I didn't have as much fun as I had hoped this weekend in Methow Valley. Sure, I certainly had fun watching the races, supporting teammates, and enjoying sunshine and warm weather, but overall, I was a bit bummed.
I finished the TT on Saturday with a horrendously awful time that put me in last place by minutes. No surprises there really. The hilly course wreaked havoc on my hip and I could not get my heart rate up at all. It was strange to roll across the finish having barely pushed my cardio, but knowing I physically went as hard as I could. Hey, I had fun with it, cheered on other riders, and tried to take it in stride.
I started the afternoon crit but only raced two laps before pulling myself. I hung with the pack but had no acceleration, no pop, nothing, and it was clear the morning TT had fatigued my hip more than I thought. Sunday morning I woke up incredibly sore, so I took the day off and didn't even start the RR. I'm making progress in PT and after dealing with this injury for almost three years, there is no way I want to set myself back over a race I'm not even in contention for.
So sure, racing didn't go well for me over the weekend, but I expected that and I didn't travel to Methow to race. The disappointing part of the weekend to me was being razzed by some teammates about not finishing the crit and not starting the RR. I may piss off a few people by saying this, but believe me, it's really not my intention. I was asked more than once, "So how does it feel to come all this way and not race?" I was honestly a little shocked and a bit pissed.
I signed up for Methow way back in March not thinking my season would be derailed. Sure, I knew my chance of having a good race this weekend was next to zero, and I knew I wouldn't make it through all three stages, but I still wanted to go to have some fun, enjoy hanging out with teammates, and generally support the team. I was out there all weekend on every corner, yelling for everyone. I was at the finish yelling for ALL of our guys that rolled across, even Chris Hill who finished late in the day. I love the guys on our team, and they're all class acts. Maybe I took things out of context, but it really did piss me off and put a negative spin on a weekend that would have been a lot of fun.
I don't regret going because I got to reconnect with some racing ladies I haven't seen in a while, and it was good to chat with them. To be honest, I think I will start exploring some new teams for next year. I've been with Zoka/Cucina Fresca for three years and I love my teammates, but I'm tired of having no women to train with, no women to race with, and no women to travel to races with. I will get my hip back into shape and I'll be out there training this winter. I just hope to train with some ladies for a change and stop dealing with guys' bullshit.
Showing posts with label racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racing. Show all posts
Monday, June 16, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Indie Series Seatac Shuffle pics
Here's a few good action shots from the Seatac Shuffle last Sunday. Did I mention how much I love my new Kona?
Today I got shelled and annihilated at Volunteer Park. Yep, knew that one was coming and my only expectation was to hang for at least a lap, which I did. Yippee. Funny thing is that I died today after only 3 minutes in Zone 5. Most of VP was Zone 4. I spent nearly an hour in Zone 5 for the Seatac race and faired way better. Guess hammering my legs at the gym this week wasn't such a good idea. The VP race report to follow....
Today I got shelled and annihilated at Volunteer Park. Yep, knew that one was coming and my only expectation was to hang for at least a lap, which I did. Yippee. Funny thing is that I died today after only 3 minutes in Zone 5. Most of VP was Zone 4. I spent nearly an hour in Zone 5 for the Seatac race and faired way better. Guess hammering my legs at the gym this week wasn't such a good idea. The VP race report to follow....
Sunday, April 06, 2008
The Indie Series crit at Seatac
I just woke up from my post-race nap after the opening Indie Series MTB race today at Seatac. Yep, it was so good it required a nap. Awesome!
To be honest, after suffering at Budu's technical Black Diamond race in February, I lost some excitement for this new mountain bike racing thing. I'm really glad I raced today though, because it was fun as hell. I fully expected it to be pouring, but there were blue skies and the sun was even out for a bit this morning. I lined up at 9am with a good turnout of 11 gals in the beginner field.
The course wasn't technical and was really fast, which was a fun change. It had some nice climbs that taxed the legs, a few mud puddles to make you dirty, and some short, fast descents. The corners were a bit slick, but by the second lap I was fully comfortable with fish-tailing around them. I got a good start and hung with the lead gals for a bit, but finally started loosing them mostly due to lack of fitness. I fully expected to be bringing up the rear, but instead I was near mid-pack, which motivated me to keep riding as hard as I could to get some distance.
By the second lap they were a ways behind me and I eventually started catching the 6th place lady. Every time the trail turned uphill, I would catch her, but had nowhere to pass. Then once it pointed back down she was off ahead of me. We played this little game for a while and close to the finish, I got jammed going up a hill and had to get off my bike. For the life of me I could not get clipped back in (damn SPDs) and lost too much time to pass her at the end. Oh well.
I knew I was hauling ass the whole race and when I downloaded my Garmin data I found I was in Zone 5 for pretty much the entire hour! Whoa. No wonder I felt wiped. This wasn't a mountain bike race, this was a crit! That's the most time I've spent over Zone 3 since last October! :)
I finished up 7 out of 11. My teammate Josee got 3rd - woo! I'm sure they'll be some good pics shortly, so I'll post some when they're up. I'm off to hunt down some food....
To be honest, after suffering at Budu's technical Black Diamond race in February, I lost some excitement for this new mountain bike racing thing. I'm really glad I raced today though, because it was fun as hell. I fully expected it to be pouring, but there were blue skies and the sun was even out for a bit this morning. I lined up at 9am with a good turnout of 11 gals in the beginner field.
The course wasn't technical and was really fast, which was a fun change. It had some nice climbs that taxed the legs, a few mud puddles to make you dirty, and some short, fast descents. The corners were a bit slick, but by the second lap I was fully comfortable with fish-tailing around them. I got a good start and hung with the lead gals for a bit, but finally started loosing them mostly due to lack of fitness. I fully expected to be bringing up the rear, but instead I was near mid-pack, which motivated me to keep riding as hard as I could to get some distance.
By the second lap they were a ways behind me and I eventually started catching the 6th place lady. Every time the trail turned uphill, I would catch her, but had nowhere to pass. Then once it pointed back down she was off ahead of me. We played this little game for a while and close to the finish, I got jammed going up a hill and had to get off my bike. For the life of me I could not get clipped back in (damn SPDs) and lost too much time to pass her at the end. Oh well.
I knew I was hauling ass the whole race and when I downloaded my Garmin data I found I was in Zone 5 for pretty much the entire hour! Whoa. No wonder I felt wiped. This wasn't a mountain bike race, this was a crit! That's the most time I've spent over Zone 3 since last October! :)
I finished up 7 out of 11. My teammate Josee got 3rd - woo! I'm sure they'll be some good pics shortly, so I'll post some when they're up. I'm off to hunt down some food....
Monday, June 18, 2007
Poopy Methow
This might be the third time I've used the word "poopy" to describe a race this year...not good! Ok, first off, I had a BLAST at the Methow SR this past weekend. The area is gorgeous and the courses were beautiful, fun, and challenging. We had a lot of Zoka teammates there and even had three of us ladies in the stage race!
The TT course was really challenging with several steep climbs and as usual, I did pretty shitty. I ended up 33rd out of 35 I think. I never even looked at the results because I really didn't want to know. I honestly didn't get enough of a warmup in and I really need to work on that. I have such a hard time being on the trainer that I find lots of ways to burn time so I don't end up on it. I really need to work on my time trialing skills this fall and really force myself to get on the trainer and get in a good warmup.
After the TT a teammate and his fiance hosted a sandwich bar at their rental cabin, which was awesome. We all got to hang out for a little while, talk about the courses, look at photos of the TT, and eat some grub. The time went by a little quickly though and we had to take off to get ready for the afternoon crit.
The cat 4 ladies lined up at 2 and again, I got there a little late and didn't get in much of a warmup aside from pre-riding the course. The first few laps around made me nervous and I wasn't particularly thrilled about the course. Corner three had some loose dirt and gravel inside and bad pavement outside. The first two laps I slipped on the inside line, so I tried moving outside and then bounced my rear tire up on the bad pavement. After three near incidents in as many laps at a fraction of race speed I got a little spooked and just lost my nerve.
Again, I was a victim of bad positioning. I'm frustrated because I keep making that same mistake over and over and I really need to work on it! Argh. I started too far back, hit the brakes way too much in corner 3, and had to work way too hard to stay on the pack. After a few laps I finally got my rhythm, laid off the brakes, and started working my way through some carnage, but it was too late already. I held on as long as I could and got pulled with about 5 laps left. I was pretty pissed but that's how it goes. I realized shortly after I was pulled the field was down to 10 still together and around 6 gals in a chase group half a lap behind. Considering nearly 40 women started, that's some serious carnage.
JoAnne got pulled shortly after me and we were both pretty annoyed. Our teammate Alyson was still out there looking strong with the chase group so we were cheering her on. She did a fantastic job in her first crit and won the group sprint for 11th place.
Saturday night I was pretty irked with my performance so I set my sights on a top 15 finish for the road race Sunday. I wanted some points!! The rollers and small hills on the course suited me so I had a good chance. The wind was horrible on Sunday and we heard tons of stories from the men's fields coming in from the morning races. There were times during our race where we were working hard just to go 11-12mph. Shortly before the turnaround there was an open area where the sidewinds were gusting so strongly it practically pushed everyone over. I nearly got blown into the gravel a few times, which was a bit scary.
I felt great the whole race, my legs felt good, and I was climbing well. At the midpoint turnaround (around mile 22) the woman in contention for the overall win went down. I'm not sure what happened but there seemed to be a lot of confusion over the course and she said she wasn't sure which way to go. Luckily she got right back up and to the front of the pack and didn't get hurt too badly. Shortly after that there was a small riser that started to split things apart and I got gapped off a bit. I was working with a group to chase back on when we hit the base of a small climb and I dropped my chain. I'm always able to get my chain back on quickly but this time I kept shifting and shifting and just couldn't get it back on. Then all of a sudden I couldn't pedal anymore and I looked down and noticed I had wrapped my chain around my pedal. Are you kidding me? Who the hell does this?
The follow car came up and I hopped off and a guy helped me get it back together. I saw the pack about halfway up the hill and thought I still had a chance to get back on if I really worked. The support guy gave me a push and then I tried to draft off the car for a few seconds but they sped away. Drat! For several miles I could see the pack not far ahead but just couldn't get there. Damn! At that point the sobering idea that I had a 17 mile solo ride ahead of me pissed me off so I decided "F...., if I'm riding 17 miles solo I might as well practice my f**** TT skills". I pretty much hauled ass as best I could to the finish and thanked the cycling gods that I had a nice tailwind most of the return trip.
So...all in all, a great weekend with crappy results! The good news is that Alyson managed to stay with the lead pack in the road race and might have gotten a top 10 GC finish. JoAnne hit a wall pretty hard towards the end of the road race and she and I were both a little irked about our lackluster results. But hey, we had an awesome time and can't wait until next year!
The TT course was really challenging with several steep climbs and as usual, I did pretty shitty. I ended up 33rd out of 35 I think. I never even looked at the results because I really didn't want to know. I honestly didn't get enough of a warmup in and I really need to work on that. I have such a hard time being on the trainer that I find lots of ways to burn time so I don't end up on it. I really need to work on my time trialing skills this fall and really force myself to get on the trainer and get in a good warmup.
After the TT a teammate and his fiance hosted a sandwich bar at their rental cabin, which was awesome. We all got to hang out for a little while, talk about the courses, look at photos of the TT, and eat some grub. The time went by a little quickly though and we had to take off to get ready for the afternoon crit.
The cat 4 ladies lined up at 2 and again, I got there a little late and didn't get in much of a warmup aside from pre-riding the course. The first few laps around made me nervous and I wasn't particularly thrilled about the course. Corner three had some loose dirt and gravel inside and bad pavement outside. The first two laps I slipped on the inside line, so I tried moving outside and then bounced my rear tire up on the bad pavement. After three near incidents in as many laps at a fraction of race speed I got a little spooked and just lost my nerve.
Again, I was a victim of bad positioning. I'm frustrated because I keep making that same mistake over and over and I really need to work on it! Argh. I started too far back, hit the brakes way too much in corner 3, and had to work way too hard to stay on the pack. After a few laps I finally got my rhythm, laid off the brakes, and started working my way through some carnage, but it was too late already. I held on as long as I could and got pulled with about 5 laps left. I was pretty pissed but that's how it goes. I realized shortly after I was pulled the field was down to 10 still together and around 6 gals in a chase group half a lap behind. Considering nearly 40 women started, that's some serious carnage.
JoAnne got pulled shortly after me and we were both pretty annoyed. Our teammate Alyson was still out there looking strong with the chase group so we were cheering her on. She did a fantastic job in her first crit and won the group sprint for 11th place.
Saturday night I was pretty irked with my performance so I set my sights on a top 15 finish for the road race Sunday. I wanted some points!! The rollers and small hills on the course suited me so I had a good chance. The wind was horrible on Sunday and we heard tons of stories from the men's fields coming in from the morning races. There were times during our race where we were working hard just to go 11-12mph. Shortly before the turnaround there was an open area where the sidewinds were gusting so strongly it practically pushed everyone over. I nearly got blown into the gravel a few times, which was a bit scary.
I felt great the whole race, my legs felt good, and I was climbing well. At the midpoint turnaround (around mile 22) the woman in contention for the overall win went down. I'm not sure what happened but there seemed to be a lot of confusion over the course and she said she wasn't sure which way to go. Luckily she got right back up and to the front of the pack and didn't get hurt too badly. Shortly after that there was a small riser that started to split things apart and I got gapped off a bit. I was working with a group to chase back on when we hit the base of a small climb and I dropped my chain. I'm always able to get my chain back on quickly but this time I kept shifting and shifting and just couldn't get it back on. Then all of a sudden I couldn't pedal anymore and I looked down and noticed I had wrapped my chain around my pedal. Are you kidding me? Who the hell does this?
The follow car came up and I hopped off and a guy helped me get it back together. I saw the pack about halfway up the hill and thought I still had a chance to get back on if I really worked. The support guy gave me a push and then I tried to draft off the car for a few seconds but they sped away. Drat! For several miles I could see the pack not far ahead but just couldn't get there. Damn! At that point the sobering idea that I had a 17 mile solo ride ahead of me pissed me off so I decided "F...., if I'm riding 17 miles solo I might as well practice my f**** TT skills". I pretty much hauled ass as best I could to the finish and thanked the cycling gods that I had a nice tailwind most of the return trip.
So...all in all, a great weekend with crappy results! The good news is that Alyson managed to stay with the lead pack in the road race and might have gotten a top 10 GC finish. JoAnne hit a wall pretty hard towards the end of the road race and she and I were both a little irked about our lackluster results. But hey, we had an awesome time and can't wait until next year!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Off to Winthrop...
...I'm heading out of town shortly for the Methow Valley Stage Race this weekend. Enumclaw sucked so bad I convinced myself to travel for one more big stage race this year, so hopefully this goes well! I'm really excited because we have 3 (yes, 3!) Zoka women in the race this weekend. That's as many as Group Health! Amazing isn't it?
This was sent to our "Classmates Fun" email list today -- haha!
This was sent to our "Classmates Fun" email list today -- haha!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Vance Creek
I got a little stressed out about the condo and didn't sleep very well Thursday and Friday. When my alarm went off Saturday morning for the Green Valley TT it took me all of 1 second to decide to take a stress day and go back to bed. I slept until noon which wrecked the day and then I couldn't get to sleep Saturday night. The stress day was nice though!
I think I got 3 hours of sleep for the Vance Creek RR on Sunday, which definitely doesn't help performance. The cat 4 ladies had a large turnout with probably around 30-40 racers. The course was fun and it wasn't until the 2nd lap of the 12-mi circuit that things heated up. A small break got away with a chase group but the pack eventually reeled the chase group back. I think two WoW gals were up the road and no one even knew, or didn't care. The pack sure didn't seem interested in chasing, but I doubt we would have caught them anyway.
We had to finish with a moderate hill climb at around the 1km mark followed by a steeper pitch at about 200m. I'm always too far back at the finish so I moved up to the front with 1km left. I ended up in the wind way too long up the first hill. I also forgot that as you crest the hill the headwind gets worse, so I ended up blocking the wind for tons of people who then hit the gas for the 200m climb and left me in the dust. The first two times up the climb I was moving up and around people. The last time I was going backwards...that sucked. I pretty much had no gas left in the tank and I think I limped across the finish maybe around 20th or so. Ah well...lesson learned!
I still raced decently and was able to hang with the main pack so I'm happy, but my legs were a little flat, probably due to the 3 hours of sleep thing. I guess I won't do that again. It was exciting to have three Zoka ladies at the race -- hopefully we'll get some more at coming races.
The weather is so nice today I decided it was time to break out the other bike and rode the Ducati to work. Ahhh....so much fun. Let's hope the weather stays nice.
I think I got 3 hours of sleep for the Vance Creek RR on Sunday, which definitely doesn't help performance. The cat 4 ladies had a large turnout with probably around 30-40 racers. The course was fun and it wasn't until the 2nd lap of the 12-mi circuit that things heated up. A small break got away with a chase group but the pack eventually reeled the chase group back. I think two WoW gals were up the road and no one even knew, or didn't care. The pack sure didn't seem interested in chasing, but I doubt we would have caught them anyway.
We had to finish with a moderate hill climb at around the 1km mark followed by a steeper pitch at about 200m. I'm always too far back at the finish so I moved up to the front with 1km left. I ended up in the wind way too long up the first hill. I also forgot that as you crest the hill the headwind gets worse, so I ended up blocking the wind for tons of people who then hit the gas for the 200m climb and left me in the dust. The first two times up the climb I was moving up and around people. The last time I was going backwards...that sucked. I pretty much had no gas left in the tank and I think I limped across the finish maybe around 20th or so. Ah well...lesson learned!
I still raced decently and was able to hang with the main pack so I'm happy, but my legs were a little flat, probably due to the 3 hours of sleep thing. I guess I won't do that again. It was exciting to have three Zoka ladies at the race -- hopefully we'll get some more at coming races.
The weather is so nice today I decided it was time to break out the other bike and rode the Ducati to work. Ahhh....so much fun. Let's hope the weather stays nice.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Tour of Walla Walla!
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Walla Walla. This is the first time I've ever been there and it's by far one of the nicest towns in eastern Washington. The scenery is pretty, the downtown area has some nice restaurants and boutique shops, and there's plenty of wine everywhere! Sorry for the length of the post but hey, there's three race reports in one here.
I set 4 goals for this weekend.
1: Mid-pack finish in the TT (so around 25th).
2: Stick with main pack in the road race and get a top 20.
3: Don't get pulled from the crit.
4: Top 20 in GC.
Well, I pretty much got 3 out of the 4 so I'm totally happy with the results.
Time Trial
The TT course was a challenge for me and I think I'd actually do better on a totally flat course. It was a 10K course that was uphill on the way out and then downhill on the way back. I had my 30-sec and 1-min person in sight the entire way out to the turnaround and then never saw them again. I stayed aero and cranked my ass off but couldn't hit much more than 30mph on the way back. I guess I need to gain weight to haul ass downhill. I never got passed so I honestly thought I had put in a pretty good ride until the results came out and I ended up 37th out of 45 starters. Ugh. I guess the slow people were all behind me. My time was 22:43.28...about 1:20 away from 25th.
Road Race
I actually really liked having the road race after the TT since the TT is a perfect warmup. I thought the course would suit me so I decided to do everything I could to get a good finish and make up time I lost in the TT. Most of our 38-mi race was a complete snoozer. The course started with a relentless 3K climb at a 5% grade that was neutral (around 7mph) the first time up and would be the finishing stretch of the race later.
Once we hit the descent after this hill the next few miles were a bit tense. A pack of near 50 is large for the Women's 4s and I think it takes some time for everyone to lose the jitters, get used to having a lot of people around them, and get settled in. For some reason quite a few gals were being very catty and snappy and there was lots of live entertainment. Hey, I just want to race ladies!
I realized I had inadvertedly gotten behind some poor hill climbers and could not get around on the first big roller. I was starting to stress out when finally a girl next to me said "Coming through!" and motored up between them, thus setting off a chain of other gals doing the same. I guess I need to be more aggressive and shout like everyone else. One of the TiCycles girls went over the yellow line to pass, which I thought was a little crappy since I could have done the same much earlier but didn't. The follow car had a little talking to her about the yellow line violation. Definitely nothing personal, but I really wish they would enforce this when people do it deliberately to move up. Oh well. I managed to get settled back into the pack.
Most of the race was pretty boring and everyone seemed content to push the pace on the rollers to drop off a few people and that was it. Given that Group Health was the clearly dominant team with around 15 people in the pack the group tactics seemed questionable to me. Halfway through the race there was the typical "50 meter attack" launched that strung things out but everyone sat up and it all came back together. Maybe it's lack of fitness...maybe it's inexperience...but it's just plain annoying. It seemed to me that if TGH had organized and actually reeled off a few attacks one after the other they would have dessimated the pack. Maybe they didn't realize how many people had to chase back on after the small attack, but it seems to me they could have taken better advantage of their numbers. Oh well, what do I know.
A few miles from the finish there was a steep roller that finally split things up. I felt very strong and had little trouble getting over any of the rollers with the leaders. The pace finally ramped up heading into Waitsburg before that final 3K climb. I started having some difficulty keeping up and finally popped off the back coming through town. Luckily at that point we were about a mile from the climb. When I looked behind me there was no one there! I couldn't believe that half the pack was gone. Once I hit the climb I realized I was unlikely to catch anyone ahead of me and there was no one threatening behind me so I just settled into a nice pace, tried to ignore the cramping in my left foot and right calf, and ended up 20th. Sweet! Goal #2 met! Once they posted results I had moved up from 37th to 24th in GC.
Criterium
It started raining late Saturday and the roads were damp for Sunday morning's crit. We lined up minus about 10 gals who said they wouldn't ride if it was wet. Probably best since those are likely the ones you wouldn't want to ride next to in a wet crit anyway.
I lost my nerve a bit going into the first corner and ended up starting way too far back. I really need to work on my start positioning. I love crits and the course was really fun. Despite the wet roads, I felt totally confident and the course didn't seem slick or sketchy at all. I definitely should have started moving up on the straightaways immediately to get into a better position and I would have likely been able to hang with the main pack. Oh well. It took me a few laps to get into a rhythm and mid-way through the crit I was working in a chase group. We were able to barely survive and not get pulled -- hoorah!
I was a tad disappointed that I didn't stick with the pack but I think it was more a factor of poor positioning than poor fitness. This is the first real crit I haven't been pulled from, which was my goal. I did finish 25th a minute down from the pack but with the numerous people that didn't show it was enough to push me to 21st overall in GC. I wanted to get a top 20 in GC so that was close enough for me!
Overall, I'm totally stoked with my results for the weekend. Aside from the TT, I hit every goal I set and I'm definitely riding much stronger than I was last year. I need to start making some smarter positioning decisions in crits and road races and that will help me immensely. JoAnne did a great job this weekend and despite her dislike for the crit ended up 17th in GC. This was a pretty good weekend for the Zoka gals -- sweet!
I set 4 goals for this weekend.
1: Mid-pack finish in the TT (so around 25th).
2: Stick with main pack in the road race and get a top 20.
3: Don't get pulled from the crit.
4: Top 20 in GC.
Well, I pretty much got 3 out of the 4 so I'm totally happy with the results.
Time Trial
The TT course was a challenge for me and I think I'd actually do better on a totally flat course. It was a 10K course that was uphill on the way out and then downhill on the way back. I had my 30-sec and 1-min person in sight the entire way out to the turnaround and then never saw them again. I stayed aero and cranked my ass off but couldn't hit much more than 30mph on the way back. I guess I need to gain weight to haul ass downhill. I never got passed so I honestly thought I had put in a pretty good ride until the results came out and I ended up 37th out of 45 starters. Ugh. I guess the slow people were all behind me. My time was 22:43.28...about 1:20 away from 25th.
Road Race
I actually really liked having the road race after the TT since the TT is a perfect warmup. I thought the course would suit me so I decided to do everything I could to get a good finish and make up time I lost in the TT. Most of our 38-mi race was a complete snoozer. The course started with a relentless 3K climb at a 5% grade that was neutral (around 7mph) the first time up and would be the finishing stretch of the race later.
Once we hit the descent after this hill the next few miles were a bit tense. A pack of near 50 is large for the Women's 4s and I think it takes some time for everyone to lose the jitters, get used to having a lot of people around them, and get settled in. For some reason quite a few gals were being very catty and snappy and there was lots of live entertainment. Hey, I just want to race ladies!
I realized I had inadvertedly gotten behind some poor hill climbers and could not get around on the first big roller. I was starting to stress out when finally a girl next to me said "Coming through!" and motored up between them, thus setting off a chain of other gals doing the same. I guess I need to be more aggressive and shout like everyone else. One of the TiCycles girls went over the yellow line to pass, which I thought was a little crappy since I could have done the same much earlier but didn't. The follow car had a little talking to her about the yellow line violation. Definitely nothing personal, but I really wish they would enforce this when people do it deliberately to move up. Oh well. I managed to get settled back into the pack.
Most of the race was pretty boring and everyone seemed content to push the pace on the rollers to drop off a few people and that was it. Given that Group Health was the clearly dominant team with around 15 people in the pack the group tactics seemed questionable to me. Halfway through the race there was the typical "50 meter attack" launched that strung things out but everyone sat up and it all came back together. Maybe it's lack of fitness...maybe it's inexperience...but it's just plain annoying. It seemed to me that if TGH had organized and actually reeled off a few attacks one after the other they would have dessimated the pack. Maybe they didn't realize how many people had to chase back on after the small attack, but it seems to me they could have taken better advantage of their numbers. Oh well, what do I know.
A few miles from the finish there was a steep roller that finally split things up. I felt very strong and had little trouble getting over any of the rollers with the leaders. The pace finally ramped up heading into Waitsburg before that final 3K climb. I started having some difficulty keeping up and finally popped off the back coming through town. Luckily at that point we were about a mile from the climb. When I looked behind me there was no one there! I couldn't believe that half the pack was gone. Once I hit the climb I realized I was unlikely to catch anyone ahead of me and there was no one threatening behind me so I just settled into a nice pace, tried to ignore the cramping in my left foot and right calf, and ended up 20th. Sweet! Goal #2 met! Once they posted results I had moved up from 37th to 24th in GC.
Criterium
It started raining late Saturday and the roads were damp for Sunday morning's crit. We lined up minus about 10 gals who said they wouldn't ride if it was wet. Probably best since those are likely the ones you wouldn't want to ride next to in a wet crit anyway.
I lost my nerve a bit going into the first corner and ended up starting way too far back. I really need to work on my start positioning. I love crits and the course was really fun. Despite the wet roads, I felt totally confident and the course didn't seem slick or sketchy at all. I definitely should have started moving up on the straightaways immediately to get into a better position and I would have likely been able to hang with the main pack. Oh well. It took me a few laps to get into a rhythm and mid-way through the crit I was working in a chase group. We were able to barely survive and not get pulled -- hoorah!
I was a tad disappointed that I didn't stick with the pack but I think it was more a factor of poor positioning than poor fitness. This is the first real crit I haven't been pulled from, which was my goal. I did finish 25th a minute down from the pack but with the numerous people that didn't show it was enough to push me to 21st overall in GC. I wanted to get a top 20 in GC so that was close enough for me!
Overall, I'm totally stoked with my results for the weekend. Aside from the TT, I hit every goal I set and I'm definitely riding much stronger than I was last year. I need to start making some smarter positioning decisions in crits and road races and that will help me immensely. JoAnne did a great job this weekend and despite her dislike for the crit ended up 17th in GC. This was a pretty good weekend for the Zoka gals -- sweet!
Monday, April 16, 2007
The TST bust
For the second year in a row I started TST and for the second year in a row I unfortunately didn't finish. But hey...I made it further this year and stuck with the pack a smidge longer. Given I was still sore from Tuesday's crash all signs pointed to taking Saturday off, but i'm the reigning queen of bad ideas. When I lined up for the start I realized that not only was I still a little sore but mentally, I was just not into this race, which is unusual for me. As expected the pace up the first climb was pretty quick and I got dropped just a few miles in. Oh well. I guess I should have slowed a tad to work with the gals behind me but decided to motor up the climb and see who was left up ahead. I could already see riders strung out everywhere.
I started working with a gal from TGH but unfortunately we took a wrong turn, realized it quickly, and turned back to the road. She took off pretty fast and left me in the dust before I could get turned around and going again. I wasn't quite sure why...I figured it would be better to try to organize a few women left together than ride solo, but oh well. I could see her just ahead for miles and I would make up ground on every hill but then lose it on the descents and flats. My back was sore and my neck was bothering me so I turned around at mile 16 and called it a day. Had I felt better I certainly would have finished, especially since the weather was gorgeous. Oh well, TST is definitely on my list of races for next year. Third time is a charm right?
My carpool buddy pulled out of the race due to a sore knee and had turned around just before I did. Funny how I didn't pay attention when I saw someone in a Ti-Cycles jersey waving at me. I guess it was a bad day for both of us.
I wasn't too bummed about TST but I was seriously bummed that I decided not to do the Seward crit on Sunday. I love the Seward course and did well there last year (4th in the fall crit) but decided I really needed to take the weekend to heal up and rest for Walla Walla. Marcus and I had a rare "work on the house" day and then headed out for a ride around Mercer Island later. I felt great and I think I'm just about healed up so this week should be a normal training week. Yay!
I started working with a gal from TGH but unfortunately we took a wrong turn, realized it quickly, and turned back to the road. She took off pretty fast and left me in the dust before I could get turned around and going again. I wasn't quite sure why...I figured it would be better to try to organize a few women left together than ride solo, but oh well. I could see her just ahead for miles and I would make up ground on every hill but then lose it on the descents and flats. My back was sore and my neck was bothering me so I turned around at mile 16 and called it a day. Had I felt better I certainly would have finished, especially since the weather was gorgeous. Oh well, TST is definitely on my list of races for next year. Third time is a charm right?
My carpool buddy pulled out of the race due to a sore knee and had turned around just before I did. Funny how I didn't pay attention when I saw someone in a Ti-Cycles jersey waving at me. I guess it was a bad day for both of us.
I wasn't too bummed about TST but I was seriously bummed that I decided not to do the Seward crit on Sunday. I love the Seward course and did well there last year (4th in the fall crit) but decided I really needed to take the weekend to heal up and rest for Walla Walla. Marcus and I had a rare "work on the house" day and then headed out for a ride around Mercer Island later. I felt great and I think I'm just about healed up so this week should be a normal training week. Yay!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Frozen Flatlands Part Deux
I have to say I breathed a little sigh of relief to see that some of the sketchier pack riders from the Saturday race were not at Sunday's crit at Spokane Raceways. The weather was a tad cooler and cloudier, but still a nice day.
When I sent my race report to the team I thought we had about 20 gals out there, again mostly Cat 4s, but I guess looking at the results sheet it was more like 12. Am I that bad at counting? I swear we had more than that. The 60-min crit went by much faster than I expected.
The first lap was pretty fast and this is the first time since late last year I've done any tight cornering at speed so the first time through the S-curves was a little dicey for me. I was on the brakes a bit too much and had to work a little harder than I would have liked to stay with the pack. After a few laps I started trusting the bike, laid off the brakes, and did just fine. For the first half of the race I was hanging onto the back of the pack and just couldn't find anywhere to move up. I didn't want to risk getting into the wind and getting popped too early, so I just sat back and made sure to keep right on a wheel.
At the midway point the officials threw in a prime, which finally shook things up. The Cat 3 rider that won it took it as an opportunity to launch an attack and kept motoring right through the finish. She took 3 other gals with her and even though I had finally moved up, I didn't quite have the acceleration to match them so I fell back with a 6-person chase group. The girl in front of me was very sketchy so I kept trying to find a way to get around her without expending a ton of energy. Luckily after a few more laps she started having a hard time keeping on a wheel so I moved up and around her and that was the last I saw her. The 5 of us continued but never caught up to the breakaway.
The headwind was very strong on the finishing stretch and I was so worried about getting out into the wind too early on the sprint that I waited a tad too long and ended up doing nothing. I crossed the line in 5th place but I'm fairly certain if I had just gone for it I probably could have taken 3rd place, which would have launched me to 3rd in GC. The other two girls had been up front for way too long and I was sitting on their wheels so I should have had the advantage. Last year at PR it took me a few races to actually get the sprint right. For some reason I tend to worry about going too soon and I don't trust my abilities. I sit back and wait and then run out of time and get pissed off for days afterwards because I didn't sprint. If I give it my all and don't get it...that's one thing. But I hate to look back and think, "Gee...if only I had gone for it!" The couple of times I completely committed to the sprint at PR I did great...so I just need to figure out why I keep having this issue. Maybe it's just a lack of confidence thing, which really isn't my style. C'mon girl!
I'm certainly happy with my results though. I got 8th in the RR, 5th in the crit, and 6th in GC. Not too bad! It took me all of last season to get my first top ten finish, so getting a few early in the season is nice, even if the fields are smaller. I need to keep gaining fitness and work on my acceleration, sprinting, and general technique. I just hooked up with a kick-ass new coach...so look out!
When I sent my race report to the team I thought we had about 20 gals out there, again mostly Cat 4s, but I guess looking at the results sheet it was more like 12. Am I that bad at counting? I swear we had more than that. The 60-min crit went by much faster than I expected.
The first lap was pretty fast and this is the first time since late last year I've done any tight cornering at speed so the first time through the S-curves was a little dicey for me. I was on the brakes a bit too much and had to work a little harder than I would have liked to stay with the pack. After a few laps I started trusting the bike, laid off the brakes, and did just fine. For the first half of the race I was hanging onto the back of the pack and just couldn't find anywhere to move up. I didn't want to risk getting into the wind and getting popped too early, so I just sat back and made sure to keep right on a wheel.
At the midway point the officials threw in a prime, which finally shook things up. The Cat 3 rider that won it took it as an opportunity to launch an attack and kept motoring right through the finish. She took 3 other gals with her and even though I had finally moved up, I didn't quite have the acceleration to match them so I fell back with a 6-person chase group. The girl in front of me was very sketchy so I kept trying to find a way to get around her without expending a ton of energy. Luckily after a few more laps she started having a hard time keeping on a wheel so I moved up and around her and that was the last I saw her. The 5 of us continued but never caught up to the breakaway.
The headwind was very strong on the finishing stretch and I was so worried about getting out into the wind too early on the sprint that I waited a tad too long and ended up doing nothing. I crossed the line in 5th place but I'm fairly certain if I had just gone for it I probably could have taken 3rd place, which would have launched me to 3rd in GC. The other two girls had been up front for way too long and I was sitting on their wheels so I should have had the advantage. Last year at PR it took me a few races to actually get the sprint right. For some reason I tend to worry about going too soon and I don't trust my abilities. I sit back and wait and then run out of time and get pissed off for days afterwards because I didn't sprint. If I give it my all and don't get it...that's one thing. But I hate to look back and think, "Gee...if only I had gone for it!" The couple of times I completely committed to the sprint at PR I did great...so I just need to figure out why I keep having this issue. Maybe it's just a lack of confidence thing, which really isn't my style. C'mon girl!
I'm certainly happy with my results though. I got 8th in the RR, 5th in the crit, and 6th in GC. Not too bad! It took me all of last season to get my first top ten finish, so getting a few early in the season is nice, even if the fields are smaller. I need to keep gaining fitness and work on my acceleration, sprinting, and general technique. I just hooked up with a kick-ass new coach...so look out!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Frozen Flatlands needs a name change
I got to Spokane last night (late as usual) and just got back a little while ago from the first stage of the Frozen Flatlands omnium. Let's see...it's barely frozen. The weather here is near 70 and gorgeous! And flatlands? Who the f*** came up with that idea? The 50-mi road race today had some surprising climbs in it I wasn't really prepared for.
The women's field was about 20 riders. 6 were 1/2/3s and the rest were Cat 4s. The first 20+ miles were like a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride. The wind out there was brutal (the worst I've ever raced in) so I think everyone was content sticking together.
I do have to say that I fear a little for my safety tomorrow at the circuit race given the pack riding conditions today. Almost every Cat 4 rider demonstrated their fabulous wheel overlapping and weaving skills. I stayed up front with the 1/2/3 ladies to stay out of trouble. My favorite part of the ride was the two girls who kept fighting over a wheel, but rather than one of them taking it, both of them overlapped the girl's wheel on each side. Fabulous.
Somewhere around the 30 mile mark everyone took off up a hill that split the pack. I hung almost all the way to the top then got popped. Suck! The pack sat up a bit afterwards and I wasn't that far behind so I tried to organize two other girls with me to chase. For some reason it just didn't get organized. I didn't feel a sense of urgency from them and unfortunately the wind was so strong that without help it was impossible to get anywhere. That was the last time I saw the pack, which was disappointing because I know we could have chased back on.
Four of us pacelined for a while until two teammates took off a few miles from the end and I was so busy staring at the girl's wheel in front of me that I didn't see them go. Idiot. Letting a gap open in that wind was a bad strategy and I knew I couldn't chase them down. I finished with the other girl shortly behind them.
At the time I popped off I know there were a few Cat 4s still with the pack but I think the rest were off the back behind me. I'll have to wait until tomorrow when they post the results to see for sure, but I think I may have squeaked out a top ten finish. I guess we'll see. I'm gorging myself on seafood fettucine, chilling out, and working on the recovery plan for tomorrow's 60-min circuit race at Spokane Raceways.
Lessons learned today:
#1: Wearing a long-sleeved jersey with half-fingered gloves gives you a very gay sunburn stripe across your wrist and half of your fingers.
#2: The start of the neutral rollout is never a good place to say, "Hey, is my rear tire half flat?" With some air I might have actually made it over the climb. Idiot.
The women's field was about 20 riders. 6 were 1/2/3s and the rest were Cat 4s. The first 20+ miles were like a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride. The wind out there was brutal (the worst I've ever raced in) so I think everyone was content sticking together.
I do have to say that I fear a little for my safety tomorrow at the circuit race given the pack riding conditions today. Almost every Cat 4 rider demonstrated their fabulous wheel overlapping and weaving skills. I stayed up front with the 1/2/3 ladies to stay out of trouble. My favorite part of the ride was the two girls who kept fighting over a wheel, but rather than one of them taking it, both of them overlapped the girl's wheel on each side. Fabulous.
Somewhere around the 30 mile mark everyone took off up a hill that split the pack. I hung almost all the way to the top then got popped. Suck! The pack sat up a bit afterwards and I wasn't that far behind so I tried to organize two other girls with me to chase. For some reason it just didn't get organized. I didn't feel a sense of urgency from them and unfortunately the wind was so strong that without help it was impossible to get anywhere. That was the last time I saw the pack, which was disappointing because I know we could have chased back on.
Four of us pacelined for a while until two teammates took off a few miles from the end and I was so busy staring at the girl's wheel in front of me that I didn't see them go. Idiot. Letting a gap open in that wind was a bad strategy and I knew I couldn't chase them down. I finished with the other girl shortly behind them.
At the time I popped off I know there were a few Cat 4s still with the pack but I think the rest were off the back behind me. I'll have to wait until tomorrow when they post the results to see for sure, but I think I may have squeaked out a top ten finish. I guess we'll see. I'm gorging myself on seafood fettucine, chilling out, and working on the recovery plan for tomorrow's 60-min circuit race at Spokane Raceways.
Lessons learned today:
#1: Wearing a long-sleeved jersey with half-fingered gloves gives you a very gay sunburn stripe across your wrist and half of your fingers.
#2: The start of the neutral rollout is never a good place to say, "Hey, is my rear tire half flat?" With some air I might have actually made it over the climb. Idiot.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
North Shore
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.
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.
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.
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, September 05, 2006
Eugene Stage Race Day 3: Is it over yet?
The entire weekend I had been looking forward to this day: the day of the hill climb! When I woke up Monday my body was not agreeing with me. My legs were tired, I felt a little less energetic than usual, and my neck and shoulders were really tight and sore.
I didn't execute the best recovery plan after the crit and decided to go to bed rather than eat some extra food when I got hungry. Oh well. Monday's course was 34.3 miles total and consisted of 2.5 laps around this circuit. The first big hill climb was 2.5 miles long. The finish was at the top of the large hill so we would have to climb it three times. Ouch.
Two more riders opted not to start the race and the Women's Cat 4 field was now down to 6 and the Cat 1/2/3 field was down to 7. This bumped me up to 6th place in the GC. I figured if any more dropped out I would get a top 5 finish - crazy!
Our race was delayed 35 minutes while the officials found the necessary follow/lead cars which pretty much negated the nice warmup I had done. Once we finally got rolling my legs weren't feeling chipper. We had a nice easy pace to the base of the big hill climb, where Martha Walsh and another rider took control to keep the pace even to the top. If I had been fresh I really wouldn't have had any trouble but halfway up I was concerned. My legs weren't working for me.
I hit a wall hard and got dumped off the back about 1K before the top of the climb. Damn! I very nearly pulled off at the finish line and called it a day but I decided I had come here to finish the race and finish I would. I kept reminding myself that if only one other Cat 4 rider didn't finish I'd be in the top 5. So, around I went again. The second time up the climb I asked the official if I should keep going since I knew I was probably 25 minutes behind the rest of the pack. He told me to go so I went.
Once I was passed by some straggling men from the 1/2 field I started to get worried I was the last one out there on the course. I asked a corner marshall if I should pack it in and head back to the start and he encouraged me to keep going as well. I honestly have no idea how I made it up the hill the 3rd time. By this time all I wanted to do was invent some nuclear device to blow the damn thing up. As I was heading up riders were coming down to the finish and most were cheering me on and yelling encouragement. At this point I knew I had to have been the last person out there.
I got across the finish line and there were two officials waiting and everyone was pretty much cleared out of there. On one hand I felt elated to have finished but on the other I felt a little embarassed to have been so far behind and to have kept so many people waiting. Maybe pulling out of the race would have been the best decision in this case. Hey, I finished though!
As I rode back down the hill to the start one of the officials pulled up next to me in his car and handed me an Energizer battery. He said it was the only thing he could think of giving me. Haha! I told him I felt bad to be the last rider in and he just shook his head and said, "Didn't you see the number of women who dropped out?". This really was a race of attrition.
I lost 35 minutes in this race and ended up 6th place in the GC about 48 minutes down. I guess I finished about 15-20 minutes behind some 1/2 men and some other women so it wasn't SO bad. I have to remind myself that of the 20 women that started only 12 finished. And most of the ones that dropped out were Cat 4s. It turns out that the other 5 Cat 4s that finished are on the verge of upgrading, so I was out there racing with mostly a 1/2/3 group. No wonder I got my butt kicked. I think I was the only true beginner out there that finished.
Anyway, it was a phenomenal race, I had a great time, and this was a perfect end to the road racing season. It's the first time in a while I'm not eager to hop back on the bike for a few days, though I *am* signed up for Escape from the Rock on Sunday. Hmm...we'll see how that goes.
I didn't execute the best recovery plan after the crit and decided to go to bed rather than eat some extra food when I got hungry. Oh well. Monday's course was 34.3 miles total and consisted of 2.5 laps around this circuit. The first big hill climb was 2.5 miles long. The finish was at the top of the large hill so we would have to climb it three times. Ouch.
Two more riders opted not to start the race and the Women's Cat 4 field was now down to 6 and the Cat 1/2/3 field was down to 7. This bumped me up to 6th place in the GC. I figured if any more dropped out I would get a top 5 finish - crazy!
Our race was delayed 35 minutes while the officials found the necessary follow/lead cars which pretty much negated the nice warmup I had done. Once we finally got rolling my legs weren't feeling chipper. We had a nice easy pace to the base of the big hill climb, where Martha Walsh and another rider took control to keep the pace even to the top. If I had been fresh I really wouldn't have had any trouble but halfway up I was concerned. My legs weren't working for me.
I hit a wall hard and got dumped off the back about 1K before the top of the climb. Damn! I very nearly pulled off at the finish line and called it a day but I decided I had come here to finish the race and finish I would. I kept reminding myself that if only one other Cat 4 rider didn't finish I'd be in the top 5. So, around I went again. The second time up the climb I asked the official if I should keep going since I knew I was probably 25 minutes behind the rest of the pack. He told me to go so I went.
Once I was passed by some straggling men from the 1/2 field I started to get worried I was the last one out there on the course. I asked a corner marshall if I should pack it in and head back to the start and he encouraged me to keep going as well. I honestly have no idea how I made it up the hill the 3rd time. By this time all I wanted to do was invent some nuclear device to blow the damn thing up. As I was heading up riders were coming down to the finish and most were cheering me on and yelling encouragement. At this point I knew I had to have been the last person out there.
I got across the finish line and there were two officials waiting and everyone was pretty much cleared out of there. On one hand I felt elated to have finished but on the other I felt a little embarassed to have been so far behind and to have kept so many people waiting. Maybe pulling out of the race would have been the best decision in this case. Hey, I finished though!
As I rode back down the hill to the start one of the officials pulled up next to me in his car and handed me an Energizer battery. He said it was the only thing he could think of giving me. Haha! I told him I felt bad to be the last rider in and he just shook his head and said, "Didn't you see the number of women who dropped out?". This really was a race of attrition.
I lost 35 minutes in this race and ended up 6th place in the GC about 48 minutes down. I guess I finished about 15-20 minutes behind some 1/2 men and some other women so it wasn't SO bad. I have to remind myself that of the 20 women that started only 12 finished. And most of the ones that dropped out were Cat 4s. It turns out that the other 5 Cat 4s that finished are on the verge of upgrading, so I was out there racing with mostly a 1/2/3 group. No wonder I got my butt kicked. I think I was the only true beginner out there that finished.
Anyway, it was a phenomenal race, I had a great time, and this was a perfect end to the road racing season. It's the first time in a while I'm not eager to hop back on the bike for a few days, though I *am* signed up for Escape from the Rock on Sunday. Hmm...we'll see how that goes.
Eugene Stage Race Day 2: Holy crit!
I had a nice break before the crit to go back to the hotel and stretch and be lazy. I decided to roll out early and get in a good warmup but somehow I didn't end up warming up as much I wanted. The course had two real corners and two big sweepers and was more like a circuit race than a true crit.
16 women lined up for the start and the official told us that lapped riders weren't getting pulled, so we would have to keep going or we'd get a DNF. This is by far the fastest crit I've ever done. The first few laps I kept glancing at my computer and we were regularly pushing 30mph. About three laps in I was angry at myself for not warming up more as my legs were starting to crack. I was sad to see Monica pull off shortly after being dropped which meant she wouldn't be riding Monday. After a few more laps I got gapped off the back with two other riders and that was all she wrote.
After a few more laps I made sure to catch the back of the pack as they came around and not lose them again. By this time two 1/2/3 women had already lapped the field and caught back on shortly after I did. Crazy!
Surprisingly enough the crit was over pretty quickly. They usually seem to drag on but this one went by really fast. After the crit I was still sitting last in GC but since Monica dropped out I bumped up to 7th place about 13 minutes back.
16 women lined up for the start and the official told us that lapped riders weren't getting pulled, so we would have to keep going or we'd get a DNF. This is by far the fastest crit I've ever done. The first few laps I kept glancing at my computer and we were regularly pushing 30mph. About three laps in I was angry at myself for not warming up more as my legs were starting to crack. I was sad to see Monica pull off shortly after being dropped which meant she wouldn't be riding Monday. After a few more laps I got gapped off the back with two other riders and that was all she wrote.
After a few more laps I made sure to catch the back of the pack as they came around and not lose them again. By this time two 1/2/3 women had already lapped the field and caught back on shortly after I did. Crazy!
Surprisingly enough the crit was over pretty quickly. They usually seem to drag on but this one went by really fast. After the crit I was still sitting last in GC but since Monica dropped out I bumped up to 7th place about 13 minutes back.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Eugene Stage Race Day 2: 3 miles of pain
I've said before I'm not a good time-trialist, so there's a lot of things that make me happy about a 3-mi time trial.
#1: It's over quickly.
#2: I can't lose that much time in 3 miles.
#3: Did I say it's over quickly?
As seems to be the case in nearly every race I was the first rider to go again and had no carrot, so I just tried to focus and go hard. The course was slightly uphill to the 1.5-mi turnaround and I actually had to drop into my small chainring to keep up my cadence. What goes up must come down and the 1.5 miles back to the start were fast. I just made sure to keep cranking hard since sometimes you get complacent going downhill.
For the first time ever I didn't get passed by the rider 30 seconds behind me - saweet! I did get passed, but only once from someone a minute back. Monica, the woman I finished with yesterday, was the one 30 seconds behind me so we're still probably pretty close in the GC.
See, you can't lose that much time in 3 miles! I'm still likely in 8th place about 10 minutes or so behind everyone else, but I'm hoping I can put out a good effort in the crit this evening and gain back some time. I'm off to carbo load...
#1: It's over quickly.
#2: I can't lose that much time in 3 miles.
#3: Did I say it's over quickly?
As seems to be the case in nearly every race I was the first rider to go again and had no carrot, so I just tried to focus and go hard. The course was slightly uphill to the 1.5-mi turnaround and I actually had to drop into my small chainring to keep up my cadence. What goes up must come down and the 1.5 miles back to the start were fast. I just made sure to keep cranking hard since sometimes you get complacent going downhill.
For the first time ever I didn't get passed by the rider 30 seconds behind me - saweet! I did get passed, but only once from someone a minute back. Monica, the woman I finished with yesterday, was the one 30 seconds behind me so we're still probably pretty close in the GC.
See, you can't lose that much time in 3 miles! I'm still likely in 8th place about 10 minutes or so behind everyone else, but I'm hoping I can put out a good effort in the crit this evening and gain back some time. I'm off to carbo load...
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Eugene Stage Race Day 1: Bathwater
I left Seattle late Friday night bound for Eugene, OR. The Eugene Celebration Stage Race kicked off today with a 52.4-mi road race stage. The temperatures for this race were soaring into the 90s so I made sure to take TONS of water and accelerade with me. I had water stuffed everywhere. I knew there was a neutral feed zone but I don't like to take my chances.
20 women lined up for the start: 12 Cat 4s and 8 Cat 1/2/3s. The women's race is combined but scored separately. Michelle Conrad from Ti-Cycles and Martha Walsh are both here racing, so there were a few Seattle faces in the crowd. The race consisted of 2 laps around a 26.2-mi course. As expected no one was really interested in pushing the pace much the first lap and the pack pretty much stuck together. One or two ladies were dropped pretty early on a hill climb about 5 miles into the course. Halfway through the first lap a rider careened off the road, down into tall grasses and across gravel, but somehow managed to stay upright and get back on the road. I have no idea what happened but everyone cheered when she made it back on the road. She said she thanked her cross training.
I knew as soon as we hit the hill the second time around everyone was going to surge and sure enough, the pack picked it up a bit. I was doing fine and hanging right there until all of a sudden about 200 ft from the top I started feeling REALLY sick. I had goosebumps all over me and was getting the chills and a bit of nausea. I knew I was starting to suffer from the heat and I just couldn't push myself so I dropped off the back a bit. I very nearly pulled off at the top of the hill but I couldn't concede driving 4-hrs to do only one stage in this race. "Just finish!" I told myself. I grabbed some water in the feed zone and dumped it all over me to try to cool down.
As the pack slipped down the hill I tried and tried to get going but my body was just not working for me and I continued to feel really sick. Thank goodness for this rider behind me, Monica. She asked me how I was feeling and told me to grab her wheel for a bit and recover. She pulled me a good mile or two before I finally started to shake it off. It took me 8 miles to shake the goosebumps and nausea but I finally started to feel better.
Monica and I never caught the pack again but managed to tough it out together to the finish and lost 10 minutes overall. The heat took it's toll and only 8 of the 12 Cat 4 riders finished. One problem with riding in heat like this is that your water becomes bathwater after about 30 minutes of riding. It seemed that no matter how much water I kept drinking I just could not cool down. 10 miles from the finish I finally ran out. Not soon after that a support car came along handing out water and boy was that the happiest moment of my life. Not only was it water...it was ICE COLD water! I dumped half of it all over me and instantly felt refreshed.
The support for this ride was awesome! Without all of the extra water I'm not sure I would have finished. When I got back to the hotel I soaked all the bath towels in cold water and layed on the bed with them all over me. That was the best feeling in the world...ahhhhhh!
Tomorrow is the 3-mi time trial and crit. The next few days will still be hot but not quite as bad as today. Time trialing isn't my forte, so I'm hoping I can just stick in there and not lose too much more time and put in a good effort in the crit. If I can outlast a few riders in the crit maybe I can bump up a few spots.
20 women lined up for the start: 12 Cat 4s and 8 Cat 1/2/3s. The women's race is combined but scored separately. Michelle Conrad from Ti-Cycles and Martha Walsh are both here racing, so there were a few Seattle faces in the crowd. The race consisted of 2 laps around a 26.2-mi course. As expected no one was really interested in pushing the pace much the first lap and the pack pretty much stuck together. One or two ladies were dropped pretty early on a hill climb about 5 miles into the course. Halfway through the first lap a rider careened off the road, down into tall grasses and across gravel, but somehow managed to stay upright and get back on the road. I have no idea what happened but everyone cheered when she made it back on the road. She said she thanked her cross training.
I knew as soon as we hit the hill the second time around everyone was going to surge and sure enough, the pack picked it up a bit. I was doing fine and hanging right there until all of a sudden about 200 ft from the top I started feeling REALLY sick. I had goosebumps all over me and was getting the chills and a bit of nausea. I knew I was starting to suffer from the heat and I just couldn't push myself so I dropped off the back a bit. I very nearly pulled off at the top of the hill but I couldn't concede driving 4-hrs to do only one stage in this race. "Just finish!" I told myself. I grabbed some water in the feed zone and dumped it all over me to try to cool down.
As the pack slipped down the hill I tried and tried to get going but my body was just not working for me and I continued to feel really sick. Thank goodness for this rider behind me, Monica. She asked me how I was feeling and told me to grab her wheel for a bit and recover. She pulled me a good mile or two before I finally started to shake it off. It took me 8 miles to shake the goosebumps and nausea but I finally started to feel better.
Monica and I never caught the pack again but managed to tough it out together to the finish and lost 10 minutes overall. The heat took it's toll and only 8 of the 12 Cat 4 riders finished. One problem with riding in heat like this is that your water becomes bathwater after about 30 minutes of riding. It seemed that no matter how much water I kept drinking I just could not cool down. 10 miles from the finish I finally ran out. Not soon after that a support car came along handing out water and boy was that the happiest moment of my life. Not only was it water...it was ICE COLD water! I dumped half of it all over me and instantly felt refreshed.
The support for this ride was awesome! Without all of the extra water I'm not sure I would have finished. When I got back to the hotel I soaked all the bath towels in cold water and layed on the bed with them all over me. That was the best feeling in the world...ahhhhhh!
Tomorrow is the 3-mi time trial and crit. The next few days will still be hot but not quite as bad as today. Time trialing isn't my forte, so I'm hoping I can just stick in there and not lose too much more time and put in a good effort in the crit. If I can outlast a few riders in the crit maybe I can bump up a few spots.
Monday, August 28, 2006
4th at Seward!
The season ending Seward Park Fall Classic crit was Sunday and I ended up with my best finish of the season: 4th! The Women's Cat 4 field was small with about 12 riders, which was a bit surprising to me. I fully expected a larger turnout for this race.
Since most of us had done the hill climb on Saturday I figured we were all on equal ground and probably not quite 100% recovered. We had a great race and there was only one girl that was a bit of a danger. She was very sketchy, couldn't hold a straight line, and kept overlapping wheels. I told myself I'd try to stay up front away from her and I actually managed to do so for most of the race. Vicki from Ti-Cycles got the first prime and another Ti-Cycles gal got the 2nd. One of these days I'll really start trying to go for those.
On the final lap Vicki and two other women from Ti-Cycles broke off the front and I made sure to stick right with them. We launched pretty hard up the final climb and as we started powering to the finish I was expecting someone to catch me from behind but no one was there! I came across in 4th place and surprised the hell out of myself. SAWEET! My best finish of the year! It was even better since Marcus finally came out to watch. Now I'll have to make sure he's there more often.
I'm gearing up to head to Eugene this weekend for the Eugene Celebration Days Stage Race, which will be my last road race of the year. The weekend after is Escape from the Rock and then I think some downtime is in order. Ahhh, what a fun season of racing!
Since most of us had done the hill climb on Saturday I figured we were all on equal ground and probably not quite 100% recovered. We had a great race and there was only one girl that was a bit of a danger. She was very sketchy, couldn't hold a straight line, and kept overlapping wheels. I told myself I'd try to stay up front away from her and I actually managed to do so for most of the race. Vicki from Ti-Cycles got the first prime and another Ti-Cycles gal got the 2nd. One of these days I'll really start trying to go for those.
On the final lap Vicki and two other women from Ti-Cycles broke off the front and I made sure to stick right with them. We launched pretty hard up the final climb and as we started powering to the finish I was expecting someone to catch me from behind but no one was there! I came across in 4th place and surprised the hell out of myself. SAWEET! My best finish of the year! It was even better since Marcus finally came out to watch. Now I'll have to make sure he's there more often.
I'm gearing up to head to Eugene this weekend for the Eugene Celebration Days Stage Race, which will be my last road race of the year. The weekend after is Escape from the Rock and then I think some downtime is in order. Ahhh, what a fun season of racing!
Monday, August 07, 2006
Gig Harbor photos
Photos from Gig Harbor are up courtesy of Amara Boursaw.
Check it out, there's actually people behind me for a change! This is the first picture where I look motivated and determined rather than dead. I think at this point I was the 6th person up the hill. I was just a matter of feet from the breakaway -- argh! Next time...
Here's the finish but unfortunately I got blocked and couldn't sprint. Oh well. Next race I'll pay attention to sprint positioning if I'm near the front again. I'm still waiting to see the official results but I think I was somewhere around 12th or 13th.
Check it out, there's actually people behind me for a change! This is the first picture where I look motivated and determined rather than dead. I think at this point I was the 6th person up the hill. I was just a matter of feet from the breakaway -- argh! Next time...
Here's the finish but unfortunately I got blocked and couldn't sprint. Oh well. Next race I'll pay attention to sprint positioning if I'm near the front again. I'm still waiting to see the official results but I think I was somewhere around 12th or 13th.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Yeah baby...better than a pack finish!
Yesterday I headed to Gig Harbor for the second race in the Lake Washington Velo Circuit race series and my first non-PR race on the new bike. Not only did I get my first pack finish ever, but I very nearly ended up in the breakaway!
The course was outstanding with a 1/2 mile 5-6% hill climb followed by a few rollers, a few descents, and a few fast turns. The Cat 4 women had a great turnout with 25 riders. I showed up very late about 20 minutes before the start and was worried since I had no time to warmup. I lined up in the back of the field and promised myself that next time I'll work on my starting position.
I motored up the hill easily on the first lap and used it to move up to the front. For the remainder of the lap I mostly stayed in the front third of the pack, which is a first for me. On the second lap 5-6 girls broke off the front up the hill and I was shortly behind them. I forgot the 2nd lap was the interseries sprint; hence the fast hill climb! At the top there seemed to be a false flat and I tried and tried to catch the breakaway but just couldn't quite get there -- damn! I was that close to being there! I ended up getting stuck between the breakaway and a small chase group behind me so I decided to soft pedal, save my energy, and work with the three girls behind me.
Our paceline had a rider from Starbucks, TiCyles, and TGH and the four of us did a nice job of staying away from the rest of the field but we never did catch the breakaway. We pacelined together the entire 2nd lap until the TiCyles rider lost her chain on a corner. What a bummer! I never know what to do in those situations. I hate to ride on but we were ahead of the rest of the field and had to leave her. When I sprinted back up to catch the other two girls I finally saw the rest of the field behind us and it dawned on me that we were ahead of most of the field. Wow! It was surreal realizing that half of the field was behind us. Sweet!
After the 3rd and last pass up the hill three more girls caught up to us and we had some extra help for the rest of the lap. Jill Talcott from Starbucks is great and kept shouting at everyone to keep us motivated. The only bummer in the entire race was that we blew right through one of the right-hand turns because the corner marshall was up the street and not at the turn. Luckily we realized it right when we missed the turn and were able to get turned around without losing too much time. Once the guy saw us miss the corner and we yelled at him that the Men's 3s were coming he quickly got back there.
It was curious to me that when we finally hit the 200m mark no one really seemed interested in sprinting to the finish. Points were being given out 10-deep and I was pretty certain there weren't 10 girls in the breakway, which meant some of us would get points. I felt strong and really wanted the opportunity to sprint, but when everyone finally pushed a bit I got blocked on the right side of the road and couldn't get anywhere. Ah well. I've never finished with lots of other riders before so I'm not really used to paying attention to my position for the sprint.
Results aren't posted yet but I think I ended up somewhere around 12th or 13th, which is the best finish I've ever had in a race! Too bad it took me until the end of the season to get there, but at least there's a few races left. It was exciting to finally work with a great group of riders and be up front. I was so excited I felt like I was on speed the rest of the day. I can't wait until next week's race!
The course was outstanding with a 1/2 mile 5-6% hill climb followed by a few rollers, a few descents, and a few fast turns. The Cat 4 women had a great turnout with 25 riders. I showed up very late about 20 minutes before the start and was worried since I had no time to warmup. I lined up in the back of the field and promised myself that next time I'll work on my starting position.
I motored up the hill easily on the first lap and used it to move up to the front. For the remainder of the lap I mostly stayed in the front third of the pack, which is a first for me. On the second lap 5-6 girls broke off the front up the hill and I was shortly behind them. I forgot the 2nd lap was the interseries sprint; hence the fast hill climb! At the top there seemed to be a false flat and I tried and tried to catch the breakaway but just couldn't quite get there -- damn! I was that close to being there! I ended up getting stuck between the breakaway and a small chase group behind me so I decided to soft pedal, save my energy, and work with the three girls behind me.
Our paceline had a rider from Starbucks, TiCyles, and TGH and the four of us did a nice job of staying away from the rest of the field but we never did catch the breakaway. We pacelined together the entire 2nd lap until the TiCyles rider lost her chain on a corner. What a bummer! I never know what to do in those situations. I hate to ride on but we were ahead of the rest of the field and had to leave her. When I sprinted back up to catch the other two girls I finally saw the rest of the field behind us and it dawned on me that we were ahead of most of the field. Wow! It was surreal realizing that half of the field was behind us. Sweet!
After the 3rd and last pass up the hill three more girls caught up to us and we had some extra help for the rest of the lap. Jill Talcott from Starbucks is great and kept shouting at everyone to keep us motivated. The only bummer in the entire race was that we blew right through one of the right-hand turns because the corner marshall was up the street and not at the turn. Luckily we realized it right when we missed the turn and were able to get turned around without losing too much time. Once the guy saw us miss the corner and we yelled at him that the Men's 3s were coming he quickly got back there.
It was curious to me that when we finally hit the 200m mark no one really seemed interested in sprinting to the finish. Points were being given out 10-deep and I was pretty certain there weren't 10 girls in the breakway, which meant some of us would get points. I felt strong and really wanted the opportunity to sprint, but when everyone finally pushed a bit I got blocked on the right side of the road and couldn't get anywhere. Ah well. I've never finished with lots of other riders before so I'm not really used to paying attention to my position for the sprint.
Results aren't posted yet but I think I ended up somewhere around 12th or 13th, which is the best finish I've ever had in a race! Too bad it took me until the end of the season to get there, but at least there's a few races left. It was exciting to finally work with a great group of riders and be up front. I was so excited I felt like I was on speed the rest of the day. I can't wait until next week's race!
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