Today I carpooled up to Bellingham with two other Zoka ladies (it's awesome to have a few of us racing!) for the North Shore Circuit Race. I think this has to be the toughest course I've ridden since I started racing last year. Damn.
The women's fields were scored separately but combined for the start, which generally always sucks for the 4s. We did 32 miles across 4 laps that had over 2300' of climbing. Since the first big hill was part of the neutral rollout we got the joy of climbing it 5 times. I swear I went up that hill faster on the neutral rollout than I did the rest of the race. I really liked the course...there were two big hills, one small one in the middle, a few mile stretch of road that had a slight incline and headwind, and one fast descent. Pretty fun!
I lasted with the main pack about 5-6 miles, did a rotation on the front, then realized there was no way in hell I would last at that pace. I looked around and about 5-6 Cat 4s were left. The rest had already slid off the back. I looked behind me and saw 2-3 gals shortly behind so I dropped back to work with them. We stuck together the rest of the race and had a great group. One girl was very strong on the hills but didn't like descending. Everytime we hit the descent we thought we had lost her but she chased back on up the hill. She said it wasn't a very good strategy -- haha! On the last lap one of the gals dropped off and I tried to chase the girl who was wicked strong on the hills, but ended up finishing just behind her. I swear I've never been so happy to see a 200m sign in my whole life!
There was some confusion sorting out the 1/2/3s and the 4s and I still haven't seen final results yet but I'm pretty sure I got a top ten and was somewhere around 8th. Sweet! Suzanne placed 11th and Yumay unfortunately got pulled right before the finish. She did a fantastic job though and definitely picked a hell of a race for her first road race.
Unfortunately I had another round of nausea with this race, mostly afterwards. The entire drive home I kept feeling nauseated. After we dropped off Yumay, I was heading home with Suzanne and very nearly yacked in the car while driving on I-5. What a great way to impress your carpool buddies eh? Oh man that sucked. Afterwards I felt fine. I never get sick so I have no idea what's up. Once I looked at my Polar data I realized I spent most of the race (2 hrs+) in high Zone 4/5 so maybe I'm just pushing myself much harder this year. Whatever the reason I better quit before I get myself tagged with a horrible nickname like Chunks or something.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
The weekend race report
This was a great weekend of racing and although I didn't get the results I really wanted, I had fun, raced well, and learned a very valuable lesson: never mess with race day nutrition or hydration on a race day!
Saturday - Independence Valley
One word describes this race: wet. I carpooled down to Rochester with my teammate Julia and the drive down was miserable. Cyclists are a strange bunch...driving hours to race 40+ miles in horrible weather. It's so much fun!
I thought we'd get there with plenty of time to warm up but that didn't happen so the hill a few miles in was the warmup. The Cat 4 women's field turned out about 24 riders, most from Group Health. The pace was fairly quick the first lap but I had no trouble climbing. The fast descent after the hill broke things apart. I'm small so I have to latch onto someone's wheel during a descent or I blow right off the back. I love descending but given the pouring rain and wet roads I gave myself some extra room, which was a costly mistake. I got quickly gapped from the field and was spinning 125rpms in my largest gear to try to get back on but it wasn't happening. I think I may rethink my compact gearing -- I spin out too easily on fast descents.
Once we hit the flats I worked with a small chase group of three to get back on but after chasing for what seemed like an eternity we could never close the gap. At one point it seemed we were making up ground but we just never got there. A few miles later five more ladies joined us, including my teammate Julia, which was nice. Two Zoka gals together! The 8 of us stuck together for the rest of the race and it was nice to have a good paceline through the headwind.
A few miles from the end three ladies broke off from our group and as much as I wanted to go with them I was super hungry and my stomach was queasy. I just didn't feel right and at the end I lost a few places because I didn't have the gas to sprint. Great race though!
JoAnne had another great day and got 4th place, apparently piping a Sorella Forte girl right at the line. Julia finished 17th and I came in 19th right behind her and a TGH gal. Not what I hoped for...but I can live with that. Had I pushed on the descent I probably could have stuck to the pack but I'd like to live and race another day in nice weather :)
Unfortunately one of our Cat 4 guys had a horrible crash at the finish and was sent to the hospital. Thankfully his injuries aren't too bad. I think he's missing a few chunks of skin and severed a tendon in his finger. Ouch. Aside from that bad news, Zoka had a great day with tons of top 10 spots in nearly all of the races.
Sunday - Tour de Dung #2
Sunday I got up way too early at 5:30 to meet another teammate, Kathleen, and carpool to Sequim. We got there and it was sunny and blue skies! It felt awesome to not have to race in rain. My shoes were still wet from Saturday despite hours of dryer time, so I ended up wrapping my feet in plastic, which garnered me some curious looks. Haha.
I wasn't sure how my legs would feel after Independence Valley but after a short warmup I felt surprisingly chipper. We had a very large turnout for the women's field (maybe 40ish?) with large teams from TGH, Starbucks, and Wines.
No matter where I line up at a start I always get pushed to the back during the neutral rollout so this time I got up there first and got to lead out the race. It was rather nice to be up front for a while! After a few miles TGH and Wines swarmed the front and since they had large teams I was happy to sit in and let them do the work. The pace got faster halfway through the first lap and I'm sure we shed a few people. The second lap slowed down towards the end and at one point we were going 12-13mph and everyone was getting antsy and yelling, "Hey, what's going on?" The headwind was very strong so I'm guessing it was an attempt to bully someone into launching an attack and wearing themselves out.
The third and final lap got faster as expected and around mile 30 out of 36 I started moving up from the back of the pack. I made progress but then my stomach got queasy. I continued with the nausea and it got worse as we went faster. I moved to the back of the pack and after another mile or so I was convinced I was going to throw up and pulled off the side of the road. I swear I nearly yacked on the follow car. I was pissed. I worked my butt off for 30 miles, felt VERY strong, and had convinced myself I had a great finish in me...then yack attack. Saweet.
I tried to chase back on but it was no use in that wind so I hooked up with two girls off the back and we rode to the finish. I'm pretty sure a change in my hydration plan caused my nausea the last two days because that sort of thing is completely abnormal for me. I think the new product is just not agreeing with me.
Oh well. It's still pretty early in the season and I feel really good. I'm much stronger than last year and I'm confident if I iron out my little cramping and hydration kinks I'll be fine. I only did one back-to-back race last season and it was in August after an entire season of racing. This weekend I raced twice, recovered well, and feel good today. That's good because my schedule is jammed up pretty good the next few weekends.
Saturday - Independence Valley
One word describes this race: wet. I carpooled down to Rochester with my teammate Julia and the drive down was miserable. Cyclists are a strange bunch...driving hours to race 40+ miles in horrible weather. It's so much fun!
I thought we'd get there with plenty of time to warm up but that didn't happen so the hill a few miles in was the warmup. The Cat 4 women's field turned out about 24 riders, most from Group Health. The pace was fairly quick the first lap but I had no trouble climbing. The fast descent after the hill broke things apart. I'm small so I have to latch onto someone's wheel during a descent or I blow right off the back. I love descending but given the pouring rain and wet roads I gave myself some extra room, which was a costly mistake. I got quickly gapped from the field and was spinning 125rpms in my largest gear to try to get back on but it wasn't happening. I think I may rethink my compact gearing -- I spin out too easily on fast descents.
Once we hit the flats I worked with a small chase group of three to get back on but after chasing for what seemed like an eternity we could never close the gap. At one point it seemed we were making up ground but we just never got there. A few miles later five more ladies joined us, including my teammate Julia, which was nice. Two Zoka gals together! The 8 of us stuck together for the rest of the race and it was nice to have a good paceline through the headwind.
A few miles from the end three ladies broke off from our group and as much as I wanted to go with them I was super hungry and my stomach was queasy. I just didn't feel right and at the end I lost a few places because I didn't have the gas to sprint. Great race though!
JoAnne had another great day and got 4th place, apparently piping a Sorella Forte girl right at the line. Julia finished 17th and I came in 19th right behind her and a TGH gal. Not what I hoped for...but I can live with that. Had I pushed on the descent I probably could have stuck to the pack but I'd like to live and race another day in nice weather :)
Unfortunately one of our Cat 4 guys had a horrible crash at the finish and was sent to the hospital. Thankfully his injuries aren't too bad. I think he's missing a few chunks of skin and severed a tendon in his finger. Ouch. Aside from that bad news, Zoka had a great day with tons of top 10 spots in nearly all of the races.
Sunday - Tour de Dung #2
Sunday I got up way too early at 5:30 to meet another teammate, Kathleen, and carpool to Sequim. We got there and it was sunny and blue skies! It felt awesome to not have to race in rain. My shoes were still wet from Saturday despite hours of dryer time, so I ended up wrapping my feet in plastic, which garnered me some curious looks. Haha.
I wasn't sure how my legs would feel after Independence Valley but after a short warmup I felt surprisingly chipper. We had a very large turnout for the women's field (maybe 40ish?) with large teams from TGH, Starbucks, and Wines.
No matter where I line up at a start I always get pushed to the back during the neutral rollout so this time I got up there first and got to lead out the race. It was rather nice to be up front for a while! After a few miles TGH and Wines swarmed the front and since they had large teams I was happy to sit in and let them do the work. The pace got faster halfway through the first lap and I'm sure we shed a few people. The second lap slowed down towards the end and at one point we were going 12-13mph and everyone was getting antsy and yelling, "Hey, what's going on?" The headwind was very strong so I'm guessing it was an attempt to bully someone into launching an attack and wearing themselves out.
The third and final lap got faster as expected and around mile 30 out of 36 I started moving up from the back of the pack. I made progress but then my stomach got queasy. I continued with the nausea and it got worse as we went faster. I moved to the back of the pack and after another mile or so I was convinced I was going to throw up and pulled off the side of the road. I swear I nearly yacked on the follow car. I was pissed. I worked my butt off for 30 miles, felt VERY strong, and had convinced myself I had a great finish in me...then yack attack. Saweet.
I tried to chase back on but it was no use in that wind so I hooked up with two girls off the back and we rode to the finish. I'm pretty sure a change in my hydration plan caused my nausea the last two days because that sort of thing is completely abnormal for me. I think the new product is just not agreeing with me.
Oh well. It's still pretty early in the season and I feel really good. I'm much stronger than last year and I'm confident if I iron out my little cramping and hydration kinks I'll be fine. I only did one back-to-back race last season and it was in August after an entire season of racing. This weekend I raced twice, recovered well, and feel good today. That's good because my schedule is jammed up pretty good the next few weekends.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Getting ready to swim
Looks like the weather forecast for tomorrow's Independence Valley race is looking spectacular: moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds 20-25mph. Woo!
I seem to remember a fast descent on this course last year where I hit 45mph. I can't wait to do that in the pouring rain. Isn't there a right-hand turn at the bottom too? Oh well, I'm carpooling down in the morning with at least one-two other people who are willing to share my pain. We're all f*** crazy.
Off to bowling...
I seem to remember a fast descent on this course last year where I hit 45mph. I can't wait to do that in the pouring rain. Isn't there a right-hand turn at the bottom too? Oh well, I'm carpooling down in the morning with at least one-two other people who are willing to share my pain. We're all f*** crazy.
Off to bowling...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
It's a beautiful day!
It's only 9am and I'm already worried it's going to be "one of those days". Let's see, I started my day by tripping over the baby gate we have on the basement stairs to keep the dog out. Luckily I caught myself but nailed my knee pretty hard and it's turning all kinds of pretty colors now. Saweet!
Then I got to work and my schedule looks like this. What the f***!? I think there's a 30-minute window there where I'm supposed to be in three places at once. Ahhh...the joys of being in management :) My little Dell laptop right now is straining under the weight of the Windows svchost.exe process. Wonder if I can just kill it? That should keep my day going nicely....
Then I got to work and my schedule looks like this. What the f***!? I think there's a 30-minute window there where I'm supposed to be in three places at once. Ahhh...the joys of being in management :) My little Dell laptop right now is straining under the weight of the Windows svchost.exe process. Wonder if I can just kill it? That should keep my day going nicely....
Sunday, March 18, 2007
I attacked!?
I declined racing at Mason Lake 3 since I figured it would be nice to get on the bike for at least some kind of spin before racing. The last time I rode was March 6th before I headed to Miami. I opted to go corner marshall the course in the afternoon instead, which was fun!
I opened my road race season this morning at the Market Street RR in Ravensdale. (Beware: long post ahead...) I would have much preferred the weather forecast I saw on Friday, which called for sun. Instead, we had steady drizzle and cool temps for the morning 8:30 races. Ugh. The turnout for the Women's Cat 4 field was large at around 30+ riders, mostly from TGH and WoW. We had 3 Zoka gals there: myself, JoAnne, and Julia. This was Julia's first race and she did a fantastic job finishing in less than ideal weather conditions.
Our race was very uncharacteristic and not the typical "let's all ride together and just sprint it out at the end" type of Women's 4 race. We had to do 3 laps on a 9-mi loop and the first lap right at the end of the neutral rollout was fast. There were several attacks but nothing stuck. Lots of gals were pushing the pace most of the lap. Halfway through the first lap I noticed that we had shed quite a few riders already. I was staying near the rear as it was difficult to move up with the nasty weather and large TGH and WoW teams.
Towards the end of the first lap I saw a 4-5 person break getting away. The rain made it hard to see clearly but I thought there were a few TGH and WoW gals in it. TGH was on the front of the pack slowing things down and I yelled to a few gals to chase but no one seemed interested. I figured with large WoW and TGH teams out there the break might stay away. I noticed I had a completely clear shot on the shoulder all the way up to the front so without thinking I took off and decided I'd try to bridge up. I have NO IDEA what the hell I was thinking. I've never done anything like that before. As soon as I was off the front I heard JoAnne yell "Go Zoka!" and she took off with me. Kick ass!!
I got close to the break before the pack surged and overtook me but hey, I helped get them reeled in so that was awesome! Unfortunately I burned my legs up and had some difficulty catching a wheel when everyone went past so I ended up slipping about 6 bike lengths off the back of the pack with two other riders. I sat back and recovered for a bit but when the follow car started passing us I thought "Oh hell no" and told them to grab my wheel and motored back up there. Note to self: Don't punch it so hard you can't recover!
The 2nd lap was pretty tame and everyone seemed content with a light pace. There was a climb right before the finish line at the end of each lap that kept getting harder and unfortunately right before the last lap I started cramping trying to climb it. I was in good position in the middle of the pack and stood up to get some more speed and my hamstring frieked out. Ever try to climb with cramping hamstrings? Suck! While I tried to work it out I fell off the back and despite riding another few miles I kept cramping so I decided to head back to the finish and call it a day. I was happy to see JoAnne finish up in 6th place, which is awesome for her first year!
Yes, I'm disappointed I DNF'd since I was riding so well but it's early in the season, I had a great race (probably the best ever!), got to reel in a break, and had tons of fun. This was my first time back on the bike in about 12 days so I can't complain too much. I'm definitely stronger than last year. I spent all last season just trying to hang on to the pack for dear life so being able to contribute to a race this time was a blast!
For some reason I seem to have a lot of trouble with cold, wet riding conditions. My muscles seize up and I tend to cramp despite being well hydrated. I'm guessing my 1% body fat isn't helping, but anyone out there have any solutions to this problem? It's looking like there's a good chance Independence Valley this weekend might be rainy as well so I'm all ears.
There were two parts of the race that were funny to me.
First funny: You should have seen the look on the guys' faces who were set to ride at 11:00am when all of us gals showed up back in the parking lot soaked, covered in mud, and shaking uncontrollably. I heard a guy from Hagens say "Wow...it looks bad out there." I even saw a few guys pack up their stuff and head home.
Second funny: When we lined up for the start a few ladies looked around and said "Where's Starbucks?" Once everyone realized there was no Starbucks team there a few people cheered and said "Yeah! We're going to have fun today!"
I opened my road race season this morning at the Market Street RR in Ravensdale. (Beware: long post ahead...) I would have much preferred the weather forecast I saw on Friday, which called for sun. Instead, we had steady drizzle and cool temps for the morning 8:30 races. Ugh. The turnout for the Women's Cat 4 field was large at around 30+ riders, mostly from TGH and WoW. We had 3 Zoka gals there: myself, JoAnne, and Julia. This was Julia's first race and she did a fantastic job finishing in less than ideal weather conditions.
Our race was very uncharacteristic and not the typical "let's all ride together and just sprint it out at the end" type of Women's 4 race. We had to do 3 laps on a 9-mi loop and the first lap right at the end of the neutral rollout was fast. There were several attacks but nothing stuck. Lots of gals were pushing the pace most of the lap. Halfway through the first lap I noticed that we had shed quite a few riders already. I was staying near the rear as it was difficult to move up with the nasty weather and large TGH and WoW teams.
Towards the end of the first lap I saw a 4-5 person break getting away. The rain made it hard to see clearly but I thought there were a few TGH and WoW gals in it. TGH was on the front of the pack slowing things down and I yelled to a few gals to chase but no one seemed interested. I figured with large WoW and TGH teams out there the break might stay away. I noticed I had a completely clear shot on the shoulder all the way up to the front so without thinking I took off and decided I'd try to bridge up. I have NO IDEA what the hell I was thinking. I've never done anything like that before. As soon as I was off the front I heard JoAnne yell "Go Zoka!" and she took off with me. Kick ass!!
I got close to the break before the pack surged and overtook me but hey, I helped get them reeled in so that was awesome! Unfortunately I burned my legs up and had some difficulty catching a wheel when everyone went past so I ended up slipping about 6 bike lengths off the back of the pack with two other riders. I sat back and recovered for a bit but when the follow car started passing us I thought "Oh hell no" and told them to grab my wheel and motored back up there. Note to self: Don't punch it so hard you can't recover!
The 2nd lap was pretty tame and everyone seemed content with a light pace. There was a climb right before the finish line at the end of each lap that kept getting harder and unfortunately right before the last lap I started cramping trying to climb it. I was in good position in the middle of the pack and stood up to get some more speed and my hamstring frieked out. Ever try to climb with cramping hamstrings? Suck! While I tried to work it out I fell off the back and despite riding another few miles I kept cramping so I decided to head back to the finish and call it a day. I was happy to see JoAnne finish up in 6th place, which is awesome for her first year!
Yes, I'm disappointed I DNF'd since I was riding so well but it's early in the season, I had a great race (probably the best ever!), got to reel in a break, and had tons of fun. This was my first time back on the bike in about 12 days so I can't complain too much. I'm definitely stronger than last year. I spent all last season just trying to hang on to the pack for dear life so being able to contribute to a race this time was a blast!
For some reason I seem to have a lot of trouble with cold, wet riding conditions. My muscles seize up and I tend to cramp despite being well hydrated. I'm guessing my 1% body fat isn't helping, but anyone out there have any solutions to this problem? It's looking like there's a good chance Independence Valley this weekend might be rainy as well so I'm all ears.
There were two parts of the race that were funny to me.
First funny: You should have seen the look on the guys' faces who were set to ride at 11:00am when all of us gals showed up back in the parking lot soaked, covered in mud, and shaking uncontrollably. I heard a guy from Hagens say "Wow...it looks bad out there." I even saw a few guys pack up their stuff and head home.
Second funny: When we lined up for the start a few ladies looked around and said "Where's Starbucks?" Once everyone realized there was no Starbucks team there a few people cheered and said "Yeah! We're going to have fun today!"
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Talisma conference attendees gone wild
Last year at the conference everything went wild during the boat cruise and I'm pleased to say that the trend continued.
Here's Justin at the beginning of the boat cruise before dinner getting ready to down his first alcoholic drink in about 8 months. He's looking happy! After dinner, and a few more drinks, Justin's lei turns into a fashional headband.
Before:
After:
I ended up playing "Alcohol Bingo" as Mike coined it....first starting with a Corona, then a glass of wine, then a Heineken, then a screwdriver. I was the sober one. Once the boat cruise finally ended tons of drunken people boarded the buses bound for the hotel. A guy behind us started screaming at the "smaller bus" parked to us. "Hey! Our bus can kick your bus's ass." Here's Justin with his new British friend who was ranting on the bus the entire way back. Haha!
Once at the hotel everyone rallied and hit Mango's, which is a crazy hot spot in South Beach with live entertainment. On the 5-block walk Justin practiced his fancy footwork by trying to river dance behind some people. They were scared.
Here's some blurry shots at Mango's, but hey, I was stuck with the Razr so this is what you get. Around 1am Justin said "I'm done!" and he headed back to crash. Marcus and I left shortly thereafter and I'm not sure when Mike got back. Justin is recovering....
Here's Justin at the beginning of the boat cruise before dinner getting ready to down his first alcoholic drink in about 8 months. He's looking happy! After dinner, and a few more drinks, Justin's lei turns into a fashional headband.
Before:
After:
I ended up playing "Alcohol Bingo" as Mike coined it....first starting with a Corona, then a glass of wine, then a Heineken, then a screwdriver. I was the sober one. Once the boat cruise finally ended tons of drunken people boarded the buses bound for the hotel. A guy behind us started screaming at the "smaller bus" parked to us. "Hey! Our bus can kick your bus's ass." Here's Justin with his new British friend who was ranting on the bus the entire way back. Haha!Once at the hotel everyone rallied and hit Mango's, which is a crazy hot spot in South Beach with live entertainment. On the 5-block walk Justin practiced his fancy footwork by trying to river dance behind some people. They were scared.
Here's some blurry shots at Mango's, but hey, I was stuck with the Razr so this is what you get. Around 1am Justin said "I'm done!" and he headed back to crash. Marcus and I left shortly thereafter and I'm not sure when Mike got back. Justin is recovering....
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Kickin' it in Miami
I just got to Miami late last night for a work-related customer conference. The vendor's conference here last year was so good there was no way I was missing it this year. I even convinced Marcus to come along with me this time. We got in a day early so we could have some vacation time and enjoy the nice warm 80-degree weather. The cat is with a friend, the dog is living it up at the Bone-a-fide dog ranch in Snohomish and the house is well....not around! Awesome!
I can't say the flight down was the best. We flew Delta and the crew was pretty lazy to say the least. We didn't even get any service until nearly two hours into the four hour flight. We transferred to another plane in Atlanta that smelled like pee, then sat there for nearly an hour due to a fuel paperwork snaffu. We finally hit the landing strip at Miami around 1am hard enough to wake the entire city. Yup...that kinda flight.
The hotel here is super nice, the weather is gorgeous, and the view is awesome. I'll take a few pics in the morning and post 'em. The weather here sure beats the Pineapple Express storm hitting Seattle right now. I am a little sad I didn't get to race this weekend, but hey, I'll be back next weekend!
I can't say the flight down was the best. We flew Delta and the crew was pretty lazy to say the least. We didn't even get any service until nearly two hours into the four hour flight. We transferred to another plane in Atlanta that smelled like pee, then sat there for nearly an hour due to a fuel paperwork snaffu. We finally hit the landing strip at Miami around 1am hard enough to wake the entire city. Yup...that kinda flight.
The hotel here is super nice, the weather is gorgeous, and the view is awesome. I'll take a few pics in the morning and post 'em. The weather here sure beats the Pineapple Express storm hitting Seattle right now. I am a little sad I didn't get to race this weekend, but hey, I'll be back next weekend!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
...and a new race season begins!
Today kicked off the new cycling season! Ahh...the first day in a whole lotta days of getting up at 6am, eating tons of food, and hauling bike crap all over the place.
Today was a kickass day! The weather couldn't have been better for the IceBreaker this year and believe it or not, I didn't come in last place or even close to it! When it comes to time trials I have no expectations. Last year I struggled at all of 'em and usually ended up in last place or near last place in the Women's Cat 4 field. I've been training hard this winter and I definitely feel stronger than last year, but sometimes it's hard to know for sure. I did pick up an extra 20-30 watts at the CycleU performance test, but wasn't sure how that would translate on the road.
I very nearly missed my start time today, which isn't like me at all. I made note of my watch being 6 minutes behind the official clock, and then totally forgot about it while warming up. I cruised to the line thinking I had lots of time and got there 30 seconds before I was scheduled to go. I got blasted by the ref...sorry about that! I barely got on the bike and was off.
My legs felt great today and the new aero position was surprisingly comfortable the entire ride. Usually I get passed by tons of riders behind me but I only got passed by one other Cat 4 gal and it wasn't until nearly the turnaround. Shortly after the turnaround I had a TGH rider in my sight shortly up ahead and can you believe it....I actually passed someone AHEAD of me in a TT!! Yup, that's DEFINITELY a first! About 2-3 miles from the finish I was starting to hurt badly but tried to keep focused, stay aero, and just crank through. I punched across the line with a new PR of 29:13.
Official results have yet to be posted but I took a quick look after the race and I believe I was 15th out of 33 gals. 15th!!! I'm so used to looking at the bottom of the Women's 4s that I was perplexed when I didn't see my name. I asked someone, "Am I on here?" They said, "yeah...about midway down." Midway? Cool!
Turns out I posted a bit quicker time than the 29:19 I did on this course at the end of last year's season. So, my first TT of the season is already faster than my peak last season? I can totally live with that! Usually I'm 3-4 minutes off competitive. Believe it or not another minute would have gotten me a top 10.
Zoka had a great showing today. Our Cat 3 guys got 2, 4, and 9 I believe. One of our Zoka gals, Marian, placed 11th. Not sure where everyone else placed but I can say for certain I'm about as ecstatic as I can be right now!
Today was a kickass day! The weather couldn't have been better for the IceBreaker this year and believe it or not, I didn't come in last place or even close to it! When it comes to time trials I have no expectations. Last year I struggled at all of 'em and usually ended up in last place or near last place in the Women's Cat 4 field. I've been training hard this winter and I definitely feel stronger than last year, but sometimes it's hard to know for sure. I did pick up an extra 20-30 watts at the CycleU performance test, but wasn't sure how that would translate on the road.
I very nearly missed my start time today, which isn't like me at all. I made note of my watch being 6 minutes behind the official clock, and then totally forgot about it while warming up. I cruised to the line thinking I had lots of time and got there 30 seconds before I was scheduled to go. I got blasted by the ref...sorry about that! I barely got on the bike and was off.
My legs felt great today and the new aero position was surprisingly comfortable the entire ride. Usually I get passed by tons of riders behind me but I only got passed by one other Cat 4 gal and it wasn't until nearly the turnaround. Shortly after the turnaround I had a TGH rider in my sight shortly up ahead and can you believe it....I actually passed someone AHEAD of me in a TT!! Yup, that's DEFINITELY a first! About 2-3 miles from the finish I was starting to hurt badly but tried to keep focused, stay aero, and just crank through. I punched across the line with a new PR of 29:13.
Official results have yet to be posted but I took a quick look after the race and I believe I was 15th out of 33 gals. 15th!!! I'm so used to looking at the bottom of the Women's 4s that I was perplexed when I didn't see my name. I asked someone, "Am I on here?" They said, "yeah...about midway down." Midway? Cool!
Turns out I posted a bit quicker time than the 29:19 I did on this course at the end of last year's season. So, my first TT of the season is already faster than my peak last season? I can totally live with that! Usually I'm 3-4 minutes off competitive. Believe it or not another minute would have gotten me a top 10.
Zoka had a great showing today. Our Cat 3 guys got 2, 4, and 9 I believe. One of our Zoka gals, Marian, placed 11th. Not sure where everyone else placed but I can say for certain I'm about as ecstatic as I can be right now!
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