lap and got passed by a few ladies. My legs had enough and pedaling up one of the climbs it felt like they were filled with angry bees. Katy passed me on the finish stretch when I couldn't even stand up to chase, and subsequently I rolled in for 11th place.

Sunday I was ready to roll again – my bikes were ready to ride after a thorough cleaning after dark in a snowstorm. The course had dried out over night and some new grass sections were added making for a faster overall course. I snuck onto the front row for the start and in the first few seconds managed to blow the advantage. My body wasn't working right and I was stuck in slow motion for the first few minutes of the race. Racer after racer passed me and I slid back into the low twenty places. Halfway through the first lap something kicked in and everything went back to normal speed. By the end of the race I worked my way up to 14th – not where I'd like to finish, but better than where I was. To make up for a not-so-good race, I got to hang out with my cousin, his wife and their three little girls, and spectate the men's race.

It was a tough weekend and I looked forward to some time at home to rest, train and prepare for the last few races of the season.

Cross at the Greek!

2010-11-17T17:39:30Z

One of the my favorite aspects of cross is that you don't need much space to hold a race. This means that races can be in urban areas making them accessible to more people. Recently Tim and I headed to the biggest urban area on the west coast – Los Angeles – for a weekend of UCI racing. Dorothy Wong, the tireless promoter of the SoCal Cross Prestige Series pulled off the historic first 'cross race ever within Los Angeles city limits. The race was held in Griffith Park, the largest municipal park with urban wilderness in the US. Amongst other things the park houses the Greek Theater, the Griffith Observatory (Rebel Without a Cause was shot there in 1955) and it has great views of the famous Hollywood sign. Thanks to a 6:30am start in Berkeley, Tim and I arrived at the venue with plenty of time to ride up the hill and gawk at the Hollywood sign. We also got a chance to navigate the course sans course tape, which is no easy feat.

Saturday morning was sunny, clear and balmy with a 30% chance of rain. The last bit was puzzling since the only cloud I could see in the sky was the merest wisp of a mare's tail. The weather played a good trick and within an hour the entire area was completely overcast – but being Southern California with perfect weather it remained a balmy 68°F and dry. The women's field, though not large, had some fast ladies including Sue Butler, Kathy Sherwin, Devon Haskell and Kari Studley. I wasn't super speedy off the line and then bobbled the sand pit on the first lap. (Sorry to all the ladies that I messed up on the first lap.) A few laps in I found myself leading Coryn Rivera around the course, someone whom I didn't want to sprint. My legs felt great and with the help of my Southern California Filipino fan club – "The Flips" (their words, not mine!) – I managed to drop Coryn on the bumpy turns and roll in for fourth place.

My goal for Sunday was to clear the sand pit every lap and move up a step on the podium. Mission accomplished: as you can see from Tim's pictures I was moving pretty fast. Joking aside I felt great – the second half of the season is going much better than the first half and I plan to continue on this trajectory through Nationals.

I'd like to thank Dorothy Wong for having the vision to put on a race in a very urban place. The course was great, the access was easy and it wasn't a bad drive for us. I'd also like to thank our host family, Rick and Jan Babington. We met them through a Socal High School mountain biking connection. For those of you who don't know about high school mountain biking, check out NICA. The league started in Northern California and there are now five states with their own leagues.

Boulder

2010-11-07T18:31:00Z

What better way to start a race weekend than a 4:30am trip to the airport. That's how Tim and I started our trip to Boulder, the benefit is that there's absolutely no traffic at that uncivilized hour. I like racing in Colorado because the flights are cheap, it's only one time zone away, the racing is fun and I get to visit friends and relatives who live there. I don't like racing there because the altitude makes lots of things (like breathing, recovering and sleeping) hard. Since the good outweighs the bad I keep going back to Colorado to race. We had an easy drive up to Boulder and unlike last year there was no snow on the ground and temperatures were in the mid 70's. Not bad for the end of October. Saturday's race at the Boulder Reservoir was fast, dusty and bumpy. This was my first race back after being sick and it hurt. I started off slowly, got caught in every bottleneck and hung on for dear life to finish in in the final money spot. I seriously considered quitting racing after this race, not because I finished poorly but because I felt so bad while racing. I just wasn't having fun out there. Not all was bad though, Danica, the world's cutest two year old cheered for me and I got to see Jen Tilley and Shannon Gibson, former teammates from Velo Bella.

Sunday was a better day, not just because it was Halloween and not because we were racing at a mall but because my body was working again and I felt like a bike racer! Halloween brings out the holiday spirit in me in the form of sparkly kitten ears taped to my helmet. These particular ears have made regular appearances at Halloween races since their debut in Gloucester in 2004. The only other Elite woman to take Halloween seriously was Wendy Simms. Her Nancy Kerrigan figure skating outfit made my helmet decoration seem inadequate. For once a crappy start paid off, a large crash on the first grass corner took out several ladies. I was far enough back to jump off and run around the pileup. From there it was a matter of pedaling hard (thank goodness my legs were working today) and not hitting the ground too many times. Not many ladies made it through the race without some sort of mishap, torn clothing, scuffed knees, several DNF'S and even a broken frame attest to the difficulty of the course. I used the hilly terrain to move up person by person and ultimately formed a chase group with Wendy Simms and Mo Bruno-Roy. The three of us battled for the last two laps with the final run up deciding our finish order. Wendy's long legs and superior stride length gave her the advantage on the run up and thus was the first to finish in our little group. I ran as hard as possible knowing that Mo's running skills surpass my own. By turning myself inside out on the finish stretch I managed to squeak in ahead of Mo finishing in eighth place.

While traveling all over the place seems glamorous I usually don't get to see much more than the race venue, host housing and a restaurant or two. Because Boulder is only one time zone and a short flight from home I booked our return tickets for Monday afternoon. This gave Tim and me a chance to relax and enjoy a glorious fall day in Colorado. We met up with our friend – four time Danish Cyclocross Champion Joachim Parbo – for a morning hike up the Sanitas trail. It was really nice to be able to walk and talk - a far cry from the normal rushed "Hi, how are you," pre -race chat. We basked in the sun on top of the mountain admiring the view before walking into town for lunch. After a post-lunch pastry and tea I was relaxed and ready to fight my way through the airport and head home.

Big Trip to the East

2010-10-23T20:33:00Z

This is the third time in as many years that I've made the trip east for the Cincinnati UCI3 and Granogue weekends. My father has driven up from Florida each year to spend quality time with his eldest daughter and pit for her. Unfortunately the heat from California followed me east: Cincinnati experienced a warmer and drier than normal October. No mud pits this year! Mitch Graham, the owner of Biowheels bike shop, has done a great job growing the series. He's one of the growing number of promoters who matches women's prize money to men's prize money.

Friday's race was in Devou Park in Covington Kentucky. Last year it was the site of a muddy slip-n-slide race. This year it was like Southern California - dry, dusty and hot. I felt out of sorts after a long travel day and 90°F heat and my warm up was half-hearted. When you're worn out from work, training, and travel things don't always make much sense. Sometimes even making sure you've brought the correct clothing to the race is difficult. However, once you are are in the start grid waiting for the gun to go off, everything suddenly makes perfect sense. You are a bike racer and that's what you do! We took off in a cloud of dust and I wasn't even close to the top ten, but apparently I have mad dust skillz to make up for poor starts and mediocre mud skills. The loose corners reminded me of races at home and the bumpy grass felt just like riding in the Marin Headlands. By taking advantage of the misfortune and mechanicals of others and using my dust riding skills I moved up to fifth place on the steep, bumpy course. Dust riding prowess wasn't enough to maintain fifth place as I got caught and passed by the formidable Laura VanGilder on the finish stretch. I was still happy to finish in the top ten and even happier to drink 4 bottles of water in an attempt to quench the burning in my throat.

Saturdays race in Sunset Park was not one of my better races. I put a bottle cage on the bike so I could quench the smouldering coal in my throat and cool myself off as temperatures were again hovering near 90°F. Cornering finesse alone couldn't quite pull off a top ten: I also needed to be able to pedal. Sadly that ability was lacking and I spent most of the race drifting backwards and overheating. I believe that one should always try find something positive even in a disappointing race so here's my bit of positiveness for the day: the bike only needed to be rinsed off.

Sunday's course was my favorite – it lacked the ridiculously steep hills of Friday's race yet was not nearly as flat as Saturday's race. My throat now felt like someone was having a barbeque in it and breathing was becoming increasingly painful. My head wasn't into racing and I would have rather napped in the shade than warmed up and raced, but I was here to race so I went through the motions and lined up at the start. Maybe I'm onto something because it was my best start of the season and by the third turn I was up in the top five. I moved back a bit on the long uphill and sand pit run but the front group wasn't far ahead. They stayed tantalizingly close and my legs felt great – better than they've felt in months. When I stood up to pedal I actually accelerated and when I stayed seated and pushed on the pedals I felt power transferring to the bike. It felt so good to feel a little bit of my old self start to show through. Unfortunately this only lasted two and a half laps and the race was four laps long. I finished the day in ninth place, not exactly where I had hoped to finish but glad that my legs felt good even just for a few laps. Tim, my father and I packed up the van and got on the highway for the long drive to Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately this is where the race report ends. I had planned on racing in Granogue this past weekend but the barbeque in my throat turned into a full blown fever and head cold. I spent most of the week lying on my parents couch with a tissue box close at hand. While I'm super disappointed to miss out on great weather and good racing I did get to spend plenty of time with my family.

Hot-tober

2010-10-04T20:59:41Z

After the coldest summer in forty years in the Bay Area, we finally enjoyed a brief warm spell. Unfortunately it coincided with a weekend of UCI races in Southern California. I spent the week prior to Krosstober-Fest watching the Dubai-like temperatures of the greater Los Angeles area creep slowly downwards, hoping all the while they would miraculously plummet. I'm not a big fan of racing in hot temperatures -- living near the coast in a fog zone doesn't exactly prepare a person for temperatures much over 65°F. Once the forecasted weather dropped below 95°F, I knew I was headed to the heat in search of UCI points.

I drove down to the race with Danish National Champion, Joachim Parbo, but without my number one fan and biggest supporter, Tim. Our host housing was a beautiful abode in Pasadena overlooking the Rose Bowl. We got to ride the famous loop around the Rose Bowl and enjoy a warm evening on the patio.

Saturday
Saturday's race was hot and dirty. I started OK, and on the second lap I was sitting in third place behind Devon Haskell when I botched the mud pit and had a tangle with the course tape. I lost a few spots while detangling and wasn't able to make them back up. On the second half of the third lap I noticed my bottle cage coming loose (yes, I was racing with a bottle and a bottle cage), and to avoid a catastrophic disaster I switched bikes and lost more time to the ladies in front of me. Between the heat and legs that didn't want to pedal, I finished in fifth place. My travel partner, Joachim, had a much better day: he ignored the heat and a lingering head cold and won his first UCI race!

Results via CyclingNews.com

Sunday
Sunday started off cooler, breezier, and the course had no mud pit. I made a point not to repeat Saturday's mistakes and slotted into fourth position entering the dirt. I did my best to stay on the wheels of Devon and Teal Steston-Lee, but lost some time when Teal slid out on a corner. Sarah Maile and I went back and forth for a bit before I turned myself inside out and rode solo for the last three laps. It was hard work being alone on the long pavement sections and I pedaled hard enough to feel a little bit sick. In the end it was worth it to hold on to third place.

Sunday's results via CyclingNews.com

I'd like to thank Fritz for providing a great host house, Dorothy Wong for putting together great UCI races and courses, and Joachim Parbo for driving most of the way home while listening to Kylie Minogue.

Next week it's off to Cincinnati for the UCI 3 Cyclocross Festival.

Season Opener

2010-09-23T15:30:00Z

Thirteen hours is a long time to be in a car – that's how long it took to get to the first race weekend of the season. Last year's Star Crossed kicked my butt – I wasn't ready for the speed or mud. This year I knew what to expect and it was still hard. Like last year we had plenty of rain for the race making many of the turns and transitions slippery. Wendy Simms, my former travel partner turned Mom, showed up for her first 'cross race since early 2009. She doesn't seem to be slowed down at all by having a nine-month-old: she finished a close second to Katerina Nash. Unlike last year I stayed upright and pedaled as hard as possible and managed to squeak into tenth place for one UCI point. The new Hakkalügi worked flawlessly and it was the first time on my new American Classic Carbon 38 wheels.

Night races are fun, but I think they are harder on a racer than a normal daytime race. After a wet dark race it's difficult to motivate and do a cool down. You really just want to get out of your wet stuff and eat dinner. Dinner ends up being very late and if the race was messy, clean up and bike maintenance can go way into the night. Also, racing at night makes sleeping difficult – it's hard to wind down enough to fall asleep and I'm usually overheated all night.

I finished laundry and bike cleaning the next morning before Tim and I headed out to the Rad Racing Grand Prix. We left super early for my race, but just in time for Tim's first 'cross race. His race started in a brief moment of sunshine and ended not too long after when he was plowed over in the sand pit and then had someone run across his ankle in hard bike shoes.

My race started in the calm between storms and I concentrated on staying upright on some very slippery mud and running as hard as I could on the beach. The rain held off for one lap and then came down with a vengeance. It actually cleared the mud from my bike and made the drivetrain work better. I could see the racer in front of me but couldn't close the gap to her. In the meantime Wendy Williams was slowly closing in on me from behind. I pedaled so hard on the finish straight that I felt a little bit sick, but I held off Wendy for another tenth place finish.

Up Next : UCI races are back in SoCal!

Barb continues partnership with Ibis for 2010-11

2010-09-17T23:51:40Z

BERKELEY, CA - September 17, 2010 - Today Barb Howe and Ibis Cycles announced that they are continuing their partnership for the 2010-11 cyclocross season. Howe is an eight year veteran of women's professional cycling and is the current USA Masters National Champion in the women's 30-34 age group.

Joining Ibis in support of Howe are American Classic (wheels), Lazer Sport (helmets), Blackbottoms Cyclewear (team clothing), SRAM (drivetrains), FMB (tires), Crank Brothers, Betwixt (chamois cream), and Zealios (sunscreen). For the coming season, Howe will represent her own team, "Ibis and the Danger Twins".

"Working with Barb over the past year has been a great relationship for Ibis and we're looking forward to continuing it for the next year," said Tom Morgan, President of Ibis Cycles. "Beyond winning the national title last year, Barb is a great ambassador for Ibis and the sport. And did I mention the cookies? If only more athletes would come to us bearing cookies we could comfortably support more athletes."

In addition to racing and inspired by her volunteer work with the Berkeley High School mountain bike team and the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, Howe is working to establish a scholarship for a college-bound, high school cyclist.

"Creating my own team allows me to develop closer relationships with my sponsors," said Howe. "I'm highly motivated to build on last year's results and it's the support of my sponsors that makes this possible."

About Ibis Cycles
Ibis Cycles was founded in 1981 by mountain bike Hall of Fame inductee, Scot Nicol, in Mendocino, CA. After a short sabbatical (2002~2005) Ibis was re-established by Nicol, Hans Heim, Tom Morgan and Roxy Lo. The new Ibis offers 5 models ranging from the exciting new Mojo HD to the steed of choice for 2009 Master's Cyclocross Champion, Barbara Howe, the Hakkalügi. Ibis makes fun bikes for fun people. For more information, visit: http://ibiscycles.com/

About Barb Howe
Barb Howe is an eight year veteran of women's professional cycling and is the current USA Masters National Champion in the women's 30-34 age group. In 2005 and 2006, Howe represented the U.S. at Cyclocross World Championships, and she has excelled in road and mountain biking with top finishes at races such as the Nevada City Bicycle Classic, Downieville Classic, and was previously the top American finisher in the U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross.