The Derby Days race report

I guess I'm a little tardy but hey, it's summer and I'm busy enjoying the sunshine!

I'm glad I stuck to my original plan of racing Derby Days on Saturday. Nothing like taking the year off and showing up for the fastest crit of the season, but I had a surprisingly fantastic day! Ok, so I didn't stick until the end of the race, but I raced smart, fast, and hung in there until the very last 2-3 laps. Considering my only road races to date were VP back in April and a miserable half showing at Methow, I was pleased. My mom was a spectator too, which was awesome! She just moved here not long ago, so it was her first criterium experience. She loved it! (But not the crashes.)

We lined up with only 30 in the Women's 4 race, which was a bit of a disappointment since we've maxed out at 50 in past years. Maybe the nice weather lured folks out to other things. As usual, the race started fast and stayed that way. I really only remember one lull for about a lap and the rest of the race was just fast, fast, fast. I was hanging mostly in the back and once I started yo-yo'ing I knew I was in trouble, so I dug deep and moved up to mid-pack for a while. Sweet! I couldn't really make the jump to the front, so I just hung in, and before long, there were only a few laps left. How the hell could that be? Almost 20 minutes down and I actually felt pretty good out there!

The temps hovered around 85, but it sure seemed hotter than that. By the end of the race, the heat took it's toll. Someone put in an attack into the headwind after corner three and that was it for me. I just couldn't quite close the gap and poof, done! I only needed to suffer for another few laps to finish, but I was so ecstatic that I made it nearly the entire race that I didn't care! Damn it feels good to be back to racing and not be that far out of shape! I'm truly shocked, but maybe the mountain bike races have really helped my fitness. They're pretty much an hour-long crit on dirt.

I stuck around the rest of the day watching other races and saw too many crashes in the Men's 4/5 field as usual. It seems that every year it's a dicey race for those guys. The little road turtles caused some havoc in the corners I think, especially with a huge field like the Men's 4/5s. I swear they had 75 people out there!

My hip feels 150% better on the bike now and I'm attributing it to a saddle change. After having a casual chat with Matt Hill he suggested a narrower saddle and it's amazing what a difference it has made. Thanks so much for the tip, Matt! I owe you one! I'm stoked things are finally starting to come around and I think I will hop out there for the upcoming LWV series and see how things feel. Cross season, here I come!

Derby Days

Tomorrow is Derby Days. At first I didn't think I'd race, but what the hell. I did my first leg workout at Headquarters in about six months yesterday. That's great prep, right? I have a feeling I will be so sore tomorrow it'll be misery, but hey, I love it. I've come very close to being crashed out in this race twice, so I hope third time isn't a charm.

I don't think I'll be able to stop myself from mountain biking at Tiger in the morning, so my legs will be tired, I'm not in race shape, and the course will be fast, fast, fast. What the hell am I thinking? But it'll be so much fun!

If you're bored, come to Redmond tomorrow and cheer us on!

The VP smackdown

We couldn't have had a more beautiful day for the crit at Volunteer Park. As such, the turnout was huge and our Women's 4 field had over 50 riders! Awesome!

I knew this race would be rough. I've lost my endurance, my top end, and my climbing. To make it even worse, I hit the gym hard this week and totally killed my legs. My goal was to hang for a lap and then see how long it took to pop. After a few practice laps, I pulled off to the side with a teammate so we could get a good position at the start. Only problem is that we started talking and not paying attention. Suddenly I looked up and everyone was lined up. Shit - nice job! So we lined up in the back and all got crappy starts.

I went hard the first lap and then the second lap I started fading. That damn hill kicked my ass. Last year I launched right up it but this year I couldn't get my legs to spin and my heart rate was through the roof. 2 laps and poof - done! A handful of gals were off the back behind me and slowly they all started catching me. I made attempts to grab a wheel and stick but my legs felt like lead. I couldn't get up the hill, and pretty soon that stupid post-pneumonia cough hit.

At the halfway mark, barely 15 minutes, I called it a day and pulled out. I had my fun, got a good high intensity workout, and didn't need to annihilate myself quite yet. So overall, pretty much what I expected, though I did go out a bit stronger the first lap than I thought I would.

Tomorrow I'm off to Seatac for the morning mountain bike race, then I'll head over to Boat St to watch the crits. The mountain bike race is early enough that I had contemplated doing a double-header, but I think I need to keep the intensity in check and chill.

Volunteer Park crit

I had no idea what to expect for this race since I've only ridden the bike a handful of times the last month or so, but I vowed to get a top 10. I'm a little bummed our women's 4 field wasn't larger than the 14 that turned out but I guess that's to be expected this time of year.

The course at Volunteer Park rocked and I love the hill at the end of each lap. We had a competitive field and the pace was high most of the race. Things stayed mostly together until a few laps from the end when it finally started to string out. My Achilles' heel all season has been positioning, so for once I did a good job of staying near the front the entire race. Many times I was only a few spots back from the leaders and did the extra work to stay there and close to a wheel.

On the last lap I got a little jammed coming up the hill and lost a few spots, which was a real bummer. I still managed to have some juice to get across the line just barely in 10th place. Had I picked a smarter line up the hill I might have finished a little better, but I got my top 10 so I'm happy! Even if it was a field of 14, I don't care. Mission accomplished!

I had just enough time to get changed and watch the Master's C/D race before I had to corner marshall. Z cracks me up! He took a flyer on the second lap and solidly secured himself a prime. Too bad it was a spectator's bell and not an actual prime. We'll have to get him some kind of prize for that effort!

The day was going well until the horrible crash in the Men's 3 field. I was on corner 6 heading down the back side of the course when I heard the riders yelling that some guys were down and someone needed to call the EMTs. I got down there and one of our Zoka riders, Trevor Hall, was down and not looking good. Luckily, Vicki and a few others were on the scene quickly to help him out and paramedics showed up shortly afterwards to take him to Harborview. I heard a junior racer suffered a broken pelvis and wrist and I guess someone else had a broken collarbone. Another of our Zoka riders went down and ended up with some road rash and bruises. Not fun.

The good news is that Trevor is on the mend. He has a concussion, some stitches in his ear, road rash, and bruises but he's certainly very lucky! He started the day with a 2nd place finish in the Master's race and ended it at Harborview. And my mom thinks motorcycles are dangerous....

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.

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!